Narcolepsy
Mar
18
2009
This entry was posted by admin on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 8:42 am (UTC), and is categorically filed in Narcolepsy, Top News.
Preliminary research in healthy men suggests that the narcolepsy drug modafinil, increasingly being used to enhance cognitive abilities, affects the activity of dopamine in the brain in a way that may create the potential for abuse and dependence, according to a study in JAMA.
Modafinil, a wake-promoting drug used to treat sleep disorders, may enhance cognition and is used off-label for the treatment of cognitive dysfunction in some psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
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May
5
2008
This entry was posted by admin on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 6:02 pm (UTC), and is categorically filed in Narcolepsy, Top News.
In healthy people, both sleepiness and vigilance show a relationship with core body temperature and skin temperature. When core body temperature is high during the daytime, skin temperature is low, which translates into optimal vigilance.
Researchers noted during a recent study, though, that when core body temperature is low at night time, skin temperature is high, which correlates to optimal sleep. Among those suffering from narcolepsy, however, direct manipulations of their skin and core body temperatures affect their vigilance and sleepiness.
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Mar
3
2008
This entry was posted by admin on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 7:02 pm (UTC), and is categorically filed in Narcolepsy, Top News.
The majority of patients with narcolepsy/cataplexy experience a number of symptoms of eating disorders, with an irresistible craving for food and binge eating as the most prominent features, according to a study published in the March 1 issue of the journal Sleep.
Study authors Hal Droogleever Fortuyn, M.D., and Sebastiaan Overeem, M.D., of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in The Netherlands, focused on 60 patients who had been diagnosed with narcolepsy with cataplexy (N/C) who were recruited from specialized sleep centers and 120 healthy controls.
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Aug
5
1999
This entry was posted by admin on Thursday, August 5, 1999 at 11:04 am (UTC), and is categorically filed in Narcolepsy.
Researchers who had bred a group of mice in hopes of learning more about a brain hormone that stimulates appetite got a bit of a surprise when they saw that the rodents would suddenly collapse and fall fast asleep with no provocation. As a result, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Masashi Yanagisawa and colleagues at the University of Texas’ Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have an exciting new lead into the genesis of sleep and the origins of narcolepsy, a severe sleep disorder in humans.
In 1998, Yanagisawa discovered the orexins, small brain proteins and their receptors that regulate feeding behavior in mice. To probe the role that orexins play in regulating appetite, Yanagisawa and his colleagues developed a strain of knockout mice whose orexin genes do not function properly.
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Interesting Apnea Statistics
~~ Apnea in United States ~~
As of May 2, 2009 at 9:47 p.m. (-0500) (ET), the U.S. population
was 306,340,710. Sleep researchers estimate approximately seven percent
of the population suffers from obstructive sleep apnea. Using that
estimate, there are potentially 21,443,850 apneics in the U.S.
~~ Apnea around the world ~~
As of May 2, 2009 at 9:47 p.m. (-0500) (ET), the world population
was 6,777,286,604. Sleep researchers estimate approximately seven percent
of the population suffers from obstructive sleep apnea. Using that
estimate, there are potentially 474,410,062 apneics in the world.
