http://www.pennmedicine.org/news The latest news and announcements from Penn Medicine - the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Health System. en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss robert.press@uphs.upenn.edu (Robert Press) 2015, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania http://www.pennmedicine.org/images/pennmedicine_logo.jpg http://www.pennmedicine.org/news Greg J. Bashaw, PhD, a professor of Neuroscience at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded research funding under a novel, multi-year pilot program from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/12/bashaw/ Thu, 08 Dec 2016 19:30:00 GMT Internationally recognized oncologist Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, FACP, a professor of Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and deputy director for clinical services of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named the new chair of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/12/shulman/ Tue, 06 Dec 2016 19:15:00 GMT A signaling pathway in fat cells may one day provide the key to better treatments for obesity, according to new research by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/12/arany/ Tue, 06 Dec 2016 15:30:00 GMT Despite its widespread use, labor induction is costly and still has no widely accepted “best practice.” Now, new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is showing what may be the best available method for inducing labor, which may be necessary under circumstances including medical conditions such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes or other health risks to the mom or baby. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/12/levine/ Mon, 05 Dec 2016 13:15:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) will present the latest advances from their studies of personalized cellular therapies for blood cancers during the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in San Diego. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/12/car/ Fri, 02 Dec 2016 14:45:00 GMT Two new treatments are showing promise and overall survival is on the rise for AL amyloidosis, according to a series of studies involving researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/12/cohen/ Thu, 01 Dec 2016 13:30:00 GMT An existing drug known as a JAK inhibitor may help patients who don’t respond to the so-called checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy drugs overcome that resistance, suggests a new preclinical study published online in Cell today by Penn Medicine researchers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/12/minn/ Thu, 01 Dec 2016 13:30:00 GMT Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania will be presenting data on the latest advances in breast cancer care and research at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio, TX. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/sabcs/ Tue, 29 Nov 2016 18:00:00 GMT It may be possible to safely prevent one of the most common – and costly to treat – infections contracted by hospitalized patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of blood cancers, according to a study from the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/ganetsky/ Mon, 28 Nov 2016 14:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine has announced funding for five new projects through the Innovation Accelerator Program, many of which feature new tools and platforms for integrating care and improving patient outcomes.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/innovation/ Wed, 23 Nov 2016 13:30:00 GMT Senior author John T. Seykora, MD, PhD, a professor of Dermatology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, led a study that found that decreased levels of the gene p15 represents a way to determine if a nevus is transitioning to a melanoma. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/seykora/ Mon, 21 Nov 2016 16:15:00 GMT Sarah E. Millar, PhD, the Albert M. Kligman Endowed Professor and vice chair for basic science research in the department of Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received the 2016 FOCUS Award for the Advancement of Women in Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/millar/ Mon, 21 Nov 2016 17:15:00 GMT When HIV attacks a T cell, it attaches itself to the cell’s surface and launches a “harpoon” to create an opening to enter and infect the cells. To stop the invasion, researchers from the Penn Center for AIDS Research at the University of Pennsylvania and scientists from Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. have developed genetically engineered T cells armed with a so-called “fusion inhibitor” to disrupt this critical step and prevent a wide range of HIV viruses from entering and infecting the T cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/hoxie/ Thu, 17 Nov 2016 18:00:00 GMT Now, a new study published online today in Cell Metabolism by a team led by Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, revealed a surprising relationship between two molecules – one that works to store fat and another that promotes fat burning for energy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/lazar/ Thu, 17 Nov 2016 18:00:00 GMT A new animal model developed at Penn Medicine using tau tangles isolated from the brains of Alzheimer’s patients rather than synthetic tau tangles paints a closer picture of the tau pathology in the AD brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/lee2/ Tue, 15 Nov 2016 14:00:00 GMT An experimental cancer imaging tool that makes tumors glow brightly during surgery has shown promise again in a new Penn Medicine clinical study, this time in patients with brain cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/lee/ Tue, 15 Nov 2016 14:00:00 GMT Today at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2016, Richard Dunbar, MD, an assistant professor of Translational Medicine and Medical Genetics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will present early data from a study which evaluated the use of a new injectable biologic drug therapy for reducing triglyceride levels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/dunbar/ Mon, 14 Nov 2016 20:45:00 GMT New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sheds light on training gaps that could pave the way to boosting the number of people who are prepared to jump into action. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/cpr/ Mon, 14 Nov 2016 14:00:00 GMT New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reveals that women with CHD who are deemed high risk by conventional measures are more likely to have safe, healthy pregnancies than current risk-assessments suggest. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/chd/ Mon, 14 Nov 2016 14:00:00 GMT Experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania will be presenting data on the latest advances in cardiovascular research and treatment at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2016 from November 12th through November 16th in New Orleans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/aha/ Fri, 11 Nov 2016 18:00:00 GMT A five-year evaluation involving nearly 20,000 kindergarten through 12th grade under-resourced public school students shows that taking part in Project BioEYES, with one center based in Philadelphia at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, increases students’ science knowledge and positive attitudes about science. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/shuda/ Thu, 10 Nov 2016 18:00:00 GMT Immunotherapy has revolutionized treatment options in oncology, neurology, and many infectious diseases and now there is fresh hope that the same method could be used to treat or even functionally cure HIV, according to two related studies from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/hiv/ Wed, 09 Nov 2016 21:00:00 GMT Libraries are uniquely positioned to address public health needs in underserved populations, according to findings from a study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Free Library of Philadelphia in this month’s issue of Health Affairs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/library/ Wed, 09 Nov 2016 20:00:00 GMT Susan J. Mandel, MD, MPH, director of Clinical Endocrinology and Diabetes for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and a professor in the division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, has been elected President-elect of the Endocrine Society. Mandel will officially begin her term in April 2017 and will take office as President in 2018. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/mandel/ Wed, 09 Nov 2016 14:00:00 GMT Radiotherapy destroys cancer cells using high-energy ionizing radiation to damage DNA and induce cell death. About two million patients per year in the United States – more than 50 percent of all cancer patients -- receive radiotherapy at some stage during their illness, either alone or in combination with chemotherapy, surgery, and targeted medicines. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/qin/ Mon, 07 Nov 2016 17:00:00 GMT Stress, defined broadly, is a well-known risk factor for later alcohol abuse; however, the brain chemistry underlying interactions between stress and alcohol remain largely unknown. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/dani/ Fri, 04 Nov 2016 18:00:00 GMT A new study from Penn Medicine, which compared outcome variations in acute and post-acute care facilities, suggests that for older adults hospitalized with hip fracture, the quality of the post-acute care they receive has a greater impact on long-term recovery than the care they received at the hospital. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/neuman/ Thu, 03 Nov 2016 20:00:00 GMT When it comes to lying, our brains are much more likely to give us away than sweaty palms or spikes in heart rate, new evidence from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/langleben/ Thu, 03 Nov 2016 18:00:00 GMT Details of how to manage DCBIs, and in many cases stabilize these critically injured patients and restore many normal functions, are published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The authors, comprised of military surgeons and led by Jeremy W. Cannon, MD, SM, FACS, an associate professor of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, say the lessons learned will not only save lives on the battlefield in the future but also in civilian trauma centers today. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/cannon/ Thu, 03 Nov 2016 15:00:00 GMT The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), and Lancaster General Health (LGH) have each achieved Magnet reaccreditation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/11/magnet/ Wed, 02 Nov 2016 14:00:00 GMT J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, MACP, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has been awarded the John Phillips Memorial Award for outstanding work in clinical medicine by the American College of Physicians (ACP).   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/jameson/ Mon, 31 Oct 2016 13:30:00 GMT Vincent Lo Re III, MD, MSCE, FIDSA, an assistant professor of Infectious Disease in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania was honored with the 2016 HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) Research Award for his significant contributions to the field of HIV medicine.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/lo_re/ Thu, 27 Oct 2016 18:00:00 GMT Checkpoint inhibitor drugs that boost the immune system to fight cancer owe part of their existence to infectious diseases. Microbes that cause diseases like HIV, malaria, and hepatitis C exploit and often activate the same checkpoint pathways -- cell surface receptors such as CTLA4 and PD-1 -- to slow immune cells and prevent their elimination by the host.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/wherry/ Thu, 27 Oct 2016 18:00:00 GMT A blood test that has shown promise in predicting how cancer will progress and what treatments will be most effective for a given patient may not be reliable for either, according to a new Penn Medicine study published this week in Cancer http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/ojerholm/ Thu, 27 Oct 2016 13:00:00 GMT An innovative, new, patient-driven natural history registry for the rare and poorly understood immune system disorder Castleman disease (CD) will propel care and research for CD through a collaborative research agreement http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/accel/ Thu, 27 Oct 2016 13:00:00 GMT To address gaps in research, on Thursday, Penn Medicine formally launched the Penn Acute Research Collaboration (PARC), a first-of-its-kind initiative to give a much needed shot of support to research projects in emergency departments, trauma bays, operating rooms, and intensive care units. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/abella/ Wed, 20 Oct 2016 13:45:00 GMT In a new study published this week in Nature, senior author Greenberg and colleagues have developed a first-of-its- kind system to observe repair to broken DNA in newly synthesized telomeres, an effort that has implications for designing new cancer drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/greenberg/ Thu, 19 Oct 2016 17:15:00 GMT A key strategy missing from the ambitious Alzheimer’s disease plan signed into law by President Obama six years ago could send investigational drugs down a precarious pipeline, argue two physicians from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan in JAMA Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/karlawish/ Thu, 19 Oct 2016 14:15:00 GMT A common hormone therapy to treat prostate cancer may double a man’s risk of dementia, regardless of his age, Penn Medicine researchers reported in a study published online today in JAMA Oncology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/nead/ Thu, 13 Oct 2016 15:00:00 GMT Each dollar spent repairing abandoned buildings and vacant lots reduces neighborhood gun violence by as much as 39 percent and yields a return on investment to taxpayers and society at large through steps like installing working windows and doors in abandoned buildings, as well as removing trash and debris, and planting grass and trees. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/branas/ Thu, 13 Oct 2016 20:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers, along with colleagues at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Boston University, have received a $5.2 million, seven-year grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms that promote lung regeneration. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/morrisey/ Wed, 12 Oct 2016 18:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics’ (ITMAT) 11th Annual International Symposium will cover precision medicine research in academic medical centers and biotech. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/itmat/ Wed, 12 Oct 2016 18:00:00 GMT U.S. Military veterans and their families living in the Philadelphia area have new access to free, easily accessible, and comprehensive mental health care through an innovative partnership between the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Cohen Veterans Network. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/cohen/ Wed, 12 Oct 2016 13:15:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania today announced the launch of a new collaboration to offer online 3D anatomy courses to students worldwide. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/online/ Tue, 11 Oct 2016 14:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine Cherry Hill will celebrate its grand opening on October 13 at its new 1865 Route 70 East location. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/pmch/ Tue, 11 Oct 2016 14:15:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has been awarded more than $1 million by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop new approaches to combat antibiotic resistance. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/cdc/ Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:15:00 GMT Robots are capable of all sorts of tasks to help better treat cancer: They connect oncologists to patients remotely, make incisions, staple them shut, deliver “nano” therapies—and they clean rooms. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/pegues/ Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:15:00 GMT On Wednesday, October 5, a group of young men and women dedicated to raising awareness about cancer-causing genetic mutations and raising money to advance cutting-edge research will come together at New York City’s Hudson Terrace to share an unforgettable evening filled with humorous and touching stories of lives forever changed by BRCA mutations, told by survivors themselves, and their loved ones. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/10/stories/ Mon, 03 Oct 2016 13:30:00 GMT The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the University of Pennsylvania a $24 Million, five-year grant to establish a Science and Technology Center (STC) focused on engineering mechanobiology, or the way cells exert and are influenced by the physical forces in their environment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/goldman/ Fri, 30 Sep 2016 17:45:00 GMT Penn Medicine received a five-year, $3.7 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support an academic unit to improve access to treatment for mental health disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/doubeni/ Thu, 29 Sep 2016 13:45:00 GMT Harold I. Feldman, MD, MSCE, FACE, the George S. Pepper Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, chair of the department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and director of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, became president of the American College of Epidemiology on September 15. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/feldman/ Wed, 28 Sep 2016 20:15:00 GMT For years, marketers and other commercial data-miners have been using Twitter’s vast database of “tweets” to gauge consumer attitudes and track events. Now medical researchers are getting in on the trend. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania completed a pilot analysis of archived tweets on cardiovascular disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/merchant/ Wed, 28 Sep 2016 15:00:00 GMT More and more girls are expected to have to confront breast cancer fears as modern genomics technology makes it easier to detect strong risk factors such as inherited BRCA1/2 mutations. But a new study shows that adolescent girls in families with a history of breast cancer or a high-risk BRCA1/2 mutation do not experience negative psychological effects, on average, and even seem to have higher self-esteem than their peers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/bradbury/ Mon, 26 Sep 2016 19:00:00 GMT A high-fat-diet-induced immune reaction causes inflammation leading to intestinal cancer in a mouse model – even among animals that are not obese -- according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/lambris/ Mon, 26 Sep 2016 16:45:00 GMT Toxins from mold found growing on nuts or corn can weaken the airways’ self-clearing mechanisms and immunity, opening the door for respiratory diseases and exacerbating existing ones. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/lee/ Fri, 23 Sep 2016 15:00:00 GMT More than half of opioids prescribed to patients following surgical tooth extraction – such as the removal of impacted wisdom teeth – were left unused by patients in a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/maughan/ Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:00:00 GMT Garret A. FitzGerald, MD, FRS, chair of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a 2016 Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/fitzgerald/ Thu, 22 Sep 2016 18:30:00 GMT A new app may offer new insights for millions of Americans diagnosed with a concussion each year. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/wiebe/ Tue, 20 Sep 2016 20:45:00 GMT The Center for Global Health in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is pleased to honor Ernest Madu, MD, chairman and CEO of the Heart Institute of the Caribbean with its first annual Global Health Champion Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/madu/ Mon, 19 Sep 2016 18:45:00 GMT The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health has awarded Sarah E. Millar, PhD, and George Cotsarelis, MD, a $2.5 million, five-year grant to establish the Penn Skin Biology and Diseases Resource-based Center (SBDRC). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/millar/ Mon, 19 Sep 2016 14:30:00 GMT This Sunday, the 5th annual 5K for The IOA and Memory Mile Walk will be held in support of the Institute on Aging (IOA) at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/ioa/ Mon, 19 Sep 2016 14:30:00 GMT With surprising frequency, clinical laboratories that test people’s blood samples for genes and genetic mutations that increase cancer risk provide conflicting interpretations of the risks associated with particular gene variants.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/domchek/ Thu, 15 Sep 2016 18:30:00 GMT Approximately one in nine people sent to Florida emergency rooms (ERs) for injuries caused by acts of intentional violence – including shootings, stabbings, assaults, etc. – in 2010 ended up being violently injured again within two years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/delgado/ Thu, 15 Sep 2016 18:30:00 GMT Minorities and women suffering from a stroke may be less likely to receive the clot-busting treatment tPA, known as tissue plasminogen activator, according to a new study from Penn Medicine and other institutions published today in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/messe/ Wed, 14 Sep 2016 20:00:00 GMT About one-third of all genes in the mammalian genome are essential for life. An international, multi-institutional research collaboration identified, for the first time, mutant traits in the mouse for 52 human disease genes, which significantly contributes to the understanding of the genetic bases for some human diseases, including cardiovascular defects, spina bifida, and metabolic disorders, among many others. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/bucan/ Thu, 15 Sep 2016 17:30:00 GMT Patients who need a kidney transplant may have new hope, through an innovative Penn Medicine clinical trial using kidneys from deceased donors who had the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/thinker/ Tue, 13 Sep 2016 14:00:00 GMT For patients with advanced lung cancer, a non-invasive liquid biopsy may be a more effective and suitable alternative to the gold standard tissue biopsy to detect clinically relevant mutations and help guide their course of treatment, suggests a new study published this week in the journal Clinical Cancer Research from researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania (ACC). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/carpenter/ Fri, 09 Sep 2016 14:45:00 GMT An interdisciplinary team from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania developed Canopy, an approach to infer the evolutionary track of tumor cells by surveying two types of mutations derived from multiple samples taken from a single patient. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/jiang/ Fri, 09 Sep 2016 14:45:00 GMT A study of a new mouse model identifies a drug target that has the potential to increase social interaction in individuals with some forms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/brodkin/ Thu, 08 Sep 2016 14:30:00 GMT Teens are more than 15 percent less likely to say they would purchase soft drinks and other sugary drinks that include health warning labels, according to a new study led by researchers at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/roberto/ Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:45:00 GMT Cutbacks in capacity at state and county mental hospitals have forced more and more psychiatric patients to seek treatment . But a new study led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, found that people who visit emergency rooms for mental health care were transferred to another facility at six times the rate of people who visit ERs for non-psychiatric conditions, and could wait almost two hours longer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/zhu/ Wed, 07 Sep 2016 20:00:00 GMT Klaus H. Kaestner, PhD, will receive the 2017 Roy O. Greep Award for Outstanding Research from the Washington-based Endocrine Society. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/09/kaestner/ Tue, 06 Sep 2016 16:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine has completed its 1000th lung transplant at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), an accomplishment shared with only four other lung transplant programs in the Unites States. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/lung/ Thu, 25 Aug 2016 19:30:00 GMT A new biomaterial can be used to study how and when stem cells sense the mechanics of their surrounding environment, found a team led by Robert Mauck, PhD, the Mary Black Ralston Professor for Education and Research in Orthopaedic Surgery, in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/mauck/ Thu, 25 Aug 2016 15:30:00 GMT Carl H. June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of Translational Research in Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, has been awarded a 2016 Novartis Prize for Clinical Immunotherapy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/june/ Thu, 25 Aug 2016 15:15:00 GMT Special RNA molecules called long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are key controllers for maintaining immune health when fighting infection or preventing inflammatory disorders, according to research led by Jorge Henao-Mejia, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/henao/ Wed, 24 Aug 2016 18:15:00 GMT The Basser Center for BRCA at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center has announced the recipient of the 2016 Basser Global Prize. The honor will go to cancer geneticist Steven Narod, MD, FRCPC, PhD (hon), FRSC, director of the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit and a senior scientist at the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/narod/ Wed, 24 Aug 2016 18:15:00 GMT Craig A. Umscheid, MD, MSCE, an associate professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been appointed by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to serve on its Advisory Panel on Improving Healthcare Systems. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/umscheid/ Tue, 23 Aug 2016 19:15:00 GMT Today, nine-year-old Zion Harvey can throw a baseball over home plate. He can write in his journal, prepare himself lunch and manage zippers on his clothes. However, for most of his life, these and many other ordinary actions were impossible for this little boy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/zion/ Tue, 23 Aug 2016 18:00:00 GMT For the first time, a team of researchers has developed and validated a prediction model to determine sudden cardiac death risk in adults without a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/deo/ Tue, 23 Aug 2016 14:30:00 GMT Patients with aggressive subtypes of locally-advanced breast cancer may have new treatment options on the horizon, according to two reports published in July in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/demichele/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 14:00:00 GMT On Friday, Aug. 12, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will bestow short white coats on 146 first-year medical school students during its annual White Coat Ceremony. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/whitecoat/ Wed, 10 Aug 2016 14:30:00 GMT Maintaining proper levels of an essential helper molecule is crucial for optimal muscle function, according to a study led by Joseph Baur, PhD, an assistant professor of Physiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/baur/ Tue, 09 Aug 2016 16:30:00 GMT Researchers have uncovered how genes identified from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) affect high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), a biomarker of cardiovascular disease, after comparing several animal models with human patient data. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/rader/ Tue, 09 Aug 2016 16:30:00 GMT In a new study, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Humana Inc. show that a refill synchronization program – in which patients were able to receive all refills at the same time – increased medication adherence by more than 10 percent in some patient subgroups. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/doshi/ Mon, 08 Aug 2016 20:00:00 GMT Mayor Jim Kenney has appointed Farzana Rashid Hossain, MD, an assistant professor of clinical medicine and a gastroenterologist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, to the Philadelphia Commission for Women to build key relationships and help create equitable opportunities for women at all levels of the Philadelphia workforce. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/rashid/ Thu, 04 Aug 2016 19:45:00 GMT Ten Penn Medicine Clinical Care Associates (CCA) Internal Medicine and Family Medicine practices received level III certification, the highest designation granted, for their efforts to provide coordinated, efficient care through the Patient Centered Medical Home program (PCMH) operated by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/cca/ Wed, 03 Aug 2016 13:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (ADCC) has been awarded an estimated $8.8 million over five years from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/trojanowski/ Tue, 02 Aug 2016 18:45:00 GMT A new study suggests that tweaking metabolic steps in combination with checkpoint blockade drugs may improve some cancer therapies, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/wherry/ Tue, 02 Aug 2016 18:45:00 GMT Penn Medicine hospitals have once again been ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the nation and #1 in Pennsylvania by U.S. News & World Report, achieving Honor Roll status and top rankings in 11 clinical specialties. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/08/usnews/ Tue, 02 Aug 2016 13:45:00 GMT Martin G. St. John Sutton, MBBS, FRCP, a John Bryfogle emeritus professor of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) for his pioneering contributions to structural and functional ventricular remodeling and repair. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/ase/ Thu, 28 Jul 2016 17:15:00 GMT E. John Wherry, PhD, a professor of Microbiology, director of the Institute for Immunology, and co-director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2016 Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology from the Cancer Research Institute (CRI). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/wherry/ Thu, 28 Jul 2016 17:15:00 GMT In an ongoing preclinical program using gene therapy to help cells restore normal levels of IDUA, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that exposure to the human IDUA protein early in the life of an MPS I canine model increased immune tolerance to the foreign gene. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/wilson/ Thu, 28 Jul 2016 17:15:00 GMT Two Penn Medicine researchers have received $3.1 million in research funding contracts from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to develop tools that will help patients understand the addiction risks associated with opioid prescription drugs, and allow researchers to harness data from electronic health records (EHR) to better predict disease patterns. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/meisel/ Thu, 28 Jul 2016 14:15:00 GMT A new appreciation for the interplay between two cell nucleus proteins that lead both intertwined and separate lives is helping researchers better understand fatty liver disease, according to a new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/lazar/ Tue, 26 Jul 2016 16:45:00 GMT In the era of precision medicine, targeting the mutations driving cancer growth, rather than the tumor site itself, continues to be a successful approach for some patients. In the latest example, researchers from Penn Medicine and other institutions found that treating metastatic thyroid cancer patients harboring a BRAF mutation with the targeted therapy vemurafenib —originally approved for melanoma patients with the mutation—showed promising anti-tumor activity in a third of patients.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/brose/ Mon, 25 Jul 2016 13:45:00 GMT Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN, FAAN, AOCN, has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, beginning July 1. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/cunningham/ Wed, 20 Jul 2016 20:00:00 GMT HIV researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Wistar Institute will co-lead a five-year, $23 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, as part of the second iteration of the Martin Delaney Collaboratory: Towards an HIV-1 Cure program, that aims to advance basic medical science toward a cure for the disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/riley/ Wed, 20 Jul 2016 14:45:00 GMT Want to cut calories and make healthier meal choices? Try avoiding unhealthy impulse purchases by ordering meals at least an hour before eating. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/vanepps/ Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:15:00 GMT Prior work by a team of Penn Medicine researchers found that sex-specific changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) begin at puberty. The team's newest research shows that higher blood flow in emotional brain regions such as the amygdala is associated with higher levels of anxiety and mood symptoms in females. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/satterthwaite/ Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine has established the Penn Neurodegeneration Genomics Center (PNGC) as a national focal point for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) genetics research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/wang/ Mon, 18 Jul 2016 18:00:00 GMT Would having your exercise performance compared to that of your peers motivate you do more? A new study suggests it might. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/patel/ Fri, 15 Jul 2016 17:15:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have now identified a unique subset of tumor associated neutrophils that exhibit hybrid characteristics of two immune cell types -- neutrophils and antigen-presenting cells -- in samples from early-stage human lung cancers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/eruslanov/ Thu, 14 Jul 2016 19:30:00 GMT A receptor protein that is the target of the breast cancer drug trastuzumab (Herceptin) is needed for proper heart blood-vessel development, reported researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/epstein/ Wed, 13 Jul 2016 17:30:00 GMT A $3 million gift from University of Pennsylvania alumnus Jay Fishman, and his wife, Randy, will support comprehensive at-home respiratory care for adult Penn Medicine patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency due to neurological, muscular, skeletal or chronic respiratory diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/fishman/ Tue, 12 Jul 2016 20:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s Information Services team has been recognized by Health and Hospital Networks with the Most Wired Award for the eighth time in the last decade. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/wired/ Mon, 11 Jul 2016 17:15:00 GMT State mandates requiring commercial health plans to cover the cost of services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have resulted in an increased number of children being diagnosed and treated for ASD, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/mandell/ Mon, 11 Jul 2016 15:00:00 GMT The growing trend of "do-it-yourself" transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) poses hidden risks to healthy members of the public who seek to use the technique for cognitive enhancement. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, along with several members of the (cognitive) neuroscience research community warn about such risks involved in home use of tDCS, the application of electrical current to the brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/07/wurzman/ Thu, 07 Jul 2016 16:15:00 GMT In a study with potentially major implications for the future treatment of autoimmunity and related conditions, scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found a way to remove the subset of antibody-making cells that cause an autoimmune disease, without harming the rest of the immune system. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/payne/ Thu, 30 Jun 2016 18:30:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has launched a new program, called AAV 3.0™, to create new viral vectors to find quicker and better treatments for an array of diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/aav/ Wed, 29 Jun 2016 14:45:00 GMT High triglycerides – a type of fat, or lipid, in the blood – increase the risk of heart disease and perhaps type 2 diabetes. For the first time, it has been shown that profoundly lowering triglycerides in diabetics improves their insulin sensitivity over time, which helps them maintain healthy glucose – blood sugar – levels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/dunbar/ Tue, 28 Jun 2016 14:15:00 GMT Ashley R. Winslow, PhD, has been named director of Neurogenetics for the Orphan Disease Center (ODC) in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/odc/ Tue, 28 Jun 2016 14:15:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have been awarded over $5 million to serve as a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Prevention Epicenter site to help develop and test innovative approaches to preventing superbugs and improving patient safety. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/cdc/ Mon, 27 Jun 2016 19:30:00 GMT Providing Medicaid patients with a primary care “medical home” cut costs of their care by as much as $4,100 a year and lowered their number of doctors visits and hospitalizations, according to a Perelman School of Medicine-led study published today in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/home/ Mon, 27 Jun 2016 13:15:00 GMT The Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) Program at Penn Medicine is hosting a night of dinner, dancing and discussion to celebrate and give thanks to those caregivers who provide support for our VAD patients day in and day out. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/vad/ Wed, 22 Jun 2016 20:15:00 GMT Raymond R. Townsend, MD, director of the Hypertension Program and a professor of Medicine in Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named the 2016 Physician of the Year Award of the American Heart Association (AHA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/townsend/ Wed, 22 Jun 2016 19:00:00 GMT A five-year, projected $10.8 million award from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will establish the Coordinating Center for Genetics and Genomics of Alzheimer’s Disease, a joint venture of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and five other institutions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/wang/ Wed, 22 Jun 2016 16:15:00 GMT Today, The Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center, the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, and The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced the establishment of a research consortium focused on accelerating the discovery and development of novel cancer therapeutics and diagnostics for the benefit of patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/collab/ Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:15:00 GMT The National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health has awarded Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD, the John H. Ware 3rd Endowed Professor in Alzheimer's Research in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, a $7.5 million, five-year renewal grant to continue pioneering research on a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/lee/ Mon, 20 Jun 2016 14:15:00 GMT U.S. Air Force veteran Jonathan Wood, a student pursuing a joint degree in medicine and business administration from the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania has been named a 2016 Tillman Scholar by the Pat Tillman Foundation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/wood/ Thu, 16 Jun 2016 19:15:00 GMT The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, and Lancaster General Hospital have received Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement Awards from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/guidelines/ Thu, 16 Jun 2016 13:30:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have examined the high-risk low flow aortic stenosis patient population to determine the cause of this persistent low flow AS and evaluate their risk of dying during the year following transcatheter aortic valve replacement. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/herrmann/ Wed, 15 Jun 2016 15:30:00 GMT Donita C. Brady, PhD, the Presidential Assistant Professor of Cancer Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been recognized by The Pew Charitable Trusts as one of its 22 Pew Scholars in Biomedical Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/brady/ Thu, 09 Jun 2016 15:15:00 GMT Evidence of DNA “scrunching” may one day lead to a new class of drugs against viruses, according to a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Columbia University. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/harvey/ Wed, 08 Jun 2016 20:15:00 GMT To tackle the issue and help overcome this health disparity, on Tuesday, June 7, experts from Penn Medicine's Center for Resuscitation Science and department of Emergency Medicine will officially launch Philadelphia's Mobile CPR Project, a public health initiative that aims to educate as many Philadelphia residents as possible in hands-only CPR. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/cpr/ Tue, 07 Jun 2016 13:45:00 GMT Use of Metformin – commonly used as the front-line treatment for type 2 diabetes – improves survival for some breast cancer patients, and shows promise as a treatment for patients diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia, according to the results of two new studies presented by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/li/ Mon, 06 Jun 2016 14:30:00 GMT The targeted therapy rucaparib, which has demonstrated robust clinical activity in ovarian cancer patients with a BRCA mutation, also showed promise in previously treated pancreatic cancer patients with the mutation, according to results from a phase II clinical study presented by Susan M. Domchek, MD, executive director of the Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/domchek/ Mon, 06 Jun 2016 13:45:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are now offering a joint JD/MD degree program for students pursuing careers at the intersection of law and medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/jd/ Mon, 06 Jun 2016 13:45:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have figured out how to make a much-improved research tool that they hope will open the door to new and better HIV vaccine designs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/shaw/ Mon, 06 Jun 2016 13:45:00 GMT Delivering genetic test results to patients at risk for cancer-causing genetic mutations over the phone helps to ease cost and transportation burdens and, compared to receiving results in person, does not cause patients additional stress, according to a new study from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania which will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (abstract 1502). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/bradbury/ Fri, 03 Jun 2016 14:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s Information Services (IS) team has been included in CIO magazine’s list of 100 organizations to be honored for innovative use of information technology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/restuccia/ Fri, 03 Jun 2016 13:45:00 GMT More precise dosing methods and cellular engineering techniques show promise in the effort to improve treatment of aggressive cancers with personalized cellular therapies, according to new studies from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/frey/ Thu, 02 Jun 2016 18:00:00 GMT The Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania was awarded a five-year, $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue its research on musculoskeletal injury and repair. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/soslowsky/ Thu, 02 Jun 2016 14:45:00 GMT Nearly 20 percent of women with ovarian cancer do not undergo surgery, despite it being a standard part of treatment recommendations, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/06/shalowitz/ Wed, 01 Jun 2016 13:45:00 GMT Garret A. FitzGerald, MD, FRS, director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics and chair of the department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been elected to the Royal Irish Academy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/fitzgerald/ Tue, 31 May 2016 19:00:00 GMT Women who want to quit smoking may have better success by carefully timing their quit date with optimal days within their menstrual cycle, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/franklin/ Tue, 31 May 2016 15:45:00 GMT A benign virus normally found in the skin can lead to a type of rare, lethal skin cancer. Specifically, infection by the Merkel cell polyomavirus can lead to Merkel cell carcinoma in immune-compromised individuals. Researchers have now identified a type of skin cell as the target of the virus in humans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/you/ Fri, 27 May 2016 16:30:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania has been named a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/rubin/ Thu, 26 May 2016 17:30:00 GMT Marisa Bartolomei, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and co-director of the Epigenetics Program in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2017 Genetics Society Medal. The award recognizes outstanding research contributions to genetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/bartolomei/ Wed, 25 May 2016 15:45:00 GMT Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania will be presenting data on the latest advances in cancer research and treatment at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 2016 Annual Meeting from June 3 through June 7 in Chicago. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/asco/ Wed, 25 May 2016 15:15:00 GMT A global, multi-institutional research team that includes Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, chief of Hematology/Oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and program leader for the Abramson Cancer Center’s Melanoma Research Program, has received the L’Oreal Paris–MRA Team Science Award for Women in Scientific Research from the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), the largest private funder of melanoma research worldwide. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/schuchter/ Wed, 25 May 2016 14:15:00 GMT The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) has named two faculty members in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Kevin Alby, PhD and Roseann Wu, MD, to the society’s 2016 “40 under Forty” list. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/40/ Tue, 24 May 2016 15:30:00 GMT A 24-hour rhythm of cellular detoxification in flies and mammals is coordinated by a neuropeptide that also drives feeding in both organisms, found a team led by Amita Sehgal, PhD, a professor of Neuroscience and director of the Chronobiology Program, in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/sehgal/ Tue, 17 May 2016 15:30:00 GMT Medical students in the 2016 graduating class of the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) yet again stand out as the some of the most accomplished and well-rounded graduates in the country. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/grad/ Fri, 13 May 2016 13:30:00 GMT The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and Chester County Hospital were announced among the 2016 class of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality Index 2016” list. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/lgbt/ Thu, 12 May 2016 19:00:00 GMT Experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania will be presenting data on the latest advances in obstetrics and gynecology research and treatment at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting from May 14 – 17 in Washington, DC. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/acog/ Tue, 10 May 2016 18:00:00 GMT A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, found that a simple change to prescription default options in electronic medical records immediately increased generic prescribing rates from 75 percent to 98 percent. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/patel/ Mon, 09 May 2016 20:30:00 GMT A new study shows the use of novel anticoagulants for AF prescribed on an "as-needed basis" guided by diligent pulse monitoring, can be a safe and effective alternative to lowering overall risk of stroke. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/pammer/ Fri, 06 May 2016 20:30:00 GMT The Affordable Care Act (ACA) aimed to increase access to CRC screening by not holding patients responsible for all costs of the procedure, yet current Medicare insurance beneficiaries lacking supplemental insurance may not be able to afford colon cancer screening and treatment. This policy disproportionally puts low-income Americans at risk and adds unnecessary strains on overall health care costs, according to a commentary in the May issue of the journal Gastroenterology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/doubeni/ Fri, 06 May 2016 18:15:00 GMT A new study finds the use of moderate sedation, in which patients do not need a breathing tube, leads to better clinical outcomes as compared to general anesthesia for patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/tavr/ Fri, 06 May 2016 13:30:00 GMT Three graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania have been selected as Medical Research Fellows by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/hhmi/ Fri, 06 May 2016 13:15:00 GMT An implantable brain device that literally melts away at a pre-determined rate minimizes injury to tissue normally associated with standard electrode implantation, according to research led by a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/litt/ Thu, 05 May 2016 19:30:00 GMT In a new study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, a team led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) found that expanding the panel beyond the known breast/ovarian cancer-specific genes in these patients does not add any clinical benefit. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/nathanson/ Thu, 05 May 2016 17:15:00 GMT On Wednesday, May 4, 2016, Penn leaders will welcome Pryor's family, friends – including military and congressional dignitaries – to celebrate the dedication of the John Paul Pryor, MD, Shock Trauma and Resuscitation Unit in the Trauma Center at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/pryor/ Wed, 04 May 2016 14:30:00 GMT For the second year in a row, Penn Medicine has been ranked in the top 10 in this year’s InformationWeek Elite 100, an annual list of U.S. businesses from all industries that use innovative and leading information technologies to run their business. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/iw/ Mon, 03 May 2016 14:30:00 GMT The number of new HIV infections and the transmission rate in the United States dropped by 11 and 17 percent, respectively, between 2010 and 2015, but fell short of the goals put forth by President Obama’s U.S. National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reported this week in the journal AIDS and Behavior. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/bonacci/ Mon, 03 May 2016 14:30:00 GMT Patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of major vision loss in older people, still show benefits from a new class of therapy -- originally developed to treat cancer -- after long-term treatment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/maguire/ Mon, 02 May 2016 15:00:00 GMT Scientists from the Center for Research in FOP and Related Disorders at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues examined the critical role of tissue hypoxia, or oxygen starvation, in the induction and amplification of FOP lesions, also called flare-ups. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/wang/ Mon, 02 May 2016 15:00:00 GMT The third annual Million Dollar Bike Ride will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2016, to support research and raise awareness about rare diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/05/mdbr/ Mon, 02 May 2016 13:30:00 GMT The discovery of shared biological properties among independent variants of DNA sequences offers the opportunity to broaden understanding of the biological basis of disease and identify new therapeutic targets, according to a collaboration between the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Arizona Health Sciences, and Vanderbilt University. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/moore/ Fri, 29 Apr 2016 17:15:00 GMT Using a clinically guided genetic screening approach, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania identified LINP1, a lncRNA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/zhang/ Thu, 28 Apr 2016 20:00:00 GMT Two Penn Medicine physicians – Ebbing Lautenbach, MD, MPH, MSCE, chief of the division of Infectious Diseases and the Robert Austrian Professor in the department of Medicine, and Ben Z. Stanger, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Medicine and associate investigator of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute – were elected to the Association of American Physicians (AAP), a nonprofit, professional society for physicians dedicated to the pursuit and advancement of medical knowledge. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/aap/ Tue, 26 Apr 2016 20:15:00 GMT Long-term use of the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins does not appear to decrease a patient’s risk of colorectal cancer, suggests a new, large case-control study from Penn Medicine researchers published this week in PLOS Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/mamtani/ Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:00:00 GMT New research, from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has uncovered cellular pathways in skin pigment cells that are activated by estrogen and progesterone – two of the main female sex hormones – and also identified synthetic hormone derivatives that specifically influence the pigment producing pathway. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/ridky/ Tue, 26 Apr 2016 17:00:00 GMT Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common genetically inherited cause of intellectual disability in humans. New research shows how the hormone insulin – usually associated with diabetes -- is involved in the daily activity patterns and cognitive deficits in the fruitfly model of FXS, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/jongens/ Tue, 26 Apr 2016 15:30:00 GMT About half of Medicare patients who start taking biologic therapies for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis stop within a year, according to a study led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/doshi/ Tue, 26 Apr 2016 14:15:00 GMT How atopic dermatitis arises isn't yet fully understood, but a new study from researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine, have uncovered important insights about the association of AD in dogs compared to humans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/grice/ Tue, 26 Apr 2016 14:15:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center has been chosen to host the 2017-2019 Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders by The Michael J. Fox Foundation, in collaboration with its longtime supporter and partner the Edmond J. Safra Foundation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/dahodwala/ Thu, 21 Apr 2016 20:30:00 GMT Using new high-resolution microscopy, a team from the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania found that molecular struts called microtubules (MT) interact with the heart’s contractile machinery to provide mechanical resistance for the beating of the heart. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/prosser/ Thu, 21 Apr 2016 18:00:00 GMT Vincent Lo Re, MD, MSCE, an assistant professor of Medicine in the division of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded a $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study possible links between liver cancer and HIV. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/lo_re/ Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:15:00 GMT Beatrice H. Hahn, MD, a professor of Medicine and Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been elected as a new member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/hahn/ Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:15:00 GMT Scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University have identified a biological pathway that potentially explains why current asthma therapies don't work well in many cases—and might be targeted to help those patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/morrisey/ Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:30:00 GMT After a kidney transplant, women may experience decreased kidney damage from ischemia reperfusion injury compared to men due to the impact of gender-specific hormones, suggests a new preclinical study and an analysis of patient data published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/levine/ Mon, 18 Apr 2016 20:00:00 GMT Results from the I-SPY 2 trial show that giving patients with HER2-positive invasive breast cancer a combination of the drugs trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) and pertuzumab before surgery was more beneficial than the combination of paclitaxel plus trastuzumab. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/demichele/ Mon, 18 Apr 2016 13:30:00 GMT Immune cells engineered to seek out and attack a type of deadly brain cancer known as glioblastoma (GBM) were found to have an acceptable safety profile and successfully migrate to and infiltrate tumors, researchers from Penn Medicine and Harvard University reported at the AACR Annual Meeting 2016 (Abstract LB-083). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/orourke/ Mon, 18 Apr 2016 13:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions have uncovered a site of genetic variation that identified which patients with Parkinson’s disease are more likely to have tremors versus difficulty with balance and walking. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/cooper/ Thu, 14 Apr 2016 19:15:00 GMT A national research study to focus on diet as a tool for managing Crohn’s disease symptoms, led by James Lewis, MD, MSCE, a professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), has been approved to receive a $2.5 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/lewis/ Thu, 14 Apr 2016 16:15:00 GMT Josep Dalmau, MD, PhD, an adjunct professor of neurology and founder and director of the Penn Center of Autoimmune Neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will be honored as a recipient of the American Academy of Neurology’s 2016 Cotzias Lecture and Award, at the organization’s 68th annual meeting taking place April 15-21 in Vancouver. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/dalmau/ Thu, 14 Apr 2016 14:00:00 GMT New preclinical research provides support to a drug that has been repurposed to possibly treat a rare and extremely disabling genetic bone disease, particularly in children. In that disease, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a mutation triggers bone growth in muscles, alters skeletal bone formation, and limits motion, breathing, and swallowing, among a host of progressive symptoms. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/shore/ Wed, 13 Apr 2016 14:45:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania has joined an unprecedented cancer research effort, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, which unites six of the nation’s top medical schools and cancer centers around a shared aim of accelerating breakthrough immunotherapy research that will turn more cancers into a curable disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/parker/ Wed, 13 Apr 2016 12:45:00 GMT Two researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are among the recipients of the 2016 Clinical Research Achievement Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/june/ Tue, 12 Apr 2016 20:30:00 GMT Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can alter our language processing, allowing for faster comprehension of meaningful word combinations, according to new research from the department of Neurology the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/price/ Tue, 12 Apr 2016 18:45:00 GMT Over 100 third and fourth graders from the Cornerstone Christian Academy, and Beulah Baptist Christian Day School will spend a morning on the Penn campus “judging” hands-on science activities developed by students at Penn, including undergraduate Biological Basis of Behavior program majors and graduate students in neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/kids/ Tue, 12 Apr 2016 15:15:00 GMT A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shed new light on how the structure of regulatory sequences in DNA is packaged in a cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/zaret/ Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:00:00 GMT A new genetic clue discovered by a team co-led by a researcher at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is shedding light on the functions of the mysterious “long non-coding RNAs” (lncRNAs). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/paralkar/ Thu, 07 Apr 2016 15:00:00 GMT Chi Van Dang, MD, PhD, director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, has been named to the National Cancer Institute’s Blue Ribbon Panel that will inform the direction and goals of Vice President Joe Biden’s cancer “Moonshot” initiative. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/dang/ Tue, 05 Apr 2016 19:00:00 GMT Yelp reviews of hospitals cover topics not found in the federal government’s survey of patients' hospital experiences, according to the results of a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/yelp/ Mon, 04 Apr 2016 20:15:00 GMT Patients whose hospital care providers used mobile secure text-messaging as a means of communication had shorter lengths-of stay compared to patients whose providers used the standard paging system to communicate, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/patel/ Mon, 04 Apr 2016 14:30:00 GMT While there is little data to inform best practices for treating patients with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD), a team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that heart transplants can be performed in adult patients with prior corrective surgery for congenital heart disease with excellent outcomes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/tavr/ Mon, 04 Apr 2016 13:45:00 GMT In this first randomized clinical trial for intermediate-risk patients with severe, symptomatic AS, conducted by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in partnership with Edwards Lifesciences, the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, and 56 center across the United States and Canada, investigators found that TAVR with SAPIEN XT resulted in similar two-year clinical outcomes, as compared to surgical aortic valve replacement. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/herrmann/ Mon, 04 Apr 2016 13:45:00 GMT Today, new data demonstrates that for patients at intermediate-risk for open-heart surgery, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with the latest generation of balloon-expandable device – SAPIEN 3 – is superior to surgery, resulting in better patient outcomes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/achd/ Mon, 04 Apr 2016 13:45:00 GMT Carlo Renato G Bartoli, MD, PhD, a third-year resident in the division of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received the Young Author Achievement Award from the American College of Cardiology, in recognition of outstanding research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/lvad/ Fri, 01 Apr 2016 20:00:00 GMT The U.S. presidential campaign season has reignited debates on how best to deliver cost-effective, high quality care. A new perspective paper in the New England Journal of Medicine advocates for a comprehensive approach to recognize and manage “therapeutic illusion” to improve use of medical treatments. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/casarett/ Fri, 01 Apr 2016 14:30:00 GMT Until now, researchers have lacked the tools to examine -- in a single cell --the exact readout from each genome to make RNA. Using a new technology that allows researchers to do just that, an interdisciplinary University of Pennsylvania team examined a rare disease in which these two genomes are expressed differently throughout the body, even sometimes in the same organ. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/04/bartolomei/ Fri, 01 Apr 2016 14:15:00 GMT The once-a-month drug naltrexone was more effective at preventing drug relapse in ex-prisoners addicted to heroin and other opioids compared to the usual treatment modalities, including counseling and community treatment programs, according to results from a multisite, randomized trial led by researchers at the Center for Studies of Addiction at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/obrien/ Thu, 31 Mar 2016 14:30:00 GMT A neuroscientist from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, with a colleague from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, authored an essay calling for scientists to do what they can to reduce their carbon footprint while engaging in professional activities, such as fly less often to distant professional society meetings, urge those societies to meet less often, and make greater use of electronic communication to web conference. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/sterling/ Thu, 31 Mar 2016 14:30:00 GMT “Specialty drugs” have become important treatment options for many serious and chronic diseases, and in some conditions like cancer they represent the only chance for long-term survival. But, insurers increasingly require patients to share the high costs of these medications. Two new studies led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found evidence that such cost-sharing arrangements are associated with significant reductions in access to these drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/doshi/ Tue, 29 Mar 2016 13:45:00 GMT Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT) is a family of inherited disorders of the peripheral nervous system, affecting approximately one in 2,500 Americans. Its most common iteration, CMT1, comes in many forms, most of which have to date been linked to a small set of causative genes. New research from the department of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recently spanned the globe to uncover a new genetic cause of CMT1. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/motley/ Wed, 23 Mar 2016 17:45:00 GMT Penn's Innovative Community Health Worker (CHW) model, shown to reduce admissions and lead to better health outcomes for hospitalized patients, can now be used in outpatient settings, according to a study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine in the journal Population Health Management. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/kangovi/ Wed, 23 Mar 2016 17:45:00 GMT At least half of Parkinson's disease patients experience psychosis at some point during the course of their illness, and physicians commonly prescribe antipsychotic drugs, such as quetiapine, to treat the condition. However, a new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan Medical School, and the Philadelphia and Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers and suggests that these drugs may do significantly more harm in a subset of patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/weintraub/ Tue, 22 Mar 2016 16:15:00 GMT Physicians are prescribing more opioid painkillers than ever before to patients undergoing common surgeries, according to new research from the department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/neuman/ Fri, 18 Mar 2016 18:30:00 GMT TB is harder to detect in HIV-infected patients and diagnostic test results take time, so many healthcare providers prescribe multi-drug TB treatments as a precaution. However, for the first time, findings from a large, randomized clinical trial show that this aggressive approach does not save more lives, researchers from Penn Medicine and other institutions report in The Lancet. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/bisson/ Fri, 18 Mar 2016 13:30:00 GMT On Friday, March 18, 129 medical students from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will find out, one by one, where they are headed for their residency training for the next three or more years at the annual Match Day ceremony. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/matchday/ Fri, 18 Mar 2016 12:45:00 GMT State laws that require drivers who’ve been convicted of drunk driving to pass a breathalyzer-type test before starting their cars saved an estimated 915 lives between 2004 and 2013, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/kaufman/ Thu, 17 Mar 2016 20:00:00 GMT An international team of investigators led by experts at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has been awarded a nearly $3 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to establish diagnostic criteria for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/cte/ Thu, 17 Mar 2016 16:15:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has been ranked the 3rd best medical school in the United States in the annual medical school survey in U.S. News and World Report’s "Best Graduate Schools" report. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/usnews/ Wed, 16 Mar 2016 13:00:00 GMT Financial incentives aimed at increasing physical activity among teams are most effective when the incentives are rewarded for a combination of individual and team performance, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/patel/ Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:30:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in partnership with ECRI Institute under the ECRI Institute-Penn Medicine Evidence-based Practice Center contract, investigated four immunosuppression strategies and found that many patients might benefit from a lower-than-standard dose of calcineurin inhibitors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/ahrq/ Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:30:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in partnership with ECRI Institute under the ECRI Institute-Penn Medicine Evidence-based Practice Center contract, investigated four immunosuppression strategies and found that many patients might benefit from a lower-than-standard dose of calcineurin inhibitors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/ahrq/ Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:30:00 GMT The department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy of the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine will hold its first annual “Bioethics Film Festival” on April 12-14 at the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts on Penn’s campus. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/film/ Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:30:00 GMT Eight teams of health care professionals with promising ideas to improve patient care will take a shot at proving the success of their program in the hopes of earning additional funding to keep their plans in motion during a pitch event. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/innovation/ Tue, 15 Mar 2016 13:00:00 GMT Breastfeeding campaigns that extol breastfeeding as the “natural” way to feed infants could result in harmful decision-making by some parents on other important health matters, according to experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/martucci/ Fri, 11 Mar 2016 14:00:00 GMT The generally accepted medical maxim that elevated HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) is “good” has been overturned by a multi-center, international study, led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/rader/ Thu, 10 Mar 2016 18:00:00 GMT Two widely used targeted therapy drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic kidney cancer—sorafenib and sunitinib—are no more effective than a placebo in preventing return of the disease to increase life spans of patients suffering from advanced kidney cancer after surgery, according to a new multi-institutional study in the Lancet led by a researcher at the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/haas/ Wed, 09 Mar 2016 19:00:00 GMT Community mental health clinics, where most specialty mental health treatment is delivered, have been relying more on independent contractors to treat patients, largely for budgetary reasons. Many of these clinics have simultaneously been moving towards the greater use of evidence-based psychosocial practices (EBPs), broadly defined as talk therapies that are informed by rigorous research as well as clinician expertise and patient preferences. A new, first-of-its-kind study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that these two trends may be in conflict. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/beidas/ Tue, 08 Mar 2016 20:45:00 GMT Maria A. Oquendo, MD, an internationally renowned expert in mood disorders, has been appointed the new chair of the department of Psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/oquendo/ Tue, 08 Mar 2016 19:45:00 GMT Street lighting, illuminated walk/don’t walk signs, painted crosswalks, public transportation, community parks, and maintained vacant lots are associated with significant decreased likelihood of homicide among youth in a city neighborhood, according to a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/branas/ Mon, 07 Mar 2016 15:00:00 GMT Refugees seeking asylum in the United States are twice as likely to be granted protection if their application is supported by medical documentation of torture, writes Jules Lipoff, MD, an assistant professor of Clinical Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and two colleagues in the March 7 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/lipoff/ Mon, 07 Mar 2016 15:00:00 GMT A new link between high levels of certain amino acids and type 2 diabetes was found by a team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, using mouse and human muscle and blood samples to evaluate the mechanisms that lead to insulin resistance. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/arany/ Mon, 07 Mar 2016 15:00:00 GMT Comprehensive strategies to ensure that patients have access to effective biomarker tests and treatments will be essential to access the potential of precision medicine, according to a new report entitled Biomarker Tests for Molecularly Targeted Therapies: Key to Unlocking Precision Medicine released today by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/fitzgerald/ Fri, 04 Mar 2016 15:00:00 GMT Twitter may be an effective, untapped resource to stimulate interest in cancer clinical trials and boost enrollment, physicians at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania suggest in a new research letter in JAMA Oncology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/sedrak/ Thu, 03 Mar 2016 17:00:00 GMT Inhibiting the transfer of calcium ions into the cell's powerhouse is specifically toxic to cancer cells, according to an article published this week in Cell Reports by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/foskett/ Thu, 03 Mar 2016 17:00:00 GMT Kiran Musunuru, MD, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Genetics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been honored with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/03/musunuru/ Tue, 01 Mar 2016 15:15:00 GMT Now celebrating its 10th year, the Penn Gamma Knife Center has most notably become the standard of care across Penn Medicine as an alternative to the surgical removal and conventional radiation of cancerous and non-cancerous tumors of the brain resulting from brain cancer or lung, breast, melanoma and other cancers which have spread to the brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/gamma/ Mon, 29 Feb 2016 20:15:00 GMT Ben Richards, a West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran who will serve as the keynote speaker during Penn’s Mind Your Brain conference on Friday, suffered for years after his combat injury before he received a TBI diagnosis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/mind/ Mon, 29 Feb 2016 19:30:00 GMT David B. Roth, MD, PhD, has been appointed director of the new Penn Center for Precision Medicine, a greatly expanded effort for Penn Medicine in this burgeoning field. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/roth/ Mon, 29 Feb 2016 18:30:00 GMT The brain chemical dopamine regulates how mice learn to avoid a disagreeable encounter, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/dani/ Mon, 29 Feb 2016 18:30:00 GMT In a new preclinical study in Cancer Discovery, researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) at the University of Pennsylvania have uncovered the poorly understood mechanics of how macrophages can be “re-educated” by an experimental immune therapy to help tear down the scaffolding that surrounds and protects pancreas cancer from chemotherapy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/beatty/ Mon, 29 Feb 2016 14:15:00 GMT Three University of Pennsylvania faculty members are among this year’s Sloan Research Fellowship recipients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/sloan/ Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:30:00 GMT David F. Dinges, PhD, chief of the division of Sleep and Chronobiology and director of the Unit for Experimental Psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2016 Pioneer Award from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/dinges/ Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:30:00 GMT A team of physicians and researchers across Penn Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded a four-year $5 million grant to develop and test algorithms aimed at predicting adverse health events in real time. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/polsky/ Tue, 23 Feb 2016 15:45:00 GMT It turns out that the type, how frequent, and where new mutations occur in the human genome depends on which DNA building blocks are nearby, found researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in an advanced online study published this week in Nature Genetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/voight/ Thu, 18 Feb 2016 15:00:00 GMT The increased cancer detection and reduced call backs associated with 3D mammography, also known as Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT), can be maintained years after a patient’s first DBT screening with regularly scheduled DBT imaging, according to a JAMA Oncology study published online today from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/conant/ Thu, 18 Feb 2016 15:00:00 GMT As men age, their testosterone levels decrease, but prior studies of the effects of administering testosterone to older men have been inconclusive. Now, research shows that testosterone treatment for men over 65 improves sexual function, walking ability and mood, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine by team researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/ttrials/ Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:00:00 GMT Researchers are getting closer to learning how to turn white fat cells into brown fat cells, in a process called "beiging," to bring down blood sugar levels and fight diabetes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/baur/ Tue, 16 Feb 2016 17:45:00 GMT Financial incentives aimed at increasing physical activity were most effective when the rewards were put at risk of being lost, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/patel/ Tue, 16 Feb 2015 13:00:00 GMT Physicians, scientists and leaders from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and the global pharmaceutical company Novartis will gather Tuesday evening to unveil the Novartis-Penn Center for Advanced Cellular Therapeutics (CACT). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/cact/ Tue, 16 Feb 2015 13:00:00 GMT Differences in the neural wiring across development of men and women across ages, matched behavioral differences commonly associated with each of the sexes, according to an imaging-based study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/verma/ Tue, 09 Feb 2015 19:00:00 GMT Leadership from Penn Medicine and Princess Grace Hospital of Monaco (CHPG), in the company of His Serene Highness Albert II, Prince of Monaco – whose mother, the late Princess Grace of Monaco was one of Philadelphia’s most beloved citizens – today announced a new strategic alliance that will provide Monegasque citizens, residents and the international community customized access to Penn’s leading physicians and facilities. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/grace/ Tue, 09 Feb 2015 15:15:00 GMT A new way of mapping the "transcriptome" -- the collection of RNA read-outs that are expressed by a cell's active genes -- has been devised by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/barash/ Tue, 09 Feb 2015 13:45:00 GMT Taste deficits appear to be more prevalent among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients than previously reported and correlate with brain lesions left by the debilitating disease, a new study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Smell and Taste Center and the department of Radiology found. The more lesions spotted on an MRI, the worse the taste function of the patient, the multi-institutional team reported in the Journal of Neurology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/doty/ Mon, 08 Feb 2016 12:00:00 GMT The London-based LouLou Foundation and the Orphan Disease Center of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have established a Program of Excellence to develop effective treatments for children with CDKL5, a rare X-chromosome-linked genetic disorder that causes severe neuro-developmental impairment and early-onset, difficult-to-control seizures. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/loulou/ Fri, 05 Feb 2016 12:00:00 GMT Abolishing the 24-hour clock by knocking out a key gene during development accelerates aging and shortens lifespan by two thirds in mice, but this effect is absent if the gene deletion is delayed until after birth, according to a new study published this week in Science Translational Medicine by scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/fitzgerald/ Wed, 03 Feb 2015 18:00:00 GMT For the first time, researchers have shown that an enzyme key to regulating gene expression -- and also an oncogene when mutated -- is critical for the expression of numerous inflammatory compounds that have been implicated in age-related increases in cancer and tissue degeneration, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/berger/ Tue, 02 Feb 2016 17:15:00 GMT A powerful, three-way mechanism by which a mutation drives the growth of childhood brain cancers, was discovered by scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/resnick/ Tue, 02 Feb 2016 16:45:00 GMT For the first time, researchers have treated an animal model of a genetic disorder using a viral vector to deliver genome-editing components in which the disease- causing mutation has been corrected. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/02/wilson/ Mon, 01 Feb 2016 15:00:00 GMT As patients in desperate need of a liver transplant lay waiting, many livers that might give them a new life go unused by centers across the nation, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/goldberg/ Wed, 27 Jan 2016 18:45:00 GMT Joseph E. Bavaria, MD, the Brooke Roberts – William Maul Measey Professor in Surgery and director of the Thoracic Aortic Surgery Program in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been elected 2016 President of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/bavaria/ Wed, 27 Jan 2016 17:15:00 GMT A powerful new machine-learning technique can be applied to large datasets in the biological sciences to uncover previously unknown features of organisms and their genes, according to a team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/greene/ Wed, 20 Jan 2016 14:30:00 GMT Lab-grown neural networks have the ability to replace lost axonal tracks in the brains of patients with severe head injuries, strokes or neurodegenerative diseases and can be safely delivered with minimal disruption to brain tissue, according to new research from Penn Medicine’s department of Neurosurgical Research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/cullen/ Tue, 19 Jan 2016 19:30:00 GMT Despite widespread perception, the United States does not provide the worst end-of-life care in the world. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/emanuel/ Tue, 19 Jan 2016 15:30:00 GMT In a recently published study in Cancer Biology and Therapy, a group of Penn colleagues used a version of the PathoChip microarray, which contains 60,000 probes for all known viruses, as well as a broad range of bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and helminthes, a parasitic worm, to identify the pathogenic agent in the sample of a patient. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/robertson/ Fri, 15 Jan 2016 18:00:00 GMT Radiation-induced breast cancer risk from digital mammography is low for the majority of women, but risk is higher in women with large breasts, who received 2.3 times more radiation and required more views per examination to image as much of the breast as possible compared to those with small or average-sized breasts. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/hubbard/ Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:45:00 GMT Health warning labels similar to those found on tobacco products may have a powerful effect on whether parents purchase sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) for their children, according to a new study led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/roberto/ Thu, 14 Jan 2016 15:00:00 GMT Leading global start up accelerator Dreamit today announced that it has renewed its partnerships with industry leaders Independence Blue Cross (Independence) and Penn Medicine to advance entrepreneurship and innovation in health care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/dreamit/ Tue, 12 Jan 2016 17:45:00 GMT Fibrocartilage tissue in the knee is comprised of a more varied molecular structure than researchers previously appreciated, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/mauck/ Fri, 08 Jan 2016 13:30:00 GMT Each year approximately 1 in 1,000 pregnant women will experience peripartum cardiomyopathy, an uncommon form of often severe heart failure that occurs in the final month of pregnancy or up to five months following delivery. But the cause of peripartum cardiomyopathy has been largely unknown – until now. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/01/arany/ Wed, 06 Jan 2015 21:00:00 GMT Recurrence of HER2-positive breast cancer after treatment may be due to a specific and possibly cancer-induced weakness in the patient’s immune system – a weakness that in principle could be corrected with a HER2-targeted vaccine – according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/czerniecki/ Wed, 30 Dec 2015 15:00:00 GMT Palbociclib, a new oral drug whose efficacy in combating breast cancer has been demonstrated alone and in combination with endocrine therapy, also has potential to combat other types of cancer, according to a literature review and additional original research conducted by experts at the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) in the University of Pennsylvania published this month in JAMA Oncology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/clark/ Wed, 30 Dec 2015 14:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s Gary Lichtenstein, MD, a professor of Medicine and Gary Wu, MD, the Ferdinand G. Weisbrod Professor in Gastroenterology were recently recognized by The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) with 2015 Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Scientific Achievement Awards. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/wu/ Wed, 30 Dec 2015 14:15:00 GMT Anil K. Rustgi, MD, chief of Gastroenterology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is once again the recipient of a prestigious Research Professor Award from the American Cancer Society (ACS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/rustgi/ Mon, 28 Dec 2015 16:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH) and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) have received designation as a Baby-Friendly Hospital by Baby-Friendly USA, the U.S. authority for the implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a global program founded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/bfh/ Tue, 22 Dec 2015 19:45:00 GMT In a comparison of bleeding complications and mortality between two approaches, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that those at risk for more bleeding were often treated with a riskier procedure – the transfemoral approach – a demonstration of the so-called risk-treatment paradox. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/giri/ Mon, 21 Dec 2015 19:00:00 GMT Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH) has achieved Magnet status – the highest institutional honor awarded for nursing excellence – from the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/magnet/ Mon, 21 Dec 2015 13:30:00 GMT Thirteen percent of department leader positions at top academic medical institutions in the United States are held by women, while nearly 20 percent are held by men with mustaches. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/wehner/ Thu, 17 Dec 2015 13:15:00 GMT Weight loss due to dietary changes can improve sleepiness at any weight, says a study published by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania this month in the journal Sleep. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/perron/ Wed, 16 Dec 2015 14:30:00 GMT Michael Restuccia, vice president and chief information officer for Penn Medicine, was named one of Computerworld’s Premier 100 Technology Leaders for 2016. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/restuccia/ Tue, 15 Dec 2015 15:30:00 GMT The presence or absence of the CAP2 gene causes sudden cardiac death in mice, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/field/ Mon, 14 Dec 2015 17:30:00 GMT Many BRCA 1/2-negative patients choose to proceed with comprehensive testing for genetic mutations that increase cancer risk, and when presented with counseling before and after testing, most make informed decisions and experience decreased levels of anxiety, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Basser Center for BRCA in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/bradbury/ Tue, 08 Dec 2015 17:30:00 GMT Combining the new breast cancer drug palbociclib with paclitaxel (Taxol) shrank tumors in nearly half of patient with estrogen-receptor (ER) positive breast cancer, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/demichele/ Tue, 08 Dec 2015 17:30:00 GMT Whether aspirin may help prevent or reduce the risk of breast cancer remains a hotly debated research question. While past studies have indicated a potential benefit, most recently in hormone receptor-positive breast cancers, one new study from Penn Medicine suggests otherwise. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/tchou/ Tue, 08 Dec 2015 17:30:00 GMT Despite some concern over the possible effect to patients, new research shows the presence of medical students in the Emergency Department adds less than five minutes to the average length of a patient’s stay. The findings, from a team of researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, are published in the December 8 Medical Education issue of JAMA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/scott/ Tue, 08 Dec 2015 15:00:00 GMT Men taking androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer were almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the years that followed than those who didn’t undergo the therapy, an analysis of medical records from two large hospital systems by Penn Medicine and Stanford University researchers has shown. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/nead/ Mon, 07 Dec 2015 20:00:00 GMT Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients who stopped taking the kinase inhibitors (KIs), ibrutinib or idelalisib, had mostly favorable outcomes when they switched to the alternate therapy, according to large multi-center study, conducted in part at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/mato2/ Mon, 07 Dec 2015 19:45:00 GMT Ninety-three percent of pediatric patients (55 of 59) with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) went into remission after receiving an investigational therapy made from their own immune cells, with continuous remissions of over one year in 18 patients and over two years in nine patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/ctl019/ Mon, 07 Dec 2015 18:45:00 GMT A deeper understanding of the causes of obesity, and improved treatments for obesity and many of its related health problems, are among the goals of a new $4.4 million, 4-year research grant awarded by the Pennsylvania Department of Health to a team of scientists from Geisinger Health System, Penn State University, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (PSOM). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/moore/ Mon, 07 Dec 2015 16:00:00 GMT Mining the DNA of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients uncovered 12 mutations that may be targetable using therapies already available for other cancers, Penn Medicine researchers reported at the 57th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (Abstract 2929). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/mato/ Mon, 07 Dec 2015 10:15:00 GMT In the first known study to examine the prevalence and treatment of psoriasis in older Americans, experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that black patients receiving Medicare are less likely to receive biologic therapies –medications derived from human or animal cells or tissues – for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis than white patients.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/takeshita/ Mon, 07 Dec 2015 10:15:00 GMT Erle S. Robertson, PhD, and colleagues published in mBio this week that Epstein-Barr virus and a related virus, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, can infect and replicate in both cultured and primary neurons.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/robertson/ Thu, 03 Dec 2015 19:45:00 GMT Charles S. Abrams, MD, the Francis C. Wood Professor of Medicine, Pathology, and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, will begin his one-year term as president of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) on December 8, 2015, during the organization's 57th Annual Meeting.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/abrams/ Thu, 03 Dec 2015 19:45:00 GMT Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) of the University of Pennsylvania will be presenting data on the latest advances in hematology/oncology research and treatment at the American Society of Hematology’s 57th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/ash/ Thu, 03 Dec 2015 15:00:00 GMT Gunshot violence is the leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-old African American males and the second leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds males overall in the United States. A new Penn Medicine study is the first to outline the details of how an individual’s location and activities influence that risk.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/12/wiebe/ Wed, 02 Dec 2015 20:45:00 GMT Physicians and others now recognize that seemingly mild, concussion-type head injuries lead to long-term cognitive impairments surprisingly often. A brain protein called SNTF, which rises in the blood after some concussions, signals the type of brain damage that is thought to be the source of these cognitive impairments, according to a study led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/smith/ Mon, 23 Nov 2015 14:00:00 GMT Men with prostate cancer who are undergoing radiation therapy can benefit from yoga, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reported at the Society of Integrative Oncology’s 12th International Conference.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/yoga/ Mon, 16 Nov 2015 19:45:00 GMT Nearly 50 percent of Medicaid patients infected with chronic hepatitis C whose doctors had prescribed newer, life-saving antiviral drugs were denied coverage to the therapies because they weren't considered “a medical necessity” or because the patients tested positive for alcohol/drugs, among other reasons, according to new Penn Medicine research.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/hcv/ Mon, 16 Nov 2015 15:15:00 GMT A simple taste test can identify patients who will have highly successful sinus surgery, researchers from Penn Medicine and the Monell Chemical Senses Center report.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/cohen/ Mon, 16 Nov 2015 13:15:00 GMT Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can improve their symptoms significantly by adding exposure and response prevention therapy to their treatment regimen when common drug treatment options have failed, according to new research from psychiatrists at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/ocd/ Wed, 11 Nov 2015 16:15:00 GMT Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), which afflicts more than 26 million Americans, is a condition in which individuals experience a slow loss of kidney function over time. At the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2015, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania today presented findings from their analysis of the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) study to evaluate risk markers for adverse cardiac events in patients with CKD.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/ckd/ Tue, 10 Nov 2015 14:15:00 GMT In a study presented today at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2015 and published in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in partnership with other institutions in the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN), found that recipients of a mitral valve replacement for IMR experienced a lower rate of heart failure and fewer cardiovascular-related hospital readmissions in the two years following surgery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/asch/ Mon, 09 Nov 2015 18:30:00 GMT Providing financial incentives to both primary care physicians and patients leads to a greater reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in patients than paying only the physician or only the patient, according to a new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/asch/ Sun, 08 Nov 2015 20:00:00 GMT Using a video to train family members of patients at risk for cardiac arrest in CPR may be just as effective as using the traditional hands-on method with a manikin, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/cpr/ Sun, 08 Nov 2015 20:00:00 GMT Mechanical CPR, in which a device is used by Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers to deliver automated chest compressions during cardiac arrest resuscitation care, is associated with an equivalent survival rate for patients experiencing cardiac arrest outside of the hospital as manual CPR, according to new findings from a team of researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/cpr2/ Sun, 08 Nov 2015 20:00:00 GMT In an attempt to correct defects in the energy generation that contributes to poor pump function among heart failure patients, researchers examined whether the diabetes drug liraglutide, could improve the condition of patients with advanced heart failure. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/diabetes/ Sun, 08 Nov 2015 20:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania Prevention Research Center (PRC) has received $1.4 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for three new Special Interest Projects (SIPs). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/barg/ Fri, 06 Nov 2015 16:15:00 GMT Using a transparent zebrafish model, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have identified key components of a mechanism that allows the nervous system to heal itself. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/granato/ Thu, 05 Nov 2015 16:15:00 GMT Amid continued pressures to minimize errors and cut costs, hospitals are continuing to scramble to find solutions to problems plaguing health systems nationwide. A possible solution to many of those issues can be found in hospital evidence-based practice centers (EPCs), says a new Penn Medicine study suggesting EPCs can effectively inform decision-making in medical settings. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/umscheid/ Wed, 04 Nov 2015 14:45:00 GMT The hippocampus, a brain structure known to play a role in memory and spatial navigation, is essential to one’s ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people – a phenomenon known as recognition memory – according to new research from the departments of Neurosurgery and Psychology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/merkow/ Tue, 03 Nov 2015 20:15:00 GMT Scientists in recent years have made great progress in characterizing the bacterial population that normally lives on human skin and contributes to health and disease. Now researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have used state-of-the-art techniques to survey the skin’s virus population, or “virome.” The study, published in the online journal mBio last month, reveals that most DNA viruses on healthy human skin are viral “dark matter” that have never been described before. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/11/grice/ Mon, 02 Nov 2015 16:30:00 GMT Deep brain stimulation (DBS) improves many of the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and is a life-alerting surgery for many patients. Penn Medicine’s Gordon Baltuch, MD, a professor of Neurosurgery and director of the Penn Center for Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery, is one of the most prolific DBS surgeons in the world, having recently performed his 1,000th procedure, marking an important milestone for Baltuch and Penn Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/baltuch/ Fri, 30 Oct 2015 13:30:00 GMT In contrast to amphibian tissue regeneration, traumatic injuries in mammals typically heal with a fibrous scar. Researchers discovered that some strains of mice heal without a scar, by disrupting a protein, called Sdf1, that normally recruits white blood cells to sites of injury. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/leung/ Fri, 30 Oct 2015 13:30:00 GMT Regular physical activity could play a role in helping women at high-risk of breast cancer delay the need for drastic preventive measures such as prophylactic mastectomy, according to new research led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/schmitz/ Thu, 29 Oct 2015 18:30:00 GMT Barbara Ann Todd, DNP, CRNP, ACNP-BC, FAANP, director of advanced practice in the department of Nursing and director of the Graduate Nurse Education demonstration project at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, has been inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/todd/ Thu, 29 Oct 2015 18:30:00 GMT Autophagy, literally self-eating or the degradation of unwanted cellular bits and pieces by the cell itself, has been shown for the first time to also work in the cell nucleus. In addition, in this setting it plays a role in guarding against the start of cancer, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/berger2/ Wed, 28 Oct 2015 18:00:00 GMT Patients who are divorced, separated or widowed had an approximately 40 percent greater chance of dying or developing a new functional disability in the first two years following cardiac surgery than their married peers, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in this week’s JAMA Surgery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/neuman/ Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:45:00 GMT The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) has awarded funding to two researchers at Penn Medicine to lead a career development program for junior investigators interested in pursuing women's health and sex differences research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/nih/ Wed, 28 Oct 2015 15:45:00 GMT Two researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been elected as new members to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/aaas/ Wed, 28 Oct 2015 14:15:00 GMT Kojo S.J. Elenitoba-Johnson, MD, has been named the founding director of Penn Medicine’s Center for Personalized Diagnostics (CPD) and chief of the newly created division of the Molecular and Genomic Pathology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/kojo2/ Mon, 26 Oct 2015 18:30:00 GMT Leading global start up accelerator Dreamit today hosts its 10th Demo Day in Philadelphia, where eight up and coming startups will take the stage and present their businesses to health care industry leaders and investors.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/dreamit/ Mon, 26 Oct 2015 10:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine psychiatrists were recently awarded the American Psychiatric Association’s Psychiatric Services Achievement Bronze Award for the Supporting Seniors receiving treatment and Intervention (SUSTAIN), a partner program with the Pennsylvania Department of Aging (DoA) to support elderly, low-income Pennsylvanians in managing their mental health care.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/apa/ Fri, 23 Sep 2015 19:15:00 GMT The Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania has been named the 2015 recipient of the Partners in Health Initiatives Award and Andy J. Minn, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn, is the recipient of the Scientific Research Award, both presented by the Pennsylvania Division, Southeast Region of the American Cancer Society (ACS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/acs/ Fri, 23 Sep 2015 13:30:00 GMT In the past two decades there has been little to no adherence to the recommendations published by U.S. and European regulatory agencies on the manner in which translational research is conducted and reported in large animal models used to study cartilage repair. A team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania detailed their findings, and their recommendations for better compliance, in a paper published in this week's Science Translational Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/mauck/ Wed, 21 Sep 2015 18:00:00 GMT Nancy A. Speck, PhD, a widely recognized international leader in the field of blood-cell development, has been named chair of the department of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/speck/ Wed, 21 Sep 2015 15:00:00 GMT The search for evidence to support the growing use of proton therapy for more cancers at Penn Medicine continues to uncover valuable findings. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/astro/ Tue, 20 Sep 2015 14:45:00 GMT Girls from families with a history of breast cancer, or genetic mutations that increase the risk of a breast cancer diagnosis, seem to adjust just as well as other girls when it comes to general anxiety, depression and overall psychosocial adjustment, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/bradbury/ Tue, 20 Sep 2015 14:45:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s Innovation Accelerator Program, now in its third year, has announced funding for eight new projects aimed at improving health care delivery and patient outcomes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/asch/ Mon, 19 Sep 2015 16:00:00 GMT Three professors from the University of Pennsylvania have been elected members to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/nam/ Mon, 19 Sep 2015 15:45:00 GMT Malaria parasites infecting humans and great apes share genes that allow them to hide from the host's immune system, adhere to tissues, and cause disease. This unexpected finding changes researcher's understanding of malaria virulence and provides potentially new targets for drugs and vaccines. The study, based on samples collected and analyzed by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was led by colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health, and published online in Nature Communications. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/hahn/ Fri, 16 Oct 2015 19:30:00 GMT Today, at the Transcatheter Cardiac Therapeutics conference in San Francisco, Howard C. Herrmann, MD, the John Winthrop Bryfogle Professor of Cardiovascular Diseasesand director of Penn Medicine’s Interventional Cardiology Program in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will present promising findings from the PARTNER II Trial, which examined one-year clinical outcomes among high-risk or inoperable patients who received TAVR with the latest generation of balloon-expandable (SAPIEN 3) device. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/herrmann/ Thu, 15 Oct 2015 18:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine and its Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania were recently named an inaugural recipient of a University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) Ambulatory Care Quality and Accountability Leadership Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/cpup/ Thu, 15 Oct 2015 16:30:00 GMT Although the public and private sectors are currently engaged in an unprecedented array of efforts to improve end-of-life care, too many of these programs are not evidence-based, according to a scholar from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/halpern/ Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:30:00 GMT A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, led by Erle S. Robertson, PhD and James C. Alwine, PhD, has identified, for the first time, an association between two microbial signatures and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive form of the disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/robertson/ Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:30:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have piloted a new method using advanced noninvasive neuroimaging to recognize the neurotransmitter glutamate, thought to be the culprit in the most common form of medication-resistant epilepsy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/reddy/ Wed, 14 Oct 2015 20:00:00 GMT Different treatments for Crohn's disease in children affects their gut microbes in distinct ways, which has implications for future development of microbial-targeted therapies for these patients, according to a study led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/bushman/ Wed, 14 Oct 2015 16:00:00 GMT Virtua and Penn Medicine have announced a strategic alliance for the purpose of creating easier access to care by growing programs in South Jersey supported by both organizations, and by facilitating access to advanced care provided by Penn. The alliance includes programs for cancer and neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/virtua/ Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:15:00 GMT Language used in everyday social media posts may have a strong connection to an individual’s health, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/merchant/ Tue, 13 Oct 2015 13:30:00 GMT A surprising, paradoxical relationship between a tumor suppressor molecule and an oncogene may be the key to explaining and working around how breast cancer tumor cells become desensitized to a common cancer drug, found researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/hua/ Mon, 12 Oct 2015 16:00:00 GMT Most studies of genomic alterations in cancer have focused on the miniscule portion of the human genome that encodes protein. An international team, led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has now changed all of that. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/zhang2/ Mon, 12 Oct 2015 16:00:00 GMT Being able to understand speech is essential to our evolution as humans. Hearing lets us perceive the same word even when spoken at different speeds or pitches, and also gives us extra sensitivity to unexpected sounds. Now, new studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania clarify how these two crucial features of audition are managed by the brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/geffen/ Mon, 12 Oct 2015 16:00:00 GMT Joseph R. Berger, MD, professor of Neurology and chief of the Multiple Sclerosis division in the department of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was recently awarded the Distinguished Neurology Teacher Award from the American Neurological Association (ANA) for his outstanding accomplishments in teaching neurology to residents and medical students. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/berger/ Fri, 09 Oct 2015 20:30:00 GMT New research from Penn Medicine infection control specialists found that ultraviolet (UV) robots helped reduce the rates transmission of the common bacterial infection known as Clostridium difficile among cancer inpatients – mostly blood cancer patients, a group more vulnerable to hospital-acquired infections – by 25 percent. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/pegues/ Fri, 09 Oct 2015 18:30:00 GMT Terence Peter Gade, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Radiology and Cancer Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded a 2015 NIH Director's Early Independence Award, part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program supported by the National Institutes of Health’s Common Fund. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/gade/ Thu, 08 Oct 2015 18:30:00 GMT Sezary syndrome (SS), an aggressive leukemia of mature T cells, is more complicated at a molecular level than ever suspected, according to investigators from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/kojo/ Wed, 07 Oct 2015 16:30:00 GMT Disabling a cancer-causing pathway and administering an immune-molecule-based mop-up therapy eradicated a specific type of breast tumor in mice, according to researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/zhang/ Wed, 07 Oct 2015 13:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s Basser Center for BRCA announced $375,000 in new grant funding to support BRCA-focused research projects across the nation. The grants are aimed at advancing the care of patients living with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/brca/ Tue, 06 Oct 2015 17:30:00 GMT A potential treatment for a serious clotting condition that can strike patients who receive heparin to treat or prevent blood clots may lie within reach by elucidating the structure of the protein complex at its root, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/cines/ Tue, 06 Oct 2015 17:15:00 GMT A new Penn-led study describes a new genome screen that identified partner molecules of cell-waste disposal proteins.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/hogenesch/ Tue, 06 Oct 2015 14:15:00 GMT The whimsically named sonic hedgehog gene, best known for controlling embryonic development, also maintains the normal physiological state and repair process of an adult healthy lung, if damaged, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published online this week in Nature in advance of the print edition.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/morrisey/ Mon, 05 Oct 2015 15:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics’ 10th Annual International Symposium will cover translational science in academic medical centers and biotech along with the impact of innovative technologies such as super-resolution imaging, optogenetics, and the new gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/itmat/ Mon, 05 Oct 2015 14:00:00 GMT Screening is the most effective way to reduce the risk of dying from colorectal cancer, yet as a Penn Medicine physician argues in an editorial this week in the journal Gastroenterology, current recommendations to screen older people with a family history of the disease, specifically with colonoscopy every five years, is not justified for most patients.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/doubeni/ Fri, 02 Oct 2015 18:00:00 GMT David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, a research assistant professor of Medicine, division of Hematology/Oncology, in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received the RARE Champion of Hope award for science. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/hope/ Thu, 01 Oct 2015 10:30:00 GMT A large international team of transplant surgeons and scientists, co-led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has come together to investigate the genetic factors behind transplant successes and failures. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/10/keating/ Thu, 01 Oct 2015 13:30:00 GMT Using a novel synthetic platform for creating vaccines originally developed in the laboratory of David Weiner, PhD, a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, a team led by his colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has successfully eradicated precancerous cervical lesions in nearly half of the women who received the investigational vaccine in a clinical trial. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/weiner/ Wed, 30 Sep 2015 13:30:00 GMT This Sunday, the 4th annual 5K for The IOA and Memory Mile Walk will be held in support of the Institute on Aging (IOA) at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/5k/ Fri, 18 Sep 2015 16:00:00 GMT Two groups of investigators at Penn Medicine received funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to beta-test the genetic database of 200,000 veterans in the VA’s Million Veterans Program (MVP). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/mvp/ Thu, 17 Sep 2015 17:30:00 GMT Myc is a cancer-causing gene responsible for disrupting the normal 24-hour internal rhythm and metabolic pathways in cancer cells, found a team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/dang/ Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:00:00 GMT A simple blood test can detect early markers of “reinvigorated” T cells and track immune responses in metastatic melanoma patients after initial treatment with the anti-PD-1 drug pembrolizumab, researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania report in new research being presented at the inaugural CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/huang/ Wed, 16 Sep 2015 10:00:00 GMT Even patients with health insurance who have multiple myeloma may be vulnerable to "financial toxicity" because of the higher use of novel therapeutics and extended duration of myeloma treatment, researchers from Penn's Abramson Cancer Center report in this week's Lancet Haematology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/toxicity/ Wed, 16 Sep 2015 10:00:00 GMT Knocking out one or both crucial regulatory genes caused cleft lip, skin barrier defects, and a host of other developmental problems in mice, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, hinting that abnormalities in these molecular pathways could underlie many birth defects that are presently not well understood. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/carstens/ Tue, 15 Sep 2015 12:00:00 GMT Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have shown that when the enzyme key to cutting and pasting segments of DNA hits so-called "off-target" spots on a chromosome, the development of immune cells can lead to cancer in animal models. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/roth/ Thu, 10 Sep 2015 16:00:00 GMT A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found a location-dependent pattern in cilia length in the mouse nasal cavity that affects sensitivity to odors. The discovery may also have important implications for the study of sight and touch.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/ma/ Thu, 10 Sep 2015 16:00:00 GMT A multiple myeloma patient whose cancer had stopped responding after nine different treatment regimens experienced a complete remission after receiving an investigational personalized cellular therapy known as CTL019 developed by a team at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/garfall/ Wed, 09 Sep 2015 21:00:00 GMT The widespread practice of incentivizing mammogram completion via cash payments is unethical according to a Viewpoint article published this week in JAMA by an expert from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/schmidt/ Wed, 09 Sep 2015 20:30:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) has received an “exceptional” rating by the National Cancer Institute during an extensive peer-review process for its five-year competitive research support grant. The rating is the highest possible for an NCI cancer center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/acc/ Thu, 03 Sep 2015 17:45:00 GMT A team led by Roger Greenberg, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Cancer Biology at Penn, and Frank Sicheri, PhD, in Toronto, report online in Molecular Cell ahead of print, the atomic structures of several BRCC36-containing complexes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/greenberg/ Thu, 03 Sep 2015 16:00:00 GMT Eight of 14 patients in the first trial of the University of Pennsylvania’s personalized cellular therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) responded to the therapy, with some complete remissions continuing past four and a half years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/june/ Wed, 02 Sep 2015 18:00:00 GMT Aggressive cancer growth and alterations in gene activity without changes in DNA sequence (epigenetics) are associated with mutant p53 proteins, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/berger/ Wed, 02 Sep 2015 17:00:00 GMT Acupuncture may be a viable treatment for women experiencing hot flashes as a result of estrogen-targeting therapies to treat breast cancer, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/beidas/ Tue, 01 Sep 2015 18:30:00 GMT Eight of 14 patients in the first trial of the University of Pennsylvania's personalized cellular therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) responded to the therapy, with some complete remissions continuing past four and a half years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/09/mao/ Tue, 01 Sep 2015 18:00:00 GMT The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and Chester County Hospital were announced among the 2015 class of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality” list, and the first to be announced in the organization’s rolling admissions in 2015. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/lgbt/ Mon, 31 Aug 2015 14:45:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania researchers will receive five of the 10 grants being awarded this year by the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation, part of The Pittsburgh Foundation, which supports cutting-edge scientific research in chemistry, biology, and physics at institutions across Pennsylvania. Two of those five will go to researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/kaufman/ Thu, 27 Aug 2015 16:15:00 GMT Brexpiprazole, an antipsychotic drug approved this summer by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is an effective and well-tolerated addition to conventional first-line antidepressants for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD), according to research from psychiatrists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/thase/ Wed, 26 Aug 2015 16:30:00 GMT In the midst of a growing trend for Medicare patients to receive observation care in the hospital to determine if they should be formally admitted, a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows that for more than a quarter of beneficiaries with multiple observation stays, the cumulative out-of-pocket costs of these visits exceeds the deductible they would have owed for an inpatient hospital admission. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/kangovi/ Wed, 26 Aug 2015 13:15:00 GMT Joshua Gold, PhD, a professor of Neuroscience at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Joe Kable, PhD, Baird Term Associate Professor of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences, have been awarded a three-year $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/gold/ Tue, 25 Aug 2015 15:30:00 GMT Caryn Lerman, PhD, the senior deputy director of Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC), member of the Institute of Medicine, and co-director of the Penn Medicine Neuroscience Center, has received the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Outstanding Investigator Award, a new grant bestowed upon influential cancer researchers to provide long-term support for their impactful and exceptional cancer research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/lerman/ Fri, 21 Aug 2015 14:15:00 GMT There may be two new ways to fight AIDS -- using a heat shock protein or a small molecule – to attack fibrils in semen associated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during the initial phases of infection, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/shorter/ Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:00:00 GMT Websites for national and state health insurance marketplaces show evidence of improved efforts to assist patients in choosing health insurance plans, such as providing decision support tools, experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/wong/ Tue, 18 Aug 2015 13:00:00 GMT Renowned post-traumatic stress disorder expert Edna Foa, PhD received the 2015 Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from the American Psychological Association (APA) for her contribution to the theory and clinical practice of psychology, specifically the research and treatment of anxiety disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/foa/ Fri, 14 Aug 2015 16:00:00 GMT This Friday, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will bestow short white coats on 156 first year medical school students during its annual White Coat Ceremony, the rite of passage experienced by students across the country in their journeys toward a health care career. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/whitecoat/ Thu, 13 Aug 2015 20:00:00 GMT Eye injections of the drug Avastin, used to treat retinal diseases, bring no greater risk of endophthalmitis, a potentially blinding eye infection, than injections with the much more expensive drug Lucentis made by the same company, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/vanderbeek/ Thu, 13 Aug 2015 18:00:00 GMT Health care has much to learn from innovative high-tech companies, but not in the way most people think, according to a Perspective published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and authored by innovation experts from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/asch/ Thu, 13 Aug 2015 13:00:00 GMT Tumor cells associated with pancreatic cancer often behave like communities by working with each other to increase tumor spread and growth to different organs. Groups of these cancer cells are better than single cancer cells in driving tumor spread, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in Cancer Discovery online in advance of the print issue. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/stanger/ Wed, 12 Aug 2015 14:44:00 GMT Tray tables, bed rails, light switches, and toilets: All are common vectors for swapping germs between patients and health care workers. While a new systematic overview in this week’s Annals of Internal Medicine points to several promising cleaning tactics of these “high-touch surfaces,” there’s a lack of evidence as to which is the most effective at reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/han/ Mon, 10 Aug 2015 21:00:00 GMT Two Penn Medicine researchers from the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB) have been honored with the 2015 Outstanding Statistical Application Award from the American Statistical Association, to be presented today at the Joint Statistical Meetings. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/guo/ Mon, 10 Aug 2015 16:00:00 GMT Sergei A. Vinogradov, PhD, an associate professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded a four-year High Impact Neuroscience Research Resource Center Grant from the National Institutes of Health. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/vinogradov/ Mon, 10 Aug 2015 16:00:00 GMT Cancer researchers already know of some oncogenes and other factors that promote the development of colon cancers, but they don’t yet have the full picture of how these cancers originate and spread. Now researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have illuminated another powerful factor in this process. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/rustgi/ Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:00:00 GMT The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has awarded Nancy Speck, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the 2015 Henry M. Stratton Medal for Basic Science for her “seminal contributions in the area of hematology research.” http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/speck/ Wed, 05 Aug 2015 14:15:00 GMT A large-scale, clinical research project on vasculitis, led by Peter A. Merkel, MD, MPH, a professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and chief of the division of Rheumatology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and George Casey, MBA, Vice President of the Vasculitis Foundation, has been approved to receive a three-year, $1.4 million award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), as part of the second phase of the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/08/merkel/ Tue, 04 Aug 2015 18:15:00 GMT Now, a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published online this month ahead of the print issue in the Journal of Lipid Research, questions the relevance of fish oil-derived SPMs and their purported anti-inflammatory effects in humans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/fitzgerald/ Thu, 30 Jul 2015 17:15:00 GMT Working with yeast and worms, researchers found that incorrect gene expression is a hallmark of aged cells and that reducing such "noise" extends lifespan in these organisms. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/berger/ Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:00:00 GMT Charging people to participate in research studies is likely to undermine the fundamental ethical basis of clinical research, according to a new paper written by bioethicists, including lead author Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, chair of the department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and published in Science Translational Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/emanuel2/ Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:00:00 GMT A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania used fruitflies to probe deeper into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern aggression and sleep. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/sehgal/ Tue, 28 Jul 2015 17:30:00 GMT Effective Aug. 1, Lancaster General Health (LG Health) will become a member of the University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/lgh/ Tue, 28 Jul 2015 16:00:00 GMT James Metz, MD, has been named the chair of the department of Radiation Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/metz/ Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:30:00 GMT The lymphatic system provides a slow flow of fluid from our organs and tissues into the bloodstream. It returns fluid and proteins that leak from blood vessels, provides passage for immune and inflammatory cells from the tissues to the blood, and hosts key niches for immune cells. How this system develops hasn't been well understood, but now researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found from experiments in mice that the early flow of lymph fluid is a critical factor in the development of mature lymphatic vessels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/kahn/ Mon, 27 Jul 2015 20:15:00 GMT Physicians in training are twice as likely to order a costly brand-name statin (used to lower blood cholesterol levels) when supervised by senior physicians who prefer those medications in their own practice, according to a new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/ryskina/ Thu, 23 Jul 2015 21:00:00 GMT A new perspective paper written by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and published in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that “new antiviral therapies with cure rates exceeding 95 percent should prompt transplant-community leaders to view HCV (hepatitis C virus)-positive organs as a valuable opportunity for transplant candidates with or without pre-existing HCV infection.” http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/reese/ Wed, 22 Jul 2015 21:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine hospitals have been ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the nation, #1 in Pennsylvania, and once again #1 in the Philadelphia metro area by U.S. News & World Report. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/usn/ Tue, 21 Jul 2015 15:30:00 GMT John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of Penn’s Institute on Aging, has been honored with the American Association of Neuropathologists’ (AANP) Award for Meritorious Contributions to Neuropathology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/trojanowski/ Tue, 21 Jul 2015 13:00:00 GMT Results from a clinical trial investigating a new T cell receptor (TCR) therapy that uses a person’s own immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells demonstrated a clinical response in 80 percent of multiple myeloma patients with advanced disease after undergoing autologous stem cell transplants (ASCT). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/june/ Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:00:00 GMT Daniel J. Rader, MD, chair of the Department of Genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Danish Saleheen, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, have been awarded a four-year, $2 million 2015 Grand Challenge Award from the American Heart Association (AHA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/rader/ Fri, 17 Jul 2015 15:00:00 GMT Increased radiation dose is associated with higher survival rates in men with medium- and high-risk prostate cancer, but not men with low-risk prostate cancer, according to a new study from Penn Medicine published this week in JAMA Oncology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/kalbasi/ Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:00:00 GMT Since 2007, clinical trials using gene therapy have resulted in often-dramatic sight restoration for dozens of children and adults who were otherwise doomed to blindness. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), have found evidence that this sight restoration leads to strengthening of visual pathways in the brain, published this week in Science Translational Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/ashtari/ Wed, 15 Jul 2015 18:00:00 GMT Hospitalizations for heart conditions, neurological illness, and other conditions were higher among people who live near unconventional gas and oil drilling (hydraulic fracturing), according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University published this week in PLOS ONE. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/panetteri/ Wed, 15 Jul 2015 18:00:00 GMT Jeremy E. Wilusz, PhD, an assistant professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded a grant from the Rita Allen Foundation http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/wilusz/ Wed, 15 Jul 2015 13:45:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s Information Services team has been recognized by Health and Hospital Networks with two awards, Most Wired and the 2015 Innovator Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/restuccia/ Thu, 09 Jul 2015 19:15:00 GMT The Basser Center for BRCA at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center has announced the recipient of its third annual Basser Global Prize. The honor will go to molecular cancer expert David Livingston, MD, Emil Frei Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and deputy director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/basser/ Thu, 09 Jul 2015 14:30:00 GMT Fixing up abandoned buildings in the inner city doesn’t just eliminate eyesores, it can also significantly reduce crime and violence, including gun assaults, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine report in the first study to demonstrate the direct impact of building remediation efforts on crime. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/branas/ Wed, 08 Jul 2015 18:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine is planning a new, two-story, 150,000 square foot outpatient medical practice on Route 70 East in Cherry Hill, NJ, scheduled to open in Summer 2016. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/barg/ Wed, 08 Jul 2015 14:30:00 GMT Average out-of-pocket spending for oral contraceptive pills and the intrauterine device (IUD), the two most common forms of contraception for women, has decreased significantly since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took effect. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/becker/ Tue, 07 Jul 2015 20:00:00 GMT Less than 1 percent of 11,000 healthy volunteers who participated in 394 phase I trials for new drugs experienced serious complications, according to a new meta-analysis of participants in non-cancer, phase I medication trials. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/emanuel/ Tue, 07 Jul 2015 13:30:00 GMT Mitochondria, the tiny oxygen reactors that power our cells, can be the keys to health or disease. But while the recognition of their importance has soared in recent years, methods for studying them haven’t always kept pace. Now, scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have devised a powerful new technique that enables the tracking of every mitochondrion as it moves within a cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/07/eckmann/ Wed, 01 Jul 2015 14:30:00 GMT Jonathan Epstein, MD, a highly regarded physician-scientist whose work has played a major role in the understanding and treatment of congenital heart disease, has been named executive vice dean and chief scientific officer for Penn Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/epstein2/ Mon, 29 Jun 2015 13:30:00 GMT Future therapies for failing hearts are likely to include stem-like cells and associated growth factors that regenerate heart muscle. Scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have just taken an important step towards that future by identifying a stem-like “progenitor” cell that produces only heart muscle cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/epstein/ Thu, 25 Jun 2015 18:00:00 GMT Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD, a professor of Medicine and Health Care Management in the Perelman School of Medicine and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, is receiving the 2015 Matilda White Riley Award, issued today by the National Institutes of Health Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) as part of their 20th Anniversary celebration. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/volpp/ Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:30:00 GMT Two Penn Medicine infectious disease teams have received five-year federal grants collectively worth nearly $9 million, the first of which will help train and expand the local health care workforce in Botswana, while the second will investigate lasting lung complications stemming from HIV/tuberculosis (TB) co-infections in South Africa. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/bisson/ Tue, 23 Jun 2015 14:30:00 GMT Premature babies who are enrolled in clinical trials for therapies to treat and prevent complications from preterm birth are no more likely to die or experience poor outcomes than babies who are not trial participants, according to a retrospective analysis of more than 5,000 babies born before 29 weeks of gestation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/foglia/ Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:15:00 GMT Several well-known neurodegenerative diseases, such as Lou Gehrig’s (ALS), Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's disease, all result in part from a defect in autophagy – one way a cell removes and recycles misfolded proteins and pathogens. In a paper published this week in Current Biology, postdoctoral fellow David Kast, PhD, and professor Roberto Dominguez, PhD, and three other colleagues from the Department of Physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, show for the first time that the formation of ephemeral compartments key in this process require actin polymerization by the Arp2/3 complex, a composite of seven proteins. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/kast/ Thu, 18 Jun 2015 18:30:00 GMT Health policy researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Institute of Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco, suggest in a new Perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine that patient-centered medical homes may be more effective in reducing the number of Medicare patients seeking nonemergency care in EDs than increasing the cost of the visits. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/medicaid/ Wed, 17 Jun 2015 21:00:00 GMT Maria Molina, CRNP, MSN, a board-certified adult gerontology-acute care nurse practitioner and critical-care registered nurse with a Transplant specialty, received the 2015 International Transplant Nurses Society (ITNS) Nursing Excellence Award and the 2015 ITNS Symposium Best Research Abstract Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/molina/ Wed, 17 Jun 2015 20:00:00 GMT Five early-career researchers from three schools at the University of Pennsylvania have received funding from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) for their excellence in biomedical research, in topics including heart disease, sleep, and infectious diseases, as part of a nationwide program totaling $22.5 million. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/bwf/ Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:00:00 GMT Judith Green-McKenzie, MD, MPH, an associate professor of Emergency Medicine and chief of the division of Occupational Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded the 2015 Kehoe Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Education or Researcher from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/kehoe/ Fri, 12 Jun 2015 14:15:00 GMT Frederic D. Bushman, PhD, a widely recognized leader in the fields of microbiology and gene therapy, has been named the new chair of the department of Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/bushman/ Thu, 11 Jun 2015 18:00:00 GMT According to a new study, women experiencing difficulty with time management, attention, organization, memory, and problem solving – often referred to as executive functions – related to menopause may find improvement with a drug already being used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/epperson/ Thu, 11 Jun 2015 13:30:00 GMT More than one-third of counties in the Unites States are located more than 50 miles from the nearest gynecologic oncologist, making access to specialty care for ovarian and other gynecologic cancers difficult for nearly 15 million women. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/shalowitz/ Thu, 11 Jun 2015 13:30:00 GMT Community health workers (CHW) are expected to be a growing and vital part of healthcare delivery in the United States as the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented. A slate of steps detailing how CHW programs can maximize their effectiveness and impact on patients and healthcare spending is provided in a new perspective piece in The New England Journal of Medicine by experts at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine and New York University. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/chw/ Wed, 10 Jun 2015 21:00:00 GMT Using a simple blood test to measure the T lymphocyte count in donors for stem cell transplants may help identify the best match for patients in need of an allogeneic stem cell transplant, suggests a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology from researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/reshef/ Mon, 08 Jun 2015 20:00:00 GMT In a new study published online ahead of print in Science Express, the Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, and his team describes how one protein regulates the clock in most cells in the body and metabolic genes in the liver, the body's key organ for metabolism of fat as well as sugar. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/lazar/ Thu, 04 Jun 2015 20:00:00 GMT Physical activities, such as walking, as well as aerobics/calisthenics, biking, gardening, golfing, running, weight-lifting, and yoga/Pilates are associated with better sleep habits, compared to no activity, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/grandner/ Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:15:00 GMT Eating less late at night may help curb the concentration and alertness deficits that accompany sleep deprivation, according to results of a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented at SLEEP 2015, the 29th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/grandner/ Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:15:00 GMT Individuals with a higher level of moral reasoning skills showed increased gray matter in the areas of the brain implicated in complex social behavior, decision making, and conflict processing as compared to subjects at a lower level of moral reasoning, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/rao/ Wed, 03 June 2015 18:00:00 GMT Sometimes even cells get tired. When the T cells of your immune system are forced to deal over time with cancer or a chronic infection such as HIV or hepatitis C, they can develop "T cell exhaustion," becoming less effective and losing their ability to attack and destroy the invaders of the body. While the PD-1 protein pathway has long been implicated as a primary player in T cell exhaustion, a major question has been whether PD-1 actually directly causes exhaustion. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/06/wherry/ Wed, 03 June 2015 14:30:00 GMT More than 123,000 Americans are currently waiting for lifesaving organ transplants, but 21 patients die each day because there aren't enough organs to go around. New research shows wide variation in the number of eligible organ donors whose loved ones consent to organ donation across the country. