6.21
Health Sciences
Novel model for studying intestinal parasite could advance vaccine development
Novel model for studying intestinal parasite could advance vaccine development
The intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium causes frequent outbreaks in the U.S., and has been historically difficult to study. A novel model of infection from Penn Vet serves as a new tool to pursue a vaccine.
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.
How to reinvigorate exhausted immune cells to stop cancer
How to reinvigorate exhausted immune cells to stop cancer
A Penn study has identified a protein called TOX that regulates exhausted T-cells, and could be a key to new immunotherapies.
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.
A push for emergency texting services across the United States
A push for emergency texting services across the United States
Today, fewer than half of U.S. counties have this capability. Rising juniors Anthony Scarpone-Lambert and Kirti Shenoy want to change that with their nonprofit Text-911.
Better prognosticating for dogs with mammary tumors
Better prognosticating for dogs with mammary tumors
For dogs with mammary tumors, a course of treatment can depend on a variety of factors, some of which may seem to contradict one another. A new system developed by Penn Vet’s Karin Sorenmo and colleagues can make determining a prognosis and making treatment decisions an easier task.
Untreated white coat hypertension leads to more death from heart disease
Untreated white coat hypertension leads to more death from heart disease
Researchers at Penn Medicine say white coat hypertension, a condition in which a patient’s blood pressure readings are higher when taken at the doctor’s office compared to other settings, underscores the need for increased out-of-office blood pressure monitoring.
Predicting post-injury depression and PTSD risk
Predicting post-injury depression and PTSD risk
Up to half of all acute injury patients experience post-traumatic stress disorder in the months after injury. For urban black men, some of whom have experienced prior trauma, childhood adversity, and neighborhood disadvantage, acute post-injury stress responses are exacerbated.
For Transplant House families, dinner just got a whole lot better
For Transplant House families, dinner just got a whole lot better
At the Clyde Barker Penn Transplant House, a partnership with Walnut Hill College and a Penn Medicine CAREs grant brings homemade baked goods to pre- and post-transplant patients and families.
Making history at LDI: An interview with Rachel Werner
Rachel Werner is the first female and first physician-economist executive director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and a professor of both medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and health care management at the Wharton School.
In the News
Axios
The flimsy promises of brain wearables
Anna Wexler of the Perelman School of Medicine said the FDA is ill prepared to reign in the companies producing wearable brain devices, which record brain activity or stimulate the brain with electric currents in spite of little oversight.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
College affirmative action bans linked to higher rates of smoking among minority youth
A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine has found that states that ban affirmative action in college admissions experience increased smoking rates among black, Latino, and Indigenous high schoolers. “Educational policies can have these unintended health consequences,” said co-author Atheendar Venkataramani. “Social policies really matter for health, and it’s worth talking about.”
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
In Pennsylvania, ‘deaths of despair’ are 50% higher than the national average
Maria Oquendo of the Perelman School of Medicine is quoted on increased suicide rates in Pennsylvania.
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Time
‘They’re chipping away.’ Inside the grassroots effort to fight mandatory vaccines
In an article about anti-vax organizing, Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine said, “Vaccines are a victim of their own success.” Offit continued, “people have forgotten how sick measles can make you and how dead measles can make you.”
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Nature
Whole-body PET scanner produces 3D images in seconds
Abass Alavi of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about a new version of a PET scanner that can generate 3D renderings of the entire human body in just seconds, a fraction of the time required by older iterations. “The whole-body machine is another quantum jump in medical imaging,” said Alavi.
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