page_title: Prader–Willi syndrome
section_title: Society and culture
hierarchical_section_title: Prader–Willi syndrome / Society and culture
context_page_description: Prader–Willi syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by a loss of function of specific genes on chromosome 15. In newborns, symptoms include weak muscles, poor feeding, and slow development. Beginning in childhood, those affected become constantly hungry, which often leads to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Mild to moderate intellectual impairment and behavioral problems are also typical of the disorder. Often, affected individuals have a narrow forehead, small hands and feet, short height, light skin and hair. Most are unable to have children.
  About 74% of cases occur when part of the father's chromosome 15 is deleted. In another 25% of cases, the affected person has two copies of the maternal chromosome 15 from the mother and lacks the paternal copy. As parts of the chromosome from the mother are turned off through imprinting, they end up with no working copies of certain genes. PWS is not generally inherited, but rather the genetic changes happen during the formation of the egg, sperm, or in early development. No risk factors are known for the disorder. Those who have one child with PWS have less than a 1% chance of the next child being affected.
context_section_description: Despite its rarity, PWS has been often referenced in popular culture, partly due to curiosity surrounding the insatiable appetite and obesity that are symptoms.
  The syndrome has been depicted and documented several times in television. A fictional individual with PWS featured in the episode "Dog Eat Dog" of the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which aired in the US on 24 November 2005. In July 2007 Channel 4 aired a 2006 documentary called Can't Stop Eating, surrounding the everyday lives of two people with PWS, Joe and Tamara. In a 2010 episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Sheryl Crow helped Ty Pennington rebuild a home for a family whose youngest son, Ethan Starkweather, was living with the syndrome. In a 2012 episode of Mystery Diagnosis on the Discovery Health channel, Conor Heybach, who has Prader–Willi syndrome, shared how he was diagnosed with it.
caption: A 1680 painting by Juan Carreño de Miranda of Eugenia Martínez Vallejo, a girl presumed to have PWS[45]
exif: {}