Human Hypothalamus: Basic and Clinical Aspects, Part II

This volume in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology (Series Editors:: Michael J. Aminoff, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, USA; François Boller, Bethesda, USA; Dick F. Swaab, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands)is the first major account of the human hypothalamus. Part II is system and disease oriented and deals with the clinic, and with the neuropathology, neurobiology and genetics of vascular disorders, disorders of development and growth (including e.g. anencephaly, septo-optic dysplasia and other midline defects), hypothalamic and pineal tumors, infections, neuroimmunological disorders such as neurosarcoidosis, multiple sclerosis, and Langerhans-cell histiocytosis. After the neuropathology of the neurohypophysis has been dealt with, the background of the different forms of diabetes insipidus and other drinking disorders, such as polydipsia and adipsia, inappropriate secretion of vasopressin, and Wolfram syndrome are presented. Eating disorders such as, e.g. Prader-Willi syndrome, anorexia and bulimia nervosa, are presented as typical hypothalamic diseases. Genetic disorders causing a defect in the migration of hypothalamic neurons are the basis of Kallmann syndrome. Sexual differentiation of the brain is related to transsexuality and homo/heterosexuality.