Association between prenatal glucocorticoid exposure and adolescent neurodevelopment: An observational follow-up study.

Introduction: Prenatal exposure to supraphysiological glucocorticoid (GC) levels may lead to long-lasting developmental changes in numerous biological systems. Our prior study identified an association between prenatal GC prophylaxis and reduced cognitive performance, electrocortical changes, and altered autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity in children aged 8-9 years. This follow-up study aimed to examine whether these findings persisted into adolescence.

Symptomatic, Drug-Resistant Narcolepsy Remission After Fenestration of an Arachnoid Cyst - A Case Report.

Objective: The pathogenesis of different narcolepsy phenotypes remains unclear. In rare cases, narcolepsy can be attributable to secondary brain pathologies affecting the midbrain. These cases may elucidate the pathological background and the treatment of narcolepsy, but are often limited by poor objective symptom characterization and effects of therapeutic intervention, especially by modern diagnostic standards.

Heart rate variability as a marker and predictor of inflammation, nosocomial infection, and sepsis - A systematic review.

Purpose: The autonomic nervous system interacts with the immune system via the inflammatory response. Heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of autonomic activity, is associated with inflammation, and nosocomial infections/sepsis, and has clinical implications for the monitoring of at-risk patients. Due to the vagal tone's influence on anti-inflammatory immune response, this association may predominately be reflected by vagally-mediated HRV indices.

The Relationship Between Cognitive Impairments and Sleep Quality Measures in Persistent Insomnia Disorder.

Study Objectives: Persistent insomnia disorder (pID) is linked to neurocognitive decline and increased risk of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in later life. However, research in this field often utilizes self-reported sleep quality data - which may be biased by sleep misperception - or uses extensive neurocognitive test batteries - which are often not feasible in clinical settings. This study therefore aims to assess whether a simple screening tool could uncover a specific pattern of cognitive changes in pID patients, and whether these relate to objective aspect(s) of sleep quality.

A hypoarousal model of neurological post-COVID syndrome: the relation between mental fatigue, the level of central nervous activation and cognitive processing speed.

Background: Knowledge on the nature of post-COVID neurological sequelae often manifesting as cognitive dysfunction and fatigue is still unsatisfactory.

Objectives: We assumed that cognitive dysfunction and fatigue in post-COVID syndrome are critically linked via hypoarousal of the brain. Thus, we assessed whether tonic alertness as a neurocognitive index of arousal is reduced in these patients and how this relates to the level of central nervous activation and subjective mental fatigue as further indices of arousal.

Neural distinctiveness of fatigue and low sleep quality in multiple sclerosis.

Background And Purpose: Fatigue and low sleep quality in multiple sclerosis (MS) are closely related symptoms. Here, the associations between the brain's functional connectivity (FC) and fatigue and low sleep quality were investigated to determine the degree of neural distinctiveness of these symptoms.

Method: A hundred and four patients with relapsing-remitting MS (age 38.

Association between antenatal glucocorticoid exposure and the activity of the stress system, cognition, and behavior in 8- to 9-year-old children: A prospective observational study.

Introduction: Glucocorticoid (GC) -induced fetal programming of the activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) and its associated cognitive and behavioral consequences in later life have been well characterized in several animal species. However, information on humans is scarce. In this study, we examined HPAA activity markers and associated outcomes at 8 to 9 years of age among children prenatally exposed to GC for suspected preterm birth.

A 37-Year-Old Man With Structural Focal Epilepsy and Paroxysmal Nocturnal Breathing Arrests.

A 37-year-old male patient was referred to our sleep laboratory with suspected sleep-disordered breathing. His partner reported periods of breathing arrest accompanied by an odd expiratory noise during sleep, occurring on a near to weekly basis. The patient stated that he was able to sleep well, did not have excessive daytime sleepiness, and was not subjectively aware of any disordered breathing at night.

Proposal of new diagnostic criteria for fatal familial insomnia.

