Multifactorial Causation and Therapy of Sleep Disorders
A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Neurology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2026 | Viewed by 652
Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The more we know and the better we understand sleep disorders, the more they seem to infiltrate neurology, slowly and gradually resulting in the emergence of a “sleep-neurology”.
Narcolepsy—highlighting the complex ways of sleep regulation unknown before the discovery of orexins and pointing to the ensemble of genetics, autoimmunity, and epigenetics as sleep-changing factors—is a typical example. Understanding the mechanism of cataplexy and its links with orexins and emotional (amygdalar) influences sees across to REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), closely associating it with Parkinsonian conditions, mainly synucleinopathies. RBD heralds them, preceding them by years, thus paving the way for prevention—identifying the persons developing those debilitating conditions. Even insomnia has major neurological aspects—insomnia with a fronto-basal tumor, insomnia due to sleep-related painful erection, or restless legs syndrome. Insomnia—the lack of periods of slow-wave sleep—seems to cause cognitive loss in two ways at least: the decrease in slow-wave-related plasticity and the weakening of brain-wash resulting in the accumulation and deposition of harmful metabolites and proteins in the brain, such as amyloid-beta, the driver and promoter of Alzheimer’s disease. NREM parasomnias, once considered mysterious or results of purely psychological and personality changes, present now as examples of sleep-state dissociations where the exact brain localization—with the anterior cingulate cortex in center—is being investigated.
The changes in respiration during sleep make another big chapter. The stridor of patients with multisystem atrophy is a life-threatening condition related to vocal cord palsy due to olivo-ponto-cerebellar degeneration. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is now much more than an abnormality due to physical alterations of the upper airways, and the often neglected sleep-breathing abnormalities, pseudo-central sleep apneas of myasthenia, or respiration changes in conditions of the cervical spine may need a complex somnology–respiratory–neurology approach.
Dr. Anna Szûcs
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sleep disorders
- narcolepsy
- sleep-neurology
- REM sleep behavior disorder
- sleep apneas
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
