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Michele W. Berger
Senior Science News Officer
mwberger@upenn.edu
New research into opioid overdoses that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights new disparities along racial lines that are likely fueled by existing inequality.
A Penn Medicine class helps students hone their visual art skills to help patients understand their medical treatment better via visual aids that bridge communication gaps and outline their care.
Several genetic mutations previously linked to breast cancer and included on commercial genetic tests were found not to increase a woman’s risk of disease, according to a multi-institutional population study of more than 64,000 women.
A test of the Sum-Share method found 1,734 genetic variations associated with cardiovascular-related conditions when just one had previously been likely.
Penn Medicine researchers have used nanotechnology and previous knowledge of a protein pathway to significantly reduce knee cartilage degeneration and pain.
Scott D. Halpern and Jennifer Prah Ruger are acknowledged for their outstanding accomplishments in ethics and health.
A new study finds kidneys discarded as low-quality in the U.S are similar to kidneys transplanted with acceptable outcomes in France.
For more than 10 years, Graciela Gonzalez-Hernandez has been studying natural language across social media to inform clinical care, carefully sifting through language to determine which voices qualify as patient experiences.
Penn Medicine researchers find that lectures and assessments misuse race, playing a role in perpetuating physician bias.
A new study out of Penn Medicine finds minorities, older populations, non-English speakers, and those with lower incomes face inequities in accessing telemedicine care.
Michele W. Berger
Senior Science News Officer
mwberger@upenn.edu
Matthew Sloan of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the increase in hip and knee replacement surgeries in the past 20 years. “Among the older patients, the big driver is the desire to stay active,” he said.
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Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine said treating fevers can prolong or worsen an illness because immunity works better at higher temperatures. While fever reducers can relieve uncomfortable symptoms, “You’re not supposed to feel better,” he said. “You’re supposed to stay under the covers, keep warm, and ride out the infection. We have fevers for a reason.”
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Steven Joffe of the Perelman School of Medicine said the cost of private cord blood banking is hard to justify at this point, unless someone in the family is known to have a blood disorder that required a stem cell transplant. “The data suggest there might be a little help there, but I find it not at all convincing,” he said.
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Alison Buttenheim of the School of Nursing spoke about the hesitancy surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine. “It looks like right now about half of adults, in the U.S. at least, say they are likely to get the vaccine—this moves around a bit—but another 20-30% either say they’re maybe unlikely or might want to wait,” she says.
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David Fajgenbaum of the Perelman School of Medicine was interviewed about surviving Castleman Disease.
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Susan Taylor of the Perelman School of Medicine co-authored “Dermatology for Skin of Color,” a textbook about treating skin conditions in people with darker skin tones. “We shouldn’t have to write separate textbooks—that information should be integrated into the quote-unquote standard textbooks,” she said.
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