FOREWORD
11 (2017)
Editorial foreword for the rst issue of the journal
Sleep Spindles & Cortical Up States: A multidisciplinary journal
The frequency is on the average an irregular 10 per
second, but frequently very regular bursts lasting 1 to
1 seconds of 14 per second frequency appear. The ampli-
tude builds regularly to a maximum and then falls regularly
so that we have designated these spindles, because of
their appearance in the record. Shorter spindles or balls
of second duration occasionally appear. (Loomis,
Harvey, and Hobart, 1935)
After 81 years of intense research following these
ground-breaking sentences, there is a growing insight of
these phenomena, but the need for a deeper understanding
of sleep spindles and thalamocortical up/down states is
still desperate. The enigma of sleep is being transformed
into an enigma of neural oscillations. Scientic endeavors
aiming to reveal the roots of these mysteries lead us to
organize a conference specically focusing on these
sub-atomic components of sleep (The 1st International
Conference on Sleep Spindling, 1214 May 2016,
Budapest, http://sleepspindles.akcongress.com/). This
particular successful and vibrant conference fostered
the creation of a new, online, open-access journal
specically focusing on sleep spindles and up/down states
(cortical bistability). I am very pleased to announce the
rst issue of this journal, which is published on an
article-by-article basis.
Sleep Spindles & Cortical Up States 1(1), pp.
DOI: 10.1556/2053.01.2017.001
First published online January 25, 2017
Oscillations are at the heart of living systems. It is our
common interest to investigate the origin and functions of
neuronal oscillations. Since sleep spindle oscillations are at
the crossroads between slow and fast oscillations during
sleep, this new journal is open to scientic results about a
very broad range of neural and behavioral phenomena. The
journal covers all aspects of sleep spindles and cortical
up/down states.
The rst articles published in Sleep Spindles & Cortical
Up States are reports on recent advances in this specic eld
of study, stressing the key importance of spindles and slow
waves in neurobehavioral functioning. I sincerely hope that
the papers in the rst issue will encourage further submis-
sions with interesting results and views from the scientic
community.
Robert Bodizs, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
REFERENCE
Loomis AL, Harvey EN, and Hobart G (1935). Potential rhythms
of the cerebral cortex during sleep. Science 81(2111):597598.
doi:10.1126/science.81.2111.597
2017 The Author(s)