Background: The understanding of fatal familial insomnia (FFI), a rare neurodegenerative autosomal dominant prion disease, has improved in recent years as more cases were reported. This work aimed to propose new diagnostic criteria for FFI with optimal sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratio.

Methods: An international group of experts was established and 128 genetically confirmed FFI cases and 281 non-FFI prion disease controls are enrolled in the validation process.

Systematic quantitative assessment of motor function in clinically isolated REM sleep behaviour disorder: A diagnostic window into early alpha-synucleinopathies.

Mild motor abnormalities can herald the beginning of Parkinson´s disease but their diagnostic value is limited by multifactorial ageing-related influences on motor function. We characterized mild motor abnormalities in different motor domains by conducting a systematic motor assessment in 20 patients with clinically isolated REM sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD) without parkinsonian motor signs and 20 healthy controls. We addressed the influence of lifestyle factors and age on motor function, which needs to be distinguished from neurodegenerative motor features, and assessed the diagnostic value of innovative and established quantitative motor tests in iRBD.

An 82-Year-Old Man With Sleep-Onset Insomnia, Breathing Arrest, and Heart Failure.

An 82-year-old man presented with 6 months of difficulties of falling asleep. He described a feeling of fading breath culminating in breathing arrest when he becomes drowsy. These recurrent events prevented him from falling asleep.

Maternal psychosocial stress during early gestation impairs fetal structural brain development in sheep.

Maternal stress, especially during early pregnancy, predisposes offspring to neuropsychiatric disorders. We hypothesized that maternal psychosocial stress (MPS) during pregnancy affects fetal structural neurodevelopment depending on the gestational age of exposure. Fetal sheep brains were harvested at 130 days gestation (dG, term 150 dG) from ewes frequently isolated from flock-mates during early gestation (first and second trimester;  = 10) or late gestation (third trimester;  = 10), or from control flock-mates ( = 8).

Association Between Systemic Inflammation, Carotid Arteriosclerosis, and Autonomic Dysfunction.

Systemic inflammation is associated with arteriosclerotic disease progression and worse stroke outcome in patients with carotid arteriosclerotic disease. We hypothesize that systemic inflammation is mediated by impaired carotid baroreceptor and chemoreceptor function induced by carotid arteriosclerosis rather than by the generalized inflammatory arteriosclerotic process.Heart rate variability (HRV), serum levels of inflammatory markers, demographic and life style factors, and concomitant diseases with potential impact on systemic inflammation were determined in 105 patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis of varying degree.

Assessing Individual Differences in the Affective Experience of Dreams: The Jena Dream Inventory-Affect Scales (JeDI-A).

The study reports on the validation of a new instrument for the assessment of emotional experiences in dreams. The Jena Dream Inventory-Affect (JeDI-A) contains 21 items and 3 scales, positive dream affect, negative dream affect, and dream intensity, providing a differentiated yet economic assessment of dream affect. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses in a sample of university students ( = 426) and a clinical sample of patients with sleep disorders ( = 149) supported factorial validity and measurement invariance, high temporal stability (over 1 year and 9 months in the students and patients, respectively), convergent and discriminant validity regarding established measures of dream affect and the Big Five, and criterion validity regarding subjective well-being.

Very Low Frequency Heart Rate Variability Predicts the Development of Post-Stroke Infections.

Stroke-induced immunodepression is a major risk factor for severe infectious complications in the immediate post-stroke period. We investigated the predictive value of heart rate variability (HRV) to identify patients at risk of post-stroke infection, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, or severe sepsis during the post-acute interval from days 3 to 5 after stroke onset. A prospective, observational monocentric cohort study was conducted in a university hospital stroke unit of patients with ischemic infarction in the territory of the middle cerebral artery without an ongoing infection at admission.

Weather, Weather Changes and the Risk of Bell's Palsy: A Multicenter Case-Crossover Study.

