[New trends in psychiatric therapy: hibernation therapy, prolonged sleep and neuroplegic drugs].
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Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the fastest and most effective treatment for severe or treatment-resistant affective and psychotic disorders. Its therapeutic effect is obtained through a generalized tonic-clonic seizure of adequate duration. Several factors (older age, male gender, and the sessions of ECT themselves) increase seizure threshold and reduce seizure time. In our work, sleep deprivation was used as a strategy to enhance the ECT seizure. A matched sample design was conducted on the basis of the following variables: gender, age range, and seizure threshold. After the first ECT, when the initial seizure threshold was measured, subjects were assigned to ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) or SD+ECT (sleep deprivation + electroconvulsive therapy). Changes in the variable of seizure threshold were studied in both groups during the treatment course. A nonparametric analysis was implemented for 2 independent groups. During the treatment course, the SD+ECT group showed a decreased seizure threshold, from 190.4 mC in the first ECT session to 176.4 mC in the last ECT session, whereas the ECT group showed an increased seizure threshold, increasing from 190.4 mC to 321.91 mC. Sleep deprivation is an effective and safe technique used to lower the seizure threshold of ECT and to obtain an adequate seizure time without increasing the energy applied.
Oral appliances are increasingly gaining a place in the treatment of sleep disordered breathing caused by upper airway obstruction. This review of publications since 1995 documents substantial progress in the scientific basis for this therapy. Imaging by several techniques has shown that mandibular advancing oral appliances open the airway in awake and anaesthetized subjects, creating the presumption that this effect is maintained in sleep. Three controlled cross-over treatment trials have shown that patients consistently prefer oral appliance over continuous positive airway pressure therapy, especially when the treatment effect is strong. Appliance design and use indicates a preference for adjustable mandibular advancing appliances. Complications of therapy appear to be infrequent, but evidence for safety of long-term use is still limited. Oral appliance therapy can be an effective therapy for sleep disorders caused by upper airway obstruction. Considering the accumulated evidence, it is no longer tenable to label oral appliance therapy an OexperimentalO procedure.
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The efficacy and adverse effects of nifurtimox and DFMO in the treatment of sleeping sickness are reviewed. Both new substances constitute effective novel therapeutic agents for gambiense sleeping sickness, including melarsoprol-refractory disease. DFMO is not very active in rhodesiense sleeping sickness and experience with nifurtimox in this form of trypanosomiasis is too limited to draw valid conclusions. The toxicity of nifurtimox and DFMO is not negligible. Optimum dosage and duration of therapy, modes of administration and potential for large scale use are discussed. Some recent results obtained with the classical trypanocide melarsoprol are presented to facilitate comparison. The current availability of several effective late-stage drugs (melarsoprol, nifurtimox and DFMO), that show synergistic activity in experimental models, should allow the establishment of optimum combination treatment regimens.
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Sleep disorders could be the symptoms of organic or non-organic conditions. The diagnostics comprises a detailed medical history of the patient complemented by a sleep diary, as well as organic medical and psychological/psychiatric examinations. For drug therapy benzodiazepine, antidepressants, neuroleptics, antihistamines, plant-based preparations and natural sleep-inducing substances such as L-tryptophan or melatonin are used. Nondrug strategies include sleep hygiene, stimulus control, sleep restriction and cognitive techniques. For sleep disturbances due to a psychological or organic disease, the primary condition must be treated.