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/goldberg/ Thu, 28 May 2015 14:15:00 GMT A three-dimensional imaging technique often used in the automotive and aerospace industries for accurate measurement may be useful to measure the efficacy of injectable wrinkle reducers such as Botox and Dysport, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/percec/ Thu, 28 May 2015 13:45:00 GMT While advances in technology have made multigene testing, or “panel testing,” for genetic mutations that increase the risk of breast or other cancers an option, authors of a review published today in the New England Journal of Medicine say larger studies are needed in order to provide reliable risk estimates for counseling these patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/domchek/ Wed, 27 May 2015 19:45:00 GMT A team led by scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has shown in a large, forward-looking epidemiological study that a person's HDL function—the efficiency of HDL molecules at removing cholesterol—may be a better measure of coronary heart disease risk and a better target for heart-protecting drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/rader/ Wed, 27 May 2015 13:15:00 GMT How can academic medical centers best manage the emerging issue of conflict of interest among scientists and physicians working to develop the next generation of treatments and cures? How do academic conflict of interest policies affect the process of scientific discovery? Exploring these questions and related issues will be at the heart of the "Conflict of Interest and Scientific Discovery" symposium organized by the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/itmat/ Wed, 27 May 2015 13:15:00 GMT Edward E. Morrisey, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, is the inaugural director of the Penn Center for Pulmonary Biology, a new center bridging basic and translational research programs on airway health at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/morrisey/ Tue, 26 May 2015 17:30:00 GMT Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine will present results from several clinical trials and other key studies during the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting from May 29 through June 2.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/research/ Tue, 26 May 2015 13:45:00 GMT A cancer patient’s expectations about the benefits of complementary and alternative (CAM) and their perceived access to CAM therapies are likely to guide whether or not they will use those options, according to a new study published ahead of print in the journal CANCER from researchers at Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/mao/ Tue, 26 May 2015 13:45:00 GMT A system within cells that guides how chromosomes move during cell division was discovered by researchers led by co-senior authors Ekaterina Grishchuk, PhD, an assistant professor of Physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Helder Maiato, from the Universidade do Porto, Portugal. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/division/ Thu, 21 May 2015 19:30:00 GMT C. Neill Epperson, MD, professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and director of the Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness, recently graduated from the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program at Drexel University’s College of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/epperson/ Thu, 21 May 2015 13:15:00 GMT On Friday, alumni, donors, students, faculty, and leadership from the University of Pennsylvania and the Perelman School of Medicine will gather at the Henry A. Jordan M’62 Medical Education Center for a ceremonial ribbon cutting to officially unveil the new medical education space. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/jmec/ Fri, 15 May 2015 15:30:00 GMT Howard Herrmann, MD, a professor of Medicine and Surgery, and director of the Interventional Cardiology Program and Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named to the new class of Master Fellows of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (MSCAI), the professional medical society for adult and pediatric invasive/interventional cardiologists. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/herrmann/ Fri, 15 May 2015 13:45:00 GMT In the first-of-its-kind study since the passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act (the HOPE Act), which lifted the ban on organ donations from one HIV-positive person to another, Penn Medicine researchers report on the quality of these organs and how their use might impact the country’s organ shortage.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/blumberg/ Wed, 14 May 2015 21:00:00 GMT Four different financial incentive programs, each worth roughly 800 dollars over six months, all help more smokers kick the habit than providing free access to behavioral counseling and nicotine replacement therapy. Further, the way in which equally-sized payouts are structured influences their effectiveness. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/smoking/ Wed, 13 May 2015 21:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania will be presenting data on the latest advances in cancer research and treatment at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 2015 Annual Meeting from May 29 through June 2 in Chicago. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/asco/ Wed, 13 May 2015 15:15:00 GMT Two physicians in the division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will be presented Crystal Awards by the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/asge/ Mon, 11 May 2015 19:00:00 GMT Women know that Pap tests are a useful screening test for cervical cancer, but according to a new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, most of those surveyed are unaware of the updated screening guidelines for the appropriate frequency of Pap tests in low-risk women. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/test/ Fri, 08 May 2015 13:45:00 GMT A new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in Science this week describes how the centromere is stabilized during replication. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/black/ Thu, 07 May 2015 18:00:00 GMT Some at-risk patients opted out of comprehensive cancer gene screening when presented with the opportunity to be tested for the presence of genes linked to various cancers, according to a recent study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Basser Center for BRCA in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/bradbury/ Thu, 07 May 2015 13:00:00 GMT Only half of women with cystic fibrosis (CF) report using contraception and frequently apt to become pregnant unintentionally, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/schreiber/ Wed, 06 May 2015 19:00:00 GMT A study in this week’s Science Translational Medicine is a classic example of how seemingly unlikely collaborators can come together to make surprising discoveries. An international team of gastroenterologists, pediatricians, natural products chemists, and veterinarians, working with zebrafish models and mouse cell cultures have discovered that a chemical found in Australian plants provides insights into the cause of a rare and debilitating disorder affecting newborns. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/pack/ Wed, 06 May 2015 18:45:00 GMT Gene therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), an inherited disorder that causes loss of night- and day-vision starting in childhood, improved patients’ eyesight within weeks of treatment in a clinical trial of 15 children and adults at the Scheie Eye Institute at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/jacobson/ Mon, 04 May 2015 15:15:00 GMT The Lariat device, which has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for soft tissue approximation (placement of a suture) during surgical procedures, is associated with a significant incidence of death and urgent cardiac surgery during its frequent off-label use to prevent stroke in patients with the irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/giri/ Mon, 04 May 2015 15:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) have been awarded 7.5 million dollars over five years from the National Institutes of Health to initiate a multi-project HIV study investigating a new gene therapy approach to render immune cells of HIV positive patients resistant to the virus. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/riley/ Mon, 04 May 2015 13:45:00 GMT Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania clinicians and researchers will be presenting compelling talks and study results on emerging issues in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology during ACOG 2015, in San Francisco, May 2-6, 2015. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/05/acog/ Fri, 01 May 2015 14:45:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s Information Services team has been ranked among the top 10 of all entries and first among health care entrants in this year’s InformationWeek Elite 100, an annual list of the best U.S.-based users of business technology for its implementation and use of PennSeek, a self-service, web-based data discovery platform. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/pennseek/ Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:30:00 GMT The National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has renewed its funding to the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET), at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, for the next five years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/ceet/ Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:00:00 GMT For more than 100 years, exposing students to basic and clinical research has been an essential component of a medical school education in the United States. However, today, new models of medical education in which research plays a minimal role are likely to create a two-tiered system of education, decrease the physician-scientist pipeline and diminish the application of scientific advances to patient care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/rubenstein/ Wed, 29 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT The second annual Million Dollar Bike Ride will be held on Saturday, May 9, 2015, to support research and raise awareness about rare diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/mdbr/ Tue, 28 Apr 2015 16:00:00 GMT Puentes de Salud – “Bridges of Health” – will open its doors on Saturday at a new Philadelphia facility that will be a permanent home for the program’s longstanding efforts to provide low-cost primary care and a range of educational and social services to the city’s Latino immigrants. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/salud/ Fri, 24 Apr 2015 19:45:00 GMT Four researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will be awarded a total of nearly 30 million dollars in research funding contracts by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/pcori/ Fri, 24 Apr 2015 17:45:00 GMT Doctors, lawyers and other “high level” professionals may have a built-in survival edge if they’re diagnosed with the disease frontotemporal dementia (FTD), according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/massimo/ Wed, 22 Apr 2015 20:45:00 GMT Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) survivors, their families and healthcare providers from across Pennsylvania will come together to celebrate survival, recognize rescuers and foster a support network within the state. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/survivor/ Wed, 22 Apr 2015 20:15:00 GMT Writing this week in Science Translational Medicine, Garret FitzGerald, MD, FRS, stresses that to "influence emergence of the clinic of the future, one designed to practice precision medicine," an NIH plan to establish large-scale collaborative clinical trials needs also to pay better attention to three areas of emerging practice.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/fitzgerald/ Wed, 22 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT In the first major study to examine the use of a computer-assisted, photo-driven differential diagnosis generator for skin conditions, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found physicians routinely used the tool, without an increase in calling for inpatient dermatology consultations.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/ddx/ Wed, 22 Apr 2015 16:30:00 GMT Two researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been elected as new members to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/bennett/ Wed, 22 Apr 2015 14:00:00 GMT A pair of studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate a correlation between diabetes severity and parkinsonism, or parkinsonian tremors; and examine the caregiving differences between men and women with PD. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/dahodwala/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 13:15:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) are among the 2015 recipients of the prestigious Clinical Research Achievement Award for their personalized gene therapy work in HIV. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/june2/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 13:15:00 GMT Use of either proximal embolic protection devices (P-EPDs) or distal filter embolic protection devices (F-EPDs) during elective carotid artery stenting results in low rates of in-hospital stroke and death, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/giri/ Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT The lab of Kristen Lynch, PhD, published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that describes a cascade of events that may explain changes in gene expression that occur during the development of the human immune system. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/lynch/ Mon, 20 Apr 2015 14:00:00 GMT Genetically modified versions of patients’ own immune cells successfully traveled to tumors they were designed to attack in an early-stage trial for mesothelioma and pancreatic and ovarian cancers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/tanyi/ Sun, 19 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT The PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab, a cancer immunotherapy drug, shrank or halted growth of tumors in 76 percent of patients with pleural mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer that arises in the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/alley/ Sun, 19 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT Once again, researchers at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center have extended the reach of the immune system in the fight against metastatic melanoma, this time by combining the checkpoint inhibitor tremelimumab with an anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody drug. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/bajor/ Sun, 19 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT Understanding the molecular signals that guide early cells in the embryo to develop into different types of organs provides insight into how tissues regenerate and repair themselves. By knowing the principles that underlie the intricate steps in this transformation, researchers will be able to make new cells at will for transplantation and tissue repair in such situations as liver or heart disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/zaret/ Thu, 16 Apr 2015 18:00:00 GMT A new collaborative study describes a way that lung tissue can regenerate after injury. The team found that lung tissue has more dexterity in repairing tissue than once thought. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/epstein/ Mon, 13 Apr 2015 09:00:00 GMT The laboratory of David Weiner, PhD, a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received the 2015 Vaccine Industry Excellence Award for Best Academic Research Team, at the World Vaccine Congress in Washington, DC this week. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/weiner/ Fri, 10 Apr 2015 13:45:00 GMT The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC) has awarded three-year accreditation to three Penn Medicine hospitals in recognition of their commitment to the highest level of quality cancer care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/commission/ Thu, 09 Apr 2015 16:15:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania research team behind pioneering studies of an investigational personalized cellular therapy for blood cancers has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued several new patents on technologies related to this therapy, known as CTL019. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/june/ Tue, 07 Apr 2015 20:00:00 GMT In a study involving more than 31,000 women with cancer-causing mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, researchers at the Basser Center for BRCA, the Abramson Cancer Center, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, identified mutations that are associated with significantly different risks of breast and ovarian cancers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/brca/ Tue, 07 Apr 2015 15:00:00 GMT Patients recovering from a bone marrow transplant and/or searching for a bone marrow donor can’t participate with the masses in an upcoming walk/run in Philadelphia celebrating marrow donation, but that won’t stop them from lacing up their shoes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/match/ Fri, 03 Apr 2015 14:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers are continuing their work in trying to understand the mechanisms through which anesthetics work to elicit the response that puts millions of Americans to sleep for surgeries each day. Their most recent study looked at ketamine, an anesthetic discovered in the 1960s and more recently prescribed as an anti-depressant at low doses.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/eckenhoff/ Wed, 01 Apr 2015 15:15:00 GMT James Eberwine, PhD, the Elmer Holmes Bobst Professor of Systems Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was named one of 16 finalists in the first phase of the Follow that Cell Challenge funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/04/eberwine/ Wed, 01 Apr 2015 13:30:00 GMT HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)-positive kidney transplant patients experienced superior outcomes when compared to kidney transplant patients with Hepatitis C and those infected with both HIV and Hepatitis C, according to a study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and published online in Kidney International. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/kidney/ Tue, 31 Mar 2015 13:00:00 GMT Intensive care units across the United States vary widely in how they manage the care of patients who have set preexisting limits on life-sustaining therapies, such as authorizing do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders and prohibiting interventions such as feeding tubes or dialysis, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/hart/ Mon, 30 Mar 2015 16:15:00 GMT The story of the first pediatric patient to receive an experimental cellular therapy developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania will be featured in this week’s PBS documentary, “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies.” http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/emperor/ Mon, 30 Mar 2015 13:45:00 GMT Malnourished patients are more likely to have complications following total knee or hip replacement surgeries than morbidly obese patients,according to new research from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/malnutrition/ Fri, 27 Mar 2015 15:00:00 GMT Nearly 93 percent of National Football League (NFL) athletes who sustained traumatic injuries to the midfoot returned to competition less than 15 months after injury and with no statistically significant decrease in performance, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/lisfranc/ Fri, 27 Mar 2015 04:01:00 GMT Rhodiola rosea (R. rosea), or roseroot, may be a beneficial treatment option for major depressive disorder (MDD), according to results of a study in the journal Phytomedicine led by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, associate professor of Family Medicine, Community Health and Epidemiology and colleagues at the Perelman School of Medicine of University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/mao/ Thu, 26 Mar 2015 19:30:00 GMT Orthopedic surgeons from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have developed two new prediction tools aimed at identifying total hip and knee replacement patients who are at-risk of developing serious complications after surgery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/hip/ Thu, 26 Mar 2015 00:01:00 GMT A team of orthopedic surgeons from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that modern technology for healing distal femur fractures is as safe and effective as its more established alternative, without a potential shortfall of the older approach. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/fracture/ Thu, 26 Mar 2015 00:01:00 GMT Robert L. Mauck, PhD, an associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of four scientists given awards by the Kappa Delta Sorority and the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Las Vegas. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/mauck/ Thu, 26 Mar 2015 00:01:00 GMT Experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will be moderating panels, serving as discussants and presenting research findings on the latest advances in orthopaedic surgery, research and education at the 2015 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgerons Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, March 24-28, 2015. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/aaos/ Wed, 25 Mar 2015 16:00:00 GMT Strategies aimed at reducing childhood obesity should acknowledge individuals’ rational taste preferences and apply insights from behavioral economics to design choice architecture that increases their likelihood of success, say two physician-scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics in an editorial published in JAMA Pediatrics.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/food/ Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania describe the first set of genes important in learning in a zebrafish model in the journal Neuron this week. “Using an in-depth analysis of one of these genes, we have already revealed an important relevant signaling pathway,” says senior author Michael Granato, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/granato/ Mon, 23 Mar 2015 14:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers have discovered that hypermethylation - the epigenetic ability to turn down or turn off a bad gene implicated in 10 to 30 percent of patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) - serves as a protective barrier inhibiting the development of these diseases.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/mcmillan/ Fri, 20 Mar 2015 20:00:00 GMT Greening vacant lots may be associated with biologic reductions in stress, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/south/ Thu, 19 Mar 2015 20:00:00 GMT Exhilaration. Stress. Drama. It’s all part of the annual Match Day experience for America’s graduating medical students. On Friday, March 20 at 12:00 pm, 159 medical students from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will find out, one by one, where they are headed for their residency training for the next three or more years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/matchday/ Thu, 19 Mar 2015 20:00:00 GMT A team led by Ed Morrisey, PhD, a professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology and the scientific director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has now shown that a subset of RNA molecules, called microRNAs, is important for cardiomyocyte cell proliferation during development and is sufficient to induce proliferation in cardiomyocytes in the adult heart. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/morrisey/ Wed, 18 Mar 2015 18:00:00 GMT Thomas P. Cappola, MD, ScM, a physician-scientist with special expertise in heart failure, has been named chief of the division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/cappola/ Mon, 16 Mar 2015 16:00:00 GMT The National Clinician Scholars Program, formed with The University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, the University of Michigan and Yale University, will educate nurses and physicians to serve as leaders, researchers, and change agents in health care, community health, and public policy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/asch/ Mon, 16 Mar 2015 14:00:00 GMT The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded $16 million over the next five years for a collaborative study led by scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/weiner/ Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:00:00 GMT The Botswana-UPenn Partnership (BUP) is collaborating with Microsoft, the Botswana Innovation Hub, and other global partners to launch the first telemedicine service in Africa using TV white spaces to bring internet connectivity to hospitals and clinics across rural areas of Botswana. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/botswana/ Thu, 12 Mar 2015 16:30:00 GMT Experts from Penn's Center for Brain Injury and Repair, physical, occupational and speech therapists and brain injury survivors will speak, followed by a panel discussion of former professional athletes on their experience with concussion and TBI. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/brain/ Thu, 12 Mar 2015 13:45:00 GMT Two researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will be honored for their contributions for the burgeoning field of gene therapy by Pennsylvania Bio at their annual dinner this week. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/june2/ Wed, 11 Mar 2015 19:30:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania cancer and HIV expert Carl June, MD, has been named one of two recipients of the 2015 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for his outstanding work in cancer immunotherapy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/june/ Wed, 11 Mar 2015 15:00:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the 18th year in a row. According to the annual medical school survey in U.S. News & World Report's "Best Graduate Schools" report, Penn Medicine is ranked #5 in the country. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/usnews/ Tue, 10 Mar 2015 14:00:00 GMT Treating metastatic melanoma with a triple threat—including radiation therapy and two immunotherapies that target the CTLA4 and PD-1 pathways—could elicit an optimal response in more patients, one that will boost the immune system’s attack on the disease, suggests a new study from a multidisciplinary team of researchers from Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center published today in Nature. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/minn/ Mon, 9 Mar 2015 17:00:00 GMT A population-based approach to health planning would prevent disparities in access to specialized stroke care, says new Penn Medicine research. Their evaluation of access to stroke centers in the U.S. found that even under the most optimal conditions, a large proportion of the United States population would be unable to access a comprehensive stroke center within 60 minutes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/mullen/ Thu, 5 Mar 2015 17:00:00 GMT An increase in Twitter sentiment (the positivity or negativity of tweets) is associated with an increase in state-level enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) health insurance marketplaces — a phenomenon that points to use of the social media platform as a real-time gauge of public opinion and provides a way for marketplaces to quickly identify enrollment changes and emerging issues. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/twitter/ Wed, 4 Mar 2015 15:00:00 GMT Drug-induced acute liver failure is uncommon, and over-the-counter medications and dietary and herbal supplements -- not prescription drugs -- are its most common causes, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/goldberg/ Tue, 3 Mar 2015 17:00:00 GMT Two of the four known groups of human AIDS viruses (HIV-1 groups O and P) have originated in western lowland gorillas, according to an international team of scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Montpellier, the University of Edinburgh, and others. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/hahn/ Mon, 2 Mar 2015 20:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers found that patients who did not respond to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety in childhood had more chronic and enduring patterns of suicidal ideation at 7 to 19 years after treatment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/03/wolk/ Mon, 2 Mar 2015 20:00:00 GMT Violence during the civil war in Guatemala from 1960 to 1996 resulted in the development of significant mental health problems and conditions for the county’s people, according to a new multi-institution study from researchers under the Guatemala-Penn Partnership. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/branas2/ Thur, 26 Feb 2015 17:00:00 GMT Two widely used targeted therapy drugs— approved by the FDA for use in metastatic kidney cancer —are no more effective than a placebo in preventing return of the disease to increase life spans of patients suffering from advanced kidney cancer after surgery, according to new results to be presented by a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) during the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/haas/ Mon, 23 Feb 2015 21:00:00 GMT Palbociclib, an investigational oral medication that works by blocking molecules responsible for cancer cell growth, is well tolerated and extends progression-free survival (PFS) in newly diagnosed, advanced breast cancer patients, including those whose disease has stopped responding to traditional endocrine treatments, Penn Medicine researchers found. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/demichele/ Fri, 20 Feb 2015 16:15:00 GMT The topical eczema medicine pimecrolimus appears unlikely to be associated with an increased risk of cancer in children, based on a group of children who were followed for 10 years, according to study published online this week in JAMA Dermatology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/margolis/ Thu, 19 Feb 2015 13:15:00 GMT Immune cells engineered to seek out and attack a type of deadly brain cancer were found to be both safe and effective at controlling tumor growth in mice that were treated with these modified cells, according to a study published in Science Translational Medicine by a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. The results paved the way for a newly opened clinical trial for glioblastoma patients at Penn. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/maus/ Wed, 18 Feb 2015 18:00:00 GMT Many mental health therapists use treatments that have little evidence to support them. A new multi-institution study led by Penn Medicine has found that an organization’s culture and climate are better predictors of the use of evidence-based practices than an individual therapist’s characteristics in the treatment of children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/beidas/ Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:45:00 GMT The Orphan Disease Center at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has awarded its inaugural grants funded by proceeds from the 2014 Million Dollar Bike Ride. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/mdbr/ Fri, 13 Feb 2015 19:00:00 GMT Physicians often blame patient demands for contributing to high medical costs, however, a new study involving more than 5,000 patient-clinician visits indicates that cancer patients rarely push for unnecessary tests and treatments from their health care providers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/emanuel/ Thur, 12 Feb 2015 17:30:00 GMT Experts have warned for years that insufficient sleep can lead to weight gain. A new Penn Medicine study found that not only do we consume more food following a night of total sleep deprivation, but we also we consume more fat and less carbohydrates and a region of the brain known as the salience network is what may lead us to eat more fat. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/rao/ Wed, 11 Feb 2015 19:45:00 GMT In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Penn Medicine researchers found common molecules signifying perturbed metabolism in response to sleep restriction in a comprehensive metabolic profiling of blood from both rats and humans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/sehgal/ Wed, 11 Feb 2015 18:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine physicians have completed their 1,000th transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure, marking an important milestone in the health system’s treatment of aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the heart’s aortic valve. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/bavaria/ Tue, 10 Feb 2015 15:30:00 GMT Although wearable devices have received significant attention for their ability to track an individual’s physical activity, most smartphone applications are just as accurate, according to a new research letter in JAMA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/case/ Tue, 10 Feb 2015 15:30:00 GMT In a new study published online this week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers under the Botswana-UPenn Partnership at the University of Pennsylvania have identified immune biomarkers in patients before they begin antiretroviral therapy that could help distinguish those who will fare well and those who will worsen. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/ravimohan/ Mon, 09 Feb 2015 13:32:00 GMT Sharp and significant increases in suicides followed select financial crisis events and austerity announcements in Greece, from the start of the country’s 2008 recession to steep spending cuts in 2012, Penn Medicine researchers report in a new study published online this week in the British Medical Journal Open. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/branas/ Tue, 03 Feb 2015 13:32:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers have begun a new immunotherapy trial with the “checkpoint inhibitor” known as pembrolizumab in patients with oligometastatic lung cancer—a state characterized by a few metastases in a confined area—who have completed conventional treatments and are considered free of active disease but remain at a high risk for recurrence.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/bauml/ Tue, 03 Feb 2015 13:32:00 GMT The ongoing debate about when to get a mammogram and the potential financial cost may hold some women back from getting a life-saving breast cancer screening. This Valentine’s Day, Penn Medicine, The American Cancer Society, and WUVP Univision 65 join forces in “Amate a ti Misma,” or “Love Yourself,” to provide free mammograms to uninsured women in our community. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/02/guerra/ Tue, 03 Feb 2015 13:32:00 GMT Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is a common consequence of traumatic injuries, wounds caused by an external force or an act of violence, such as a car accident, gun shot or even surgery. In those injuries that require surgical reconstruction, outcomes can result in partial or complete loss of nerve function and a reduced quality of life. But, researchers at Penn Medicine have demonstrated a novel way to regenerate long-distance nerve connections in animal models using tissue-engineered nerve grafts (TENGs). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/cullen/ Fri, 30 Jan 2015 20:45:00 GMT The ECRI Institute-Penn Medicine Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) was recently redesignated by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to serve as an EPC through 2019. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/ecri/ Fri, 30 Jan 2015 14:30:00 GMT With the opening of the Henry A. Jordan M’62 Medical Education Center, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has expanded its urban campus with an innovative new facility that’s redefining medical education for 21st century doctors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/jordan/ Thu, 29 Jan 2015 14:30:00 GMT Women in their late thirties and forties who have trouble sleeping are more than three times more likely to suffer sleep problems during menopause than women who have an easier time getting shut-eye, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/freeman/ Wed, 28 Jan 2015 19:30:00 GMT Tens of millions of people around the world have abnormal, leak-prone sproutings of blood vessels in the brain called cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs). These abnormal growths can lead to seizures, strokes, hemorrhages, and other serious conditions, yet their precise molecular cause has never been determined. Now, cardiovascular scientists at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have studied this pathway in heart development to discover an important set of molecular signals, triggered by CCM-linked gene defects, that potentially could be targeted to treat the disorder. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/kahn/ Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers have discovered that a previously disregarded part of the Hsp104 structure, the N-terminal domain (NTD), located at one end of the Hsp104 molecule, is a major player in its protein-busting powers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/protein/ Thu, 22 Jan 2015 13:30:00 GMT The increase in Medicaid reimbursement for primary care providers, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was associated with a 7.7 percentage points increase in new patient appointment availability without longer wait times, according to results of a new 10-state study. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/feebump/ Thu, 22 Jan 2015 13:30:00 GMT This month, Penn Medicine's new 144 million-dollar facility, the Pavilion for Advanced Care (PAC) at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), opened the doors to its first patients. Clinical teams from critical care specialties, surgical services, trauma/emergency services and radiology have come together in the new six-story, 178,000-square-foot facility. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/pac/ Thu, 22 Jan 2015 13:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine received a 2015 Digital Edge 25 Award, produced by IDG Enterprise media brands CIO and Computerworld and the CIO Executive Council. One of 25 recipients nationwide, Penn Medicine is the only academic medical center on the list. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/award/ Thu, 22 Jan 2015 13:30:00 GMT A somatic mutation in the ATRX gene has recently been shown as a potential molecular marker for aggressive brain tumors, such as gliomas, neuroblastomas and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Now, for the first time, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that the same mutated gene may serve as a much-needed biomarker for the pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PCC/PGL) that become malignant. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/nathanson/ Wed, 21 Jan 2015 13:30:00 GMT A new viewpoint in JAMA,written by Dominic Sisti, PhD, Andrea Segal, MS, and Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, of the department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, looks at the evolution away from inpatient psychiatric beds, evaluates the current system for housing and treating the mentally ill, and then suggests a modern approach to institutionalized mental health care as a solution. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/sisti/ Tue, 20 Jan 2015 15:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers, in a continuation of their groundbreaking work to better understand how anesthesia works in the body, have found the first new class of novel anesthetics since the 1970s. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/eckenhoff/ Tue, 20 Jan 2015 15:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania has announced an expanded relationship with Spark Therapeutics, a late-stage gene therapy company developing treatments for debilitating, genetic diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/bennett/ Tue, 20 Jan 2015 15:00:00 GMT Beatrice H. Hahn, MD, a professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will receive the American College of Physicians Award for Outstanding Work in Science as Related to Medicine by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the national organization of internists. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/hahn/ Thu, 15 Jan 2015 14:45:00 GMT A Penn Medicine study published this week in the journal Radiology confirms that an endobronchial forceps technique the research group developed is a safe and highly effective option for many patients seeking IVC filter removal. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/forceps/ Wed, 14 Jan 2015 18:00:00 GMT The Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, has given Xianxin Hua, MD, PhD, a professor of Cancer Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, one of 11 Harrington Scholar-Innovator Awards. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/hua/ Wed, 14 Jan 2015 14:00:00 GMT Lung cancer rates in both smokers and non-smokers are lower in higher-elevation counties in the western part of the United States, suggesting that oxygen may promote the incidence of lung cancer, according to a new study co-authored by a student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/lung/ Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:15:00 GMT National attempts to help prevent clinical “never events” – a group of complications of hospital care that are often preventable – should focus not only on reducing these specific events, but should also focus on improving infrastructures within health care institutions necessary to support quality improvement and patient safety more broadly, say two experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/brennan/ Tue, 13 Jan 2015 15:00:00 GMT While a boon for many patients who would not have been a candidate for conventional surgery, Penn Medicine researchers have discovered that marketing for TAVR does not accurately portray the risks associated with undergoing the procedure. Their analysis is available in the January 12 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/neuman/ Mon, 12 Jan 2015 15:00:00 GMT In a first-of-its-kind randomized clinical trial, researchers from Penn Medicine and collaborators have shown that the most-suited treatment for each smoker may depend on how quickly they metabolize the nicotine in their body after quitting. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/lerman/ Mon, 12 Jan 2015 13:30:00 GMT New Year’s weight loss resolutions are in full swing, but despite all the hype about the latest wearable tracking devices, there’s little evidence that this technology alone can change behavior and improve health for those that need it most, according to a new online-first viewpoint piece in JAMA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/wearables/ Thu, 08 Jan 2015 15:00:00 GMT Adding radiation treatment to hormone therapy saves more lives among older men with locally advanced prostate therapy than hormone therapy alone, according to a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology this week from Penn Medicine researchers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/bekelman/ Tue, 06 Jan 2015 14:30:00 GMT Many patients with type 2 diabetes in the United States may be discouraged from taking metformin—a proven, oral diabetes medicine—because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration inappropriately labels the drug unsafe for some patients also suffering from kidney problems, researchers from Penn Medicine and Weill Cornel Medical College report this week in a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2015/01/hennessy/ Mon, 05 Jan 2015 16:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s department of Ophthalmology has been awarded a 115,000-dollar grant from Research to Prevent Blindness to support research into the causes, treatment and prevention of blinding diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/obrien/ Tue, 23 Dec 2014 17:15:00 GMT Type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients who have developed low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) as a complication of insulin treatments over time are able to regain normal internal recognition of the condition after receiving pancreatic islet cell transplantation, according to a new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published online in Diabetes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/rickels/ Thu, 18 Dec 2014 14:00:00 GMT Professors James Eberwine, PhD, of the Univeristy of Pennsylcvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and Shu Yang, PhD, of Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, have been named Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/eberwine/ Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:15:00 GMT Jason H. Moore, PhD, has been named the first permanent director of the Penn Institute for Biomedical Informatics (IBI), at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/moore/ Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:15:00 GMT James Shorter, PhD, an associate professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania received a grant from the ALS Association and the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) for research aimed at finding a potential therapy for ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/shorter/ Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:15:00 GMT As the main component of connective tissue in the body, fibroblasts are the most common type of cell. Taking advantage of that ready availability, scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Wistar Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, and New Jersey Institute of Technology have discovered a way to repurpose fibroblasts into functional melanocytes, the body's pigment-producing cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/xu/ Tue, 16 Dec 2014 9:00:00 GMT Research from the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine published in the December issue of the journal Sleep identifies characteristics and behaviors associated with short sleep that could be targeted to reduce the negative health consequences linked to short sleep. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/basner/ Fri, 12 Dec 2014 15:30:00 GMT New work by Penn researchers has found an effective way to avoid systemic kidney inlammation from frequent dialysis by temporarily suppressing complement during dialysis. Their work appears online in Immunobiology ahead of print. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/lambris/ Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:00:00 GMT Robert K. Cato, MD, chief of the division of General Internal Medicine at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, has received the Pressman Award for Distinguished Service to Internal Medicine from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians (PA-ACP). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/cato/ Thu, 11 Dec 2014 14:00:00 GMT Two-thirds of women treated for early-stage breast cancer in the U.S. receive longer radiation therapy than necessary, according to a new study published in JAMA this week from Penn Medicine researchers Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, and Justin E. Bekelman, MD. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/bekelman/ Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:00:00 GMT In the first year after the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) reduced the number of continuous hours that residents can work, there was no change in the rate of death or readmission among hospitalized Medicare patients, according to a new study published in JAMA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/hours/ Tue, 09 Dec 2014 20:00:00 GMT Researchers at Penn Medicine, in collaboration with a multi-center international team, have shown that a protease inhibitor, simeprevir, a once a day pill, along with interferon and ribavirin has proven as effective in treating chronic Hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) as telaprevir with interferon and ribavirin, the standard of care in developing countries. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/reddy/ Tue, 09 Dec 2014 18:15:00 GMT The latest results of clinical trials of more than 125 patients testing an investigational personalized cellular therapy known as CTL019 were presented by a University of Pennsylvania research team at the 56th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/ctl019/ Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:00:00 GMT People with mental illness are more likely to have been tested for HIV than those without mental illness, according to a new study from a team of researchers at Penn Medicine and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published online this week in AIDS Patient Care and STDs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/hiv/ Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:45:00 GMT Preparations for the possibility of caring for a patient with Ebola have been underway for several months at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/ebola/ Wed, 03 Dec 2014 17:00:00 GMT Over 100 third and fourth graders from the Cornerstone Christian Academy, K.W. Reed Christian Academy for Boys, and Beulah Baptist Christian Day School will spend a morning on the University of Pennsylvania campus “judging” hands-on science activities developed by students at Penn, including undergraduate Biological Basis of Behavior program majors and graduate students in neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/kids/ Wed, 03 Dec 2014 16:00:00 GMT Reporting in a new study published this week in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, James Loughead, PhD, associate professor of Psychiatry, and Caryn Lerman, PhD, a professor of Psychiatry and director of Penn’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction, found that smokers who relapsed within seven days from their target quit date had specific disruptions in the brain’s working memory system during abstinence that separated them from the group who successfully quit. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/lerman/ Wed, 03 Dec 2014 15:00:00 GMT Three Philadelphia researchers -- Donna George, PhD, and Julia Leu, PhD, both from the Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Maureen Murphy, PhD from The Wistar Institute, have been awarded a Discovery Fast Track Challenge grant from GlaxoSmithKline. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/gsk/ Tue, 02 Dec 2014 15:00:00 GMT Four faculty members from the University of Pennsylvania have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Three are from the Perelman School of Medicine and one is from the School of Arts and Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/aaas/ Mon, 01 Dec 2014 15:45:00 GMT Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects at least one in four Americans who are older than 60 and can significantly shorten lifespan. Yet the few available drugs for CKD can only modestly delay the disease’s progress towards kidney failure. Now, however, a team led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has found an aspect of CKD’s development that points to a promising new therapeutic strategy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/12/Susztak/ Mon, 01 Dec 2014 15:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers have developed a cognitive test battery, known as Cognition, for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) to measure the impact of typical spaceflight stressors (like microgravity, radiation, confinement and isolation, exposure to elevated levels of CO2, and sleep loss) on cognitive performance. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/basner/ Wed, 26 Nov 2014 15:30:00 GMT New Penn Medicine research has found that elevated levels in the blood of the brain-enriched protein calpain-cleaved αII-spectrin N-terminal fragment, known as SNTF, shortly after sports-related concussion can predict the severity of post-concussion symptoms in professional athletes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/concussion/ Tue, 25 Nov 2014 19:00:00 GMT Since 1994, the Hall-Mercer Community Behavioral Health Center of Pennsylvania Hospital has hosted a Thanksgiving meal. This free event is open to members of the surrounding community, the homeless, and members of the community the Center serves: outpatients living with mental illness or developmental disabilities and their family and friends. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/inacker/ Fri, 21 Nov 2014 19:30:00 GMT Aaron T. Beck, MD, emeritus professor in the department of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of Penn's Aaron T. Beck Psychopathology Research Center, was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science (Honoris Causa) by La Trobe University in Australia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/beck/ Fri, 21 Nov 2014 19:30:00 GMT In the current issue of the journal Cell, Mitchell Lazar, MD PhD, the Sylvan Eisman Professor of Medicine and director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism and his team report the results of a genome-wide survey of circadian genes and genetic regulatory elements called enhancers. These are key parts of the "dark matter" of the genome; rather than encoding proteins, they control the expression of genes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/lazar/ Thu, 20 Nov 2014 16:00:00 GMT The bed bug may be just as dangerous as its sinister cousin, the triatomine, or “kissing” bug. A new study from Penn Medicine researchers in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics demonstrated that bed bugs, like the triatomines, can transmit Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, one of the most prevalent and deadly diseases in the Americas. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/levy/ Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:00:00 GMT Programming electronic health records to make generic drugs the default choice when physicians write prescriptions may offer one way to reduce unnecessary spending and improve health care value in the face of spiraling U.S. health expenditures, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine, The Wharton School and the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/patel/ Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:00:00 GMT A new study led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which was presented today at the 2014 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, investigated patient perspectives on deactivation of implantable cardioverter defibrillators at the end of life, especially related to decisions to deactivate devices against patient or family wishes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/defib/ Mon, 17 Nov 2014 20:00:00 GMT Black patients who have been diagnosed with heart failure are no less likely than white patients to get atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia), according to a new study led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which was presented today at the 2014 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/race/ Mon, 17 Nov 2014 19:00:00 GMT In recognition of World Prematurity Day, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the March of Dimes Foundation today announce the establishment of a new Prematurity Research Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/wpd/ Mon, 17 Nov 2014 13:30:00 GMT Members of the public in counties with higher median household incomes are more likely to step into action to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, when they witness someone have a cardiac arrest, according to a new study led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, which was presented today at the American Heart Association's Resuscitation Science Symposium 2014. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/bystanders/ Sun, 16 Nov 2014 13:30:00 GMT Experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will be moderating panels, serving as discussants and presenting research findings on the latest advances in cardiovascular medicine, science and education at the 2014 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association in Chicago November 15-19, 2014. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/aha/ Fri, 14 Nov 2014 18:30:00 GMT Those experiencing psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis are at higher risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and cardiovascular death, according to a multi-institutional study led by Penn Medicine researchers published online last month in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/ogdie/ Thu, 13 Nov 2014 20:00:00 GMT Researchers affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania's newly-created Prevention Research Center (PRC), have received two grants totaling over $860,000 from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Special Interest Project (SIP) to advance the CDC's Healthy Brain Initiative. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/cdc/ Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:00:00 GMT A new perspective piece in The New England Journal of Medicine, written by health policy researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, describes various digital marketing tactics targeting physicians, outlines concerns about their influence over physician decisions, and makes recommendations about how to adapt policies to keep up with the changing nature of pharmaceutical marketing. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/pharma/ Wed, 12 Nov 2014 21:00:00 GMT Emma Meagher, MD, associate professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received the Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) annual meeting in Chicago this week. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/meagher/ Tue, 11 Nov 2014 18:00:00 GMT Oncology researchers studying gene mutations in the childhood cancer neuroblastoma are refining their diagnostic tools to predict which patients are more likely to respond to drugs called ALK inhibitors that target such mutations. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/lemmon/ Mon, 10 Nov 2014 16:00:00 GMT Olaparib, an experimental twice-daily oral cancer drug, produces an overall tumor response rate of 26 percent in several advanced cancers associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, according to new research co-led by the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/domchek/ Thu, 06 Nov 2014 19:30:00 GMT A team of physicians, researchers and staff from the Center for Resuscitation Science in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will be onsite at the 2014 Philadelphia Heart Walk on Saturday, November 8th, to teach people how to perform hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/heart/ Thu, 06 Nov 2014 13:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers have now shown that while most patients now survive a hospital stay for septic shock, 23 percent will return to the hospital within 30 days, many with another life-threatening condition -- a rate substantially higher than the normal readmission rate at a large academic medical center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/mikkelsen/ Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:00:00 GMT An important addition to the “eat less, move more” strategy for weight loss lies in behavioral counseling to achieve these goals. But research on how primary care practitioners can best provide behavioral weight loss counseling to obese patients in their practices — as encouraged by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) — remains slim, according to a systematic review of this topic published today in JAMA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/wadden/ Tue, 04 Nov 2014 18:00:00 GMT Two new studies from the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania offer hope for breast cancer survivors struggling with cancer-related pain and swelling, and point to ways to enhance muscular strength and body image. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/beidas/ Tue, 04 Nov 2014 04:00:00 GMT Officials from Penn Medicine and Haverford Township today put into action a contract making Penn Medicine the sole provider of ambulance and emergency medical services (EMS) for the township. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/11/ems/ Sat, 01 Nov 2014 18:30:00 GMT A study led by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has identified a potential target for therapies to treat cocaine addiction. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/pierce/ Thur, 30 Oct 2014 18:30:00 GMT A new effort mapping 24-hr patterns of expression for thousands of genes in 12 different mouse organs – five years in the making – provides important clues about how the role of timing may influence the way drugs work in the body. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/hogenesch/ Mon, 27 Oct 2014 19:00:00 GMT An all-female panel of luminaries in fields including epigenetics and stem cell biology will come together at a Penn symposium entitled Celebrating Women in Science. The Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has organized the symposium, which will take place this week on Wednesday, October 29th, 2014. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/wis/ Mon, 27 Oct 2014 15:30:00 GMT A Penn Medicine-developed drug has received orphan status from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this month for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare, life-threatening disease that causes anemia due to destruction of red blood cells and thrombosis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/lambris/ Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:45:00 GMT Some of the most promising startup teams in healthtech will pitch their companies to an audience of several hundred investors, industry leaders and potential customers at DreamIt Health Philadelphia Demo Day on Thursday, October 30 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/dreamit/ Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:45:00 GMT Robert Aronowitz, MD, a physician and historian at the University of Pennsylvania, has been elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine, one of the nation's highest honors in the field. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/iom/ Wed, 22 Oct 2014 13:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s Multiple Sclerosis Center has been designated a National MS Comprehensive Care Center by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a nod to its clinical expertise and patient-centered multidisciplinary approach to caring for patients from childhood through adulthood with multiple sclerosis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/berger/ Tue, 21 Oct 2014 19:30:00 GMT Blue light can both set the mood and set in motion important biological responses. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and School of Arts and Sciences have teased apart the separate biological responses of the human eye to blue light, revealing an unexpected contest for control. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/spitschan/ Mon, 20 Oct 2014 18:30:00 GMT The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded $12.2 million for a collaborative study by scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; Inovio Biosciences, Inc; and MedImmune Inc., the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, Inc. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/weiner/ Mon, 20 Oct 2014 18:30:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine and School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have used graphene -- a two-dimensional form of carbon only one atom thick -- to fabricate a new type of microelectrode that solves a major problem for investigators looking to understand the intricate circuitry of the brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/litt/ Mon, 20 Oct 2014 13:45:00 GMT At Penn Medicine, the safety and protection of all patients and staff is our top priority. To date, we have no patients suspected of or confirmed to have the Ebola virus in our facilities. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/ebola/ Fri, 17 Oct 2014 17:30:00 GMT Patients with more severe psoriasis are also more likely to have uncontrolled hypertension, according to new research by a team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Through a cross-sectional study using information collected from a medical records database, the results provide further evidence of a strong link between psoriasis and hypertension. Full results are now available in JAMA Dermatology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/takeshita/ Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:00:00 GMT Ninety percent of children and adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who had relapsed multiple times or failed to respond to standard therapies went into remission after receiving an investigational personalized cellular therapy, CTL019, developed at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results are published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/ctl019/ Wed, 15 Oct 2014 21:00:00 GMT A perspective piece in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine from a student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine addresses the evolution of diversity in medical education.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/attiah/ Wed, 15 Oct 2014 21:00:00 GMT All four hospitals in the University of Pennsylvania Health System, including the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and Chester County Hospital were listed today as a 2014 LGBT Healthcare Equality Leader from Human Rights Campaign (HRC). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/lgbt/ Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:30:00 GMT Theresa Larivee has been named the new Executive Director of Pennsylvania Hospital, effective November 1st.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/larivee/ Wed, 15 Oct 2014 13:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine will host a special event to honor the Harron Family for their generous $10 million gift to rename the Penn Lung Center the Paul F. Harron, Jr. Lung Center, in memory of the Chester County broadcast and cable television pioneer. Harron died of lung disease in 2005. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/harron2/ Tue, 14 Oct 2014 20:30:00 GMT Nursing home care quality does not impact the likelihood of patients being readmitted to the hospital or dying within 30 days of discharge from hospital to nursing home, according to a new analysis of Medicare data and nursing home performance measures by Penn Medicine researchers. Their findings are published this week in JAMA.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/neuman/ Tue, 14 Oct 2014 20:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Basser Research Center for BRCA has announced $6.9 million to research teams both at Penn and at five other institutions across the United States, aimed at advancing the care of patients living with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations through multi-disciplinary collaboration.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/brca/ Tue, 14 Oct 2014 17:45:00 GMT A new form of gene therapy for boys with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID-X1), a life-threatening condition also known as “bubble boy” disease, appears to be both effective and safe, according to an international clinical trial with sites in Boston, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, London, and Paris.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/bushman/ Tue, 14 Oct 2014 13:15:00 GMT A first-of-its-kind set of questions included in the Internal Medicine In-Training Examination (IM-ITE) illustrates the need to better evaluate resident proficiency in high-value care (HVC), according to a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/hvc/ Tue, 14 Oct 2014 13:15:00 GMT Roberto Bonasio, PhD, an assistant professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and a core member of the Penn Epigenetics Program is one of the recipients of a 2014 New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/nih/ Fri, 10 Oct 2014 16:00:00 GMT A 10 million dollar gift to the University of Pennsylvania to name the Paul F. Harron, Jr. Lung Center will pay tribute to the late broadcast and cable television pioneer and bolster Penn Medicine’s efforts in providing the most advanced diagnosis and treatment of chronic lung disorders, the University announced. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/harron/ Fri, 10 Oct 2014 13:15:00 GMT An automated early warning and response system for sepsis developed by Penn Medicine experts has resulted in a marked increase in sepsis identification and care, transfer to the ICU, and an indication of fewer deaths due to sepsis. A study assessing the tool is published online in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/sepsis/ Thu, 09 Oct 2014 20:15:00 GMT Online learning interventions and small group debriefings can improve medical residents’ attitudes and communication skills toward patients with substance use disorders, and may result in improved care for these patients, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University College of Medicine published online in Academic Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/suds/ Thu, 09 Oct 2014 13:15:00 GMT A pair of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a fast-acting "vaccine" that can reverse the course of myasthenia gravis in rats, and, they hope, in humans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/lindstrom/ Tue, 07 Oct 2014 14:15:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics’ 8th Annual International Symposium (ITMAT), Progress in Translational Science: Emerging Therapeutic Modalities, will be held on October 13-14. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/imtat/ Mon, 06 Oct 2014 15:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine will receive 3.5 million dollars over the next five years to establish a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) consortium to study new ways to treat diabetes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/niddk/ Mon, 06 Oct 2014 15:15:00 GMT Obesity is a risk factor for many health problems, but a new Penn Medicine study published this month in the journal Sleep suggests having a larger tongue with increased levels of fat may be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in obese adults. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/schwab/ Fri, 03 Oct 2014 17:30:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, under the departments of Radiation Oncology and Microbiology and the Botswana-UPenn Partnership, has received a 3.5 million dollar U54 grant over five years from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/10/botswana/ Wed, 01 Oct 2014 14:30:00 GMT Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) granted new patient appointments to Medicaid beneficiaries and uninsured patients at higher rates than other primary care practices (non-FQHCs), in addition to charging less for visits, according to results of a new 10-state University of Pennsylvania study published this month in Medical Care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/fqhc/ Tue, 30 Sept 2014 18:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine is now home to one of the first fully accredited Pulmonary Hypertension Care Centers (PHCCs) in the country, with its Pulmonary Hypertension/Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/phcc/ Tue, 30 Sept 2014 13:00:00 GMT In the second of two papers outlining new gene-therapy approaches to treat a rare disease called MPS I, researchers from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania examined systemic delivery of a vector to replace the enzyme IDUA, which is deficient in patients with this disorder. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/wilson2/ Mon, 29 Sept 2014 19:00:00 GMT A group of researchers and environmental advocacy groups will come together to discuss environmental health issues dealing with air and water quality, cumulative exposures, and fuel transportation safety during an environmental justice conference held at the University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/ceet/ Mon, 29 Sept 2014 14:00:00 GMT Maintaining the ends of chromosomes, called telomeres, is a requisite feature of cells that are able to continuously divide and also a hallmark of human cancer. "Telomeres are much like the plastic cap on the ends of shoelaces -- they keep the ends of DNA from fraying," says Roger Greenberg, MD, PhD. In a new study published this week in Cell, he and his colleagues describe a mechanism for how cancer cells take over one of the processes for telomere maintenance to gain an infinite lifespan. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/greenberg/ Thu, 25 Sept 2014 16:30:00 GMT “Knowledge is power” is an old saying. Another cliché warns, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” When it comes to getting inoculated against the Human Papilloavirus (HPV), it seems that neither saying is true. In fact, according to a study by a multidisciplinary University of Pennsylvania research team, knowledge may in fact be a meaningless thing. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/fishman/ Wed, 24 Sept 2014 20:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers are now able to identify cancerous tumors of the lung using infrared imaging that makes hidden tumors glow during surgery. In a pilot study, researchers performed the first in-human demonstration of this technology to identify lung tumors during surgery without prior knowledge of their location or existence. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/singhal/ Wed, 24 Sept 2014 14:30:00 GMT Youhai Chen, PhD, MD, and Svetlana Fayngerts, PhD, both researchers in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues report that TIPE3, a newly described oncogenic protein, promotes cancer by targeting lipid metabolism pathways. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/chen/ Fri, 19 Sept 2014 20:00:00 GMT Researchers in the Pennsylvania Muscle Institute (PMI), based at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have received $9 million over the next five years from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to investigate the biology of cellular motors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/pmi/ Wed, 17 Sept 2014 20:00:00 GMT Melanoma physicians and researchers from Penn Medicine and The Wister Institute have been awarded a prestigious 12.1 million dollar SPORE grant from the National Cancer Institute. