News

People with a genetic risk for being overweight or obese are more likely to have an incisional hernia — or hernia that’s a complication of a surgery — and, if obese, a post-surgical infection as well, a study suggests. “Association of Genetic Risk of Obesity with Postoperative…

A naturally occurring nonhuman primate model of Bardet-Biedl syndrome closely mimics the primary features of the condition in humans, including retinal and kidney anomalies, and may help researchers to understand the disease better and to test new therapeutic options. The model was described in the journal Experimental Eye Research,…

The offspring of obese mothers are more likely to age faster, and to develop metabolic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, a study in rats shows. While the health problems spanned the offsprings’ lifetimes, the researchers noted that “encouragingly, exercise by the offspring improves many of the poor offspring…

Perceived social norms have a big impact on college students’ attitudes toward genetic testing for obesity-related genes — which may be due to a lack of education about these tests, a new study shows. The study, “What Motivates Individuals to Get Obesity Related Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Tests? A…

While some genetic factors control growth and weight in both children and adults, those of most importance are actually different between children and adults and appear to change significantly over childhood, a study reports. Its findings were published in the journal Nature Communications, in the paper “Genome-wide…

Genomic studies of isolated populations can help identify very rare genetic variants that significantly impact human traits, including obesity, a new Finnish study demonstrates. Titled “Exome sequencing of Finnish isolates enhances rare-variant association power,” the study was published in the journal Nature. One of the overarching…

Treatment with setmelanotide continues to provide significant weight loss at two years in six of nine patients with Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) taking part in an ongoing Phase 2/3 basket trial. Also, five patients have experienced a significant decrease in hunger. These findings support previously reported results by…

Unlike height, body mass index (BMI) and other obesity-related traits are strongly influenced by interactions between an individual’s genetic background and environmental factors. A study with that finding, “Genotype-by-environment interactions inferred from genetic effects on phenotypic variability in the UK Biobank,” was published in Science Advances. “Most…

Next month’s annual conference of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) in Washington, D.C., couldn’t come at a better time, says Marshall Summar, MD, chairman of NORD’s board of directors. “The pace of discovery in rare diseases has gone from brisk to hypersonic,” Summar told BioNews Services, publisher…

Children who are breastfed have a lower risk of obesity, which might be because of fewer specific genetic changes in the LEP gene — the gene coding for the leptin hormone, which controls appetite and energy expenditure, according to a new study. The research, “Leptin Gene Methylation…