Sleep Paralysis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Sleep Paralysis, including details on causes, awareness, dreaming. | ||||||
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Narcolepsy and orexins: an example of progress in sleep research.De la Herrán-Arita AK, Guerra-Crespo M, Drucker-Colín R Departamento de Neuropatología Molecular, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México México D.F., México. Narcolepsy is a chronic neurodegenerative disease caused by a deficiency of orexin-producing neurons in the lateral hypothalamus. It is clinically characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and by intrusions into wakefulness of physiological aspects of rapid eye movement sleep such as cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations. The major pathophysiology of narcolepsy has been recently described on the bases of the discovery of the neuropeptides named orexins (hypocretins) in 1998; considerable evidence, summarized below, demonstrates that narcolepsy is the result of alterations in the genes involved in the pathology of the orexin ligand or its receptor. Deficient orexin transmission is sufficient to produce narcolepsy, as we describe here, animal models with dysregulated orexin signaling exhibit a narcolepsy-like phenotype. Remarkably, these narcoleptic models have different alterations of the orexinergic circuit, this diversity provide us with the means for making comparison, and have a better understanding of orexin-cell physiology. It is of particular interest that the most remarkable findings regarding this sleep disorder were fortuitous and due to keen observations. Sleep is a highly intricate and regulated state, and narcolepsy is a disorder that still remains as one of the unsolved mysteries in science. Nevertheless, advances and development of technology in neuroscience will provide us with the necessary tools to unravel the narcolepsy puzzle in the near future. Through an evaluation of the scientific literature we traced an updated picture of narcolepsy and orexins in order to provide insight into the means by which neurobiological knowledge is constructed. Published 4 May 2011 in Front Neurol, 2: 26. Articles on Sleep Paralysis published 27 April 2011: Hallucinations in narcolepsy with and without cataplexy: Contrasts with Parkinson's disease. Sleep Med, 12(5): 497-504. Articles on Sleep Paralysis published 21 April 2011: Orexin gene transfer into zona incerta neurons suppresses muscle paralysis in narcoleptic mice. J Neurosci, 31(16): 6028-40. Cataplexy, a sudden unexpected muscle paralysis, is a debilitating symptom of the neurodegenerative sleep disorder, narcolepsy. During these attacks, the person is paralyzed, but fully conscious and aware of their surroundings. To identify potential neurons that might serve as surrogate orexin neurons to suppress such attacks, the gene for orexin (hypocretin), a peptide lost in most human narcoleptics, was delivered into the brains of the orexin-ataxin-3 transgenic mouse model of human ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Orexin gene transfer into zona incerta neurons suppresses muscle paralysis in narcoleptic mice. J Neurosci, 31(16): 6028-40. Cataplexy, a sudden unexpected muscle paralysis, is a debilitating symptom of the neurodegenerative sleep disorder, narcolepsy. During these attacks, the person is paralyzed, but fully conscious and aware of their surroundings. To identify potential neurons that might serve as surrogate orexin neurons to suppress such attacks, the gene for orexin (hypocretin), a peptide lost in most human narcoleptics, was delivered into the brains of the orexin-ataxin-3 transgenic mouse model of human ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Articles on Sleep Paralysis published 19 April 2011: Further validation of the Iowa sleep disturbances inventory. Psychol Assess. This study examined the reliability and validity of an expanded version of the Iowa Sleep Disturbances Inventory (ISDI; Koffel & Watson, 2010) in 2 samples (219 college students and 200 psychiatric patients). The expanded ISDI includes the scales Sleep Paralysis and Sleep Hallucinations. These scales, along with the Nightmares scale, help define a higher order factor entitled Unusual Sleep Experiences. This factor was distinct from the Insomnia and Lassitude factors that were reported ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Further validation of the Iowa sleep disturbances inventory. Psychol Assess. This study examined the reliability and validity of an expanded version of the Iowa Sleep Disturbances Inventory (ISDI; Koffel & Watson, 2010) in 2 samples (219 college students and 200 psychiatric patients). The expanded ISDI includes the scales Sleep Paralysis and Sleep Hallucinations. These scales, along with the Nightmares scale, help define a higher order factor entitled Unusual Sleep Experiences. This factor was distinct from the Insomnia and Lassitude factors that were reported ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Articles on Sleep Paralysis published 13 April 2011: Hallucinations in narcolepsy with and without cataplexy: Contrasts with Parkinson's disease. Sleep Med. BACKGROUND: Narcolepsy and Parkinson's disease (PD) are associated with hallucinations, excessive daytime sleepiness, REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), as well as complete (narcolepsy with cataplexy) vs. partial (PD, narcolepsy without cataplexy) hypocretin-1 deficiency. OBJECTIVE: To compare the hallucinations associated with narcolepsy to those of PD. METHODS: One hundred patients with narcolepsy (with and without cataplexy) and 100 patients with PD were consecutively interviewed about their ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Articles on Sleep Paralysis published 22 March 2011: Sodium oxybate in narcolepsy with cataplexy: zurich sleep center experience. Eur Neurol, 65(3): 175-82. Sodium oxybate (SO; Xyrem®) has been approved in most countries for treatment of narcolepsy and cataplexy. In this study, we present a single-center experience of a series of 18 patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy (18/18 DQB1*0602 positive, 17/17 with low/absent cerebrospinal fluid hypocretin) in whom SO was prescribed. After 26 ± 13 months, 13/18 patients were still on SO at a mean dosage of 6.1 ± 1.2 g (in 8 of them in combination with stimulants). The following significant effects ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Sodium oxybate in narcolepsy with cataplexy: zurich sleep center experience. Eur Neurol, 65(3): 175-82. Sodium oxybate (SO; Xyrem®) has been approved in most countries for treatment of narcolepsy and cataplexy. In this study, we present a single-center experience of a series of 18 patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy (18/18 DQB1*0602 positive, 17/17 with low/absent cerebrospinal fluid hypocretin) in whom SO was prescribed. After 26 ± 13 months, 13/18 patients were still on SO at a mean dosage of 6.1 ± 1.2 g (in 8 of them in combination with stimulants). The following significant effects ... [Abstract] [Full-text] © 2004-2011 Sleep Paralysis Research Today. All Rights Reserved. |
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