Genetic Generalized Epilepsy might be less genetic than you think

Ceci n’est pas une pipe. The painter René Magritte was known for his series of paintings that he called The Treachery of Images. He basically painted objects such as pipes, but then felt compelled to point out that the image actually betrays you. It’s not a real pipe, but only an image of it. For some reason, Magritte’s pipe comes to my mind when I read or hear the term Genetic Generalized Epilepsy. Again, the treachery of images. Ceci n’est pas une épilepsie génétique. Continue reading

Autism – the shared environment strikes back

Autism and environment. A much talked about recent twin study from California finds a significantly lower heritability in autism than previously estimated, reducing the heritability estimate from >80% to less than 40% and attributing much of the liability of autism to shared, probably prenatal environment. At first, this study may seem to add to the growing pessimism in the genetics field given the lack of explanatory findings from exome sequencing studies. However, things are not that simple and you don’t have to put your exome sequencers on Ebay yet. Also, don’t mention vaccinations again. Let me explain… Continue reading