Publications by authors named "Ferri R"

Patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease (ADMCI) typically show abnormally high delta (<4 Hz) and low alpha (8-12 Hz) rhythms measured from resting-state eyes-closed electroencephalographic (rsEEG) activity. Here, we hypothesized that the abnormalities in rsEEG activity may be greater in ADMCI patients than in those with MCI not due to AD (noADMCI). Furthermore, they may be associated with the diagnostic cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid-tau biomarkers in ADMCI patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Study Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of dopamine agonists (DA) and Clonazepam on Large Muscle Group Movements during sleep (LMM), a distinct motor phenomenon, in Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 51 drug-free adult patients with RLS, divided into three groups: 33 received a DA (pramipexole or ropinirole), 15 received clonazepam, and 18 received a placebo. Each patient underwent two consecutive nocturnal polysomnographic (PSG) recordings: one baseline and one following treatment administration.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sleep is essential for brain development and overall health, particularly in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Sleep disruptions can considerably impact brain structure and function, leading to dysfunction of neurotransmitter systems, metabolism, hormonal balance and inflammatory processes, potentially contributing to the pathophysiology of NDDs. This Review examines the prevalence, types and mechanisms of sleep disturbances in children with NDDs, including autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and various genetic syndromes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Study Objectives: Sleep disorders and/or disordered sleep represent common clinical presentations of pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS), occurring in up to 80% of affected children, with REM sleep motor disinhibition being a prevalent feature. To date, limited polysomnographic (PSG) studies have been conducted. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the PSG characteristics of a cohort of children with PANS, focusing particularly on REM sleep without atonia (RSWA) as assessed by the REM atonia index (RAI), and to compare these characteristics with those of a control group.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), restless legs syndrome (RLS), or both may exhibit varied manifestations of depressive and anxiety symptomatology, reflecting the complex interplay between sleep disturbances, neurotransmitter imbalances, and psychosocial stressors in these often overlapping conditions. The aim of this study was to compare depressive and anxiety symptomatology, insomnia severity, and sleepiness in these conditions. Patients were enrolled and subdivided into those with OSA, RLS, and OSA + RLS.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

More than six million people worldwide are affected by Parkinson's disease (PD), a multifactorial disorder characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). Several immunohistochemical studies suggest that neuromelanin (NM), found in these neurons, plays a key role in their degeneration. In this study, twelve formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) brain sections were analyzed, comprising six samples from PD patients and six from healthy controls.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a neurological disorder with unclear underlying mechanisms, and this study reviews various research on motor cortex activity in RLS patients using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
  • - Out of several studies reviewed, 21 met the criteria, revealing a common pattern of reduced short-interval intracortical inhibition, indicating issues with GABAergic activity in RLS patients, despite differences in research methods.
  • - The research suggests that RLS symptoms may arise from different levels of a complex neural network, indicating potential for new diagnostic tools and treatment approaches, but further studies are needed for validation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a neurological disorder causing an uncontrollable urge to move the legs, primarily diagnosed through clinical features; this systematic review sought to analyze brain MRI data to better understand its underlying mechanisms.
  • - The review examined 49 studies involving over 2,500 participants (RLS patients and healthy controls), focusing on various MRI techniques, and found significant alterations in brain structure and connectivity related to RLS, although there was notable variation in study methods.
  • - The results highlight the importance of viewing RLS from a system-level perspective rather than attributing it to specific brain regions, suggesting a need for a more integrated understanding of the disorder within a broader biological framework.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Prior studies evaluating sleep quality have found that women often have better polysomnography-defined sleep quality than men, but women subjectively report a greater frequency of sleep disturbances. Although these studies can be partially attributed to study design, it is currently unclear what may be causing these discrepancies. In this study, we aim to identify potential differences in objectively assessed sleep quality between men and women with further emphasis on subgroup analysis based on age.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Anhedonic features within major depressive disorder (MDD) have been associated with worse course and outcome and may predict nonresponse to treatment. However, a detailed clinical profile of anhedonia in MDD is still lacking.

Materials And Methods: One thousand two hundred ninety-four patients with MDD were selected from the cross-sectional European multicenter Group for the Study of Resistant Depression study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) frequently exhibit non-motor symptoms, particularly sleep disturbances. Sleep disorders in PD patients are intricately linked to the pathogenesis and progression of PD itself, exacerbating neurodegenerative processes and worsening patient quality of life.

