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Biomedical subjects

Piero Salzarulo

Publications and source records attributed to Piero Salzarulo.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Spontaneous awakenings in preterm and term infants assessed throughout 24-h video-recordings.

The study aimed to evaluate the development of awakenings during preterm and term age in 12 low-risk infants observed between 33 and 40 weeks of post-conceptional age. Waking was been detected through the analysis of body motility. Gross generalized body movements with prolonged startles, marked stretching and writhing was considered as waking, whereas vigorous, forceful abrupt body movements with high frequency tremor sometimes superimposed upon movements were considered as corresponding to crying. Total number of awakenings in the 24 h does not show significant changes with age, whereas the mean duration increases significantly, which is accounted for mainly by those awakenings starting with crying, in particular, during the day. These data suggest a developmental gap between the ability to sustain the waking state, which already starts to increase before term age, and the ability to maintain prolonged sleep episodes, which has been shown to develop later. Furthermore, the developmental difference between awakenings starting with crying and awakenings starting with wakefulness suggests that two kinds of awakenings might be modulated by different factors.

Child Development↗
PubMed2005

Music in dreams.

Music in dreams is rarely reported in scientific literature, while the presence of musical themes in dreams of famous musicians is anecdotally reported. We did a systematic investigation to evaluate whether the occurrence of musical dreams could be related to musical competence and practice, and to explore specific features of dreamt pieces. Thirty-five professional musicians and thirty non-musicians filled out a questionnaire about the characteristics of their musical activity and a structured dream log on the awakening for 30 consecutive days. Musicians dream of music more than twice with respect to non-musicians; musical dreams frequency is related to the age of commencement of musical instruction, but not to the daily load of musical activity. Nearly half of the recalled music was non-standard, suggesting that original music can be created in dreams.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Body movements during night sleep in healthy elderly subjects and their relationships with sleep stages.

In order to enlighten the profile of body movements during sleep at old age, the night sleep of twelve elderly subjects was polygraphically investigated; seven young healthy subjects were the control group. Significantly less body movements during sleep were found in the elderly compared to young subjects, meaning that the decrease in the number of body movements observed from infancy to childhood up to adulthood also continues at later ages. Differently from young adult, whose sleep body movements mainly occur in stage REM, no specific sleep state and/or stage was preferentially associated with the occurrence of body movements in the elderly. These data may point to an age-related modification in the interaction between motor cortex control and subcortical circuits. Furthermore, when body movements occur in elderly individuals, they are significantly more often followed in the next 60 s by a sleep stage change or by a spontaneous behavioural awakening. This might reflect a peculiar inability of elderly subjects to sustain stable states, and could also suggest that body movements may act as a co-factor in a process, comprising other physiological changes, leading to state shifts.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

What in sleep is for memory.

Since the seminal research by Jenkins and Dallenbach in the 1920s, it has been well proven that sleep has a major effect on the memory of pre-sleep material. However, there is still sparse knowledge about exactly which features of sleep have the most impact. Studies which examined separately the role of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep provided largely controversial results and aroused harsh scientific debate, and the investigation of the link of specific sleep patterns to different memory systems (e.g. declarative vs. procedural) did not fully reconcile these inconsistencies. New research perspectives have been proposed in recent years to overcome the limits of the previous 'single state' approach. Psychological, neurophysiological and neuroanatomical data have recently suggested that NREM and REM sleep both play a part in memory consolidation. We here present the hypothesis that NREM and REM are complementary for memory processes during sleep, thanks to their close interaction within the NREM-REM cycle, and discuss experimental data which prove the critical role of the sleep cycle for the morning recall of verbal material.

Humans↗
PubMed2003

Time course of EEG background activity level before spontaneous awakening in the second semester of human life.

This research aimed at investigating the time course of the EEG background activity level before spontaneous awakening out of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and non-rapid eye movement sleep with and without slow wave sleep (NREMSWS+, NREMSWS-) in the second semester of life. Twelve infants from 25 to 54 weeks of life were continuously monitored by polygraphic recording and behavioural observation during the night, and the EEG activity was analyzed by a method of automatic analysis. The EEG activation level increased before the awakening out of NREMSWS+ sleep, and was always high both in REM sleep and in NREMSWS-.

Brain↗
PubMed2002

Yawning and behavioral states in premature infants.

Low risk, premature infants between 30 to 35 weeks post-conceptual age (PCA) residing in an neonatal intensive care unit environment were observed in the home incubator for spontaneous yawning from 2400 to 0500 hr. Videorecordings were analyzed for the behavioral states of quiet sleep (QS), active sleep (AS), wake (W), and drowse (D) in 3-min epochs as well as the contextual behaviors before and after yawn events using a 1-min window. Yawning periods predicted higher levels of motoric activation than nonyawn periods. Sequence analysis of preceding and following states with or without yawns were examined for stability or change. All states with or without yawn events had state stability for the preceding and following epochs, with two exceptions: 1) D state with yawning was associated with state change in the preceding 3-min epoch (most often W), and 2) D state without yawning was associated with state change in the following epoch (W or AS). Yawns were not present in QS. The results suggest that yawning is associated with increased behavioral arousal that is not state-specific. However, yawning in D state predicts state transitions in the preceding, but not the following, epoch. It is proposed that D may be an unstable state that becomes more stable when yawning is present.

Humans↗
PubMed2002

Early steps of awakening process.

This paper summarizes the main aspects of sleep and waking development and shows results about awakening as a function of age. Awakenings come mainly from active sleep and their number decreases with age. Understanding the awakening process should take into account the development of sleep and waking states and of circadian rhythms and homeostatic processes.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Time course of EEG background activity level before spontaneous awakening in infants.

This research aimed to investigate the time course of the cortical activity level preceding spontaneous awakening as a function of age and state. Two groups of infants (1-4 and 9-14 weeks of age) were continuously monitored by polygraphic recording and behavioural observation during the night. The electroencephalographic (EEG) activity recorded by the C3-O1 lead was analysed through an automatic analysis method which provides, for each 30-s epoch, a single measure, time domain based, of the EEG synchronization. The EEG parameter values were computed in the 6 min preceding each awakening out of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and out of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The EEG background activity level did not change in the minutes preceding awakening out of REM sleep. Awakening out of NREM sleep was preceded by a change of EEG activity level in the direction of higher activation with different time course according to the age. Both REM and NREM sleep results suggest that a high level of EEG activity is a prerequisite for the occurrence of a spontaneous awakening.

Electrocardiography↗
PubMed2002

Awakening from sleep.

Awakening is a crucial event for the organism. The transition from sleep to waking implies physiological processes which lead to a new behavioural state. Spontaneous awakenings have varying features which may change as a function of several factors. The latter include intrasleep architecture, circadian phase, time awake, age, or disordered sleep. Despite its clear theoretical and clinical importance, the topic of awakening (in humans) has received little attention so far. This contribution focuses on major issues which relate to awakening from both basic (experimental) and clinical research. Recent knowledge on neurophysiological mechanisms is reported. The experimental data which provide in the human suggestions on the regulation of awakening are discussed, mainly those concerning sleep architecture and homeostatic/circadian factors also in a life-span perspective, since age is a powerful factor which may influence awakening. Clinical contributions will examine two main sleep disorders: insomnia and hypersomnia. Daytime functioning is shown in insomniac patients and compared to other pathologies like sleep apnea. A final section evokes links between some types of night waking and psychological factors.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