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/spore/ Wed, 17 Sept 2014 15:30:00 GMT Nearly 300 runners and walkers will gather to raise funds for research on Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other aging-related disorders at the Penn IOA. The IOA aims to make a difference that yields new knowledge, finds cures, and changes the lives of the millions of people with AD and other neurodegenerative disorders.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/ioa/ Wed, 17 Sept 2014 14:15:00 GMT Andre A. Konski, MD, MBA, MA FACR, medical director of the department of Radiation Oncology at Chester County Hospital and professor of Clinical Radiation Oncology in the department of Radiation Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named among the 30 Fellows of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (FASTRO). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/konski/ Mon, 15 Sept 2014 14:45:00 GMT Penn Medicine radiation oncologists will present over 20 abstracts at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO) 56th Annual Meeting at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, September 14 to September 17. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/astro/ Mon, 15 Sept 2014 14:45:00 GMT Amid recent discussion about the Ebola crisis in West Africa, Penn Medicine physicians say that high-income countries like the United States have an obligation to help those affected by the outbreak and to advance research to fight the deadly disease — including in the context of randomized clinical trials of new drugs to combat the virus. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/ebola/ Thu, 11 Sept 2014 20:45:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania today reached an important milestone in its alliance with Novartis as it unveiled plans for the construction of a first-of-its-kind Center for Advanced Cellular Therapeutics (CACT) on the Penn Medicine campus in Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/cact/ Thu, 11 Sept 2014 20:30:00 GMT Using a zebrafish model of a human genetic disease called neurofibromatosis (NF1), a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that the learning and memory components of the disorder are distinct features that will likely need different treatment approaches. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/epstein/ Thu, 11 Sept 2014 19:45:00 GMT One in six cancer patients enroll in hospice only during their last three days of life, according to a new study from a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/casarett/ Thu, 11 Sept 2014 14:45:00 GMT The dedication of Penn Medicine University City on September 12 will mark the grand opening of Penn Medicine’s newest outpatient facility, which showcases a new model for patient experience and engagement. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/pmuc_release/ Wed, 10 Sept 2014 13:45:00 GMT A grand opening celebration for Penn Medicine University City on Friday will shine a spotlight on the latest advances in patient experience and engagement in the new West Philadelphia outpatient building, which is home to more than a dozen clinical specialties. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/pmuc_itc/ Wed, 10 Sept 2014 13:45:00 GMT The dedication of Penn Medicine University City marks the grand opening of Penn Medicine’s newest outpatient facility that’s taking health care delivery to new levels by focusing on the patient experience and encouraging patients to be actively engaged in their treatment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/pmuc/ Wed, 10 Sept 2014 13:45:00 GMT Hoping to encourage sufficient investments by pharmaceutical companies in expensive gene therapies, which often consist of a single treatment, a Penn researcher and the chief medical officer of CVS Health outline an alternative payment model in this month’s issue of Nature Biotechnology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/wilson/ Tue, 09 Sept 2014 21:00:00 GMT A team led by Lin Zhang, PhD, research associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has mined junk DNA sequences to identify a non-protein-coding RNA whose expression is linked to ovarian cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/zhang/ Mon, 08 Sept 2014 21:00:00 GMT New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows a clear relationship between hospitals that treat the most cases of severe sepsis and lower rates of inpatient deaths among those patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/09/gaieski/ Wed, 03 Sept 2014 18:00:00 GMT Nicholas Kenji Taylor, a fourth year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named a 2014 Pisacano Scholar by the Pisacano Leadership Foundation, Inc., of the American Board of Family Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/taylor/ Wed, 27 Aug 2014 19:30:00 GMT A Penn Medicine-developed drug has received orphan status in Europe this week for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare, life-threatening disease that causes anemia due to destruction of red blood cells and thrombosis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/lambris/ Tue, 26 Aug 2014 19:45:00 GMT Using an animal model, a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has proven the efficacy of a more elegant way to restore IDUA levels in the body through direct gene transfer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/wilson/ Tue, 26 Aug 2014 16:30:00 GMT A new multi-institutional study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine and led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, examined the rate of deaths caused by opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2010. Results reveal that on average, the 13 states allowing the use of medical marijuana had a 24.8 percent lower annual opioid overdose mortality rate after the laws were enacted than states without the laws. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/bachhuber/ Tue, 26 Aug 2014 13:00:00 GMT A Penn Medicine team has found that targeted automated alerts in electronic health records significantly reduce urinary tract infections in hospital patients with urinary catheters. In addition, when the design of the alert was simplified, the rate of improvement dramatically increased. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/uti/ Fri, 22 Aug 2014 13:45:00 GMT Kate FitzPatrick, DNP, RN, ACNP-BC, NEA-BC, clinical director for the Women’s Health/Neonatal Nursing and Neuroscience Nursing divisions and interim director for the department of Advanced Practice at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), has been selected as a 2014-2017 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Executive Nurse Fellow (ENF). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/fitzpatrick/ Thu, 21 Aug 2014 20:15:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has launched the Penn Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics (CAROT) to build on its previous success developing novel therapies for the personalized diagnosis and treatment of retinal and ocular disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/bennett/ Thu, 21 Aug 2014 15:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers caution that the rapid adoption of one or two studies as the basis for clinical practice, even if they are randomized controlled trials, can lead to misinformation and potential harm. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/neuman/ Tue, 19 Aug 2014 13:00:00 GMT New Penn Medicine research shows that neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety and fatigue are more common in newly diagnosed Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients compared to the general population. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/weintraub/ Fri, 15 Aug 2014 21:00:00 GMT Researchers from Penn Medicine have developed a safe and effective technique for inducing sleep in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/atkins/ Tue, 12 Aug 2014 19:15:00 GMT Twenty years after the first identification of the BRCA1 gene, the University of Pennsylvania’s Basser Research Center for BRCA will honor the geneticist credited with its founding with the second annual Basser Global Prize. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/king/ Mon, 11 Aug 2014 18:45:00 GMT Groundwater and air quality testing before, during, and after natural gas drilling – which includes hydraulic fracturing -- should be key components of efforts to ensure the safety of communities near these sites, according to an expert panel convened to weigh in on public health research needs associated with unconventional natural gas drilling operations (UNGDO). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/penning/ Mon, 11 Aug 2014 14:30:00 GMT As efforts to explore outer space move toward missions of unprecedented length -- perhaps up to 500 days, to voyage to Mars -- Penn Medicine researchers are calling for new research to ensure that astronauts receive enough sleep to maintain performance and prevent fatal errors and accidents in space. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/dinges/ Mon, 11 Aug 2014 13:45:00 GMT Erika Holzbaur, PhD, a professor of Physiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health. She was selected by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and will receive over $1.5 million over the next four years, with another $1.2 million pending satisfactory progress, to study molecular motors and their role in axonal transport and neurodegeneration. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/ninds/ Mon, 04 Aug 2014 19:30:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will receive 7.3 million dollars over the next five years from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to find new ways to treat esophageal cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/rustgi/ Fri, 01 Aug 2014 19:30:00 GMT Edward B. Lee, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a three-year Clinical Scientist Development Award (CSDA) from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to support his research in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/08/lee/ Fri, 01 Aug 2014 18:30:00 GMT Writing that “our nation’s lack of research in medical education contrasts starkly with the large and essential commitment to biomedical research funded by industry, philanthropic organizations, and the public,” David A. Asch, MD, professor at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and executive director of Penn Medicine’s Center for Health Care Innovation, offers recommendations for the future of medical education. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/asch/ Wed, 30 July 2014 14:00:00 GMT A team of investigators from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Parkinson's Disease Research, Education and Clinical Center (PADRECC) at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center conducted a pilot study and found that the opioid antagonist naltrexone may be an effective treatment for diminishing impulse control disorder symptoms in Parkinson's disease patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/weintraub/ Wed, 30 July 2014 14:00:00 GMT Use of electroacupuncture (EA) – a form of acupuncture where a small electric current is passed between pairs of acupuncture needles – produces significant improvements in fatigue, anxiety and depression in as little as eight weeks for early stage breast cancer patients experiencing joint pain related to the use of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) to treat breast cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/mao/ Wed, 30 July 2014 14:00:00 GMT A team of researchers from Penn and the Mayo Clinic has challenged the best minds in science and “machine learning” to improve devices to treat epilepsy with two competitions to detect and predict seizure onset. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/kaggle/ Mon, 28 July 2014 17:00:00 GMT The recent Hobby Lobby U.S. Supreme Court decision is “a setback for both the ACA’s [Affordable Care Act] foundational goal of access to universal health care and for women’s health care,” say two University of Pennsylvania professors writing in the new issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/ruger/ Mon, 28 July 2014 15:30:00 GMT Adding to the growing fundamental understanding of the machinery of muscle cells, a group of biophysicists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania describe in the journal Science this week – in minute detail -- how actin filaments are stabilized at one of their ends to form a basic muscle structure called the sarcomere. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/dominguez/ Thu, 24 July 2014 18:00:00 GMT New research from Penn Medicine shows that incisionless transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) surgery cuts length of hospital stay by 30 percent and has no impact on post-operative vascular complication rates when compared with conventional transfemoral TAVR, which requires an incision in the groin. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/giri/ Thu, 24 July 2014 17:00:00 GMT Students graduating from U.S. medical schools in 2012 feel they’ve received a better education in health policy issues than graduates surveyed in 2008, according to a multi-center study led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/patel/ Wed, 23 July 2014 20:45:00 GMT In an analysis of small molecules called metabolites used by the body to make fuel in normal and cancerous cells in human kidney tissue, a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania identified an enzyme key to applying the brakes on tumor growth. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/simon/ Mon, 21 July 2014 13:15:00 GMT Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD, and John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, co-directors of the Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Drug Discovery Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are co-recipients of the 2014 J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/lee/ Thu, 17 July 2014 17:15:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that patients taking prescription potassium supplements together with loop diuretics for heart failure have better survival rates than patients taking diuretics without the potassium. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/hennessy/ Wed, 16 July 2014 18:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers found that living donor transplant outcomes are superior to those found with deceased donors with appropriate donor selection and when surgeries are performed at an experienced center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/goldberg/ Wed, 16 July 2014 18:00:00 GMT Kenneth S. Zaret, PhD, a nationally recognized leader in the fields of developmental and stem cell biology, has been named the new director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/zaret/ Tue, 15 July 2014 18:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine hospitals have been ranked among the top ten hospitals in the nation, and once again named number 1 in the Philadelphia area by U.S. News and World Report. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/rankings/ Tue, 15 July 2014 17:45:00 GMT A multidisciplinary research team led by David Eckmann, MD, PhD, Horatio C. Wood Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and professor of Bioengineering in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science, has found that when delivered by a microscopic transporter called a nanocarrier, steroids can access the hard-to-reach lung endothelial cells that need it most and are successful at preventing inflammation in mice. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/eckmann/ Mon, 14 July 2014 18:00:00 GMT Kristy Weber, MD, chief of Orthopaedic Oncology in the department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and director of the Sarcoma Program in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, is now serving as the President of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/weber/ Thu, 10 July 2014 20:00:00 GMT Reducing the amount of alcoholic beverages consumed, even for light-to-moderate drinkers, may improve cardiovascular health, including a reduced risk of coronary heart disease, lower body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure, according to a new multi-center study published in The BMJ and co-led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/holmes/ Thu, 10 July 2014 19:15:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with the Roswell Park Cancer Institute have received an 8 million dollar grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the effects of photodynamic light therapy (PDT) in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a rare, aggressive and deadly cancer that most often manifests itself in the lining of the lungs and is caused almost exclusively by exposure to asbestos. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/meso/ Thu, 10 July 2014 13:15:00 GMT Previous studies linking older age with kidney and heart disease have raised concerns about the safety of living kidney donation among older adults. However, in the first study to look closely at this issue, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report that older kidney donors (55 years and above) enjoy similar life expectancy and cardiovascular health as very healthy older people who did not donate their kidneys. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/reese/ Wed, 09 July 2014 14:00:00 GMT A University of Pennsylvania-developed personalized immunotherapy has been awarded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Breakthrough Therapy designation for the treatment of relapsed and refractory adult and pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The investigational therapy, known as CTL019, is the first personalized cellular therapy for the treatment of cancer to receive this important classification. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/ctl019/ Mon, 07 July 2014 16:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are part of a five-university collaboration receiving a 12.6 million dollar, four-year grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to identify rare genetic variants that may either protect against, or contribute to Alzheimer’s disease risk. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/casa/ Mon, 07 July 2014 14:00:00 GMT A new meta-analysis published online in PLOS ONE by infectious disease and epidemiology specialists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania highlights significant gaps in hepatitis C care that will prove useful as the U.S. health care system continues to see an influx of patients with the disease because of improved screening efforts and new, promising drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/lo_re/ Wed, 02 July 2014 18:00:00 GMT Using computer-automated, time-lapse photography of embryos in the laboratory during in-vitro fertilization may improve embryo selection, potentially increasing the chances of pregnancy among women undergoing the procedure, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and five other fertility centers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/eeva/ Wed, 02 July 2014 17:45:00 GMT Six Penn nurses have been selected as fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/07/cunningham/ Wed, 02 July 2014 13:30:00 GMT HIV-infected people diagnosed with cancer are two to four times more likely to go untreated for their cancer compared to uninfected cancer patients, according to a new, large retrospective study from researchers at Penn Medicine and the National Cancer Institute. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/suneja/ Mon, 30 June 2014 20:00:00 GMT John Wherry, PhD, an associate professor of Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) are co-directing a 12 million dollar grant to study immune responses in people who have been effectively cured of hepatitis C viral infection with new, high-potency antiviral drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/wherry/ Mon, 30 June 2014 17:45:00 GMT According to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, physician graduates from the MBA program in heath care management at Penn's Wharton School report that their dual training had a positive effect on their individual careers and professional lives. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/asch/ Thu, 26 June 2014 14:45:00 GMT Experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University suggest that the reporting of hospital readmission rates should be based exclusively on preventable or potentially preventable readmissions, in a review published online in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/ceqi/ Wed, 25 June 2014 20:00:00 GMT Reporting in the June 25 issue of JAMA, researchers from Penn Medicine and other institutions found that 3D mammography—known as digital breast tomosynthesis— found significantly more invasive, or potentially lethal, cancers than a traditional mammogram alone and reduced call-backs for additional imaging. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/conant/ Tue, 24 June 2014 20:00:00 GMT Patients who received regional anesthesia during hip fracture surgery had moderately lower mortality and a significantly lower length of stay than those who received general anesthesia, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/neuman/ Tue, 24 June 2014 20:00:00 GMT A team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that a susceptibility gene for type 1 diabetes regulates self-destruction of the cell’s energy factory. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/stoffers/ Thu, 19 June 2014 16:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania recently found a shared genetic link in the autoimmune response among pemphius vulgaris (PV) patients that provides important new clues about how autoantibodies in PV originate. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/payne/ Thu, 19 June 2014 13:30:00 GMT Research led by Ed Morrisey, PhD, professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and scientific director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine, has identified hundreds of lncRNAs, sometimes called the "genomic dark matter," that are expressed in developing and adult lungs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/morrisey/ Thu, 19 June 2014 13:30:00 GMT Bringing clarity to a decades-long debate, a national team of researchers led by experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that adding clot-busting medications known as thrombolytics to conventional approaches when treating sudden-onset pulmonary embolism patients is associated with 47 percent fewer deaths than using standard intravenous or under-the-skin anticoagulant medications alone. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/giri/ Tue, 17 June 2014 20:00:00 GMT A team of researchers led by Penn Medicine anesthesiologists have pinpointed the “top five” most common perioperative procedures that are supported by the least amount of clinical evidence, in an effort to direct providers to make more cost-effective treatment decisions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/onuoha/ Mon, 16 June 2014 20:00:00 GMT Using powerful, newly developed cell culture and mouse models of sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD), a team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has demonstrated that immunotherapy with specifically targeted antibodies may block the development and spread of PD pathology in the brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/lee/ Thu, 12 June 2014 16:00:00 GMT New research from a multidisciplinary team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania now reveals that the single most important factor for improving cardiovascular health in obese obstructive sleep apnea patients is weight loss. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/chirinos/ Thu, 12 June 2014 16:00:00 GMT Though Twitter boasts 645 million users across the world, only 14 percent of health policy researchers reported using Twitter – and approximately 20 percent used blogs and Facebook – to communicate their research findings over the past year, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/grande/ Tue, 10 June 2014 18:00:00 GMT Anna Moran, MD, clinical assistant professor of Anatomic Pathology, Cytopathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named one of the American Society for Clinical Pathology’s (ASCP) “40 Under 40” for her achievements in the medical laboratory field. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/moran/ Tue, 10 June 2014 18:00:00 GMT Costs for a lifetime of support for each individual with autism spectrum disorder may reach 2.4 million dollars, according to a new study from researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/mandell/ Mon, 09 June 2014 20:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers will be among the featured presenters at the 18th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders in Stockholm, Sweden, from Sunday, June 8 to Thursday, June 12, 2014. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/mds/ Mon, 09 June 2014 18:30:00 GMT Researchers at the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET), Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have been awarded a $10 million grant from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) over the next four years to study asbestos exposure pathways that lead to mesothelioma, the bioremediation of this hazardous material, and mechanisms that lead to asbestos-related diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/ceet/ Mon, 09 June 2014 17:30:00 GMT A five-year, $ 4,350,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has established a Prevention Research Center (PRC) at the University of Pennsylvania. The PRC, one of 26 in the nation, will conduct innovative public health and disease management research aimed at preventing chronic disease and reducing health disparities in Southeastern Pennsylvania. This will be the first PRC in Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/PRC/ Fri, 06 June 2014 17:30:00 GMT Advances in the understanding of the genetics of coronary artery disease, or CAD, will revitalize the field and lead to more therapeutic targets for new medicines to combat this common disease, suggests a genetics expert from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in a Perspective article in the new issue of Science Translational Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/rader/ Wed, 04 June 2014 17:30:00 GMT Teenage girls with a familial or genetic risk for breast cancer worry more about getting the disease, even when their mother has no history, compared to girls their age with no known high risks, according to new data presented today by researchers from Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/bradbury/ Mon, 02 June 2014 17:30:00 GMT A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that marijuana use may be associated with impaired sleep quality, especially in people who have been using the drug since their teenage years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/grandner/ Mon, 02 June 2014 13:45:00 GMT A new study by researchers at Penn Medicine is the first to reveal that suicides are far more likely to occur between midnight and 4 a.m. than during the daytime or evening. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/06/perlis/ Mon, 02 June 2014 13:45:00 GMT Penn researchers have identified a protein recycling pathway in mammalian cells that removes misfolded proteins. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/yang/ Thu, 29 May 2014 16:45:00 GMT The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania a five-year, 10 million dollar renewal of a program project to study the oldest part of the human immune system called the complement system, or simply 'complement.' http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/lambris/ Thu, 29 May 2014 16:00:00 GMT The majority of women with cancer causing BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations experience sexual dysfunction, menopausal symptoms, cognitive and stress issues, and poor sleep following prophylactic removal of their Fallopian tubes and ovaries - a procedure known as risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) - according to results of a new study from the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/rrso/ Thu, 29 May 2014 13:45:00 GMT Experts from Penn Medicine will be presenting new findings at SLEEP 2014, the 28th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC (APSS), Saturday, May 31 – Wednesday, June 4, 2014, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/sleep/ Wed, 28 May 2014 15:45:00 GMT Clinical practice guideline recommendations related to screening and treatment can change markedly over time as new evidence about best practices and clinical outcomes of various treatments emerges. In a first-of-its-kind study, Penn Medicine researchers examined high-level recommendations published by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) between 1998 and 2007 and found that recommendations which were supported by multiple randomized controlled trials were the most 'durable' and least likely to change over time. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/neuman/ Tue, 27 May 2014 20:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers have discovered that cerebral blood flow (CBF) levels decreased similarly in males and females before puberty, but saw them diverge sharply in puberty, with levels increasing in females while decreasing further in males, which could give hints as to developing differences in behavior in men and women and sex-specific pre-dispositions to certain psychiatric disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/cbf/ Mon, 26 May 2014 20:00:00 GMT In the largest group of results to date, researchers from Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center and other institutions have shown in clinical trials that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) blocked autophagy in a host of aggressive cancers—glioblastoma, melanoma, lymphoma and myeloma, renal and colon cancers—and in some cases helped stabilize disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/hcq/ Thu, 22 May 2014 20:00:00 GMT The Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation will fund three new initiatives in the second round of its Innovation Grant Program. The program encourages Penn employees and students to submit their ideas for advancing health and health care delivery. Winners receive funding and support from the Center for Health Care Innovation to facilitate the rapid translation of ideas into action and measurable outcomes over six months. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/innovation/ Wed, 21 May 2014 20:00:00 GMT Home testing for obstructive sleep apnea reduces costs and preserves good clinical outcomes compared to traditional testing in a sleep lab, according to a new study from researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh. The new study was presented yesterday at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Diego. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/kuna/ Tue, 20 May 2014 20:00:00 GMT Sepsis comes with serious consequences. The blood infection, most commonly caused by bacteria, can lead to septic shock, organ failure, loss of limbs, and even death. Patients whose immune systems are already compromised are at even greater risk. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/meyer/ Mon, 19 May 2014 20:00:00 GMT This year, the graduating class of the Perelman School of Medicine has again distinguished itself from many of its peers around the country—with more than half of the 171 students obtaining dual degrees or certificates in addition to their MDs. About eight percent of graduates in the U.S. pursue these types of combined training programs, but for Perelman’s Class of 2014, that number jumps to 54 percent. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/grad/ Fri, 15 May 2014 20:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are on standby to comment on everything from sepsis to COPD and more at the 2014 American Thoracic Society International Conference, May 16-21 in San Diego. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/ats/ Thu, 15 May 2014 20:00:00 GMT A team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that chronic bystander viral or parasitic infections – which are models for human infections like hepatitis, malaria, and parasitic worms – impaired the development of memory T cells in mouse models of long-term infection. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/wherry/ Thu, 15 May 2014 16:15:00 GMT While large genetic testing panels promise to uncover clues about patients’ DNA, a team of researchers from Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) has found that those powerful tests tend to produce more questions than they answer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/maxwell/ Wed, 14 May 2014 21:00:00 GMT Despite claims suggesting otherwise, inappropriate cancer patient demands are few and very rarely lead to unnecessary tests and treatments from their health care providers, according to new results from a study that will be presented by researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania during the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago in early June. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/gogineni/ Wed, 14 May 2014 21:00:00 GMT A University of Pennsylvania researcher has discovered that the common selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) citalopram arrested the growth of amyloid beta, a peptide in the brain that clusters in plaques that are thought to trigger the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/shelin/ Wed, 14 May 2014 19:00:00 GMT Breastfeeding, tubal ligation – also known as having one’s “tubes tied” – and oral contraceptives may lower the risk of ovarian cancer for some women with BRCA gene mutations, according to a comprehensive analysis from a team at the University of Pennsylvania's Basser Research Center for BRCA and the Abramson Cancer Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/rebbeck/ Wed, 14 May 2014 14:45:00 GMT Stimulation of a certain population of neurons within the brain can alter the learning process, according to a team of neuroscientists and neurosurgeons at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/kahana/ Tue, 13 May 2014 21:00:00 GMT A Penn Medicine team has found that suppressing the hyperactivity of calcium channels alleviated FAD-like symptoms in mice models of the disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/foskett/ Tue, 13 May 2014 21:00:00 GMT Experts from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania will be presenting data on the latest advances in cancer research and treatment at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 2014 Annual Meeting from May 30 through June 4 in Chicago.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/asco/ Tue, 13 May 2014 16:30:00 GMT In continuing research reporting groundbreaking results in the treatment of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Penn Medicine and an international team of researchers showed a new combination drug therapy is effective in curing the disease in up to 99.5 percent of patients using a drug cocktail that includes three new directly acting anti-viral drugs, ritonavir boosted protease inhibitor ( 450/r)/ombitasvir and dasabuvir with and without ribavirin, a drug currently used in HCV treatment.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/reddy/ Fri, 09 May 2014 15:00:00 GMT Ancient philosophers looked to alchemy for clues to life everlasting. Today, researchers look to their yeast. These single-celled microbes have long served as model systems for the puzzle that is the aging process, and in this week’s issue of Cell Metabolism, they fill in yet another piece.   http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/berger/ Thu, 08 May 2014 16:45:00 GMT Experts from the Penn Medicine Cardiovascular Institute and the Cardiac Arrhythmia Program will present new research and participate in expert panel discussions at the 35th Annual Scientific Sessions of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) May 7-10, 2014 in San Francisco.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/cardio/ Wed, 07 May 2014 14:00:00 GMT A group of health care and policy experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is urging health care institutions to look more to their own in-house personnel, including physicians and nurses, as a source of new ideas for improving how care is delivered. The practice – referred to as insourcing – relies on an organization’s existing staff to drive needed transformations. The team also suggests a four-stage design process which, when adopted internally, may help organizations implement more efficient health care delivery solutions.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/asch/ Wed, 07 May 2014 13:00:00 GMT A new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows preliminary evidence that the psychostimulant drug lisdexamfetamine (LDX) can aid post-menopausal women by improving attention and concentration, organization, working memory and recall. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/epperson/ Sat, 03 May 2014 13:00:00 GMT People suffering from vision loss are twice as likely to suffer from depression as the general population. An educational workshop at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in New York City this week will shed light on this important, growing topic. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/ascher/ Sat, 03 May 2014 13:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are on standby to comment on everything from ADD and autism to addiction at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting from May 3rd to 6th in New York. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/apa/ Fri, 02 May 2014 21:00:00 GMT Consumption of alcohol has long been associated with an increased risk of advanced liver fibrosis, but a new study published in the May issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases from researchers at Penn Medicine and other institutions shows that association is drastically heightened in people co-infected with both HIV and chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/05/lo_re/ Fri, 02 May 2014 18:15:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Orphan Disease Research and Therapy will host a symposium on Friday, May 2 detailing developing therapeutics for rare/orphan diseases, as well as a poster session showcasing rare disease research at the Perelman School of Medicine and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/orphan/ Mon, 28 April 2014 19:30:00 GMT Two studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reveal new information about the effects of weight gain and obesity among pregnant women. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/ali/ Mon, 28 April 2014 14:00:00 GMT The first annual Million Dollar Bike Ride will be held on Saturday, May 3, 2014, to support research and raise awareness about rare diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/mdbr/ Mon, 28 April 2014 13:30:00 GMT Stroke researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will unveil a map demonstrating geographic hotspots of increased stroke mortality across the United States, among a series of stroke studies being presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/stroke/ Mon, 28 April 2014 13:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine experts will be speaking and presenting on the latest advances in obstetrics and gynecology at the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2014 Annual Clinical Meeting from April 26th through April 30th in Chicago. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/acog/ Fri, 25 April 2014 21:00:00 GMT A trio of studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate new approaches to understanding, treating and potentially staving off Parkinson's disease (PD). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/stern/ Fri, 25 April 2014 18:45:00 GMT Two neurologists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have received high honors from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/chen-plotkin/ Fri, 25 April 2014 18:45:00 GMT More than 90 Penn Medicine neurologists and researchers will present over 120 studies and abstracts at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/aan/ Fri, 25 April 2014 18:30:00 GMT A group of researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is employing a novel DNA vaccine to kill cancer, not by attacking tumor cells, but targeting the blood vessels that keep them alive. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/facciabene/ Fri, 25 April 2014 18:30:00 GMT The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Foundation (SCAI) has presented Penn Medicine’s Mitul Kadakia, MD, with the 2014 Gregory Braden Memorial Fellow of the Year Award in recognition of his outstanding performance as an interventional cardiology fellow-in-training. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/kadakia/ Fri, 25 April 2014 14:00:00 GMT Amita Sehgal, PhD, a professor of Neuroscience at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, describes in Cell a circuit in the brain of fruit flies that controls their daily, rhythmic behavior of rest and activity. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/sehgal3/ Thu, 24 April 2014 16:00:00 GMT The kidney and liver cancer drug sorafenib holds metastatic thyroid cancer at bay for nearly twice as long as a placebo, according to a new study from researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania published in the journal Lancet. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/brose/ Thu, 24 April 2014 15:30:00 GMT The sedative drugs diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam (Ativan) are equally effective in treating the prolonged seizures known as status epilepticus in children, according to a randomized, controlled study by a multi-institution team of researchers with the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network, including an expert from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/baren/ Wed, 23 April 2014 20:30:00 GMT Three researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been elected as new members to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/aaas/ Wed, 23 April 2014 20:30:00 GMT Over the last few decades researchers have characterized a set of clock genes that drive daily rhythms of physiology and behavior in all types of species, from flies to humans. Over 15 mammalian clock proteins have been identified, but researchers surmise there are more. A team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania wondered if big-data approaches could find them. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/hogenesch2/ Tue, 22 April 2014 17:00:00 GMT New research led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania investigated the common anesthetic sevoflurane and found that it binds at multiple key cell membrane protein locations that may contribute to the induction of the anesthetic response. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/eckenhoff/ Tue, 22 April 2014 16:30:00 GMT When we get sick it feels natural to try to hasten our recovery by getting some extra shuteye. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that this response has a definite purpose, in fruitflies: enhancing immune system response and recovery to infection. Their findings appear online in two related papers in the journal SLEEP, in advance of print editions in May and June. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/williams/ Tue, 22 April 2014 14:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers have proposed "reference pricing"—a relatively new model that establishes a standard price for different therapies with similar outcomes. It would expand the patient base because of increased, cheaper coverage and thus research to establish whether its novel advantages translate into clinical benefits. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/bekelman/ Mon, 21 April 2014 20:00:00 GMT Building on previous work that showed that deleting an enzyme in the COX-2 pathway in a mouse model of heart disease slowed the development of atherosclerosis, a Penn Medicine team has now extended this observation by clarifying that the consequence of deleting the enzyme mPEGS-1 differs, depending on the cell type in which it is taken away. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/fitzgerald/ Mon, 21 April 2014 19:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine is part of nationwide team of researchers whose recent findings shows promise in curing between 94 and 99 percent of cases of previously untreated and those who failed prior HCV treatment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/reddy/ Fri, 18 April 2014 14:30:00 GMT According to a new study published in Science this week from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, lack of sleep in young fruit flies profoundly diminishes their ability to do one thing they do really, really well – make more flies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/sehgal2/ Thu, 17 April 2014 18:00:00 GMT Daniel J. Rader, MD, a widely recognized international leader in the human genetics of lipoprotein biology and cardiovascular disease, has been named the new chair of the Department of Genetics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/rader/ Wed, 16 April 2014 18:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine Valley Forge is now equipped with the most advanced, non-invasive imaging technique—a PET/CT scanner—available to patients today. The technology at Valley Forge will mainly be used in the oncology setting, helping to stage disease and guide radiation treatment plans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/valley/ Tue, 15 April 2014 18:00:00 GMT Playing an active role in their radiation treatment decisions leaves cancer patients feeling more satisfied with their care, and may even relieve psychological distress around the experience, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in the journal Cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/vapiwala/ Tue, 15 April 2014 17:00:00 GMT Researchers at Penn Medicine have discovered that the tumor suppressor gene folliculin (FLCN) is essential to normal lung function in patients with the rare disease Birt-Hogg-Dube (BHD) syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs, skin and kidneys. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/krymskaya/ Thu, 10 April 2014 17:00:00 GMT Two researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Penn Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) are among the 2014 recipients of the prestigious Clinical Research Achievement Award for their work in cardiovascular science. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/crf/ Thu, 10 April 2014 13:00:00 GMT Two Penn Medicine research teams have received a total of 1,450,000 dollars in funding commitments from CurePSP, the Foundation for PSP / CBD and Related Brain Diseases, to study rare neurodegenerative disorders that cause motor, balance and cognitive impairment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/curepsp/ Tue, 08 April 2014 13:45:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine will host a symposium on Friday, April 11, 2014 to detail the progress researchers are making toward reprogramming human cells to treat a variety of diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/gearhart/ Tue, 08 April 2014 13:45:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Memphis describe in PLOS Genetics the development of new cell models that track and report clock gene function. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/hogenesch/ Tue, 08 April 2014 13:45:00 GMT Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, the Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will be a co-leader on the recently announced Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C)-Lustgarten Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Convergence Dream Team. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/vonderheide/ Mon, 07 April 2014 21:30:00 GMT How will we, as individuals, and a society, live with brains at risk for Alzheimer's disease dementia? As part of Health Affairs’ April issue, a theme issue focusing on Alzheimer’s, a neurodegenerative disease ethicist and clinician with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania offers keen observations to help navigate ethically-charged points on the course of the disease progression. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/karlawish/ Mon, 07 April 2014 16:30:00 GMT A multi-institutional team led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that despite widespread rumors of limited access to primary care services, providers across the country were capable of accepting new patients prior to the start of the Affordable Care Act coverage expansions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/rhodes/ Mon, 07 April 2014 16:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine experts will be speaking and presenting data on the latest advances in cancer research and treatment at the American Association for Cancer Research's 2014 Annual Meeting from April 5th through April 9th in San Diego. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/aacr/ Thu, 03 April 2014 13:30:00 GMT A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have developed a material that can be applied directly to damaged heart tissue and minimize the long-term damage that can lead to congestive heart failure. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/gorman/ Wed, 02 April 2014 13:15:00 GMT Researchers at Penn Medicine's Center for Studies of Addiction have now found that the drug baclofen, commonly used to prevent spasms in patients with spinal cord injuries and neurological disorders, can help block the impact of the brain's response to "unconscious" drug triggers well before conscious craving occurs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/childress/ Tue, 01 April 2014 21:00:00 GMT A new study in a mutant fruitfly called sleepless (sss) confirmed that the enzyme GABA transaminase, which is the target of some epilepsy drugs, contributes to sleep loss. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/04/sehgal/ Tue, 01 April 2014 15:45:00 GMT Jennifer Prah Ruger, PhD, MSc, MA, MSL, has been elected to membership on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/cfr/ Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:45:00 GMT The Penn Medicine Program for LGBT Health, established in 2013 and a key initiative of the Office of Inclusion and Diversity, aims to support the health and well being of LGBT populations by becoming a local and national leader in LGBT patient care, education, research, and advocacy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/lgbt/ Mon, 31 Mar 2014 16:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine experts presented research findings that could come to define new standards of cardiovascular care, including findings on the efficacy of novel interventions for treatment resistant hypertension and atherosclerosis, at the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Session, ACC.14. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/interventions/ Mon, 31 Mar 2014 13:15:00 GMT Penn experts will present research findings that could come to define new standards of cardiovascular diagnostics and care at the 2014 American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Sessions, ACC.14. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/acc/ Fri, 28 Mar 2014 14:30:00 GMT Veterans with liver disease who live more than 100 miles from a Veterans Administration hospital that offers liver transplants are only half as likely to be placed on the liver transplant waitlist to receive a new organ compared to veterans who live closer to transplant centers, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/goldberg/ Tue, 25 Mar 2014 20:15:00 GMT Maria Neimark Geffen, PhD, has received a $750,000 grant over a three-year period from the Human Frontier Science Program to fund research into the developmental mechanisms in the human brain responsible for speech and communication. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/geffen/ Tue, 25 Mar 2014 18:00:00 GMT A Professionalism Committee-based approach has proven to be a successful and effective way to define and manage unprofessional behavior among physicians, according to a study from the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) as detailed in the April 2014 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/fleisher/ Tue, 25 Mar 2014 16:00:00 GMT A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has shown that for patients with lower creatinine concentration levels – a sign of reduced muscle mass and weakness – initiation of dialysis could actually be detrimental. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/wilson/ Thu, 20 Mar 2014 21:00:00 GMT Using a University of Pennsylvania-designed device to noninvasively and continuously monitor cerebral blood flow (CBF) in acute stroke patients, researchers from Penn Medicine and the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Penn Arts and Sciences are now learning how head of bed (HOB) positioning affects blood flow reaching the brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/detre/ Thu, 20 Mar 2014 20:00:00 GMT It's a dramatic event, filled with anticipation, excitement and cheers. Match Day is here. On Friday, March 21 at 12:00 pm, 161 medical students (82 men and 79 women) from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will come together and read the envelopes that will tell them where they are headed for their residency training for the next three or more years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/matchday/ Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:00:00 GMT Michael S. Parmacek, MD, Herbert C. Rorer Professor of Medical Sciences, has been named Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/parmacek/ Thu, 20 Mar 2014 13:00:00 GMT A new clinical trial will soon begin testing whether early medical intervention in people at risk for Alzheimer's can slow down progression of disease pathology before symptoms emerge, as outlined in Science Translational Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/trial/ Wed, 19 Mar 2014 19:30:00 GMT A new Penn Medicine study shows disturbing evidence that chronic sleep loss may be more serious than previously thought and may even lead to irreversible physical damage to and loss of brain cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/veasey/ Tue, 18 Mar 2014 21:00:00 GMT A new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that the risk of hepatitis C-associated serious liver disease persists in HIV patients otherwise benefitting from antiretroviral therapy (ART) to treat HIV. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/lo_re/ Mon, 17 Mar 2014 21:00:00 GMT On Wednesday, the University of Pennsylvania’s Basser Research Center for BRCA formally unveiled “Homologous Hope,” a new sculpture suspended from the glass atrium in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/sculpture/ Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:45:00 GMT Enda Kenny, the prime minister of Ireland, presented Garret A. FitzGerald, MD, FRS, director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, with the inaugural St. Patrick’s Day Science Medal at an Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)-hosted event in Washington D.C. last week. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/fitzgerald/ Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:00:00 GMT A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will take part in a first-of-its-kind investigation by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) into the molecular, physiological and psychological effects of spaceflight on the human body by comparing identical twins. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/nasa/ Wed, 13 Mar 2014 20:15:00 GMT People who try to quit smoking often say that kicking the habit makes the voice inside telling them to light up even louder, but why people succumb to those cravings so often has never been fully understood.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/lerman/ Wed, 12 Mar 2014 20:15:00 GMT “Cell movement is the basic recipe of life, and all cells have the capacity to move,” says Roberto Dominguez, PhD, professor of Physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Motility — albeit on a cellular spatial scale — is necessary for wound healing, clotting, fetal development, nerve connections, and the immune response, among other functions. On the other hand, cell movement can be deleterious when cancer cells break away from tumors and migrate to set up shop in other tissues during cancer metastasis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/dominguez/ Wed, 12 Mar 2014 14:45:00 GMT Researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute, the department of Ophthalmology of the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded a five-year, 11.2 million-dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the genetic risk factors that make African Americans disproportionately more likely to develop primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/obrien/ Tue, 11 Mar 2014 17:30:00 GMT For the 17th year in a row, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States. According to the annual survey by U.S. News and World Report, the School of Medicine is ranked 4th in the country. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/rankings/ Tue, 11 Mar 2014 04:01:00 GMT New Penn Medicine research describes how introducing three proteins that control the regulation of DNA in the nucleus -- called transcription factors -- into an immune-deficient mouse turned a specific group of cells in the gut lining into beta-like cells, raising the prospect of using differentiated pancreatic cells as a source for new beta cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/stanger/ Mon, 10 Mar 2014 19:30:00 GMT On Wednesday, the University of Pennsylvania’s Basser Research Center for BRCA will host a special event to formally unveil “Homologous Hope,” a new sculpture to be featured in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/hope/ Mon, 10 Mar 2014 19:00:00 GMT Even the mildest form of a traumatic brain injury, better known as a concussion, can deal permanent, irreparable damage. Now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania is using mathematical modeling to better understand the mechanisms at play in this kind of injury, with an eye toward protecting the brain from its long-term consequences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/shenoy/ Mon, 10 Mar 2014 15:00:00 GMT Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and Chester County Hospital have received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/stroke/ Thu, 06 Mar 2014 21:00:00 GMT Three longtime allies have joined forces to create the new Penn Medicine/CHOP Friedreich's Ataxia Center of Excellence. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/coe/ Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:00:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania researchers have successfully genetically engineered the immune cells of 12 HIV positive patients to resist infection, and decreased the viral loads of some patients taken off antiretroviral drug therapy (ADT) entirely—including one patient whose levels became undetectable. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/june/ Wed, 05 Mar 2014 21:00:00 GMT Alan J. Wein, MD, PhD(hon.), has received the 2014 Rodney Appell Continence Care Champion Award from the The National Association For Continence (NAFC). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/wein/ Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:00:00 GMT Using new genetic evidence, an international team of scientists led by experts at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has found that an increased body mass index (BMI) raised the risk for both type 2 diabetes and higher blood pressure. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/03/holmes/ Mon, 03 Mar 2014 15:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine will join forces with the City of Philadelphia to wrap-up American Heart Month on Friday, February 28th by offering free cardiovascular screenings for city employees. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/screenings/ Fri, 28 Feb 2014 13:00:00 GMT A University of Pennsylvania research team has defined a possible new way to fight a disease that is currently treatable only with the most expensive drug available for sale in the United States. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/lambris/ Wed, 26 Feb 2014 19:15:00 GMT In the fight against a nationwide prescription opioid abuse epidemic, Penn Medicine researchers are using storytelling to help doctors recall important, potentially lifesaving national guidelines on how to prescribe these medications.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/meisel/ Wed, 26 Feb 2014 19:15:00 GMT Half of melanoma patients with the BRAF mutation have a positive response to treatment with BRAF inhibitors, but nearly all of those patients develop resistance to the drugs and experience disease progression. Now, a new preclinical study published online ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Investigation from Penn Medicine researchers found that in many cases the root of the resistance may lie in a never-before-seen autophagy mechanism induced by the BRAF inhibitors vermurafenib and dabrafenib. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/amaravadi/ Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:15:00 GMT An international team of scientists has traced the origin of Plasmodium vivax, the second-worst malaria parasite of humans, to Africa, according to a study published this week in Nature Communications. Until recently, the closest genetic relatives of human P. vivax were found only in Asian macaques, leading researchers to believe that P. vivax originated in Asia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/hahn/ Fri, 21 Feb 2014 19:00:00 GMT Steven Joffe, MD, MPH, and Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD, have been named Vice Chair of Medical Ethics and Vice Chair of Health Policy, respectively, in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/volpp/ Thu, 20 Feb 2014 19:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, have been studying the molecular mechanisms underpinning sleep. Now they report that the pathways of aging and sleep intersect at the circuitry of a cellular stress response pathway, and that by tinkering with those connections, it may be possible to alter sleep patterns in the aged for the better – at least in fruit flies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/naidoo/ Thu, 20 Feb 2014 15:30:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that patients with severe injuries initially evaluated at non-trauma center emergency departments are less likely to be transferred if they are insured. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/delgado/ Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:00:00 GMT A newly developed, more specific approach to classifying tumors by molecular type can help cancer researchers to determine tumor characteristics and guide treatment strategies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/classifier/ Wed, 19 Feb 2014 19:45:00 GMT After three years of renovations and new construction, Pennsylvania Hospital of Penn Medicine will unveil its new Well Mother and Baby Unit on February 26. The hospital, where nearly 5,000 babies are delivered each year – the most in the City of Philadelphia – will now offer three full floors of all private rooms dedicated solely to new mothers and their newborns. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/maternity/ Tue, 18 Feb 2014 18:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine, in partnership with the Center for Emerging Visual Artists, today announced a new opportunity for photographers to have their work displayed in a unique setting. Up to 25 images depicting the theme “Impressions of Philadelphia” will be selected for a large format wall display (approximately 19x19 feet) in public concourse areas of the new Pavilion for Advanced Care (PAC) at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/volpe/ Mon, 17 Feb 2014 16:30:00 GMT The body uses mucus as a protective barrier to defend against pathogens, toxins, and allergens in the upper respiratory tract that can lead to such conditions as chronic sinusitis. Aiding in this defense are antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), a diverse group of small proteins found in mucus that kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi. In addition to these known defensive systems, researchers have recently surmised that taste receptors serve "double duty" by also acting as first line sentinels against infection in the upper airway. Now, scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reveal that the release of AMPs is partially controlled by bitter taste receptors in the upper airway on a cell previously identified in animals and only recently in humans known as solitary chemosensory cells (SCCs). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/cohen/ Mon, 17 Feb 2014 16:00:00 GMT Researchers at Penn Medicine have shown that the anticonvulsant medication, topiramate, previously shown to reduce drinking in patients committed to abstinence from alcohol, can also be helpful in treating problem drinkers whose aim is to curb their alcohol consumption – particularly among a specific group of patients whose genetic makeup appears to be linked to the efficacy of the therapy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/kranzler/ Fri, 14 Feb 2014 14:15:00 GMT People receiving mental health care are up to four times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population, according to a new study published Feb. 13 in the American Journal of Public Health from researchers at Penn Medicine and other institutions who tested over 1,000 patients in care in Philadelphia and Baltimore. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/blank/ Fri, 14 Feb 2014 13:30:00 GMT While more women die from heart disease each year than all forms of cancer combined, many are more fearful of other diseases, particularly breast cancer. This phenomenon, referred to as "misfearing," describes the human tendency to fear instinctively and according to societal influences rather than based on facts. This trend may be a contributor to the reasons why many women fail to take enough steps -- such as changing diet and fitness habits or risk-taking behaviors -- to guard against heart disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/rosenbaum/ Thu, 13 Feb 2014 15:45:00 GMT A new Penn Medicine study shows that remote consultations from dermatologists using a secure smart phone app are reliable at prioritizing care for hospitalized patients with skin conditions. Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in JAMA Dermatology that this teledermatology process is reliable and can help deliver care more efficiently in busy academic hospitals and potentially in community hospital settings. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/rosenbach/ Thu, 13 Feb 2014 15:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers have developed a better way to assess and diagnose psychosis in young children. By "growth charting" cognitive development alongside the presentation of psychotic symptoms, they have demonstrated that the most significant lags in cognitive development correlate with the most severe cases of psychosis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/gur/ Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine today announced a collaboration with software and analytics company Teqqa, LLC that could revolutionize the way antibiotics are tracked and prescribed in clinical settings. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/hamilton/ Tue, 11 Feb 2014 19:00:00 GMT In a new study, published online in the European Heart Journal, an international team led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, used a novel genetics approach integrated with cardiovascular outcomes and lipid data taken from blood samples from study participants to target specific lipids in the blood. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/holmes/ Tue, 11 Feb 2014 13:30:00 GMT Experts at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have devised an effective, replicable program using trained lay Community Health Worker (CHWs) to improve a range of outcomes among patients at high risk for poor post-hospital outcomes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/kangovi/ Mon, 10 Feb 2014 20:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine is the first academic medical center in Philadelphia — one among just a handful of academic medical centers in the U.S. — to launch a program across multiple professional schools and affiliated hospitals at Penn to improve the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/yehia/ Fri, 7 Feb 2014 15:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine physicians and scientists are available for comment on a variety of topics relating to health and injury issues that Winter Olympic athletes may face. Experts are available for interviews by phone, webcam or satellite uplink from the Penn campus in Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/sochi/ Thu, 6 Feb 2014 15:00:00 GMT Launching today at Amtrak's historic Philadelphia 30th Street Station, the Penn Defibrillator Design Challenge aims to draw attention to AEDs – a key link in the chain of steps to treat cardiac arrest, which takes the lives of more than 350,000 people each year in the United States – and educate the public about their use through engaging artwork in the space immediately surrounding the AEDs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/aed/ Thu, 6 Feb 2014 13:00:00 GMT Patients waiting for liver transplants who develop hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS), a lung disorder associated with end-stage liver disease, are eligible to move up on the wait list. In a new paper published in Gastroenterology, however, Penn Medicine researchers argue the so-called “exception points” given to these patients award some HPS patients unnecessary priority over others on the list, which includes about 17,000 patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/goldberg/ Wed, 5 Feb 2014 19:00:00 GMT In a study published online in the journal Menopause, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report the first evidence showing that smoking causes earlier signs of menopause – in the case of heavy smokers, up to nine years earlier than average – in white women with certain genetic variations. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/smoking/ Wed, 5 Feb 2014 16:00:00 GMT All creatures great and small, including fruitflies, need sleep. Researchers have surmised that sleep – in any species -- is necessary for repairing proteins, consolidating memories, and removing wastes from cells. But, really, sleep is still a great mystery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/sehgal/ Tue, 4 Feb 2014 18:00:00 GMT The Center for Orphan Disease Research and Therapy, based at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has awarded its second round of funding for research on the development of improved therapies for patients with the lysosomal storage disorders MPS I, including Hurler, Hurler-Scheie and Scheie. Eight institutions – from academia, industry, and the federal government – received the grants. Lysosomal storage disorders are a group of about 50 rare inherited metabolic disorders that result from defects in the lysosome, a component of the cell-waste-disposal system. These syndromes usually occur when there is a deficiency of a single enzyme required for the metabolism of lipids, sugar-containing proteins, or other compounds. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/02/orphan/ Mon, 3 Feb 2014 18:00:00 GMT A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that moderate to severe hot flashes continue, on average, for nearly 5 years after menopause, and more than a third of women experience moderate/severe hot flashes for 10 years or more after menopause. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/freeman/ Thu, 30 Jan 2014 18:00:00 GMT Currently available licensed adjuvants are poor inducers of T helper cells and even worse at inciting killer T cells that clear viruses, as well as eradicate cancer cells. The lab of David Weiner, PhD, has identified new adjuvants that can produce the desired T-cell response. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/weiner/ Thu, 30 Jan 2014 16:15:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) and the Center for Public Health Initiatives (CPHI) will co-host a symposium on February 18, 2014 about the public health effects of natural gas drilling operations. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/ceet/ Tue, 28 Jan 2014 20:00:00 GMT One potential approach to reversing hair loss uses stem cells to regenerate the missing or dying hair follicles. But it hasn’t been possible to generate sufficient number of hair-follicle-generating stem cells – until now. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/feudtner/ Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:30:00 GMT Chris Feudtner, MD, PhD, MPH, associate professor of Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Steven D. Handler Endowed Chair of Medical Ethics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, was recently presented with the 2014 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award in the mid-career category. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/feudtner/ Tue, 28 Jan 2014 15:15:00 GMT Researchers at Penn Medicine have generated a brain development index from MRI scans that captures the complex patterns of maturation during normal brain development. This index will allow clinicians and researchers for the first time to detect subtle, yet potentially critical early signs of deviation from normal development during late childhood to early adult. