Restless legs syndrome in Parkinson's disease: a case-controlled study.

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a disorder of motor activity with a circadian pattern, occurring frequently in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). We sought to estimate the prevalence of RLS in Indian PD patients. One hundred twenty-six consecutive PD patients and 128 healthy age- and sex-matched controls were evaluated using a predesigned questionnaire. RLS was present in 10 of 126 cases of PD (7.9%) and 1 of 128 controls (0.8%, P = 0.01). PD patients with RLS were older than those without RLS (63.70 +/- 7.80 years vs. 57.37 +/- 10.04 years; P = 0.05) and had higher prevalence of depression (40% vs. 10.3%; P = 0.023). No demographic factors or factors related to PD correlated with the presence or severity of RLS. RLS is more common among patients with PD than controls. A greater medical recognition of this disorder is needed in view of available effective treatment.     

Cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in normotensive awake subjects with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome

Cardiovascular autonomic function in normotensive awake patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome was studied in 21 normotensive (mean age 48 ± 14 years), drug-free men with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome. Cardiovascular reflex tests with continuous blood pressure monitoring and biochemical indices were performed the morning after a standard polygraphic sleep recording. A group of 20 agematched (mean age 49 ± 19 years) normal subjects was used as controls. The obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome patients showed higher heart rate and noradrenaline plasma levels (p < 0.05) at rest and a higher blood pressure response to head-up tilt (p < 0.01), suggesting sympathetic overactivity. Respiratory arrhythmia, baroreflex sensitivity index and Valsalva ratio were significantly lower in the obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome group (p < 0.01) whereas the decrease in heart rate induced by the cold face test was significantly higher (p < 0.05) showing a blunting of reflexes dependent on baroreceptor or pulmonary afferents with normal or increased cardiac vagal efferent activity. These abnormalities in autonomic regulation may predispose obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome patients to cardiovascular complications like hypertension and cardiac arrhythmias.     

慢性阻塞性肺疾病患者家庭支持与自我概念的相关性研究

目的 探讨慢性阻塞性肺疾病(慢阻肺)患者的家庭支持与自我概念的关系。方法 用方便抽样法选取108位慢阻肺患者，应用修订的个人资源问卷、自我概念量表和一般资料问卷分别测定其家庭支持、自我概念水平和一般资料。结果 该组患者家庭支持程度为中到高度，自我概念中度积极；家庭支持与总的自我概念呈中度正相关，与自我概念中的体感、自我一致性、理想自我及道德一伦理一精神自我有显著相关．与体象无关。结论 慢阻肺患者的家庭支持水平越高，其自我概念越积极。     

REM sleep behavior disorder and vocal cord paralysis in Machado-Joseph disease.

We evaluated the occurrence of REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) and vocal cord abductor paralysis (VCAP) in a group of 9 Machado-Joseph disease (MJD) patients. RBD was diagnosed by clinical history plus audiovisual polysomnography in 4 men and 1 woman (55%). While dreaming, 4 fell out of the bed and the other injured his arms. Laryngoscopy detected bilateral VCAP in 1 patient with stridor who required emergency tracheotomy, and partial vocal cord abductor restriction in 2. RBD and VCAP are two potentially injurious conditions that should be considered part of the clinical spectrum of MJD.     

梗阻性黄疸患者的内毒素血症及其对机体的影响

４９例梗阻性黄疸患者（实验组）和８１例无黄疸的胆系疾病患者（对照组）围手术期外周血的内毒素（ＥＴ）检测结果表明，实验组：①术前ＥＴ阳性率明显高于对照组（Ｐ＜０．００１）；②术后１０～１２ｄ夹闭Ｔ／Ｙ管后ＥＴ阳性率明显低于术前和夹管前（Ｐ＜０．００１）；③伴急性化脓性胆管炎（ＡＣＳＴ）的患者ＥＴ阳性率明显高于无ＡＣＳＴ的患者（Ｐ＜０．００１）；术前口服胆盐的患者ＥＴ阳性率则显著低于未口服胆盐者（Ｐ＜０．００１）．作者认为，本组梗阻性黄疸患者中出现的肾功能障碍、胃肠道出血以及２例患者的死亡，至少部分地与内毒素血症有关。     

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合征患者手术治疗的麻醉研究

目的：探讨阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合征(obstructive sleep apnea syndrome，OSAS)患者手术治疗的麻醉处理。方法：72例OSAS患者手术前先正压通气治疗(continue positive airway pressure，CPAP)和评价上气道，55例患者经鼻或经口气管插管全身麻醉；在手术完毕患者完全清醒后拔除插管。结果：72例患者中，轻度16例、中度24例、重度32例。合并晨起高血压28例，心电图均有不同程度心肌缺血的表现；红细胞增多症12例；腭咽平面Ⅰ级9例、Ⅱ级24例、Ⅲ级的27例、Ⅳ级12例。术前3．5d行自动调压正压通气治疗(Auto—CPAP)，经口气管内插管48例，经鼻气管内插管6例，均无术中插管困难和术后高血压危象，呼吸道梗阻发生。结论：充分认识OSAHS患者全身麻醉的手术风险，术前CPAP治疗和上气道评估，术中正确处理、严格掌握气管内插管、术后拔管的时机，是保证OSAHS患者手术成功、麻醉安全的关键。     

Lithium increases slow wave sleep: possible mediation by brain 5-HT2 receptors?

