Classification and automatic scoring of arousal intensity during sleep stages using machine learning.

Arousal during sleep can result in sleep fragmentation and various physiological effects, impairing cognitive function and raising blood pressure and heart rate. However, the current definition of arousal has limitations in assessing both amplitude and duration, making it challenging to measure sleep fragmentation accurately. Moreover, there is inconsistency among inter-raters in arousal scoring, which renders it susceptible to subjective variability.

Surgical outcome and prognostic factors in epilepsy patients with MR-negative focal cortical dysplasia.

Objective: Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) represents a heterogeneous group of disorders of the cortical formation and is one of the most common causes of epilepsy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the modality of choice for detecting structural lesions, and the surgical prognosis in patients with MR lesions is favorable. However, the surgical prognosis of patients with MR-negative FCD is unknown.

Correlations between interictal extratemporal spikes and clinical features, imaging characteristics, and surgical outcomes in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Purpose: The significance of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) observed in the extratemporal lobe has not been fully evaluated in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). This study aimed to evaluate the surgical outcomes, clinical features, and functional neuroimaging characteristics of patients in relation to the presence or absence of extratemporal IED in MTLE with hippocampal sclerosis (HS).

Methods: A total of 165 patients with HS-induced MTLE who had undergone anterior temporal lobectomy were enrolled and stratified into the extratemporal interictal epileptiform discharges (ETD) and the temporal lobe discharges (TD) groups.

SPECT perfusion changes during ictal automatisms with preserved responsiveness in patients with right temporal lobe epilepsy.

Ictal automatism with preserved responsiveness (APR) has been reported, particularly in nondominant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but its pathophysiology remains poorly understood. This study sought to investigate the relationship between APRs and increased cerebral blood flow (CBF) using ictal single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in TLE. Forty-seven subjects with right mesial TLE (15 with and 32 without APR) were enrolled.

Effect of continuous positive airway pressure on regional cerebral blood flow in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is commonly associated with neural and cognitive deficits induced by recurrent hypoxemia and sleep fragment. The aims of this study were to use statistical parametric mapping (SPM) to analyze changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in untreated patients with severe OSA before and after nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment, examine the impact of OSA-related variables on rCBF, and assess the therapeutic effect of nasal CPAP treatment.

Methods: Thirty male patients with severe OSA underwent brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans twice before and after nasal CPAP treatment for ≥6 months, whereas 26 healthy controls underwent a single SPECT scan.

Estrogen receptor independent neurotoxic mechanism of bisphenol A, an environmental estrogen.

Bisphenol A (BPA), a ubiquitous environmental contaminant, has been shown to cause developmental toxicity and carcinogenic effects. BPA may have physiological activity through estrogen receptor (ER) -alpha and -beta, which are expressed in the central nervous system. We previously found that exposure of BPA to immature mice resulted in behavioral alternation, suggesting that overexposure of BPA could be neurotoxic.