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Health Sciences
Penn Study Examines Health Providers' Perspectives on ICD Deactivation In End-of-Life Situations
In the United States alone, an estimated 100,000 patients per year receive implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) – devices that detect life-threatening heart rhythm irregularities and deliver a high-voltage shock to return the heart to a normal pace.
Penn Researchers Find Molecular Key to Exhaustion Following Sleep Deprivation
It happens to everyone: You stay up late one night to finish an assignment, and the next day, you’re exhausted. Humans aren’t unique in that; all animals need sleep, and if they don’t get it, they must make it up.
Penn Medicine: Donor Smoking and Recipient Obesity Tied to Higher Rates of Death and Lung Injury After Lung Transplantation
PHILADELPHIA — A multi-institution study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has identified several important risk factors, including a donor’s smoking history and recipient obesity, linked to severe primary graft dysfunction (PGD), the major cause of serious illness and death after lung transplantation. PGD is a common complication that affects up to 25 percent of lung transplant patients shortly after surgery. The study also found that some previously identified risk factors, including donor sex, race, age, and means of death, were not associated with PGD.
Penn Physician: Emphasis on 'Value' in Reform Sends Mixed Messages
The wide consensus that health care spending poses a threat to the nation’s fiscal solvency has led to the championing of “value” as a goal of health care reform efforts.
Penn Medicine Team Draws Map to Avoid Detours on Road to HIV Treatment Success
Addressing on the challenges that accompany transitions between health care settings could be a key strategy for improving clinical outcomes for people living with HIV, according to researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Penn Study: How the Body's Energy Molecule Transmits Three Types of Taste
Saying that the sense of taste is complicated is an understatement, that it is little understood, even more so. Exactly how cells transmit taste information to the brain for three out of the five primary taste types was pretty much a mystery, until now.
Penn Medicine: Colonoscopy Screening Reduces Risk of Advanced Colorectal Cancer
PHILADELPHIA — A new study led by a researcher at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania adds support to current medical recommendations stating that screening colonoscopy substantially reduces an average-risk adult’s likelihood of being diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) in either
Mom’s Placenta Reflects Her Exposure to Stress, Penn Vet Team Finds
PHILADELPHIA — The mammalian placenta is more than just a filter through which nutrition and oxygen are passed from a mother to her unborn child.
Penn Medicine: Adding to the List of Disease-Causing Proteins in Brain Disorders
PHILADELPHIA — A multi-institution group of researchers has found new candidate disease proteins for neurodegenerative disorders. James Shorter, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Paul Taylor, M.D., PhD, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and colleagues describe in an advanced online publication of Nature that mutations in prion-like segments of two RNA-binding proteins are associated with a rare inherited degeneration disorder affecting muscle, brain, motor neurons and bone (called multisystem proteinopathy) and one case of the familial form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Penn Campaign Raises $4.3 Billion, Transforming the University
After seven years of widespread support and alumni participation, the University of Pennsylvania culminated its Making History Campaign, raising $4.3 billion, strengthening Penn’s position among the world’s foremost universities and making major breakthroughs in addressing society’s most complex challenges, Penn President Amy Gutmann announced today.
In the News
Sugar-coated gold nanoparticles could replace some antibiotics
According to a Penn Medicine study, a new therapy involving laser light and sugar-coated gold nanoparticles can reduce tooth decay and infected wounds without needing antibiotics.
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A new strategy to attack aggressive brain cancer shrank tumors in two early tests
A clinical trial led by Stephen Bagley of the Perelman School of Medicine suggests that targeting two associated proteins with CAR T cell therapy could be a viable strategy for shrinking brain tumors.
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Alzheimer’s may be caused by a build-up of fat in brain cells
A study by Michael Haney of the Perelman School of Medicine suggests that the root cause of Alzheimer’s is a build-up of fat droplets in brain cells.
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Cats aren’t jerks. They’re just misunderstood
James Serpell of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that the domestic cat suffers from its legacy of being a not-quite-wild animal on the margins of society.
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Philadelphia hospital program adds psychologists to bridge mental health services for trauma survivors
A new psychology team at the Penn Trauma Violence Recovery Program has provided about 46 survivors with short- and long- term therapy, featuring remarks from Elinore Kaufman and Lily Brown of the Perelman School of Medicine.
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