(Reuters) - Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie said on Tuesday that she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy after finding out she had a gene mutation that leads to a sharply higher risk of both breast and ovarian cancer. Jolie, writing in the New York Times, said her mother's death from cancer at 56 and the discovery that she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation led to her decision out of fears she might not be around for her six children.

Some of the most devastating forms of cancer have genetic similarities even though they strike different body parts, according to new studies out Thursday. The new research -- one study focused on a form of leukemia, in the New England Journal of Medicine, and a second on endometrial cancer, in Nature -- could offer a pathway to new, more effective treatments. The new findings challenge the previous approach of classifying tumors based on the body part where they are first observed, and add fuel to the growing trend of differentiating tumors based on their genetic profile.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. childhood obesity fight sees some success: group

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Obama offers compromise on birth control health coverage