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Neuron May 2024Sleep is a universal, essential biological process. It is also an invaluable window on consciousness. It tells us that consciousness can be lost but also that it can be... (Review)
Review
Sleep is a universal, essential biological process. It is also an invaluable window on consciousness. It tells us that consciousness can be lost but also that it can be regained, in all its richness, when we are disconnected from the environment and unable to reflect. By considering the neurophysiological differences between dreaming and dreamless sleep, we can learn about the substrate of consciousness and understand why it vanishes. We also learn that the ongoing state of the substrate of consciousness determines the way each experience feels regardless of how it is triggered-endogenously or exogenously. Dreaming consciousness is also a window on sleep and its functions. Dreams tell us that the sleeping brain is remarkably lively, recombining intrinsic activation patterns from a vast repertoire, freed from the requirements of ongoing behavior and cognitive control.
Topics: Humans; Consciousness; Sleep; Dreams; Brain; Animals
PubMed: 38697113
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.04.011 -
The Journal of Family Practice Nov 2023
PubMed: 37976338
DOI: 10.12788/jfp.0691 -
Sleep Medicine Clinics Mar 2024This article presents a comprehensive review of nightmare disorder, covering diagnosis, treatment approaches, guidelines, and considerations. It begins with an... (Review)
Review
This article presents a comprehensive review of nightmare disorder, covering diagnosis, treatment approaches, guidelines, and considerations. It begins with an introduction, defining the disorder and addressing its prevalence and psychosocial implications. The article explores assessment tools for diagnosis and then delves into psychological and pharmacologic treatment modalities, examining their efficacy and side effects. Considerations for optimizing therapeutic outcomes are highlighted, including medication versus psychotherapy, co-morbidities, cultural implications, and the use of technology and service animals. The review concludes by offering key recommendations for effective treatment and clinical care for individuals with nightmare disorder.
Topics: Humans; Dreams; Polysomnography; Psychotherapy; Comorbidity
PubMed: 38368059
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2023.10.011 -
Inflammopharmacology Feb 2024There is documentation of the use of opium derived products in the ancient history of the Assyrians: the Egyptians; in the sixth century AD by the Roman Dioscorides; and... (Review)
Review
There is documentation of the use of opium derived products in the ancient history of the Assyrians: the Egyptians; in the sixth century AD by the Roman Dioscorides; and by Avicenna (980-1037). Reference to opium like products is made by Paracelsus and by Shakespeare. Charles Louis Derosne and Fredrich Wilhelm Adam Serturner isolated morphine from raw opium in 1802 and 1806 respectively, and it was Sertürner who named the substance morphine, after Morpheus, the Greek God of dreams. By the middle 1800s, Opium and related opioid derived products were the source of a major addiction in USA, and to some extent in the United Kingdom. Opioid products are of major therapeutic value in the treatment of pain from injury, post surgery, intractable pain conditions, and some forms of terminal cancer.
Topics: Humans; Analgesics, Opioid; Morphine; Narcotics; Opium
PubMed: 37515654
DOI: 10.1007/s10787-023-01304-y -
Sleep Medicine Clinics Mar 2024Sleep terrors, categorized under disorders of arousal, more prevalent in pediatric population, generally are self-limited but sometimes can persist or occur in... (Review)
Review
Sleep terrors, categorized under disorders of arousal, more prevalent in pediatric population, generally are self-limited but sometimes can persist or occur in adulthood. These are primed by factors enhancing homeostatic drive on backdrop of developmental predisposition and are precipitated by factors increasing sleep fragmentation resulting in dissociated state of sleep with some cerebral regions showing abnormal slow wave activity and others fast activity. This phenotypically evolves into abrupt partial arousal with individual arousing from N3 or N2 sleep with behaviors representing intense fear such as crying with autonomic hyperactivity. There is no recollection of the event, and lack of vivid dream mentation although fragmented imagery may be noted. Behavioral management is of prime importance including addressing precipitating factors, family reassurance, safety measures, and scheduled awakenings. Pharmacologic agents such as clonazepam and antidepressants are used infrequently in case of disruptive episodes.
Topics: Humans; Child; Night Terrors; Somnambulism; Parasomnias; Sleep; Sleep Stages; Sleep Wake Disorders
PubMed: 38368070
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2023.12.004 -
Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal 2023Philip Alexander, MD, is a native Texan, retired physician, and accomplished musician and artist. After 41 years as an internal medicine physician, Dr. Phil retired from...
Philip Alexander, MD, is a native Texan, retired physician, and accomplished musician and artist. After 41 years as an internal medicine physician, Dr. Phil retired from his practice in College Station in 2016. A lifelong musician and former music professor, he often performs as an oboe soloist for the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra. He began exploring visual art in 1980, evolving from pencil sketches-including an official White House portrait of President Ronald Reagan-to the computer-generated drawings featured in this journal. His images, which first appeared in this journal in the spring of 2012, are his own original creations. If you would like to see your art published in the , submit your creation online at journal.houstonmethodist.org as a "Humanities" entry.
PubMed: 37547897
DOI: 10.14797/mdcvj.1267 -
Sleep Medicine Clinics Mar 2024The diagnostic category of sleep-related hallucinations (SRH) replaces the previous category of Terrifying Hypnagogic Hallucinations in the 2001 edition of International... (Review)
Review
The diagnostic category of sleep-related hallucinations (SRH) replaces the previous category of Terrifying Hypnagogic Hallucinations in the 2001 edition of International Classification of Sleep Disorders-R. Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations (HHH) that occur in the absence of other symptoms or disorder and, within the limits of normal sleep, are most likely non-pathological. By contrast, complex nocturnal visual hallucinations (CNVH) may reflect a dimension of psychopathology reflecting different combinations of etiologic influences. The identification and conceptualization of CNVH is relatively new, and more research is needed to clarify whether CNVH share common mechanisms with HHH.
Topics: Humans; Hallucinations; Sleep; Sleep Wake Disorders
PubMed: 38368061
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2023.10.008