Volatile emission from strawberry plants is induced by mite and leaf beetle feeding and methyl jasmonate

We have studied the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from young strawberry plants, cultivars Polka and Honeoye, after feeding by several strawberry herbivores under laboratory conditions. VOC profile of strawberry plants is highly dominated by green leaf volatiles (GLVs), which are released also due to mechanical damage. Our results reveal that strawberry has potential for inducible VOC defence, and this encourages testing the attractiveness of these strawberry VOCs to predatory mites

The adapted American Academy of Sleep Medicine sleep scoring criteria in one month old infants : A means to improve comparability?

Objective: The lack of standards induces variability in the sleep staging of infants less than two months of age. We evaluated the feasibility of the 2012 AASM sleep scoring rules for healthy one month old infants. Methods: 84 polysomnographies were scored into sleep stages with the adapted AASM criteria. The acquired sleep parameters were compared with the parameters in the literature. In addition the effect of age on sleep was studied. Results: The two independent scorers achieved substantial agreement by using the adapted AASM criteria. The infants' sleep parameters showed marked variability. The amount of active sleep was 36.7% (mean, range 21.3-54.1%), quiet sleep 41.5% (30.3-57.7%) and indeterminate sleep 21.6% (9.7-36.0%). With age sleep became more continuous, but the sleep stage percentages did not change. Our sleep parameters differed clearly from the parameters presented in the literature. Conclusions: The adapted scoring rules were reproducible. This encourages their use in clinical practice, as no uniform recommendations exist. Significance: Normal values are essential in pediatric sleep medicine and the individual variability in the sleep parameters of healthy infants advocates the standardisation of scoring methods. Here we present sleep stage normative values for one month old infants based on the AASM scoring criteria. (C) 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Median Nerve Shear Wave Elastography is Associated With the Neurophysiological Severity of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Objectives: This study examines the associations between the median nerve (MN) shear wave elastography (SWE), the MN cross-sectional area (CSA), patient's symptoms, and the neurophysiological severity of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The most appropriate site to perform SWE was also tested. Methods: This prospective study comprised 86 wrists of 47 consecutive patients who volunteered for MN ultrasound after an electrodiagnostic study. The neurophysiological severity of CTS was assessed according to the results of a nerve conduction study (NCS). The MN CSA was measured at the carpal tunnel inlet (wCSA) and the forearm (fCSA). SWE was performed on the MN in a longitudinal orientation at the wrist crease (wSWE), at the forearm (fSWE), and within the carpal tunnel (tSWE). Results: The wCSA and wSWE correlated positively with the neurophysiological severity of CTS (r =.619, P <.001; r =.582, P <.001, respectively). The optimal cut-off values to discriminate the groups with normal NCS and with findings indicating CTS were 10.5 mm2 for the wCSA and 4.12 m/s for the wSWE. With these cut-off values, wCSA had a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 87% and wSWE a sensitivity of 88% and specificity of 76%. Neither tSWE nor fSWE correlated with the neurophysiological severity of CTS or differed between NCS negative and positive groups (P =.429, P =.736, respectively). Conclusion: Shear wave velocity in the MN at the carpal tunnel inlet increases in CTS and correlates to the neurophysiological CTS severity equivalently to CSA measured at the same site.Peer reviewe

CPAP Treatment Partly Normalizes Sleep Spindle Features in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Objective. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) decreases sleep spindle density and frequency. We evaluated the effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment on different features of sleep spindles. Methods. Twenty OSA patients underwent two night polysomnographies in a diagnostic phase and one night polysomnography after 6 months of CPAP treatment. The control group comprised 20 healthy controls. Sleep spindles were analyzed by a previously developed automated method. Unilateral and bilateral spindles were identified in central and frontopolar brain locations. Spindle density and frequency were determined for the first and last half of the NREM time. Results. The density of bilateral central spindles, which did not change in the untreated OSA patients, increased towards the morning hours during CPAP treatment and in the controls. Central spindles did not become faster with sleep in OSA patients and the central spindles remained slow in the left hemisphere even with CPAP. Conclusion. CPAP treatment normalized spindle features only partially. The changes may be associated with deficits in thalamocortical spindle generating loops. Significance. This study shows that some sleep spindle changes persist after CPAP treatment in OSA patients. The association of these changes to daytime symptoms in OSA patients needs to be further evaluated

