Health Sciences

Penn Study: Staging System in ALS Shows Potential Tracks of Disease Progression

The motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, progresses in a stepwise, sequential pattern which can be classified into four distinct stages, report pathologists with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the Annals of Neurology.

Kim Menard

Penn Researchers Pinpoint How Smoking Causes Osteoporosis

Human bone breaks down and regenerates naturally all the time, in a perfectly balanced dance that maintains skeletal integrity. As people age, bone tends to deteriorate faster, causing osteoporosis and other disorders. Smoking artificially accelerates bone degeneration as well.

Manasee Wagh

Penn Research Identifies Bone Tumor in 120,000-Year-Old Neandertal Rib

The first-known definitive case of a benign bone tumor has been discovered in the rib of a young Neandertal who lived about 120,000 years ago in what is now present-day Croatia. The bone fragment, which comes from the famous archaeological cave site of Krapina, contains by far the earliest bone tumor ever identified in the archaeological record.

Pam Kosty

Free Penn Online Course Offers Lessons on Growing Old

A new online course taught by a University of Pennsylvania nursing professor and a nursing educator focuses on aging well, life in an aging society, and seeks to answer that age-old question: how old is old?  

Jacquie Posey

Penn Research Shows Way to Improve Stem Cells’ Cartilage Formation

Cartilage injuries are difficult to repair. Current surgical options generally involve taking a piece from another part of the injured joint and patching over the damaged area, but this approach involves damaging healthy cartilage, and a person’s cartilage may still deteriorate with age.

Evan Lerner



In the News


Fortune

California declares a state of emergency as a new severe bird flu case was discovered. What it means for the rest of the country

Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine says the latest H5N1 bird flu strain might have a greater potential to adapt and cause severe disease in humans.

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The New York Times

Is protein powder a scam?

Colleen Tewksbury of the School of Nursing and Perelman School of Medicine says that the vast majority of people in the U.S. already get enough protein from the foods they eat and don’t need to take it in supplement form.

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Las Vegas Sun

Nation’s health care industry can be improved, if we have the will to try

Michael Anne Kyle of the Perelman School of Medicine says that patient frustration with health care is fueled by spending a lot of money while still facing problems with the service.

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The Washington Post

Dogs may be able to communicate by pressing buttons, research suggests

Postdoc Amritha Mallikarjun of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that dogs use buttons as a trained behavior to try and get the things they want.

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NPR

For kids with rare genetic disorders, customized CRISPR treatments offer hope

Scientists at Penn are trying to develop a template for groups of rare conditions that are similar enough to be affected by a single, easily adaptable gene-editing treatment.

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