Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders (CRSWDs) are characterized by persistent or recurrent patterns of sleep disturbance related primarily to alterations of the circadian rhythm system or the misalignment between the endogenous circadian rhythm and exogenous factors that affect the timing or duration of sleep. These disorders collectively represent a significant unmet medical need, with a tota...

OBJECTIVES To test whether the addition of melatonin to bright-light therapy enhances the efficacy in treating rest-activity (circadian) disruption in institutionalized patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). DESIGN Randomized, controlled trial. SETTING Two nursing homes in San Francisco, California. PARTICIPANTS Fifty subjects (mean age 86) with AD. INTERVENTION Experimental subjects r...

The sodium leak channel, a Na+-permeable, nonselective cation channel, is widely expressed in the nervous system, contributing a basal Na+-leak conductance and regulating neuronal excitability. A 3-year-old girl, heterozygous for a de novo missense mutation in NALCN (c.956C>T; p.Ala319Val) predicted to be deleterious, presented from birth with: stimulus-induced, episodic contractures of the lim...

OBJECTIVE Disruption of the circadian rhythm is known as a provoking factor for manic episodes. Individual differences exist in the recovery rate from disruption in the general population. To develop a screening method to detect individuals vulnerable to bipolar disorder, the authors observed the relationship between the recovery of the normal sleep-wake cycle after switching the light-dark (LD...

From a physiological perspective the sleep-wake cycle can be envisioned as a sequence of three physiological states (wakefulness, non-rapid eye movement, NREM, sleep and REM sleep) which are defined by a particular neuroendocrine-immune profile regulating the metabolic balance, body weight and inflammatory responses. Sleep deprivation and circadian disruption in contemporary "24/7 Society" lead...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of depression in young people is increasing. The predominant co-morbidities of juvenile depression include sleep disturbances and persistent problems with the sleep-wake rhythm, which have shown to influence treatment outcomes negatively. Severe mood dysregulation is another condition that includes depressive symptoms and problems with the sleep-wake rhythm. Patients w...

Neuropeptide S (NPS) is an endogenous peptide that exerts wakefulness promoting, analgesic, and anxiolytic effects when administered exogenously. However, it remains to be determined if endogenous NPS tone is involved in the control of the diurnal sleep-wake cycle, or spontanous behavior. In this study, we examined the effects of the NPS receptor antagonist [D-Cys((t)Bu)(5)]NPS (2 and 20 nmol, ...

Rationale: Blood pressure (BP) usually decreases during nocturnal sleep and increases during daytime activities. Whether the endogenous circadian control system contributes to this daily BP variation has not been determined under appropriately controlled conditions. Objective: To determine whether there exists an endogenous circadian rhythm of BP in humans. Methods and Results: In 28 normotensi...

Rationale: Blood pressure (BP) usually decreases during nocturnal sleep and increases during daytime activities. Whether the endogenous circadian control system contributes to this daily BP variation has not been determined under appropriately controlled conditions. Objective: To determine whether there exists an endogenous circadian rhythm of BP in humans. Methods and Results: In 28 normotensi...

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