• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.67-70
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• 2008

Overlap syndrome can be defined as a coexistence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS). The association of COPD and SAHS has been suspected because of the frequency of both diseases. Prevalence of COPD and SAHS is respectively 10 and 5% of the adult population over 40 years of age. However, a recent study has shown that the prevalence of SAHS is not higher in COPD than in the general population. The coexistence of the two diseases is only due to chance. SAHS does not affect the pathophysiology of COPD and vice versa. Prevalence of overlap syndrome is expected to occur in about 0.5% of the adult population over 40 years of age. Patients with overlap syndrome have a more profound hypoxemia, hypercapnia, and pulmonary hypertension when compared with patients with SAHS alone or usual COPD patients without SAHS. To treat the overlap syndrome, nocturnal noninvasive ventilation (NIV) or nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) can be applied with or without nocturnal oxygen supplement.

• Journal of the HCI Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.75-80
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• 2017

With the technological development, benefits of Virtual Reality (VR) has become a key of medium in communication research. In addition, explaining human minds with physiological data has become more popular since more accurate and detailed data can be expressed. However, reading brain signals in a virtual environment setting with psychophysiological measures (e.g. EEG and fNIRS) has remained a difficulty for researchers due to a technical constraint. Since a combination of cables for brain measures attached to a head cap obstruct wearing a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) over the cap, measuring brain activities with multiple channels on several areas of the brain is inappropriate in the VR setting. Therefore, we have developed a new brain measurement cap that includes probe connectors and brackets enabling a direct connection to the HMD. We highly expect this method would contribute to cognitive psychology research measuring brain signals with new technology.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.73-79
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• 2004

Digital polysomnography was developed to overcome the limitations of Rechtschaffen and Kales rule and to compensate the shortcomings of paper polysomnography. It enables easy access to and secure preservation of sleep records, and provides various displays of sleep data to enhance efficiency of visual scoring of sleep records. Rechtschaffen and Kales rule had been criticized for its ambiguity and lack of considerations in spatial information of EEG. As sleep records are acquired and processed in digital mode, they can be analyzed at microscopic and macroscopic levels. Digital analysis of sleep records provides the basis for development of new sleep measures. Sleep staging in digital polysomnography is based on the various analyses of EEG. Sleep apnea, hypopnea and periodic limb movement are detected automatically by digital analysis of respiratory signals and leg EMG. Digital polysomnography plays a complementary role to visual scoring and compensates the limitations of paper polysomnography. Digital polysomnography, including acquisition, processing and analysis of sleep records in digital mode, can be a great help in the development of sleep medicine, enabling the development of new sleep measures and the exchange of sleep records between sleep laboratories.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.93-96
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• 2016

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) has negative effects on health, including increased mortality, risk of cardiovascular disease, and neurocognitive difficulties. OSAS is common in obese patients and obesity is an important risk factor of OSAS. A 41-year-old female OSAS patient with severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] ${\geq}35$) who failed dietary weight loss underwent bariatric surgery. After surgery, there were improvements in BMI (from 36.9 to $31.7kg/m^2$) and polysomnographic data, including the apnea-hypopnea index (from 25.1 to 11.2 events/hr) and minimum SaO2 (from 69 to 82%). This case demonstrates that bariatric surgery may be an effective therapeutic option to reduce sleep-disordered breathing in severely obese patients with moderate OSAS. Bariatric surgery as a treatment option for OSAS should be considered in OSAS patients with severe obesity who failed dietary weight loss.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.97-99
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• 2016

Positive airway pressure (PAP) is currently recommended as a primary treatment for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and positively affects various subjective and objective parameters related to OSAS, such as the apnea-hypopnea index, excessive daytime sleepiness, and blood pressure. However, PAP also exhibits various adverse effects, including skin breakdown, pressure intolerance, claustrophobia, unintentional mask removal, mouth leaks, and dryness. Especially, unintentional mask removal due to nasal obstruction may result in poor PAP compliance. A 47-year-old male patient with severe OSAS who had low PAP compliance due to nasal obstruction underwent nasal surgery. After the surgery, nasal obstruction was corrected and the patient experienced improved PAP compliance (from 30.4% to 86.7%). This case demonstrates that nasal surgery may be useful for improving PAP compliance in OSAS patients with nasal obstruction.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.5-11
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• 2017

