Women on methadone may safely breast-feed
In women on methadone maintenance who have recently given birth, concentrations of the drug in breast milk are low and have no apparent behavioral or neurological effects on their breast-fed infants, according to the results of a small study.
Dr. Lauren M. Jansson, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and colleagues evaluated the concentrations of methadone in the breast milk and blood of eight women at 1, 2, 3, 4, 14 and 30 days after delivery.
Ipods show no effects on heart pacemakers
Ipods and other portable media players are unlikely to interfere with heart pacemakers, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration researcher reported on Thursday.
His tests of a variety of iPods showed they did not produce enough of an electromagnetic field to interfere with the devices.
FDA researcher Howard Bassen and colleagues set up a complex experiment using a saline-filled bag to simulate the human body and a coil sensor designed to pick up electromagnetic emissions.
PLMI predicts total sleep time in older people with cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance
A higher periodic leg movement index (PLMI) predicted less sleep at night in older people with cognitive impairment and sleep disturbance, according to a study published in the February 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.
The study, authored by Kathy C. Richards, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, focused on 102 people (58 men and 44 women) between the ages of 59-96 years who had a clinical diagnosis of cognitive impairment (categorized as unspecified, Alzheimer disease, other, mixed, multi-infarct, and mild cognitive impairment) as well as average nightly sleep of seven or less hours and daytime sleep of 30 minutes or longer.
Ten characteristics associated with sleep disturbance (including PLMI, time in bed, cognitive status, painful conditions and depression) were assessed with one night of polysomnography.
4 days of REM sleep deprivation contributes to a reduction of cell proliferation in rats
Four days’ exposure to a REM sleep deprivation procedure reduces cell proliferation in the part of the forebrain that contributes to long-term memory of rats, according to a study published in the February 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.
The study, authored by Dennis McGinty, PhD, of the V.A. Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, focused on male Sprague-Dawley rats. REM sleep deprivation was achieved by a brief treadmill movement initiated by automatic online detection of REM sleep. A yoked-control (YC) rat was placed in the same treadmill and experienced the identical movement regardless of the stage of the sleep-wake cycle.
According to the results, REM sleep was reduced by 85 percent in REM sleep deprived rats and by 43 percent in YC rats. Cell proliferation was reduced by 63 percent in REM sleep deprived rats compared with YC rats. Across all animals, cell proliferation exhibited a positive correlation with the percentage of REM sleep.
