Slow wave activity across sleep-night could predict levodopa-induced dyskinesia.

A disruption in the slow wave activity (SWA) mediated synaptic downscaling process features Parkinson's disease (PD) patients presenting levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID). To corroborate the role of SWA in LID development, 15 PD patients with LID, who underwent a polysomnography before LID's appearance, were included. Slow wave sleep epochs were extracted, combined and segmented into early and late sleep.

High-density EEG power topography and connectivity during confusional arousal.

Confusional arousal is the milder expression of a family of disorders known as Disorders of Arousal (DOA) from non-REM sleep. These disorders are characterized by recurrent abnormal behaviors that occur in a state of reduced awareness for the external environment. Despite frequent amnesia for the nocturnal events, when actively probed, patients are able to report vivid hallucinatory/dream-like mental imagery.

Impairment of sleep homeostasis in cervical dystonia patients.

Alterations in brain plasticity seem to play a role in the pathophysiology of cervical dystonia (CD). Since evidences indicate that sleep regulates brain plasticity, we hypothesized that an alteration in sleep homeostatic mechanisms may be involved in the pathogenesis of CD. We explored sleep in control subjects (CTL) and CD patients before (T) and after (T) botulinum toxin (BoNT) treatment.

Clinical implication of high-density EEG sleep recordings in Parkinson's disease.

The diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) is made relatively late in the pathological process, when already most of the dopaminergic synapses have died. The evidence showed that, at the time of the clinical diagnosis, which can be done only after motor symptoms' appearance, the pathogenetic process is too advanced for a potential neuroprotective agent to be efficacious. Thus, the identification of early markers of neurodegeneration would be essential in the fight again the disease.

A New Prospective, Home-Based Monitoring of Motor Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Subjective symptoms, which are retrospectively assessed during clinical interviews in the office, may be influenced by patient recall in Parkinson's disease (PD). Prospective collection of subjective data might be an effective tool to overcome this bias.

Objective: We investigated the correspondence between prospectively and retrospectively assessed motor symptoms in PD.

Shooting a high-density electroencephalographic picture on sleep in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Study Objectives: Sleep-related slow-wave activity (SWA) has been recognized as a marker of synaptic plasticity. In children affected by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), SWA is mainly located in the central rather than frontal regions, reflecting a maturational delay. A detailed subjective and objective sleep investigation, including a full night video-polysomnography (PSG-HD-EEG), was performed on 30 consecutive drug naïve outpatients with a diagnosis of ADHD.

Sleep phenotypes in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Objective: A case-control study was performed to test the hypothesis that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have chronic sleep deprivation and may be classified into specific sleep-related phenotypes.

Methods: Thirty outpatients with ADHD (nine females, mean age 10.1 ± 2.

Levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson disease: Sleep matters.

Objective: The spectrum of clinical symptom changes during the course of Parkinson disease (PD). Levodopa therapy, while offering remarkable control of classical motor symptoms, causes abnormal involuntary movements as the disease progresses. This levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) has been associated with abnormal cortical plasticity.

Brain plasticity and sleep: Implication for movement disorders.

Brain plasticity is a lifelong process and involves both Hebbian and non-Hebbian synaptic plasticity. The latter, such as intrinsic plasticity and homeostatic synaptic plasticity or synaptic scaling, is thought to counteract Hebbian plasticity, in order to maintain a balanced network. Recent studies support the role of sleep in the regulation of homeostatic synaptic plasticity involved in memory and learning processes.

Different Frontal Involvement in ALS and PLS Revealed by Stroop Event-Related Potentials and Reaction Times.

Background: A growing body of evidence suggests a link between cognitive and pathological changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Cognitive deficits have been investigated much less extensively in primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) than in ALS.

Objective: To investigate bioelectrical activity to Stroop test, assessing frontal function, in ALS, PLS, and control groups.

Compensatory movement-related recruitment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients with dominant upper motor neuron signs: an EEG source analysis study.

Cortical reorganization to simple movement in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been investigated in neuroimaging studies, reporting recruitment of ipsilateral primary sensorimotor (iSMC) and premotor regions (PMd). In order to investigate the spatiotemporal pattern of such overactivation, EEG source analysis to brisk self-paced finger movements was performed in thirty-two ALS patients, able to initiate their movement as fast as controls and clustered according to their most affected motor neuron (upper or lower). Reduced activity within cortical sources in bilateral SMC and caudal mesial areas was found only in patients subgroup with extensive upper motor neuron (UMN) clinical signs and mild motor weakness (U>L).

Cortical control of unilateral simple movement in healthy aging.

Normal aging is associated with several modifications in the cerebral motor system that reflect into an increased and more bilateral activation in elderly subjects. Twelve young and nine elderly healthy right-handed subjects performed a self-initiated brisk right thumb extension while recorded with 32-channel EEG. The aging effect over cortical generators of bereithshaftspotential, reconstructed using cortical current density (CCD) method and a realistic volume conductor, was evaluated in five different periods and in both mesial and lateral motor-related areas.