CPAP Treatment Partly Normalizes Sleep Spindle Features in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Objective. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) decreases sleep spindle density and frequency. We evaluated the effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment on different features of sleep spindles. Methods. Twenty OSA patients underwent two night polysomnographies in a diagnostic phase and one night polysomnography after 6 months of CPAP treatment. The control group comprised 20 healthy controls. Sleep spindles were analyzed by a previously developed automated method. Unilateral and bilateral spindles were identified in central and frontopolar brain locations. Spindle density and frequency were determined for the first and last half of the NREM time. Results. The density of bilateral central spindles, which did not change in the untreated OSA patients, increased towards the morning hours during CPAP treatment and in the controls. Central spindles did not become faster with sleep in OSA patients and the central spindles remained slow in the left hemisphere even with CPAP. Conclusion. CPAP treatment normalized spindle features only partially. The changes may be associated with deficits in thalamocortical spindle generating loops. Significance. This study shows that some sleep spindle changes persist after CPAP treatment in OSA patients. The association of these changes to daytime symptoms in OSA patients needs to be further evaluated

Nighttime melatonin secretion and sleep architecture: different associations in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women

Background: Sleep quality typically decreases after menopause, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Concentrations of melatonin are lower and its secretion profiles different before and after menopause. However, whether and how melatonin and sleep architecture are associated in women of different reproductive states have not been examined to date. Methods: Overnight serum melatonin samples were taken from 17 perimenopausal and 18 postmenopausal healthy women. Sleep quality was measured with all-night polysomnography recordings. Results: Melatonin concentrations tended to be the lowest during NREM sleep, and were associated with higher odds of transitions from wake to NREM sleep. The curves of predicted overnight melatonin values from linear mixed models varied according to sleep phases (NREM, REM, Wake) in perimenopausal, but not in postmenopausal women. In perimenopause higher melatonin area under curve (AUC) correlated with higher slow-wave activity (p = 0.043), and higher minimum concentrations with shorter slow-wave sleep (SWS) latency (p = 0.029). In postmenopause higher mean and maximum melatonin concentrations and AUC correlated with lower SWS percentage (p = 0.044, p = 0.029, p = 0.032), and higher mean (p = 0.032), maximum (p = 0.032) and minimum (p = 0.037) concentrations with more awakenings from REM sleep. In the age- and BMI-adjusted regression models, the association between higher maximum (p = 0.046) melatonin concentration and lower SWS percentage remained. Conclusions: The relationship between melatonin and sleep architecture differed in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. After menopause, high melatonin concentrations were associated with worse sleep. Whether these different patterns are related to aging of the reproductive system, and to decrease in menopausal sleep quality, remains to be elucidated. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Local changes in computational non-rapid eye movement sleep depth in infants

Objective: Deep NREM sleep and its hallmark EEG phenomenon slow wave activity (SWA) are under homeostatic control in adults. SWA is also locally regulated as it increases in the brain areas that have been used intensively. Moreover, in children, SWA is a marker of cortical maturation. In the present study the local properties of NREM sleep depth were evaluated using the quantitative mean frequency method. We aimed to study if age is related to NREM sleep depth in young infants. In addition, we studied if young infants have local differences in their NREM sleep. Methods: Ambulatory over-night polysomnographies were recorded in 59 healthy and full-term infants at the age of one month. The infants were divided into two age groups (= 44 weeks) to allow maturational evaluations. Results: The quantitative sleep depth analysis showed differences between the age groups. In addition, there were local sleep depth differences within the age groups. Conclusions: The sleep depth change with age is most likely related to cortical maturation, whereas the local sleep depth gradients might also reflect the use-dependent properties of SWA. (C) 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Lääkkeiden vaikutus unen rakenteeseen ja sykevälivaihteluun

Vertaisarvioitu.Unihäiriöiden hoitoon käytettävä lääke saattaa joskus huonontaa unta ja päivävireyttä entisestään. Bentsodiatsepiinit korjaavat unen kokemisen häiriötä mutta vähentävät syvää unta ja pahentavat uniapneaa. Monet masennuslääkkeet vähentävät REM-unta, jonka määrä onkin masennuksen yhteydessä lisääntynyt. Osa masennuslääkkeistä lisää heräilyä, vähentää syvää unta ja lisää yöllisiä jalkaliikkeitä. Osan lääkkeistä vaikutukset uneen ovat päinvastaisia käytettäessä hyvin pieniä ja suuria annoksia. Sykevälivaihtelun ja palautumisen mittaamisesta erilaisilla älylaitteilla on tullut suosittua. Univaiheprofiiliin ja sykevälivaihteluun perustuvat analyysit eroavat aina jonkin verran toisistaan, ja ero suurenee, jos potilaalla on käytössä lääkitys, joka vaikuttaa vain jompaankumpaan. Masennus ja osa masennuslääkkeistä vähentävät sykevälivaihtelua. Myös psykoosilääkkeet, opioidit ja beetasalpaajat vaikuttavat uneen ja sykevaihteluun.Peer reviewe