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 rachel.ewing@uphs.upenn.edu (Rachel Ewing) 2009, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania http://www.pennmedicine.org/images/pennmedicine_logo.jpg http://www.pennmedicine.org/news Arthur H. Rubenstein, MBBCh, Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System, and Dean, School of Medicine, will receive the Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The award will be presented on Saturday, Nov. 7, during the association’s annual meeting in Boston.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/11/rubenstein-aamc-flexner-award/ Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:00:00 GMT In addition to building muscle, weightlifting is also a prescription for self-esteem among breast cancer survivors, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research. Breast cancer survivors who lift weights regularly feel better about bodies and their appearance and are more satisfied with their intimate relationships compared with survivors who do not lift weights, according to a new study published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/11/cancer-survivors-self-esteem/ Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:30:00 GMT Penn Medicine will lead a new clinical trial at 12 sites across the nation to test whether testosterone therapy can favorably affect certain conditions affecting older men. Low serum testosterone may contribute to a number of problems affecting older men, including decreased ability to walk, loss of muscle mass and strength, decreased vitality, decreased sexual function, impaired cognition, cardiovascular disease and anemia. While testosterone normally decreases with age, in some men, low levels of testosterone may contribute to these debilitating conditions. The Testosterone Trial will involve 800 men age 65 and older with low testosterone levels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/11/testosterone-therapy-study/ Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:31:00 GMT While studying how the heart is formed, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine serendipitously found a novel cellular source of atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common type of abnormal heart beat. Jonathan Epstein, MD, William Wikoff Smith Professor, and Chair, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and Vickas Patel, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, have identified a population of cells in the atria of the heart and pulmonary veins of humans and mice that appear to be the seat of AF. The finding may lead to a more precise way to treat AF, with reduced side effects. Their findings appear online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/11/atrial-fibrillation-cellular-source/ Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:30:00 GMT Heat, lack of nutrients, oxygen radicals – all can wreak havoc on the delicate internal components of a cell. Proteins called HSPs (heat shock proteins) allow cells to survive stress-induced damage. Scientists have long studied how HSPs work in order to harness their therapeutic potential. Penn Medicine researchers, in collaboration with Fox Chase Cancer Center, have now identified a small molecule that inhibits the heat shock protein HSP70. They also showed that the HSP inhibitor could stop tumor formation and significantly extend survival of mice. They describe their findings in this month’s issue of Molecular Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/hsp-inhibitor-stops-tumors/ Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:00:00 GMT Chronic tinnitus, noise or ringing in the ears, is a symptom associated with many forms of hearing loss or other health problems. There are no effective treatments for this condition, which can become so severe that it may be difficult to hear, work, or even sleep. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are now testing a non-invasive treatment – transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) – to target overactive areas in the brain responsible for tinnitus. TMS was recently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of depression and has been extensively tested in Europe for tinnitus. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/tms-tinnitus-trial/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:00:00 GMT Enrolling in a weight loss program with a family member or friend appears to enhance weight loss among African Americans, but only if the involved partner attends sessions frequently or also loses weight, according to a report in the October 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Obesity and its cardiovascular complications affect many African Americans, according to background information in the article. Standard behavioral treatments for obesity appear to be less successful in African Americans than in whites. Cultural modifications to these standard programs-such as the inclusion of family members and support networks-may enhance their effectiveness. Shiriki K. Kumanyika, PhD, MPH, professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Tom Wadden, PhD, Penn Medicine professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders, and colleagues, conducted a two-year trial of a culturally specific weight loss program among 344 African American men and women. The goal was to achieve and maintain a 5 percent to 10 percent weight loss. Components of the program included counseling that encouraged self-monitoring of food intake and physical activity, distribution of pedometers, group sessions involving weight and activity checks and skill building, and community-based field workshops such as cooking demonstrations and gym visits. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/partners-in-weight-loss/ Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:30:00 GMT After a single injection of genes that produce light-sensitive pigments in the back of his eye, a nine-year-old boy born with a retinal disease that made him legally blind, and would eventually leave him totally sightless, now participates in class without extra help. In the playground, he joins his classmates in playing his first game of softball. His treatment represents the next step toward medical science’s goal of using gene therapy to cure disease. Extending a preliminary study published last year on three young adults, the full study reports successful, sustained results that showed notable improvement in children with congenital blindness. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/gene-therapy-restores-sight/ Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:00:00 GMT The presence of a gene can predict when a traumatic brain injury (TBI) will lead to early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Amyloid plaque deposits, known primarily for their role in Alzheimer’s disease, are found in nearly one third of people who die from acute TBI, within just hours of a brain injury and in people of all ages. This build up of Alzheimer’s-like deposits can be predicted by a variation in the gene that codes for the amyloid-busting enzyme, neprilsyin. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/brain-injury-alzheimers-genetic-risk/ Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:00:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers, along with colleagues at the University of Washington and the University of Toronto, have received $8 million for stem-cell research. The Penn group is one of nine research hubs awarded $170 million over the next seven years by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to develop the high-potential field of stem- and progenitor-cell tools and therapies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/progenitor-cell-research/ Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:00:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine investigators are among the 42 recipients of a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) award that encourages investigators to challenge the status quo with innovative ideas. NIH expects to make competing awards totaling $30 million to the recipients of the new NIH Director’s Transformative R01 (T-R01) Awards. Co-investigators Frank S. Lee, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Stephen Master, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, will receive $1.97 million in total costs over the next five years. Robert B. Wilson, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, will receive $1.57 million over the next four years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/transformative-research-awards/ Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:30:00 GMT The day-to-day maintenance required to keep proliferative tissues like skin and intestines functional is about more than just regeneration, a stem cell-based process that forms the basis of tissue renewal. It's also about housekeeping, the clearing away of damaged cells. So indicates a study published in the October issue of Nature Genetics, which demonstrates that loss of the tumor-suppressor protein p53, coupled with elimination of the DNA-maintenance protein ATR, severely disrupts tissue maintenance in mice. As a result, tissues deteriorate rapidly, which is generally fatal in these animals. In addition, the study provides supportive evidence for the use of inhibitors of ATR in cancer therapy. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/tissue-maintenance/ Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:00:00 GMT Four professors from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been elected as members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine. The new members bring Penn's total to 72, out of a total active membership of 1,610. Overall, the IOM named 65 new members this year and five foreign associates. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/institute-of-medicine/ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:00:00 GMT Researchers today announced the opening for enrollment of the first ever study using patients’ cells carrying an engineered T cell receptor to treat HIV. The trial may have important implications in the development of new treatments for HIV potentially slowing – or even preventing – the onset of AIDS. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/engineered-t-cell-hiv-trial/ Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:00:00 GMT In a first-of its-kind study, epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that, on average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault. The study estimated that people with a gun were 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not possessing a gun. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/09/gun-possession-safety/ Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:00:00 GMT Aromatase inhibitors, the same drugs that have buoyed long-term survival rates among breast cancer patients, also carry side effects including joint pain so severe that many patients discontinue these lifesaving medicines. New University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research, however, has identified patterns that may help clinicians identify and help women at risk of these symptoms sooner in order to increase their chances of sticking with their treatment regimen. In a study published recently in the journal Cancer, researchers at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center found that estrogen withdrawal may play a role in the onset of joint pain, also known as arthralgia, during treatment: Women who stopped getting their menstrual periods less than five years before starting breast cancer treatment were three times more likely to experience these pains than those who reached menopause more than a decade earlier. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/09/reducing-breast-cancer-drug-side-effects/ Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:00:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania geneticist Sarah A. Tishkoff, PhD is among 18 recipients of the 2009 National Institutes of Health’s Pioneer Award. Tishkoff, the David and Lyn Silfen University Associate Professor and a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, is a leading global expert in human genetics. The Pioneer Award provides $500,000 in funding each year for five years, totaling $2.5 million in support of a small number of investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative new research approaches that have the potential to produce a major impact on broad, important problems in biomedical and behavioral research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/09/tishkoff-pioneer-award/ Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:30:00 GMT While scientists have known for several years that our body’s internal clock helps regulate many biological processes, researchers have found that the reverse is also true: Many common biological processes – including insulin metabolism – regulate the clock, according to a new study by investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and the University of California at San Diego. The new data, published online in Cell this week, suggest that someday physicians may be able to use small molecules that inhibit or stimulate these biological processes in order to influence a person’s clock when it gets out of sync due to jetlag or shift work. Researchers may also be able to find new ways to treat metabolic disorders that are intimately tied to the body’s daily cycles. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/09/body-clock-communication/ Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:00:00 GMT Best known as the oxygen-carrying component of hemoglobin, the protein that makes blood red, heme also plays a role in chemical detoxification and energy metabolism within the cell. Heme levels are tightly maintained, and with good reason: Too little heme prevents cell growth and division; excessive amounts of heme are toxic. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have now discovered a molecular circuit involving heme that helps maintain proper metabolism in the body, providing new insights into metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/09/heme-control/ Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:00:00 GMT Penn Medicine and the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia announce the opening on September 16 at 6PM of an exhibition of contemporary sculpture in the atrium of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. The exhibition, Interplay: Art ● Audience ● Architecture is the first in a series highlighting the role that the arts can play in health care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/09/sculpture-exhibit/ Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:00:00 GMT Carolyn Vachani, RN, MSN, AOCN, is being honored for her leading role in the creation of OncoLink’s Cancer Survivorship Care Plan. This free service allows cancer survivors, their families and health care providers to create an individualized plan of care including information on potential aftereffects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, fertility guidance and recommended screening guidelines. In conjunction with its 40th Biennial Convention in late October, the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) will present Vachani with its prestigious 2009 Computer-Based Public Education Technology Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/fulbright-grant-research/ Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:00:00 GMT Shirin Karsan, a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s Masters of Bioethics program, has been awarded a Fulbright Grant for the 2009-2010 academic year. The Fulbright Program, established in 1946, is an international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government designed to improve understanding and relationships between U.S. citizens and residents of other countries. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/fulbright-grant-research/ Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:00:00 GMT James Shorter, PhD, assistant professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics has received a 2009 Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar Award in Aging. New Scholar candidates are investigators who are nominated by U.S. medical institutions and universities for their outstanding promise in aging research. The award provides funding up to $100,000 per year for a four year period to a maximum of 25 scholars. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/shorter-ellison-medical-foundation/ Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:00:00 GMT The nation’s home foreclosure epidemic may be taking its toll on Americans’ health as well as their wallets. Nearly half of people studied while undergoing foreclosure reported depressive symptoms, and 37 percent met screening criteria for major depression, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research published online this week in the American Journal of Public Health. Many also reported an inability to afford prescription drugs, and skipping meals. The authors say their findings should serve as a call for policy makers to tie health interventions into their response to the nation’s ongoing housing crisis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/foreclosure-health-risks/ Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:00:00 GMT A tissue-repair-and-regeneration pathway in the human body, including wound healing, is essential for the early lung to develop properly. Genetically engineered mice fail to develop lungs when two molecules in this pathway, Wnt2 and Wnt2b, are knocked out. The findings are described this week in Developmental Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/lung-development/ Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:00:01 GMT "A biologist, a physicist, and a nanotechnologist walk into a ..." sounds like the start of a joke. Instead, it was the start of a collaboration that has helped to decipher a critical, but so far largely unstudied, phase of how cells divide. Errors in cell division can cause mutations that lead to cancer, and this study could shed light on the role of chromosome abnormalities in uncontrolled cell replication. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/cell-division-mechanism/ Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT Breast cancer survivors who lift weights are less likely than their non-weightlifting peers to experience worsening symptoms of lymphedema, the arm- and hand-swelling condition that plagues many women following surgery for their disease, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research published in the August 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings challenge the advice commonly given to lymphedema sufferers, who may worry that weight training or even carrying children or bags of groceries will exacerbate their symptoms. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/weight-lifting-eases-lymphedema-symptoms/ Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:00:01 GMT One year after a trio of young adults received gene therapy for an inherited form of blindness, researchers have documented that the patients are still experiencing the same level of remarkable vision improvements previously measured within weeks. This is the first study to report one-year gene therapy safety and efficacy results in treating young adults with Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a hereditary condition that causes severe vision impairment in infants and children. The findings are published in Human Gene Therapy, now online, and in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) this week. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/gene-therapy-vision-improvement-maintained/ Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:00:00 GMT Jeffrey Thomas Tokazewski, MD, has been named a Top Physician by South Jersey Magazine in its yearly review of doctors. Thirteen doctors were featured in the category of Family Practice in the August issue. To qualify, Top Doctors must receive the highest scores on the HealthGrades patient experience survey. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/top-physician-south-jersey/ Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:00:00 GMT A new class of molecules capable of blocking the formation of specific protein clumps that are believed to contribute to the dementia of Alzheimer’s disease patients has been discovered by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the NIH Chemical Genomics Center. By assaying close to 300,000 compounds, the team has identified drug-like inhibitors of AD tau protein clumping, as reported in the journal Biochemistry. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/tau-protein-inhibitors/ Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:00:00 GMT Fibrin, the chief ingredient of blood clots, is a remarkably versatile polymer. On one hand, it forms a network of fibers -- a blood clot -- that stems the loss of blood at an injury site while remaining pliable and flexible. On the other hand, fibrin provides a scaffold for thrombi, clots that block blood vessels and cause tissue damage, leading to myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases. How does fibrin manage to be so strong and yet so extensible under the stresses of healing and blood flow? http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/fibrin-blood-clot-structure/ Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:00:00 GMT A brain-preserving cooling treatment called therapeutic hypothermia is a cost-effective way to improve outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which claims the lives of more than 300,000 people each year in the United States and leaves thousands of others neurologically devastated. The treatment, which lowers body temperature to prevent damage to the brain and other major organs when blood flow is restored to the body following cardiac arrest, is considered a "good value" when compared to many other accepted and widely utilized medical treatments, including dialysis for kidney failure or complex heart surgeries, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research published this week in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/cooling-treatment-cost-effective/ Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:50:00 GMT Jill M. Baren, MD, MBE, an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been selected as a 2009-2010 fellow in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women at Drexel University’s College of Medicine. ELAM is the only national program dedicated to preparing senior women faculty for leadership at academic health centers. Baren, who this year became president of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, is among 53 elite medical leaders who were named to the program’s 15th class. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/baren-fellow-elam/ Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:20:00 GMT In a post-recession America, even though as a nation income levels may rise, middle class families still won’t be shielded from the crushing burden of health care costs and will watch their standards of living continue to erode, according to a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) by Daniel Polsky, Ph.D., and David Grande, M.D., M.P.A, of the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/health-care-costs/ Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:00:00 GMT The accepted dogma has been that bone-forming cells, derived from the body’s connective tissue, are the only cells able to form the skeleton. However, new research shows that specialized cells in the blood share a common origin with white blood cells derived from the bone marrow and that these bloodstream cells are capable of forming bone at sites distant from the original skeleton. This work, published online this month in the journal Stem Cells, represents the first example of how circulating cells may contribute to abnormal bone formation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/bone-from-blood/ Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:00:00 GMT Thomas Cappola, MD, ScM, an assistant professor in the division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been honored with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding early-career scientists and engineers, recognizes Cappola’s outstanding achievements in research on causes and treatment for heart failure, which is the leading cause of hospitalization among adults in the United States. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/cappola-presidential-award/ Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:30:00 GMT Jason Karlawish, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and colleagues presented findings at the Alzheimer's Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) from a survey of American Academy of Neurology (AAN) members that assessed how neurologists are diagnosing and treating patients with mild cognitive symptoms. Results show that neurologists regularly see and treat people with MCI, despite the fact that the medications they are prescribing are not FDA-approved for this particular diagnostic category. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/mild-cognitive-impairment/ Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:45:00 GMT The Alzheimer's Association recognized four scientists for their extraordinary achievements in advancing Alzheimer's research at its 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna, Austria. The 2009 Khalid Iqbal Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Virginia M.-Y. Lee, Ph.D., M.B.A., director of Penn’s Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research. Dr. Lee's research focus includes determining the genesis and roles of various normal and abnormal brain proteins (amyloid, tau, etc.) thought to be the keys to the cause and progression of numerous brain diseases, including Alzheimer's. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/virginia-lee-alzheimers-lifetime-achievement-award/ Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:40:00 GMT For years researchers have been searching for a way to treat diabetics by reactivating their insulin-producing beta cells, to no avail. Now, they may be one step closer. A protein, whose role in pancreatic development has long been recognized, has been discovered to play an additional and previously unknown regulatory role in the development of cells in the immature endocrine system. These cells ultimately give rise to pancreatic islet cells, which include beta cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/pdx1-endocrine-development/ Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:00:00 GMT A film with roots at Penn Medicine, Alzheimer’s Disease: Facing the Facts, won a 2009 Emmy for Documentary Program at the 32nd Boston/New England Emmy Award Ceremony of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The one-hour documentary examines the personal and societal impact of Alzheimer’s disease, powerfully juxtaposing vignettes of families devastated by Alzheimer’s with medical experts on a quest to understand, treat and prevent the disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/alzheimers-film-emmy/ Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:50:00 GMT Mehret Mandefro, MD, MSc, has been appointed as a 2009-2010 White House Fellow. She is a Senior Fellow at Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar. As a public health trained physician, her primary research interests are the connections between human rights and health, HIV prevention program development, and translation efforts targeting marginalized communities. Mandefro also works as an anthropologist who uses film as a medium of ethnography. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/mandefro-white-house-fellow/ Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:50:00 GMT More pieces in the complex autism inheritance puzzle are emerging in the latest study from a research team including geneticists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and several collaborating institutions. This study identified 27 different genetic regions where rare copy number variations – missing or extra copies of DNA segments – were found in the genes of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but not in the healthy controls. The complex combination of missing or extra copies of certain genes is thought to interfere with gene function, which can disrupt the production of proteins necessary for normal neurological development. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/autism-gene-mutations/ Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:00:00 GMT Understanding the molecular signals that guide early cells in the embryo to develop into different organs provides insight into ways that tissues regenerate and how stem cells can be used for new therapies. With regenerated cells, researchers hope to one day fill the acute shortage in pancreatic and liver tissue available for transplantation in cases of type I diabetes and acute liver failure. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/liver-pancreas-cell-development/ Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine scientists have been awarded $6.7 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to investigate the role of molecular motors in cell biology. With this grant, the researchers will continue their studies of cytoskeletal motors that function in cellular processes of medical importance, including those implicated in neurological disorders and diabetes. Cytoskeletal motors are nano-scale molecular machines that drive the movements of components within cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/molecular-motors/ Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:30:00 GMT Older women suffering from clinical frailty stand to benefit from the first potential medical treatment for the condition, according to a study presented last week by Penn Medicine researchers at ENDO, The Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting. Ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite, was administered to older women diagnosed with frailty, a common geriatric syndrome characterized by unintentional weight loss, weakness, exhaustion and low levels of anabolic hormones which increases risk of falls, hospitalizations, disability, and death. Those who received ghrelin infusions consumed 51 percent more calories than the placebo group, with an increase in carbohydrate and protein intake, not fat. Their growth hormone levels were also higher throughout the ghrelin infusion. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/hormonal-frailty-treatment.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:15:00 GMT Researchers have determined the structure of C3 convertase and of the C3b fragment in complex with factor H. These new structures, both involving a central component of an enzyme important to the complement system of the immune response, reveal how this system fights invading microbes while avoiding problems of the body attacking itself. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/complement-system-protein-structures.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:10:00 GMT A special public health seminar at Pennsylvania Hospital invites women to discover the latest research, diagnostic and treatment strategies to help them better negotiate two of the most serious personal challenges they face throughout their lives: heart and breast health. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/womens-health-seminar.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:00:00 GMT Jumping genes do most of their jumping, not during the development of sperm and egg cells, but during the development of the embryo itself. The research, published this month in Genes and Development, "challenges standard assumptions on the timing of when mobile DNA, so-called jumping genes, insert into the human genome," says senior author Haig H. Kazazian Jr., MD, Seymour Gray Professor of Molecular Medicine in Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/jumping-genes-embryonic-development.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:45:00 GMT In a study comparing two strains of mice, one susceptible to developing cancer and the other not, researchers found that a high-fat diet predisposed the cancer-susceptible strain to liver cancer, and that by switching to a low-fat diet early in the experiment, the same high-risk mice avoided the malignancy. The switched mice were lean rather than obese and had healthy livers at the end of the study. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/diet-liver-cancer.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:00:00 GMT Karen Glanz, a globally influential public-health scholar, has been named the ninth Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Glanz’s appointment will be shared between the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing, and she will lead a new center focused on research and training in health behaviors. http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1665 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:00:00 GMT After a vaccination or an infection, the human immune system remembers to keep protecting against invaders it has already encountered, with the aid of specialized B-cells and T-cells. Immunological memory has long been the subject of intense study, but the underlying cellular mechanisms regulating the generation and persistence of long-lived memory T cells remain largely undefined. Now, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have found that a common anti-diabetic drug might enhance the effectiveness of vaccines. The findings are described this week in an advanced online publication of Nature. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/boosting-immune-memory.html Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:20:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have uncovered variation around two genes that are associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer among young men, and its incidence among non-Hispanic Caucasian men has doubled in the last 40 years -- it now affects seven out of 100,000 white men in the United States each year. The discovery, published in the May 31, 2009 online issue of Nature Genetics, is the first step toward understanding which men are at high risk of disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/testicular-cancer-gene.html Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:30:00 GMT In what researchers are calling a breakthrough, patients with thyroid cancer that is resistant to radioactive iodine therapy were found to respond well to sorafenib, a University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researcher reported today at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The phase II clinical trial data highlight an intensive effort at the Abramson Cancer Center to develop effective, personalized therapies for these patients, who have previously had few options for treatment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/new-thyroid-cancer-treatment.html Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:45:00 GMT Although the majority of patients with follicular lymphoma initially respond to chemotherapy, the disease frequently recurs, eventually becoming resistant to available therapies. Patients treated with traditional chemotherapy followed by a personalized vaccine were found to have a 44 percent increase in progression-free survival compared with patients who responded to chemotherapy but received a control vaccine, according to research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/personalized-cancer-vaccine.html Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:00:00 GMT An increasing number of cancer patients who receive chemotherapy now do so at home, with the click of a pill bottle each day rather than the drip of an IV medicine that must be delivered in a doctor’s office or hospital. Though the growing shift toward oral chemotherapy agents offers cancer patients greater freedom and independence during their treatment, physicians say use of the new medications also poses more chances for patients to skip doses, miss prescription refills, and take their drugs in a dangerous way. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/oral-chemotherapy-compliance.html Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:59:00 GMT Abramson Cancer Center Director Craig Thompson, MD, PhD, has been selected to lead a research "Dream Team" for Stand Up To Cancer, the groundbreaking partnership between the nation’s entertainment industry and the cancer research community. Armed with $18 million in funding, Thompson’s team is poised to lead the nation’s most innovative pancreatic cancer research project, which will discover more about what metabolic nutrients pancreatic tumors rely on to grow and develop new therapies designed to cut off that essential fuel. Despite the myriad advances in treating other cancers, people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer still face a grim prognosis – as many as 80 percent of patients who get the news die within a year. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/stand-up-to-cancer-pancreatic-dream-team.html Wed, 27 May 2009 20:10:00 GMT The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and Penn Medicine announced today a four-year partnership to further develop and disseminate the LIVESTRONG Care Plan Powered by Penn Medicine’s OncoLink. This free service gives cancer survivors, their families and physicians the ability to create an individualized plan of care using up-to-date treatment information based on Institute of Medicine recommendations, as well educating them about their options to maintain optimal health once they are out of treatment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/livestrong-cancer-survivorship.html Wed, 27 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will receive $7.5 million over the next five years from the National Cancer Institute to find new ways to treat esophageal cancer, in addition to traditional chemoradiation. This research is a continuation of the group's previous findings, which made substantial progress in deciphering the molecular and cellular biology underlying esophageal cancer, with broad applications to other related cancers in the lung, head/neck and skin. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/esophageal-cancer-research.html Tue, 26 May 2009 17:30:00 GMT Since 2000, nearly 1,000 "retail clinics" – offering routine care like sports physicals and immunizations and treatment for minor illnesses like strep throat – have opened their doors inside pharmacies and grocery stores across the United States. Retail chain operators proposed that the new clinics would improve access to medical care among uninsured or underserved populations. However, these clinics have been opened more often in higher-income areas that are less likely to be classified as medically underserved, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine published in the May 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/retail-clinic-disparities.html Tue, 26 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania was honored by The American Society for Microbiology last Friday with a plaque dedication ceremony celebrating the designation of its third Milestones in Microbiology site. Formerly known as the Laboratory of Hygiene, the current Vagelos Laboratories resides on the University of Pennsylvania campus. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/milestones-in-microbiology.html Fri, 22 May 2009 16:15:00 GMT Women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who exhibit an overexpression of the protein HER2/neu have a six-fold increase in risk of invasive breast cancer, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The results, published in the May issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, may help clinicians distinguish between DCIS that requires minimal treatment and DCIS that should be treated more aggressively. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/dcis-her2-breast-cancer-risk.html Fri, 22 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT L. Scott Levin, MD, FACS, has been appointed the new Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery of Penn Medicine, effective July 1, 2009. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/levin-ortho-surgery.html Tue, 19 May 2009 15:30:00 GMT A University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researcher has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support a global health research project conducted by Doron Greenbaum, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, to look for new ways to fight malaria. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/gates-malaria-research-grant.html Mon, 18 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will receive $2 million over the next four years from the American Heart Association and the Jon Holden DeHaan Foundation to study how heart muscle cell regeneration can help improve outcomes for heart attack and heart failure patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/heart-muscle-cell-regeneration.html Mon, 18 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT Women with chest pain are less likely than male patients to receive recommended, proven therapies while en route to the hospital, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Despite evidence showing that the drugs aspirin and nitroglycerin are important early interventions for people who may be having a heart attack, women don’t get them as often as men with the same types of symptoms, says a new study that was presented last week at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s annual conference. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/gender-disparities-chest-pain.html Mon, 18 May 2009 14:20:00 GMT The first long-term study following a large number of chest pain patients who are screened with coronary computerized tomographic angiography (CTA) confirms that the test is a safe, effective way to rule out serious cardiovascular disease in patients who come to hospital emergency rooms with chest pain, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine which was presented last week at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s annual conference. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/ct-scan-chest-pain-diagnosis.html Mon, 18 May 2009 14:20:00 GMT Jill M. Baren, MD, MBE, an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will today become president of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, the nation’s largest organization devoted to research and education in the specialty. An expert in emergency care, the subspecialty of pediatric emergency medicine and medical ethics, Baren will lead 5,000 national and international members at a time when emergency physicians face new challenges in caring for the growing elderly and uninsured populations in emergency rooms where staff and resources are strained by crowding. