Clinical

Individuals with PWS are, in many ways, perfect subjects for studying the effectiveness of candidate obesity drugs.

One of the most troubling features of PWS is the high risk of mental illness in adults with the syndrome. Although a considerable amount has been written on obsessive-compulsive traits, stubbornness and maladaptive behaviors associated with PWS, less is known about the incidence and course of mental illness.

There's a new paper out in a top journal, Science, on what is may be the first understanding of the underlying molecular basis of features of PWS - The snoRNA HBII-52 regulates alternative splicing of the serotonin receptor 2C -- I've put the link at the end of the message. Here's the lowdown:

In this paper, the authors looked at cardiovascular structure/function in adults with PWS compared to adults with simple obesity. They were interested in better defining whether/why adults with PWS have detectable and/or different heart problems.