Health Sciences

Anyone who’s ever heard a Beethoven sonata or a Beatles song knows how powerfully sound can affect our emotions.  But it can work the other way as well – our emotions can actually affect how we hear and process sound.  When certain types of sounds become associated in our brains with strong emotions, hearing similar sounds can evoke those same feelings, even far removed from their or

The brain-preserving cooling treatment known as therapeutic hypothermia is rarely being used in patients who suffer cardiac arrest while in the hospital, despite its proven potential to improve survival and neurological function, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in the June issue of Critical Care Medicine. 

University of Pennsylvania student volunteers cover enormous distances for charitable missions during the summer, and in the past several weeks a group of four has included Kazakhstan in the list. 

Pancreatic cancer carries a dismal prognosis. According to the National Cancer Institute, the overall five-year relative survival for 2003-2009 was 6 percent.

The motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, progresses in a stepwise, sequential pattern which can be classified into four distinct stages, report pathologists with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the Annals of Neurology.

Human bone breaks down and regenerates naturally all the time, in a perfectly balanced dance that maintains skeletal integrity. As people age, bone tends to deteriorate faster, causing osteoporosis and other disorders. Smoking artificially accelerates bone degeneration as well.

Opioids, such as morphine, are still the most effective class of painkillers, but they come with unwanted side effects and can also be addictive and deadly at high doses.

Sperm doesn’t appear to forget anything. Stress felt by dad—whether as a preadolescent or adult—leaves a lasting impression on his sperm that gives sons and daughters a blunted reaction to stress, a response linked to several mental disorders. 

When a strain of bacteria invades a human body, the immune system responds by generating antibodies to neutralize the threat.

The first-known definitive case of a benign bone tumor has been discovered in the rib of a young Neandertal who lived about 120,000 years ago in what is now present-day Croatia. The bone fragment, which comes from the famous archaeological cave site of Krapina, contains by far the earliest bone tumor ever identified in the archaeological record.