Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) is characterized by intermittent apneas and hypopneas during sleep that result from absent central respiratory drive. CSA occurs almost exclusively during non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep due to enhanced neuronal ventilatory drive during REM sleep that makes central apneas highly unlikely to form. A 45-year-old obese African American female presented with co-existin...

Breathing disorders of different etiologies are frequent problems in neonatal intensive care, but also in hospital and outpatient treatment of small infants. Thus, there is a great need for secure and practicable assessment of infants’ respiratory movements and detection of apneas. Current measurement techniques for this purpose include piezo elements, infra red sensors, pneumatic elements, tho...

The authors report a case of Shy-Drager syndrome in a 53 year-old male patient. Autonomic failure was made evident by physical examination as well as laboratory tests. A sleep recording showed decreased percentage of REM sleep and apneas of the central type. The possible mechanisms for this sleep disorder are discussed.

Extended breath-hold (apnea) bouts are routine during diving and sleeping in seals. These apneas result in oxygen store depletion and blood flow redistribution towards obligatory oxygen-dependent tissues, exposing seals to critical levels of ischemia and hypoxemia. The subsequent reperfusion/reoxygenation has the potential to increase oxidant production and thus oxidative stress. The contributi...

BACKGROUND The present requirement for "at facility" polysomnograms requires many residents in mountain communities to descend in elevation for sleep testing, which may cause misleading results regarding the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). DESIGN Eleven patients with previously undiagnosed sleep apnea living at an altitude > 2,400 m (7,900 feet) in Colorado underwent diagnostic sle...

We investigated in three groups of awake and sleeping goats whether there are differences in ventilatory responses after injections of Ibotenic acid (IA, glutamate receptor agonist and neurotoxin) into the pre-Bötzinger complex (preBötC), lateral parabrachial (LPBN), medial (MPBN) parabrachial, or Kölliker-Fuse nuclei (KFN). In one group, within minutes after bilateral injection of 10μl IA (50m...