Publications by authors named "M Puligheddu"

Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis during sleep plays a key role for understanding autonomic nervous system function and assessing cardiovascular health. The UNICA Sleep HRV analysis (UNICA-HRV) tool is a novel, open-source MATLAB tool designed to fill the gap in current HRV analysis tools. In particular, the integration of ECG and HRV data with hypnogram information, which illustrates the progression through the different sleep stages, ease the computation of HRV metrics in polysomnographic recordings.

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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.

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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.

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Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a highly heritable group of neurodegenerative disorders, characterized by varying clinical and pathological features. gene has been described worldwide within the FTD/ALS spectrum but its association with right and left temporal variant of FTD (tvFTD) is still unclear. This study aimed to reclassify a Sardinian FTD cohort according to proposed criteria for the semantic behavioral variant FTD (sbvFTD), explore mutations' association with tvFTD, and review related literature.

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Article Synopsis
  • REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) is linked to an increased risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and dementia, prompting a study of autonomic dysfunction in RBD patients.* -
  • The study used advanced methods to analyze sleep patterns and heart rate variability, revealing that RBD patients generally experience lower heart rate variability and are more likely to transition to lighter sleep stages.* -
  • Although RBD patients suffer from fragmented sleep and autonomic issues, those with Parkinson's displayed better sleep continuity, potentially due to relief from their PD symptoms during sleep.*
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