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/baren-saem-president.html Thu, 14 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT African, American, and European researchers working in a 10-year collaboration have released the largest-ever study of African genetic data — more than 4 million genotypes — providing a library of new information on the continent which is thought to be the source of the oldest settlements of modern humans. "This is the largest study to date of African genetic diversity in the nuclear genome," said lead author Sarah Tishkoff, PhD, a geneticist with joint appointments in the School of Medicine and the School of Arts and Sciences. "This long term collaboration, involving an international team of researchers and years of research expeditions to collect samples from populations living in remote regions of Africa, has resulted in novel insights about levels and patterns of genetic diversity in Africa, a region that has been underrepresented in human genetic studies." A slide show of the team's fieldwork, with audio, is available at www.sas.upenn.edu/home/SASFrontiers/tishkoff.html. http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1628 Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:15:00 GMT Researchers have made an important step forward in understanding the complex genetic structure of autism spectrum disorders. A researcher collaboration, including geneticists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), have detected variations along a genetic pathway that is responsible for neurological development, learning and memory, which appears to play a significant role in the genetic risk of autism. Their findings were published in the journal Nature. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/autism-genetics.html Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is among the top three research-oriented medical schools in the nation, according to an annual survey of the best graduate schools by U.S.News & World Report. Penn is ranked #3 in the prestigious survey. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/best-medical-schools.html Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues have discovered that a type of prostaglandin – one of a family of fatty compounds key to the cardiovscular system – may play the role of increasing blood pressure and accelerating atherosclerosis, at least in mice. Mice that lack the receptor for the type of prostaglandin studied, PGF2a, have lower blood pressure and less atherosclerosis than their non-mutant brethren. The results suggest that targeting this pathway could represent a novel therapeutic approach to cardiovascular disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/new-blood-pressure-control-target.html Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT The circadian clock coordinates physiological and behavioral processes on a 24-hour rhythm, allowing animals to anticipate changes in their environment and prepare accordingly. Scientists already know that some genes are controlled by the clock and are turned on only one time during each 24-hour cycle. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that some genes are switched on once every 12 or 8 hours, indicating that shorter cycles of the circadian rhythm are also biologically encoded. Using a novel time-sampling approach in which the investigators looked at gene activity in the mouse liver every hour for 48 hours, they also found 10-fold more genes controlled by the 24-hour clock than previously reported. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/8-12-hour-biological-rhythms.html Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:30:00 GMT In a finding that helps resolve a long-standing question in developmental biology, Klaus H. Kaestner, PhD, Professor of Genetics, and colleagues report in the journal Developmental Cell this week about how the mammalian gut forms. Mice were genetically engineered to lack the protein Cdx2 in the cells that normally go on to form the stomach and intestine. The mutant animals – which invariably die either before or just after birth – have an esophagus where these missing organs should be. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/gut-development-cdx2.html Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT An online tool that provides cancer survivors and their family members with an easy-to-follow roadmap for managing their health as they finish treatment and transition to life as a survivor got high marks from users, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research. Ninety-seven percent of people who used OncoLife, the first online cancer survivorship care plan tool – developed by physicians and nurses from Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center – rated their experience with the tool as 'good' to 'excellent,' and 84 percent said they planned to share their plan with their health care team. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/cancer-survivorship-plans.html Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT Donald O’Rourke, MD, associate professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and colleagues were able to accurately predict the specific genetic mutation that caused brain cancer in a group of patients studied using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The researchers presented their findings this week at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/mutation-prediction-by-mri.html Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT For the past decade, researchers have tried to tweak cells at the gene and nucleus level to reprogram their identity. Now, working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined by molecules called messenger RNAs, which contain the chemical blueprint for how to make a protein, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering have found another way to change one cell type into another. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/rna-cell-reprogramming.html Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:00:00 GMT Gerard Schellenberg, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has received an $18.3 million five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to lead a genome-wide association (GWA) study to identify genes that may affect risk of Alzheimer’s disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/alzheimers-genetic-markers.html Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:50:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that parasites hijack host-cell proteins to ensure their survival and proliferation, suggesting new ways to control the diseases they cause. The study, appearing this week online in Science, was led by Doron Greenbaum, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology in the Penn School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/host-cell-protein-hijack.html Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:50:00 GMT A collaboration of University of Pennsylvania and University of Wisconsin chemists and anesthesiologists have identified a fluorescent anesthetic compound that will assist researchers in obtaining more precise information about how anesthetics work in the body and will provide a means to more rapidly test new anesthetic compounds in the search for safer and more effective drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/fluorescent-anesthetic.html Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:50:00 GMT A new federally funded University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study aims to learn whether women at high risk of breast cancer can use exercise to meaningfully reduce their risk of getting the disease. Building on evidence that reducing estrogen in the body reduces cancer risk, and that elite female athletes experience a drop in estrogen levels that often cause them to stop ovulating and menstruating, the WISER Sister trial will investigate two different levels of regular treadmill exercise as a possible intervention for breast cancer risk reduction. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/exercise-breast-cancer-prevention-trial.html Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:40:00 GMT Even when their products are implicated in harm to patients, manufacturers of healthcare information technology (HIT) currently enjoy wide contractual and legal protection that renders them virtually 'liability-free,' writes Ross Koppel, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in the March 25th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.The current system needs to be changed so that all liability does not rest entirely with physicians, nurses, hospitals, and clinics, even when these users of faulty HIT scrupulously follow vendor instructions, according to Dr. Koppel's piece, co-authored with David Kreda, a software designer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/hit-liability.html Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:00:00 GMT Using design and engineering principles learned from nature, a team of biochemists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have built – from scratch – a completely new type of protein. This protein can transport oxygen, akin to human neuroglobin, a molecule that carries oxygen in the brain and peripheral nervous system. Some day this approach could be used to make artificial blood for use on the battle field or by emergency-care professionals. Their findings appear in the most recent issue of Nature. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/proteins-by-design.html Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:30:00 GMT Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) fell by more than 90 percent during the past three years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania due to a multi-pronged approach combining leadership initiatives, electronic infection surveillance, checklists to guide line insertion and maintenance, and implementation of the Toyota Production System to encourage best practices in line care. The findings, which Penn physicians say provide a road map for cutting the deadly, costly toll of hospital-acquired infections nationwide, were presented on Friday, March 20 at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/bloodstream-infection-control.html Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have engineered transplantable living nerve tissue that encourages and guides regeneration in an animal model. About 300,000 Americans suffer peripheral nerve injuries every year, in many cases resulting in permanent loss of motor function, sensory function, or both. But there are insufficient means for repair, according to neurosurgeons. "We have created a three-dimensional neural network, a living conduit in culture, which can be transplanted en masse to an injury site," explains senior author Douglas H. Smith, MD, Professor, Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at Penn. Smith and colleagues have successfully grown, transplanted, and integrated axon bundles that act as ‘jumper cables’ to the host tissue in order to bridge a damaged section of nerve. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/nerve-regeneration.html Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:10:00 GMT Within the crowd of 144 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine medical students, spouses, and children eager to learn where they have been accepted for their residency program on Match Day, the next generation of medical leaders is already emerging. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/match-day.html Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:00:00 GMT For years, researchers have known that under normal conditions, the breast cancer protein BRCA1 orchestrates the repair of damaged DNA, but the details of just how BRCA1 moves to the damaged site and recruits the right nuclear repairmen for DNA restoration remains a mystery. Now, a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has identified genes associated with the BRCA1 protein and their involvement in the DNA repair pathway, helping to clear the way for researchers to better understand what goes wrong when the BRCA1 gene is mutated and the repair pathway goes haywire. Identifying patients with mutations in these BRCA1-associated genes may help better fight breast cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/brca-associated-gene.html Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:30:00 GMT Although most Americans live close to some type of emergency room, as many as one in four Americans are more than an hour away from the type of hospital that’s most prepared to save their life during a time-sensitive medical emergency, according to a new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study published in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine. Since little is known about which U.S. hospitals are best equipped and staffed to tackle emergent illnesses like stroke, cardiac arrest, heart attack and the severe bloodstream infection sepsis, many more Americans may be in peril because no system exists to transport them to the right hospital at the right time. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/emergency-care-access.html Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:30:00 GMT A test capable of confirming or ruling out Alzheimer’s disease has been validated and standardized by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. By measuring cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of two of the disease’s biochemical hallmarks – amyloid beta42 peptide and tau protein – the test also predicted whether a person’s mild cognitive impairment would convert to Alzheimer’s disease over time. Researchers were able to detect this devastating disease at the earliest stages, before dementia symptoms appeared and widespread irreversible damage occurred. The findings hold promise in the search for effective pharmaceutical therapies capable of halting the disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/csf-alzheimers-biomarker.html Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a master switch that might prevent cancer cells from metastasizing from a primary tumor to other organs. The switch is a protein that, when in the “on” position, maintains the normal character of cells that line the surface of organs and body cavities. These epithelial cells are the type of cell from which most solid tumors arise. However, when the switch is turned “off” or absent, epithelial cells acquire characteristics of another cell type, called mesenchymal cells, and gain the ability to migrate and move away from the primary tumor. The researchers report their findings in this month’s issue of Molecular Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/esrp-molecular-switch.html Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:00:00 GMT The human brain's sensitivity to unexpected outcomes plays a fundamental role in the ability to adapt and learn new behaviors, according to a new study by a team of psychologists and neuroscientists from the University of Pennsylvania. Using a computer-based card game and microelectrodes to observe neuronal activity of the brain, the Penn study, published this week in the journal Science, suggests that neurons in the human substantia nigra, or SN, play a central role in reward-based learning, modulating learning based on the discrepancy between the expected and the realized outcome. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/learning-unexpected.html Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:30:00 GMT New research has found that heavy drinking and being near off-premise alcohol outlets, such as take-out establishments and delis, can increase the risk of gun violence. Reducing the density of off-premise alcohol outlets and better training of servers in these outlets, may help to reduce gun violence, according to a new study published in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 'Strategies to reduce gun violence often focus on the guns themselves,' said Charles C. Branas, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania and corresponding author for the study. 'While most Americans agree that gun violence is something we need to reduce, there is less certainty as to how we should intervene while striking a balance between gun owners’ rights and public safety.' http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/alcohol-gun-violence-risk.html Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:25:00 GMT Sick or injured African-American patients wait about an hour longer than patients of other races before being transferred to an inpatient hospital bed following emergency room visits, according to a new national study published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine. The authors say the findings underscore the urgency to find equitable, cost-effective solutions to provide better care in the nation’s emergency departments, which are already strained by unprecedented crowding and more visits from the nation’s uninsured population, which is expected to balloon toward 55 million people in the next decade. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/racial-disparities-ed-wait-time.html Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:35:00 GMT The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in collaboration with The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Lincoln University, and the Pennsylvania State University, will receive $5.5 million to study why patients infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) frequently experience recurrent infections despite appropriate treatment. The researchers will also determine how often MRSA spreads among household members and the factors contributing to the spread of MRSA within the household. An intervention to prevent new and recurring MRSA infections will be tested. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/mrsa-recurrence-research.html Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:30:00 GMT A study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues, and published in Reproductive Toxicology, found that maternal exposure to C8, a chemical used in the manufacture of non-stick surfaces, was not associated with either lowered birth weight or increased risk of preterm birth in Little Hocking, Ohio area residents. These findings are based on an examination of the vital records of newborns in Washington County, Ohio who were exposed to significant amounts of C8 through residential drinking water. Although C8 was not associated with lowered birth weight or increased risk of preterm birth, the authors noted that additional research is still required to confirm these findings and to investigate other potentially adverse health effects of C8 on fetal and childhood development.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/c8-exposure-risk.html Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:30:00 GMT Over the next five years, Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Dermatology and Associate Scholar in the Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will receive funding from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to study the relationship between psoriasis, cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular outcomes. This research will build a deeper understanding of the relationship between inflammatory diseases like psoriasis and myocardial infarction (heart attack), potentially paving the way for improved disease management strategies for the over 7 million Americans with psoriasis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/psoriasis-associated-risks.html Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:30:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Connecticut have pinpointed the source of immature cells that spur misplaced bone growth. Unexpectedly, the major repository of bone-forming cells originates in blood vessels deep within skeletal muscle and other connective tissues, not from muscle stem cells themselves. The work also shows that cells important in the inflammatory response to injury trigger skeleton-stimulating proteins to transform muscle tissue into bone. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/fop-bone-growth-cells.html Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:30:00 GMT A University of Pennsylvania team has completed the first successful demonstration of a noninvasive optical device to monitor cerebral blood flow in patients with acute stroke, a leading cause of disability and death. The study is part of a $2.8 million, five-year Bioengineering Research Partnership grant from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Pennsylvania Health System Comprehensive Neuroscience Center. Principal investigator Arjun Yodh, professor of physics in the School of Arts and Sciences at Penn is joined by Rick Van Berg from the High Energy group of the Department of Physics and clinical collaborators John Detre, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology and Radiology, Joel Greenberg, PhD, Research Professor of Neurology and Scott Kasner, MD, MSCE, Associate Professor of Neurology in the School of Medicine at Penn. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/monitoring-brain-blood-flow.html Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:20:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have unlocked the mystery of a puzzling human disease and gained insight into cardiovascular development, all thanks to a big-hearted fish. Mark Kahn, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, graduate student Benjamin Kleaveland, and colleagues report in the February issue of Nature Medicine that a human vascular condition called Cerebral Cavernous Malformation (CCM) is caused by leaky junctions between cells in the lining of blood vessels. By combining studies with zebrafish and mice, the researchers found that the aberrant junctions are the result of mutated or missing proteins in a novel biochemical process, the so-called Heart-of-glass (HEG)-CCM pathway. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/heg-ccm-pathway.html Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:00:00 GMT Two-thirds of patients referred for psychiatric services following an emergency room visit are likely to reach only an answering machine when they call for help, compared to about 20 percent of patients calling medical clinics with physical symptoms. Only 10 percent of all calls to mental health clinics in nine U.S. cities resulted in an appointment scheduled within two weeks, according to a new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/psych-referral-access.html Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:35:00 GMT If you ever argued with your mother when she told you to get some sleep after studying for an exam instead of pulling an all-nighter, you owe her an apology, because it turns out she's right. And now, scientists are beginning to understand why. In research published this week in Neuron, Marcos Frank, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, postdoctoral researcher Sara Aton, PhD, and colleagues describe for the first time how cellular changes in the sleeping brain promote the formation of memories. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/sleep-memory-formation.html Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:00:00 GMT Researchers have generated altered immune cells that are able to shrink, and in some cases eradicate, large tumors in mice. The immune cells target mesothelin, a protein that is highly expressed, or translated in large amounts from the mesothelin gene, on the surface of several types of cancer cells. The approach, developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), shows promise in the development of immunotherapies for certain tumors. The study appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/mesothelin-targeting.html Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:00:00 GMT A microbicide gel intended to prevent HIV infection in women, called PRO 2000 (0.5% dose), was 30% effective, according to results from a clinical trial conducted at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and six trial sites in Africa. The results of the study, known as HPTN 035, were presented today at the international Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Montreal, Canada. This is the first human clinical study to suggest that a microbicide gel may prevent male-to-female sexual transmission of HIV infection. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/anti-hiv-gel.html Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:30:00 GMT For years controversy has surrounded whether electronic medical records (EMR) would lead to increased patient safety, cut medical errors, and reduce healthcare costs. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a way to get another bonus from the implementation of electronic medical records: testing the efficacy of treatments for disease.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/emr-study-drug-efficacy.html Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:00:00 GMT A connection between genetic and environmental causes of Parkinson’s disease has been discovered by a research team led by Aaron D. Gitler, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Gitler and colleagues found a genetic interaction between two Parkinson's disease genes (alpha-synuclein and PARK9) and determined that the PARK9 protein can protect cells from manganese poisoning, which is an environmental risk factor for a Parkinson’s disease-like syndrome. The findings appear online this week in Nature Genetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/parkinsons-manganese.html Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have likely found one reason why the Ebola virus is such a powerful, deadly, and effective virus. Using a cell culture model for Ebola virus infection, they have discovered that the virus disables a cellular protein called tetherin that normally can block the spread of virus from cell to cell.  http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/01/tetherin-ebola.html Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:00:00 GMT Studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine on brain electrical signaling offer a fresh perspective on vertebrate evolution, provide additional evidence supporting Darwinian views of evolution, and may also lead to more effective treatment of epileptic seizures in infants. Researchers discovered how evolutionary changes produced a series of improvements in molecules generating electrical signals in nerves between 550 and 400 million years ago. By making nervous systems faster and smarter, these innovations appear to have contributed to the evolutionary success and diversity of vertebrate animals. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/01/evolution-epilepsy.html Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:00:00 GMT Many breast cancer survivors give low marks to the post-cancer care they receive from their primary care physicians, who generally serve as a patient’s main health care provider after they’re released from active treatment with their oncologists, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/01/cancer-survivorship.html Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:00:00 GMT A research team led by Nancy Speck, PhD, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has identified the location and developmental timeline in which a majority of bone marrow stem cells form in the mouse embryo. The findings, appearing online this week in the journal Nature, highlight critical steps in the origin of hematopoietic (or blood) stem cells (HSCs), says senior author Speck, who is also an Investigator with the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at Penn. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/01/blood-stem-cell-development.html Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:00:00 GMT Efforts to fight the toll of cardiac arrest have typically focused on pre-hospital factors -- bystander CPR education and improvement, public defibrillation programs, and quicker EMS response. But new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reveals that the hospital where patients are cared for after being resuscitated plays a key role in their chances of survival following these incidents, which take the lives of more than 300,000 Americans each year. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/01/cardiac-arrest-survival.html Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:00:00 GMT Racial disparities in end of life cancer care may be caused by a preference for continuing aggressive treatment – a decision that blocks enrollment in hospice care – according to a study by Jessica Fishman, PhD and David J. Casarett, MD, MA, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, and colleagues. In this study, African-Americans patients with cancer were less willing to give up treatment, compared with white patients. In addition, African-American patients reported greater needs for hospice services (i.e. counselor, respite care, chaplain, nurse), despite the fact that their cancer treatment preferences would exclude them from most hospice programs. The study, published early online this week by CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, indicates that the eligibility criteria for hospice services should be reconsidered. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/01/racial-disparities-hospice.html Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:00:00 GMT More drafts usually mean a better product and so it also seems to go with the human immune system. As B cells develop, genes rearrange to allow their antibodies to recognize different foreign invaders or pathogens. But sometimes antibodies are created that recognize and attack the body’s own cells. These self-reactive antibodies, like early drafts of a manuscript, must be edited into safer versions. This process is called receptor editing and is important for central or early B cell tolerance, which occurs while B cells are still developing in the bone marrow. A research team led by Nina Luning Prak, M.D., Ph.D, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has discovered that this editing process may go awry in people with certain types of autoimmune diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/12/b-cell-editing-autoimmune.html Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:00:00 GMT Two faculty members of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). mThe new Penn Medicine AAAS Fellows are: Yvonne Paterson, PhD, Professor of Microbiology: For distinguished contributions to the field of cancer research, particularly for her pioneering work in immunotherapeutic and for her institutional leadership as Director of Postdoctoral Programs; and Susan R. Weiss, PhD, Professor of Microbiology: For distinguished contributions to viral pathogenesis, specifically elucidating the determinants of mouse corona virus tropism and virulence in the central nervous system and liver. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/12/aaas-fellows-paterson-weiss.html Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:00:00 GMT Psoriasis – a common skin disease characterized by thickened patches of inflamed, scaly skin – is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular conditions, especially when skin disease is severe, according to research by Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. An editorial consensus paper on the topic is published in the December 15th issue of the American Journal of Cardiology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/12/psoriasis-cardiovascular.html Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:30:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered stem cells in the esophagus of mice that were able to grow into tissue-like structures and when placed into immune-deficient mice were able to form parts of an esophagus lining. The investigators report their findings online this month in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/12/esophagus-tissue-growth.html Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:00:00 GMT Penn Presbyterian Medical Center is the only hospital in Philadelphia to be selected as one of the nation’s “100 Top Hospitals” for cardiovascular care by Thomson Reuters, a leading news and information company. Each year, this award for cardiovascular services objectively measures performance on key criteria at the nation’s top-performing acute-care hospitals. This is the sixth year that Penn Presbyterian has been recognized with this honor. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/12/penn-presbyterian-top100-cardiac.html Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:30:00 GMT A new study from the Abramson Cancer Center and Department of Psychiatry in the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shows that smokers who carry a particular version of a gene for an enzyme that regulates dopamine in the brain may suffer from concentration problems and other cognitive deficits when abstaining from nicotine – a problem that puts them at risk for relapse during attempts to quit smoking. The findings, newly published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, pave the way to identify novel medications to treat nicotine addiction. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/12/genetic-nicotine-addiction.html Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:00:00 GMT During the busy holiday season, three Penn Medicine locations will pause to remember the friends, family and loved ones by lighting trees in their honor. Penn Wissahickon Hospice, a division of the Penn Home Care and Hospice Service and part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, holds the Light Up a Life ceremony annually to honor the people who have brightened and enriched the lives of others. Each light on the tree is dedicated in honor or memory of a patient, friend or loved one. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/12/light-up-events.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT 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 a key molecular partnership that coordinates body rhythms and metabolism. Lazar and his colleagues, including the study’s first author, Penn Veterinary Medicine doctoral student Theresa Alenghat, studied a protein called NCoR that modulates the body’s responses to metabolic hormones. They engineered a mutation into mice that prevents NCoR from working with an enzyme that is normally its partner, HDAC3. These animals showed changes in the expression of clock and metabolic genes, and were leaner, more sensitive to insulin, and on different sleep-wake cycles than controls. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/hdac-rhythm-metabolism.html Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found an association between the genetics of donor-recipient matches in kidney transplants and complications during the first week after transplantation. The team, led by Malek Kamoun MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Director of the Clinical Immunology and Histocompatibility Laboratory, and Harold Feldman MD, MSCE, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, has shown that small differences in the building blocks of cell-surface proteins used to match donors and recipients for deceased-donor kidney transplantation was associated with an increased risk for delayed allograft function, or DGF. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/genetic-match-transplant.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT Haig H. Kazazian, Jr., M.D., Seymour Gray Professor of Molecular Medicine in Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, received the American Society of Human Genetics’ (ASHG) Allan Award at the Society’s 58th Annual Meeting, which was held this month in Philadelphia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/kazazian-ashg-allan-award.html Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:30:00 GMT PENN Medicine announced today the creation of the Clyde F. Barker Transplant House, a 'home away from home' designed to help ease the unique economic and emotional stresses of transplant families. Modeled after the Ronald McDonald Houses and named for the physician who performed the first kidney transplant at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, the Barker Transplant House will be located at 3940 Spruce Street on Penn's campus and will offer comfortable, convenient accommodations in a supportive community setting - all at a nominal cost. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/transplant-house-dedication.html Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT Flip open any biology textbook and you're bound to see a complicated diagram of the inner workings of a cell, with its internal scaffolding, the cytoskeleton, and how it maintains a cell’s shape. Yet the fundamental question remains, which came first: the shape, or the skeleton? Now a research team led by Phong Tran, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has the answer: Both. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/cytoskeleton-cell-shape.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT Michael P. Nusbaum, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will receive over $2.7 million over the next seven years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to understand how a fundamental aspect of molecular signaling in the nervous system, called neuromodulation, modifies sensory-motor integration to enable a single neural network to generate the appropriate coordinated movement in different contexts. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/nusbaum-javits-neuroscience-award.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT Blending the comforts of home with first-class end-of-life care, Penn Hospice at Rittenhouse, a division of Wissahickon Hospice and part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, will open its doors for terminally ill patients this week in Center City Philadelphia. The first inpatient hospice of its kind in the area, the facility offers 12 large, private rooms, a spa center, meditation area and panoramic views of the city. Patients will receive exemplary care from a specialized team of physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors and chaplains to manage pain symptoms and other physical, emotional and spiritual needs unique to patients in their final days. Families will be able to spend time with their loved ones 24 hours a day, and will have access to a family lounge with wireless internet, a dining room with full kitchen as well as respite and bereavement support. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/penn-hospice-rittenhouse.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT Results of a new study call into question recent clinical guidelines issued by leading cardiovascular groups, including the American Heart Association, which recommend patients with cardiovascular disease be screened for signs of depression and treated accordingly. The study, published in the November 12 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association and conducted by an international team of researchers including James Coyne, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, determined that there is no clear evidence that depression screening plays a conclusive role in improving cardiovascular patients' health. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/cardiovascular-depression-screening.html Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT A novel protein marker has been found that identifies rare adult liver stem cells, whose ability to regenerate injured liver tissue has the potential for cell-replacement therapy. For the first time, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine led by Linda Greenbaum, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, have demonstrated that cells expressing the marker can differentiate into both liver cells and cells that line the bile duct. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/liver-stem-cell-marker.html Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues in the United Kingdom have engineered T cells able to recognize HIV-1 strains that have evaded the immune system. The findings of the study, published online in the journal Nature Medicine, have important implications for developing new treatments for HIV, especially for patients with chronic infection who fail to respond to antiretroviral regimens. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/t-cells-recognize-hiv.html For the growing number of teens addicted to opiates (i.e. heroin or prescription pain-relief drugs), short-term detoxification and/or psychosocial treatment programs are commonly recommended, despite high relapse rates and limited success. Researchers have found a more effective treatment method that targets the physiological aspects of opioid addiction, which may reduce the toll drug abuse takes on individuals, families, and communities. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/teen-opiate-addiction.html 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 used state-of-the-art genetic technology to map thousands of positions where a molecular 'master regulator' of fat-cell biology is nestled in DNA to control genes in these cells. The findings appear online this week in Genes and Development. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/ppar-gamma-gene-regulator.html New research reveals a complicated interplay between two receptors on the surface of B cells that allows them to integrate their signals, which are at odds with one another. 'One receptor sends signals to the cell nucleus that says, 'yes stay alive, the body needs more B cells,' while the other says ‘'wait a minute, be careful which B cells are allowed to live.'' http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/b-cell-crosstalk.html University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have discovered how the expression of the Sonic hedgehog gene is regulated during brain development and how mutations that alter this process cause brain malformations. The results appear online this month in Nature Genetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/10/sonic-brain-development.html The Pennsylvania Muscle Institute and the Department of Cell and Development Biology are co-sponsors of a symposium on November 3, 2008 that covers technological and methodological developments in advanced light microscopy, structural spectroscopy, nanotechnology, biochemical kinetics, image processing, molecular biology and viral gene targeting aimed at solving basic science questions about muscle diseases. http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1473 Patients who report receiving written and verbal instructions on the proper way to take the blood thinner warfarin are significantly less likely to suffer the serious gastrointestinal and brain bleeding problems that are associated with misuse of the drug, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The study, published in the October issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, also shows that patients who see only one physician and fill their prescription at a single pharmacy are less apt to experience serious bleeding events. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/10/prescription-communication-warfarin.html Four School of Medicine professors, a School of Nursing professor, and the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, have been elected as members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation’s highest honors in biomedicine. The new members bring Penn’s total to 68, out of over 1600 worldwide. Overall, the IOM named 65 new members this year. