Health Sciences

illustration of kidneys

A cohort study comes of age

For nearly two decades, a major national study of kidney disease led and coordinated at Penn has defined key risk factors in an all-too-common silent epidemic.

Steve Graff ・

A home health care aide sits at a kitchen table with a person and applies a blood pressure cuff, home health visits reduce sepsis readmission.

Improving outcomes for sepsis patients

More than 1 million sepsis survivors are discharged annually from acute care hospitals in the United States. Although the majority of these patients receive post-acute care services, with more than a third coming to home health care, sepsis survivors account for a majority of readmissions nationwide.

Penn Today Staff ・

person in wheelchair looks out the window, elder in an eldercare facility with a lack of nurses present.

Nursing home nurses lack time and resources for complete care

Evidence from hospitals has shown for years that nurses are more likely to leave necessary patient care undone when employed in settings with insufficient staff and resources. This “missed care” has been linked to poor care quality.

Penn Today Staff ・



In the News


Forbes

Eye drops proven to reverse vision loss in clinical trial

Eve Higginbotham of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about some of the shortcomings of eye drops that treat age-related farsightedness. “There’s a question of whether or not people will actually use these drops twice a day in order to see a little better up close,” she said. “I am sure there may be a small segment of the population that may choose to put drops in twice a day, but for the vast majority of individuals, using drops twice a day may be a challenge.”

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Time

‘I burned all the time.’ Selma Blair discusses her MS diagnosis and hope for effective treatments for chronic diseases

Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine was noted for his contributions to the development of CAR T cell therapy. “The approaches we’ve learned in cancer may well apply to dementia,” he said. “I think that will be the next wave of research.”

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Forbes

FDA: Deliveries of scarce childhood cancer drug due to resume later in October, but shortages may continue for months

Peter Adamson of the Perelman School of Medicine authored a letter proposing a “call to action” to make sure childhood-cancer drug shortages don’t reoccur.

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KYW Newsradio (Philadelphia)

Using a patient portal could help you work harder for your health

Health System CEO Kevin Mahoney spoke about the health benefits of online patient portals. “An engaged patient is more likely to follow guidelines of when you're supposed to get your preventative health care screenings,” he said.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn’s genital herpes vaccine is a winner in animals. Next up: Testing on humans

Harvey Friedman of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about his efforts to develop an “urgently needed” genital herpes vaccine. “What we have is close to perfect in animals. No one else has done that,” he said. “The big unknown is whether it will work in humans.”

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