The effect of lithium on slow wave sleep (SWS) was studied in ten normal male volunteers using home based cassette sleep recording and automatic sleep stage analysis. Lithium increased SWS, an effect consisten with a reduction in brain 5-HT₂ receptor function.     

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停患者临床表现与上气道阻塞部位关系的探讨

目的 观察一组AHI接近的阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合征（OSAS）患者中上气道阻塞部位对多导睡眠监测（PSG）图及临床表现的影响。方法选取36例AHI为30—40的成年男性OSAS患者行再次整夜PSG，加同步上气道及食道压力监测确定上气道最低阻塞部位。比较上气道最低阻塞部位在软腭水平、舌根水平和下咽水平的不同患者中PSG相关参数：平均SaO2、最低SaO2、最长阻塞性呼吸暂停事件时间、呼吸暂停事件中SaO2下降率（dSaO2／dt）、微觉醒指数；以及部分临床表现参数：白日嗜睡程度、入睡前收缩压／清晨收缩压、入睡前舒张压／清晨舒张压以及高血压发生率。结果平均SaO2、最长阻塞性呼吸暂停事件时间和入睡前收缩压／清晨收缩压比值在3种不同上气道最低阻塞部位患者中差异无显著性（P〉0．05），但与软腭水平相比，舌根水平和下咽水平的最低Sa02降低（P〉0．05），dSaO2／dt（％／s）比值增高（P〈0．05），微觉醒指数及白日嗜睡评分增高（P〈0．01），入睡前舒张压／清晨舒张压比值降低（P〈0．05），最低SaO2〈80％的发生率增高（P〈0．01）以及高血压的发生率增高（P〈0．01）。结论AHI接近的OSAS患者上气道阻塞部位在舌根水平以下者与软腭以上水平者相比，阻塞性呼吸暂停事件的致缺氧效率和程度提高，OSAS的临床表现加重。     

Pressure stability of nasal CPAP and bilevel devices

Summary Question of the study   Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) prevents collapse of the upper airway during sleep in patients with obstructive sleep apnea provided that a positive transmural pressure can be maintained during inspiration. We examined pressure-flow characteristics in seven CPAP and bilevel devices during spontaneous breathing.
Methods   The CPAP devices were set to a pressure level of 9.8  hPa (10  cm H₂O) and adapted to a pneumotachograph using a standard CPAP hose and an outlet valve. We continuously measured flow, volume and pressure during resting ventilation and increasing voluntary hyperventilation and analysed the dependence of the variables on a breath-to-breath basis.
Results   Mean CPAP pressures differed between the devices (9.9 – 10.6  hPa) despite the same settings. In all machines pressure fell during inspiration to 8.4 – 9.8  hPa and increased during expiration to 11.1 – 11.7  hPa. This effect increased with higher flow rates. Maximum expiratory pressures rose to 12 – 19  hPa at peak flow rates of 2 l/s, mean expiratory pressures to 9.5 – 16  hPa. Inspiratory pressures dropped to 8.5 – 4.5  hPa (minimum) and 10.5 – 6.0 (mean). Bilevel devices showed a higher stability than CPAP devices. Pressure swings during the respiratory cycle increased the additional work of breathing.
Conclusions   Due to differences in mean and effective CPAP levels CPAP devices are not simply exchangeable but should be individually adapted. Patients with higher minute ventilation might benefit from more stable CPAP machines. The impact on patients' compliance remains to be evaluated.     

A study of the interrupted REM episode

Brief interruptions of REM sleep are considered to be part of the REM episode. The maximum allowable duration of such an interruption, which is used to define the end of the REM episode, is currently a matter of debate. Making measurements on individual REM cycles, inter-REM interval analysis was carried out to determine whether the generally adopted 15 minute empirical rule for this maximum needs to be extended to 25 minutes as suggested by several including Kobayashi et al. Our results show that there is no reason to alter the 15 minute rule and that measurements which do not take into account the time-of-night effect may be misleading. The proportion of interrupted REM episodes observed in our population of healthy adults is high. We have therefore also examined in some detail the phenomenology of the temporal evolution of the structure and content of the interrupted REM episodes. Both showed a definite change over the night: the interruptions in the earlier episodes tend to return the system to slow wave sleep while those in the later episodes tend to return it to wake. It is hypothesized that these interruptions reflect a measure of REM sleep pressure and its interaction with both slow wave sleep and wake pressures.