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/erus/ Tue, 21 Jan 2014 15:30:00 GMT A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has revealed large geographic variation in waiting times for children across the United States in need of kidney transplants, with differences due mainly to local supply and demand. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/reese/ Thu, 16 Jan 2014 21:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine researchers were able to replicate human pancreatic beta cells – the cells in our body that produce the critical hormone insulin – in a mouse model in which donor cells were transplanted. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/kaestner/ Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine's James Shorter, Ph.D., has found a possible way to unravel misfolded proteins — proteins at the heart of brain diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease — by "reprogramming" Hsp104, a common yeast protein. The work was published this week in Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/shorter/ Thu, 16 Jan 2014 16:00:00 GMT A study conducted by researchers from several institutions, including the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has found similarly low rates of complication and death among U.S. patients who are treated with the three most common systems for placing stents in blocked carotid arteries of the neck. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/giri/ Thu, 16 Jan 2014 15:45:00 GMT Jeffrey A. Drebin, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and the John Rhea Barton Professor of Surgery, has been elected the 2014 President of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery, the oldest surgical society in the United States. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/drebin/ Tue, 14 Jan 2014 20:30:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Basser Research Center for BRCA has announced the Basser External Research Grant Program, a unique funding program for high impact translational cancer research projects aimed at advancing the care of people living with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/basser/ Mon, 13 Jan 2014 18:30:00 GMT A multi-disciplinary team from the University of Pennsylvania have published in Nature Methods a first-of-its-kind way to isolate RNA from live cells in their natural tissue microenvironment without damaging nearby cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/eberwine/ Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:45:00 GMT A new MRI method to map creatine at higher resolutions in the heart may help clinicians and scientists find abnormalities and disorders earlier than traditional diagnostic methods, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggest in a new study published online today in Nature Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/reddy/ Mon, 13 Jan 2014 13:15:00 GMT Cancer patients who are struggling with sleep troubles, due in part to pain or side effects of treatment, can count on two behavioral interventions for relief – cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), Penn Medicine researchers report in a new study published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. While CBT-I is the gold standard of care, MBSR is an additional treatment approach that can also help improve sleep for cancer patients, the study found. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/garland/ Fri, 10 Jan 2014 16:30:00 GMT While studying how blood clots contract John W. Weisel, Ph.D., professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, discovered a new geometry that red blood cells assume, when compressed during clot formation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/weisel/ Thu, 09 Jan 2014 16:30:00 GMT A new study from Penn Medicine epidemiologists that looked at four years of bed bug reports to the city of Philadelphia found that infestations have been increasing and were at their highest in August and lowest in February. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/levy/ Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:15:00 GMT Among Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, female, black, and Asian patients are substantially less likely to receive proven deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery to improve tremors and motor symptoms, according to a new report by a Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania researcher who identified considerable disparities among Medicare recipients receiving DBS for Parkinson's disease. The study, published in Neurology, found that patients from neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status were less likely to receive DBS, regardless of race or sex. And patients of minority-serving physician practices were also less likely to receive DBS, irrespective of race. The study demonstrates a need to adjust policy and incentives to provide state of the art care for all Parkinson's patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/willis/ Fri, 03 Jan 2014 14:00:00 GMT A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found no significant difference in adjusted overall survival rates between gunshot and stabbing (so-called penetrating trauma injuries) victims in Philadelphia whether they were transported to the emergency department by the police department or the emergency medical services (EMS) division of the fire department. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/band/ Thu, 02 Jan 2014 14:00:00 GMT Researchers at Penn Medicine report in the December 25 issue of JAMA that a modified form of prolonged exposure therapy – in which patients revisit and recount aloud their trauma-related thoughts, feelings and situations – shows greater success than supportive counseling for treating adolescent PTSD patients who have been sexually abused.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/foa/ Tue, 24 Dec 2013 20:00:00 GMT Lee A. Fleisher, MD, chair of the department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, authored a commentary alongside a study from a team from the University of Washington, Seattle, showing that, despite this evidence showing no benefit for patients, the incidence of preoperative tests is actually increasing for Medicare patients undergoing cataract surgery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/fleisher/ Mon, 23 Dec 2013 20:00:00 GMT Two teams led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been approved for funding awards by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). One group will develop and expand a health data network for vasculitis patients and researchers, while the other will investigate ways to decrease rates of uncontrolled asthma among African Americans and Hispanics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/pcori/ Mon, 23 Dec 2013 18:15:00 GMT John Lambris, Ph.D., the Dr. Ralph and Sallie Weaver Professor of Research Medicine in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, is part of an 8 million dollar (6 million Euro) European Union FP7 grant, which has been awarded to a consortium of academic institutions and the biotech company called Amyndas Pharmaceuticals (based on Penn technology developed in the Lambris lab). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/lambris/ Wed, 18 Dec 2013 18:30:00 GMT Leaders from the ACC, including its director Chi V. Dang, MD, PhD, bestowed Bert Vogelstein, MD, a world-renowned geneticist from The Johns Hopkins University and a University of Pennsylvania alumni, with the inaugural Abramson Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/vogelstein/ Wed, 18 Dec 2013 17:30:00 GMT Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of the nation’s leading health care executives say they believe the health care system will be somewhat or significantly better by 2020 than it is today as a result of national health care reform. Additionally, 93 percent believe that the quality of care provided by their own hospital or health system will improve during that time period. The results of the survey, published today on the Health Affairs Blog by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, show a strong divergence from the opinions of many politicians and commentators, as well as the general public. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/survey/ Wed, 18 Dec 2013 12:30:00 GMT Despite a national consensus among policy makers and educators to train residents to be more conscious of the cost of care, less than 15 percent of internal medicine residency programs have a formal curriculum addressing it, a new research letter published today in JAMA Internal Medicine by a Penn Medicine physician found. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/patel/ Tue, 17 Dec 2013 12:30:00 GMT Rebecca L. Trotta, PhD, RN, director of nursing research and science at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to develop a nurse-led care model for geriatric patients at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP).  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/hrsa/ Fri, 13 Dec 2013 20:30:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will join a new national network of 25 regional stroke centers selected to advance stroke research on prevention, treatment and recovery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/stroke/ Fri, 13 Dec 2013 15:45:00 GMT A new study suggests a potential dietary treatment - a cocktail of key amino acids that improved sleep disturbances caused by brain injuries in mice - for millions of people affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI)—a condition that is currently untreatable. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/cohen/ Wed, 11 Dec 2013 20:15:00 GMT Researchers at Penn Medicine showed that stress in pancreatic cells due to sleep deprivation may contribute to the loss or dysfunction of these cells important to maintaining proper blood sugar levels, and that these functions may be exacerbated by normal aging. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/naidoo/ Wed, 11 Dec 2013 17:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine has elected an inaugural class of 22 physicians to the newly established Academy of Master Clinicians, which recognizes Penn Medicine clinicians who exemplify the highest standards of clinical excellence, humanism and professionalism. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/mc/ Tue, 10 Dec 2013 19:00:00 GMT Three and a half years after beginning a clinical trial which demonstrated the first successful and sustained use of genetically engineered T cells to fight leukemia, a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will today announce the latest results of studies involving both adults and children with advanced blood cancers that have failed to respond to standard therapies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/ctl019/ Sat, 07 Dec 2013 13:00:00 GMT A pathway known for its role in regulating adult stem cells has been shown to be important for hair follicle proliferation, but contrary to previous studies, is not required within hair follicle stem cells for their survival, according to researchers with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/millar/ Thu, 05 Dec 2013 16:00:00 GMT Brendan G. Carr, MD, MA, MS, assistant professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennslyvania, has been named as the director of the Emergency Care Coordination Center (ECCC). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/carr/ Wed, 04 Dec 2013 14:00:00 GMT Compared to traditional mammography, 3D mammography—known as digital breast tomosynthesis—found 22 percent more breast cancers and led to fewer call backs in a large screening study at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), researchers reported today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/conant/ Tue, 03 Dec 2013 19:00:00 GMT A new brain connectivity study from Penn Medicine published today in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences found striking differences in the neural wiring of men and women that’s lending credence to some commonly-held beliefs about their behavior. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/verma/ Mon, 02 Dec 2013 19:00:00 GMT A new, first-of-its-kind study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania seeks to learn whether men with prostate cancer who are undergoing radiation therapy can benefit from yoga. The study, led by Neha Vapiwala, MD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, is examining the effect of yoga on cancer- and radiation-related fatigue, stress levels, and patients’ quality of life during radiation therapy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/yoga/ Wed, 29 Nov 2013 14:00:00 GMT A multi-institution study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that increasing the number of insured patients is not associated with higher intensive care unit (ICU) usage in Massachusetts. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/lyon/ Mon, 25 Nov 2013 22:00:00 GMT A $3 million gift to the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has established the Joseph and Loretta Law Auditorium in the Henry A. Jordan M'62 Medical Education Center, slated to open in 2015. Drs. Dennis, Ronald, Christopher, and Jeremy Law, who between them hold seven degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, have come together to honor their parents and their alma mater. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/brothers/ Mon, 25 Nov 2013 19:00:00 GMT The peer-reviewed journal Human Gene Therapy is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2014 by publishing a series of Perspectives by top researchers in the field of cell and gene therapy. Five scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are among the 21 investigators who will be honored throughout the next 12 months. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/hgt/ Mon, 25 Nov 2013 16:30:00 GMT Five faculty members from the University of Pennsylvania have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/aaas/ Mon, 25 Nov 2013 16:00:00 GMT Breaking the body clock by genetically disrupting a core clock gene, Bmal1, in mice has long been known to accelerate aging , causing arthritis, hair loss, cataracts, and premature death. New research now reveals that the nerve cells of these mice with broken clocks show signs of deterioration before the externally visible signs of aging are apparent, raising the possibility of novel approaches to staving off or delaying neurodegeneration – hallmarks of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/fitzgerald/ Mon, 25 Nov 2013 16:00:00 GMT With graduate student Maria Elena De Obaldia, Avinash Bhandoola, PhD, describes in Nature Immunology this month how Notch signaling induces expression of genes that promote the maturation of T cells and discourage alternative cell fates. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/bhandoola/ Fri, 22 Nov 2013 20:15:00 GMT Joan M. O’Brien, MD, the George E. de Schweinitz and William F. Norris Professor of Ophthalmology, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Scheie Eye Institute at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was recently presented with the Women in Ophthalmology’s Suzanne Veronneau Troutman Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/obrien/ Fri, 22 Nov 2013 17:15:00 GMT In a recent Genome Biology paper, Katalin Susztak, MD, PhD, associate professor of Medicine in the Renal Electrolyte and Hypertension Division, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and her co-corresponding author John Greally from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, found, in a genome-wide survey, significant differences in the pattern of chemical modifications on DNA that affect gene expression in kidney cells from patients with chronic kidney disease versus healthy controls. This is the first study to show that changes in these modifications – the cornerstone of the field of epigenetics – might explain chronic kidney disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/susztak/ Fri, 22 Nov 2013 16:00:00 GMT Drugs that inhibit the activity of enzymes called histone deacetylases (HDACs) are being widely developed for treating cancer and other diseases, with two already on the market. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, show that a major HDAC still functions in mice even when its enzyme activity is abolished, suggesting that the beneficial effects of HDAC inhibitors may not actually be through inhibiting HDAC activity, and thus warranting the reassessment of the molecular targets of this class of drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/lazar/ Thu, 21 Nov 2013 16:00:00 GMT Jack Ludmir, MD, chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital, and professor and vice chair of Obstetrics and Penn Medicine, has been named the 2013 Roosevelt Award for Services to Humanity Honoree by the March of Dimes (MOD), Southeastern Pennsylvania Division. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/ludmir/ Wed, 20 Nov 2013 14:00:00 GMT A new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has determined that a gene-based method for selecting patients’ doses of the popular heart medication warfarin is no better than standardized dosing methods. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/kimmel/ Tue, 19 Nov 2013 15:45:00 GMT A new blood biomarker correctly predicted which concussion victims went on to have white matter tract structural damage and persistent cognitive dysfunction following a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/siman/ Tue, 19 Nov 2013 14:30:00 GMT P. Leslie Dutton, Ph.D. a biochemist and biophysicist at the Perelman School of Medicine , University of Pennsylvania, is among three Philadelphia scientists honored this month with the John Scott Award, one of the top prizes in the world of science and medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/dutton/ Tue, 19 Nov 2013 14:30:00 GMT Based on the largest comprehensive systematic review to date, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania concluded that available evidence does not support an association between statins and memory loss or dementia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/degoma/ Mon, 18 Nov 2013 21:00:00 GMT Shiriki K. Kumanyika, PhD, MPH, a professor of Epidemiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and associate dean for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, has been named the new president-elect of the American Public Health Association (APHA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/kumanyika/ Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:00:00 GMT New research presented today at the 2013 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found no difference in outcomes at one-year between two recommended surgical options for treating ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) – repair of the leaky valve or its replacement with an artificial valve. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/acker/ Mon, 18 Nov 2013 15:45:00 GMT Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH) of Penn Medicine was named a winner of The Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania’s (HAP) 2013 Achievement Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/hap/ Mon, 18 Nov 2013 15:30:00 GMT Acupuncture can decrease the joint pain side effects often reported by breast cancer patients taking aromatase inhibitors (AIs), according to results of a new randomized trial conducted by a research team from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Their findings were published online this month in the European Journal of Cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/mao/ Thu, 15 Nov 2013 19:00:00 GMT Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania faculty will be involved in presenting research findings on the latest advances in cardiovascular medicine, science, and education at the 2013 American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions, in Dallas, TX, November 16 – 20, 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/ahasession/ Thu, 15 Nov 2013 19:00:00 GMT Media Toolkit: Penn Medicine at the 2013 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/aha/ Thu, 14 Nov 2013 19:00:00 GMT Should flu vaccines be mandatory for health care workers? That’s the question raised this week in the British Medical Journal to two health care providers, including Penn Medicine’s Amy J. Behrman, MD, in a “Head to Head” piece that argues both sides of the debate. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/behrman/ Thu, 14 Nov 2013 16:45:00 GMT Risk of depression is lower in menopausal women after their final menstrual period (FMP) but a history of depression increases the risk of depressive symptoms both before and after menopause, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/freeman/ Thu, 14 Nov 2013 14:00:00 GMT In order to evoke a true transformation, the U.S. health care system needs an audacious goal, one equivalent to President Kennedy’s call for a man on the moon in 1962, says Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PHD, Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/emanuel/ Tue, 12 Nov 2013 17:00:00 GMT This Veteran's Day, Penn Medicine was named a 2014 Military Friendly Employer by Victory Media, publisher of G.I. Jobs and Military Spouse magazines. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/mfe/ Mon, 11 Nov 2013 17:00:00 GMT Two specific genetic variations in people of African descent are responsible for persistent atopic dermatitis (AD), an itchy, inflammatory form of the skin disorder eczema. A new report by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that loss-of-function mutations to Filaggrin-2 (FLG2), a gene that creates a protein responsible for retaining moisture and protecting the skin from environmental irritants, were associated with atopic dermatitis in African American children. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/margolis/ Mon, 11 Nov 2013 17:00:00 GMT Pregnant women may transmit the damaging effects of stress to their unborn child by way of the bacteria in their vagina and through the placenta, suggest new findings from two animal studies presented by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania at Neuroscience 2013, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/bale/ Mon, 11 Nov 2013 17:00:00 GMT A father’s cocaine use may make his sons less sensitive to the drug and thereby more likely to resist addictive behaviors, suggests new findings from an animal study presented by Penn Medicine researchers at Neuroscience 2013, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/wimmer/ Mon, 11 Nov 2013 17:00:00 GMT A large study co-led by Penn Medicine published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine found that African Americans with the APOL1 gene variant experience faster progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and have a significantly increased risk of kidney failure, regardless of their diabetes status. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/anderson/ Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:00:00 GMT The Arthritis Foundation recently presented the Sir John Charnley, MD, Award to L. Scott Levin, MD, FACS, chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, the Paul B. Magnuson Professor of Bone and Joint Surgery, and professor of Surgery (Division of Plastic Surgery) in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/levin/ Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:00:00 GMT Michael A. Golden, MD, associate professor of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and chief, Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), has been named president of the Eastern Vascular Society (EVS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/golden/ Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:00:00 GMT A Penn Medicine researcher is among the winners of a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) “academic drug hunter” competition that will help fast track his lab’s work to stop drug-resistant bacteria. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/kohli/ Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:00:00 GMT Men taking testosterone therapy had a 29 percent greater risk of death, heart attack and stroke according to a study of a "real world" population of men. An accompanying editorial in JAMA by an endocrinologist with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania notes that the mounting evidence of a signal of cardiovascular risk warrants cautious testosterone prescribing and additional investigation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/cappola/ Mon, 05 Nov 2013 17:00:00 GMT Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one of the best-studied diseases associated with alterations in the composition of beneficial bacterial populations. However, the nature of that relationship, and how it is maintained, has yet to be clarified. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a molecule that appears to play a starring role in this process. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/artis/ Mon, 02 Nov 2013 17:00:00 GMT The first study to look extensively at sexual function in women who underwent bariatric surgery found that significant improvements in overall sexual function, most reproductive hormones and in psychological status were maintained over two years following surgery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/sarwer/ Mon, 02 Nov 2013 16:00:00 GMT The costs of medical education must be reduced as part of efforts to rein in health care costs more generally, according to a Perspective published online this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/11/asch/ Fri, 01 Nov 2013 18:30:00 GMT The American Thyroid Association (ATA) recently presented the Van Meter Award, to Anne R. Cappola, MD, ScM, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/cappola/ Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:30:00 GMT A study of over 750 kidney transplant patients over a five-year period conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that 90 percent of early rehospitalizations (within 30 days of surgery) were caused by complex medical factors related to the transplantation process. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/harhay/ Thu, 31 Oct 2013 14:30:00 GMT An interdisciplinary team of University of Pennsylvania researchers in Medicine and Engineering has been awarded multiple federal nanotechnology grants, one from the National Science Foundation and two from the National Institutes of Health, interfacing computer modeling with laboratory experiments to design nanocarriers for targeted drug delivery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/eckmann/ Wed, 30 Oct 2013 16:45:00 GMT The combined toll of occupational, recreational and environmental noise exposure poses a serious public health threat going far beyond hearing damage, according to an international team of researchers writing this week in The Lancet. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/basner/ Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:45:00 GMT Aaron T. Beck, MD, an emeritus professor in the department of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, became the first recipient of the Kennedy Community Mental Health Award from the Kennedy Forum, a new initiative led by former U.S. representative Patrick J. Kennedy focused on improving the lives of people with mental illness, while at the same time recognizing the enormous strides made in patient care and research over the last 50 years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/beck/ Mon, 28 Oct 2013 16:45:00 GMT Harold I. Feldman, MD, MSCE, has been named chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology (DBE) and Director of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB) at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/feldman/ Mon, 28 Oct 2013 16:15:00 GMT For the first time, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown the predictive power of a group of overlooked lymph nodes--known as the posterior intercostal lymph nodes--that could serve as a better tool to stage and ultimately treat patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/friedberg/ Mon, 28 Oct 2013 13:15:00 GMT The mechanism responsible for coordinating daily body temperature rhythm and adaptability to environmental challenges is unknown. Now, the laboratory of Mitchell A. Lazar, MD, PhD, director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania explains in Nature how body temperature rhythms are synchronized while maintaining the ability to adapt to changes in environmental temperature no matter the time of day or night. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/lazar/ Mon, 28 Oct 2013 13:15:00 GMT The largest international Alzheimer's disease genetics collaboration to date has found 11 new genetic areas of interest that contribute to late onset Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD), doubling the number of potential genetics-based therapeutic targets to interrogate. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/schellenberg/ Mon, 28 Oct 2013 13:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine was recognized with two Gold Excellence awards by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) for its efforts to create positive change in the community. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/iedc/ Fri, 25 Oct 2013 17:15:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has been awarded $1.5 million by The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to launch the Mrs. A and Mr. B Project to study health care disparities among people with disabilities. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/stineman/ Fri, 25 Oct 2013 14:00:00 GMT A medical student in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is among the winners of the first ever Teaching Value and Choosing Wisely competition held by the Costs of Care and the ABIM Foundation for innovative projects that promote high-value care by reducing waste and overuse in health care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/daughtridge/ Wed, 23 Oct 2013 18:15:00 GMT Experts from the Penn Mesothelioma and Pleural Disease Program, Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, and the divisions of Thoracic Surgery and Thoracic Oncology will be presenting data from at least 13 abstracts on the latest advances in lung cancer and mesothelioma research and treatment at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's 15th World Conference on Lung Cancer from October 27 to October 30 in Sydney, Australia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/wclc/ Wed, 23 Oct 2013 17:15:00 GMT Treating aggressive lung cancer with the diabetes drug metformin along with radiation and chemotherapy may slow tumor growth and recurrence, suggests new preliminary findings from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania being presented during an oral abstract session October 28 at the 15th World Conference on Lung Cancer.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/csiki/ Wed, 23 Oct 2013 17:15:00 GMT Clinical trials are key to finding new cancer treatments, but with patient participation hovering around 5 percent, new strategies are needed to boost enrollment, particularly to study the rare cancers that have so few cases. One such strategy comes from a new abstract being presented October 28 at the 15th World Conference on Lung Cancer from researchers at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania studying mesothelioma. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/simone/ Wed, 23 Oct 2013 17:15:00 GMT Seven professors from the Perelman School of Medicine have been elected members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/iom/ Mon, 21 Oct 2013 17:15:00 GMT The latest look at connections between psoriasis and other serious medical conditions revealed for the first time that people with more serious cases of psoriasis are at twice the risk of developing chronic kidney disease and four times the risk of developing end stage renal disease requiring dialysis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/psoriasis/ Wed, 16 Oct 2013 17:15:00 GMT The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/kasner/ Wed, 16 Oct 2013 17:15:00 GMT D. Gary Gilliland, MD, PhD, has been named the inaugural Vice Dean and Vice President for Precision Medicine, a newly created role to position Penn Medicine as the nation’s top leader in the delivery of individualized medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/gilliland/ Wed, 09 Oct 2013 13:45:00 GMT Patients who received care at multiple HIV clinics—as opposed to only one— were less likely to take their medication and had higher HIV viral loads, a new study published in the journal AIDS and Behavior of almost 13,000 HIV patients in Philadelphia from Penn Medicine found. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/yehia/ Wed, 09 Oct 2013 13:45:00 GMT Medical evidence over the past decade has demonstrated that patients with terminal cancer who receive a single session of radiotherapy get just as much pain relief as those who receive multiple treatments. But despite its obvious advantages for patient comfort and convenience – and the associated cost savings – this so-called single-fraction treatment has yet to be adopted in routine practice. That’s the finding of a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published today in JAMA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/bekelman/ Tue, 08 Oct 2013 20:00:00 GMT According to a systematic literature review by researchers with the Perel man School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in JAMA Dermatology, limited research does suggest that a number of psychosocial areas improve after patients undergo facial cosmetic procedures. However, those studies often lacked control groups or failed to follow patients over time, weakening the study validity. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/sobanko/ Tue, 08 Oct 2013 19:45:00 GMT The Muscular Dystrophy Association has awarded research grants totaling over $1,000,000 to three Penn Medicine researchers: James Shorter, PhD, associate professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics; Hansell Stedman, MD, associate professor of Surgery; and Lee Sweeney, PhD, director of the Center for Orphan Disease Research and Therapy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/mda/ Mon, 07 Oct 2013 18:45:00 GMT This Sunday, the lifesaving efforts of the University of Pennsylvania’s Basser Research Center for BRCA will take root in Congregation Rodeph Shalom at a special event to raise awareness about hereditary breast and ovarian cancers within the Jewish community. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/basser/ Fri, 04 Oct 2013 19:15:00 GMT A team of experts in neurocritical care, engineering, and informatics, with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have devised a new way to detect which stroke patients may be at risk of a serious adverse event following a ruptured brain aneurysm. This new, data-driven machine learning model, involves an algorithm for computers to combine results from various uninvasive tests to predict a secondary event. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/ncs/ Fri, 04 Oct 2013 13:30:00 GMT Pennsylvania Hospital, is hosting its 2013 Intensive Care Nursery reunion with parents and former infant patients. All families were invited to come back to PAH to celebrate life and reconnect with staff and other families with whom they forged deep bonds during their infants' time in the ICN. Nearly 400 people have registered to attend the event. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/icn/ Fri, 04 Oct 2013 13:30:00 GMT A major international consortium co-led by Penn Medicine has received a $12 million National Institute of Mental Health (NIHM) grant for a large-scale genetics study investigating why patients with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome have an increased risk of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/gur/ Thu, 03 Oct 2013 14:30:00 GMT Federal data suggests that 15 to 33 percent of fatal automobile crashes are caused by drowsy drivers, but very little research has addressed what factors play a role in operating a vehicle in this impaired state. New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is revealing that short sleepers, those who sleep less than six hours per night on average, are the most likely to experience drowsy driving , even when they feel completely rested. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/10/grandner/ Tue, 01 Oct 2013 15:15:00 GMT A new study by Penn Medicine researchers published Oct. 1 in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that busy intensive care units (ICUs) discharge patients more quickly than they otherwise would and do so without adversely affecting patient outcomes – suggesting that low-value extensions of ICU stays are minimized during times of increased ICU capacity strain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/wagner/ Mon, 30 Sept 2013 21:00:00 GMT Charles P. O’Brien, MD, PhD, the Kenneth Appel Professor in the department of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been selected to receive the Medal of Chevalier (Knight) of the French National Order of the Legion of Honor, one of the country’s highest honors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/obrien/ Mon, 30 Sept 2013 17:00:00 GMT For many years, patients with advanced thyroid cancer faced bleak prospects and no viable treatment options. But now, building on recent discoveries about the genetics and cell signaling pathways of thyroid tumors, researchers are developing exciting new weapons against the disease, using kinase inhibitors that target tumor cell division and blood vessels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/brose/ Mon, 30 Sept 2013 15:00:00 GMT A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are part of a new initiative by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) focusing on environmental goals for noise, air quality, climate change and energy.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/basner/ Mon, 30 Sept 2013 15:00:00 GMT Stephen M. Hahn, MD, chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Henry K. Pancost Professor of Radiation Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named among the ten 2013 Fellows of the American Society for Radiation Oncology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/hahn/ Thu, 26 Sept 2013 16:30:00 GMT Protein synthesis in the extensions of nerve cells, called dendrites, underlies long-term memory formation in the brain, among other functions. “Thousands of messenger RNAs reside in dendrites, yet the dynamics of how multiple dendrite messenger RNAs translate into their final proteins remain elusive,” says James Eberwine, PhD, professor of Pharmacology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and co-director of the Penn Genome Frontiers Institute. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/eberwine/ Thu, 26 Sept 2013 16:15:00 GMT Garret FitzGerald, MD, FRS, professor of Medicine and Pharmacology; chair of the Department of Pharmacology; and director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania is the 2013 recipient of the Jay and Jeanine Schottenstein Prize in Cardiovascular Sciences from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s Heart and Vascular Center. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/fitzgerald/ Thu, 26 Sept 2013 15:15:00 GMT A research team led by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania has received $8.6 million over the next five years in renewed grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to lead a multidisciplinary, multi-institution research program that is working to unravel the mysteries of anesthesia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/eckenhoff/ Thu, 26 Sept 2013 15:00:00 GMT A team of researchers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), in partnership with colleagues at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), have been awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The grant is part of the Restorative Transplantation Research Cooperative Agreement (RTR) – a $9.3 million consortium led by researchers at Emory University provided through the DoD’s Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Research Program. Grants awarded to the consortium will support research studies aimed at improving advanced transplant procedures for patients suffering traumatic injuries, such as limb loss and severe burns. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/dod/ Thu, 26 Sept 2013 14:30:00 GMT A new approach to treating cancer that has spread to the brain is able to preserve and, in some cases, improve cognitive function in patients, while achieving local control of tumor progression. A study led by researchers with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that 98 percent of patients who deferred whole brain radiation therapy and had chemotherapeutic wafers placed around the areas where metastatic tumors in the brain had been surgically removed showed preserved cognitive function in one or more of three domains; 65 percent showed preservation in all areas tested: memory, executive function, and fine motor skills. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/brem/ Wed, 25 Sept 2013 17:00:00 GMT A new study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine fromresearchers at the University of Oviedo in Spain, St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University Pennsylvania found a molecular mechanism that may explain the connection between mechanical ventilation and hippocampal damage in ICU patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/talbot/ Tue, 24 Sept 2013 19:30:00 GMT The precise targeting and limited dosing of radiation via proton therapy is proving to be an advantage in ongoing efforts to reduce treatment side effects among head and neck cancer patients, according to a new study of pediatric patients from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/hk/ Tue, 24 Sept 2013 15:00:00 GMT The Joint Commission, in conjunction with The American Heart Association, has awarded the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) Advanced Certification in Heart Failure. Achievement of this certification signifies HUP's dedication to fostering better outcomes for patients in its heart failure program. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/tjc/ Tue, 24 Sept 2013 15:00:00 GMT The latest approach to islet transplantation, in which clusters of insulin-producing cells known as islets are transplanted from a donor pancreas into another person’s liver, has produced substantially improved results for patients with type 1 diabetes, and may offer a more durable alternative to a whole pancreas transplant. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/islet/ Mon, 23 Sept 2013 14:00:00 GMT Pancreatic cancer ranks as the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, due to its resistance to standard treatments with chemotherapy and radiation therapy and frequently, its late stage at the time of diagnosis. A group of researchers led by the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and University of Washington, published results of a clinical trial in which the standard chemotherapy drug for this disease, gemcitabine, was paired with an agonist CD40 antibody, resulting in substantial tumor regressions among some patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/beatty/ Mon, 23 Sept 2013 14:00:00 GMT A $20 million federal grant will create the University of Pennsylvania Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (Penn TCORS). A first-of-its-kind regulatory science research enterprise, the new center is designed to conduct studies to inform the regulation of tobacco products to protect public health. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/tcors/ Fri, 20 Sept 2013 14:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine will celebrate one of the largest capital projects in the history of Pennsylvania Hospital, the official opening of Penn Medicine Washington Square – a new 153,000 square foot, “green” building in center city Philadelphia – that serves as the major hub of outpatient care for Pennsylvania Hospital. This modern facility features leading-edge telecommunication and clinical information systems, providing patients with the most advanced level of collaborative and interdisciplinary care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/pmws/ Tue, 17 Sept 2013 19:00:00 GMT The Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics' 8th Annual International Symposium (ITMAT) symposium, Harnessing the Paradox: Personalization and the Science of Scale, to be held in October 2013, will address topics of direct relevance to translational science. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/itmat/ Mon, 16 Sept 2013 18:00:00 GMT The reasons behind why it often takes people several weeks to feel the effect of newly prescribed antidepressants remains somewhat of a mystery – and likely, a frustration to both patients and physicians. Julie Blendy, PhD, professor of Pharmacology, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Brigitta Gunderson, PhD, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Blendy lab, and colleagues, have been working to find out why and if there is anything that can be done to shorten the time in which antidepressants kick in. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/blendy/ Fri, 13 Sept 2013 15:00:00 GMT Two doctoral students from the University of Pennsylvania, Nam Woo Cho of the Perelman School of Medicine and Maryam Yousefi of the School of Veterinary Medicine, have received International Student Research Fellowships from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/maryam/ Fri, 06 Sept 2013 15:00:00 GMT Falling asleep in your bed at night and being “put to sleep” under general anesthesia – as well as waking up in the morning or coming out of anesthesia – aren’t quite the same thing, yet they share some important similarities. Max Kelz, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, along with colleagues from Penn, UCSD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Thomas Jefferson University, explored the distinctions between anesthetic unconsciousness and sleep by manipulating the genetic pathways known to be involved in natural sleep and studying the resulting effects on anesthetic states. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/kelz/ Thu, 05 Sept 2013 21:00:00 GMT A $1.5 million gift to the University of Pennsylvania has established the Barbara and Edward Netter Associate Professorship in Cancer Gene Therapy at the Abramson Cancer Center. Bruce Levine, PhD, a faculty member in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and the director of the Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility, has been appointed to this new associate professorship. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/levine/ Thu, 05 Sept 2013 13:30:00 GMT The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and the Board of Directors of The Chester County Hospital and Health System (TCCHHS) today announced TCCHHS as a new member of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/09/tcchhs/ Wed, 04 Sept 2013 16:15:00 GMT Eleven researchers from the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded a total of $6.1 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/grants/ Fri, 30 August 2013 16:15:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that epigenetic factors play a role in senescence. Epigenetic factors act on the structures in which genes reside, called chromatin. They found that senescent cells appear to undergo changes in their chromatin and find similar changes in cells that are prematurely aging. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/berger/ Fri, 30 August 2013 13:00:00 GMT A new drug target to treat depression and other mood disorders may lie in a group of GABA neurons (gamma-aminobutyric acid –the neurotransmitters which inhibit other cells) shown to contribute to symptoms like social withdrawal and increased anxiety, Penn Medicine researchers report in a new study in the Journal of Neuroscience.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/berton/ Thu, 29 August 2013 20:00:00 GMT This fall, the University of Pennsylvania’s Basser Research Center for BRCA is taking its lifesaving efforts to raise awareness about hereditary breast and ovarian cancers on the road and into synagogues across the country. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/brc/ Wed, 28 August 2013 20:00:00 GMT Disproving commonly held beliefs, a new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania showed that despite a lower frequency of dialysis on Sunday, patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) have mortality rates similar to that of patients who receive the therapy on any other day of the week. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/wilson/ Tue, 27 August 2013 20:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate for the first time that the immune system influences the skin microbiome. A new study found that the skin microbiome – a collection of microorganisms inhabiting the human body – is governed, at least in part, by an ancient branch of the immune system called complement. In turn, it appears microbes on the skin tweak the complement system, as well as immune surveillance of the skin. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/grice/ Mon, 26 August 2013 20:00:00 GMT Perelman School of Medicine researchers at the University of Pennsylvania report the first biomarker results reported from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), showing that a comprehensive test of protein biomarkers in spinal fluid have prognostic and diagnostic value in early stages of Parkinson's disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/shaw2/ Mon, 26 August 2013 20:00:00 GMT J. Kevin Foskett, PhD, the Isaac Ott Professor of Physiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named the chair of the department of Physiology, effective immediately. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/foskett/ Mon, 26 August 2013 13:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania point out that the body mass index (BMI), based on the weight and height, is not an accurate measure of body fat content and does not account for critical factors that contribute to health or mortality, such as fat distribution, proportion of muscle to fat, and the sex and racial differences in body composition. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/ahima/ Thu, 22 August 2013 18:00:00 GMT The Scattergood Program for Applied Ethics of Behavioral Health Care (ScattergoodEthics) – a research program within the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania – has received a $600,000, six-year grant from the Thomas Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation to create and expand initiatives in the areas of ethics and policy of behavioral health care. This program will also be supported by a financial commitment by the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/scattergood/ Thu, 22 August 2013 15:45:00 GMT A leading group of Alzheimer's researchers contends that, as biomarkers to detect signals of the disease improve at providing clinically meaningful information, researchers will need guidance on how to constructively disclose test results and track how disclosure impacts both patients and the data collected in research studies. A survey conducted by a group including experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that a majority of Alzheimer's researchers supported disclosure of results to study participants. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/karlawish/ Wed, 21 August 2013 20:00:00 GMT A rare, small RNA turns a gene-splicing machine into a switch that controls the expression of hundreds of human genes. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and professor of Biochemistry Gideon Dreyfuss, PhD, and his team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, discovered an entirely new aspect of the gene-splicing process that produces messenger RNA (mRNA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/dreyfuss/ Wed, 21 August 2013 14:00:00 GMT An opinion piece in this week’s JAMA from Penn Medicine fourth-year medical student Mark Attiah suggests that if adult hospitals were modeled more closely after children’s hospitals—from the paint color to practice patterns—they may improve patient quality of life, satisfaction and even health outcomes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/attiah/ Wed, 21 August 2013 14:00:00 GMT In 2005, the Institute of Medicine, surveying the outlook for the growing number of American cancer survivors, first described the idea of a survivorship care plan: a roadmap for the group of patients, today numbering nearly 12 million, who are beginning new lives as cancer survivors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/survivor/ Tue, 20 August 2013 16:00:00 GMT Hospitals should consider establishing discharge centers staffed by multi-disciplinary teams to work with families and patients in reducing readmissions, according to an accompanying editorial published online now in JAMA Internal Medicine authored by a Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania researcher. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/rhodes/ Tue, 20 August 2013 16:00:00 GMT The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) Residency Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania a $2.3 million grant over the next five years to help train the next generation of OEM physicians. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/oem/ Mon, 19 August 2013 16:00:00 GMT Scott Halpern MD, PhD, MBE, assistant professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named an Anniversary Fellow at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the arm of the National Academy of Sciences that advises the nation’s leading decision-makers on health and medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/halpern/ Fri, 16 August 2013 14:00:00 GMT Differences in the utilization of intensive care services may be one potential explanation for improved outcomes after major surgery in the U.S. versus other nations, according to a commentary published in JAMA Surgery by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/neuman/ Thu, 15 August 2013 18:30:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will welcome 168 first-year medical students at the annual White Coat Ceremony on Friday, August 16, when they receive their short white coats and stethoscopes—and start their journey into learning the art and science of healing. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/whitecoat/ Thu, 15 August 2013 15:30:00 GMT Penn researchers found that the signaling protein calcineurin upregulates another molecule, Ang-2 that promotes necessary angiogenesis. Hyperactivation of calcineurin in genetically altered mice that lack an inhibitior of calcineurin signaling leads to increased lung metastases. Conversely, inhibiting calcineurin or Ang-2 blocked metastases in lung cells of the mice. The findings may help shed light on the underpinnings of common cancer metastasis patterns, such as the tendency of prostate cancer to spread to the bones, or melanoma to the brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/ryeom/ Thu, 15 August 2013 15:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine will continue to act as the Scientific and Data Coordinating Center (SDCC) for the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) study for five more years, thanks to the expansion of a National Institutes of Health grant. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/feldman/ Mon, 12 August 2013 18:45:00 GMT Eight Penn Medicine Clinical Care Associates (CCA) Internal Medicine and Family Medicine practices received level III certification for their efforts to provide coordinated, efficient care through the Patient Centered Medical Home program (PCMH) run by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). This Level III certification is the highest designation granted by the NCQA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/cca/ Mon, 12 August 2013 15:45:00 GMT Matthew B. Stern, MD, director of the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center at Pennsylvania Hospital and Professor of Neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is serving a two-year term as president of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/stern/ Wed, 07 August 2013 20:00:00 GMT Patients with mild, moderate and severe psoriasis had increasingly higher odds of having at least one major medical disease in addition to psoriasis, when compared to patients without psoriasis. Reporting findings in JAMA Dermatology, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, concluded that the severity of disease, as measured by the percentage of body surface area affected by psoriasis, was strongly linked to an increased presence of other diseases affecting the lungs, heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/gelfand/ Wed, 07 August 2013 20:00:00 GMT Contrary to past concerns, using prolonged exposure therapy to treat patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and comorbid alcohol dependence does not increase drinking or cravings, Penn Medicine psychiatrists report in the August 7 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence/human rights.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/foa/ Tue, 06 August 2013 20:00:00 GMT The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) announced that Leslie M. Shaw, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received the Association’s 2013 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/shaw/ Fri, 02 August 2013 16:30:00 GMT The Perelman School Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has received a $12 million grant over five years from the National Institutes of Health to head up a multi-institutional study looking at the biology of asthma and other airway diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/08/panettieri/ Thu, 01 August 2013 17:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania’s Basser Research Center for BRCA has announced the recipient of its first annual Basser Global Prize. The honor will go to cancer biology and genetics expert Alan Ashworth, FRS, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Cancer Research in London and leader of the Gene Function team in the ICR’s Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/basser/ Wed, 31 July 2013 18:45:00 GMT Erle S. Robertson Ph.D., professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded $1.4 million from the Avon Foundation to develop technology for identifying microbial signatures in breast and ovarian cancers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/robertson2/ Wed, 31 July 2013 19:45:00 GMT The National Cancer Institute has awarded $10.3 million over five years to a group of Penn researchers to investigate the early events of Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus infection and its implication for developing therapeutics in treating associated cancers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/robertson/ Tue, 30 July 2013 19:45:00 GMT The network of arteries supplying blood flow to the brain is more likely to be incomplete in people who suffer migraine, a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reports. Variations in arterial anatomy lead to asymmetries in cerebral blood flow that might contribute to the process triggering migraines. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/willis/ Fri, 26 July 2013 21:00:00 GMT Henry R. Kranzler, MD, a professor of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania whose work has contributed to the identification of genetic risk factors and pharmacological treatments for drug and alcohol dependence, has been named the Director of the Center for Studies of Addiction. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/kranzler/ Fri, 26 July 2013 15:30:00 GMT By closely following and analyzing the virome of one individual over two-and-a-half years, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, led by professor of Microbiology Frederic D. Bushman, Ph.D., have uncovered some important new insights on how a viral population can change and evolve – and why the virome of one person can vary so greatly from that of another. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/bushman/ Fri, 26 July 2013 18:30:00 GMT A small percentage of people diagnosed with a mysterious neurological condition may only experience psychiatric changes - such as delusional thinking, hallucinations, and aggressive behavior - according to a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/dalmau/ Thu, 25 July 2013 18:30:00 GMT The results of a physician survey published this week in JAMA show that a majority physicians look to lawyers, insurance companies, drug and device manufacturers and even patients to bear the responsibility of controlling health care costs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/emanuel/ Wed, 24 July 2013 20:30:00 GMT A researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues have identified the genetic mutation in Africans with HIV that puts them at a much higher risk for tuberculosis (TB) infections. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/das/ Wed, 24 July 2013 15:00:00 GMT Overturning a commonly-held belief that cities are inherently more dangerous than suburban and rural communities, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have found that risk of death from injuries is lowest on average in urban counties compared to suburban and rural counties across the U.S.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/myers/ Tue, 23 July 2013 13:00:00 GMT Until recently, the mechanisms underlying the development of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) were unclear, but a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) shows that a type of rare immune cell and specific reactions to allergenic foods team up – in a bad way – to cause EoE. However, this association does point to new ways to possibly treat inflammation associated with EoE. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/artis/ Sun, 21 July 2013 17:00:00 GMT In a new paper published this week online in Nature, a team from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, shows that the pulmonary vasculature, the blood vessels that connect the heart to the lung, develops even in the absence of the lung. Mice in which lung development is inhibited still have pulmonary blood vessels, which revealed to the researchers that cardiac progenitors, or stem cells, are essential for cardiopulmonary co-development. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/morrisey/ Sun, 21 July 2013 17:00:00 GMT The drug topiramate, typically used to treat epilepsy and more recently weight loss, may also help people addicted to both cocaine and alcohol use less cocaine, particularly heavy users, researchers in the department of Psychiatry at Penn Medicine report in a new study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Results from the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial adds to the growing body of evidence supporting topiramate as a promising medication to treat addiction. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/kampman/ Thu, 18 July 2013 21:30:00 GMT A study of a new radiotherapeutic drug published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine brings fresh hope for a particular group of cancer patients that otherwise suffer and ultimately die from the disease -- those with prostate cancer that has spread to their bones and has failed to be controlled by hormone deprivation drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/vapiwala/ Tue, 17 July 2013 21:30:00 GMT The trajectory of amyloid plaque buildup—clumps of abnormal proteins in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease—may serve as a more powerful biomarker for early detection of cognitive decline rather than using the total amount to gauge risk, researchers from Penn Medicine’s Department of Radiology suggest in a new study published online July 15 in Neurobiology of Aging. An abstract (#O4-07-03) on the topic was also presented July 17 at the 2013 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Boston. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/davatzikos/ Tue, 17 July 2013 20:30:00 GMT Gregory Beatty, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the division of Hematology/Oncology in the Abramson Cancer Center, has received a three-year Clinical Scientist Development Award (CSDA) for $486,000 from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to support his clinical research efforts as he works to study the process by which pancreatic cancer spreads in the body and develop new therapies to treat the disease.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/Beatty/ Wed, 17 July 2013 16:00:00 GMT People who found out they carried an uncommon genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease did not experience more anxiety, depression or distress than non-carriers, and were more active in efforts to reduce their risk of Alzheimer's disease -by exercising, eating a healthy diet and taking recommended vitamins and medications - report researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania today at the 2013 Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC).  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/karlawish/ Tue, 16 July 2013 16:00:00 GMT Researchers still do not know whether TAp73 enhances tumor cell growth and, if so, exactly how it may give an advantage to tumor cells. But, in a new study that appears in Nature Cell Biology, Xiaolu Yang, PhD, professor of Cancer Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, and colleagues found that TAp73 supports the proliferation of human and mouse tumor cells.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/yang/ Tue, 16 July 2013 13:15:00 GMT The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has once again been ranked among the top hospitals in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. The publication's annual ranking of hospitals in America lists HUP as one of only 18 hospitals in the nation to be recognized as an “Honor Roll” hospital for its exceptional performance, based on outstanding quality, expertise, technology, and experience. This year, HUP is ranked 11th on the list, which is culled from nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/hospitals/ Tue, 16 July 2013 13:00:00 GMT Experts from the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, with support of a sponsorship by The Travelers Companies, Inc., have teamed up with the American Heart Association, Hartford area hospitals, community-based organizations and the City of Hartford to launch an innovative community project to train laypersons in CPR. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/cpr/ Mon, 15 July 2013 13:30:00 GMT “Human computing power” harnessed from ordinary citizens across the world has the potential to accelerate the pace of health care research of all kinds, a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, writes in a new review published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/merchant/ Fri, 12 July 2013 13:45:00 GMT Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that, across a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, cerebrovascular disease affecting circulation of blood in the brain was significantly associated with dementia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/trojanowski/ Wed, 10 July 2013 00:01:00 GMT Patients with low socioeconomic status use emergency and hospital care more often than primary care because they believe hospital care is more affordable and convenient, and of better quality than care provided by primary care physicians, according to the results of a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/kangovi/ Mon, 08 July 2013 21:00:00 GMT Neurodegenerative diseases are not all alike. Two individuals suffering from the same disease may experience very different age of onset, symptoms, severity, and constellation of impairments, as well as different rates of disease progression. Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown one disease protein can morph into different strains and promote misfolding of other disease proteins commonly found in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other related neurodegenerative diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/guo/ Wed, 03 July 2013 16:00:00 GMT Stephen E. Kimmel, MD, MSCE, professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) to help find new approaches to implement genomic findings into clinical practice. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/kimmel/ Tue, 02 July 2013 16:00:00 GMT Mariell Jessup, MD, professor of Medicine, associate chief, Clinical Affairs, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, and medical director of the Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center, has become the president of the American Heart Association (AHA). Her term begins July 1, 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/07/jessup/ Mon, 01 July 2013 15:00:00 GMT Now, a pair of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has discovered how fear can actually increase or decrease the ability to discriminate among sounds depending on context, providing new insight into the distorted perceptions of victims of PTSD. Their study is published in Nature Neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/geffen/ Sun, 30 June 2013 18:00:00 GMT A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Naval Health Research Center has shown Military service members who have trouble sleeping prior to deployments may be at greater risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety once they return home. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/gehrman/ Fri, 28 June 2013 20:00:00 GMT In the largest sample of healthy adults studied to date under controlled laboratory conditions, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that adults who routinely had late bedtimes and chronic sleep restriction may be more susceptible to weight gain due to the increased consumption of calories during late-night hours. The study results are published in the July issue of the journal SLEEP. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/spaeth/ Fri, 28 June 2013 20:00:00 GMT Results from the 11-year-long Look AHEAD study found that an intensive lifestyle intervention was not statistically better than usual medical care in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, but was beneficial in reducing medications, hospitalizations, medical care costs, depression, and very high risk kidney disease, as well as in improving physical quality of life in obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/wadden/ Tue, 25 June 2013 17:00:00 GMT Emergency court decisions regarding the allocation of life-saving donor lungs have recently sparked widespread debate over current wait list and allocation policies. In the June 25 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, Scott Halpern, MD, PhD, MBE, medical ethicist and assistant professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the implications of such judicial activism and suggests several ways to improve the availability and allocation of transplantable organs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/halpern/ Mon, 24 June 2013 17:00:00 GMT Earlier this month, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the National Kidney Registry, in partnership with 18 transplant centers across the country, successfully completed the second largest kidney exchange in history and the largest to be concluded in under 40 days. Dubbed Chain 221, the swap involved 56 participants (28 donors and 28 recipients). Four patients at Penn Medicine, including two long-lost grade school friends, participated in the chain – two receiving new, healthy kidneys, and two donating their own kidneys to other recipients in the chain. Of the participating centers, Penn Medicine was the only one in the tri-state region. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/transplant/ Mon, 24 June 2013 17:00:00 GMT The brain-preserving cooling treatment known as therapeutic hypothermia is rarely being used in patients who suffer cardiac arrest while in the hospital, despite its proven potential to improve survival and neurological function, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in the June issue of Critical Care Medicine. The authors suggest that scarce data about in-hospital cardiac arrest patients and guidelines that only call for health care providers to consider use of therapeutic hypothermia, rather than explicitly recommending it, may explain the study's results. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/Mikkelsen/ Mon, 24 June 2013 17:00:00 GMT Pancreatic cancer carries a dismal prognosis. According to the National Cancer Institute, the overall five-year relative survival for 2003-2009 was 6 percent. Still, researchers and clinicians don't have a non-invasive way to even detect early cells that portent later disease. 'There's no PSA test for pancreatic cancer,' they say, and that's one of the main reasons why pancreatic cancer is detected so late in its course. They have been searching for a human-cell model of early-disease progression. Now, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania scientists have used stem-cell technology to create a research cell line from a patient with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/zaret/ Thu, 20 June 2013 17:00:00 GMT The motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, progresses in a stepwise, sequential pattern which can be classified into four distinct stages, report pathologists with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the Annals of Neurology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/trojanowski/ Wed, 19 June 2013 15:30:00 GMT Claudio Giraudo, PhD, assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was named as a 2013 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/giraudo/ Tue, 18 June 2013 15:30:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania researchers from a multidisciplinary team from the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Perelman School of Medicine and the Department of Chemistry, School of Arts and Sciences, have developed a soluble variant of the mu opioid receptor, which is involved in pain and addiction, that may facilitate the development of novel pain medications. Their findings appear in the latest edition of the journal PLOS ONE. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/liu/ Fri, 14 June 2013 17:00:00 GMT Precisely what causes breast cancer recurrence has been poorly understood. But now a piece of the puzzle has fallen into place: Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have identified a key molecular player in recurrent breast cancer – a finding that suggests potential new therapeutic strategies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/chodosh/ Thu, 13 June 2013 17:00:00 GMT Sperm doesn’t appear to forget anything. Stress felt by dad—whether as a preadolescent or adult—leaves a lasting impression on his sperm that gives sons and daughters a blunted reaction to stress, a response linked to several mental disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/bale/ Wed, 12 June 2013 16:00:00 GMT The Greenwall Foundation has named Penn Medicine's Peter Reese, MD, MSCE, a leading voice for improving organ donor rates and access to transplant, as a 2013 Greenwall Faculty Scholar in Bioethics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/reese/ Fri, 07 June 2013 15:15:00 GMT Penn Medicine gastroenterologist William H. Lipshutz, MD, has been named the 2013 recipient of the Outstanding Volunteer Clinical Teacher Award by the American College of Physicians (ACP). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/lipshutz/ Fri, 07 June 2013 14:45:00 GMT Amita Sehgal, PhD, the John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was given the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award for 2013 at the Association of Professional Sleep Societies meeting in Baltimore. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/sehgal/ Tue, 04 June 2013 14:00:00 GMT A study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that people who work in jobs that are more physically demanding tend to be either shorter sleepers (fewer than 6 hours a night) or longer sleepers (longer than 9 hours). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/barilla/ Mon, 03 June 2013 16:30:00 GMT Eighty-three percent of cancer doctors report that they’ve faced oncology drug shortages, and of those, nearly all say that their patients’ treatment has been impacted, according to a study from researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented today at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Abstract CRA6510). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/gogineni/ Mon, 03 June 2013 12:30:00 GMT Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have determined the role of a key growth factor, found in skin cells of limited quantities in humans, which helps hair follicles form and regenerate during the wound healing process. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/cotsarelis/ Sun, 02 June 2013 18:15:00 GMT The kidney and liver cancer drug sorafenib holds metastatic thyroid cancer at bay for nearly twice as long as a placebo, according to results of a randomized phase III trial, which will be presented today by a researcher from the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in a plenary session during the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting (Abstract 4). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/06/brose/ Sun, 02 June 2013 12:30:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that more sleep is associated with lower suicide risk in those with insomnia. The findings showed that in those with some suicide risk – as exemplified by self-reports of suicidal thoughts – there was a 72 percent drop in the likelihood of moderate or high risk of suicide for every hour of sleep that persons reported getting at night. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/insomnia/ Fri, 31 May 2013 17:00:00 GMT Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania clinicians and researchers will be presenting compelling data and giving talks about emerging issues in the field of sleep medicine during SLEEP 2013, in Baltimore, MD, June 2 – 5, 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/presentations/ Fri, 31 May 2013 17:00:00 GMT HIV-positive transgender people are just as likely to stay in care, take their medication and have similar outcomes as other men and women living with the disease, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and published online May 30 in Clinical Infectious Diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/yehia/ Fri, 31 May 2013 15:45:00 GMT A study led by an international consortium called the Coxib and traditional NSAID Trialists (CNT) Collaboration showed that, using a meta-analysis of 639 clinical trials including more than 350,000 patients, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) painkillers can increase the risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems. The research is published today in The Lancet and was funded by the Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) and the British Heart Foundation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/fitzgerald/ Thu, 30 May 2013 15:30:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have developed a new gene therapy to thwart a potential influenza pandemic. Specifically, investigators in the Gene Therapy Program, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, directed by James M. Wilson, MD, PhD, demonstrated that a single dose of an adeno-associated virus (AAV) expressing a broadly neutralizing flu antibody into the nasal passages of mice and ferrets gives them complete protection and substantial reductions in flu replication when exposed to lethal strains of H5N1 and H1N1 flu virus. These strains were isolated from samples associated from historic human pandemics – one from the infamous 1918 flu pandemic and another from 2009. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/wilson/ Wed, 29 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of Translational Research in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, has been selected to receive the 92nd annual Philadelphia Award. The award will be presented to Dr. June on May 31, 2013 for his extraordinary advancements in gene therapy aimed at treating HIV and cancer, specifically chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/june/ Wed, 29 May 2013 16:00:00 GMT Anil K. Rustgi, MD, AGAF, chief of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been elected President of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. Rustgi's appointment was announced last week at the annual Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/rustgi/ Wed, 29 May 2013 15:45:00 GMT Frank T. Leone, MD, MS, associate professor of Medicine and director of the Comprehensive Smoking Treatment Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named the 2013 "Practitioner of the Year" by the Philadelphia County Medical Society (PCMS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/leone/ Wed, 29 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT The human gut is loaded with commensal bacteria – "good" microbes that, among other functions, help the body digest food. The gastrointestinal tract contains literally trillions of such cells, and yet the immune system seemingly turns a blind eye. However, in several chronic human diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), HIV/AIDS, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, the immune system attacks these normally beneficial bacteria, resulting in chronic inflammation and contributing to disease progression. Now, researchers may finally understand an important mechanism that keeps this friendly truce intact – a finding that may lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies for such chronic diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/sonnenberg/ Wed, 22 May 2013 18:00:00 GMT The decision to limit life support in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) appears to be significantly influenced by physician practices and/or the culture of the hospital, suggests new findings from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference on May 21. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/quill/ Tue, 21 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT With little evidence to guide them, many hospital intensive care units (ICUs) have been employing critical care physicians at night with the notion it would improve patients' outcomes. However, new results from a one-year randomized trial from researchers at Penn Medicine involving nearly 1,600 patients admitted to the Hospital of the University Pennsylvania (HUP) Medical ICU suggest otherwise: Having a nighttime intensivist had no clear benefit on length of stay or mortality for these patients, not even patients admitted at night or those with the most critical illnesses at the time of admission. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/halpern/ Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a procedure traditionally used during cardiac surgeries and in the ICU that functions as an artificial replacement for a patient's heart and lungs, has also been used to resuscitate cardiac arrest victims in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. Now, a novel study of this technique in the U.S. has been completed by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, indicating a potential role for this intervention to save patients who are unable to be resuscitated through conventional measures. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/ecmo/ Fri, 17 May 2013 14:15:00 GMT The majority of cancer doctors, patients, and members of the general public support cutting health care costs by refusing to pay for drugs that don't improve survival or quality of life, according to results of a new study that will be presented by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania during the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago in early June (Abstract 6518). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/gogineni/ Wed, 15 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT In the largest clinical trial to date to examine the efficacy of PARP inhibitor therapy in BRCA 1/2 carriers with diseases other than breast and ovarian cancer, the oral drug olaparib was found to be effective against advanced pancreatic and prostate cancers. Results of the study, led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Israel, will be presented during the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in Chicago in early June (Abstract 11024). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/domchek/ Wed, 15 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT Eve J. Higginbotham, SM, MD, has been named the first Vice Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, effective August 1, 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/dean/ Wed, 15 May 2013 19:30:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have created the first U.S. map that pinpoints hotspots for infection and severe sepsis related-deaths. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/hotspots/ Wed, 15 May 2013 16:00:00 GMT Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Health Michael Wolf will be in Philadelphia tomorrow to present the second annual “Awards for Excellence in Health Care Compliance” to the Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH) Skilled Care Center (SCC). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/awards/ Tue, 14 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT In animal studies, group-2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) confer immunity during a parasitic infection in mice and are also involved in allergic airway inflammation. A team of Perelman School of Medicine, researchers from the Departments of Medicine, Microbiology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Cancer Biology, found that maturation of ILC2s requires T-cell factor 1 (TCF-1, the product of the Tcf7 gene) to move forward. TCF-1 is protein that binds to specific parts of DNA to control transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/bhandoola/ Mon, 13 May 2013 21:00:00 GMT A new study looking at the genomes of more than 13,000 men identified four new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type in young men today. The findings from this first-of-its-kind meta-analysis were reported online May 12 in Nature Genetics by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/nathanson/ Sun, 12 May 2013 18:00:00 GMT Now, researchers have found that a mutation in a key molecule active during embryonic development makes the plumbing between the immature heart and lungs short-circuit, disrupting the delivery of oxygenated blood to the brain and other organs. The mutation ultimately causes blood to flow in circles from the lungs to the heart's right side and back to the lungs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/epstein/ Sun, 12 May 2013 18:00:00 GMT Not all IL17-producing cells are the same, and the rules regarding how particular cell types are instructed to produce this important mediator differ. Research published this week in Nature Immunology from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sheds light on the intricacies of those instructions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/koretzky/ Fri, 10 May 2013 19:45:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine's impact in global and community health will be well represented this Sunday at graduation, when 160 students take the Hippocratic Oath for the first time as new doctors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/commencement/ Fri, 10 May 2013 14:30:00 GMT John A. Dani, PhD, will become the new chair of the Department of Neuroscience in the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, on July 1, 2013. He will also serve as Director of the Mahoney Institute of Neurosciences (MINS) at Penn. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/dani/ Mon, 06 May 2013 18:15:00 GMT A national movement to eliminate non-medically indicated (NMI) delivery before 39 weeks has prompted nearly two-thirds of all U.S. hospitals handling non-emergency births to adopt specific policies against the practice, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results of the nationwide survey represent a strong step in promoting maternal and perinatal health, and reducing the number of infants requiring admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The full results of the survey are being presented today at the Annual Clinical Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/acog/ Mon, 06 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT David Artis, PhD, assistant professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, will receive the AAI-BD Biosciences Investigator Award for outstanding, early-career research contributions to the field of immunology from the American Association of Immunologists (AAI). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/05/artis/ Mon, 06 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT Perelman School of Medicine researchers Shelley L. Berger, PhD, Daniel S. Och University Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology; director of the Penn Epigenetics Program, and Virginia Man-Yee Lee, PhD, director, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research; John H. Ware 3rd Professor in Alzheimer's Research; and professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, have been elected as new members to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/aaas/ Tue, 30 April 2013 19:00:00 GMT Researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania, along with colleagues at the Botswana-Baylor Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence, conducted the first large-scale comparison of first-line treatments for HIV-positive children, finding that initial treatment with efavirenz was more effective than nevirapine in suppressing the virus in children ages 3 to 16. However, the less effective nevirapine is currently used much more often in countries with a high prevalence of HIV. The results of the study of more than 800 children are published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/efavirenz/ Tue, 30 April 2013 15:00:00 GMT Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, the executive vice dean for Institutional Affairs in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, was recently presented with a National Award for Career Achievement and Contribution to Clinical and Translational Science at the Translational Science 2013 meeting in Washington, D.C. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/strom/ Mon, 29 April 2013 20:45:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania alumna Nicole Lurie, MD, MSPH (B.A. '75, M.D.'79), Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will deliver the address at the Perelman School of Medicine's commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 12, 2013 in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/commencement/ Fri, 26 April 2013 15:00:00 GMT With a better understanding of underlying mechanisms that cause a rare neurodevelopmental disorder in the Old Order Mennonite population, referred to as Pretzel syndrome, a new study reports that five children were successfully treated with a drug that modifies the disease process, minimizing seizures and improving receptive language. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/seizures/ Thu, 25 April 2013 20:15:00 GMT A post-doctoral fellow and doctoral student in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have each been awarded an Autism Science Foundation (ASF) grant. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/locke/ Wed, 24 April 2013 17:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that an area of the brain that initiates behavioral changes had greater activation in smokers who watched anti-smoking ads with strong arguments versus those with weaker ones, and irrespective of flashy elements, like bright and rapidly changing scenes, loud sounds and unexpected scenario twists. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/langleben/ Tue, 23 April 2013 22:00:00 GMT Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in a precise region of the brain appears to reduce caloric intake and prompt weight loss in obese animal models, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/dbs/ Tue, 23 April 2013 22:00:00 GMT Researchers did not exactly understand how menin mutations lead to MEN1 syndrome, and more importantly, what molecular pathways might be dysregulated by menin mutations and thus can be targeted to improve therapy against this type of cancer. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that pathway, which may lead to a new treatment for patients with MEN1 and sporadic endocrine tumors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/hua/ Tue, 23 April 2013 19:45:00 GMT A gene therapy study focused on finding a cure for a rare congenital blinding disease has been recognized as one of the ten most outstanding clinical research projects of the year by the Clinical Research Forum (CRF). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/crf/ Fri, 19 April 2013 18:00:00 GMT The Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and the Joan Karnell Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital will conduct free screenings for national oral, head and neck cancer during Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, April 14-20. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/screenings/ Fri, 19 April 2013 14:30:00 GMT Three physician scientists whose landmark research helped transform the treatment of cancer are the recipients of the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, to be officially awarded May 17. Peter C. Nowell, M.D., the Gaylord P. and Mary Louise Harnwell Professor Emeritus, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, will share the prize with Janet D. Rowley, M.D., University of Chicago, and Brian J. Druker, M.D., Oregon Health and Science University. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/nowell/ Thu, 18 April 2013 18:00:00 GMT Four Penn Medicine researchers have been awarded a total of $2.4 million in grants from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/pancreatic/ Tue, 16 April 2013 21:00:00 GMT Though the toll of sepsis is known to be enormous – it is estimated to cost the U.S. health care system $24.3 billion each year, and is the nation's third-leading killer, behind heart disease and cancer – the true magnitude of incidence of and death from the illness remains unknown. There is substantial variability in these numbers, depending on the method used to identify the condition in patients treated at hospital across the United States, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/sepsis/ Tue, 16 April 2013 20:30:00 GMT A study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University School of Medicine has found that nearly one quarter of patients may return to the emergency department within 30 days of being discharged from a hospitalization. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/return/ Tue, 16 April 2013 16:00:00 GMT Garret FitzGerald MD, FRS, chairman of the Pharmacology Department and director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2013 Grand Prix Scientifique by the Institut de France. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/fitzgerald/ Mon, 15 April 2013 18:30:00 GMT Late stage thyroid cancer patients with aggressive disease may benefit from a genetic test, but experts caution that use of this test in early stage patients is inappropriate because it is unlikely to lead to better outcomes. Testing for BRAF V600E-positive tumors should be reserved for patients older than 45 who have more advanced disease, according to an accompanying editorial in JAMA co-authored by two Perelman School of Medicine researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/cappola/ Tue, 10 April 2013 18:00:00 GMT A variation in the gene ABCA7 causes a twofold increase in the risk of late onset Alzheimer disease among African Americans, according to a meta-analysis by a team of researchers including experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. This is the largest analysis to date to determine genetic risk associated with late-onset Alzheimer disease (LOAD) specifically in African American individuals. The study appears in the April 10 issue of JAMA, a genomics theme issue. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/gwas/ Mon, 09 April 2013 18:00:00 GMT The Myc oncogene can disrupt the 24-hour internal rhythm in cancer cells. Postdoctoral fellow Brian Altman, PhD, and graduate student Annie Hsieh, MD, both from the in the lab of Chi Van Dang, MD, PhD, director of the Abramson Cancer Center, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, present their data in the “Metabolic Pathway Regulation in Cancer” session at the 2013 American Association for Cancer Research meeting, Washington, D.C., April 9, 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/altman/ Mon, 09 April 2013 18:00:00 GMT Only 53 percent of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients who were at high risk of carrying a BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 mutation – based on age, diagnosis, and family history of breast or ovarian cancer – reported that their doctors urged them to be tested for the genes, according to a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/brca/ Mon, 08 April 2013 18:00:00 GMT A team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will present findings (Presentation #1679A) during the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2013 showing that colon cancer and lung cancer cell lines which expressed a gene known as helicase-like transcription factor (HLTF) tended to be impervious to the effects of the autophagy inhibition drug hydroxycholoroquine (HCQ). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/autophagy/ Mon, 08 April 2013 18:00:00 GMT In 2009, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) halted reimbursement for so-called “virtual colonoscopy” for routine colon-cancer screening in asymptomatic patients, in part due to concerns over how this procedure, computed tomography colonography (CTC), was being used in the elderly population. In the first study to examine appropriate utilization of the test among asymptomatic Medicare beneficiaries from 2007 to 2008, a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that CTC was used appropriately and may have expanded colorectal cancer screening beyond the population screened with standard (“optical”) colonoscopy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/zafar/ Mon, 08 April 2013 17:15:00 GMT Increasing the number of hours of sleep adolescents get each night may reduce the prevalence of adolescent obesity, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Results of the study show that fewer hours of sleep is associated with greater increases in adolescent body mass index (BMI) for participants between 14 and 18-years-old. The findings suggest that increasing sleep duration to 10 hours per day, especially for those in the upper half of the BMI distribution, could help to reduce the prevalence of adolescent obesity. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/mitchell/ Mon, 08 April 2013 16:15:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed an innovative dual CAR approach in which the activation signal for T cells is physically dissociated from a second costimulatory signal for immune cells. The two CARs carry different antigen specificity -- mesothelin and a-folate receptor. Mesothelin is primarily associated with mesothelioma and ovarian cancer, and a-folate receptor with ovarian cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/powell/ Sun, 07 April 2013 14:00:00 GMT As many as three quarters of advanced ovarian cancer patients appeared to respond to a new two-step immunotherapy approach -- including one patient who achieved complete remission -- according research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented today in a press conference at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/kandalaft/ Sat, 06 April 2013 17:00:00 GMT A panel discussion at the American Association for Cancer Research's Annual Meeting – featuring the University of Pennsylvania physician-scientist leading the research team whose work has spurred worldwide attention to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technologies, and a trial participant whose leukemia remains in remission more than two and a half years after being treated with his own engineered cells – will explore the future of personalized cellular therapies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/targeted/ Fri, 05 April 2013 13:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine’s new Center for Personalized Diagnostics, a joint initiative of the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center, is diving deeper into each patient’s tumor with next generation DNA sequencing. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/cpd/ Fri, 05 April 2013 13:00:00 GMT A multi-institution study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon University, has found that tying financial incentives to group weight loss led to significantly greater weight loss than cash awards based on an individual's success in losing weight on his or her own. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/volpp/ Mon, 01 April 2013 22:00:00 GMT How do we hear? More specifically, how does the auditory center of the brain discern important sounds – such as communication from members of the same species – from relatively irrelevant background noise? The answer depends on the regulation of sound by specific neurons in the auditory cortex of the brain, but the precise mechanisms of those neurons have remained unclear. Now, a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has isolated how neurons in the rat's primary auditory cortex (A1) preferentially respond to natural vocalizations from other rats over intentionally modified vocalizations (background sounds). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/geffen/ Mon, 01 April 2013 19:45:00 GMT Neurosurgeons can visualize important pathways in the brain using an imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), to better adapt brain tumor surgeries and preserve language, visual and motor function while removing cancerous tissue. In the latest issue of Neurosurgical Focus, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania review research showing that this ability to visualize relevant white matter tracts during glioma resection surgeries can improve accuracy and, in some groups, significantly extend survival (median survival of 21.2 months) compared to cases where DTI was not used (median survival of 14 months). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/04/brem/ Mon, 01 April 2013 16:15:00 GMT Victoria Rich, PhD, RN, FAAN, chief nurse executive at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, has received the Prism Diversity Award from the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE). The award recognizes Dr. Rich’s efforts to promote diversity within the nursing workforce and to enhance an understanding of diversity issues across the health system and greater community. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/aone/ Thu, 28 March 2013 17:30:00 GMT James L. Carey, MD, MPH, director of the Penn Center for Advanced Cartilage Repair and Osteochondritis Dissecans Treatment, is among this year's recipients of one of the nation's most prestigious orthopaedic research awards. Dr. Carey and colleagues were presented the 2013 Charles S. Neer Clinical Science Award for a study they conducted on predictors of success in non-operative treatment of rotator cuff tears. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/carey/ Thu, 28 March 2013 14:30:00 GMT Researchers have been able to reprogram cells experimentally, but few have shown that cells can change their identities under normal physiological conditions in the body, particularly in mammals. In the cover article of this month’s issue of Genes and Development, Stanger, PhD candidate Kilangsungla Yanger, Yiwei Zong, PhD, and their colleagues, did just that in the liver of a mouse. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/stanger/ Thu, 28 March 2013 14:30:00 GMT Susan Mandel, MD, MPH, professor of Medicine and Radiology, and Associate Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, has been elected vice president, Physician-in-Practice, of The Endocrine Society. In addition, Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, Sylvan Eisman Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, and Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, was elected to serve as a council member, at-large. They will collaborate with other newly elected Officers and Council members to lead the world's oldest, largest and most active organization devoted to research on hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/endo/ Thu, 28 March 2013 14:30:00 GMT Clumps of α-synuclein protein in nerve cells are hallmarks of many degenerative brain diseases, most notably Parkinson’s disease. “No one has been able to determine if Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, hallmark pathologies in Parkinson’s disease can be degraded,” says Virginia Lee, PhD, director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. “With the new neuron model system of Parkinson’s disease pathologies our lab has developed recently, we demonstrated that these aberrant clumps in cells resist degradation as well as impair the function of the macroautophagy system, one of the major garbage disposal systems within the cell.” http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/lee/ Wed, 27 March 2013 21:00:00 GMT Certified Primary Stroke Centers are three times more likely to administer clot-busting treatment for strokes than non-certified centers, reports a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/mullen/ Tue, 26 March 2013 21:00:00 GMT Two children with an aggressive form of childhood leukemia had a complete remission of their disease—showing no evidence of cancer cells in their bodies—after treatment with a novel cell therapy that reprogrammed their immune cells to rapidly multiply and destroy leukemia cells. A research team from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania published the case report of two pediatric patients Online First today in The New England Journal of Medicine. It will appear in the April 18 print issue. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/grupp/ Mon, 25 March 2013 18:00:00 GMT The results of two long-awaited clinical trials, testing a closure device versus medication to prevent stroke recurrence in young stroke survivors who have an opening in the atrial wall, have not provided enough evidence to conclude who, if anyone, is likely to benefit from the interventional procedure, according to an accompanying editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine co-authored by a Perelman School of Medicine researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/pfo/ Fri, 22 March 2013 15:30:00 GMT Research has long shown the negative effects cigarette smoking has on cardiovascular health. But now, a new study from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania corroborates early evidence showing that cigarette smoking leads to longer healing times and an increased rate of post-operative complication and infection for patients sustaining fractures or traumatic injuries to their bone. The full results of the study are being presented this week at the 2013 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting in Chicago. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/smoking/ Fri, 22 March 2013 14:30:00 GMT According to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, pre-operatively identifying patients with certain comorbid risk factors that may increase their chance of being admitted to the ICU following total hip replacement surgery results in fewer deaths, post-surgery complications, and unplanned ICU admissions. The full results of the study will be presented at the 2013 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting this week in Chicago. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/tha/ Fri, 22 March 2013 14:30:00 GMT Shared decision-making between patients and physicians about health care decisions has previously been presented as superior to an approach that emphasizes physicians taking a leading role in directing key aspects of a patient’s care. But now, a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, calls into question the efficacy of shared decision-making as a tool for eliciting a patient’s genuine preference for care. The results of the study will be presented this week at the 2013 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting in Chicago. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/choice/ Fri, 22 March 2013 14:30:00 GMT Richard Nemiroff, MD, of Penn Care OB/GYN at Pennsylvania Hospital, has been awarded the Clara Bell Duvall Reproductive Freedom Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. He is being honored for championing the reproductive rights of women and their families for over 40 years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/nemiroff/ Thu, 21 March 2013 15:30:00 GMT By studying the underlying differences in gene expression during healing after a bone break in young versus aged mice, Jaimo Ahn, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and his colleagues aim to find specific pathways of fracture healing in humans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/ahn/ Wed, 20 March 2013 14:00:00 GMT The brain's prefrontal cortex is thought to be the seat of cognitive control, working as a kind of filter that keeps irrelevant thoughts, perceptions and memories from interfering with a task at hand. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that inhibiting this filter can boost performance for tasks in which unfiltered, creative thoughts present an advantage. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/hamilton/ Mon, 18 March 2013 15:15:00 GMT Telestroke programs substantially improve access to life-saving stroke care, extending coverage to less populated areas in an effort to reduce disparities in stroke care access. A new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, being presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego March 16-23, 2013, found that telemedicine programs in Oregon pushed stroke coverage into previously uncovered, less populated areas and expanded coverage by approximately 40 percent. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/telestroke/ Fri, 15 March 2013 15:00:00 GMT Injecting synthetic tau fibrils into animal models induces Alzheimer's-like tau tangles and imitates the spread of tau pathology, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania being presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego March 16-23, 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/tau/ Fri, 15 March 2013 15:00:00 GMT A series of studies demonstrate improved detection of the second most common form of dementia, providing diagnostic specificity that clears the way for refined clinical trials testing targeted treatments. The new research is being presented by experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego March 16-23, 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/grossman/ Fri, 15 March 2013 14:00:00 GMT Penn experts will be presenting the latest advances in treatment and diagnosis of neurological conditions like Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and stroke at the American Academy of Neurology 65th Annual Meeting. Given the high global burden of rain disorders, which cause at least 25 percent of death and disability globally, the Penn team will gather with neurologists from around the world in San Diego, CA from March 16-23 as the field discusses the latest advances in neurological medicine, science and education. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/aan/ Fri, 15 March 2013 14:00:00 GMT At the stroke of noon on March 15th, 161 Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania students (77 women and 84 men) will gather in an emotion-filled ceremony to open their "residency placement" envelopes and learn where they will spend the next few years receiving their advanced medical training. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/matchday/ Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:00:00 GMT . John Wherry, PhD, associate professor of Microbiology and director of the Institute for Immunology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, report in PLOS Pathogens that influenza virus-specific CD8+ T cells or virus-specific non-neutralizing antibodies are each relatively ineffective at conferring protective immunity alone. But, when combined, the virus-specific CD8 T cells and non-neutralizing antibodies cooperatively elicit robust protective immunity. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/wherry/ Thu, 14 Mar 2013 22:00:00 GMT Brown fat cells, as opposed to white fat cells, make heat for the body, and are thought to have evolved to help mammals cope with the cold. But, their role in generating warmth might also be applied to coping with obesity and diabetes. Patrick Seale, PhD, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and postdoctoral fellow Sona Rajakumari, PhD, along with Jun Wu from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, found that a protein switch called early B cell factor-2 (Ebf2) determines which developmental path fat precursor cells take – the brown vs. white cell trajectory. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/seale/ Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:00:00 GMT For the 16th year in a row, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States, according to an annual survey by U.S. News and World Report. In 2013, the School of Medicine was ranked #4 in the country. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/ranking/ Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:00:00 GMT New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has revealed that many electrophysiology practitioners believe ICD and pacemaker deactivation to be ethically distinct and that an ICD should not be deactivated without discussion with patients and families, even in the face of medical futility. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/kirkpatrick/ Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:00:00 GMT The effects of weight loss and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the standard therapy for OSA, on blood pressure have been previously studied individually, but the incremental benefit of combination therapy (weight loss and CPAP therapy) over either therapy alone in obese patients with OSA has been unknown. Now, new research from a multidisciplinary team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has shown that the combination of these two therapies for patients with OSA can help lower blood pressure. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/rader/ Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:00:00 GMT A small study from researchers the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has shown that while niacin increased measured levels of HDL-C, it did not improve the functionality of HDL. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/rader/ Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:00:00 GMT It happens to everyone: You stay up late one night to finish an assignment, and the next day, you're exhausted. Humans aren't unique in that; all animals need sleep, and if they don't get it, they must make it up. The biological term for that pay-the-piper behavior is "sleep homeostasis," and now, thanks to a research team at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, one of the molecular players in this process has been identified – at least in nematode round worms. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/worm/ Fri, 09 Mar 2013 14:30:00 GMT For the second consecutive year, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center has ranked among the nation's top 100 hospitals, according to the annual study by Truven Health Analytics, formerly the Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/ppmc/ Thu, 07 Mar 2013 23:59:59 GMT The wide consensus that health care spending poses a threat to the nation’s fiscal solvency has led to the championing of “value” as a goal of health care reform efforts. But the divergence of opinions between patients and physicians on the meaning of value presents an obstacle to progress in achieving genuine reform, says Lisa Rosenbaum, MD, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and cardiologist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/rosenbaum/ Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:59:59 GMT Addressing on the challenges that accompany transitions between health care settings could be a key strategy for improving clinical outcomes for people living with HIV, according to researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/yehia/ Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:15:00 GMT A team of investigators from nine institutions discovered how ATP – the body's main fuel source– is released as the neurotransmitter from sweet, bitter, and umami, or savory, taste bud cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/foskett/ Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:00:00 GMT A multi-institution study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has identified several important risk factors, including a donor's smoking history and recipient obesity, linked to severe primary graft dysfunction (PGD), the major cause of serious illness and death after lung transplantation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/diamond/ Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:45:00 GMT Toshinori Hoshi, PhD, professor of Physiology, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues showed, in two papers out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, how fish oils help lower blood pressure via vasodilation at ion channels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/hoshi/ Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:45:00 GMT A new study led by a researcher at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania adds support to current medical recommendations stating that screening colonoscopy substantially reduces an average-risk adult’s likelihood of being diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) in either the right or left side of the colon. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/doubeni/ Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:00:00 GMT A multi-institution group of researchers has found new candidate disease proteins for neurodegenerative disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/03/shorter/ Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:15:00 GMT Hundreds are gathering this Friday – including this year’s Woman of Courage Award Recipient, Lillian M.J. Dixon and NY Giants linebacker and cancer survivor Mark Herzlich, in support of patients and families facing cancer at Together We Can, a benefit for the Joan Joan Karnell Cancer Center (JKCC) at Pennsylvania Hospital. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/twc/ Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:30:00 GMT Using genetic and pharmacological approaches, Penn researchers showed that development of progenitor cells in the lung is specifically regulated by the combined function of two highly related HDACs, HDAC/1 and /2. The researchers published their findings in this week's issue of Developmental Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/morrisey/ Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:00:00 GMT Treating human and mouse cells with compounds that modify cell nuclear material called chromatin induced the expression of beta cell genes in alpha cells, according to a new study that appears online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/kaestner/ Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:00:00 GMT According to a new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, patients with Barrett's esophagus and early or pre-cancerous cells have been shown to significantly benefit from minimally invasive therapy delivered through an endoscope – a medical instrument used to look inside an organ or cavity in the body. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/barrett/ Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania announces the creation of the Institute for Biomedical Informatics (IBI). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/biomedical/ Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:30:00 GMT The recently published genome sequences of seven well-studied ant species are opening up new vistas for biology and medicine. A detailed look at molecular mechanisms that underlie the complex behavioral differences in two worker castes in the Florida carpenter ant, Camponotus floridanus, has revealed a link to epigenetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/berger/ Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:30:00 GMT A recently described master regulator protein may explain the development of aberrant cell growth in the pancreas spurred by inflammation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/rustgi/ Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:30:00 GMT John B. Jemmott, PhD, professor of Communication in Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine and Kenneth B. Clark Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, has been selected as one of 60 scholars profiled by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/jemmott/ Thu, 7 Feb 2013 18:45:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Massachusetts Amherst report in the latest edition of PLOS ONE utilizing a novel statistical tool to analyze existing large databases of genetic information to mine new information about genes that modulate low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and its downstream consequences, heart attack, stroke and death. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/reilly/ Thu, 7 Feb 2013 14:45:00 GMT A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows for the first time that certain nutrients may play an underlying role in short and long sleep duration and that people who report eating a large variety of foods – an indicator of an overall healthy diet – had the healthiest sleep patterns. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/grandner/ Wed, 6 Feb 2013 19:15:00 GMT Joseph W. St. Geme, III, M.D., has been named physician-in-chief of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, effective July 1, 2013. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/geme/ Tue, 5 Feb 2013 19:15:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, found a key determinant in the balance between two proteins, BRCA1 and 53BP1, in the DNA repair machinery. Breast and ovarian cancer are associated with a breakdown in the repair systems involving these proteins. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/greenberg/ Tue, 5 Feb 2013 19:15:00 GMT Advance care directives allow patients to provide instructions about their preferences for the care they would like to receive if they develop an illness or a life-threatening injury and lose the capacity to make decisions for themselves. While many people may assume that patients have strong preferences for the type and aggressiveness of care they wish to receive near life's end, a new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvaniasuggests that for many patients, preferences for end-of-life care are constructed on the spot and heavily influenced by the ways in which the options are presented. Specifically, the investigators found that even when it comes to such seemingly personal decisions as end-of-life care, people tend to accept options that are presented as the default, much as they accept the default in choosing automobile insurance or whether to contribute to 401(k) programs. The research is published in the February 2013 issue of Health Affairs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/Halpern/ Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:15:00 GMT Mounting evidence demonstrates that the pathological proteins linked to the onset and progression of neurodegenerative disorders are capable of spreading from cell-to-cell within the brains of affected individuals and thereby “spread” disease from one interconnected brain region to another. A new study found no evidence to support concerns that these abnormal disease proteins are “infectious” or transmitted from animals to humans or from one person to another. The study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in conjunction with experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services, appears online in JAMA Neurology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/02/Trojanowski/ Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:15:00 GMT Most ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed with late stage disease that is unresponsive to existing therapies. In a new study, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine show that a two-step personalized immunotherapy treatment — a dendritic cell vaccine using patients’ own tumor followed by adoptive T cell therapy — triggers anti-tumor immune responses in these type of patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/kandalaft/ Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:15:00 GMT David Artis, Ph.D., associate professor of Microbiology, and Brian Kim, M.D., clinical instructor of Dermatology, from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, have identified a previously unknown critical role for a recently identified immune cell population in the progression of atopic dermatitis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/artis/ Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:45:00 GMT Benjamin F. Voight, PhD, assistant professor of Pharmacology and Genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received an award for over $100,000 from the W.W. Smith Charitable Trust to study the complex patterns of genetic inheritance and environmental factors that underlie cardiovascular disease specifically in type-2 diabetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/voight/ Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:00:00 GMT HIV patients who participated in an intervention that helped them identify barriers to taking their drugs properly and develop customized coping strategies took a significantly greater amount of their prescribed doses than those receiving standard care, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/hiv/ Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:15:00 GMT A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sought to examine peoples' willingness to be enrolled in trauma studies under the federal provisions that allow patients with time-sensitive illnesses and injuries to be part of clinical trials without their express consent. The study revealed that those surveyed expressed high levels of approval and willingness to be part of these types of trials, both for themselves and their family members and friends. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/trauma/ Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:45:00 GMT The American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.) announced the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP)'s Clinical Nutrition Support Services team as one of the inaugural recipients of its 2012 Clinical Nutrition Team of Distinction award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/aspen/ Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:30:00 GMT Garret FitzGerald, MD, FRS chair of the Department of Pharmacology and director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the 2013 Scheele Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/fitzgerald/ Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:30:00 GMT New research from the Scheie Eye Institute, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that gene therapy for LCA shows enduring improvement in vision but also advancing degeneration of affected retinal cells, both in LCA patients and animal models of the same condition. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/blindness/ Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:30:00 GMT Psychiatrists who are exposed to conflict-of-interest (COI) policies during their residency are less likely to prescribe brand-name antidepressants after graduation than those who trained in residency programs without such policies, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/coi/ Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:00:00 GMT One of the most insidious ways that parasitic diseases such as malaria and toxoplasmosis wreak their havoc is by hijacking their host's natural cellular processes, turning self against self. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University, led by Doron Greenbaum, Ph.D., assistant professor of Pharmacology at Penn, have identified the cell signaling pathway used by these parasites to escape from and destroy their host cells and infect new cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/greenbaum/ Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:00:00 GMT By using synthetic fibrils made from pure recombinant protein, Penn researchers provide the first direct and compelling evidence that tau fibrils alone are entirely sufficient to recruit and convert soluble tau within cells into pathological clumps in neurons, followed by transmission of tau pathology to other inter-connected brain regions from a single injection site in an animal model of tau brain disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/lee/ Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:00:00 GMT In the first study to examine discussion of drug side effects on Internet message boards, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that breast cancer survivors taking the commonly prescribed adjuvant therapy known as aromatase inhibitors (AIs) often detailed in these forums troublesome symptoms resulting from the drugs, and they were apt to report discontinuing the treatment or switching to a different drug in the same class. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/mao/ Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine will establish the Philadelphia region’s first dedicated center for the treatment and research of blood diseases by combining the expertise of physicians who specialize in the care of blood disorder patients of all ages along with basic science and clinical researchers who are working to advance treatments for these illnesses. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/yang/ Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:30:00 GMT A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has identified a class of p53 target genes and regulatory molecules that represent more promising therapeutic candidates. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/yang/ Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:00:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine and the department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania announce the creation of the Penn Neurodegenerative Disease Ethics and Policy Program. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/ethics/ Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:30:00 GMT Roughly half of all black and Hispanic patients who enter publicly funded alcohol treatment programs complete treatment, compared to 62 percent of white patients, according to a new study from a team of researchers including the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/healthaffairs/ Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:00:00 GMT While approximately one in five Parkinson's disease patients experience impulse control disorder symptoms, the disease itself does not increase the risk of gambling, shopping, or other impulsivity symptoms, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. A new study is the first to show in a large sample that people with untreated Parkinson's were no more likely to have an increased impulsivity than people without the disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/weintraub/ Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:00:00 GMT In the first study of its kind, a team of researchers led by faculty at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Baylor College of Medicine, has analyzed data on the impact of prolonged operational confinement on sleep, performance, and mood in astronauts from a groundbreaking international effort to simulate a 520-day space mission to Mars. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/dinges/ Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:00:00 GMT Penn researchers discovered that the enzyme activity of HDAC3 requires interaction with a specific region on another protein, which they dubbed the Deacetylase Activating Domain or DAD. This "nuts and bolts" discovery on the epigenetic control of a person's genome has implications for cancer and neurological treatments. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/lazar/ Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:45:00 GMT A team, led by senior author Morris J. Birnbaum, MD, PhD, the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Medicine, with the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, found that the diabetes drug metformin works in a different way than previously understood. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/birnbaum/ Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:45:00 GMT The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has been recognized by The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) as meeting The Joint Commission's standards for Disease-Specific Care Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification, becoming the first center in Philadelphia and among a select few hospitals in the United States to be named as part of an elite group of providers focused on complex stroke care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/01/stroke/ Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:00:00 GMT Taking a look back, 2012 has been a year marked by breakthroughs in medical research, system-wide growth, and landmark philanthropic support for Penn Medicine. As we set our sights on the year ahead, we also celebrate the past year's accomplishments and give thanks to the outstanding faculty, staff, and students that are the foundation of Penn Medicine with a sampling of the research, education, and patient care highlights from 2012. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/features/2012-year-in-review/ Mon, 31 Dec 2012 13:15:00 GMT When trying to determine the root cause of a person's dementia, using an MRI can effectively and non-invasively screen patients for Alzheimer's disease or Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD), according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/mri/ Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvaniashow in an animal model that the enhanced aggressiveness of recurrent tumors may be due to changes in the body's immune response. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/immune/ Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:45:00 GMT One of the world's most devastating diseases is malaria, responsible for at least a million deaths annually, despite global efforts to combat it. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, working with collaborators from Drexel University, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Johns Hopkins University, have identified a protein in human blood platelets that points to a powerful new weapon against the disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/greenbaum/ Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:30:00 GMT A team from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the University of California at San Francisco and the Department of Biochemistry and Protein Function Discovery at Queen's University, has developed a unique approach to calpain inhibition by mimicking a natural reaction with a synthesized molecule. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/calpain/ Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:15:00 GMT Greg Sonnenberg, PhD, research associate in the Division of Gastroenterology and the Institute for Immunology, was chosen for Forbes magazine's second year of publishing a list of the top-30 rising stars in science and health under the age of 30. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/sonnenberg/ Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:00:00 GMT Robert Siman, PhD, Research Professor of Neurosurgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a Zenith Fellows Award from the Alzheimer's Association for his personal commitment to the advancement of Alzheimer's disease research, and his research contributions to better understanding and curing the disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/siman/ Thu, 20 Dec 2012 16:30:00 GMT People with Alzheimer's disease are less likely to participate in a clinical trial if they have non-spouse caregivers, according to a study by a team of researchers including the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/karlawish/ Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:00:00 GMT The protein kinase Akt is a key regulator of cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, survival, and death. New work on Akt's role in cancer stem cell biology from the lab of senior author Honglin Zhou, MD, PhD and Weihua Li, co-first author, both from the Center for Resuscitation Sciences, Department of Emergency Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Xiaowei Xu, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, appears in Molecular Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/zhou/ Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:30:00 GMT Amita Sehgal, PhD, professor of Neuroscience and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, at the Perleman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a Senior Scholar Award from the Ellison Medical Foundation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/sehgal/ Tues, 18 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT E. John Wherry, PhD, associate professor of Microbiology, has been named the new Director of the Institute for Immunology (IFI), at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/wherry/ Tues, 18 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reveals that sons of male rats exposed to cocaine are resistant to the rewarding effects of the drug, suggesting that cocaine-induced changes in physiology are passed down from father to son. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/pierce/ Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:30:00 GMT L. Scott Levin, MD, FACS, was recently elected to the American College of Surgeons' (ACS) Board of Regents. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/levin/ Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT Carl H. June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of Translational Research in Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, will be honored as a recipient of the American Society of Hematology's 2012 Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize today at the 54th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/june/ Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:30:00 GMT Nine of twelve leukemia patients who received infusions of their own T cells after the cells had been genetically engineered to attack the patients' tumors responded to the therapy, which was pioneered by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/tcell/ Sun, 09 Dec 2012 22:00:00 GMT On Friday, December 7, orthopaedic surgeons at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center will provide free total knee replacement to a local Philadelphia resident as part of Operation Walk USA 2012. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/operationwalk/ Fri, 07 Dec 2012 13:30:00 GMT Transplant surgeons at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have successfully used a new technique that repairs damaged donated lungs that would have been unusable, allowing for successful transplantation of the reconditioned lungs into a patient. The patient, a 66-year-old man from the Philadelphia suburbs, was transplanted at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and is the first in the region to receive donated lungs using this new procedure. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/firstexvivo/ Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:00:00 GMT Marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the program, Penn Medicine physicians have completed their 1000th lifesaving heart transplant at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/transplants/ Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:00:00 GMT In a study of 400 healthy volunteers published online this week in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, went looking for people who are truly resistant to the benefits of aspirin, such as might result from a particular genetic makeup. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/circulation/ Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:45:00 GMT New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvaniaand the Philadelphia VA Medical Center indicates that the implementation of protected sleep periods for residents who are assigned to overnight shifts in a hospital represent a viable tool in preventing fatigue and alleviating the physiological and behavioral effects of sleep deprivation among these doctors in training. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/sleep/ Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:00:00 GMT A Penn Medicine team led by Craig Umscheid, MD, MSCE, FACP, assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology and director of the Center for Evidence-based Practice, was awarded by the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council and the Health Care Improvement Foundation with the first place 2012 Delaware Valley Patient Safety Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/12/umscheid/ Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:45:00 GMT Five faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/aaas/ Fri, 30 Nov 2012 19:00:00 GMT A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania uses in-depth interviews with local residents to examine perspectives on how vacant land affects community, physical, and mental health. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/vacant/ Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:15:00 GMT A new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, suggests a novel therapeutical approach that might be used to shift the balance of power in chronic infections. The study appears in the November 30 issue of Science. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/wherry/ Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:00:00 GMT H. Lee Sweeney, Ph.D., the William Maul Measey Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has been named the inaugural director of Penn’s Center for Orphan Disease Research and Therapy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/sweeney/ Wed, 28 Nov 2012 20:45:00 GMT In a new paper out this week in Nature Cell Biology, the same Penn-Temple team describe a new protein and its function. Like MICU1, this new protein, MCUR1, interacts physically with MCU, the uniporter calcium ion channel within the mitochondria. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/energy/ Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:45:00 GMT Parvati Ramchandani, MD, section chief, Genitourinary (GU) Radiology, Professor of Radiology and Surgery, was selected by the American Association for Women Radiologists (AAWR) as the 2012 recipient of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award for outstanding contributions to the field of radiology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/ramchandani/ Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:00:00 GMT Research shows for the first time that the UPR is active in patients with human lymphomas and mice genetically bred to develop lymphomas. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/koumenis/ Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:15:00 GMT Heat Shock Protein Hsp104 could be developed to eliminate toxic clumps linked with neurodegenerative diseases. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/shorter/ Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:00:00 GMT After several years of incremental study, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have been able to piece together important steps in how Parkinson's disease (PD) spreads from cell to cell and leads to nerve cell death. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/lee/ Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:00:00 GMT Now, thanks to some careful detective work by a team of scientists led by Kenneth Zaret, PhD, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, researchers can better understand just how iPS cells form – and why the Yamanaka process is so inefficient, an important step to work out for regenerative medicine. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/zaret/ Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:00:00 GMT To help empower residents to shape the future of their communities, and explain the potential consequences associated with asbestos exposure, researchers at the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, have been awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop an educational program using the communities' history of asbestos products manufacturing and resulting asbestos exposure. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/grant/ Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:00:00 GMT In recognition of Veteran’s Day this November, Penn Medicine proudly sponsors Joining Forces – a national initiative to heighten awareness about the health needs of our nation’s veterans, service members and families, and elevate the role that medical schools, nursing schools and teaching hospitals play in serving their community. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/combat/ Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:15:00 GMT Using Myc-active neuroblastoma cancer cells, a team led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator M. Celeste Simon, Ph.D., scientific director for the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute (AFCRI), identified the proteins PUMA, NOXA, and TRB3 as executors of the glutamine-starved cells. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/simon/ Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:30:00 GMT James Eberwine, PhD, Elmer Holmes Bobst Professor of Pharmacology in the Perelman School of Medicine, and Junhyong Kim, PhD, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences, will be studying the role of how messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules vary in their function in individual cells with a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/eberwine/ Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:00:00 GMT U.S. Representative Allyson Y. Schwartz, a leading health care reform expert and Pennsylvania’s only female congressional representative, will speak about these and other issues on Friday at the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/schwartz/ Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:00:00 GMT In a new Perspective essay appearing in the November 8th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, two physicians from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, discuss unique challenges faced by patients and their families in decisions to undergo major medical and surgical procedures. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/raiten/ Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:30:00 GMT PHILADELPHIA — As researchers work on reconfiguring cells to take on new regenerative properties, a new review from Penn Medicine plastic surgeons sheds additional light on the potential power of adipose-derived stem cells - or adult stem cells harvested from fatty tissue - in reconstructive and regenerative medicine. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/percec/ Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:30:00 GMT A crowdsourcing contest that sent hundreds of Philadelphians to locate and catalog the locations of AEDs throughout the nation's fifth largest city led to the identification of more than 1,400 automated external defibrillators in public places, according to a study from researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/aed/ Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:30:00 GMT Lance Becker, MD, a professor of Emergency Medicine and director of the Center for Resuscitation Science at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will receive the American Heart Association's 2012 Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cardiac Resuscitation Science during the organization's annual Scientific Sessions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/becker/ Sun, 04 Nov 2012 12:15:00 GMT Daniel J. Rader, MD, professor of Medicine and chief, Division of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics, at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the American Heart Association's (AHA) Clinical Research Prize for developing new methods to identify factors regulating the metabolism of fat particles in the bloodstream and testing their impact on the development of atherosclerosis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/rader/ Sun, 04 Nov 2012 12:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine announced today plans to begin the second part of an expansion project that will transform and modernize the advanced care services provided at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) campus. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/expansion/ Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:00:00 GMT An international effort led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has resulted in positive phase 3 clinical trial results for a new medicine to treat patients suffering from a rare and deadly cholesterol disorder. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/lipid/ Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Wistar Institute, and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have discovered that the protein apolipoprotein E (apoE) plays a major role in maintaining arterial softness by suppressing production of the extracellular matrix, a network of connective tissue in the body. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/11/arteries/ Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:00:00 GMT Documenting adverse events improves perceptions of safety and may decrease incidents in multi-site clinical practices, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/safety/ Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:00:00 GMT Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, executive vice dean for Institutional Affairs at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been selected to Chair the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Committee on the Consequences of Sodium Reduction in Populations. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/strom/ Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:00:00 GMT Rhoda Redulla, DNP, RN, a nursing professional development specialist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, has been selected as a scholar by the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates, Inc. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/redulla/ Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:15:00 GMT PHILADELPHIA — A new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrates in an animal model that a commonly used inhaled anesthetic drug, isoflurane, works by directly causing sleep-promoting neurons in the brain to activate, thereby hijacking our natural sleep circuitry. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/kelz/ Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:30:00 GMT Now, Foskett's lab and the lab of co-corresponding author Muniswamy Madesh, PhD, at Temple University, have discovered an essential mechanism that regulates the flow of calcium into mitochondria, described in the October 26 issue of Cell. They demonstrated that the mitochondrial protein MICU1 is required to establish the proper level of calcium uptake under normal conditions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/foskett/ Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:00:00 GMT The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced that Raina Merchant, MD, MSHP, and Scott Halpern, MD, PhD, MBE, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been selected to receive an inaugural RWJF Young Leader Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/rwj/ Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:00:00 GMT Cutting the expenses associated with “low-value” medical tests and treatments – such as unnecessary imaging tests and antibiotics for viral infections that won’t benefit from them – will require a multi-pronged plan targeting insurance companies, patients, and physicians, according to a JAMA Viewpoint article published this week by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/volpp/ Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:00:00 GMT A new collaboration between the Basser Research Center for BRCA in the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center and FORCE, a national nonprofit advocacy organization serving people and families facing hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, will strengthen ties between patients dealing with these issues and the Penn researchers and physicians who are devoted to finding new ways to prevent and treat these diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/force/ Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:30:00 GMT A new project led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania aims to devise programs that help them change these risky behaviors and cut their risk of cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/training/ Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:00:00 GMT PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania has received an undisclosed gift from father and son philanthropists Joel and William Smilow to support Penn Medicine’s translational research activities, naming the Smilow Center for Translational Research in the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/smilow/ Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:00:00 GMT PHILADELPHIA — Four professors from the Perelman School of Medicine have been elected members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine, with a total of six representing four schools at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/iom/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:00:00 GMT The Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics' 7th Annual International Symposium (ITMAT) will be held October 16 and 17 at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. This unique gathering brings together international experts to debate opportunities and hazards in systems pharmacology and translational medicine, or how drugs work on specific pathways, variability in patient response and why many treatments fail. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/itmat/ Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:15:00 GMT A new study from a team of researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, reveals that a person’s ability to taste certain bitter flavors is directly related to their ability to fight off upper respiratory tract infections, specifically chronic sinus infections. The new research is published in the latest edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/taste/ Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:00:00 GMT Nearly 100 years after a British neurologist first mapped the blind spots caused by missile wounds to the brains of soldiers, Perelman School of Medicine researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have perfected his map using modern-day technology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/aguirre/ Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:00:00 GMT Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in Science Translational Medicine a new mouse model of LAM that does replicate those features, producing a way to study disease etiology and develop drugs. What’s more, two readily available drugs – an antibiotic and a statin – may help to treat, and maybe reverse, symptoms. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/lam/ Wed, 03 Oct 2012 18:00:00 GMT A team of researchers led by Samir Mehta, MD, chief of the Orthopaedic Trauma and Fracture Service at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a $2.5 million grant from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), provided through the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), to begin Phase 2 human trials of a study that examines the effective treatment of post-surgical orthopedic infections using Microbion Corporation’s topical BisEDT drug. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/10/mehta/ Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:00:00 GMT We often hear that “knowledge is power.” But, that isn’t always the case, especially when the knowledge pertains to the health of an unborn child, with murky implications, at best. A new study, led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, begins to document this exception to the general rule. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/09/chromosome/ Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:00:00 GMT Enlisting newborn hearing screeners to help identify common ear deformities allows doctors to easily correct the condition without surgery before a baby leaves the hospital, according to a new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The new study is published online ahead of print in the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/09/ears/ Fri, 14 Sep 2012 23:30:00 GMT A year ago, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reported that Alzheimer's pathology, as reflected by cerebral spinal fluid biomarkers, might be increased in patients after surgery and anesthesia. However, it is not clear whether the anesthetic drugs or the surgical procedure itself was responsible. To separate these possibilities, the group turned to a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The results, published online this month in the Annals of Surgery, show that surgery itself, rather than anesthesia, has the more profound impact on a dementia-vulnerable brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/09/surgery/ Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:30:00 GMT This week, a strategic roadmap to help to the nation’s health care system cope with the impending public health crisis caused Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia will be published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/09/plan/ Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in a new study that thickening of the heart's right ventricle is associated with an increased risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death in patients without clinical cardiovascular disease at baseline. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/09/heart/ Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:00:00 GMT Towards a better understanding of how tissue stiffness drives cancer, in a new paper published in PLoS Bio this week, Michael Pack, MD, associate professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, show that epithelial cells lining the intestine of zebrafish that carry an activating mutation of the smooth muscle myosin gene form protrusions called invadopodia that allow the cells to invade surrounding connective tissue. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/09/zebrafish/ Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:30:00 GMT Stanley Goldfarb, MD, professor of Medicine and associate dean for Curriculum at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named the 61st president of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/09/goldfarb/ Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:00:00 GMT Twelve different Penn Medicine Clinical Care Associate (CCA) practices received level III certification for efforts to provide coordinated, efficient care through the Patient Centered Medical Home program run by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/09/ncqa/ Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine will receive $11.9 million over the next five years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for the Penn Udall Center for Parkinson's Disease (PD) research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/08/renewal/ Thu, 30 August 2012 15:30:00 GMT Two Penn Medicine hospitals have received Primary Stroke Center certification from The Joint Commission for efforts to achieve long-term success in improving outcomes for stroke patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/08/psc-certification/ Tue, 21 August 2012 13:00:00 GMT Efforts to develop a blood test for Alzheimer's disease are progressing, as a new study co-authored by experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) found a group of biomarkers that hold up in statistical analyses in three independent groups of patients.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/08/plasma-biomarkers/ Mon, 20 August 2012 17:00:00 GMT Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) has earned the Gold Seal of Approval™ from The Joint Commission for its hip and knee joint replacement services. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/08/joint-commission/ Tue, 14 August 2012 13:00:00 GMT A popular class of diabetes drugs increases patients' risk of bladder cancer, according to a new study published online this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that patients taking thiazolidinedione (TZDs) drugs – which account for up to 20 percent of the drugs prescribed to diabetics in the United States -- are two to three times more likely to develop bladder cancer than those who took a sulfonylurea drug, another common class of medications for diabetes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/08/diabetes/ Mon, 13 August 2012 14:00:00 GMT Yvonne Paterson, PhD, professor of Microbiology, at the Perelman School of Medicine, and professor and associate dean, at the School of Nursing, has been awarded an almost $5 million renewal by the National Institute for General Medical Sciences for the University of Pennsylvania Postdoctoral Opportunities in Research and Training, or PENN-PORT, the postdoctoral-training program she leads. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/08/paterson/ Mon, 13 August 2012 11:00:00 GMT Nation's Oldest Medical School Equips New Students with Latest Mobile Technology, Replacing 20,000 Sheets of Paper per Student http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/08/white-coat-ceremony/ Thu, 10 August 2012 19:00:00 GMT The healthy human intestine is colonized with over 100 trillion beneficial, or commensal, bacteria of many different species. In healthy people, these bacteria are limited to the intestinal tissues and have a number of helpful properties, including aiding in the digestion of food and promoting a healthy immune system. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/06/bugs/ Thu, 06 June 2012 18:00:00 GMT On the evening of Thursday, June 7th, Penn Medicine and Penn Athletics will host a Red Carpet premiere of a new film, Head Games, a revealing documentary about the concussion crisis in sports. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/06/head/ Thu, 06 June 2012 14:00:00 GMT Despite being at risk of cardiovascular problems associated with testicular cancer treatment, survivors of the disease -- the most common type of cancer striking young men -- frequently report behaviors such as smoking and risky alcohol use that could further raise their chances of developing those late effects of treatment, according to a study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented at the annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting on Saturday, June 2. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/cancer/ Thu, 31 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT National data show that currently more than 10 percent of preschoolers in the United States are obese, and an additional 10 percent are overweight. In a recently published article, a researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with peers and colleagues from across the nation, says that effective strategies to target pregnancy, infancy, and toddlers are urgently needed to stop the progression of childhood obesity. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/unreported/ Thu, 31 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT Resources for Media Covering the American Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting June 1-5, 2012. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/asco-2012/ Thu, 31 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT National data show that currently more than 10 percent of preschoolers in the United States are obese, and an additional 10 percent are overweight. In a recently published article, a researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with peers and colleagues from across the nation, says that effective strategies to target pregnancy, infancy, and toddlers are urgently needed to stop the progression of childhood obesity. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/obesity/ Thu, 31 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT Individual use of prescription opioids has increased four-fold since the mid-1990s, in part due to increased awareness of pain control for chronic conditions such as low back pain and fibromyalgia and a Joint Commission mandate that hospitals assess patients' pain as a vital sign along with their blood pressure and temperature. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/monitoring/ Wed, 30 May 2012 21:00:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and School of Dental Medicine, has been designated a national Center of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPEs) by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/nih/ Wed, 30 May 2012 20:00:00 GMT Among patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, treatment with lung-sparing surgery in combination with photodynamic therapy (PDT) yielded unusually long survival rates, with median survival rates up to two or more years longer than is reported with traditional treatments, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/therapy/ Tue, 29 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT Two teams of employees were selected as winners in Penn Medicine's first employee Your Big Idea Innovation Tournament for projects aimed at improving the patient and caregiver experience at Penn Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/big/ Thu, 24 May 2012 20:00:00 GMT A new study published by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Broad Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital, challenges the conventional concept that raising a person's HDL levels (good cholesterol) will always help lower their risk of a heart attack. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/hdl/ Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:00 GMT A team from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania found that the FDA-approved drug daclizumab improved the survival of breast cancer patients taking a cancer vaccine by 30 percent, compared to those patients not taking daclizumab. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/fda/ Wed, 16 May 2012 18:00:00 GMT Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania researchers have discovered a mechanism involving the neurotransmitter dopamine that switches fruit fly behavior from being active during the day (diurnal) to nocturnal. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/sundown/ Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT Black cardiac arrest victims who are stricken outside hospitals are less likely to receive bystander CPR and defibrillation on the scene than white patients, according to research that will be presented by a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania today at the annual meeting of Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/cpr/ Fri, 11 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT More than 75 percent of cardiac arrest victims are stricken too far away from an automated external defibrillator for the lifesaving device to be obtained quickly enough to offer the best chance at saving their lives, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented today at the annual meeting of Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/devices/ Fri, 11 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT One hundred and thirty-nine Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania students will take the Hippocratic Oath for the first time as new doctors this Sunday, May 13, 2012. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/mothers/ Fri, 11 May 2012 20:00:00 GMT A new electronic medical record tool that tallies patients' previous radiation exposure from CT scans helps reduce potentially unnecessary use of the tests among emergency room patients with abdominal pain, according to a study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented today at the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/tool/ Fri, 11 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT The American Heart Association (AHA) announced today that they have made their first investment through the Science and Technology Accelerator Program into CytoVas, LLC. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/aaa/ Wed, 09 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT All cells have the ability to recycle unwanted or damaged proteins and reuse the building blocks as food. But cancer cells have ramped up the system, called autophagy, and rely on it to escape damage in the face of chemotherapy and other treatments. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/block/ Tue, 08 May 2012 16:00:00 GMT A $25 million gift to the University of Pennsylvania from alumni Mindy and Jon Gray will establish a center focused on the treatment and prevention of cancers associated with hereditary BRCA mutations. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/basser/ Tue, 08 May 2012 15:00:00 GMT A Penn research team, led by Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, reports in Nature Medicine that mice in which an enzyme called histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) was deleted had massively fatty livers, but lower blood sugar, and were thus protected from glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, the hallmark of diabetes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/liver/ Mon, 07 May 2012 16:00:00 GMT Two Philadelphia-area residents have been named the winners of Penn Medicine's MyHeartMap Challenge, the citywide crowdsourcing contest aimed at locating and mapping all of the lifesaving automated external defibrillators in Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/myheartmap/ Thu, 03 May 2012 16:00:00 GMT Perelman School of Medicine professors Gideon Dreyfuss, PhD, the Isaac Norris Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, and Beatrice H. Hahn, MD, professor of Medicine and Microbiology, along with Nancy Bonini, PhD, the Lucille B. Williams Professor of Biology in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences, have been elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, considered one of the highest honors accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/three/ Thu, 03 May 2012 16:00:00 GMT HIV patients treated with genetically modified T cells remain healthy up to 11 years after initial therapy, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in the new issue of Science Translational Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/t-cell/ Wed, 02 May 2012 18:00:00 GMT After nearly 13 years of study and intense debate, a pair of new papers from the Perelman School of Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania have confirmed exactly how a once-popular class of anti-inflammatory drugs leads to cardiovascular risk for people taking it. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/risk/ Wed, 02 May 2012 18:00:00 GMT Alan J. Wein, MD, PhD (Hon), has received the Keyes Medal from the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons (AAGUS) for his contributions to the field of urology. Wein is professor and chief of the division of Urology at the Perelman School of Medicine and Director of the Urology Residency Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/urology/ Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT Arthur H. Rubenstein, MBBCh, was awarded the highest honor of the Association of American Physicians (AAP) the George M. Kober Medal, this week at the annual joint meeting of the AAP and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/05/medal/ Tue, 01 May 2012 15:00:00 GMT Two drugs commonly used to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) yield similar improvements in vision for patients receiving treatments on a monthly or as-needed basis, according to a study from researchers at the Center for Preventive Ophthalmology and Biostatistics (CPOB) at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/vision/ Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:00:00 GMT More expensive biologic treatments for psoriasis were only marginally more effective than standard treatments, according to a new study led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Researchers found that previously reported response rates from randomized controlled trials were higher than results in a clinical, real-world setting. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/psoriasis/ Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:00:00 GMT Perelman School of Medicine researchers Thomas Curran, PhD, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Gary A. Koretzky, MD, PhD, vice chair for research and chief scientific officer, Department of Medicine, and are among the 220 elected to the 2012 class of members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/academy/ Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:00:00 GMT A cellular protein called HDAC6, newly characterized as a gatekeeper of steroid biology in the brain, may provide a novel target for treating and preventing stress-linked disorders, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/hdac6/ Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:00:00 GMT Garret FitzGerald, MD, chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine & Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is among the 44 newly elected Fellows and eight newly elected Foreign Members to the Royal Society. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/royal-society/ Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:00:00 GMT In a series of studies being presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Penn researchers demonstrated that, while tests created for AD are effectively diagnosing the condition when it's clear cut, additional tests are needed to address the many cases with mixed pathology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/ftd/ Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:40:00 GMT Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) has achieved Magnet status – the highest institutional honor awarded for nursing excellence – from the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/magnet/ Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:00:00 GMT Two new studies analyzing treatment decisions in late-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients shed light onto treatments aimed to extend the duration and quality of life in this progressively debilitating neuromuscular disorder. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/als/ Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:00:00 GMT Carl June, MD, director of Translational Research for the Abramson Cancer Center and a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, has been named among the top three winners of the inaugural Clinical Research Forum Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards for his work treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia using genetically engineered versions of patients' own T cells, which multiply in the body as "serial killer" cells aimed at cancerous tumors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/t-cell/ Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:00:00 GMT Last year, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that small amounts of a misfolded brain protein can be taken up by healthy neurons, replicating within them to cause neurodegeneration. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/protein/ Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:00:00 GMT Penn Presbyterian Medical Center has ranked among the nation's top 100 hospitals, according to the annual study by Thompson Reuters. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/reuters/ Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:00:00 GMT Continuing its commitment to underserved communities, Penn Medicine established the CAREs Foundation Grant Program in January 2012 to support and recognize faculty, student, and/or staff efforts to improve the health of the community and increase volunteerism in community-based programs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/cares/ Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT More than 60 percent of breast cancer survivors report at least one treatment-related complication even six years after their diagnosis, according to a new study led by a researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/breast-cancer/ Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:00:00 GMT Niacin, or vitamin B3, is the one approved drug that elevates good cholesterol (high density lipoprotein, HDL) while depressing bad cholesterol (low density lipoprotein , LDL), and has thereby attracted much attention from patients and physicians. Niacin keeps fat from breaking down, and so obstructs the availability of LDL building blocks. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/drugs/ Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:00:00 GMT Researchers have long recognized that autism runs in families, suggesting a genetic component. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/dna/ Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT The 24-hour internal clock controls many aspects of human behavior and physiology, including sleep, blood pressure, and metabolism. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/clock/ Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania's Jonathan Moreno has been invited to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's International Bioethics Committee. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/moreno/ Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:00:00 GMT The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC) has awarded three-year accreditation to all three Penn Medicine hospitals in recognition of their commitment to the highest level of quality cancer care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/commission/ Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:00:00 GMT Virginia M.Y. Lee, PhD, MBA, and John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, both professors of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have been named recipients of the 24th annual Medical Research Award in Neuropsychiatric Disorders by the Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/04/pasarow/ Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:00:00 GMT A Penn- and MIT-led team explained how rapamycin, a drug that extends mouse lifespan, also causes insulin resistance. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/baur/ Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:00:00 GMT Rajan Jain, MD, cardiovascular fellow, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, has been honored with an American Medical Association (AMA) 2012 Seed Grant Research Program award for his promising research into congenital heart disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/heart-disease/ Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT Patients with end-stage liver disease complicated by the most common type of liver cancer – hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) – are less likely to die or become too sick for a transplant while waiting for a new liver than those with other complications of end-stage liver disease, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/waitlist/ Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, have received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study novel approaches to preventing chronic diseases in HIV positive African American men. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/researchers/ Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT A highly detailed CT scan of the heart can safely and quickly rule out the possibility of a heart attack among many patients who come to hospital emergency rooms with chest pain, according to the results of a study that will be presented by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania today at the American College of Cardiology’s 61st Annual Scientific Session and published concurrently in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/scan/ Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT When poet Walt Whitman wrote that we contain multitudes, he was speaking metaphorically, but he was correct in the literal sense. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/allergies/ Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:00:00 GMT Nobel Laureate Peter Agre, MD, professor and director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Bloomberg School of Public Health, will deliver the address at the Perelman School of Medicine’s commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 13, 2012 in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/agre/ Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:00:00 GMT Steven Brem, MD, professor of Neurosurgery, chief of the division of Neurosurgical Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received the 2012 Joel A. Gingras, Jr. award from the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/award/ Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:00:00 GMT Insulin resistance in the brain precedes and contributes to cognitive decline above and beyond other known causes of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/insulin/ Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified an abnormal amount a protein called Prostaglandin D2 in the bald scalp of men with male pattern baldness, a discovery that may lead directly to new treatments for the most common cause of hair loss in men. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/hair/ Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:00:00 GMT Intervention by peer mentors has a statistically significant effect on improving glucose control in African American veterans with diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/mentoring/ Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:00:00 GMT The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has been accredited for the second time as a Magnet organization - the highest institutional honor granted for nursing excellence - from the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/magnet/ Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:00:00 GMT Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a lifelong set of developmental disorders that often demand significant resources of time and money from families. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/mothers/ Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT Clifford S. Deutschman, MD, MS, professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care and director of the Sepsis Research Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has been named as the President of the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/sccm/ Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:00:00 GMT At the stroke of noon on Friday, March 16, 140 Perelman School of Medicine students (70 women and 70 men) will gather in an emotion-filled ceremony to open their "residency placement" envelopes and learn where they will spend the next few years receiving their advanced medical training. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/match-day/ Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:00:00 GMT A growing body of evidence underscores the importance of human gut bacteria in modulating human health, metabolism, and disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/bushman/ Thu, 15 Mar 2012 01:00:00 GMT OncoLink, a free cancer information website developed by experts at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center has launched a redesigned website based on the search habits and feedback from patients, caregivers and health care providers who use the site. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/redesign/ Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT A study published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience shows that the compound epothilone D (EpoD) is effective in preventing further neurological damage and improving cognitive performance in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/alzheimer/ Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:00:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (www.med.upenn.edu) has ranked second among the nation's research-oriented medical schools, according to the annual survey by U.S. News and World Report. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/ranking/ Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (www.med.upenn.edu) and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) (www.chop.edu), including specialists in neurobiology, psychiatry, and biomedical imaging, have received a $3.5 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)* to study how to enhance stress resilience in military personnel. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/darpa/ Wed, 7 Mar 2012 21:00:00 GMT Aggressive treatment for severe traumatic brain injuries costs more than routine care, yet yields significantly better outcomes, improved quality of life, and lower long term care costs, according to a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/brain-injury/ Tue, 6 Mar 2012 17:00:00 GMT Jamie Shuda, EdD, director of life science outreach at the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM), and coordinator of life science education at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships also at Penn, along with Steve Farber, PhD, Investigator, Embryology Department, Carnegie Institution for Science, Baltimore, have been awarded the Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize from the Society for Developmental Biology (SBD). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/shuda/ Tue, 6 Mar 2012 15:00:00 GMT Mark A. Lemmon, PhD, chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, is the 2012 recipient of the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award by The Protein Society. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/lemmon/ Mon, 5 Mar 2012 21:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report this month in Cancer Research a universal approach to personalized cancer therapy based on T cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/new-platform/ Mon, 5 Mar 2012 20:00:00 GMT Only about 75 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in the United States remain in care consistently, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published online this week in AIDS. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/hiv/ Mon, 5 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT Aging does not appear to be a factor in poor sleep, a new study by Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/03/sleep/ Thu, 1 Mar 2012 03:00:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has been has been selected as a Regional Center for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) Heart Failure Clinical Trials Network. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/heart-failure/ Wed, 29 Feb 2012 03:00:00 GMT Four University of Pennsylvania faculty members, including two from the Perelman School of Medicine, are among this year's Sloan Fellowship recipients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/sloan/ Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have put sleeplessness on the map - literally. The research team, analyzing nationwide data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has produced the first state-by-state sleep maps for the United States, revealing that residents of Southern states suffer from the most sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue, while residents on the West Coast report the least amount of problems. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/sleepless/ Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:00:00 GMT Two researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded a four-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute to conduct breast cancer virtual clinical trials research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/nih-grant/ Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:00:00 GMT The infamous BRCA genes do not act alone in causing cancer; there is a molecular syndicate at work preventing the way cells normally repair breaks in DNA that is at the root of breast cancer. But finding all of the BRCA molecular collaborators has been elusive. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/new-member/ Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:00:00 GMT A team led by researchers from the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism (IDOM) at the erelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has overturned a "textbook" view of what the body does after a meal. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/textbook/ Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT Blocking autophagy -- the process of "self-eating" within cells -- is turning out to be a viable way to enhance the effectiveness of a wide variety of cancer treatments. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/new-combo/ Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:00:00 GMT Injecting epilepsy patients with medication via an autoinjector -- similar to the EpiPens used to treat serious allergic reactions -- works more quickly to stop seizures than delivery of a drug via IV on board ambulances, according to a national study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/epilepsy/ Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:00:00 GMT Gene therapy for congenital blindness has taken another step forward, as researchers further improved vision in three adult patients previously treated in one eye. After receiving the same treatment in their other eye, the patients became better able to see in dim light, and two were able to navigate obstacles in low-light situations. No adverse effects occurred. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/gene-therapy-blindness/ Wed, 8 Feb 2012 04:00:00 GMT The molecular pathway that carries time-of-day signals from the body's internal clock to ultimately guide daily behavior is like a black box, says Amita Sehgal, PhD, the John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience and Co-Director, Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/02/internal-clock-black-box/ Mon, 6 Feb 2012 04:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania report that a short course of vaccination with an anti-HER2 dendritic cell vaccine made partly from the patient's own cells triggers a complete tumor eradication in nearly 20 percent of women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early breast cancer. More than 85 percent of patients treated appear to have a sustained immune response after vaccination, which may reduce their risk of developing a more invasive cancer in the future. The results of the study were published online this month of Cancer and in the January issue of the Journal of Immunotherapy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/cancer-tumors/ Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT Results were released yesterday from the Pennsylvania Autism Needs Assessment, which includes feedback from 3,500 Pennsylvania caregivers and adults with autism, making it the largest study of its kind in the nation. Among the findings, the study shows that training in social skills has been identified as the most common unmet need for both children and adults with autism. The study also found that more than two-thirds of adults with autism are unemployed or underemployed. The survey was led by the Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/autism-pa-families/ Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT People who suffer from sleep disturbances are at major risk for obesity, diabetes, and coronary artery disease, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. For the first time in such a large and diverse sample, analyzing the data of over 130,000 people, the new research also indicates that general sleep disturbance (difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, and/or sleeping too much) may play a role in the development of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. The study is published online ahead of print in the Journal of Sleep Research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/sleep-cardio-diabetes-obesity/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT Men are four times more likely to develop liver cancer compared to women, a difference attributed to the sex hormones androgen and estrogen. Although this gender difference has been known for a long time, the molecular mechanisms by which estrogens prevent -- and androgens promote -- liver cancer remain unclear. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/liver-cancer-gender/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT TBen Stanger, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Andrew Rhim, MD, a Gastroenterology Fellow in the Stanger lab, discovered that pancreatic cancer cells in an animal model begin to spread before clinically obvious tumor tissue is detected. What’s more, they showed that inflammation enhances cancer progression in part by facilitating a cellular transformation that leads to entry of cancer cells into the circulation. They report their findings this week in Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/cell-tracking-cancer/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is one of six institutions to be named part of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Lung Repair and Regeneration Consortium (LRRC). Each of the institutions will receive $2.5 million over five years. Edward Morrisey, PhD, professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology and Scientific Director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine, will lead the Penn consortium. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/lung-biologists-award/ Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT Cancer cells have been long known to have a "sweet tooth," using vast amounts of glucose for energy and for building blocks for cell replication. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/cancer-cells-sugar-free/ Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT A new multi-center study, including neurologists and neurosurgeons from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, reveals that Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) – a treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with medication-resistant muscle movement impairment or tremors – can improve those symptoms and reduce medications for patients implanted with the device. The study appears Online First in Lancet Neurology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/deep-brain-parkinsons/ Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT Patients with gout – a painful type of inflammatory arthritis caused by the crystallization of urates in soft tissues – are advised to start treatment that lowers uric acid levels in the blood. Unfortunately, as the long-term medication starts to break down crystals deposited in the joints, many patients experience gout attacks caused by the release of crystals from softened deposits. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/gout-rilonacept/ Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT Patients simultaneously treated for both Type 2 diabetes and depression improve medication compliance and significantly improve blood sugar and depression levels compared to patients receiving usual care, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Of patients receiving integrated care combined with a brief period of intervention to assist with adherence to prescribed medication regimens, more than 60 percent had improved blood sugar test results and 58 percent had reduced depression symptoms, compared to only 36 percent and 31 percent, respectively, of patients receiving usual care. The full results of the study are published in the January/February issue of The Annals of Family Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/diabetes-depression/ Mon, 9 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT Four faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), three from the Perelman School of Medicine. This year 539 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/aaas-fellows-2012/ Thu, 5 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT Peter LeRoux, MD, FACS, associate professor of Neurosurgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a 3-year, $250,000 Dana Foundation Clinical Neuroscience grant, to conduct a study using branch chain amino acids to treat concussion in athletes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2012/01/leroux-award/ Tue, 3 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are in the midst of testing a personalized, dendritic cell vaccine in patients with recurrent ovarian, primary peritoneal or fallopian tube cancer – a group of patients who typically have few treatment options. Now, they have shown they can shorten the time to manufacture this type of anti-cancer vaccine, which reduces costs of manufacturing the treatment while still yielding powerful dendritic cells that may be beneficial for these and a variety of other tumor types. The data is published in the December issue of PLoS ONE. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/personalized-ovarian/ Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT A new measurement tool can identify cognitively normal adults who are at high risk for cognitive decline, according to a new study by collaborators at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Medical School. The study is published in the December 21, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/meas-brain-thickness// Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Eydie Miller-Ellis, MD, professor of Clinical Ophthalmology and director of the Glaucoma Division at Scheie Eye Institute, was recently presented with the Women in Ophthalmology's Suzanne Veronneau Troutman Award at the 2011 American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting. The honor recognizes the woman, nominated by the WIO membership, who has done the most over the past year to further women in ophthalmology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/women-ophthalmology/ Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine has launched myPennMedicine, the Philadelphia region's only online patient-accessible health record. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/my-penn-medicine/ Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT The Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania announces the establishment of the Neuroscience of Behavior Initiative. This new initiative, funded by an anonymous gift, will strengthen Penn programs in basic, translational, clinical, and population research into the areas of addiction, depressive disorders, and neurodegenerative disease. The gift, totaling more than $16.3 million, is the largest to neuroscience at Penn Medicine, and among the largest individual gifts to medical research in the U.S. in 2011. The gift is the first phase of what is anticipated to be a long-term investment by the donors in this initiative. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/neuro-behavior-gift/ Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT James Eberwine, PhD, professor of Pharmacology, at the Perleman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a Senior Scholar Award from the Ellison Medical Foundation. This supports basic biological research in aging, for $600,000 to be disbursed over the next four years. He is one of 20 investigators to receive this award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/senior-scholar-ellison/ Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Steve Reiner, MD, professor of Medicine, and Burton Barnett, a doctoral student in the Reiner lab at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have shown how immune cells, called B lymphocytes, are able to produce daughter cells that are not equal, a finding that might explain how lifelong antibodies are made after vaccination. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/bcells-antibodies/ Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report promising new results from a small clinical trial using an immune-system-based gene therapy for treating advanced stages of a deadly cancer, malignant mesothelioma. The treatment, immuno-gene therapy, transfers just enough genetic material from an existing virus to trigger a patient's innate defenses to destroy cancer cells. The study results, published in the December 15th issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, may lead to earlier interventions for patients using targeted therapies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/igt-cancer/ Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Inhibition of Lymphocyte Trafficking Using a CCR5 Antagonist – Final Results of a Phase I/II Study. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/hiv-drug-graft-host/ Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT In efforts to find new treatments for Parkinson’s Disease (PD), researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have directly reprogrammed astrocytes, the most plentiful cell type in the central nervous system, into dopamine-producing neurons. PD is marked by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain. Dopamine is a brain chemical important in behavior and cognition, voluntary movement, sleep, mood, attention, and memory and learning. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/reprogramming-brain-cells/ Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT A method of classifying brain atrophy patterns in Alzheimer's disease patients using MRIs can also detect cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Researchers also found that higher baseline Alzheimer's patterns of atrophy predicted long-term cognitive decline in cognitively normal Parkinson's patients. The study is published online in Brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/cognitive-decline-parkinsons Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Atrophy in the hippocampus, the region of the brain known for memory formation and storage, is evident in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with cognitive impairment, including early decline known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), according to a study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The study is published in the December issue of the Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/hippocampal-atrophy/ Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Daniel Sterman, MD, director of Interventional Pulmonology, and associate professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Medicine, has been honored with the Pasquale Ciaglia Memorial Lecture award in Interventional Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/StermanACCP/ Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT A Phase 1 Dose Escalation Study of Infusion of ExVivo CD3/CD28 Costimulated Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived T Cells in Adults Undergoing Transplantation for Advanced Hematologic Malignancies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/cord-blood-transplant/ Sun, 11 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Adoptive Immunotherapy with Autologous CD3/CD28-Costimulated T-Cells After Fludarabine-Based Chemotherapy in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/leukemia-immune-chemo/ Sun, 11 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT A research team led by Nancy Speck, PhD, professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has discovered a molecular marker for the immediate precursors of hematopoietic (blood) stem cells (HSCs) in the developing embryo, which provides much-needed insights for making these cells from engineered precursors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/speck-stem-cells/ Thu, 8 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT A group of Penn Medicine researchers is set to save lives with cell phone cameras -- and they are challenging the public to help. The MyHeartMap Challenge, a month-long contest slated to take place beginning in mid January, will send thousands of Philadelphians to the streets and to social media sites to locate as many automated external defibrillators (AEDs) as they can. The contest is just a first step in what the Penn team hopes will grow to become a nationwide, crowd-sourced AED registry project that will put the lifesaving devices in the hands of anyone, anywhere, anytime. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/myheartmap-challenge/ Thu, 8 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT A Decision Analysis of Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy in Women Undergoing Treatment for Sporadic Unilateral Breast Cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/cpm-breast-cancer/ Wed, 7 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT In a study in which researchers posing as mothers attempted to schedule appointments for sick children at specialty clinics, practices affiliated with academic medical centers were less likely to deny appointments to children with Medicaid-CHIP insurance coverage versus children with commercial insurance, according to report from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published online this week in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/children-medicaid-chip/ Wed, 7 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Over 140 third and fourth graders from the Penn Alexander School, Saint Francis DeSales School, and Beulah Christian Day School will spend a morning on the Penn campus "judging" hands-on science activities developed by students at Penn, including undergraduate Biological Basis of Behavior program majors and graduate students in neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/kids-judge-science/ Thu, 1 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT Write to Fight Cancer Author David Tabatsky is coming to Joan Karnell Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital for the "Write to Fight Cancer" program, a free interactive expressive writing workshop. The event is open to all people affected by cancer (patients, survivors, caregivers, friends, etc.) and it will feature expert advice, writing exercises and discussion. David will help participants transform their thoughts and feelings into words and stories. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/12/write-fight-cancer/ Thu, 1 Dec 2011 04:00:00 GMT The holidays can be difficult for those who have lost a loved one. This week, Penn Medicine will host its annual Light Up a Life ceremonies, to honor and remember family, friends, and loved ones who have passed, by lighting trees in their honor. Penn Wissahickon Hospice, a division of Penn Home Care and Hospice Services and part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, holds the celebration in honor of the people who have brightened and enriched the lives of others. The thousands of lights on the trees are each dedicated in honor or memory of a patient, friend or loved one. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/penn-hospice-lul-events/ Mon, 28 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Oral antibiotics used to treat acne are linked to symptoms of sore throat, according to a study by researchers with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published Online First in the Archives of Dermatology , one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/acne-throat/ Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania researchers have received a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to create the Penn Center for Innovation in Personalized Breast Cancer Screening (PCIPS), dedicated to studying emerging methods of breast cancer detection. The NCI funding will allow the team, led by Perelman School of Medicine faculty Katrina Armstrong, MD, MSCE, chief of the division of Internal Medicine and associate director of Outcomes and Delivery in the Abramson Cancer Center, and Mitchell Schnall, MD, PhD, Matthew J. Wilson Professor of Radiology, to use clinical, genomic and imaging information to guide the use of novel, personalized breast cancer screening strategies that will reduce false positive rates to improve outcomes." http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/breast-cancer-screening-nci/ Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT On the quest for safe, reliable and accessible tools to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's disease, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found a new way of diagnosing and tracking Alzheimer's disease, using an innovative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called Arterial spin labeling (ASL) to measure changes in brain function. The team determined that the ASL-MRI test is a promising alternative to the current standard, a specific PET scan that requires exposure to small amounts of a radioactive glucose analog and costs approximately four-times more than an ASL-MRI. Two studies now appear in Alzheimer's and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association and Neurology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/mri-brain-alz/ Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Greening of vacant urban land may affect the health and safety of nearby residents, according to a study published online in the American Journal of Epidemiology this week. The team, led by senior author Charles C. Branas, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, found in a decade-long comparison of vacant lots and improved vacant lots, that greening was linked to significant reductions in gun assaults across most of Philadelphia and significant reductions in vandalism in one section of the city. Vacant lot greening was also associated with residents in certain sections of the city reporting significantly less stress and more exercise. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/more-green-crime/ Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Supervised exercise improves walking ability as good as, if not better than, stents in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to research released at the 2011 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. The study is a joint collaboration from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Minnesota Medical School, Rhode Island Hospital, and 13 other academic institutions and medical centers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/exercise-wallking-pad/ Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Collaborative research from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has shown that psoriasis patients have an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death, especially if the psoriasis is moderate to severe. Now, Penn researchers have discovered the potential underlying mechanism by which the inflammatory skin disease impacts cardiovascular health. In two new studies presented at the 2011 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, Penn researchers show that the systemic inflammatory impact of psoriasis may alter both the makeup of cholesterol particles and numbers, as well as impair the function of high density lipoprotein (HDL), the "good" cholesterol. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/psoriasis-hdl/ Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has shown for the first time that pneumonia is the most common serious infection after heart surgery. The new study, presented at the 2011 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, also revealed that most infections occur about two weeks after surgery, not one week as physicians previously thought. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/pneumonia-heart-surgery/ Tue, 15 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Just 30 percent the nation's state police agencies reported that they equip their vehicles with automated external defibrillators, and of those, nearly 60 percent of said only a minority of their fleet have the lifesaving devices on board, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented today at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions (Abstract #10721). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/aed-cars/ Tue, 15 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig''s disease, is a universally fatal neurodegenerative disease. Mutations in two related proteins, TDP-43 and FUS, cause some forms of ALS. Specifically, these two proteins are RNA-binding proteins that connect to RNA to regulate the translation of proteins and other cellular functions such as RNA splicing and editing. In a new study, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania discovered additional human genes with properties similar to TDP-43 and FUS that might also contribute to ALS. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/genetic-screening-yeast/ Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Can a visit to your primary care doctor help you lose weight? Primary care physicians, working with medical assistants in their practices, helped one group of their obese patients lose an average of 10.1 lb during a two-year lifestyle intervention, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Their 10 lb weight loss was associated, over the two years, with improvements in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, including waist circumference and HDL cholesterol levels. The results of the POWER-UP (Practice-based Opportunities for Weight Reduction at the University of Pennsylvania) trial were reported in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine and at the American Heart Association annual meeting today. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/obese-power-up/ Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and collaborators at various institutions, presented at the 2011 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, shows that a novel, non-invasive measurement of arterial wave reflections may be able to predict who is most at risk for heart failure. The authors presented data from an ancillary study of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/ni-meas-heart-failure/ Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Physicians may be making premature predictions about which patients are not likely to survive following cardiac arrest – and even withdrawing care -- before the window in which comatose patients who have received therapeutic hypothermia are most likely to wake up, according to two new studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The research helps to better define the proper timeframe and manner in which doctors may be able to predict which patients will regain consciousness after the use of therapeutic hypothermia, which preserves brain and other organ function following cardiac arrest. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/cardiac-arrest-hypothermia/ Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT By studying tumor biology at the molecular level, researchers are gaining a deeper understanding of drug resistance - and how to avoid it by designing pediatric cancer treatments tailored to specific mutations in a child"s DNA. In a fruitful collaboration, pediatric oncologists and biochemists are targeting neuroblastoma, an often-deadly childhood cancer of the peripheral nervous system. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/childhood-cancer-treatments/ Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT A team of researchers co-led by the University of Pennsylvania has developed and tested a new high-resolution, ultra-thin device capable of recording brain activity from the cortical surface without having to use penetrating electrodes. The device could make possible a whole new generation of brain-computer interfaces for treating neurological and psychiatric illness and research. The work was published in Nature Neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/brain-map-device/ Sun, 13 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Discussion about cardiac arrest on Twitter is common and represents a new opportunity to provide lifesaving information to the public, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The Penn investigators will present two studies (ReSS Abstracts #52 and #53) examining cardiac arrest-information exchange on the social media site today at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/twitter-save-lives/ Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Even members of the lay public who have received CPR training are confused about how to perform the lifesaving skill and say they don't have confidence in their ability to do it properly, according to a study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania which will be presented today at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions (Abstract #65). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/save-lives-cpr/ Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Good Shepherd Penn Partners (GSPP) today officially opened its 10th outpatient site, GSPP Penn Therapy and Fitness-Rittenhouse, at 1800 Lombard Street in Philadelphia. The 11,000-square-foot facility located on the first floor of Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse, offers orthopedic or sports medicine rehabilitation and specialized services for people with neurological issues such as stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury and MS. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/gspp-10th-site/ Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT The lining of the intestine regenerates itself every few days as compared to say red blood cells that turn over every four months. The cells that help to absorb food and liquid that humans consume are constantly being produced. The various cell types that do this come from stem cells that reside deep in the inner recesses of the accordion-like folds of the intestines, called villi and crypts. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/gut-cell-regen/ Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Resources for News Media Covering the 2011 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, November 12 – 16, 2011 http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/american-heart-assn/ Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Doctors should consider the use of narrative -- in the form of patient stories and testimonials -- as a powerful tool for translating and communicating evidence-based policies to the public to buoy buy-in on important health issues such as cancer screenings and vaccination mandates, according to two physicians from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania writing this week in JAMA. They suggest two strategies: The use of so-called "counternarratives," which can play a role in neutralizing personal stories – often promoted by celebrities via the news media -- that support disproven theories, and narratives about the process of scientific study and discovery, to unmask the often hidden work of researchers and guidelines committees. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/story-behind-science/ Tue, 8 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT Scientists at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine Center for Research in FOP and Related Disorders have developed a new genetic approach to specifically block the damaged copy of the gene for a rare bone disease, while leaving the normal copy untouched. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/rare-bone-disease/ Fri, 4 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT A research group at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, led by John Lynch, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, has received a National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to establish a Barrett's esophagus translational research network (BETRNet) with Columbia University (led by Dr. Timothy Wang) and the Mayo Clinic (led by Dr. Kenneth Wang). The award is for nearly $8 million across all sites. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/barrett-esophagus/ Wed, 2 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT For the first time in the Delaware Valley Region, a patient has undergone a complex and intricate bilateral hand transplant that could significantly enhance the quality-of-life for persons with multiple limb loss. The procedure was performed by Penn's Hand Transplant Program which operates under the leadership of the Penn Transplant Institute and in collaboration with Gift of Life Donor Program, the nonprofit organ and tissue donor program which serves the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. The highly-trained team's first bilateral hand transplant was performed in September. At this time, the patient is progressing well and both the patient and donor family wish to remain anonymous. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/11/hand-transplant-pressconf/ Tue, 1 Nov 2011 04:00:00 GMT For the first time in the Delaware Valley Region, a patient has undergone a complex and intricate transplant procedure that could significantly enhance the quality-of-life for persons with multiple limb loss. In September, a highly-skilled, specially-trained team from the newly established Penn Hand Transplant Program at the Penn Transplant Institute performed its first bilateral hand transplant. Working closely with its partner, Gift of Life Donor Program, a team of 30 members – 12 surgeons, three anesthesiologists and 15 nurses – performed the 11-and-a-half hour double transplant procedure – a Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation – that involved experts in solid organ transplantation, orthopaedic surgery, plastic surgery, reconstructive microsurgery and anesthesia. Details of this history-making procedure will be forthcoming a press conference tomorrow at 10 am at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/bilateral-hand-transplant/ Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT The most common form of heritable cognitive impairment is Fragile X Syndrome, caused by mutation or malfunction of the FMR1 gene. Loss of FMR1 function is also the most common genetic cause of autism. Understanding how this gene works is vital to finding new treatments to help Fragile X patients and others. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/fragilex-syndrome/ Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT It will be lights, camera, fashion, and passion for a cure during the Abramson Cancer Center's Focus On Women's Cancers Conference on Friday, October 28th. Penn Medicine cancer physicians, patients, and survivors will take to the runway modeling clothes by fashion designer and philanthropist Tory Burch to cap off the daylong conference, which includes educational sessions for women undergoing treatment for or at risk of breast, ovarian and other gynecologic cancers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/hope-tory-burch/ Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT The pigmented cells called melanocytes aren't just for making freckles and tans. Melanocytes absorb ultraviolet light, protecting the skin from the harmful effects of the sun. They also are the cells that go haywire in melanoma, as well as in more common conditions as vitiligo and albinism. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/skin-cells/ Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT Obesity and insulin resistance are almost inevitably associated with increases in lipid accumulation in the liver, a serious disease that can deteriorate to hepatitis and liver failure. A real paradox in understanding insulin resistance is figuring out why insulin-resistant livers make more fat. Insulin resistance occurs when the body does a poor job of lowering blood sugars. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/insulin-paradox/ Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT Embarking on one the largest capital projects in the history of Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Medicine will celebrate the official groundbreaking of its new Penn Medicine Washington Square (PMWS) facility. The new facility, to be located at 8th and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia's historic Society Hill section, will house outpatient services for Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH) – the nation's first, founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/washington-square/ Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT In the nearly four decades since the performance of the first human heart transplant in 1967, heart transplantation has changed from an experimental operation to an established treatment for advanced heart disease. Thanks to the persistence of pioneers in cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, and transplant medicine, including experts at Penn Medicine, thousands of heart transplant patients in the U.S. are living longer and healthier lives than ever before. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/mars-venus/ Thu, 20 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT Three professors from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been elected members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/institute-of-medicine-elects-three/ Thu, 20 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT Smith Apisarnthanarax, MD, Assistant Professor and Associate Residency Program Director, Department of Radiation Oncology, was named Educator of the Year by the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO), in partnership with the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/smith_apisarnthanarax_award Fri, 21 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT Can a bird have a heart attack? A recent paper published by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that cardiovascular disease may be an unfortunate consequence of mammalian evolution. The study, published in a recent issue of the journal Blood, demonstrates that the same features of blood platelets that may have provided an evolutionary advantage to early mammals now predispose humans to cardiovascular disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/cardio_disease_evol/ Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT Recent studies have identified many genes that may put people with schizophrenia at risk for the disease. But, what links genetic differences to changes in altered brain activity in schizophrenia is not clear. Now, three labs at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have come together using electrophysiological, anatomical, and immunohistochemical approaches - along with a unique high-speed imaging technique - to understand how schizophrenia works at the cellular level, especially in identifying how changes in the interaction between different types of nerve cells leads to symptoms of the disease. The findings are reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/schizophrenia-genetics/ Fri, 07 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT A unique gathering of international experts will be charting the unfolding landscape of how to bring personalized medicines to the consumer. Thought leaders from academic medical centers, government, and industry will identify opportunities and hazards about using personal genomic information to develop new treatments and cures. Held at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania on October 18 and 19, the 6th Annual Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) International Symposium, Translational Strategies in Contemporary Science, brings together a distinguished faculty of over two dozen international thought leaders who will discuss the present and future of translational medicine, including personalized genomics and disease risk; nature vs. nurture and epigenetics in personalized medicine; and recent drug-development models that work. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/6th_tm_symposium/ Fri, 07 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT Research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that small amounts of misshapened brain proteins can be taken up by healthy neurons and replicated within them to cause neurodegeneration. The research, published in Neuron, shows a way that Parkinson's disease (PD) can spread in the brain and provides a model for discovering therapeutics targeting PD neurodegeneration. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/parkinson-disease/ Thus, 06 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT Daniel J. Rader, MD, chief, Division of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics, and Edward Morrisey, PhD, professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine, and Scientific Director at the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin received a five-year, $9 million grant for stem cell research from the National Institutes of Health’s National Human Genome Research (NHGRI) and the National Heart Lung and Blood (NHLBI) Institutes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/nih-genevariants-cardio/ Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT Cognitive therapy has dynamically improved the most neurologically impaired, poorly functioning schizophrenic patients. For the first time, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that a psychosocial treatment can significantly improve daily functioning and quality of life in the lowest-functioning cases of schizophrenia. The study appears in the October 3 edition of Archives of General Psychiatry. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/schizophrenia/ Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:00:00 GMT A new multimedia informed consent tool accessed via the Internet may make it easier for cancer patients to understand and feel comfortable enrolling in clinical trials, according a study conducted by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO) 53rd Annual Meeting. The research group points to the tool as a potential way to buoy the low percentage of adult cancer patients who participate in clinical trials, which hovers between 2 and 4 percent nationwide. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/astro-consent-tool/ Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:00:00 GMT There’s more than one way to mop up after a flu infection. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report this week in Nature Immunology that a previously unrecognized population of lung immune cells orchestrate the body’s repair response following flu infection. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/immune-cells/ Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:00:00 GMT In the ongoing quest to find the exact way that anesthetics interact with the central nervous system, anesthesiology researchers have been examining whether the state induced by anesthetics resembles natural sleep. One way to measure this is to determine whether undergoing general anesthesia results in a sleep debt for patients. Previous research has shown that the injected anesthetic propofol does not cause a sleep deficit. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown in animal models that another group of anesthetics, commonly used in the operating room, do not substitute for natural sleep and may cause complications for surgery patients already at-risk for sleep-related issues. The new research is published in the October 2011 issue of the journal Anesthesiology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/natural_sleep/ Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:00:00 GMT The possibility that anesthesia and surgery produces lasting cognitive losses has gained attention over past decades, but direct evidence has remained ambiguous and controversial. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania provide further evidence that Alzheimer's pathology may be increased in patients after surgery. The new research is published in the October 2011 issue of the journal Anesthesiology. http://uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/10/alzheimer_biomarkers/ Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:00:00 GMT Patients being treated for chronic hepatitis C become less likely to take their medications over time, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Since the study also showed better response to the drugs when they're taken correctly, the researchers say the findings should prompt clinicians to assess patients for barriers to medication adherence throughout their treatment, and develop strategies to help them stay on track. The study is published online this month in Annals of Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/hep-c-falter/ Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT The 10th Annual Keep the Beat Event Held in Memory of HUP Heart Transplant Recipient Mickey Gallaher and to Promote Organ Donor Awareness http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/10th-keep-the-beat/ Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT Jun Mao, MD, MSCE assistant professor of Family Medicine and Community Health in the Perelman School of Medicine, and director of Integrative Medicine, recently received a 1.5 million dollar National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to study the way in which genetic variations in estrogen synthesis affect women with breast cancer who are taking aromatase inhibitors, which are typically used to prevent recurrence. The drugs help post-menopausal women to further suppress their body's production of estrogen. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/jun_mao_grant/ Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT The longevity revolution in Philadelphia continues. Super-centenarian Ms. Willie Lassiter will be celebrating her 111th birthday in style on Friday, in the company of family, friends, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/3rd_oldest_pa/ Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT Three labs from the University of Pennsylvania have received $12.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of its $143.8 million national grant program to challenge the scientific status quo with innovative ideas that have the potential to speed the translation of medical research into improved health for the American public. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/national-institutes-of-health-nih/ Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients of different sexes and races may respond differently to treatment with commonly used medications for the disease, says a new study from researchers at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/women-pulmonary-arterial-hypertension/ Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT Despite what Hollywood would have you believe, not all epidemics involve people suffering from zombie-like symptoms--some can only be uncovered through door-to-door epidemiology and advanced mathematics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/parasite-peru/ Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT Mitral regurgitation is a common heart valve disorder, where blood flows backwards through the mitral valve when the heart contracts and reduces the amount of blood that is pumped out to the body. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/atrial-fibrillation/ Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Monash University, and Virginia Tech have used a set of novel inhibitors to analyze how the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, uses enzymes to chew up human hemoglobin from host red blood cells as a food source. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/greenbaum-anti-malaria-drugs/ Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT Trevor Penning, PhD, professor of Pharmacology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues have received a 2011 Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/penning-pcf-grant/ Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT Three years ago, preliminary but encouraging results were announced regarding the safety and success of gene therapy in a small cohort of patients with an inherited form of blindness known as Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/gene-therapy-inherited-retinal-disease/ Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT The changing tide of Alzheimer's diagnosis presents new challenges to the public, physicians and lawmakers: if you could find out your Alzheimer's risk, would you want to know? How should doctors tell you your risk? http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/safeguards/ Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has received the Get With The Guidelines®–Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/gold-quality/ Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:00:00 GMT It's no secret that a high-fat diet isn't healthy. Now researchers have discovered a molecular clue as to precisely why that is. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/heart-disease/ Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:00:00 GMT The Alzheimer's Disease Core Center (ADCC) at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has received a renewal grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at NIH. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/renewal-award/ Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:00:00 GMT Mark L. Kahn, MD, professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received a five-year, $6 million grant from Paris-based Fondation Leducq to study lymphatic vascular defects and their contribution to common human cardiovascular diseases. Kahn and his lab team, including Zhiying Zou, Paul Hess, Zoltan Jakus, and Patty Mericko, lead the North American contingent of an international group that includes two other American and three European academic institutions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/penn-researcher/ Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:00:00 GMT Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded another five-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue the programs of the Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/musculoskeletal/ Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:00:00 GMT The digestive system is home to a myriad of viruses, but how they are involved in health and disease is poorly understood. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/human-gut/ Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:00:00 GMT The Instituto Paulo Gontijo International Medicine PG Award for the best ALS research by a young investigator was given to Aaron Gitler, PhD, assistant professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/award-als-research/ Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:00:00 GMT "You are what you eat" is familiar enough, but how deep do the implications go? An interdisciplinary group of investigators from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found an association between long-term dietary patterns and the bacteria of the human gut. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/09/gut-microbe/ Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:00:00 GMT A sideline visual test effectively detected concussions in collegiate athletes, according to a team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Concussed athletes scored an average of 5.9 seconds slower (worse) than the best baseline scores in healthy controls on the timed test, in which athletes read a series of numbers on cards and are scored on time and accuracy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/visual-test/ Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:00:00 GMT A new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows that declines in hearing ability may accelerate gray mater atrophy in auditory areas of the brain and increase the listening effort necessary for older adults to successfully comprehend speech. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/mild-hearing/ Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:00:00 GMT As always, Penn Medicine puts the safety of our patients and staff first. With an eye toward the possibility of severe weather conditions associated with Hurricane Irene this weekend, hospital officials are meeting continuously to ensure smooth operations and full staffing for all four hospitals in the health system: the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital and Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/hurricane/ Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:00:00 GMT On July 29, 2011, Edna Foa, PhD, received the inaugural International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation Outstanding Career Achievement Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/edna-foa/ Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:00:00 GMT A $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute will fund a new center at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on the relationship between exercise, weight loss, and improving the length and quality of life for the nation’s 12 million cancer survivors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/nci/ Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:00:00 GMT Stacey Rentschler, MD, PhD, cardiovascular instructor, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), has received the Burroughs Wellcome Fund's Career Award for Medical Scientists. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/wellcome-fund/ Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) is partnering with the Leonard Davis Institute Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics of the University of Pennsylvania on a new initiative to be called the UPHS Center for Innovations in Health Care Financing. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/new-center/ Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:00:00 GMT Patients with uveitis, the fifth leading cause of vision loss in the United States, treated with either systemic anti-inflammatory medicine or with a time-release implant surgically placed inside the eye experienced a similar degree of visual improvement over two years, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Wisconsin. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/eye-condition/ Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:00:00 GMT A three-pronged immunotherapy approach nearly doubles five-year survival among patients with rare leukemic form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, reports a new study by dermatologists from the Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/triple-therapy-regime/ Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:00:00 GMT A pandemic of ailments called the 'allergic march' -- the gradual acquisition of overlapping allergic diseases that commonly begins in early childhood -- has frustrated both parents and physicians. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/allergic-march/ Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:00:00 GMT On Friday, August 12, J. Larry Jameson, M.D., Ph.D., the newly inaugurated executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (www.med.upenn.edu), will help launch the medical careers of 170 first-year students at Perelman School of Medicine, as they don their first white coats and mark the beginning of their journey into the art and science of healing. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/white-coat/ Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:00:00 GMT In a cancer treatment breakthrough 20 years in the making, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine have shown sustained remissions of up to a year among a small group of advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients treated with genetically engineered versions of their own T cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/t-cells/ Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:00:00 GMT Flax has been part of human history for well over 30,000 years, used for weaving cloth, feeding people and animals, and even making paint. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that it might have a new use for the 21st century: protecting healthy tissues and organs from the harmful effects of radiation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/ancient-crop/ Tue, 9 Aug 2011 16:00:00 GMT Mariusz A. Wasik, MD, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Qian Zhang, MD, PhD, research assistant professor, both from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and their colleagues, found that a cancer-causing fusion protein works by silencing the tumor suppressor gene IL-2R common gamma-chain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/lymphoma/ Tue, 9 Aug 2011 15:00:00 GMT In the latest issue of Nature, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania clarify the role of two proteins key to T-cell development. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/key-molecule/ Mon, 8 Aug 2011 14:00:00 GMT In a recent issue of Cancer Research, Daniel J. Powell, Jr., PhD, a research assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, showed for the first time that engineered human T cells can eradicate deadly human ovarian cancer in immune-deficient mice. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/ovarian-cancer/ Fri, 5 Aug 2011 15:00:00 GMT The Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania received a $55 million renewal from the NIH in recognition for their success during the first five years of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/itmat/ Tue, 2 Aug 2011 15:00:00 GMT Research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine shows that a brain chemical (or neurotransmitter) called Substance P appears to amplify the formation of the extraskeletal bone. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/substance-p/ Mon, 1 Aug 2011 17:00:00 GMT A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania indicates that post-menopausal women with coronary artery disease and other risk factors are at an increased risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/coronary-artery-disease/ Fri, 29 July 2011 17:00:00 GMT Junko Takeshita, M.D, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow and instructor of Dermatology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received a one-year, $40,000 fellowship grant from the National Psoriasis Foundation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/dermatologist/ Thu, 28 July 2011 18:00:00 GMT Social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare may be an important key to improving the public health system's ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters, according to a New England Journal of Medicine "Perspective" article from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania to be published this week. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/social-media/ Wed, 27 July 2011 21:00:00 GMT The Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania announces the launching of a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary center focused on discovering novel treatments for orphan diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/orphan/ Tue, 26 July 2011 18:00:00 GMT For the fourth consecutive year, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has been ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/top-ten/ Fri, 22 July 2011 17:00:00 GMT Years after a single traumatic brain injury (TBI), survivors still show changes in their brains. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/brain-injury/ Tue, 19 July 2011 13:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a gene for endurance, or more precisely, a negative regulator of it. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/animal-study/ Mon, 18 July 2011 16:00:00 GMT Two Penn Medicine studies were released this week by the Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/archives-of-neurology/ Wed, 13 July 2011 19:00:00 GMT Targeted therapies that are designed to suppress the formation of new blood vessels in tumors, such as Avastin (bevacizumab), have slowed cancer growth in some patients. However, they have not produced the dramatic responses researchers initially thought they might. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/tumors/ Wed, 13 July 2011 17:00:00 GMT Jill M. Baren, MD, has been named chair of the department of Emergency Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, effective July 1, 2011. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/jill-baren/ Wed, 13 July 2011 14:00:00 GMT Penn's Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET), is part of a consortium that has been awarded $7.85 million from National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to determine seafood safety following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/seafood-safety/ Mon, 11 July 2011 19:00:00 GMT For the past decade, researchers have tried to reprogram the identity of all kinds of cell types. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/heart-cells/ Fri, 8 July 2011 19:00:00 GMT High stakes life and death decisions are made every day by doctors and nurses in critical care units, but increasingly critical care clinicians are also tasked with containing costs and managing scarce resources in light of rising demands for and costs of care they provide. Physicians are often asked to consider limiting services for their patients to benefit society more broadly. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/07/rescue/ Fri, 8 July 2011 16:00:00 GMT Rahul M. Kohli, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine and Biochemistry & Biophysics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a $500,000 grant from the Rita Allen Foundation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/grant/ Wed, 29 June 2011 16:00:00 GMT An estimated 18 American military veterans take their own lives every day -- thousands each year -- and those numbers are steadily increasing. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/veterans/ Tue, 28 June 2011 18:00:00 GMT More than 200,000 people are treated for cardiac arrest in United States hospitals each year, a rate that may be on the rise. The findings are reported online this week in Critical Care Medicine in a University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine-led study. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/cardiac-arrest/ Tue, 28 June 2011 14:00:00 GMT Chi Van Dang, MD, PhD, a renowned cancer biologist and hematologist-oncologist, has been appointed director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, effective September 1, 2011. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/dang/ Tue, 28 June 2011 14:00:00 GMT Increasingly, researchers are suggesting that amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles may be relatively late manifestations in the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/mistaken-identity/ Mon, 27 June 2011 15:00:00 GMT Inspired by earlier successes using gene therapy to correct an inherited type of blindness, investigators from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, are poised to extend their approach to other types of blinding disorders. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/gene-therapy/ Wed, 22 June 2011 18:00:00 GMT There are new genetic clues on risk factors and biological causes of a rare neurodegenerative disease called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), according to a new study from an international genetics team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/brain-disease/ Sun, 19 June 2011 18:00:00 GMT There are ten microbial cells for every one human cell in the body, and microbiology dogma holds that there is a tight barrier protecting the inside of the body from outside invaders, in this case bacteria. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/gatekeepers/ Thu, 17 June 2011 13:00:00 GMT Sixty-six percent of publicly-insured children were unable to get a doctor's appointment for medical conditions requiring outpatient specialty care including diabetes and seizures, while children with identical symptoms and private insurance were turned away only 11 percent of the time, according to an audit study of 273 specialty physician practices in Cook County, Ill. conducted by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/specialty-physicians/ Wed, 16 June 2011 15:00:00 GMT Scott D. Halpern, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been selected for AcademyHealth’s 2011 Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/new-marker/ Wed, 15 June 2011 17:00:00 GMT Scott D. Halpern, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been selected for AcademyHealth’s 2011 Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/academy-health/ Tue, 14 June 2011 18:00:00 GMT For tens of thousands of years, the genomes of malaria parasites and humans have been at war with one another, each involving an attempt to get the upper hand. Scientists have now performed a genetic analysis of 15 ethnic groups across Africa, in an effort to identify gene variants that could explain differing local susceptibility to malaria. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/arms-race/ Fri, 10 June 2011 15:00:00 GMT Bioengineers are using molecules and individual atoms as building blocks to make nanoscale structures inspired by natural viruses. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/self-assembling-proteins/ Wed, 8 June 2011 13:00:00 GMT Dieticians will tell you it isn't healthy to eat late at night: it's a recipe for weight gain. In fruit flies, at least, there's another consequence: reduced fertility. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/wrong-time-eating/ Wed, 8 June 2011 13:00:00 GMT Researchers at the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that the size and pumping ability of the right side of the heart differs by age, gender and racial/ethnic groups. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/hearts-right-side/ Tue, 6 June 2011 20:00:00 GMT ASCO Abstract 6128: Appointment access for new cancer patients http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/oncology-appointments/ Fri, 3 June 2011 01:00:00 GMT Abstract 8501: Tumor genetic analyses of patients with metastatic melanoma treated with the BRAF inhibitor GSK2118436 (GSK436) http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/advanced-melanoma/ Fri, 3 June 2011 01:00:00 GMT ASCO Abstract 1501: Is hormone replacement therapy (HRT) following risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) in BRCA1 (B1)- and BRCA2 (B2)-mutation carriers associated with an increased risk of breast cancer? http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/hormone-replacement-therapy/ Fri, 3 June 2011 01:00:00 GMT Resources for Media Covering the American Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting June 3-7, 2011 http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/asco-2011/ Thu, 2 June 2011 01:00:00 GMT Pleural mesothelioma patients who undergo lung-sparing surgery in combination with photodynamic therapy (PDT) show superior overall survival than patient treated using the conventional therapy of extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) (or en bloc removal of the lung and surrounding tissue) with PDT, indicates new research from the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The research is published in the June 2011 issue of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/asbestos/ Thu, 2 June 2011 16:00:00 GMT Emergency department patients who have recently been hospitalized are more than twice as likely to be admitted as those who have not recently been in the hospital, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania which will be presented this week at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s annual meeting. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/06/readmission-rates/ Wed, 1 June 2011 16:00:00 GMT Less than 40 percent of children who are insured via Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance Programs are able to obtain care for a dental emergency, compared to 95 percent of those with private insurance, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published online this week in the journal Pediatrics. Even among dental providers who were participants in the state Medicaid/CHIP program, nearly a third studied denied appointment access to children with that type of coverage – unless parents offered to pay in cash. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/emergency-care/ Tue, 24 May 2011 15:00:00 GMT A physician panel in the primary care specialty of internal medicine has identified common clinical activities where changes in practice could lead to higher quality care and better use of finite clinical resources. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/top-5/ Tue, 24 May 2011 13:00:00 GMT Penn scientists collaborating with researchers at the University of Minnesota describe in Science Translational Medicine how immune cells engineered at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania can be replicated by the tens of millions in several weeks. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/immunity-boosting-cells/ Thu, 19 May 2011 18:00:00 GMT Discovering the step-by-step details of the path embryonic cells take to develop into their final tissue type is the clinical goal of many stem cell biologists. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/personalized-cells/ Thu, 19 May 2011 18:00:00 GMT Despite their beneficial effects in heart disease, neither aspirin nor simvastatin appear to offer benefit to patients suffering from pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/heart-drugs/ Wed, 18 May 2011 18:00:00 GMT Nearly everyone who has tried to quit smoking says it's incredibly difficult, and the struggle is due in part to genetic factors. Now, a new study from the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sheds light on how one specific genetic risk for smoking relapse may work: Some of the difficulties may be due to how many receptors, called "mu opioid" receptors, a smoker has in his or her brain. The results, published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, may lead to the development of new treatments that target these receptors and help smokers increase their chances of success when they try to quit. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/genetic-variation/ Tue, 17 May 2011 15:00:00 GMT Despite recent concerns that medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could increase the risk of cardiovascular events in children and adolescents, an observational study conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and HealthCore Inc. finds they are no more likely to die from a severe cardiovascular event than those who do not take the drugs. The findings, published online in the journal Pediatrics, provide the first analysis of such events in a large population of children and adolescents receiving ADHD medications compared to non-users. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/cardiovascular-events/ Mon, 16 May 2011 13:00:00 GMT One hundred and forty seven Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania students will take the Hippocratic Oath for the first time as new doctors this Sunday, as Arthur H. Rubenstein, MBBCh, Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine, recites the oath for the last time as Dean. Dr. Rubenstein will also be giving the commencement address, focusing on the critical need to preserve the doctor-patient relationship in 21st century medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/graduates/ Fri, 13 May 2011 16:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania has received a $225 million gift - the largest single gift in its history - from philanthropist Raymond G. Perelman and his wife, Ruth, to benefit Penn’s world-renowned School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/perelman-donate-225-million-to-school-of-medicine/ Wed, 11 May 2011 07:00:00 GMT According to U.S. Census Reports, nearly 16,000 children in the Philadelphia area have suffered the loss of a parent. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/camp_erin_philadelphia_2011/ Tue, 10 May 2011 13:00:00 GMT Penn's Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR) will partner with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, L.L.C., (J&JPRD) to develop algorithms that can identify changes in biomarkers related to disease diagnosis and for monitoring disease progression. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/alzheimers-disease-monitoring/ Thu, 06 May 2011 13:00:00 GMT At menopause, many women begin to notice a decline in their attention, organization, and short-term memory. These cognitive symptoms can lead to professional and personal challenges and unwarranted fears of early-onset dementia. A small study by Penn Medicine and Yale researchers, published in the journal Menopause, found that a drug typically given to children and adults with ADHD improved attention and concentration in menopausal women, providing the first potential treatment for menopause-related cognition deficits. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/menopause/ Thu, 05 May 2011 17:00:00 GMT Jonathan A. Epstein, M.D., Katherine High, M.D. and Amita Sehgal, Ph.D. have been elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/american-academy/ Thu, 05 May 2011 14:00:00 GMT New research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shows a substantial decrease in one type of revascularization procedure, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, while rates of utilization of the other form, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), have remained unchanged. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/coronary-artery-bypass-surgery/ Tue, 03 May 2011 20:00:00 GMT (Nicholas) Kenji Taylor, a first-year year student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been named one of 15 Philadelphia Schweitzer Fellows for 2011-2012. Schweitzer Fellows partner with community-based organizations to develop and implement yearlong, mentored service projects that sustainably address the social determinants of health—all on top of their regular graduate school responsibilities. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/05/hypertension-african-american-men/ Mon, 02 May 2011 19:00:00 GMT Black cardiac arrest victims are more likely to die when they’re treated in hospitals that care for a large black population than when they’re brought to hospitals with a greater proportion of white patients, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The study is published in the April issue of the American Heart Journal. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/black-populations-cardiac-arrest-survival/ Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:00:00 GMT Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that damages the retina and can destroy central vision, affects approximately 1.6 million Americans. For the past five years, there has been active debate over treatment options for AMD patients because ophthalmologists have not had accurate data regarding the true efficacy of the most commonly used medication. Now a new national study designed and analyzed by Penn Medicine’s Center for Preventive Ophthalmology and Biostatistics, has determined that two medications commonly used to treat AMD are equally effective in treating this potentially debilitating disease. These results, from the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials (CATT) study, were published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/catt-macular-degeneration-drug-comparison/ Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:00:00 GMT Several genes have been linked to ALS, with one of the most recent called FUS. Two new studies examined FUS biology in yeast and found that defects in RNA biology may be central to how FUS contributes to ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. These findings point to new targets for developing drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/als-protein-fus/ Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:00:00 GMT A new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows that interventions to promote healthy behaviors, including eating more fruits and vegetables, increasing physical activity, and participating in cancer screenings appear beneficial for African-American couples who are at high risk for chronic diseases, especially if one of the individuals is living with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/chronic-disease-prevention-hiv/ Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are delving into the details of the complex structure at the ends of chromosomes. Recent work describes how these structures, called telomeres, can be protected by caps made up of specialized proteins and stacks of DNA called G-quadruplexes, or "G4 DNA." Telomere caps are like a knot at the end of each chromosome "string," with the knot's role preventing the string from unraveling. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/telomere-caps/ Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:00:00 GMT David B. Roth, MD, PhD has been appointed chair of Penn Medicine's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, effective July 1, 2011. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/david-b-roth-chair/ Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:00:00 GMT Squamous cell cancers of the oral cavity and esophagus are common throughout the world, with over 650,000 cases of oral cancer each year and esophageal cancer representing the sixth most common cause of cancer death in men. Research by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine investigators has shown that a protein that helps cells stick together is frequently absent or out of place in these cancers, but it’s unclear if its loss causes the tumors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/cell-adhesion-protein-cancers/ Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have devised a totally new and far more efficient way of generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), immature cells that are able to develop into several different types of cells or tissues in the body. The researchers used fibroblast cells, which are easily obtained from skin biopsies, and could be used to generate patient-specific iPSCs for drug screening and tissue regeneration. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/efficient-reprogrammed-stem-cells/ Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:00:00 GMT Two reports by addiction researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Institute on Drug Abuse show a drastic shift in prescribing patterns impacting the magnitude of opioid substance abuse in America. The reports, published in JAMA, recommend a comprehensive effort to reduce public health risks while improving patient care, including better training for prescribers, pain management treatment assessment, personal responsibility and public education. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/opioid-prescriptions/ Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine may have found a way to turn an adaptive cellular response into a liability for cancer cells. When normal cells are starved for food, they chew up existing proteins and membranes to stay alive. Cancer cells have corrupted that process, called autophagy, using it to survive when they run out of nutrients and to evade death after damage from chemotherapy and other sources. When the Penn investigators treated a group of patients with several different types of advanced cancers with temsirolimus, a molecularly targeted cancer drug that blocks nutrient uptake, plus hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that inhibits autophagy, they saw that tumors stopped growing in two-thirds of the patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/advanced-cancer-drug-combination/ Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:00:00 GMT Each year, more than 100,000 patients in the U.S. undergo implantation of a new implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for heart rhythm abnormalities. This number constitutes a 20-fold increase over the last 15 years. Current medical guidelines advocate discussion of end of life care of these medical devices, including deactivation, but many patients may not understand their options. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine say that discussions should also address post-mortem donation of ICDs for product improvement or reuse overseas as pacemakers, to help reduce global health disparities. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/icd-survey/ Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:00:00 GMT Psoriasis is a common inflammatory skin disease, and if severe, has been demonstrated to be a risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) disease. However, the degree to which psoriasis is associated with major adverse cardiac events (MACE), such as heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death has not been defined. Now, new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has revealed an increased incidence of MACE in patients with severe psoriasis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/psoriasis-major-adverse-cardiac-events/ Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:00:00 GMT Just released data from a clinical trial shows continued promise for a new minimally invasive treatment option for patients with severe aortic stenosis. New research presented at the 2011 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions shows that transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is as good as traditional open heart surgery for high-risk, but operable patients. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is a participating site for the trial. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/tavi-minimally-invasive-heart-surgery/ Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:10:00 GMT Current research supports the notion that lifestyle choices influence cardiovascular health, but to what extent specific emotions play is undefined. Now, new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has revealed the role that guilt may play as a motivational tool for cardiovascular patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/heart-health-guilt-motivation/ Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:00:00 GMT In the largest study of its kind, researchers from a consortium led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the University of Miami, and the Boston University School of Medicine, identified four new genes linked to Alzheimer's disease. Each gene individually adds to the risk of having this common form of dementia later in life. These new genes offer a portal into what causes Alzheimer's disease and is a major advance in the field. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/alzheimers-tau-acetylation/ Sun, 03 Apr 2011 18:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have determined that a well-known chemical process called acetylation has a previously unrecognized association with one of the biological processes associated with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. The findings were published in the latest issue of Nature Communications. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/04/alzheimers-tau-acetylation/ Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:00:00 GMT The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine $2 million over the next five years to fund research to find new ways to reduce infections in health care settings. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/cceb-infection-control-research-program/ Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:00:00 GMT A new analysis by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine of recent cardiology clinical practice guidelines has found that more than half of the experts involved in the development of these guidelines reported a conflict of interest (COI). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/cardiovascular-guidelines-coi/ Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center have discovered a novel way of treating pancreatic cancer by activating the immune system to destroy the cancer's scaffolding. The strategy was tested in a small cohort of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, several of whose tumors shrank substantially. The team believes their findings -- and the novel way in which they uncovered them -- could lead to quicker, less expensive cancer drug development. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/mathematical-sequence-brain-imaging/ Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center have discovered a novel way of treating pancreatic cancer by activating the immune system to destroy the cancer’s scaffolding. The strategy was tested in a small cohort of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, several of whose tumors shrank substantially. The team believes their findings -- and the novel way in which they uncovered them -- could lead to quicker, less expensive cancer drug development. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/pancreatic-cancer-immunotherapy/ Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:00:00 GMT Patients in Guatemala will have a better chance of getting the right diagnosis and treatment now that the University of Pennsylvania Libraries has received funding for a project using smart phones and other mobile technologies to improve physicians’ access to clinical information in Guatemala. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/penn-guatemala-technology-training/ Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:00:00 GMT Patients who’ve been hurt in car or bike crashes, been shot or stabbed, or suffered other injuries are more likely to live if they arrive at the hospital on the weekend than during the week, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research published in the March 21 issue of Archives of Surgery. The findings, which also showed that trauma patients who present to the hospital on weeknights are no more likely to die than those who presented during the day, contrast with previous studies showing a so-called "weekend effect" in which patients with emergent illnesses such as heart attacks and strokes fare worse when they’re hospitalized at night or on weekends. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/no-trauma-weekend-effect/ Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:00:00 GMT Alan J. Wein, MD, PhD(hon), has been selected to receive the Ferdinand C. Valentine Award in Urology from the New York Academy of Medicine’s Section on Urology. Wein is professor and chief of the division of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Director of the Urology Residency Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/wein-valentine-urology-award/ Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:00:00 GMT It all comes down to this – Match Day. Today, 147 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine medical students take the next step in their medical journey into residency. Participating students have been sharing their perspectives - in their own written words and on video - throughout the week. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/features/match-day/ Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:00:00 GMT A Penn Medicine study of a process called mobile polling -- where election officials register voters onsite, then bring voting ballots to long term care residents and provide voter assistance as needed -- found that nursing home residents, staff and election officials all agreed that mobile polling is better than current voting methods. Not only did the mobile polling efforts guarantee residents their right to vote, but according to the nursing home staff, it also brought dignity to residents. The study appears in the current issue of the Election Law Journal. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/mobile-polling-for-senior-voters/ Wed, 16 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT More than three quarters of domestic violence victims who report the incidents to police seek health care in emergency rooms, but most of them are never identified as being victims of abuse during their hospital visit. These findings, from a new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study, point to a missed opportunity to intervene and offer help to women who suffer violence at the hands of an intimate partner. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/emergency-room-domestic-violence-identification/ Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:00:00 GMT For the second consecutive year, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine ranks #2 among research-oriented medical schools in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual survey. The survey also places Penn in the top ten in the specialty areas of pediatrics, internal medicine, drug and alcohol abuse, and women’s health. Penn also ranked in the top ten among medical schools focused on primary care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/best-medical-schools-2012/ Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:30:00 GMT New Penn research blending electrophysiological, biochemical, and behavioral experiments demonstrated that neurons in the noses of mice mature after birth -- an indication that, for rodent pups, bonding with mom isn’t hard-wired in the womb. It develops over the first few weeks of life, which is achieved by their maturing sense of smell, possibly allowing these mammals a survival advantage by learning to identify mother, siblings, and home. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/mouse-nose-neuron-maturation/ Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT Investigators have known for decades that fat production by the liver runs on a 24-hour cycle, the circadian rhythm, and is similar to the sleep-wake cycle. A research team led by Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has discovered molecules that act as "shift workers" to maintain the daily rhythm of fat metabolism. When those molecules do not do their jobs, the liver dramatically fills with fat. These findings are reported in this week’s issue of Science. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/circadian-liver-fat-metabolism/ Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:00:00 GMT When Medicare hospice eligibility criteria expand in 2011 as part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, efforts to test whether palliative care and aggressive treatment provided concurrently will be judged based on costs. But a new JAMA article by David Casarett, MD, MA, Associate Professor in the Division of Geriatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, argues that the three-year Concurrent Care Demonstration Project should also examine the impact of new eligibility criteria on hospice access, quality and survival improvements. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/evaluating-medicare-hospice-eligibility-criteria/ Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:00:00 GMT Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania explain how a class of RNA molecules is able to target the genetic building blocks that guide the functioning of a specific part of the nerve cell. Abnormalities at this site are in involved in epilepsy, neurodegenerative disease, and cognitive disorders. Their results are published this week in the journal Neuron.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/targeted-rna-protein-synthesis/ Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:00:00 GMT Judd E. Hollander, MD, professor and director of clinical research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been selected to receive the 2011 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Leadership Award. The award recognizes a SAEM member who has made exceptional contributions to emergency medicine through leadership in the field’s organizations and publications, research productivity, and advancement of the discipline of emergency medicine regionally, nationally or internationally. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/hollander-saem-leadership-award/ Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:45:00 GMT An international analysis of 14 genome-wide association studies involving over 100,000 patients has identified 13 new genetic risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). Muredach P. Reilly, MBBCH, MSCE, associate professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and colleagues played a central organizing role in the international consortium, CARDIoGRAM (Coronary Artery Disease Genome-wide Replication and Meta-analysis), that combined and analyzed data from all currently published genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on heart attack and CAD, as well as some unpublished data. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/heart-disease-genetic-components/ Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:30:00 GMT New research on how tuberculosis (TB) bacteria develop multi-drug tolerance points to ways TB infections might be cured more quickly. The study was published online last week in Cell. The results identify both a mechanism and a potential therapy for drug tolerance that is induced in the TB bacteria by the host cells they infect. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/tb-drug-tolerance/ Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:30:00 GMT Jeffrey O’Neill, AIA, ACHA, senior project manager for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, has been appointed to the International Code Council (ICC) Ad Hoc Committee on Healthcare. The 15-person committee includes six other representatives from healthcare organizations, 2 architects, and six building and fire officials from across the United States. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/oneill-icc-healthcare-building-codes/ Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:30:00 GMT David W. Kennedy, MD, professor of Rhinology, Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been selected to receive Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.’s "Clinical Excellence Award." The award is designed to recognize physicians who exemplify excellence in clinical medical practice and is part of their National Physician of the Year Award honors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/kennedy-clinical-excellence-award/ Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:30:00 GMT The gene for the protein p53 is the most frequently mutated in human cancer. It encodes a tumor suppressor, and traditionally researchers have assumed that it acts primarily as a regulator of how genes are made into proteins. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine show that the protein has at least one other biochemical activity: controlling the metabolism of the sugar glucose, one of body's main sources of fuel. These new insights on a well-studied protein may be used to develop new cancer therapies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/p53-tumor-suppressor-regulates-metabolism/ Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:30:00 GMT Although untreated HIV infection eventually results in immunodeficiency (AIDS), a small group of people infected with the virus, called elite suppressors (0.5 percent of all HIV-infected individuals), are naturally able to control infection in the absence of antiretroviral therapy, or HAART. Elite suppressors and HIV- infected individuals treated with HAART have similar levels of virus in the blood stream. However, levels of HIV integrated into immune cells are much lower in elite suppressors compared to levels in cells from HIV-infected individuals on HAART, according to a study at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/03/understanding-hiv-elite-suppressors/ Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:00:00 GMT Scientists at The Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered protein markers that could provide physicians with the first reliable blood test to predict ectopic pregnancies. Their findings are published in the February 16th on-line issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. In a related study of clinical samples, published recently in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the researchers found that one of the proteins – ADAM12 – showed a nearly 97 percent correlation with ectopic pregnancy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/ectopic-pregnancy-biomarker/ Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:00:00 GMT How would you like your car to be fixed by someone who had no knowledge of what it was like to drive? That's the dilemma facing medical students whose training is focused on learning about medicine in medical school, but spend practically no class time learning about the real life obstacle course of the health care system which every one of their patients must learn to navigate. An internal medicine resident at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, addresses this issue in a new column in the New England Journal of Medicine calling for a standardized core health policy curriculum to be collectively adopted by schools throughout the country. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/teaching-health-policy-in-medical-school/ Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine cardiologists are leaders in a new cardiology subspecialty, Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology. Seven of the nine Heart Failure and Transplant doctors at Penn are now certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) in the new Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology specialty. Only 225 doctors are certified world-wide. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/advanced-heart-failure-transplant-cardiology-certification/ Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:00:00 GMT As many as 70% of certain cases of healthcare-acquired infections may be preventable with current evidence-based strategies according to a new Penn study. Healthcare-acquired infections are infections that occur during a hospitalization and that are not present prior to hospital admission. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/preventable-healthcare-acquired-infections/ Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:00:00 GMT In a study published in JAMIA, the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Penn researchers found that computerized alerts inserted within an electronic progress note program could reduce the use of commonly confused abbreviations, ultimately enhancing patient safety. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/computerized-alerts-for-medication-safety/ Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:35:00 GMT Penn researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs have found that a restrictive federal reimbursement policy did not reduce opportunities for disadvantaged Medicare populations to benefit from an innovative device that keeps clogged arteries open. The policy was aimed at limiting the adoption of the technology by hospitals that weren’t well prepared to provide it while still maintaining equitable availability of the technology. This approach might hold promise for future decisions aimed at improving the quality of care received by Medicare beneficiaries. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/stent-availability-to-disadvantaged-patients/ Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:30:00 GMT John Lambris, PhD, the Dr. Ralph and Sallie Weaver Professor of Research Medicine in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Eye Institute to test a new class of drugs called complement inhibitors in a primate model of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/macular-degeneration-complement-inhibitors/ Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:00:00 GMT Deb Staples has been named Chief Operating Officer of Pennsylvania Hospital, effective immediately. Deb has been an integral member of the Pennsylvania Hospital leadership team, most recently as Vice President, Allied Health and Professional Services. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/deb-staples-pennsylvania-hospital-coo/ Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:00:00 GMT Penn researchers have identified an immune cell population that acts as the body’s border patrol with the outside world. They discovered that these lymphoid tissue inducer cells maintain immunity in the intestine of mice. The research appeared in the most recent online issue of Immunity. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/immune-cell-border-patrol/ Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:00:00 GMT A simple test performed at the sideline of sporting events can accurately detect concussions in athletes, according to study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Current sideline tests can leave a wide amount a brain function untested following concussion. Penn researchers showed that this simple test adds to current methods and accurately and reliably identified athletes with head trauma. The study appears online now in Neurology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/sideline-test-detects-concussions/ Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:00:00 GMT The launch of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP) -- a collaboration formed to discover and map the genes that contribute to Alzheimer's disease -- was announced today by a multi-national group of researchers. The collaborative effort, spanning universities from both Europe and the United States, will combine the knowledge, staff and resources of four consortia that conduct research on Alzheimer's disease genetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/02/international-alzheimers-genetics-consortium/ Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:00:00 GMT Three faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Two of them are professors in the School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/aaas-fellows/ Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:15:00 GMT The Abramson Cancer Center’s Rena Rowan Breast Center and the Integrated Breast Center at the Joan Karnell Cancer Center recently earned a three-year, full accreditation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC). Conducted by the American College of Surgeons, NAPBC accreditation is granted to centers that have voluntarily committed to provide the highest level of quality breast care and that undergo a rigorous evaluation process and review of their performance. A breast center that achieves NAPBC accreditation has demonstrated a firm commitment to offer its patients every significant advantage in their battle against breast disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/breast-centers-accreditation/ Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:45:00 GMT Peri-menopausal and postmenopausal women who took the antidepressant medication escitalopram -- brand name Lexapro -- experienced a reduction in the frequency and severity of hot flashes as compared to women who received placebo according to a new study led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The study was published in the January 19th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/antidepressant-reduces-hot-flashes/ Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:15:00 GMT Nearly five million Americans live with heart failure, with as many as 700,000 new cases diagnosed each year. In addition to lifestyle factors, scientists have shown that heart failure has a strong heritable component, but identifying the responsible genes has been a major challenge. Now, new research has identified a common genetic risk factor for heart failure in Caucasians. The study, a collaboration between the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, and other institutions, was published this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/heart-failure-gene/ Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:30:00 GMT A new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shows that certain genetic profiles increase risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) while others uniquely increase risk of heart attacks in those with CAD. The findings, published online first today and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet, are the results of the analysis of two genome-wide association studies (GWAS) -- an examination of all or most of the genes (the genome) of different individuals to identify common genetic factors that influence disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/heart-attack-genetic-risk/ Fri, 14 Jan 2011 23:30:00 GMT Recent findings have called into question the notion that pharmacologic increases in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the "good cholesterol") are necessarily beneficial to patients. Now, a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that a different metric, a measure of HDL function called cholesterol efflux capacity, is more closely associated with protection against heart disease than HDL cholesterol levels themselves. Findings from the study could lead to new therapeutic interventions in the fight against heart disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/efflux-capacity-heart-health-indicator/ Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:00:00 GMT Given the amount of angst over male pattern balding, surprisingly little is known about its cause at the cellular level. In a new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, a team led by George Cotsarelis, MD, chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has found that stem cells play an unexpected role in explaining what happens in bald scalp. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/male-pattern-balding-stem-cell-inactivation/ Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:00:00 GMT Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) are characterized by protein clumps in brain and spinal-cord cells that include an RNA-binding protein called TDP-43. This protein is the major building block of the lesions formed by these clumps. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, a team led by Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD, director of Penn’s Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, describes the first direct evidence of how mutated TDP-43 can cause neurons to die. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/tdp43-nerve-cell-death/ Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine has been selected as one of seven adult field trial sites to test proposed diagnostic criteria for the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Used by health professionals around the world, DSM is the manual that provides descriptions, symptoms and other criteria for diagnosing mental disorders. Penn Medicine is participating in field trials to help assess the practical use of proposed DSM-5 criteria in real-world clinical settings. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/penn-testing-dsm5-criteria/ Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:50:00 GMT An international team of researchers led by Daniel J. Rader, MD, associate director of Penn Medicine’s Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, has received a $6 million grant from the Paris-based Fondation Leducq to study the molecular genetics of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/01/heart-disease-genetics-grant/ Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:30:00 GMT