Health Sciences

Seven University of Pennsylvania faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), one of the nation’s highest honors in biomedicine. They are among 70 new U.S. and 10 international members of the globally renowned organization.

Have you ever been stuck in a rut, going through the same motions day in and day out? How do you motivate to change your behavior?

Noroviruses are the leading cause of non-bacterial gastroenteritis in the world and are estimated to cause 267 million infections and 20,000 deaths each year. This virus causes severe diarrhea, nausea, and stomach pain.

Human populations feature a broad palette of skin tones. But until now, few genes have been shown to contribute to normal variation in skin color, and these had primarily been discovered through studies of European populations.

As Hurricane Maria formed in the Atlantic, then turned into a powerful storm barreling toward Puerto Rico, Arjun Yodh watched the news closely.

Infections caused by viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, measles, parainfluenza and Ebola, are typically considered acute. These viruses cause disease quickly and live within a host for a limited time. But in some cases the effects of the infection, and presence of the virus itself, can persist.

The immune system is constantly performing surveillance to detect foreign organisms that might do harm. But pathogens, for their part, have evolved a number of strategies to evade this detection, such as secreting proteins that hinder a host’s ability to mount an immune response.

By Ian McCurry

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and other international universities are working to save an invaluable scientific resource badly damaged during Hurricane Maria: a population of rhesus macaques living on a remote island, as well as the staff and facilities that support them.