4.21
Health Sciences
A partnership to help fight COVID and develop a STEM career pipeline
Working with the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative, University City District’s workforce development program, Penn Medicine is creating pathways to science careers for local jobseekers.
Immune response in some children may influence COVID treatments for adults
A joint study from researchers at Penn and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia shows that T cell activation in children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome is more similar to adults with severe COVID-19.
Modeling how violence permeates health and health care
While violence from wars or civil conflicts is a documented occupational hazard for health care workers, little is known about the impact on these workers and corresponding health services as a result of violence caused by widespread organized crime activity.
Eviction linked to depression risk in young adults
Research from sociologist Courtney Boen and anthropologist Morgan Hoke shows that this issue, compounded by the toll of the pandemic, disproportionately affects low-income households and communities of color.
What works: Medication, a low-calorie diet, and intensive behavioral therapy
Patients on a low-calorie diet along with intensive behavioral therapy lost nearly three times as much weight when taking new anti-obesity medication than when taking a placebo.
Campus public health measures help mitigate the spread of COVID-19
Alongside regular saliva-based COVID-19 testing, other tools such as contact tracing, quarantine and isolation facilities, and health and well-being monitoring platforms are critical for protecting and supporting the campus community.
Racial and ethnic factors affect access to treatment for heart disease
Researchers uncover a link between racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors and whether Black, Latinx, and lower-income patients receive rhythm control strategies for atrial fibrillation.
Accessible care for all at a new dental center
A priority of Dean Mark Wolff, the Care Center for Persons with Disabilities is now seeing patients at the School of Dental Medicine.
Overlooked part of human cells could be genetic key to common diseases
Long thought a vestigial part of human cells, new genetic analysis of the primary cilium shows that it may be tied to common conditions like diabetes and kidney failure.
Microbial transplants require key T cells for success
Findings that certain immune cells are needed for fecal microbiota transplant success against C. difficile infections may be a clue to making this promising treatment work more broadly.
In the News
Your COVID post-vaccine activities safety guide, including gyms, shopping, taking an Uber and more
Once two weeks have passed following a second COVID-19 vaccine dose (or one Johnson & Johnson dose), individuals are considered fully vaccinated. At that point , what activities are considered “safe” to resume? Meenakshi Bewtra of the Perelman School of Medicine says that for vaccinated people, activities that were once considered risky are safer, but advises people to proceed with caution in light of new variants, and to keep public health and safety at the forefront of daily activities by wearing a mask and maintaining social distance in public.
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Earth Week: New research links lung cancer to air pollution in Philadelphia
Air in the Philadelphia region is ranked as the 12th most polluted in the country by the American Lung Association. Toxins in the air, mainly from traffic and industry, are known to cause lung cancer. Trevor Penning, a pharmacology professor in the Perelman School of Medicine, developed hazard indices for 421 zip codes using satellite imagery for particulate matter and volatile organic compounds.
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The immune link between a leaky blood-brain barrier and schizophrenia
For people with schizophrenia and other mental disorders, a more permissive blood-brain barrier appears to allow the immune system to get improperly involved in the central nervous system. The inflammation that arises likely contributes to the clinical manifestations of neuropsychiatric conditions, according to new findings from a team led by researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
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I’m a doctor who examines asylum seekers. I want Biden to fix the asylum system
Jules Lipoff of the Perelman School of Medicine argued for reforming and expanding the U.S. asylum system. “We must renew the United States as a bold world leader in standing for the dignity of human rights,” he wrote.
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Dr. Zeke Emanuel on why the U.S. should consider a vaccine mandate
PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel talks about why a vaccine mandate for some types of workers may be a necessary last resort in establishing herd immunity. “I don’t think the risks of the vaccine compare to the risks for the country of the coronavirus is really at issue,” he said.
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