Disturbed sleep in cluster headache is not the result of transient processes associated with the cluster period.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cluster headache (CH) is characterized by severe, unilateral attacks of pain and a high nocturnal attack burden. It remains unknown whether perturbations of sleep are solely present during the CH bout. Therefore, we aimed to investigate differences in sleep between the bout and remission period in patients with episodic CH and, secondly, to compare patients in the two phases with controls. METHODS: Patients with episodic CH (aged 18-65 years), diagnosed according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders 2nd edition, were admitted for polysomnography at the Danish Center for Sleep Medicine in bout and in remission. The macrostructure of sleep, including arousals, breathing parameters, limb movements and periodic limb movements, was compared with 25 age-, sex- and body mass index-matched healthy controls. RESULTS: There were no differences in any of the sleep parameters for patients in bout (n = 32) compared with patients in remission (n = 23). Attacks were unrelated to sleep stages, presence of apnea episodes, periodic limb movements, limb movements and arousals. In bout, patients had longer sleep latency (18.8 vs. 11.7 min, P < 0.05) and rapid eye movement sleep latency (1.7 vs. 1.2 h, P < 0.05) than controls and sleep efficiency was lower (82.5% vs. 86.5%, P < 0.05). Patients in remission only had a longer sleep latency compared with controls (17.5 vs. 11.7 min, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The results support the presence of a continuing or slowly recovering disturbance of sleep outside the bout rather than a disturbance occurring secondary to attacks. Further, we confirm that there is no relation between CH attacks and specific sleep stages or between CH and breathing parameters.

Notes on emotional components of musical creativity and performance.

We explored emotional accompaniments to stages of a musician's cycle of creativity through interviews with musicians. Creativity was defined in terms of performance or composition. These musicians described strong emotional vacillations that occur across the creative cycle and discussed ways of dealing with emotional issues involved in moving from one work to the next. Parallels were drawn between emotional aspects of completing a performance or composition to emotional aspects of termination in psychotherapy. Suggestions were offered to musicians for means of dealing with naturally occurring but powerful emotional components of creativity. In addition, some of the musicians suggested that music educators consider teaching students about potential emotional issues that may accompany creative effort. An integration of these issues into music education programs might better prepare students for careers as professional musicians.

Magnetic resonance imaging of human teeth.

There is a need in clinical dentistry for improved diagnostic methods for an accurate evaluation of pulp tissue pathosis. The purpose of this investigation was to attempt to image extracted human teeth with the aim of establishing the possible future application of magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of pulpal pathosis. The results of this pilot study demonstrate that, in the in vitro setting, the outline of the tooth and pulp chamber can be imaged with a high degree of accuracy, and detailed images of the periodontal membrane and gross pulpal anatomy can be obtained. There were obvious differences in the signals given off by different locations within these teeth, and the images of the dental pulp tissue were detailed enough to suggest the possible correlation with histology. The high (9.4 T) field strengths used in this study demonstrate the in vitro application of this technology and the future possibilities for diagnosis of periodontal and odontogenic problems are significant.

Correlation of magnetic resonance image and histology of human teeth.

Current methods for diagnosis of pulpal pathosis are often inadequate and there is a need for an in vivo method to visualize dental pulp tissue. This report compares micromagnetic resonance imaging (MMRI) with routine H & E histology on a cross sectional view of a molar tooth. The extracted tooth was imaged with a Bruker AM-400 NMR spectrometer modified with a microimaging accessory. The tooth was then decalcified and sectioned at the same level as the MMR image. Image intensity readings were acquired for specific areas of the pulp chamber for comparison with histology. The results demonstrate that there is a close correlation between the MMRI and the low power H & E appearance of pulp tissue.

Discrimination of schizophrenics with and without nervous system damage using the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery.

The Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery was administered to 40 inpatient schizophrenics (17 nonbrain-damaged and 23 brain-damaged) at a state hospital. Results indicated that 109 individual items as well as all 14 summary scales were significantly different between groups. Findings were reviewed with regard to clinical effectiveness of brain damage detection with the Luria-Nebraska in these populations and to supporting the concept of neuropsychological deficit gradients.

Reliability in the use of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale for educable mentally retarded adolescents.

The Tennessee Self Concept Scale was administered in a 10-week test-retest situation to 39 educable mentally retarded adolescents. Low to moderate reliability coefficients indicated the need for more extensive normative information and for caution in evaluation of test scores in the study of EMR adolescents' self-concept. The obtained coefficients suggest the possibility that the self-concept of individual EMR adolescents is a more variable psychological characteristic than has been previously indicated in the research literature and that this variability needs to be more carefully assessed.

Measured self-concept in adjudicated juvenile offenders.

The pattern of self concept scores on the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) was compared for a group of adjudicated juvenile offenders (n = 43) and a group of non-offenders (n = 40). Notable differences were obtained, which suggested areas of further research and potential areas of counseling focus in dealing with the juvenile offender. Comparisons with data provided in the TSCS Manual revealed comparable differences between the juvenile offender group and a normative group and notable similarities in score pattern between the juvenile offenders and a group of psychiatric patients.