OBJECTIVES: Idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is by far the strongest clinical predictor of neurodegenerative disease available. Several potential early diagnostic markers of neurodegenerative disease including autonomic symptoms have been proposed, but they have generally not been tested in presymptomatic neurodegenerative disease. So the authors investigated autonomic symptoms and their associated factors in idiopathic RBD patients. METHODS: 52 idiopathic RBD patients and 52 controls participated in the study. Autonomic symptoms were evaluated by applying the unified multiple system atrophy rating scale (UMSARS) and measuring orthostatic systolic blood pressure drop. RESULTS: Idiopathic RBD patients showed significantly higher UMSARS subscale scores and sharper drop of orthostatic systolic blood pressure than controls. In multiple linear regression analysis, all autonomic symptoms and measured orthostatic systolic blood pressure drop were associated with RBD. In addition, orthostatic symptoms were associated with medication and age, urinary function was associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia, and measured orthostatic systolic blood pressure drop was associated with hypertension. CONCLUSION: In this study, idiopathic RBD patients showed more autonomic symptoms than controls. However, other autonomic symptoms-related factors also influenced some autonomic symptoms. Prospective studies should be performed to evaluate autonomic symptoms as a potential predictor of neurodegenerative diseases.
Aged* ; Blood Pressure ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Linear Models ; Multiple System Atrophy ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; REM Sleep Behavior Disorder* ; Sleep, REM*

Clozapine is accepted as the “gold standard” antipsychotics for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Clozapine rarely causes extrapyramidal syndrome and tardive dyskinesia, which are common with other antipsychotics, and only a transient elevation of hyperprolactinemia has been reported. Despite such clinical usefulness, there are limitations to the use of clozapine due to adverse drug reactions (ADR). Fever is a common in adverse drug reactions associated with clozapine. At initiation of clozapine most fatal ADR such as agranulocytosis and neuroleptic malignant syndrome associated with fever, in which case clozapine should be discontinued immediately. However, as benign causes of fever are much more frequent than life-threatening ADR, clozapine should not be discontinued unconditionally in the event of fever during clozapine initiation. In addition, fever may occur at any time during the maintenance of clozapine treatment. In particular, since the risk of pneumonia does not decrease over time, and clozapine has a higher risk of pneumonia than other antipsychotic drugs, it is recommended to adjust clozapine dosage through therapeutic drug monitoring.

OBJECTIVES: Various sleep patterns may be shown in adolescents to be busy for studying. The aim of this study was to investigate sleep-wake patterns and to evaluate predictors of daytime sleepiness. METHODS: Among 1011 high school students living in Cheonan-si, demographic variables and self-reported questionnaires, including items about menstruation, Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were admitted. RESULTS: total of 839 students (male=453, female=386) completed questionnaires. Significant differences in sleep pattern, categorized by score of MEQ (p=0.004), ESS (p<0.001), and BDI (p=0.012) were observed between male and female subjects. Logistic regression analysis showed that excessive daytime sleepiness was predicted by female [odds ratio (OR)=2.039, p=0.022] and sleep quality (OR=1.238, p=0.004). In the regression analysis of female students, dysmenorrhea (beta=0.108, p=0.029), eating of caffeine (beta=-0.114, p=0.019), MEQ (beta=-0.108, p=0.027), insomnia (beta=0.180, p=0.002), and depression (beta=0.116, p=0.029) might be associated with daytime sleepiness. CONCLUSION: In Korean high school students, female and sleep quality might be risk factors of daytime sleepiness. Daytime sleepiness was known to be related with cognitive dysfunction. Therefore, an education program for improving sleep quality in these adolescents should be considered for mental health.
Adolescent ; Caffeine ; Depression ; Dysmenorrhea ; Eating ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Menstruation ; Mental Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Risk Factors ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

Methods: This study analyzed 350 Korean adults who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed mood-stabilizing drugs. The patients were divided into two groups—patients who experienced cognitive side effects and those who did not experience cognitive side effects.We also compared the demographic and clinical characteristics between both groups. Results: The number of patients with an untreated illness longer than 1 year was higher in the group of patients who experienced cognitive side effects compared to the group of patients who did not experience cognitive side effects. Further, the number of patients with manic symptoms at onset was higher in the group of patients who experienced cognitive side effects compared to the group of patients who did not experience cognitive side effects. In addition, the proportion of patients in remission was higher in the group of patients who experienced cognitive side effects compared to the group of patients who experienced no cognitive side effects. However, there was no significant difference regarding the type of mood stabilizer used between the groups. On the other hand, more people experienced cognitive side effects as the valproic acid dosage increased. Conclusion Our findings suggest that there are clinical and demographic differences between people who experienced cognitive side effects and those who did not experience cognitive side effects due to prescription of mood stabilizers.