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PURPOSE: Reports of irreversible alteration in jaw posture and destructive occlusal contact relationships in individuals using mandibular advancement devices for obstructive sleep apnea are beginning to appear. This study sought cephalometric means of identifying such individuals before commencing therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cephalograms of 34 obstructive sleep apnea sufferers who had worn mandibular advancement devices for 2 years were compared retrospectively with baseline films taken at commencement of therapy and analyzed for signs of morphologic changes in jaw position and occlusal relationship. In affected patients, two distinct morphologic species of mandibular reposturing became evident: (1) bilateral posterior open bite with destructive incisal attrition; and (2) less destructive intermediate open bite over the premolar and first molar regions. From the observed morphology patterns, gonial angle and maxillary-mandibular plane angle were analyzed as possible vertical cephalometric risk predictors, with newly defined pterygoid advancement proportion (PtAP) as a horizontal predictor. RESULTS: Three patients displayed the posterior open bite pattern and had gonial angles < or = 119 degrees and maxillary-mandibular plane angles < or = 16 degrees, with PtAP values > or = 0.48. Prediction intervals for the five intermediate open bite cases were 118 degrees < or = gonial angle < or = 128 degrees, and 23 degrees < or = maxillary-mandibular plane angle < or = 32 degrees. PtAP values were > or = 0.52. CONCLUSION: Cephalometric analysis can help practitioners identify which apnea patients might be likely to develop irreversible mandibular postural changes from wearing a jaw-repositioning device.
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The treatment of sleep disorders in depressives depends basically on the nature of the underlying affective disorder (endogenous, organic, psychogenic or constitutional depression). Therapeutic approaches may be categorized in: psychological, somatic and pharmacological ones. The former include psychotherapies and behavioral treatments which are useful in psychogenic and constitutional depressions with sleep-onset insomnia but may also be supportive in endogenous depressions. The basic therapeutic factor common to all is anxiety reduction. Somatic therapies, such as ECT, total, partial and REM-sleep deprivation, sleep schedule shifts and bright light (EL) are utilized mostly in endogenous depressions. Sleep laboratory findings and different hypotheses concerning the mode of action of these alternative treatment methods are reviewed. Somnopolygraphic, psychometric, and neuroendocrinological data of our comparative trial with BL and partial sleep deprivation in normals and patients are discussed. The similarity of changes after BL, antidepressants and lithium points to a chronobiological factor in the pathogenesis and treatment of affective disorders. Electrosleep is still controversial, hydro-, ergo- and physical therapy are supportive therapies and as such indicated in all depressions. Exercise, fatigue and nutritional factors may influence sleep. Psychopharmacological treatment has to be regarded as the most important therapeutic approach for sleep disorders in depressives. Antidepressants are the drugs of choice for most patients. Based on their effects on sleep-induction, -maintenance, and -architecture and REM measures, one may differentiate at least two subtypes: sedative antidepressants of the amitriptyline type and nonsedative antidepressants of the desipramine type. Bedtime infusions of antidepressants may have sleep promoting properties, which was objectivated by an EEG spectral analysis during infusion and subsequently by all night sleep studies. Measures indicative of therapeutic outcome are still controversial. Tranquilizers, hypnotics, neuroleptics and serotonin precursors are utilized if the antidepressants alone do not ameliorate insomnia. However, as evidence of a shared diathesis of origin of depressive and anxiety disorders is building up, benzodiazepines are increasingly prescribed as monotherapy too. Finally, sleep laboratory data concerning the hypnotic properties of a pharmacological 80 mg doses of melatonin are demonstrated.
BACKGROUND: Approximately half of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients are positional (i.e., the majority of their breathing abnormalities during sleep appear in the supine posture). Little information exists as to whether avoiding the supine posture during sleep (positional therapy) is a valuable form of therapy for these patients. AIM: To assess the use of positional therapy (by the tennis ball technique [TBT]) during a 6 month period in 78 consecutive positional OSA patients. METHODS: Demographic, polysomnographic, and self-reported questionnaire data on the use of the TBT were analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 50 patients who returned the questionnaire, 19 (38%) (group A) said they were still using the TBT, and 12 (24%) (group B) said they used it initially and stopped using it within a few months but were still avoiding the supine position during sleep. Nineteen patients (38%) (group C) stopped using the TBT within a few months but did not learn how to avoid the sleep supine posture. Patients still using the TBT showed a significant improvement in their self-reported sleep quality (P < .005) and daytime alertness (P < .046) and a decrease in snoring loudness (P < .001). Patients of groups A and B were older than patients who did not comply with this therapy (P < .001). The main reason for patients stopping the use of the TBT in group C was that using it was uncomfortable. CONCLUSIONS: Positional therapy appears to be a valuable form of therapy mainly for some older aged positional OSA patients.
