Abnormal Circadian Modification of A-Fiber Pathway Excitability in Idiopathic Restless Legs Syndrome.

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is characterized by unpleasant sensations generally localized to legs, associated with an urge to move. A likely pathogenetic mechanism is a central dopaminergic dysfunction. The exact role of pain system is unclear.

Polysomnographic and psychometric correlates of napping in primary insomnia patients.

This study aims to evaluate napping in patients with insomnia compared with two control groups and to investigate the relationships between psychometric measures and napping habitude. Sixty-eight adult patients with chronic primary insomnia were enrolled; 27 men and 41 women, mean age 53.6 ± 13.

Polysomnographic findings in a cohort of chronic insomnia patients with benzodiazepine abuse.

Study Objectives: To evaluate sleep modifications induced by chronic benzodiazepine (BDZ) abuse.

Methods: Cohort study, comparison of sleep measures between BDZs abusers and controls. Drug Addiction Unit (Institute of Psychiatry) and Unit of Sleep Disorders (Institute of Neurology) of the Catholic University in Rome.

Heart rate and heart rate variability modification in chronic insomnia patients.

Chronic insomnia is highly prevalent in the general population, provoking personal distress and increased risk for psychiatric and medical disorders. Autonomic hyper-arousal could be a pathogenic mechanism of chronic primary insomnia. The aim of this study was to investigate autonomic activity in patients with chronic primary insomnia by means of heart rate variability (HRV) analysis.

Restless leg syndrome in different types of demyelinating neuropathies: a single-center pilot study.

Objective: to determine the prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in a cohort of patients with demyelinating neuropathies.

Methods: Patients were retrospectively recruited from our cohort of different forms of demyelinating neuropathies, including chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy (CIDP), Charcot-Marie-Tooth 1A (CMT1A), and hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP) referred to our Department of Neurology in a 10-year period. The validated 4-item RLS questionnaire was used for diagnosis of RLS.

Heart rate variability in sleep-related migraine without aura.

Objectives: This is an observational study aimed to investigate the activity of autonomic nervous system during sleep in patients with sleep-related migraine.

Methods: Eight consecutive migraineurs without aura were enrolled (6 women and 2 men), aged 30 to 62 years (mean 48.1 ± 9.

Migraine, arousal and sleep deprivation: comment on: "sleep quality, arousal and pain thresholds in migraineurs: a blinded controlled polysomnographic study".

We discuss the hypothesis proposed by Engstrom and coworkers that Migraineurs have a relative sleep deprivation, which lowers the pain threshold and predispose to attacks. Previous data indicate that Migraineurs have a reduction of Cyclic Alternating Pattern (CAP), an essential mechanism of NREM sleep regulation which allows to dump the effect of incoming disruptive stimuli, and to protect sleep. The modifications of CAP observed in Migraineurs are similar to those observed in patients with impaired arousal (narcolepsy) and after sleep deprivation.

Clinical-neurophysiological correlations in a series of patients with IgM-related neuropathy.

Objective: We aim to draw clinical-neurophysiological correlations in our cohort of patients affected by IgM-related neuropathy to investigate whether neurophysiological parameters may help differentiate the classical phenotype from atypical forms.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated patients with IgM-related neuropathy referred to our Institute from 1990 to 2011. All patients underwent extensive laboratory, clinical and neurophysiological evaluation.

Pain and the alpha-sleep anomaly: a mechanism of sleep disruption in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Objective: To measure the presence of the alpha-sleep anomaly in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) and to evaluate the association between the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) pattern and the presence of musculoskeletal pain.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Sleep laboratory.

Heart rate variability in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is the third most frequent form of muscular dystrophy. Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a means of evaluating the activity of the autonomic nervous system. The aim of this study was to evaluate HRV in FSHD patients.

Sexual behavior in women with bipolar disorder.

Introduction: There is a lack of studies regarding sexuality and sexual behavior in women with bipolar disorder. The aim of this study is to investigate sexual behavior in women affected by bipolar disorder in order to stimulate interest and debate in this area of care.

Methods: Sixty women (30 BD I and 30 BD II) consent to participate in the study and were included in the sample.

Primary cerebral blood flow deficiency and Alzheimer's disease: shadows and lights.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative disorder characterized by a decreased regional cerebral blood flow (CBF). It is most likely that a reduction in CBF could displace a pathway leading to AD genesis, in so far neuron death explains a sustained reduction in the supply of oxygen, glucose, and nutrients. Nevertheless, the concept of secondary CBF deficiency cannot explain the critical stages of early memory loss while, on the other hand, the picture of progressive ischemia due to primary CBF decline sheds light on the course of AD in a most persuasive manner.

[Ventricular preexcitation: is risk stratification feasible?].

The Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome is a current debated clinical issue. Although the anatomical characteristics, polymorphic electrocardiographic features, and electrophysiological mechanisms of arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death are well known, the identification of patients at risk of sudden cardiac death remains challenging. Owing to the lack of effective therapeutic strategies, in the pre-ablation era many studies have been conducted to define the prognostic value of clinical and instrumental tests, and to define the actual risk of sudden cardiac death in patients with ventricular preexcitation.

Escitalopram 20 mg versus duloxetine 60 mg for the treatment of chronic low back pain.

Background: Escitalopram has never been demonstrated to be useful in the treatment of chronic low back pain (CLBP), while duloxetine has demonstrated analgesic effect in chronic pain states. The aim of this trial was to examine the efficacy of escitalopram for the treatment of CLBP compared with duloxetine.

Methods: A total of 85 adult patients with non-radicular CLBP entered a 13-week randomized study comparing escitalopram 20 mg with duloxetine 60 mg once daily.

Abnormal sexual behavior during sleep.

Introduction: Automatic, uncontrolled, and unaware sexual behaviors during sleep have occasionally been described. The clinical and polysomnographic features of nocturnal sexual behavior allow it to be considered a distinct parasomnia named "sexsomnia". Recently, abnormal sexual behaviors during sleep have been evaluated in the forensic medical context because violent behaviors can be associated with this parasomnia.

Sleep disordered breathing in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most frequent forms of muscular dystrophy. The aims of this study were: 1) to evaluate the prevalence of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in patients with FSHD; 2) to define the sleep-related respiratory patterns in FSHD patients with SDB; and 3) to find the clinical predictors of SDB. Fifty-one consecutive FSHD patients were enrolled, 23 women, mean age 45.

What is the effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors on temperament and character in patients with fibromyalgia?

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to assess a group of patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and control subjects using the personality questionnaire proposed by Cloninger and to determine possible changes in the Italian version of the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised patterns of patients with FM after therapy with serotoninergic antidepressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs]).

Methods: Sixty patients with FM filled out the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised and Beck Depression Inventory before and after 6-month therapy with SSRIs (escitalopram 10 mg, fluoxetine 20 mg, or paroxetine 20 mg). A total of 80 age-, sex-, and education level-matched healthy subjects were selected as a control group.

Non-Epileptic Seizures (NES) are predicted by depressive and dissociative symptoms.

Objectives: (1) To measure depressive and dissociative symptoms in a population of patients with Non-Epileptic Seizures (NES, or pseudo-seizures); (2) To compare NES with Epileptic subjects and Normal controls; (3) To try to define a personality profile specific, or typical, of NES patients.

Patients: 30 consecutive patients (21 females and 9 males, mean age 32.9+/-11.

Left thalamomegaly in a patient with partial epilepsy.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is associated with modification in thalamic structure and function. In particular, thalamic atrophy and hypometabolism can occur, affecting ipsilateral, contralateral thalami or both. We describe a 28-year-old epileptic woman, who presented peculiar neuroimaging findings, with enlargement of the thalamus contralateral to the epileptic focus.

Effect of levetiracetam on depression and anxiety in adult epileptic patients.

Background: Interictal depression is common in patients with epilepsy and it significantly impacts quality of life. Some studies indicate that levetiracetam (LEV) may have mood stabilizing properties.

Methods: Twenty-five adults with uncontrolled partial seizures and concomitant depressive symptoms were treated with LEV.

A common mitochondrial haplogroup is associated with elevated total serum IgE levels.

Background: Maternal history of asthma or atopy is among the most consistently reported risk factors for asthma and atopy in children, yet the molecular basis for this observation remains unclear. Mitochondria are inherited exclusively through the maternal line, raising the possibility that sequence variation in the mitochondrial genome contributes to the pathogenesis of asthma and atopy.

Objective: We set out to determine whether common European mitochondrial haplogroups are associated with asthma-related atopic phenotypes.

Bipolar disorder and epilepsy: a bidirectional relation? Neurobiological underpinnings, current hypotheses, and future research directions.

A number of studies have demonstrated that affective disorders in epilepsy represent a common psychiatric comorbidity; however, most of the classic neuropsychiatric literature focuses on depression, which is actually prominent, but little is known about bipolar depression, and very little about mania, in epilepsy. Biochemical, structural, and functional abnormalities in primary bipolar disorder could also occur secondary to seizure disorders. The kindling paradigm, invoked as a model for understanding seizure disorders, has also been applied to the episodic nature of bipolar disorder.

Sleep quality in Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Objective: To evaluate the subjective sleep quality, the prevalence of daytime sleepiness and the risk of sleep-related upper airways obstruction in patients with genetically proven Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). FSHD is an autosomal dominant myopathy, characterized by an early involvement of facial and scapular muscles with eventual spreading to pelvic and lower limb muscles.

Patients And Methods: Forty-six patients were enrolled, 27 women and 19 men, mean age 43.