work in neuroscience to develop
a dialogue to better understand
the interplay between oscillating
levels of consciousness and
behaviors that may arise from
sleep.
Ramadevi Gourineni, MD
Dr. Gourineni is a Neurologist
and specialist in the field of Sleep
Medicine. She obtained her med-
ical degree from Kurnool Medical
School in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Her Neurology training was
completed at the University of
Illinois, Chicago, IL. She also
completed 2 fellowships. The
first one was in EEG and Sleep at
Loyola University, Maywood, IL
and the second was in Sleep Med-
icine at Northwestern University,
Chicago, IL. She worked for
two years at Loyola University
as an Assistant Professor in
Neurology. She is currently an
Associate Professor in Neurology
at Northwestern Feinberg School
of Medicine. Her clinical practice
is in Sleep Medicine and she is
the Director of the Insomnia
Program at the Northwestern
Sleep Disorders Center.
Erik K. St. Louis, M.D.
Dr. St. Louis
is Head of the
Section of Sleep Neurology,
Associate Professor of Neurology,
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine,
and Consultant in Neurology and
Medicine at Mayo Clinic Roches-
ter. He previously co-directed the
Marshfield Clinic and University
of Iowa Comprehensive Epilepsy
Programs for ten years. He was
educated at St. Olaf College, the
Medical College of Wisconsin,
Mayo Clinic Rochester, and The
University of Iowa. He is board
certified by the American Boards
of Psychiatry and Neurology
(Adult Neurology, with addi-
AASM Membership Sections Newsletter
■
Issue # 4
19
episodes was higher in SRED, but
the number of nocturnal episodes
was similar in both groups. The
typical timing of these events
was in the first third of the sleep
period in both groups. Patients
with SRED had more partial
awareness during the events than
SW. Dream like mentation was
more in SW and was not reported
in SRED. Dangerous behavior
at night was reported equally in
both groups, but injuries were
seen in 52.4% of SW, but only
6.7% in SRED.
Sleep measures were com-
parable in all 3 groups. In the
video clips 9/15 patients with
SRED had eating episodes during
arousals from N2 or N3 sleep.
Frequent arousals from slow
wave sleep (12/15) were seen in
patients with SRED, which were
associated with non-eating motor
behavior only once in SRED. All
patients with SW had sudden
arousals from SWS and motor
behavior was seen in all of them.
None of the controls had any
abnormal behavior. All 3 groups
reported similar eating education
as a child, but patients with SRED
reported more dissention with
their parents regarding their
eating behavior.
This is the first article to
compare the clinical and poly-
somnography characteristics in
patients with SRED. Limitations
of the study include: limited
number of subjects and the
inclusion of patients on zolpidem,
which should be exclusion in the
diagnosis of SRED. It is interest-
ing that a high number of SRED
subjects have childhood history
of sleep walking. It may be that
sleepwalkers with history of an
eating disorder are at increased
risk of developing SRED.
Clinicopathologic Correlations In 172 Cases Of Rapid Eye
Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder With Or Without A
Coexisting Neurologic Disorder.
Boeve BF, Silber MH, Ferman TJ, et al. Sleep Med 2013 Aug;14(8):754-
62.
REM sleep behavior disorder
(RBD) has been strongly associ-
ated with future development or
concurrent association with the
cognitive, motor, and autonomic
phenotypes of synucleinopathy
neurodegeneration, including
Parkinson Disease, dementia
with Lewy Bodies (DLB), multi-
ple system atrophy (MSA), and
pure autonomic failure (PAF).
However, RBD has also been
linked to tauopathies (Alzheimer
disease, progressive supranuclear
palsy (PSP), and corticobasal
degeneration), as well as nar-