Sleep disturbances in peri- and postmenopausal women may result from hormonal changes, vasomotor symptoms, and possibly psychological factors. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) seems to diminish the disruption of sleep in climacteric women. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a low dose of conjugated equine estrogens (CE) in combination with different progestins (LD-HRT) and evaluate differences between regimens on sleep in symptomatic postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women were recruited and assigned to calcium-vitamin (control group) or to LD-HRT with 0.3mg of CE associated with a daily administration at bedtime of a progestin (2.5 mg MPA, CE + MPA, n = 20), or 100 mg natural micronized progesterone (CE + P, n = 20). Subjective symptoms were evaluated by the Greene climacteric scale, and by a visuanalogic graduated scale (0-10) at baseline and after 4, 8, and 12 weeks of study. Greene's scores for the control group were similar to those in LD-HRT group at baseline, and showed no significant modification at all subsequent measurements. Conversely, in LD-HRT group, a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in the scores of all Greene's domains was evident versus corresponding baseline and control group values. Conversely, in LD-HRT group, a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in the scores of all Greene's domains was evident with no difference in the scores of the two treated group. Both CE + MPA and CE + P significantly (P = 0.05) reduced the HF and sleep visuanalogic score in comparison to the control group. The score of sleep was significantly (P = 0.05) lower in the CE + P group in comparison to that measured in the CE + MPA group. No significant correlation between sleep and vasomotor score was found. In conclusion, low estrogen dose may have a value in the treatment of menopausal women in which sleep disturbances may be a symptom of estrogen deprivation. Low-dose estrogen associated with low-dose micronized progesterone may especially benefit women who complain of disturbed sleep.
We have evaluated the effects of short-term nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) therapy on systemic blood pressure and heart rate in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome. Twenty five consecutive patients were examined during baseline conditions (No-CPAP) and during one night of nCPAP treatment (CPAP). The mean value and the variation coefficient of cardiovascular variables, examined by a finger arterial pressure device (Finapres), were determined in wakefulness and sleep. Without nCPAP an increase in blood pressure from wakefulness to sleep was observed in all patients from 138 +/- 3 mmHg to 146 +/- 3 and 155 +/- 4 mmHg, and from 80 +/- 1 mmHg to 82 +/- 2 and 84 +/- 2 mmHg, respectively, for systolic and diastolic values in non rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Conversely, heart rate decreased from 75 +/- 2 beats.min-1 to 70 +/- 2 and 69 +/- 2 beats.min-1. In addition, variability of heart rate and blood pressure was greatly increased compared with the awake state. Short-term nCPAP therapy significantly reduced systolic pressure from 144 +/- 3 mmHg to 137 +/- 3 and 143 +/- 4 mmHg during NREM and REM sleep, respectively, associated with a decrease in heart rate (from 69 +/- 2 to 65 +/- 2 beat.min-1). In total sleep and in all sleep stages a significantly reduced variability (p less than 0.001) was found. No changes were observed for diastolic pressure during CPAP night compared with baseline conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Sleeping Beauty transposons have the potential for use as chromosome-integrating vectors for non-viral gene therapy. Recent preclinical data from mouse models for human genetic disorders have shown efficacy for the Sleeping Beauty transposon system in the treatment of hemophilia, tyrosinemia type I, junctional epidermolysis bullosa and type 1 diabetes. Methods have also been developed to deliver Sleeping Beauty transposons to the lung, liver and tumors for treatments for cystic fibrosis, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and cancer. Recent studies characterizing site selection for integration and insertional mutagenesis indicate that the Sleeping Beauty transposon system may be a safer alternative than viral approaches for gene therapy.