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/10/six-elected-to-iom.html Women troubled by hot flashes and night sweats during the years around menopause want safe, effective treatment options. The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is part of a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative to conduct clinical trials of promising treatments for the most common symptoms of the menopausal transition. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/10/menopause-treatment-study.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that some proteins of the immune system can promote tumor growth. Investigators found that instead of fighting tumors, the protein C5a, which is produced during an immune response to a developing tumor, helps tumors build molecular shields against T-cell attack. These findings appeared online this week in Nature Immunology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/09/immune-promote-tumor-growth.html Carl June, MD, Director of Translational Research at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in Penn’s School of Medicine, has received $1 million over the next three years from the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, Inc. (ACGT) to harness the immune system to fight the worst cases of ovarian cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/09/carl-june-cancer-gene-therapy.html The dedication of Penn Medicine’s Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine on October 2 will mark the latest example in a national trend toward caring for patients in an environment designed to speed diagnosis and treatment and enhance patient comfort and convenience. The Perelman Center links Penn’s expert physicians and clinical researchers in new ways, by putting them just an idea’s reach away from one another, always prepared to collaborate and create groundbreaking, individualized treatment plans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/perelman/release-advancing-real-time-medicine.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are conducting studies on an experimental medication to block nerve damage and inflammation in the brain that can lead to progressive memory loss and behavioral changes in people with Alzheimer’s disease. Current Alzheimer’s disease therapies focus on improving symptoms rather than attacking the root of the disease progression. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/09/alzheimers-clinical-trial.html James Eberwine, PhD, the Elmer Holmes Bobst Professor of Pharmacology and co-director of the Penn Genome Frontiers Institute, has been awarded the National Institutes of Health Pioneer Award, which provides $2.5 million over the next five years. Aaron Gitler, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, has been awarded the NIH New Innovator Award, which provides $1.5 million over the same timeframe. Eberwine investigates how single neurons work in the context of surrounding cells and how this relates to the emerging field of RNA-based therapeutics and Gitler studies yeast cells to define mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases and screen for new treatment targets. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/09/nih-pioneer-innovator-awards.html Using the drug darapladib, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues have inhibited a cholesterol-and immune system-associated protein, thereby reducing the development of heart-disease plaques that may cause death, heart attacks, and strokes in a pig model of atherosclerosis and diabetes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/09/darapladib-artery-blockages.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have modified a honeybee venom toxin so that it can be used as a tool to study the inner workings of ion channels that control heart rate and the recycling of salt in kidneys. In general, ion channels selectively allow the passage of small ions such as sodium, potassium, or calcium into and out of the cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/09/honeybee-kir-channels.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a key step in the formation – and suppression – of esophageal cancers and perhaps carcinomas of the breast, head, and neck. By studying human tissue samples, they found that Fbx4, a naturally occurring enzyme, plays a key role in stopping production of another protein called Cyclin D1, which is thought to contribute to the early stages of cancer development. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/09/natural-tumor-suppressor-fbx4.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a protein from a most unlikely source -- baker’s yeast -- that might protect against Parkinson’s disease. More than a million Americans suffer from Parkinson's disease, and no treatments are available that fundamentally alter the course of the condition. By introducing the yeast protein Hsp104 into animal models of Parkinson’s disease, researchers prevented protein clumping that leads to nerve cell death characteristic of the disorder. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/08/hsp104-parkinsons-protein.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a protein called FOXA2 controls genes that maintain the proper level of bile in the liver. FOXA2 may become the focus for new therapies to treat diseases that involve the regulation of bile salts. The study was published online this week in Nature Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/08/foxa2-bile-gene.html While scientists and physicians know what happens if you don’t get six to eight hours of shut-eye a night, investigators have long been puzzled about what controls the actual need for sleep. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine might have an answer, at least in fruit flies. In a recent study of fruit flies, they identified a gene that controls sleep. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/sleepless-fly-gene.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified two new techniques to detect the progression of Alzheimer’s disease earlier. By catching Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms are apparent, physicians can prescribe treatments to slow down the disease progression. In one study, researchers identified abnormal structural changes in the brains of seemingly normal elderly that indicated mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease. In a second study, researchers detected changes in cells that may help predict the transition from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/alzheimers-early-detection.html John Gearhart, who led a research team that first identified and isolated human embryonic stem cells, has been named director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and also a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/gearhart-irm.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will be presenting at the annual meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology, which will be held from July 26-30, 2008 on the Penn campus. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/developmental-biology-meeting.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that mutations in two proteins associated with familial Alzheimer's disease disrupt the flow of calcium ions within neurons. The two proteins, called PS1 and PS2 (presenilin 1 and 2), interact with a calcium release channel in an intracellular cell compartment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/calcium-channels-alzheimers.html By studying medication orders that are withdrawn (“discontinued”) by physicians within 45 minutes of their origination, researchers at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated a systematic and efficient method of identifying prescribing errors. The method, they say, has value to screen for medication errors and as a teaching tool for physicians and physicians-in-training. The report is published in the July/August 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/stopped-prescriptions-errors.html Aaron D. Gitler, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been recognized as one of seven 2008 Rita Allen Foundation Scholars. Dr. Gitler plans to pursue a project aimed at identifying new treatment strategies for neurofibromatosis, a type of human cancer. Dr. Gitler will receive $300,000 over three years to further his research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/gitler-rita-allen-foundation.html The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has been selected for the "Honor Roll" of best hospitals in America by U.S.News and World Report, as featured in its July 23rd issue. The publication’s prestigious annual ranking of hospitals places HUP in the top 10 of the approximately 5,400 facilities surveyed. HUP was one of only 19 hospitals honored with the “Honor Roll” recognition for excellence in multiple specialties. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/hup-usnews-best-hospitals.html Researchers have manipulated cell activity that occurs during the interruption of blood flow to strongly protect heart tissue in animal studies. The finding has the potential to become an emergency treatment for heart attack patients, particularly since already existing drugs might be pressed into service to produce the protective effects. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/hdac-heart-attack-protection.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that the activity of a specific family of nanometer-sized molecular motors called myosin-I is regulated by force. The motor puts tension on cellular springs that allow vibrations to be detected within the body. This finely tuned regulation has important implications for understanding a wide variety of basic cellular processes, including hearing and balance and glucose uptake in response to insulin. The findings appear in the most recent issue of Science. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/myosin-sensing-tension.html Three students and one researcher from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been chosen as recipients of Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Awards. The three students, Kristopher Bosse, Amit Khera, and Emily Williams, received Research Training Fellowships and John Chang, MD, received a Physician-Scientist award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/hhmi-early-career-awards.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a potential new way to vaccinate against avian flu. By delivering vaccine via DNA constructed to build antigens against flu, along with a minute electric pulse, researchers have immunized experimental animals against various strains of the virus. This approach could allow for the build up of vaccine reserves that could be easily and effectively dispensed in case of an epidemic. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/dna-flu-vaccine.html Aaron D. Gitler, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been recognized as one of 20 2008 Pew Scholars in Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Gitler plans to investigate how protein misfolding can lead to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/gitler-pew-scholar.html The Community-Campus Partnership for Health (CCPH) has honored the partnership between the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Decatur, Ohio Community Association as the recipient of the 7th annual CCPH Award. The Award, announced last month at the third Community-University Exposition in Victoria, B.C., Canada, recognizes exemplary partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions that build on each other’s strengths to improve higher education, civic engagement, and the overall health of communities. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/community-campus-health-award.html The Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has received $500,000 from the Bilger Foundation to identify new approaches and unique drug targets for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and, through its Drug Discovery Center, translate these research findings into new therapeutic drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/cndr-bilger-gift.html In the first study of its kind, researchers led by The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s Ross Koppel, Ph.D. studied how hospital nurses actually use bar-coded technology that matches the right patient with the right dose of the right medication. The surprising result is that the design and implementation of the technology, which is often relied upon as a “cure-all” for medication administration errors, is flawed, and can increase the probabilities of certain errors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/barcode-medication-errors.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and collaborators are using minute, naturally occurring proteins called zinc fingers to engineer T cells to one day treat AIDS in humans. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/zinc-finger-hiv.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that the unfolded protein response, which is an adaptive response to stress induced by sleep deprivation, is impaired in the brains of old mice. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/upr-cellular-aging-mice.html University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine physicians and bioethicists are calling for a new, more standardized way for patients in need of organ transplants to be informed of the risks they face. If adopted, their policy recommendations could promote greater equity in how organs are allocated while restricting patients’ abilities to “cherry-pick” the best organs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/organ-transplant-risk-disclosure.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that the activation of a molecular pathway important in stem cell and developmental biology leads to an increase in lung stem cells. Harnessing this knowledge could help develop therapies for lung-tissue repair after injury or disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/wnt-lung-stem-cells.html Two years ago researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that misfolded proteins called TDP-43 accumulated in the motor areas of the brains of patients with amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. Now, the same group has shown that TDP-43 accumulates throughout the brain, suggesting ALS has broader neurological effects than previously appreciated and treatments need to take into account more than motor neuron areas. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/als-tdp43-throughout-brain.html A $50 million gift from philanthropists Jerome and Anne Fisher will support a new eight-story biomedical-research center at the University of Pennsylvania dedicated to the growing field of translational medicine, which emphasizes an accelerated pace for converting laboratory discoveries into medical therapies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/fisher-gift-translational-research-center.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will be presenting at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISCCR) as well as participating in a Workshop and an Evening Public Symposium on Stem Cell Biology. The Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the School of Medicine Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and the ISSCR are hosting the free Workshop and Evening Public Symposium on June 10, just prior to the scientific meeting. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/stem-cell-experts-meeting.html An alternative method for obstetric care, known as Active Management of Risk in Pregnancy at Term (AMOR-IPAT), has led to lower neonatal intensive care unit admission rates, higher uncomplicated vaginal birth rates, and a lower mean Adverse Outcome Index score, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and published in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/pregnancy-risk-management.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that the effect of a protein deficiency, which is the basis of the neuromuscular disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), is not restricted to motor nerve cells, suggesting that SMA is a more general disorder. This new insight will allow for better understanding of how this complex disease arises. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/05/smn-spinal-muscular-atrophy.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown how Argos, a fruit fly protein, acts as a 'decoy' receptor, binding growth factors that promote the progression of cancer. Knowing how Argos neutralizes tumor growth may lead to new drug designs for inhibiting cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/05/argos-decoy-binds-tumor-growth-factors.html Zhe Lu, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was selected to be a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator. HHMI honors and supports the nation's most creative biomedical scientists by giving them the opportunity to tackle their most ambitious research plans. http://www.hhmi.org/news/20080527.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology have shown that one of the main chemical culprits in lung cancer, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, can lead to mutations in critical genes by a process of oxidative stress. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/05/pah-oxidative-stress-cancer.html The more than ten million Americans who’ve received drug-eluting stents to open their blocked coronary arteries have a bright future, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/05/drug-eluting-stents-benefits.html The more than ten million Americans who’ve received drug-eluting stents to open their blocked coronary arteries have a bright future, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/05/drug-eluting-stents-benefits.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that monitoring treatment adherence to AIDS therapy is a simple blood-free way to monitor risk of disease progression. The international study was published in the May issue of the journal PLoS Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/05/blood-free-monitoring-aids.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown, in unprecedented detail, how a small molecule called DAPH is able to selectively take apart abnormally folded protein fibers connected to Alzheimer's disease and prion diseases. Finding a way to dismantle misfolded proteins has implications for new treatments for a host of neurodegenerative diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/05/daph-dismantles-proteins.html Incentive programs aimed at improving the care all Americans receive in hospitals may be widening the gap between poor, underserved patients and those who are insured or can afford to pay for their own care, according to a new study led by a University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine physician. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/05/hospital-incentive-disparities.html In a clinical trial at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers from The University of Pennsylvania have used gene therapy to safely restore vision in three young adults with a rare form of congenital blindness. Although the patients have not achieved normal eyesight, the preliminary results set the stage for further studies of an innovative treatment for this and possibly other retinal diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr08/gene-therapy-vision.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are developing a novel approach to screen for drugs to combat neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, using yeast cells. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr08/yeast-model-als.html Many women with a faulty breast cancer gene could be at greater risk of the disease due to extra risk-amplifying genes, according to research published this month in the American Journal of Human Genetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr08/combination-breast-cancer-genes.html IShiriki Kumanyika, PhD, MPH, Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Dean for Health Promotion and Health Prevention, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Virginia A. Stallings, MD, PhD, the Jean A. Cortner Endowed Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology at Penn and Professor of Pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, will be part of a panel at a special public session, Understanding Obesity and Childhood at the 2008 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston Sunday, February 17. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb08/childhood-obesity.html In an effort to empower the men of Philadelphia and the surrounding region, the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania is offering free prostate cancer screening, Saturday, March 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the First District Plaza, next to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, 3801 Market Street, Philadelphia. Screenings consist of a physical exam and a prostate-specific antigen – or PSA – blood test, provided free of charge. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb08/free-screening.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that introns, or junk DNA to some, associated with RNA are an important molecular guide to making nerve-cell electrical channels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb08/nerve-cell.html University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers are the first in the Philadelphia region to begin using an innovative new drug-eluting stent to treat patients with peripheral arterial disease, the clogging and hardening of arteries that supply blood to the legs and feet. