Full Issue

Abstract

The combined issue (Numbers 1–2) of Volume 15 of the International Journal of Neurology (1981) was dedicated to Man’s Sleep. Edited by Víctor Soriano, it assembled an international selection of clinical and experimental studies that explored the neurophysiological, hormonal, and pathological dimensions of human sleep.

The issue opened with U. Beck’s paper on hormonal secretion during sleep, detailing the circadian regulation of endocrine functions and their relation to sleep stages. Teruo Okuma contributed an influential study on REM sleep, dreaming, and dream detection, while Kaneko and Hishikawa examined paradoxical sleep in psychiatric disorders and narcolepsy, highlighting diagnostic implications for mental health.

A key clinical contribution by Billiard, Besset, and Passouant discussed the role of sleep disorder centers in managing chronic insomnia, outlining methods for evaluation and treatment. Askenasy analyzed sleep patterns in extrapyramidal disorders, and Coccagna and Lugaresi described the physiology and clinical features of restless legs syndrome and nocturnal myoclonus, conditions later recognized as distinct sleep-related movement disorders.

Further studies investigated alterations in dreams following frontal and parietal lobe lesions (Cathala and Laffont) and variations in delta activity in patients with brain tumors, including computerized topographic analyses of delta waves correlated with CT scans (Matsuoka et al.). B. Roth presented a major study on idiopathic hypersomnia, based on 187 personally observed cases, while R. Messimy reviewed recent cases of periodic hypersomnia (Kleine–Levin syndrome) and its diagnostic challenges.

The volume also included two reflective essays by Víctor Soriano: “History of Neural Transmission” and “On Vacation”, alongside the traditional sections for news and book reviews.

This issue represented a milestone in the journal’s coverage of sleep research, integrating neuroendocrinology, psychiatry, electrophysiology, and clinical neurology to portray sleep as a complex and multidimensional function of the human brain.