Health Sciences

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have developed a new gene therapy to thwart a potential influenza pandemic.

The human gut is loaded with commensal bacteria – “good” microbes that, among other functions, help the body digest food. The gastrointestinal tract contains literally trillions of such cells, and yet the immune system seemingly turns a blind eye.

The allure of personalized medicine has made new, more efficient ways of sequencing genes a top research priority. One promising technique involves reading DNA bases using changes in electrical current as they are threaded through a nanoscopic hole.

With little evidence to guide them, many hospital intensive care units (ICUs) have been employing critical care physicians at night with the notion it would improve patients’ outcomes.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a procedure traditionally used during cardiac surgeries and in the ICU that functions as an artificial replacement for a patient's heart and lungs, has also been used to resuscitate cardiac arrest victims in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. Now, a novel study of this technique in the U.S.

The number of adults living beyond age 45 in sub-Saharan Africa is rapidly expanding, yet many of these older men and women experience physical illnesses and disabilities that limit their ability to function, according to a study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and in Malawi.

In the past, researchers have sought to determine the geographic distribution of many life-threatening conditions, including stroke and cardiac arrest. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have created the first U.S.

In the largest clinical trial to date to examine the efficacy of PARP inhibitor therapy in BRCA 1/2 carriers with diseases other than breast and ovarian cancer, the oral drug olaparib was found to be effective against advanced pancreatic and prostate cancers.

Adrian Morrison, professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, has had plenty of experience writing about his area of academic expertise, REM sleep.

A new study looking at the genomes of more than 13,000 men identified four new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type in young men today.