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Health Sciences
First Child to Undergo a Bilateral Hand Transplant Marks One Year Since Surgery
Today, nine-year-old Zion Harvey can throw a baseball over home plate. He can write in his journal, prepare himself lunch, and manage zippers on his clothes. For most of his life, however, these and many other ordinary actions were impossible for this little boy.
Penn: Blinding Disease in Canines and Humans Shares Causative Gene, Pathology
Ciliopathies are diseases that affect the cilia, sensory organelles that most mammalian cells possess and which play a critical role in many biological functions. One such disease is Senior Løken Syndrome, a rare condition that can involve both a severe kidney disease and the blinding disease Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA.
Penn Study Finds Nasal Spray Effective and Safe Anesthesia for Dental Work
A fear of pain causes many people with dental phobias to avoid or delay needed treatment. In some cases, the injection of a numbing agent can be the most painful part of the visit.
Penn Biologists Reveal How Sleep Deprivation Harms Memory
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Groningen have discovered a piece in the puzzle of how sleep deprivation negatively affects memory.
Penn Team Identifies Strategy to Reverse the Disease Dyskeratosis Congenita
Dyskeratosis congenita, or DC, is a rare, inherited disease for which there are limited treatment options and no cure. Typically diagnosed in childhood, the disorder causes stem cells to fail, leading to significant problems including bone marrow failure, lung fibrosis, dyskeratosis of the skin and intestinal atrophy and inflammation.
In Appalachia, Penn Nursing Grad Students Care for Vulnerable Patients
On Bonnie’s Bus, parked in a lot at Camp Caesar in Webster Springs, W. Va., Chana Schaffer is in a bit of a bind.
Public Libraries as Hubs of Health Information
Public libraries serve communities in myriad ways, providing places where people gather to read, learn a new language, access the internet, pick up tax forms, or apply for jobs.
Penn Gastroenterologist Appointed to First Philadelphia Commission for Women
PHILADELPHIA - Mayor Jim Kenney has appointed Farzana Rashid Hossain, MD, an assistant professor of clinical medicine and a gastroenterologist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the Un
Penn Philosophy Grad Student Studies Morality, Social Norms
Try this thought experiment from the world of philosophy. Imagine a train moving quickly down a track. On its current route, call it Path A, five people stand fixed in place; in another direction, Path B, one immoveable individual waits. A single flip of a switch, at which you happen to be standing, shifts the train’s direction from Path A to B, saving five people but dooming one.
Two Penn Faculty Elected Members of American Philosophical Society
Two faculty members from the University of Pennsylvania have been selected for membership in the American Philosophical Society. They are Ronald Fairman and Rogers Smith.
In the News
Bird flu suspected in deaths of 200 snow geese in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley
Stephen Cole of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that indoor cats are contracting bird flu through raw pet foods of poultry origin or raw milk products.
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The surgeon general calls for new warning labels on alcohol—here’s the truth about how it impacts your health
Henry Kranzler of the Perelman School of Medicine says that alcohol’s effects on the brain are observed more readily because it’s the organ of behavior.
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Tuberculosis rates plunge when families living in poverty get a monthly cash payout
Aaron Richterman of the Perelman School of Medicine says that there are large and underappreciated benefits of cash-transfer programs, such as potentially ending a tuberculosis epidemic.
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Cancer breakthrough as ‘speckles’ may reveal best treatment
A paper co-authored by PIK Professor Shelley Berger finds that patterns of “speckles” in the heart of tumor cells could help predict how patients with a common form of kidney cancer will respond to treatment options.
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Scientists are racing to develop a new bird flu vaccine
Drew Weissman and Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine are testing a vaccine to prevent a strain of H5N1 bird flu in chickens and cattle.
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