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Health Sciences
To monitor cancer therapy, researchers tag CAR T cells with imaging markers
To monitor cancer therapy, researchers tag CAR T cells with imaging markers
With CAR T cell therapy, a patient’s own immune cells are genetically modified and inserted back into the body to find and kill cancer. Now scientists have now discovered a new way to track CAR T cells in the body.
Bariatric surgery is safe for teens with morbid obesity
Bariatric surgery is safe for teens with morbid obesity
A new Penn Medicine study shows the risks of complications and readmissions may be lower than the risks associated with lifelong obesity.
An easier way of sneaking antibodies into cells
An easier way of sneaking antibodies into cells
Penn Engineers have found a plug-and-play solution that makes antibodies compatible with the delivery vehicles commonly used to ferry nucleic acids through the membrane of a cell without damaging either.
Blood test can predict prognosis in deadly brain cancer
Blood test can predict prognosis in deadly brain cancer
A Penn study points to clinical utility of liquid biopsy in glioblastoma, allowing doctors the ability to measure the progression of the cancer based on the amount of cell-free DNA in the bloodstream
Estrogen’s opposing effects on mammary tumors in dogs
Estrogen’s opposing effects on mammary tumors in dogs
Estrogen’s role in canine mammary cancer is more complex than previously understood. New findings may help explain why dogs spayed at a young age are more likely to develop more aggressive cancers.
Algorithm identifies advance care planning needs
Algorithm identifies advance care planning needs
A Penn-developed system can be used to ensure that doctors talk to cancer patients about their values and goals before it is too late.
Basser Center takes aim at BRCA
Basser Center takes aim at BRCA
Twenty-five years after the discovery of genetic mutations that dramatically increase cancer risk, the Penn Medicine’s Basser Center for BRCA is building scientific knowledge alongside public awareness about BRCA-related cancers.
Lifelong no longer: New research on TB infection rarely leads to active disease
Lifelong no longer: New research on TB infection rarely leads to active disease
A Penn-led study suggested majority will not develop disease even if a test shows positive results, citing that the infecting organism, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is likely dead, wiped out naturally by people’s immune systems.
A focus on environmental inequities
A focus on environmental inequities
A Penn symposium will confront issues of inequitable access to a clean and safe environment and the unequal burden borne by vulnerable communities, particularly low-income and underrepresented minority populations, when it comes to environmental threats.
Physicians, social responsibility, and sexual assault survivors
Physicians, social responsibility, and sexual assault survivors
Penn Medicine’s Florencia Greer Polite wants doctors to take a more proactive approach to conversations with their patients about consent and sexual abuse.
In the News
Science
Deciphering a cancer treatment’s dark side
Saar Gill of the Perelman School of Medicine said it would be easier to treat cancer using CAR-T cell therapy without the looming possibility of triggering cytokine release syndrome.
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The New York Times
Can melatonin vapes safely help people sleep?
Julio Chirinos of the Perelman School of Medicine wrote an editorial to accompany a new study about the effects of marathon running on the heart. “Exercise is great for the entire body, including the arteries,” he said.
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Rolling Stone
Can melatonin vapes safely help people sleep?
Philip Gehrman of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on the use of melatonin to aid sleep. “There have been quite a few randomized trials showing that melatonin is no better than placebo to help people sleep,” he said.
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“Academic Minute” (WAMC, Northeast Public Radio)
Jonathan Moreno on bioethics and the transformation of health care in America
PIK Professor Jonathan Moreno discussed the book “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven but Nobody Wants to Die: Bioethics and the Transformation of Health Care in America,” which he co-authored with President Amy Gutmann.
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The New York Times
The F.D.A. is in trouble. Here’s how to fix it
Steven Joffe of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the tensions between groups that want medical products to be proven effective before the F.D.A. approves them for public use and groups that believe patients can make their own decisions once the products pass basic safety testing. “The F.D.A. has been moving in the latter direction under great political and public pressure,” he said.
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