Background: To evaluate if weather or changes in weather are risk factors for Bell's palsy (BP) as exposure to draught of cold air has been popularly associated with the occurrence of BP.

Methods: Using a multicenter hospital-based case-crossover study, we analyzed the association between ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative air humidity or their 24 h changes and the risk for BP in 825 patients or subgroups.

Results: One day following a 24 h increase in atmospheric pressure of more than 6 hPa, the risk for BP increased by 35% (OR 1.

Cardiovascular effects of prenatal stress-Are there implications for cerebrovascular, cognitive and mental health outcome?

Prenatal stress programs offspring cognitive and mental health outcome. We reviewed whether prenatal stress also programs cardiovascular dysfunction which potentially modulates cerebrovascular, cognitive and mental health disorders. We focused on maternal stress and prenatal glucocorticoid (GC) exposure which have different programming effects.

Underlying mechanism of subcortical brain protection during hypoxia and reoxygenation in a sheep model - Influence of α1-adrenergic signalling.

While the cerebral autoregulation sufficiently protects subcortical brain regions during hypoxia or asphyxia, the cerebral cortex is not as adequately protected, which suggests that regulation of the cerebral blood flow (CBF) is area-specific. Hypoxia was induced by inhalation of 5% oxygen, for reoxygenation 100% oxygen was used. Cortical and subcortical CBF (by laser Doppler flowmetry), blood gases, mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), heart rate and renal blood flow were constantly monitored.

Rapid increases in nitrogen oxides are associated with acute myocardial infarction: A case-crossover study.

Aims High concentrations of air pollutants are associated with increased risk for myocardial infarction. The European Union has defined statutory limits for air pollutants based on upper absolute concentrations. We evaluated the association between rapid changes in air pollutants and the risk of myocardial infarction independently of absolute concentrations.

Impact of chronic maternal stress during early gestation on maternal-fetal stress transfer and fetal stress sensitivity in sheep.

Acute stress-induced reduction of uterine blood flow (UBF) is an indirect mechanism of maternal-fetal stress transfer during late gestation. Effects of chronic psychosocial maternal stress (CMS) during early gestation, as may be experienced by many working women, on this stress signaling mechanism are unclear. We hypothesized that CMS in sheep during early gestation augments later acute stress-induced decreases of UBF, and aggravates the fetal hormonal, cardiovascular, and metabolic stress responses during later development.

Automatic affective responses towards the bed in patients with primary insomnia: evidence for a negativity bias.

Ruminating about sleep problems and negatively valenced thinking play a key role in the maintenance of sleep complaints in patients with insomnia. Based on associative learning principles, we hypothesized that repeated co-occurrence of negative thoughts (unconditioned stimulus) and the bedroom environment (conditioned stimulus) results in automatic negative affective responses towards the bed (conditioned response). Twenty-two insomniacs and 22 good sleepers performed a Single-Target Implicit Association Test measuring the strength of automatically triggered affective responses towards the bed.

Fetal Sheep Mesenteric Resistance Arteries: Functional and Structural Maturation.

Background: Fetal blood pressure increases during late gestation; however, the underlying vascular mechanisms are unclear. Knowledge of the maturation of resistance arteries is important to identify the mechanisms and vulnerable periods for the development of vascular dysfunction in adulthood.

Methods: We determined the functional and structural development of fetal sheep mesenteric resistance arteries using wire myography and immunohistochemistry.

Redistribution of Cerebral Blood Flow during Severe Hypovolemia and Reperfusion in a Sheep Model: Critical Role of α1-Adrenergic Signaling.

Background: Maintenance of brain circulation during shock is sufficient to prevent subcortical injury but the cerebral cortex is not spared. This suggests area-specific regulation of cerebral blood flow (CBF) during hemorrhage.

Methods: Cortical and subcortical CBF were continuously measured during blood loss (≤50%) and subsequent reperfusion using laser Doppler flowmetry.