The impact of obesity and overweight on the U.S. economy has eclipsed $1.7 trillion, an amount equivalent to 9.3 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, according to a new Milken Institute report on the role excess weight plays in the prevalence and cost of chronic diseases. The estimate includes $480.7 billion in direct health-care costs and $1.24 trillion in lost productivity, as documented in

The Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology (SVIN) would like to announce today on World Stroke Day that it stands committed to the advancement of scientific research to improve the lives of stroke (aka brain-attack) patients worldwide. Stroke and interventional neurologists, who are members of the SVIN, working collaboratively with interventional neuro-radiologists and endovascular

Researchers have discovered that inhibiting CDK9, a DNA transcription regulator, reactivates genes that have been epigenetically silenced by cancer. Reactivation leads to restored tumor suppressor gene expression and enhanced anti-cancer immunity. It is the first time this particular kinase has been linked to gene silencing in mammals.

Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute have created the first comprehensive summary of all genes known to be involved in human cancer, the "Cancer Gene Census". Describing all genes strongly implicated in causing cancer, the Census also describes how they function across all forms of this disease. Reported in Nature Reviews Cancer, the resource catalogues over 700 genes, to help scientists understand the causes of cancers, find drug targets and design treatments.

Immunotherapy with nivolumab and low-dose ipilimumab could become a new first line treatment in patients with some metastatic colorectal cancers following late-breaking results from the CheckMate-142 trial reported at the ESMO 2018 Congress in Munich. (1) The drug combination shrank tumours and had beneficial effects on survival in patients with microsatellite instabiliy (MSI)-high metastatic colorectal cancer.

A new study has shown that eating vegetable nitrates, found mainly in green leafy vegetables and beetroot, could help reduce your risk of developing early-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Researchers at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research interviewed more than 2,000 Australian adults aged over 49 and followed them over a 15-year period.

Nearly 1 in 4 patients with advanced cancer, treated at Comprehensive Cancer Care Network (NCCN) centres in the US, are receiving innovative drugs matched to DNA mutations in their tumours. This achievement, to be reported at the ESMO 2018 Congress in Munich,(1) shows that cutting-edge precision medicine is spreading from highly specialist cancer units to other healthcare facilities so more patients can benefit, wherever they are treated.