Perelman School of Medicine

More than 29 million Americans are currently living with diabetes. The majority have type 2 diabetes, and for them insulin resistance – their body’s inability to effectively process sugar – is a part of daily life. Therefore, understanding the cause of insulin resistance is critical to tackling this chronic disease.

Refugees seeking asylum in the United States are twice as likely to be granted protection if their application is supported by medical documentation of torture, writes Jules Lipoff, MD, an assistant professor of Clinical Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and two colleagues in the March 7 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

Street lighting, illuminated walk/don’t walk signs, painted crosswalks, public transportation, community parks, and maintained vacant lots are associated with significant decreased likelihood of homicide among youth in a city neighborhood, according to a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics 

Inhibiting the transfer of calcium ions into the cell’s powerhouse is specifically toxic to cancer cells, according to an article published this week in Cell Reports by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Twitter may be an effective, untapped resource to stimulate interest in cancer clinical trials and boost enrollment, physicians at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvaniasuggest in a new research letter in JAMA Oncology. Analyzing thousands of lung cancer tweets on the social media site revealed that a surprisingly large number were about clinical trials, particularly ones on immunotherapy, although none were used for recruitment.

Ramon Diaz-Arrastia has been named the ninth Presidential Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, effective July 1. A world-leading expert in traumatic brain injury, Diaz-Arrastia will be Presidential Professor of Neurology in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Three University of Pennsylvania faculty members are among recipients of this year’s Sloan Research Fellowship, two from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, one from Penn’s 

WHO &  WHAT:          The Public Policy Challenge invites students from across the University of Pennsylvania to develop a policy proposal based on an issue that affects Philadelphia, such as education, public health, homelessness, recidivism and others.

The drug topiramate (Topamax) is effective at helping alcohol-dependent individuals and heavy drinkers avoid heavy drinking, but many patients and clinicians have shied away from using the drug due to its reputation for side effects, such as drowsiness and cognitive difficulties.

It turns out that the type, how frequent, and where new mutations occur in the human genome depends on which DNA building blocks are nearby, found researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in an advanced online study