The use of alcohol is associated with the development and worsening of sleep disorder. Alcohol is generally known to have a sedative effect, but it has an arousal or sedative effect depending on the timing and drinking dose and directly affects REM sleep physiology. Alcohol acts on the central nervous system (CNS) to interfere with the sleep-wake cycle and to affect sleep-related hormone secretion. In addition, the ingestion of alcohol pre-sleep is associated with deterioration and development of sleep related breathing disorders (SBD). The increase in resistance of the upper respiratory tract and the decrease in sensitivity of the CNS respiratory center and the respiratory muscles are major mechanisms of alcohol-induced SBD, and result in snoring or apnea in healthy men or aggravating apnea in patients with OSA. Sleep-related restless leg syndrome and circadian rhythm disorders are common in alcohol use disorder patients. This review provides an assessment of scientific studies that investigated on the impact of alcohol ingestion on nocturnal sleep physiology and sleep disorders.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.124-131
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• 1994

Polysomnography is an essential methodology for diagnosing and following up sleep disorders and doing researches on human sleep. Sleep medicine, mainly with the utilization of polysomnographic techniques, has developed itself as one of the promising fields in the 21st century medicine. Korea is not an exception in importing and developing sleep medicine into the conventional medicine. However, it still remains to be clarified what polysomnography is for and how it should be done, considering the relatively recent introduction of sleep medicine into Korea. The author, being a board-certified sleep medicine specailist, having experienced spreading out sleep medicine within Korea for the past four years, and having recently set up a major sleep study facility in Korea at Seoul National University Hospital, attempts in this introductory critical article to review the essential issues related to quality assurance in polysomnographic study of human sleep. Also, unconditional introduction of "automated" sleep scoring system, which has been found to have significantly reduced reliability in various studies including the author's own, is critically reviewed. The author suggests that quality assurance and training program should be initiated and established by a responsible sleep medicine-related organization such as the Korean Association of Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.235-242
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• 1991

This research has reported that the selection and assessment of treatment in anxiety disorders depend to a large extend on patient reports of somatic symptomatology. However, the correspondence between such reports and actual physiological data Is unknown as the physiological measures used were taken in laboratory. The purpose of the ambulatory momboring device is, therefore, to present for analysis physiological data derived from the sub jects during their daily activities. The physiological parameters of interest are heart rate, respiratory rate, skin conductance level/response, skin temperature, and activity level. This device had an microcomputer based data acquisition unit, Interfaced to it for the purpose of data collection. The data is collected usually over a period of 12 hours. The data from the ambulatory monitoring device can be used to assess the psychophysiology of anxiety in the field. The data from the device will also reveal if patients who report different sets of symptoms differ physiologically too. Thls will help physicians for the right kind of treatment and also solve the many uncertainties that have existed thus far in quantizing anxiety.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.3-8
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• 1994

With the recent development of sleep medicine, insomnia has been perceived as a disease from a simple symptom. As there are various causes in a disease, proper treatment according to each cause is necessary for a more effective treatment In general, insomnia is classified into five categrories of physical, physiological, psychological, psychiatric and pharmacological aspects. However, such categorizations are often insufficient in treating insomnia. Furthermore understanding of the developmental mechanisms of insomnia is required. The function of sleep is developed and maintained through the balance of the reciprocal forces of sleep and arousal. These forces are contantly regulated by what is called a circadian rhythm. Sleep is induced by this rhythm which is affected by factors such as awakening time in the morning, amount of intellectual function, amount and time length of physical exercise and sunlight Insomnia could develop when this rhythm is delayed and leads to a "forbidden zone" which is a very difficult period for inducing sleep about two to four hours before the routine bedtime. Whereas sleep gradually develops in line with the circardian rhythm, arousal can occur very abruptly by any cause triggered by emotional discomfort or anxiety. Such characteristic and emotional factors as perfectionism, separation anxiety, secondary gain, insecurity, and negative cognition may provoke the inner anxiety and fear for insomnia, which can lead acute insomnia to a chronic one. As chronic insomnia is developed by multiple causes and factors, integrated approaches through analysis of above mentioned factors will be more effective in the treatment of insomnia than a simple administration of hypnotics.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.99-106
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• 1994

The authors report a case of REM sleep behavior disorder which occurred in a 69-year-old business man. He began experiencing episodic "acting out" behavior of his dream at the age of 66. The episodes tended to be associated with dream contents, mainly being chased or threatened. Before that, his sleep was relatively quiet despite occasional nightmares, midsleep arousal, and shallowness. Injuries resulted from leaping out of bed, jumping onto furnitures, and grabbing and biting the spouse's arm. Most recent dream-incurred laceration of chin required 5 sutures. Medical and psychiatric history revealed no significant findings except that he had been overanxious all his life within himself with others' reputation of himself as pleasant and easy-going. A nocturnal polysomnogram showed repeatedly intermittent increase of chin and/or leg muscle tones during otherwise characteristic REM sleep period. The overnight video recording revealed head lifting and limb movements during REM sleep periods. Brain MRI and EEG were normal. Job-related stress was presumed to be an etiological possibility. Clonazepam 0.25-0.5mg nightly almost completely relieved the symptoms.