Press Release from National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
For release: Sunday, May 03, 2009
Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have identified a gene associated with narcolepsy, a disorder that causes disabling daytime sleepiness, sleep attacks, irresistible bouts of sleep that can strike at any time, and disturbed sleep at night. The [...]
Summary
Narcolepsy is a chronic disease commonly diagnosed in middle adulthood. However, the first symptoms often appear in childhood and/or adolescence. Pediatric cases of narcolepsy are among the most often underrecognised and underdiagnosed diseases. This fact raises questions about the reasons for such diagnostic delay from the clinical point of view, and what kind of [...]
Summary
Until recently, olfactory dysfunction was an unknown feature of narcolepsy. Orexin A, also called hypocretin-1, is abnormally decreased or undetectable in the cerebrospinal fluid of narcoleptic patients with cataplexies. As hypothalamic orexin-containing neurons project throughout the entire olfactory pathway, from the olfactory mucosa to the olfactory cortex, disturbed orexinergic transmission may crucially be involved in [...]
Abstract
Background
A double-blind, placebo-controlled sodium oxybate trial provided a unique opportunity to compare changes in cataplexy following gradual withdrawal from antidepressants in narcolepsy patients.
Methods
Of 228 enrolled patients, 71 discontinued antidepressant therapy. Data from 57 patients were available for analysis: 37 patients discontinued tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and 20 discontinued selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The trial included [...]
Abstract
Introduction
Narcolepsy is often associated with increased body weight. Sodium oxybate has efficacy in many narcolepsy symptoms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of sodium oxybate on weight in patients with narcolepsy.
Methods
Charts from three centers of all patients with narcolepsy who had been using sodium oxybate for at least 3 months were [...]
Abstract
Objective
The aim of the study is to compare the course and severity of narcolepsy in relation to different ages at the disease onset.
Methods
Clinical interviews with the completion of the Stanford questionnaire, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) were evaluated in 105 patients (44 males, 61 females, mean age 45.4±19.2, BMI 29.2±5.8) [...]
Read entire article at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=18728824
Abstract
Narcoleptic patients suffer frequently from obesity and type II diabetes. Most patients show a deficit in the energy balance regulating orexinergic system. Nevertheless, it is not known, why narcoleptic patients tend to be obese. We examined 116 narcoleptic patients and 80 controls with the structured interview for anorectic and bulimic eating [...]
If you’re interested in joining any clinical trials related to the study of Narcolepsy, visit ClinicalTrials.gov.
