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Biomedical subjects

I Oswald

Publications and source records attributed to I Oswald.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Hypnotics and sleep physiology: a consensus report. European Sleep Research Society, Committee on Hypnotics and Sleep Physiology.

The effects of hypnotics on descriptive and functional aspects of electrophysiological sleep parameters are assessed in this report. Because of the arbitrary definition of some of the criteria underlying the conventional sleep stage scoring procedure, computer-aided methods of EEG analysis have become increasingly important for recording and interpreting pharmacological effects on sleep. Of particular interest are the changes of EEG slow-wave activity, since this parameter varies as a function of prior sleep and waking. Several types of interaction between hypnotics and sleep regulation are discussed, some recent pharmacological developments are highlighted, and some common problems in clinical trials are specified.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
PubMed1989

Effects of repeated ritanserin on middle-aged poor sleepers.

Nine subjects who believed themselves to be poor sleepers, of mean age 58 years, took a placebo for 7 days, then ritanserin 5 mg for 20 days, followed by 3 days on placebo. Sleep was recorded electrophysiologically on 2 nights during baseline, 2 early drug nights, 2 late drug nights and the 2nd and 3rd withdrawal nights. Ratings of sleep quality were collected each morning. Ritanserin, a 5HT2 antagonist, caused a persistent doubling of the amount of EEG slow wave sleep, without altering the total duration of sleep. Ritanserin decreased the frequencies of awakening and after about a week it appeared to improve the subjective quality of sleep. Sleep was then impaired during withdrawal, as indicated by decreased duration and poorer subjective quality, being worst on the 3rd withdrawal night.

Attention↗
PubMed1989

Can a rapidly-eliminated hypnotic cause daytime anxiety?

To test further the conclusions of preliminary reports that regular use of a rapidly-eliminated hypnotic might cause daytime anxiety, 82 women and 38 men, mean age 53, who claimed to be poor sleepers, took a capsule nightly for 45 nights. On 25 consecutive nights the capsule contained triazolam 0.5 mg (40 subjects), lormetazepam 2 mg (40 subjects) or continued placebo (40 subjects). Both drugs improved sleep, but compared with placebo or lormetazepam-takers, triazolam-takers became more anxious on self-ratings, were judged more often to have had a bad response by an observer, more often wrote down complaints of distress, and suffered weight loss. After about 10 days of regular triazolam they tended to develop panics and depression, felt unreal, and sometimes paranoid. The very short life of triazolam, leading to daytime withdrawal symptoms, may account for some of the observations, but enhancement of benzodiazepine inverse agonist activity is also hypothesized.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Physiological and psychological differences between good and poor sleepers.

Eighteen poor sleepers and 18 good sleepers of mean age 52 yr, selected on the basis of their stated opinions about their sleep, were studied as pairs matched for sex, age, height and weight, on five consecutive nights and two consecutive days. Using EEG measures, the poor sleepers woke more often in the early hours of sleep and achieved half an hour less sleep. They had higher body temperatures by day and night and were more anxious. They tended to have higher urinary cortisol and adrenaline excretion. The groups did not differ in reaction time nor in excretion of urinary 3-methylhistidine. The poor sleepers over-estimated their sleep latency and both groups under-estimated their total sleep, the poor sleepers being significantly more inaccurate. It is concluded that those who complain of poor sleep have also metabolic differences from good sleepers.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

The hypnotic effects of an antihistamine: promethazine.

Twelve volunteer poor sleepers of mean age 59 years took placebo on one night, promethazine 20 mg on one night and promethazine 40 mg on one night, in a double-blind balanced order study. Sleep in the EEG laboratory was increased by nearly 1 h after either dose of promethazine, and sleep interruptions were reduced. Slow-wave sleep was unaffected, but the larger dose reduced the percentage of sleep spent as REM sleep. Sleep was improved subjectively by both doses of promethazine which appears to be an effective hypnotic.

Aged↗