General anesthesia, which is administered to surgical patients during operation, shares the similar numerous neurophysiologic traits with the process of natural sleep. The neural mechanisms underlying sleep–wake and general anesthesia can help to understand their interactions and how anesthetics cause reversible loss of consciousness. Pharmacotherapies, especially those which involve the neural substrates associated with sleep–wake and general anesthesia regulations, can play a significant role for clinical practice in general anesthesia and sleep medicine.
Nowadays, different advanced medical techniques have been developed that can study specific brain regions and neural circuits regulating sleep–wake brain states and general anesthesia. These study results have advanced our understanding and demonstrate that sleep–wake brain states and general anesthesia show similar neurophysiologic traits.
Reference
Wei-Wei Bao, Shan Jiang, Wei-Min Qu, Wen-Xian Li, Chang-Hong Miao and Zhi-Li Huang, Understanding the Neural Mechanisms of General Anesthesia from Interaction with Sleep–Wake State: A Decade of Discovery. Pharmacological Reviews May 2023, 75 (3) 532-553.
Spain has just passed a law allowing paid “menstrual leave” from work
Spain is a first European country that has recently passed a law allowing the women with especially painful periods to take paid “menstrual leave” from work. Very recently, the Parliament approved the bill. The period of menstrual” leave of absence ranges from a three-day to five days. This leave is for women with disabling periods, which can cause severe cramps, nausea, dizziness and even vomiting.
