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2019 ISSTA Annual Assembly of Members

and

6th International Sleep Medicine & Science Expert Forum (iFESS)

Ladies and Gentlemen,
 The 2019 ISSTA (www.isstasleep.org ) Annual Assembly of Member and the 6th International Sleep Medicine & Science Expert Forum (iFESS, https://www.ifessweb.com) will be organized in Lefkoşa, Cyprus . Welcome all sleep related fields and industry to join us!

Time: 2019/10/14(Monday) 10:00-17:00
Location: Near East University (https://neu.edu.tr/), Lefkoşa, Cyprus 
 

各位女士,各位先生:
另外,ISSTA(www.isstasleep.org )總會2019年會 暨 第六屆國際睡眠醫學與科學專家論壇(https://www.ifessweb.com )將在愛琴海上的賽普勒斯舉行.誠摯邀請睡眠醫學與科技領域及相關產業共同參與!

時間:2019/10/14(週一) 10:00-17:00
地點:Near East University (https://neu.edu.tr/), Lefkoşa, Cyprus

螢幕快照 2019-09-05 下午10.31.06.png

Introduction

The International Sleep Science and Technology Association (ISSTA) was founded in 2012 in Berlin, Germany and is headed by distinguished sleep science and sleep medicine experts from all over the world. The ISSTA goal is to integrate various disciplines in sleep medicine and science and combine modern research with emerging technologies to further raise the educational levels on sleep medicine. ISSTA aims to improve the quality of sleep, daytime function and overall quality of life of not only groups with sleep disorders, but also the population with sleep complaints and disturbances. It is comprised of a board of directors and six committees: International Committee, Popularizing Committee, Research & Development Committee, Industrialization Committee, Education Committee, and the Global Policy & Regulation Committee.

ISSTA Vision

Vision

Sleep medicine will advance not only through incremental improvements of traditional sleep technology which focuses on the utilization of polysomnographyfor the diagnosis and management of sleep disorders, but also on how new and emerging technologies can assist in preventing sleep disorders, decreasing morbidity, and improving quality of sleep, daytime function and the overall quality of life. Through the co-operation between the governments, academia and industries in different countries, ISSTA should be able to foster sustainable economic growth and shared interests globally by raising the living standards and promoting the sleep-related industrial development.

ISSTA Mission

Mission

ISSTA seeks to improve healthcare and decrease morbidity and mortality by working to develop new technologies directly relevant to all aspects of sleep medicine. By proposing the topics of “Sleep Technology” as the agenda in the international organizations, such as APEC (Asia‐Pacific Economic Cooperation), EU (European Union), NAFTA(North American Free Trade Agreement) and WHO (World Health Organization)…etc., so ISSTA could achieve the vision mentioned above.

ISSTA Goal

Goal

To integrate the various disciplines that are involved in sleep medicine/science, connecting current research in sleep medicine with newer and emerging technologies to further raise the educational levels on sleep medicine and improve the quality of sleep and life of not only the groups with sleep disorders, but also of the population with sleep complaint(s)/disturbance.

Sleep Technology

History of Sleep Technology Development

Sleep medicine, though no specific date, person or event can be identified as its beginning, can be traced back to ancient Egyptian times (about 1300 B.C.) when opium was widely used as therapy for insomnia. However, sleep technology cannot be said to truly exist until the development of electroencephalogram, or EEG, which was first applied to human in 1924 by German physiologist and psychiatrist Johannes Berger (Fields, 2009). He demonstrated the difference in brain activity between wakefulness and sleep utilizing EEG, and made EEG a clinical and diagnostic tool for brain dysfunction. The currently and widely accepted five different stages of sleep, stage 1 to 4 and REM, were established by Alfred Loomis, E. Newton Harvey and Garret Hobart in 1937, also by utilizing EEG (Loomis, Harvey, & Hobart, 1937).


