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Health Sciences
A banner year for breakthroughs: Penn Medicine’s most talked-about news in 2016
Some of Penn Medicine’s biggest accomplishments included employing virtual reality devices to treat phantom limb pain, performing Penn’s third bilateral hand transplant, and using CRISPR to treat hemophilia in mice.
Tweeting the Way to Health: Penn Medicine Launches Center for Digital Health
Across the world, social media users leave a trail of clues about themselves each time they Tweet, post to Facebook, write a Yelp review, and apply a filter and hashtags to their latest Instagram photo. Under the leadership of Raina Merchant, MD, MSHP, researchers and physicians at Penn Medicine are mining those clues to find what ails them – and how to fix it.
Diabetes accounts for more U.S. deaths than previously thought
Diabetes accounts for 12 percent of deaths in the United States, a significantly higher percentage than previous research revealed, making it the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer, according to findings from the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University published in
Penn Research Describes Missing Step in How Cells Move Their Cargo
Every time a hormone is released from a cell, every time a neurotransmitter leaps across a synapse to relay a message from one neuron to another, the cell must undergo exocytosis. This is the process responsible for transporting cellular contents via lipid-encapsulated vesicles to the cell surface membrane and then incorporating or secreting them through membrane fusion.
Penn Vet’s diagnostic labs help keep diseases at bay
In early December, when a mother bear and her three cubs turned up dead in a church parking lot in northeast Pennsylvania, it sparked CSI-like intrigue.
J. Larry Jameson Reappointed Head of Penn Medicine and Perelman School of Medicine
J. Larry Jameson has been reappointed executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.
Penn Medicine: “Mysterious” Non-protein-coding RNAs Play Important Roles In Gene Expression
In cells, DNA is transcribed into RNAs that provide the molecular recipe for cells to make proteins. Most of the genome is transcribed into RNA, but only a small proportion of RNAs are actually from the protein-coding regions of the genome.
Jay Gottfried Appointed Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor
President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price are pleased to announce the appointment of Jay Gottfried as the University of Pennsylvania’s eighteenth Penn Integrates Knowledge University
Penn Vet Research Identifies New Target for Taming Ebola
Viruses and their hosts are in a eternal game of one-upmanship. If a host cell evolves a way to stop a virus from spreading, the virus will look for a new path. And so on and so forth.
Penn Medicine: Evidence of Alzheimer's in Patients with Lewy Body Disease Tracks with Course of Dementia
Patients who had a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) with dementia (PDD) or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and had higher levels of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology in their donated post-mortem brains also had more severe symptoms of these Lewy body diseases (LBD) during their lives, compared to those whose brains had less AD pathology, according to research from the
In the News
UPenn hosts free online panel for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion
The Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative, led by José Bauermeister and Jessica Halem of the School of Nursing, will host a free online panel in April on the integration of LGBTQ+ people in the workforce.
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How to die in good health
PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel says that incessantly preparing for old age mistakes a long life for a worthwhile one.
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Mayor Parker’s plan to ‘remove the presence of drug users’ from Kensington raises new questions
Shoshana Aronowitz of the School of Nursing and Ashish Thakrar of the Perelman School of Medicine comment on the lack of specificity in Philadelphia’s plan to remove drug users from Kensington and on the current state of drug treatment in the city.
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How many patients would recommend their Philly-area hospital to family and friends? Check your local hospital
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania has been named one of the most recommended acute-care facilities by patients in the Philadelphia area.
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Homeward bound: When a Penn Medicine nurse was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she turned to the service dogs she helped to train
A profile highlights Maria Wright of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, from her volunteer work connecting people with service dogs to her cancer diagnosis and her own journey applying for a service dog.
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