Stanford Advisors


2023-24 Courses


All Publications


  • Advances in the pharmacological management of non-24-h sleep-wake disorder. Expert opinion on pharmacotherapy Nishimon, S., Nishino, N., Nishino, S. 2021: 1–11

    Abstract

    Introduction: Melatonin, a hormone that regulates circadian rhythms and the sleep-wake cycle, is produced mainly during the dark period in the pineal gland and is suppressed by light exposure. Patients with non-24-h sleep-wake disorder (non-24) fail to entrain the master clock with the 24-h light-dark cycle due to the lack of light perception to the suprachiasmatic nucleus typically in totally blind individuals or other organic disorders in sighted individuals, causing a progressive delay in the sleep-wake cycle and periodic insomnia and daytime sleepiness.Areas covered: Herein, the authors review the pharmacological therapies including exogenous melatonin and melatonin receptor agonists for the management of non-24. They introduce a historical report about the effects of melatonin on the phase shift and entrainment for blind individuals with the free-running circadian rhythm.Expert opinion: Orally administered melatonin entrains the endogenous circadian rhythm and improves nighttime sleep and daytime alertness for non-24. Currently, tasimelteon is the only approved medication for non-24 by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency. Treatments that focus only on sleep problems are insufficient for the treatment of non-24, and aids to entrain the free-running rhythm with the light-dark cycle are needed.

    View details for DOI 10.1080/14656566.2021.1876665

    View details for PubMedID 33618599

  • Reviewing the Systematic Reviews in OSA Surgery OTOLARYNGOLOGY-HEAD AND NECK SURGERY Certal, V., Nishino, N., Camacho, M., Capasso, R. 2013; 149 (6): 817-829

    Abstract

    There is an extensive amount of literature on surgeries as treatment for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome on adults. Previous systematic reviews have been performed to summarize the outcomes for sleep surgeries, with conflicting results. The objective of this study was to critically evaluate these systematic reviews to provide an overview of their quality, strengths, and conclusions.MEDLINE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Collaboration databases were searched from inception to April 2013.An overview of systematic reviews was undertaken. Studies included in this review are the systematic reviews whose primary objective was to evaluate the outcomes of sleep apnea surgery on adults. The methodological quality of the studies was analyzed with AMSTAR checklist, and the quality of evidence was evaluated using the GRADE assessment tool. Primary outcome measures assessed the effect of surgery on snoring, sleepiness, and the apnea-hypopnea index.A total of 11 studies were included in this study, and the pooled overview includes 378 studies. The systematic reviews were mostly graded as low quality using the GRADE tool and low to moderate according to the AMSTAR checklist. Outcome for apnea-hypopnea index demonstrated substantial variation leading to conflicting results. Despite a high amount of heterogeneity, outcomes for sleepiness and snoring demonstrated significant improvement across included reviews.Although obstructive sleep apnea surgery is associated with improved outcomes in most studies, the level and quality of evidence reviews requires improvement.

    View details for DOI 10.1177/0194599813509959

    View details for Web of Science ID 000327245700005

    View details for PubMedID 24154748