The dynamics of emotional behaviors in rapid eye movement sleep.

Dream's emotions could exert a major role in desensitizing negative emotions. Studying emotional dynamics (how emotions fluctuate across time) during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep could provide some insight into this function. However, studies so far have been limited to dream reports.

Eye movement patterns correlate with overt emotional behaviours in rapid eye movement sleep.

Growing evidence suggests that sleep plays a key role in regulating emotions. Rapid eye movements (REMs) in REM sleep could be associated with dreams emotions, but supporting evidence is indirect. To highlight this association, we studied the REM sleep during video-polysomnography of 20 subjects with REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD), a model of enacted dreams offering direct access to the emotional content of the sleeper (face expression, speeches, behaviour).

Correlation of clinical and molecular features in spinal bulbar muscular atrophy.

Objectives: To characterize the clinical and genetic features of spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), a rare neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of a CAG repeat in the first exon of the androgen receptor gene, in the United Kingdom.

Methods: We created a national register for SBMA in the United Kingdom and recruited 61 patients between 2005 and 2013. In our cross-sectional study, we assessed, by direct questioning, impairment of activities of daily living (ADL) milestones, functional rating, and subjective disease impact, and performed correlations with both CAG repeat size and degree of somatic mosaicism.