7.16
Public Health
Relieving water scarcity, one home at a time
Relieving water scarcity, one home at a time
Due to a rapidly depleting underground aquifer, many residents of Mexico City are left with little-to-no easily accessible clean water for hours or days at a time. This summer, members of the Penn chapter of Isla Urbana helped install rainwater harvesting and filtration systems to provide residents of the Mexican capital with clean water year-round.
Managing asthma amid the summer heat and dips in air quality
Managing asthma amid the summer heat and dips in air quality
For people with asthma, effective treatment plans can help patients better manage their condition and prevent complications. However, a variety of factors, like increased exposure to poor air quality, can make life more challenging.
A conversation about second-generation immigrants and mortality
A conversation about second-generation immigrants and mortality
In a Q&A, Penn demographer Michel Guillot discusses recent work showing that male children of immigrants from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia have a mortality rate nearly double that of the native population in France.
Collegiate affirmative action bans linked to smoking among minority students
Collegiate affirmative action bans linked to smoking among minority students
A Penn Medicine study shows unanticipated adverse effects of affirmative action bans on health behaviors in minority high school students.
What influences how parents and their gay adolescent sons talk about sexual health at home?
What influences how parents and their gay adolescent sons talk about sexual health at home?
Research from Penn found that even when parent-child conversations avoid heteronormative stereotypes, outside factors like mass media and religion—those beyond the parents’ control—can reinforce them.
Toxins from the tap
Toxins from the tap
In Pennsylvania and hundreds of other locations around the country, manmade chemicals known as PFAS have been found in drinking water. Howard Neukrug discusses the potential harm, how local and federal agencies are responding, and the many related questions that remain unanswered.
For incarcerated women, From Cell to Home offers a second chance
For incarcerated women, From Cell to Home offers a second chance
The program, run by the Ortner Center’s Kathleen M. Brown with support from Penn student volunteers and the Quattrone Center, works to secure the release of reformed prisoners serving life sentences.
Quantifying the health risks of being a family caregiver
Quantifying the health risks of being a family caregiver
Health care and economics researchers find that more research is needed in the area of ‘next friend risk,’ or the full dimension of health risks faced by family and friends who become caregivers to the homebound.
Contest fosters local solutions to global sustainability challenges
Contest fosters local solutions to global sustainability challenges
SoleProvider won the Sustainable Solutions competition created by rising senior Richard Ling. The automated texting system offers Philadelphia’s homeless a simple way to request a particular need and for users to fulfill it.
OncoLink: 25 years—and millions of hits—later
OncoLink: 25 years—and millions of hits—later
The online source for cancer information turns 25. Last year alone, the website had 4.5 million visits, with half from other countries, and nurses looking for reliable material to educate patients.
In the News
The Washington Post
The Tragedy to Communities When Church Buildings Are Demolished to Make Condos
Ram Cnaan of the School of Social Policy & Practice has piloted several studies on the economic and social benefits urban congregations offer local communities.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
As Opioid Overdoses Rise Along With Suicides, Experts Look for Links
Maria Oquendo of the Perelman School of Medicine discussed opioid addiction, noting that “anywhere between 25 and 45 percent of deaths by overdose” may actually be suicides.
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