Sleep News and Research

Latest Sleep News and Research

New drug tasimelteon may cure jet lag

A team of researchers from Monash University, The Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston), Harvard Medical School and Vanda Pharmaceuticals has found a new drug with the potential to alleviate jet lag and sleep disorders caused by shift work.

3 Dec 2008

Scientists discover new properties of imidazolium salts

Scientists at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have uncovered new properties of imidazolium salts (IMSs), which suggest that they could play a vital role in disease prevention and treatment.

1 Dec 2008

High levels of prenatal smoking exposure affects sleep in early babies

A study in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Sleep is the first to show that high levels of prenatal smoking exposure strongly modify sleep patterns in preterm neonates, which places infants at a higher risk for developmental difficulties that could persist throughout early and middle childhood.

1 Dec 2008

Acupuncture just as effective without needle penetration

Acupuncture works - but it works equally well with or without needle penetration. This conclusion can be drawn from a treatment study involving cancer patients suffering from nausea during radiotherapy.

1 Dec 2008

Mouse model of prion disease mimics diverse symptoms of human disorder

A comprehensive mouse model of inherited prion disease exhibits cognitive, motor, and neurophysiological deficits that bear a striking resemblance to the symptoms experienced by patients with the human version of "mad cow disease," Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

26 Nov 2008

Researchers identify molecule that tells your brain your stomach is full

In studies with mice and rats, researchers have found that a chemical messenger called NAPE is made in the small intestine after the animals ate a greasy meal. After eating, NAPE - N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine, a mouthful in itself -- enters the blood and travels to the brain, where it quashes hunger signals.

26 Nov 2008

Seniors are feeling anxious

For older adults who have lived through the Great Depression, news stories comparing present circumstances to the harsh realities of food lines, few jobs, and extreme poverty of the 1930's may be panic-producing.

25 Nov 2008

Scientists discover that blocking a neuropeptide receptor decreases nicotine addiction

The study was published in an online Early Edition issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the week of November 24.

24 Nov 2008

FDA accepts Labopharm's NDA for formulation of trazodone

Labopharm Inc. has announced that its New Drug Application (NDA) for the Company's novel once-daily formulation of trazodone (DDS-04A), a serotonin antagonist reuptake inhibitor (SARI), for the treatment of major depressive disorder, has been accepted for review and filed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

24 Nov 2008

Valdoxan - a melatonergic antidepressant - receives positive European opinion for major depressive disorder

The first melatonergic antidepressant - Valdoxan/Thymanax (agomelatine) - has received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's (EMEA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for its use in the treatment of adult patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

21 Nov 2008

Reminder, signs of a heart attack can be subtle

You know the drill: join the family for feasting on a high-fat, carbohydrate-filled meal followed by a generous slice of pumpkin pie

21 Nov 2008

FDA approves tapentadol immediate-release tablets for pain in adults

Millions of Americans with moderate to severe acute pain and their health-care providers will soon have a new treatment option.

21 Nov 2008

Use of insecticide-treated bed nets increases, but 90 million African children still exposed to malaria

The use of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) to protect children from malaria has risen six-fold in the past seven years, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust.

18 Nov 2008

Many sleepless children become overweight

Between the ages of six months and six years old, close to 90 percent of children have at least one sleep-related problem.

18 Nov 2008

Sleep helps the mind learn complicated tasks

Sleep helps the mind learn complicated tasks and helps people recover learning they otherwise thought they had forgotten over the course of a day, research at the University of Chicago shows.

17 Nov 2008

Exercise can lower a woman's overall risk of cancer

Exercise is good for more than just your waistline. A recent study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research suggests that regular physical activity can lower a woman's overall risk of cancer - but only if she gets a good night's sleep. Otherwise, lack of sleep can undermine exercise's cancer prevention benefits.

17 Nov 2008

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease sending more people to hospital

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has a higher hospitalization rate and a higher hospital readmission rate than heart failure, angina, and other serious chronic diseases.

17 Nov 2008

Unhappy people watch more TV

A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing.

16 Nov 2008

Heart rate and sleep in boys affected by violent video games

An article published electronically in the scientific journal "Acta Paediatrica", describes how heart rate and sleep in boys are affected by violent video games. Researchers from Stockholm University, Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have worked together with this study.

13 Nov 2008

Obstructive sleep apnea may be risk factor for sudden cardiac death

After studying the sleep characteristics of nearly 11,000 adults in an overnight sleep laboratory, Mayo Clinic researchers suggest that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) - and, in particular, the low nighttime oxygen saturation of the blood it causes - may be a risk factor for sudden cardiac death (SCD).

11 Nov 2008