1,721,001 research outputs found
Curare l'insonnia senza farmaci. Metodi di valutazione e intervento cognitivo-comportamentale
No full textSympathetic arousal and arousability predicts subsequent sleep quality
No full textThe aim of this study was to evaluate whether individuals with primary insomnia, in comparison to normal sleepers, show consistently higher autonomic arousal levels or changes in autonomic arousal which is systematically associated to differences in the quality of their night-time-sleeping. To address this aim, skin conductance levels (SCL) and inter beat intervals (IBI) were monitored before and after five consecutive nights in two different experimental conditions: 3 min with the instruction to rest and 3 min while providing acoustic stimuli inducing an orienting reflex. Twenty-three participants were recruited for the study, twelve people with insomnia and eleven good sleepers. The selection of the participants consisted in a first screening phase followed by a clinical interview and two weeks of assessment through the use of sleep diaries. Groups were matched for gender and age. Physiological indices were recorded in the participants' own homes through portable devices for one week (weekends excluded), during which sleep–wake cycles were monitored through actigraphic recording and sleep diaries. Sleep Efficiency Index (SEI), obtained as the ratio between total time spent sleeping divided by the total time spent in bed after lights off, was computed for each night. The SEIs were ordered from the worst to the best. Due to technical problems, two participants only had recording for 4 nights. Consequently, one night was excluded for the whole sample. Results showed that the SEI was always higher in good sleepers as opposed to people with insomnia which, moreover, presented higher within subjects and within group variability than did the control group. Regarding the physiological measures, it was found that sympathetic arousal measured by SCLs predicted the quality of the sleep during the subsequent night. Specifically, both groups showed marginally high rest arousal and significantly high arousal in response to stimulation (arousability) linked to low SEI during the subsequent night. The existence of a relationship between sympathetic arousal and sleep quality is consistent with previous results (e.g. Broman, Hetta, 1994). With respect to IBIs results evidenced no systematic change across both groups and nights of different qualities. In summary, results demonstrated that the variability of sleep quality, which is a central feature of insomnia, is also related to varying levels of evening autonomic arousal and arousability. The same relationship was found also in good sleepers
P300 amplitude in subjects with primary insomnia is modulated by their sleep quality
No full textObjective: The hyperarousal hypothesis is evaluated while controlling the influence of the quality of sleep in the night preceding the evaluation. Method: Eleven primary insomniacs and 11 healthy age matched controls participated to the study. Participants filled in 2 weeks of sleep logs and self-monitored their subjective tension the evening before and the morning after each night. Afterwards, subjects were called in to the Lab for a recording session of the P300 ERP (oddball paradigm) once after a night of bad sleep quality (N -) and once after a night of good sleep quality (N+). Results: The main result of the present study indicated that the P300 amplitude at Fz in insomniacs resulted higher following a N - and lower following a N+ with respect to controls. Conclusions: This result suggests that cortical hyperarousal in primary insomniacs is not a stable individual characteristic, but is associated with the poor quality of their nocturnal sleep. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved
The effects of sleep debt on vigilance in young drivers: an education/research project in high schools
No full textThe vigilance levels of a group of 59 students were assessed in the daytime (9:00-11:00 a.m.) and again early Sunday morning (2:30-5:00 a.m.), and were then compared. Data were collected at the students' schools. The differences in performance impairment associated with different Saturday night social activities and the effect of alcohol consumption were evaluated. Results indicate a vigilance decrease during the night, and this is greater in subjects who consumed more alcohol. Students who spent their Saturday night in a discotheque showed the most prominent nocturnal vigilance decrease, even when the effect of alcohol consumption is covaried. The effect of social activities on vigilance levels was also associated with different lengths of time spent awake and the different time in which subjects performed the vigilance task. (C) 2002 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
The assessment of daytime sleep propensity: a comparison between the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and a newly developed Resistance to Sleepiness Scale
No full textIntroduction: The Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) is widely used as a way of measuring subjective sleep propensity in research and clinical practice. Psychometric studies do not rule out the presence of more than one latent dimension underlying the items. Objective: Aims of the present study were to: (a) evaluate psychometric proprieties of the ESS by means of classic psychometric techniques; (b) compare them with those from a newly developed resistance to sleepiness scale (RSS); (c) evaluate, following the latent trait theory, whether the items of both ESS and RSS could be conceptualized as different levels of an interval variable representative of a single latent trait related to sleep propensity. Methods: One hundred and forty-six inpatients suffering from different sleep disorders filled in both the RSS and ESS in a sleep disorder centre. Results: Indexes of fit derived by the application of the extended logistic model are consistent with the idea that each ESS item can be conceptualized as different levels of an interval variable representative of a single latent trait. However, most of the ESS items are found to be located at the opposite extremes of this continuum. Conclusions: The under representation of situations characterized by an intermediate soporific nature in the ESS could limit ESS sensitivity to detect intermediate variations of sleep propensity. (C) 2003 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Insomnia and its comorbidities in chronic kidney disease
No full textSleep disorders are among the factors that can reduce the quality of life in patients with chronic kidney disease. Chronic kidney disease patients could benefit from an accurate evaluation and treatment of insomnia because this sleep disorder is associated with a high persistence-relapse rate, poor physical health, and mental disease (anxiety, depression) both in terms of comorbidity and antecedent. A multilayer evaluation of insomnia is possible because of valid and reliable instruments (both objective and subjective). Furthermore, a rational etiologic model of insomnia allows better understanding and treatment as a result of effective cognitive-behavioral techniques. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Sleep-related car crashes: Risk perception and decision-making processes in young drivers
No full textThe aim of the present study is to analyse factors affecting worries, coping strategies and decisions of young drivers regarding the risk of sleep-related car crashes. Furthermore, the study also analyses whether framing the same information about sleepiness in two different linguistic forms influences: (1) the evaluation of the level of risk associated to a specific level of drowsiness (Attribute Framing problem); (2) the willingness to enact strategies to "prevent" sleepiness before night-time driving (Goal Framing problem); (3) the choice between two different ways, both of equal expected efficacy, of lowering drowsiness (Risky decision-making Framing problem). Six hundred and ninety-five young drivers [(57.6% females, 42.4% males); mean age 20.85 years (S.D. = 1.2)] answered questions on drive risk perception and sleepiness, on nocturnal driving experience and on the strategies to deal with driver sleepiness, responding to one of the two different versions of the framed problems. A sub-sample of 130 participants completed the framed problems in both versions. The results show that experiences of sleep attacks and nocturnal driving frequency in the past 6 months affect both risk perception and the preventive strategies adopted. Furthermore, the manipulation on two out of the three problems (attribute and risky decision-making frames) significantly affected the respondents' evaluation
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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