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Health Sciences
Penn Researchers Show That Mental ‘Map’ and ‘Compass’ Are Two Separate Systems
If you have a map, you can know where you are without knowing which way you are facing. If you have a compass, you can know which way you're facing without knowing where you are. Animals from ants to mice to humans use both kinds of information to reorient themselves in familiar places, but how they determine this information from environmental cues is not well understood.
Penn Scientists Receive Grant for Neuroendocrine Cancer Immunotherapy Research
Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania received a $400,000 grant from the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation (CFCF), a non-profit that funds research for carcinoid, pancreatic, and related neuroendocrine cancers (NETS), to investigate the use of an experimental gene therapy that engineers immune cells to attack cancers.
Helping Pets, Helping People
In a North Philadelphia rowhome, four students from the School of Veterinary Medicine are examining Pebbles, a friendly cocker spaniel. She’s a little overweight but otherwise healthy. “She has a great hairdo,” fourth-year student Hannah MacAyeal tells Billy, Pebbles’ owner.
Giving HOPE: U.S. Has Nearly 400 HIV-Positive Potential Organ Donors, Penn Study Finds
In the first-of-its-kind study since the passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act (the HOPE Act), which lifted the ban on organ donations from one HIV-positive person to another, Penn Medicine researchers report on the quality of these organs and how their use might impact the country’s organ shortage.
Penn Study Finds that Various Financial Incentives Help Smokers Quit
Four different financial incentive programs, each worth roughly $800 over six months, all help more smokers kick the habit than providing free access to behavioral counseling and nicotine replacement therapy.
Two Penn Medicine Physicians Receive American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Crystal Awards
Two physicians in the division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will be presented Crystal Awards by the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).
Most Women are Unaware of New Guidelines for Pap Test Frequency, Penn Medicine Study Reveals
Women know that Pap tests are a useful screening test for cervical cancer, but according to a new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, most of those surveyed are unaware of the updated screening guidelines for the appropriate frequency of Pap tests in low-risk women.
Penn Team Finds Protein "Cement" that Stabilizes the Crossroad of Chromosomes
Cell division is the basis of life and requires that each daughter cell receive the proper complement of chromosomes. In most organisms, this process is mediated at the familiar constricted intersection of X-shaped chromosomes. This area, called the centromere, is where special proteins gather and attach to pull daughter cells apart during cell division.
Penn Researchers Develop Custom Artificial Membranes to Study the Molecular Basis of Disease
By Madeleine Stone @themadstone Decorating the outside of cells like tiny antenna, a diverse community of sugar molecules acts like a telecommunications system, sending and receiving information, recognizing and responding to foreign molecules and neighboring cells.
Penn Medicine Study Reveals Why Almost Half of At-Risk Patients Opt Out of Comprehensive Multiplex Cancer Screening
Some at-risk patients opted out of comprehensive cancer gene screening when presented with the opportunity to be tested for the presence of genes linked to various cancers, according to a recent study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the
In the News
6ABC.com
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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Self
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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NPR
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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Newsweek
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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Time
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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