Topics: Research
The incidence of scoliosis in Prader-Willi syndrome is quite high (~30% in children under the age 10; up to ~80% in kids over the age of 10, compared to <3% in the general population). Because moderate to severe scoliosis can be associated with si...
Several recent studies have begun to look more carefully at the causes of death in PWS, particularly in cases where death was sudden and/or unexpected. A review of 64 cases of death in children with PWS noted a high occurrence of respiratory infectio...
Topics: Research
Obese individuals often have a deficiency in peptide YY (PYY), a hormone that is produced by endocrine "L" cells of the lower gastrointestinal tract, the stomach and the brainstem. Low levels of PYY may be a predisposing factor to the development of ...
Topics: Research
This is a reprint from The Gathered View, courtesy of PWSA (USA). Obesity and problems with overeating can be influenced by a number of factors in the brain. One such factor is brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is involved in eating and...
Topics: Research
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) affects about 2% of the population. It is characterized by persistent intrusive thoughts (obsessions), repetitive actions (compulsions), and excessive anxiety. As anyone who know someone with PWS can appreciate, OC...
Topics: Research
Since its first description in 1999 by Kojima and co-workers, ghrelin has been the subject of intense interest in the scientific community, as evidenced by the more than 2,500 published papers to date. This is good news for those with PWS, who have a...
Topics: Research
Individuals with PWS are, in many ways, perfect subjects for studying the effectiveness of candidate obesity drugs. Excessive weight gain is a common and critical issue, frequently leading to a multitude of medical complications.
Topics: Research
A new article sheds a little bit of light on the latest player in obesity: the FTO gene (the fat-mass and obesity-associated gene). FTO was implicated as a gene important in determining who is more likely to be obese and at risk for diabetes in two g...
Topics: Research
The 6th Annual International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organization (IPWSO) Conference was held in Romania in June 2007. The research abstracts from the conference are available online at the Asociacin Madrile para el SÃndrome de Prader-Willi (AMSPW) web...
Topics: Research