Conventional wisdom assumes that sleep is a resting state of the brain, with negligible activity of cortical neurons. Here, the author brings new evidence favoring the idea that during sleep, memory traces acquired while awake are consolidated. Mircea Steriade focuses on the coalescence of different sleep rhythms in interacting corticothalamic networks and on three types of paroxysmal disorders: spike-wave seizures as in absence epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut seizures, and temporal-lobe epilepsy. Many physiological correlates of waking and sleep states as well as diverse types of epileptic seizures are also discussed.

This book collects the results of clinical experience and research, as well as the opionions of the specialists who have studied in depth several rare and complex syndromes associated with "Continuous Spikes and Waves During Slow Sleep", the Landau-Kleffner syndrome, and related conditions. It also presents a wide-ranging collection of cases presented by the participants in the meeting, and analysed in its various clinical, electrophysiological and psycho-intellectual aspects. The purpose of the book is to provide a thorough updated on specialised knowledge about the syndromes characterised by the presence of CSWS on the EEG, to bring out the many, still unanswered -- questions, and to stimulate further interdisciplinary research to verify the validity of present hypotheses, in order to clarify which preventive and therapeutic methods can best attain the control of such syndromes.

This second edition of 'Seizures and Epilepsy' is completely revised, due to tremendous advances in the understanding of the fundamental neuronal mechanisms underlying epileptic phenomena, as well as current diagnosis and treatment, which have been heavily influenced over the past several decades by seminal neuroscientific developments, particularly the introduction of molecular neurobiology, genetics, and modern neuroimaging. This resource covers a broad range of both basic and clinical epileptology.

The purpose of this work is to review recent findings highlighting the mechanisms and functions of the neuronal oscillations that structure brain activity across the sleep-wake cycle. An increasing number of studies conducted in humans and animals, and using a variety of techniques ranging from intracellular recording to functional neuroimaging, has provided important insight into the mechanisms and functional properties of these brain rhythms. Studies of these rhythms are fundamental not only for basic neuroscience, but also for clinical neuroscience. At the basic science level, neuronal oscillations shape the interactions between different areas of the brain and profoundly impact neural responses to the environment, thereby mediating the processing of information in the brain. At the clinical level, brain oscillations are affected in numerous neurological conditions and might provide useful biomarkers that inform about patients’ evolution and vulnerability. During sleep, these brain rhythms could provide functional support to internal states that govern the basic maintenance of local circuit and systemic interactions. During wake, the rhythmicity of cortical and subcortical circuits have been linked with sensory processing, cognitive operations, and preparation for action. This book will attempt to link together these sleep and wake functional roles at the level of neuroimaging and electroencephalographic measures, local field potentials, and even at the cellular level. ​

Part of the Oxford Textbooks in Clinical Neurology (OTCN) series, this volume covers the scientific basis, clinical diagnosis, and treatment of epilepsy and epileptic seizures, and is complemented by an online edition.

Jasper's Basic Mechanisms, Fourth Edition, is the newest most ambitious and now clinically relevant publishing project to build on the four-decade legacy of the Jasper's series. In keeping with the original goal of searching for "a better understanding of the epilepsies and rational methods of prevention and treatment.", the book represents an encyclopedic compendium neurobiological mechanisms of seizures, epileptogenesis, epilepsy genetics and comordid conditions. Of practical importance to the clinician, and new to this edition are disease mechanisms of genetic epilepsies and therapeutic approaches, ranging from novel antiepileptic drug targets to cell and gene therapies.

This volume makes clear that the cognitive and behavioural symptoms of neurologic disorders and syndromes are dynamic and changing. Each chapter describes the neuroplastic processes at work in a particular condition, giving rise to these ongoing cognitive changes.

The diagnosis of mental illness is frequently accompanied by sleep problems; conversely, people experiencing sleep problems may subsequently develop mental illness. Sleep and Mental Illness looks at this close correlation and considers the implications of research findings that have emerged in the last few years. Additionally, it surveys the essential concepts and practical tools required to deal with sleep and co-morbid psychiatric problems. The volume is divided into three main sections: basic science, neuroendocrinology, and clinical science. Included are over 30 chapters on topics such as neuropharmacology, insomnia, depression, dementia, autism, and schizophrenia. Relevant questionnaires for the assessment of sleep disorders, including quality-of-life measurement tools, are provided. There is also a summary table of drugs for treating sleep disorders. This interdisciplinary text will be of interest to clinicians working in psychiatry, behavioral sleep medicine, neurology, pulmonary and critical care medicine.

Translational research connects science and clinical medicine from "the bench to the bedside." In Sleep, Epilepsies and Cognitive Impairment, the authors look back from the bedside to the brain function underlying clinical symptoms and reveal mechanisms explored by contemporary neuroimaging and signal analysis in the overlapping fields of sleep and epilepsy. This book will help the reader to see epilepsy from a new viewpoint. The common pathophysiology binding together the diverse manifestations of epilepsies is the exaggeration of plastic functions of the brain involving the hippocampus, the non-specific thalamocortical system and the perisylvian cognitive network. Epileptic derailment seems to be the price for the latest achievements of the mammal and human brain; namely the highly developed ability to change and learn. The contemporary results of sleep research provide new viewpoints to explain why sleep and epilepsy are bedfellows. Converging evidence supports the concept that one of the most important biological roles of NREM sleep is the renewal of synaptic balance ensuring learning ability from one day to the next and consolidation of new memories. Epilepsy and NREM sleep use overlapping structures and functions, therefore epilepsy beginning in early childhood may interfere with sleep plastic functions. NREM sleep, which affects original learning and memory, may become the hidden source of chronic cognitive impairment when epilepsy occurs during sleep and blocks the plastic processes. Sleep, Epilepsies and Cognitive Impairment abandons the academic classification of epilepsy by following the system epilepsy concept, binding major epilepsies with structures and functions of physiological brain systems. It tries to show within this system the close interrelationship between sleep, epilepsy and cognition. Neuroscientists, clinical epileptologists and neurologists interested in brain processes underlying brain plasticity, sleep and epilepsy will find this book thought provoking. It offers good "brain-gymnastics" for reconsidering the ideas on epilepsy. - It provides contemporary knowledge about the neurophysiological and functional anatomical background of major epilepsies - Treats major epilepsies as system epilepsies of brain networks - Reveals the interrelationship of sleep, epilepsy and cognitive impairment showing how epileptic manifestations became facilitated in NREM sleep and interferes with sleep plastic functions