Michael J. Thorpy – författare

The first authoritative review on the parasomnias - disorders that cause abnormal behavior during sleep - this book contains many topics never before covered in detail. The behaviors associated with parasomnias may lead to injury of the patient or bed-partner, and may have forensic implications. These phenomena are common but often unrecognized, misdiagnosed, or ignored in clinical practice. With increasing awareness of abnormal behaviors in sleep, the book fulfils the need for in-depth descriptions of clinical and research aspects of these disorders, including differential diagnosis, pathophysiology, morbidity, and functional consequences of each condition, where known. Appropriate behavioral and pharmacological treatments are addressed in detail. There are authoritative sections on disorders of arousal, parasomnias usually associated with REM sleep, sleep-related movement disorders and other variants, and therapy of parasomnias. Sleep specialists, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists and other healthcare professionals with an interest in sleep disorders will find this book essential reading.

Written and edited by leading clinicians and researchers in sleep medicine, this is the first book to focus on the causes, consequences and treatment of disorders of excessive sleepiness. Extensive coverage is provided for all known causes of sleepiness, including sleep deprivation, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, narcolepsy and other hypersomnias of central origin, shift work, and medical and psychiatric disorders. Since many causes of sleepiness are difficult to differentiate from each other, and treatment modalities can vary greatly from one disorder to another, this book helps the clinician to formulate a differential diagnosis that will ultimately lead to the correct diagnosis. Epidemiology, evaluation of the sleepy patient, diagnostic investigations including neuroimaging, subjective and objective testing, cognitive effects of sleepiness, motor vehicle driving issues, medico-legal aspects of sleepiness, and therapy are also discussed in detail. This is an essential resource for neurologists, psychiatrists and sleep specialists.

The first comprehensive book on the subject, The Genetic Basis of Sleep and Sleep Disorders covers detailed reviews of the general principles of genetics and genetic techniques in the study of sleep and sleep disorders. The book contains sections on the genetics of circadian rhythms, of normal sleep and wake states and of sleep homeostasis. There are also sections discussing the role of genetics in the understanding of insomnias, hypersomnias including narcolepsy, parasomnias and sleep-related movement disorders. The final chapter highlights the use of gene therapy in sleep disorders. Written by genetic experts and sleep specialists from around the world, the book is up to date and geared specifically to the needs of both researchers and clinicians with an interest in sleep medicine. This book will be an invaluable resource for sleep specialists, neurologists, geneticists, psychiatrists and psychologists.

Narcolepsy serves as a prototype of how the interaction of high quality clinical research and groundbreaking basic science can collaborate to defne the cause of a disease and change forever how we evaluate and treat it. There is scarcely a topic in this book that would have been covered in the same way 10 years ago as it is d- cussed today. We are also fortunate that many of the players in this dramatic tu- around have contributed to this volume, so that the result is a tapestry of the events that have transformed the feld over the last decade that is both authentic and detailed. The frst section of the book provides much of the basic science background. As described in the frst two chapters, the dramatic convergence of lines of evidence from two different laboratories frst demonstrated in 1999 that narcolepsy is a disease of loss of neurotransmission by lateral hypothalamic neurons making the peptides that have been called orexins or hypocretins. These fndings did much to clarify and unify a feld that had puzzled for decades over the fundamental nature of this puzzling disease, as refected in the chapters that review its epidemiology and neuroanatomical and imaging fndings.

This comprehensive resource covers the current thoughts and trends on narcolepsy, as well as cutting-edge evidence-based research.  Updates from the previous edition include advances in diagnostic guidelines, treatments, protocols and clinical and psychosocial considerations.  Aspects of narcolepsy relating to sleep medicine, neurology, psychiatry and public health are featured throughout the text.  Narcolepsy, 2nd Edition provides clinicians and allied health professionals with patient management modalities, clinical and quality of life issues and best practices for health care delivery.