3.30
Health Sciences
Philly water straight from the tap
Philly water straight from the tap
A collaborative city-wide campaign that included ImpactED and the Water Center at Penn helped spread the word that Philadelphia tap water is safe and healthy to drink.
Direct-to-consumer fertility tests confuse and mislead consumers
Direct-to-consumer fertility tests confuse and mislead consumers
Findings from the small, first-of-its-kind ethnographic study reinforce the need for consumer education around the purpose and accuracy of direct-to-consumer hormone-based fertility tests.
Lab-grown brain organoids, rapidly deployed, can fight glioblastomas
Lab-grown brain organoids, rapidly deployed, can fight glioblastomas
Glioblastoma organoids grown from patients’ own glioblastoma tissue can be used to investigate personalized treatment approaches in time-sensitive cases.
Lending a hand at the Farm Show
Lending a hand at the Farm Show
At the Pennsylvania Farm Show, the School of Veterinary Medicine showcased its role in sustaining one of the state’s largest industries.
Losing tongue fat improves sleep apnea
Losing tongue fat improves sleep apnea
A Penn Medicine study suggests the tongue could be a new target for treating the common sleep disorder.
Penn Medicine named official health system of the Philadelphia Flyers
Penn Medicine named official health system of the Philadelphia Flyers
The partnership brings two iconic Philadelphia brands together to collaborate on community-driven initiatives.
An entire course of radiation treatment in under one second
An entire course of radiation treatment in under one second
Findings related to FLASH radiotherapy—using protons rather than electrons—prove feasible in the future for cancer therapy.
Penn Medicine birth marks a milestone in uterus transplant clinical trial
Penn Medicine birth marks a milestone in uterus transplant clinical trial
The birth is Penn’s first as part of its uterus transplant clinical trial, and second in the United States following a deceased donor transplant.
When automotive assembly plants close, deaths from opioid overdoses rise
When automotive assembly plants close, deaths from opioid overdoses rise
A Penn study links eroding economic opportunity to opioid deaths, and builds on previous research that links declining participation in the labor force to increased opioid use in the U.S.
Surprise to some parents, adolescent brains ARE wired for self-control
Surprise to some parents, adolescent brains ARE wired for self-control
A Penn study shows developing brain networks support cognition in youth, from decision-making and self-control to complex thought.
In the News
ABC News
Nurses group turns to crowd-sourcing for unused protective gear
Marion Leary of the School of Nursing spoke about efforts to crowd-source safety masks and other personal protective gear. “Anyone that has a stock of these supplies that they could donate to their local hospitals and healthcare providers,” she said, would be doing a great service.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
Lessons from 1918
Pat D’Antonio of the School of Nursing spoke about the 1918 influenza pandemic and how we can apply its lessons to the present.
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The New York Times
7 medical leaders to politicians: Save lives, not Wall Street
In collaboration with the leaders of six other large academic medicine institutions, Dean J. Larry Jameson of the Perelman School of Medicine wrote an op-ed urging “national leadership to resist pressure to lift tough social restrictions intended to subdue this outbreak and save thousands of lives.”
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The New York Times
Fourteen days. That’s the most time we have to defeat coronavirus
PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel wrote an op-ed outlining a plan to effectively confront and contain the novel coronavirus. “President Trump needs to immediately order the closing of all schools and nonessential businesses and impose a shelter-in-place policy for the entire country,” he wrote. “If these measures are complied with fully, then we may be able to lift them slowly in two to three months, when the percentage of people infected has plateaued and the number of new infections is near zero.”
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NPR
Her incredible sense of smell is helping scientists find new ways to diagnose disease
Richard Doty of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the use of scent signaling in diagnosing disease. “It used to be that physicians did use breath odor and other odors, to signify certain disorders. But that’s not really invoked presently, because we have so much better ways of [diagnosing] things,” he said.
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