Contemporary to EEG was the concept of circadian rhythm. Starting in the early 1900s, in which Karl von Frisch and IngeborgBelingwere inspired by observing bees visiting flowers with a degree of regularity, chronobiology was widely studied and its existence in all organisms were generally accepted by the 1960s. The decisive experiment of human circadian rhythm was carried out by Jules Aschoffand Kurt Weverin March 1962 (Culebras, 2007). Done by isolating human subjects in an underground WWII banker without any environmental cues, Aschoffand Weverestablished that a cycle of human circadian rhythm was slightly longer than 24 hours. The importance of light-dark cycle on the guidance of human circadian rhythm was later demonstrated by Czeislerand colleagues (Czeisleret al., 1999).


In addition to the study of chronobiology and changes of electric potentials generated by cortex during sleep, other parameters influencing sleep were noted and investigated. One such parameter is the movement of the eyes during sleep, something that was firstly reported by William Griesingerin 1868 (Mancia, 2006). This finding along with another sleep parameters, such as muscle twitching, led to the discovery of “rapid eye movement (REM) sleep” by Nathaniel Kleitmanand his student Eugene Aserinskyin 1953 when documenting dreaming sleep ("Kleitman, father of sleep research," 1999). The combination of the physiologic signals from the brain (EEG), eye movement (EOG) and muscle activity (EMG) gave rise to the idea of modern polysomnography(PSG), a multi-parametric test widely used in the study of sleep medicine and in the diagnosis of sleep disorders. Indicators of breathing functions were further added after the indication of obstructive sleep apnea in the 1965 (Gastaut, Tassinari, & Duron, 1965).


In 1986, Allan Rechtschaffenand Anthony Kales developed a standardized method for sleep stage scoring in their text entitled “A Manual of Standardized Terminology, Techniques, and Scoring System for Sleep Subjects of Human Subjects” (Rechtschaffen& Kales, 1968). Many sleep stage scorings carried out in sleep study today are still mainly based on the Rechtschaffenand Kales criteria.


In 1977, multiple sleep latency tests, MLST, were created by Mary Carskadonand William C. Dement. They were developed by repeating a project called the “90-minute day” conducted by Dr. Dement in 1970. Sleep latency was measured in MLST and it was based on the idea that the sleepier the patient, the faster they fall asleep (Carskadon& Dement, 1977; Carskadonet al., 1986).


Besides the diagnostic value described above, traditional sleep technology also has a role in the treatment of sleep disorders. Among them are continuous airway pressure (CPAP) applied to obstructive sleep apnea in 1981 (Sullivan, Berthonjones, Issa, & Eves, 1981); radiofrequency technique for sleep disordered breathing starting from 1997 (Coureyet al., 1999; Loube, 1998; Powell, Riley, & Guilleminault, 1999; Powell, Riley, Troell, Blumen, & Guilleminault, 1997; Powell et al., 1998). Even with the advancements in technology, treatment using primarily traditional sleep technology is still widely utilized in a variety of clinical settings.
 

The Scope of Modern Sleep Technology
By definition, the sleep technology is the application of technology on sleep medicine. Our definition, “Sleep Technology” is the field of new and improved ways to monitor and assess sleep and circadian rhythms, in addition to any intervention that may be used to promote sleep, to prevent, diagnose or treat sleep disorders or for rehabilitation or the long-term care of sleep condition in some specific groups. This includes the use of pharmaceuticals, devices, procedures and organizational systems. Based on this definition, sleep technology is for:
1. the evaluation and management of sleep disorders
2. the prevention of sleep disorders and reduction of morbidity of sleep disorders
3. improving the quality of sleep, sleep environment, daytime performance and quality of life

 

According to our definition of sleep technology, the categories of development so far are listed as follows:
o Clinical services: methodology and instrumentation of screening, diagnosis and management of sleep disorders
o Basic/clinical sleep research
o Sleep environment
o Sleep modeling
o Sleep-related transportation & work place safety and solutions
o Sleep technology innovation
o Educational courses and training program on sleep science and technology
 
Excerpt from: Chiang, Rayleigh Ping-Ying, M.D., M.M.S.(2012). Introduction to Modern Sleep Technology". Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1st ed. ISBN 9789400754690.

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