Objectives: This review underscores the significance of sleep disorders in PD, highlighting their prevalence, impact on disease progression, and the bidirectional relationship between sleep disruption and neurodegeneration.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Restless legs syndrome is usually associated with periodic limb movements during sleep, which are defined as repetitive, stereotyped movements in sleep. Changes in spectral analysis of electroencephalography and heart rate were shown to be associated with periodic limb movements during sleep and non-periodic leg movements in sleep. Considering the circadian distribution of symptoms of restless legs syndrome, we investigated spectral electroencephalography and heart rate accompanying periodic limb movements, isolated leg movements and short-interval leg movements during suggested immobilization test.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is an important tool for treatment optimisation. Its usefulness has recently been demonstrated for some first-line antidepressants; however, few studies have been reported on the relationship between blood levels of mirtazapine and its antidepressant effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between blood concentration of mirtazapine and antidepressant response.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Restless legs syndrome (RLS) and periodic leg movements during sleep (PLMS) are common sleep disorders that affect people differently based on sex and age, with this study investigating those differences from ages 2 to over 80.
  • The study analyzed data from drug-free patients with RLS, finding that females experienced a quicker rise in PLMS before age 10, while males showed a more continuous increase even after age 75.
  • Results indicate a complex relationship between sex hormones and sleep disorders, suggesting the need for individualized treatment strategies to improve sleep health across different age groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The auditory P300 wave (P3b) is linked to how our brain evaluates and categorizes stimuli, often tested using the oddball paradigm of rare target sounds among frequent standard sounds.
  • Its timing (latency) indicates processing speed, while its strength (amplitude) shows how much we are paying attention.
  • Although primarily used in research, it has potential in clinical settings for assessing cognitive function in patients with mental health or neurological issues, especially when traditional tests aren't feasible.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study aimed to investigate sex-related differences in the response to ropinirole and pramipexole in patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS). By analysing clinical parameters and polysomnographic (PSG) findings, we sought to elucidate the potential factors related to sex disparities modulating treatment responses and sleep quality in RLS. A total of 41 drug-free patients with RLS, aged ≥18 years, underwent two consecutive nocturnal PSG recordings, without medication at baseline; before the second night, 26 patients received an oral dose of 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: This study aims to investigate sex differences in response to iron supplementation in children and adolescents suffering from sleep-related movement disorders such as Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD), and Restless Sleep Disorder (RSD).

Methods: Data were retrieved and reanalyzed from previous studies involving children with RLS, PLMD, or RSD. The analysis included 54 patients treated with intravenous (IV) ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) and 31 patients treated with oral ferrous sulfate (FS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The triadic interplay between sleep, immunity, and cancer represents a growing area of biomedical research with significant clinical implications. This review synthesizes the current knowledge on how sleep influences immune function, the immune system's role in cancer dynamics, and the direct connections between sleep patterns and cancer risk. After a comprehensive overview of the interrelationships among these three domains, the mechanisms of sleep in immune function are described, detailing how sleep regulates the immune system, the effects of sleep duration and quality on immune responses, and the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant changes in daily life for humanity and has had a profound impact on mental health. As widely acknowledged, the pandemic has led to notable increases in rates of anxiety, depression, distress, and other mental health-related issues, affecting both infected patients and non-infected individuals. COVID-19 patients and survivors face heightened risks for various neurological and psychiatric disorders and complications.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The neurological condition known as narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is an uncommon condition marked by extreme daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, hallucinations, disrupted nocturnal sleep, and low or undetectable levels of orexin in the CSF fluid. NT1 has been hypothesized to be an immunological disorder; its treatment is currently only symptomatic, and misdiagnosis is not uncommon. This study compares the -glycome of NT1 patients with healthy controls in search of potential glycan biomarkers using LC-MS/MS.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The survival of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in patients with poliomyelitis remains a debated topic due to the high recurrence of postoperative genu recurvatum. This study aims to report the long-term survival of TKA in patients with poliomyelitis, using data from the Italian Register of Prosthetic Implantology.

Materials And Methods: A registry-based population study was conducted, utilizing data from the Emilia Romagna orthopedic arthroplasty implants registry (RIPO - Registro Implantologia Protesica Ortopedica).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF