11.21
Health Sciences
Summer Mentorship Program introduces high school students to dental medicine
Summer Mentorship Program introduces high school students to dental medicine
Penn Dental Medicine hosted a group of high school students as part of Penn’s Provost Summer Mentorship Program, a four-week, college-career immersion program, aimed to inspire first-generation and under-represented minority students in Philadelphia to view higher education as an achievable goal.
Treatment doctor tested on himself can put others into remission
Treatment doctor tested on himself can put others into remission
Five years ago, David C. Fajgenbaum both a Penn Medicine researcher and patient, tried an experimental treatment for Castleman disease based on his laboratory research findings in the hopes of saving his own life. He has been in remission ever since.
Could NFL players’ performance after a concussion mask the dangers?
Could NFL players’ performance after a concussion mask the dangers?
A new study shows NFL players return to the field quickly and with no dip in their stats, but this may come at a cost.
Gutmann, Moreno op-ed details ‘ethical mess’ of health care system
Gutmann, Moreno op-ed details ‘ethical mess’ of health care system
“Surely our fellow Americans with life-threatening diseases of all sorts are also worth saving,” they write.
Balance of ‘stop’ and ‘go’ signaling could be key to cancer immunotherapy
Balance of ‘stop’ and ‘go’ signaling could be key to cancer immunotherapy
A Penn study shows potential of the interferon pathway as a biomarker to help predict which patients are likely to respond to immunotherapies.
A wearable new technology moves brain monitoring from the lab to the real world
A wearable new technology moves brain monitoring from the lab to the real world
The portable EEG created by PIK Professor Michael Platt and postdoc Arjun Ramakrishnan has potential applications from health care to sports performance.
Dangers and protections of rising temps for people on common medicines
Dangers and protections of rising temps for people on common medicines
We know that as temperatures rise, so do many health risks: not just for heat stroke and dehydration but also for heart disease, respiratory diseases, and deaths overall. Three studies explore the impact that rising temperatures have on people who take common medications.
Five insights into how the brain works
Five insights into how the brain works
As the Center for Neuroscience & Society celebrates 10 years, founding director Martha Farah reflects on the array of research from its faculty, on subjects from brain games to aggression.
Looking into the immune system to better fight disease
Looking into the immune system to better fight disease
A rare, short-lived population of immune cells in the bloodstream may serve as ‘periscopes’ to monitor immune status via lymph nodes deep inside the body, researchers say.
The brain’s amyloid buildup is not a powerful indicator of Alzheimer’s disease
The brain’s amyloid buildup is not a powerful indicator of Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers find fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET, which measures the brain’s glucose consumption as a marker of neural activity, is a better indicator of cognitive performance when compared to PET scans that detect amyloid proteins.
In the News
Fast Company
How old are you really? Elysium Health will tell you—for $500
Joseph Baur of the Perelman School of Medicine said the startup Elysium Health’s claims that they can make cells behavior as though they were younger is “one of these things that is based mostly on benefits in mouse models. I think it’s a wide open question how beneficial this will ultimately turn out to be in humans.”
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Where did all the men go? In Philly, women outnumber them by 90,000 — the widest ‘gender gap’ among major U.S. cities.
Janet Chrzan and Adriana Perez of the School of Nursing hypothesized about the reasons women are outliving men in Philadelphia. “Women are tougher,” said Chrzan. “They have better immune systems, and they tend to survive better than men in every society.”
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Today.com
Veterans with PTSD struggle to parent, but help is available
Leah Blain of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the difficulties of parenting for veterans with PTSD. “That feeling being jumpy or on guard—you can imagine how that is going to translate with the kiddos. They have so much energy, which is wonderful, but it is a lot to process all the time if your symptoms are working all the time,” she said.
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Science News
People who lack olfactory bulbs shouldn’t be able to smell. But some women can
PIK Professor Jay Gottfried commented on a study that suggests some women can smell even if missing parts of the brain associated with the olfactory system. “I am not convinced that the women are indeed missing their bulbs,” he said, noting that MRIs may not adequately detect all evidence of the structures.
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PRI/WGBH Innovation Hub
Virtual reality is having a senior moment
PIK Professor George Demiris said virtual reality has shown early promise for dementia patients, though it’s not a substitute for human contact. “We have to look at innovation and different tools to come up with new solutions to address issues of social isolation and loneliness and allow people to stay engaged and active,” he said.
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