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb08/zilver-trial.html The US Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing in Washington, DC, this morning on older Americans and the significant barriers they face in exercising their right to vote. Jason Karlawish, MD, associate professor of Medicine and Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, testified before the Committee, citing results from a series of his studies examining voting rights for the elderly. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/mobile-polling.html Minority and low-income patients are less likely than those who are white or more well off to agree to post-surgery epidural pain relief, according to new research from physicians at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/epidural-disparity.html Emerging subtypes of influenza A virus hold the potential to initiate a world-wide epidemic in the next few years, according to World Health Organization officials. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have now provided a new strategy for designing drugs that target the resistant viral strains by solving the three-dimensional structure of a viral protein called the M2 proton channel. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/viral-bonding.html The region’s only cyclotron will complete its 3,700 mile transatlantic journey from Belgium by arriving with a police escort from the Port Authority of Philadelphia to the Roberts Proton Therapy Center at the University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, January 29, 2008. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/proton-therapy.html The entire January issue of NeuroSignals is devoted to describing neurodegenerative disease research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Health System. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/special-issue.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that proteins carrying chemical cargo in nerve cells react differently when exposed to the tau protein, which plays an important role in Alzheimer’s disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/speed-bump.html Benjamin S. Abella, MD, MPhil, Clinical Research Director of Penn’s Center for Resuscitation Science and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, says bystanders can play a critical role in saving lives by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation during the 150,000 cardiac arrests that occur each year outside of hospitals in the United States. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/anyone-CPR.html University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have answered long-running questions about the way that anesthetics act on the body, by showing that the cellular pathway for emerging from anesthesia is different from the one that drugs take to put patients to sleep during operations. The findings are published this month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/neural-pathways.html The roundworm C. elegans, a staple of laboratory research, may be key in unlocking one of the central biological mysteries: why we sleep. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report in this week's advanced online edition of Nature that the round worm has a sleep-like state, joining most of the animal kingdom in displaying this physiology. This research has implications for explaining the evolution and purpose of sleep and sleep-like states in animals. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/snoozing-worms.html Patients who have had a colonoscopy can play a life-saving role by encouraging other patients to follow through with their own colorectal cancer screenings, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/colonoscopy-fears.html For over 10 years, Wafik S. El-Deiry, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been pursuing a cancer-targeting molecule called TRAIL and its molecular partners. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec07/trail-cancer.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered how low-oxygen conditions can worsen chronic kidney disease (CKD). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec07/chronic-kidney.html A new brain imaging study by researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania shows that cigarette cravings in smokers who are deprived of nicotine are linked with increased activation in specific regions of the brain. Using a novel method of measuring brain blood flow developed by John Detre, MD, associate professor of Neurology at Penn, this study is the first to show how abstinence from nicotine produces brain activation patterns that relate to urges to smoke. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec07/brain-signature.html Marjorie Bowman, M.D., M.P.A., received the 2007 individual Association of American Medical Colleges Women in Medicine Leadership Development Award. Dr. Bowman is the Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and Director of the University’s Center for Public Health Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/bowman.html Researchers at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and other sites have found that doctors and other health care providers can better their chances of identifying and helping victims of domestic violence by changing the way they ask patients questions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec07/domestic-violence.html Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania reported today that students who participate in high school sports or individual physical activity are less likely to smoke than their classmates. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec07/smoking-activities.html Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania reported today that students who participate in high school sports or individual physical activity are less likely to smoke than their classmates. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec07/smoking-activities.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report that older adults with diabetes and depression are half as likely to die over a 5-year period when they receive depression care management than depressed patients with diabetes who do not receive depression care management. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec07/diabetes-depression.html Marjorie Bowman, M.D., M.P.A., received the 2007 individual Association of American Medical Colleges Women in Medicine Leadership Development Award. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07CT-emergency.html Among the 72 posters, lectures, and mini-symposia given by University of Pennsylvania researchers at the ASCB annual meeting are talks that present new research findings on the molecular workings of several types of diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/cell-biology.html Douglas L. Fraker, MD, has been named to the newly-created position of Deputy Director, Clinical Services and Programs, at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/douglas-fraker.html In the future, patients who arrive at a hospital Emergency Department complaining of chest pain may be diagnosed with a sophisticated CT scan. If the diagnosis is negative, the patient can go home—and the total time at the hospital will be much shorter than it is today. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/CT-emergency.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and other study sites have found that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) – a non-invasive technique that excites neurons in the brain via magnetic pulses passed through the scalp – is a safe and effective, non-drug treatment with minimal side effects for patients with major depression who have tried other treatment options without benefit. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/transcranial.html It’s well known that the body’s energy levels cycle on a 24-hour, or circadian, schedule, and that this metabolic process is fueled by oxygen. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that a protein called Rev-erb coordinates the daily cycles of oxygen-carrying heme molecules to maintain the body’s correct metabolism. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/cross-talk.html Three faculty members of the University of Pennsylvania have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). This year AAAS recognized 471 members for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.  The new Fellows will be officially inducted February 16 during the 2008 AAAS annual meeting in Boston. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/AAAS-fellows.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report that older adults today are much more likely to suffer from disability than those 10 years ago. This research – the first to track effects of obesity on disability over time – appears in the November 7th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/disability-obese.html Celebrate with lung transplant recipients, their families, doctors and nurses. The PENN Lung Transplant Program recently surpassed a major milestone by performing its 500th lung transplant. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/lung-transplant.html While ICDs-implantable cardioverter defibrillators-are the device of choice to manage abnormal heart rhythms, a new study led by cardiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine suggests that women with ICDs fare less well than their male counterparts. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov07/AHA-women-worse.html In an article appearing in the current issue of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, experts from the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics and Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics review the controversy surrounding the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine debate, and its effects on ethical and public health issues. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/HPV-failure.html A new study lead by James M. Metz, M.D. , radiation oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and presented by Charles Simone II, M.D., radiation oncologist at the National Cancer Institute concluded that when it comes to seeking information on the Internet about their health care, Spanish-speaking oncology patients differ from English-speaking patients with regards to both frequency of use and such variables as time of Internet use, browsing patterns, and types of cancer searched. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/oncolink-espanol.html Fetching New Approaches to Cancer Treatment:Penn School of Medicine School of Veterinary Medicine are Enlisting Man's Best Friend in the Fight Against Cancer http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/frontier-cancer-kyra.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that emotional well-being is not an independent factor affecting the prognosis of patients with head and neck cancers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/emotions-cancer.html A new Center for Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) Research has been established at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, a collaboration with the Schools of Nursing and Arts and Sciences, the Wharton School and the Annenberg School for Communication. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/center-for-excellence.html Join residents of the greater Philadelphia community as they participate in a screening for vascular diseases like peripheral artery disease (PAD), stroke and abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/free-screenings.html The University of Pennsylvania Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (Penn CERT) will receive $4 million over the next four years to continue and expand its work on improving the use of therapies for infections. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/therapeutics-center.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shed new light on how Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated Herpes Virus (KSHV) subverts normal cell machinery to cause cancer. A KSHV protein called latency-associated nuclear antigen, LANA for short, helps the virus hide out from the immune system in infected cells. When LANA takes the place of other proteins that control cell growth, it can cause uncontrolled cell replication. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/virus-reveals-cancer.html James Shorter, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been named an inaugural recipient of the 2007 NIH Director's New Innovator Award. This highly prestigious award totals 1.5 million in direct costs over five years to each of 29 investigators, many of whom are in the early stages of their careers. More than 2,100 applications were received for this extremely competitive program. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/biochemist-NIH-award.html In the first clinical trial of its kind, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center will lead a nationwide test of anti-cancer drug combinations that target blood vessel growth in patients with advanced kidney cancer. The trial is being conducted with colleagues in the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, a network of researchers, physicians, and health care professionals at public and private institutions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/kidney-cancer.html Albert "Mickey" J. Stunkard, MD, began his career at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1957. To honor his 50 years of service at Penn and major contributions to the field of obesity research, Penn's Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders will open the doors to the newly-established Albert J. Stunkard Weight Management Program. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/weight-management.html As the school year gets underway, common back-to-school activities like reading the blackboard and completing homework assignments may reveal children's vision problems. Brian Forbes, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, offers advice on preventing, identifying, and correcting children's vision problems. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/sep07/healthy-vision-school.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) have developed a framework to help hospital managers, physicians, and nurses handle the tough challenges of implementing health information technology (HIT) by directly addressing the unintended consequences that undermine safety and quality. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/sep07/healthcare-IT.html The Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has been awarded $2.3 million over the next four years to study biological indicators of exposure to cigarette smoke. The grant is part of the National Institutes of Health new Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The GEI represents a unique collaboration between geneticists and environmental health scientists. In this first round of awards genetic studies were funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute and biomarker studies were funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/sep07/cigarette-smoke-grant.html Brian Strom, MD, MPH, 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, has been additionally appointed to the newly created positions of Vice Dean for Institutional Affairs in the School of Medicine and Senior Advisor to the Provost for Global Health Initiatives. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/sep07/strom-appointments.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that new national regulations greatly limiting work hours for physicians-in-training did not lead to increased patient deaths. Analyzing over 8 million patient hospitalizations in the Medicare system and over 300,000 hospitalizations in the United States Veterans Affairs (VA) System, the Penn investigators found that duty hour regulations for medical residents in the VA System significantly improved patient mortality; yet these regulations were not associated with either significant worsening or improvement in mortality for Medicare patients. They report their findings in two studies in the September 5th issue of JAMA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/sep07/residency-work-hours.html Good Shepherd Penn Partners (GSPP), a joint venture of Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, has named Michael J. Soisson as Executive Director. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/soisson-director-gspp.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a new strategy that Kaposi's Sarcoma Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV) uses to dupe infected cells into replicating its viral genome. This allows the virus to remain virtually undetected by the body's immune system. Previous work suggested KSHV needed viral proteins to initiate replication, but this is the first study to directly show that a section of viral DNA can independently draw upon proteins within a host cell to promote its own replication. The study was published in the August issue of Cell Host and Microbe. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/KSHV-replication.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that a commonly prescribed diabetes drug kills tumor cells that lack a key regulatory gene called p53. Results from current studies in mice may result in new therapies for a subset of human cancers that tend to be aggressive and resistant to existing treatments. Additionally, the findings open up a new avenue for targeting cancers whose hallmark is the absence of this regulatory gene. The Penn team reported their findings last month in Cancer Research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/metformin-cancer-cells.html A family affected by multiple myeloma will visit the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania as part of its cross-country jaunt to raise awareness of this form of cancer. Myeloma, also called multiple myeloma, affects the production of red cells, white cells, and stem cells and is the second most common of the blood cancers affecting an estimated 75,000 people worldwide. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/myeloma-mobile.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that proteins known to promote cell death are also necessary for the maturation and proliferation of immune cells. Activation of T-cell receptors on the surface of lymphocytes by foreign antigens initiate a calcium-mediated signaling pathway that ends in cell differentiation and growth. The Penn scientists discovered that in the cells that lack the pro-death proteins Bax and Bak, calcium signaling is disrupted and energy production is reduced. Restoration of Bax corrects the signaling problems, increases energy production, and stimulates cell division. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/cell-death-proteins.html The 153 members of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's entering class of 2007, hailing from 31 states and 54 colleges from around the county, will be presented with the traditional "white coat" and recite the Hippocratic Oath to mark the official beginning of their medical careers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/white-coat-ceremony.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a group of liver enzymes called proprotein convertases (PCs) may be the key to raising levels of good cholesterol (HDL-C). The pathway by which these proteins are able to achieve an increase in HDL cholesterol involves another enzyme that normally degrades HDL-C, and was also discovered at Penn. The newly recognized relationship between these enzymes and cholesterol represents another target for ultimately controlling good cholesterol. The study appears in the current issue of Cell Metabolism. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/liver-enzymes-cholesterol.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine recently identified how a regulatory protein called Bcl-3 helps to control the body's inflammation response to infection by interfering a critical biochemical process called ubiquitination. While previous studies suggested Bcl-3 plays a role in immunity, this is the first report that Bcl-3 regulates inflammation by blocking ubiquitination. Their findings, published in Science, open new avenues of exploration for developing therapies to treat infectious or inflammatory diseases, such as sepsis, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/protein-block-inflammation.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center have begun ACT III – a Phase II/III Randomized Study – to investigate the addition of CDX-110 vaccine to standard care maintenance chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive form of primary brain tumor. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/brain-tumor-vaccine-trial.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a unique molecular pathway that detects and selectively eliminates defective messenger RNAs from red blood cells. Other such pathways -- known as surveillance pathways -- operate in a more general way, in many cell types. Knowing how this specific surveillance system works can help researchers better understand hereditary diseases, in this case, thalassemia, a form of anemia, which is the most common genetic disorder worldwide. The results appear in the most recent issue of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/red-blood-cell-pathway.html A study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reports that a cohort of women exposed to a safe, alternative method of maternity care had a 5.3 percent cesarean delivery rate compared to a 11.8 percent of women who received more traditional care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/preventive-labor-induction.html With thousands of shoes at half the suggested retail price, shoe lovers had the opportunity to splurge in the name of charity at the 13th Annual QVC Presents 'FFANY Shoes on Sale' event during Breast Cancer Awareness Month last October. The Rena Rowan Breast Center of the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) was one of the beneficiaries of the televised fundraiser that supports breast cancer research and patient education. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/ffany-rowan-center.html Caryn Lerman, PhD, Deputy Director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 22nd Annual Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health. The award will be presented to Lerman, for her work on pharmacogenetic approaches to nicotine dependence treatment, at the annual convention of the American College of Chest Physicians on October 21, 2007, in Chicago. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/ochsner-award-smoking.html In This Issue: For the first time last fall, the School of Medicine divided its incoming class into teams of six and seven. The idea is that, to be effective as doctors, students will have to learn how to work well in teams and learn how to lead them. Most health care today is not provided by solo practitioners; and his hospitals, patients are often cared for by multiple doctors and teams of professionals. Read more in "How to Build a Team." Also in this issue: Mary Ann Keenan Can Make a Muscle Do Anything; Crossing Boundaries with Mitchell Blutt; A Model Program: Biomedical Studies at Penn; Ten Years Old and Going Strong. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/prnews/publications/PENNMedicine.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are the first to observe and measure the internal motion inside proteins, or its 'dark energy.' This research, appearing in the current issue of Nature has revealed how the internal motion of proteins affects their function and overturns the standard view of protein structure-function relationships, suggesting why rational drug design has been so difficult. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/protein-internal-motion.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine identified a combination therapy as a way to sensitize resistant human cancer cells to a treatment currently being tested in clinical trials. They propose that the therapy may help to selectively eliminate cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact, providing a cancer treatment with fewer side effects. The Penn team reports their findings in the July issue of Cancer Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/trail-combination-cancer-therapy.html 'Learning to enjoy nutritious foods and be physically active in fun ways are life lessons that parents can teach their children to help them develop healthy habits they will carry through their school years and on into adulthood,' says Lisa Hark, PhD, RD, Director of the Nutrition Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Hark, who also hosted TLC's show 'Honey, We're Killing the Kids,' offers the ABC's of back-to-school nutrition for parents and children. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/school-nutrition.html Lance Becker, MD, Director of the Penn Center for Resuscitation Science, Robert Neumar, MD, Associate Director of the Penn Center for Resuscitation Science, Benjamin Abella, MD, Director of Clinical Research for the Penn Center for Resuscitation Science, and David Gaieski, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, are featured in a Newsweek cover story on the science of death. Dr. Becker, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Emergency Department and the Penn Center for Resuscitation Science are prominently featured. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/index.shtml The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has been selected for the "Honor Roll" of best hospitals in America by U.S.News and World Report, as featured in its July 25th issue. The publication's prestigious annual ranking of hospitals places HUP as one of only 18 hospitals chosen from the approximately 5,400 facilities surveyed. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/best-hospitals.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report how the gene for utrophin, which codes for a protein very similar to dystrophin, the defective protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), puts the brakes on its own expression in muscle cells, thereby suggesting a new target for treatment. The findings were published online in Molecular Biology Cell, in advance of print publication. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/target-muscular-dystrophy.html Jeanne M. Rogers, RN, MEd, Associate Executive Director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and Administrative Director, of the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Network, was recently appointed to serve on the Pennsylvania Cancer Control, Prevention and Research Advisory Board. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/cancer-advisory-board.html While most RNAs work to create, package, and transfer proteins as determined by the cell's immediate needs, miniature pieces of RNA, called microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression. Recently, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine determined how miRNAs team up with a regulatory protein to halt protein production. Results of the study were published recently in Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/micro-RNA-protein-synthesis.html A team of cancer specialists from OncoLink.org, the award-winning cancer Web-based resource of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, has launched OncoLife, the first and only individualized plan-of-care based on the national Institute of Medicine's recommendations for adult cancer survivors. Free and easy to use, the new program -- soon to be available in Spanish -- provides cancer survivors with information regarding the health risks they face as a result of cancer therapies, as well as a defined plan of action to maintain their health once they are out of treatment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/oncolife-cancer-care-plan.html A growing number of drug-resistant strains of HIV are a threat to the effectiveness of current treatments despite anti-HIV drug cocktails decreasing the number of HIV-related deaths and improving the quality of life for HIV patients. Existing methods of detecting drug-resistant forms of HIV are expensive, time consuming, and often fail to identify small populations of drug-resistant HIV. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have developed a drug resistance screening method that analyzes multiple HIV variants at the same time, while also saving time and money. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/HIV-screening.html The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has achieved Magnet status -- the highest institutional honor awarded for nursing excellence -- from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). To achieve Magnet status, a hospital must undergo a rigorous review process demonstrating they are committed to sustaining nursing excellence, improving professional practice, and transforming the culture of a work environment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/nursing-magnet-status.html Despite a concerted effort by local and regional medical groups and health care agencies over the past twenty years, Pennsylvanians with cancer are not having their basic needs for psychosocial support met. In a report appearing online in Cancer, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that support for psychosocial needs, such as activities of daily living (feeding, dressing, housework), transportation, financial issues (paying for prescriptions), and emotional issues have not improved. The study also states that some needs, such as insurance, employment, access to medical information, and homecare have worsened. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/cancer-psychosocial-needs.html The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will receive $1.5 million annually from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) over the next five years to study the molecular mechanisms that underlie the cognitive and movement aspects of Parkinson's disease, as well as enhance the care and treatment of patients and training of physicians. The Penn Udall Center is the only center to focus on dementia and Parkinson's disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/parkinsons-center-excellence.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified proteins in the rod and cones of the eye that could lead to the discovery of the genetic causes of a host of inherited eye diseases. The investigators hope to gain a clearer understanding of what goes wrong at the most basic level in these diseases that cause blindness and other disorders. The study will appear in the August print issue of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics and has been pre-published online. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/photoreceptor-cilia-proteins.html Jonathan Moreno, PhD, has been appointed to the National Research Council (NRC) "Committee on Military and Intelligence Methodology for Emergent Physiological and Cognitive/Neural Science Research in the Next Two Decades." Dr. Moreno, who is Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor, and Professor of the History and Sociology of Science at the Penn, was nominated for his expertise in neuroethics and bioethics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/moreno-ethics-committee.html Many age-related neurological diseases are associated with defective proteins accumulating in nerve cells, suggesting that the cell's normal disposal mechanisms are not operating correctly. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a molecular link between the cell's two major pathways for breaking down proteins and have succeeded in using this link to rescue neurodegenerative diseases in a simple animal model. The study appears this week in Nature. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/cell-protein-recycling.html Using new MRI techniques to analyze tissue composition and structure in the brain, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging successfully detected mild cognitive disorder (MCI), a condition in which patients suffer mild memory problems and is often an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Results of the research were published in a recent issue of Neurobiology of Aging. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/mri-early-alzheimers.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a potential new target for treating type 2 diabetes, according to a new study that appeared online this week in Nature. The target is a protein, along with its molecular partner, that regulates fat metabolism. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/diabetes-protein-target.html Kevin R. Fox, MD, Medical Director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, has been named the inaugural recipient of the Mariann T. and Robert J. MacDonald Professorship in Breast Cancer Care Excellence http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/breast-cancer-professorship.html Researchers at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the University of Pennsylvania have found that deleting a gene important in embryo development leads to premature aging and loss of stem cell reservoirs in adult mice. This gene, ATR, is essential for the body's response to damaged DNA, and mutations in proteins in the DNA damage response underlie certain types of cancer and other disorders in humans. This work appears in the inaugural issue of Cell Stem Cell. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/stem-cell-loss-aging.html By manipulating a critical cell-to-cell signaling pathway, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have successfully increased the number cells required for the normal development of right-sided structures in the heart, including the right ventricle. Penn scientists were able to increase the numbers of a cardiac stem cell population, called Isl-1 positive cardiac progenitors, in the developing embryo and in tissue grown in a culture dish by activating the Wnt pathway. The finding suggests a potential therapeutic strategy whereby influencing this pathway would be used to generate specialized heart cells to repair or replace cells damaged by cardiac disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/cardiac-stem-cell-pathway.html As the world's leading professional organization representing physicians who treat people with cancer, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and many of its 25,000+ members meet this weekend in Chicago at of the largest annual medical conferences in the world. Physicians from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania – like the rest of their ASCO colleagues – are committed to advancing the education of oncologists and other oncology professionals, to advocating for policies that provide access to high-quality cancer care, and to supporting the clinical trials system and the need for increased clinical and translational research. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/abramson-cancer-center-asco.html Penn Presbyterian Medical Center is a proud sponsor of the third annual Pennsylvania "Sjögren's Walkabout," which aims to increase awareness of the syndrome while raising funds for the Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation's research and education programs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/sjogrens-walkabout.html David F. Dinges, PhD, Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Chief of the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, and Director of the Unit for Experimental Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been awarded the 2007 Distinguished Public Service Medal from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/dinges-NASA-medal.html Researchers at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the University of Pennsylvania and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute describe in this week's issue of Science a new candidate breast-cancer susceptibility gene. The Rap80 gene is required for the normal DNA-repair function of the well-known breast cancer gene BRCA1. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/Rap80-breast-cancer-gene.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found in a database study of women heart patients that COX inhibitors such as traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may undermine any purported protection against heart disease in participants taking estrogen therapy. The results were described this week in PLoS Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/cox-weakens-hormone-therapy.html The Department of Dermatology and the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania will be conducting free screenings where a Penn dermatologist will check people's skin to determine their risk for developing skin cancer. Over 250 people are scheduled to receive a free screening. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/skin-cancer-screenings.html Most research on Lou Gehrig's disease therapeutics has been based on the assumption that its two forms (sporadic and hereditary) are similar in their underlying cause. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found an absolute biochemical distinction between these two disease variants, suggesting that current approaches to drug discovery should be re-examined. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/hair-follicle-regeneration.html Older patients with major depression whose primary care physicians team with depression care managers are 45% less likely to die within a 5-year time period than older adults with major depression who receive their care in primary care practices where there are no depression care managers. This study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, appears in the current issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/depression-care-managers.html 2007 marks the first year that a University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine graduating class is comprised of more women (78) than men (77). Surgeon and writer, Dr. Atul Gawande, will provide the Graduation Address to these 155 graduating medical students, as they begin their journey as new doctors. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/commencement.html Judge Marjorie O. Rendell, First Lady of Pennsylvania, will be on-hand to kick off National Nurses Week at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). She will attend a ceremony showcasing the new Just a Nurse photography exhibit, a unique 'inside' view of nursing's rewards and challenges. Additional guests and speakers include the award-winning journalists and nursing advocates, as well as some of the nurses who are featured in the exhibit. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/forms-ALS-biochemically-different.html Most research on Lou Gehrig's disease therapeutics has been based on the assumption that its two forms (sporadic and hereditary) are similar in their underlying cause. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found an absolute biochemical distinction between these two disease variants, suggesting that current approaches to drug discovery should be re-examined. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/forms-ALS-biochemically-different.html Just a Nurse, an exhibit of nearly 100 photographs that capture the rigors and rewards of nursing, opens today at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). The exhibit runs May 1 - 18, and coincides with National Nurses Week (May 6 - 12). It features the work of photographer Earl Dotter and writer Suzanne Gordon, journalists renowned for their ability to chronicle 'on the job' heroism and sacrifice. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/nurse-photo-exhibit.html The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in association with Pennsylvania State University Medical College and Lincoln University, has received $4.2 million to study gene-environment interactions that increase the risk of lung cancer in African American and Caucasian smokers and non-smokers. The funds were awarded from Pennsylvania's share of the national tobacco settlement for 2006-2007. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/lung-cancer-grant.html Using a new type of drug that targets a specific genetic defect, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, along with colleagues at PTC Therapeutics Inc. and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, have for the first time demonstrated restoration of muscle function in a mouse model of Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD). The research appears ahead of print in an advanced online publication of Nature. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/muscle-restoration-muscular-dystrophy.html In the most recent issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, the American Heart Association (AHA) reverses its recommendations for the prevention of infective endocarditis (IE), an uncommon but potentially lethal infection of the endocardium, which forms the lining of the heart and heart valves. Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was a committee member on this study. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/infective-endocarditis-recommendations.html Will youth be served? Do the brains have the brawn? These are just a couple of the questions the faculty and administrators will have to consider while preparing for their annual round-ball contest against a team of medical school students. Led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's basketball coordinator Mike Rabinowitz, the student team's rotation will correspond to what year they are in med school. First year students will play the first quarter, second year students get the second quarter and so on. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/faculty-student-basketball.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that an enzyme produced by lung-infecting bacteria further shuts down a protein that is defective in cystic fibrosis patients. The disruption to this protein that conveys ions from lung cells to airways causes thick mucus to buildup inside the lung. The finding suggests a new therapeutic target for treating lung infections in some cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/bacterial-enzyme-cystic-fibrosis.html According to a study that appears in the April 17 issue of Neurology, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that natalizumab (TYSABRI-reg-) -- a drug that slows disability and reduces relapse rates in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) -- also reduces vision loss in patients with relapsing MS. Vision loss is one of the most common and disabling symptoms of MS. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/ms-drug-vision.html Two years ago, two students from the Westtown School, motivated by community service and mitzvah projects (mitzvah means 'good deed'), worked together to start the Kids Swim for the Cure swim-a-thon. In just two years, Kids Swim for the Cure has raised nearly $17,000 for skin cancer research at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The money raised by these extraordinary students has not only supported innovative research and patient care programs at the Abramson Cancer Center, but has also increased public awareness and education about skin cancer – particularly melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/kids-swim-for-cure.html Experts from around the world will gather at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for a special symposium to review the most current research and explore the future of personalized medicine. Hosted by the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, progress and perspectives of personalized medicine will be presented by leaders in the field from the clinical, pharmaceutical, and ethics arenas. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/personalized-medicine-symposium.html Using a novel video-imaging system, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been able to observe proteins important in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease moving along axons, extensions of nerve cells that carry proteins away from the cell body. Understanding this process of axonal transport is important for studying many neurodegenerative diseases. The study appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/axon-protein-movement.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine have discovered that implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) -- electric monitoring devices that deliver a lifesaving shock in the event of a cardiac arrest -- help patients with heart problems live longer more active lives. Further, the study found most patients living with ICDs enjoy a quality of life consistent with average Americans their age and have a high level of satisfaction with the device, offsetting longstanding perceptions that the technology extends but seriously impairs patients' lives. Peter Groeneveld, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine and his co-authors report their findings in the April 2007 issue of the journal Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/implantable-cardioverter-defibrillators.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and School of Engineering and Applied Science have discovered a better way to deliver drugs to tumors. By using a cylindrical-shaped carrier they were able sustain delivery of the anticancer drug paclitaxel to an animal model of lung cancer ten times longer than that delivered on spherical-shaped carriers. These findings have implications for drug delivery as well as for better understanding cylinder-shaped viruses like Ebola and H5N1 influenza. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/nano-drug-delivery.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are now studying an investigational treatment that may offer a significant new, minimally-invasive option for those suffering from advanced widespread emphysema. The EASE (Exhale Airway Stents for Emphysema) trial focuses on a procedure called airway bypass that involves creating pathways in the lung for trapped air to escape -- and in turn, may relieve emphysema symptoms including shortness of breath. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/airway-bypass.html A study conducted by the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) study published in the March 29th, 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine helps establish magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a key component of the diagnostic workup for women at the time of initial breast cancer diagnosis. The research, conducted at 25 institutions across the country, including the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania found the addition of an MRI scan led to the detection of more than 90 percent of cancers in the opposite breast missed by mammography and clinical breast exam, increasing the number of cancers detected. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/MRI-breast-cancer-detection.html Replacing faulty or missing cells with new insulin-making cells has been the object of diabetes research for the last decade. Past studies in tissue culture have suggested that one type of pancreas cell could be coaxed to transform into insulin-producing islet cells. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that these pancreatic acinar cells do not become insulin-producing cells in an animal model. However, they did show that injured pancreatic cells readily regenerate back into healthy acinar cells, which has implications for treating cancer and inflammation of the pancreas. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/pancreas-cell-regeneration.html Lance Becker, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been named Director of Penn's new Center for Resuscitation Science. The Center will focus on cellular research to aid in developing new and improved techniques to treat cardiac arrest. The Center will consist of three full-time labs and a clinical and administration branch. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/resuscitation-center.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have designed peptides that are able to bind to specific regions of transmembrane proteins, using computer algorithms, and information from existing protein sequence and structure databases. This study, which appears in the March 30 issue of Science, looks at how the binding of these designed peptides affects the crucial first steps in blood clotting. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/transmembrane-proteins.html The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is among the top three research-oriented medical schools in the nation, according to an annual survey of graduate schools by U.S. News and World Report. Penn is ranked #3 in the prestigious survey, with Harvard University and John Hopkins University ranked first and second, respectively. The complete survey will be available in the newsstand book, Best Graduate Schools, on April 3rd. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/best-medical-schools.html Patient Gary Onufer received a donor heart on March 11, 2007. His recovery went well and he was discharged from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on March 22, 2007. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/temporary-total-artificial-heart-release.html In 2002, Thomas and Carol Hallinan, of Northeast Philadelphia, lost their son, Peter, 31, to Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma -- a type of brain tumor that affects 190,000 people in the U.S. each year, and is the second most common cause of cancer death in young people ages 15-34. To honor their son's memory, The Hallinans have partnered with the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn's Department of Neurosurgery to build support for the advancement of clinical research for patients who suffer from brain tumors.'For Pete's Sake' -- an evening of dinner, dancing, and a silent auction -- is a sold-out event with an expected attendance of 250 people. Proceeds will support brain tumor research at Penn. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/brain-tumor-event.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified risk factors that may be associated with increased rates of hospital admission immediately following outpatient surgery. These risk factors should be considered by patients and physicians when deciding an appropriate surgical setting, whether outpatient or in a hospital. Corresponding Author Lee A. Fleisher, MD, FACC, FAHA, Chair of Anesthesiology and Critical Care for the University of Pennsylvania Health System and colleagues report their findings in the March 19th issue of The Archives of Surgery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/outpatient-surgery-risks.html The Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pennsylvania Health System and School of Medicine, and Penn's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology have announced today the establishment of the Center for Research on Early Detection and Cure of Ovarian Cancer. The Center, to be directed by internationally renowned gynecologic oncologist and research scientist, George Coukos, MD, PhD, will focus on developing better detection methods, new treatment therapies, and improving the quality of life for women with ovarian cancer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/ovarian-cancer-center.html Anxious University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine medical students will gather on Match Day with fellow classmates, spouses, and children to learn where they have been accepted for their residency program, the next step in their medical education. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/match-day.html Unlike most of our sensory systems that detect only one type of stimuli, our sense of smell works double duty, detecting both chemical and mechanical stimuli to improve how we smell, according to University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience. This finding, plus the fact that both types of stimuli produce reaction in olfactory nerve cells, which control how our brain perceives what we smell, explains why we sniff to smell something, and why our sense of smell is synchronized with inhaling. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/mechanics-of-smell.html Over 150 third and fourth graders from the Penn Alexander School, the Henry C. Lea School, the Charles R. Drew School, and the Sterck/Delaware School for the Deaf will spend a morning on the Penn campus 'judging' hands-on science activities developed by undergraduate students in Penn's Biological Basis of Behavior program and graduate students in neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/kids-judge-science-fair.html For individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), transitioning from adolescence to adulthood presents many challenging issues. In addition to the usual stresses of adolescence, young adults with ASD need help dealing with social skills, sexuality, and, at times, extreme anxiety that may result from tension and confusion. Adults with ASD face communication and social problems that can affect employment, personal relationships, and the other skills needed to live an independent life. These challenges affect not only the individual, but also their parents, siblings, and other friends and family members. As children with ASD transition into adulthood, those who care for them are often left asking, "what now?" http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/autism-conference.html Adult men who grew up in one-parent households are more likely to have been abused as children, according to a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. William C. Holmes, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania, and at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, reports his findings in the March 13th issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/single-parent-abuse-risk.html In this high-tech age of modern medicine, could it be possible to treat the leading cause of death in the U.S. through the power of meditation? According to a first-of-its-kind randomized study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, a widely practiced, stress-reducing meditation technique can significantly reduce the severity of congestive heart failure. The study appears in the Winter 2007 issue of Ethnicity and Disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/meditation-heart-failure.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine have determined a way to pre-screen cancer patients to see if they are suitable candidates for proteasome inhibitors, a promising class of anti-cancer drugs. They propose to test for p53, a well-known tumor-suppressor protein that is broken down by cellular machinery called proteasomes. This study appears online in the journal Blood, in advance of print publication in June 2007. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/p53-test-cancer-drugs.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that common inhaled anesthetics increase the number of amyloid plaques in the brains of animals, which might accelerate the onset of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Roderic Eckenhoff, MD, Vice Chair of Research in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, and his co-authors, report their findings in the March 7th online edition of Neurobiology of Aging. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/anesthesia-alzheimers-plaque.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are harnessing two new, non-invasive techniques to look more closely inside the working lungs – leading to early detection of diseases, like emphysema, before it becomes evident in other modes of imaging. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/lung-imaging-MRI.html Multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and arthritis are among a variety of autoimmune diseases that are aggravated when one type of white blood cell, called the immune regulatory cell, malfunctions. In humans, one cause of this malfunction is when a mutation in a gene called FOXP3 disables the immune cells' ability to function. In a new study published online next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered how to modify enzymes that act on the FOXP3 protein, in turn making the regulatory immune cells work better. These findings have important implications for treating autoimmune-related diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/autoimmune-gene-mutation.html How do immune cells decide to respond to invading microbes by either fighting to the death or becoming the body's memory for future infections? Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that immune cells can differ in their inheritance of molecules that regulate cell fate, and therefore what role they play in fighting infection. The research appears this week in an early online issue of Science. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/immune-cell-diversity.html Physicians initially diagnosed Phil Marfuta, 28, with tension headaches, which seemed reasonable to him since he is a busy graduate student studying physics at Princeton University. However, as the days went on his headaches did not subside, and when a CT scan and an MRI revealed two tumors, Phil underwent emergency surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. One of Phil's tumors was a grade IV glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), which is the most aggressive form of primary brain tumor. Typically once diagnosed, the median survival time for a patient with a GBM is 12 months. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/brain-tumor-trial.html Approximately 9 million to 15 million people in the U.S. suffer from recurrent bouts of dizziness and 3 million experience symptoms of dizziness nearly every day. According to a paper that appears in the February issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that chronic subjective dizziness (CSD) may have several common causes, including anxiety disorders, migraine, mild traumatic brain injuries, and neurally mediated dysautonomias – disorders in the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary actions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/chronic-subjective-dizziness.html It has been known for decades that heart attacks and strokes occur most frequently in the early-morning hours. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have provided the first evidence for the role of our body's internal molecular clock in controlling blood pressure and a mechanism by which this occurs. Published online next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this report points to the novel possibility of modifying blood pressure and the early-morning risk of heart attack. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/internal-clock-blood-pressure.html INCLUDES ON-LINE PRESS KIT: A 46-year-old former fitness instructor, suffering from biventricular end-stage heart failure and in irreversible cardiogenic shock, has become the first to receive a new temporary Total Artificial Heart in the Northeast U.S. by cardiac surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/temporary-total-artificial-heart-release.html INCLUDES ON-LINE PRESS KIT: A 46-year-old former fitness instructor, suffering from biventricular end-stage heart failure and in irreversible cardiogenic shock, has become the first to receive a new temporary Total Artificial Heart in the Northeast U.S. by cardiac surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/temporary-total-artificial-heart-release.html In almost all forms of heart failure, the heart begins to express genes that are normally only expressed in the fetal heart. Researchers have known for years that this fetal-gene reactivation happens, yet not what regulates it. Now, investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that an enzyme important in fetal heart-cell development regulates the enlargement of heart cells, known as cardiac hypertrophy, which is a precursor to many forms of congestive heart failure (CHF). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/fetal-heart-cell-enzyme.html A 46-year-old former fitness instructor, suffering from biventricular end-stage heart failure and in irreversible cardiogenic shock, has become the first to receive a new temporary Total Artificial Heart in the Northeast U.S. by cardiac surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/temporary-total-artificial-heart.html Charles P. O'Brien, MD, PhD, Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Research Director, MIRECC, Philadelphia VA Medical Center, will present "Promising Approaches in the Treatment of Drug Addiction" at the 2007 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in San Francisco. As a part of the Friday, February 16th session, "Addiction and the Brain: Are We Hard-Wired to Abuse Drugs?," O'Brien will discuss the practical applications of neuroscience research that have led to the development of novel medication approaches and other new medications in the pipeline. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/addiction-symposium.html In a study that appears in the current issue of Military Medicine, William C. Holmes, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and lead author of the paper, assesses veterans' tolerance for detainee abuse and variables associated with it. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/detainee-abuse.htm Metformin, a drug used to treat diabetes and once thought to have great promise in overcoming the infertility associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), is less effective than the standard fertility drug treatment, clomiphene, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health Reproductive Medicine research network. This is the largest, most comprehensive effort yet to compare the two drugs in helping PCOS patients achieve successful pregnancy. The findings appear in the February 8th, 2007 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-treatment.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are the first to show that a mouse protein, whose human equivalent is related to defense against HIV-1, inhibits the infection and spread of a mouse tumor virus. The study, which appeared online January 28 in advance of its print publication in "Nature", provides a new model for the discovery and evaluation of anti-HIV drugs. HIV-1, like the mouse tumor virus, is a retrovirus which infects immune system cells. However, unlike HIV-1, the mouse virus causes breast cancer in mice. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/new-anti-HIV-drug-test-model.htm The University of Pennsylvania has received a $2 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles for a pioneering study on the genomics of Parkinson's disease. The Keck Foundation's program supports basic biomedical research and the development of pioneering new technologies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/keck-grant-parkinsons.htm Shiriki Kumanyika, PhD, MPH, a Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has won the 2007 Red Dress Award from Woman's Day magazine. It is presented annually (this year to three individuals nationwide) to those who have made an exceptional contribution to fighting heart disease in women, the nation's leading killer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/kumanyika-womans-day-award.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that impaired function and loss of synapses in the hippocampus of a mouse form of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is related to the activation of immune cells called microglia, which cause inflammation. These events precede the formation of tangles -- twisted fibers of tau protein that build up inside nerve cells -- a hallmark of advanced AD. The researchers report their findings in the February 1 issue of Neuron. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/microglia-activation-alzheimers.htm WITH VIDEOS: Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that microtubules – components responsible for shape, movement, and replication within cells – use proteins that act as molecular motors and brakes to organize into their correct structure. If microtubules are not formed properly such basic functions as cell division and transport can go wrong, which may have implications in such disease processes as cancer and dementia. The study, published in the January issue of Cell, is featured on the cover of that issue. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/microtubule-molecular-motor-brake.htm What makes one four letter word profane and another docile? The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia will host "Why Curse? Why Not?" – an interdisciplinary forum aimed at understanding the development, diffusion, and taboo of cursing from a linguistic, sociological, and psychological perspective. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/discussion-cursing.htm Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) today announced the creation of Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a joint venture and strategic alliance that creates one of the largest and most comprehensive continuums of post-acute medical care in eastern Pennsylvania. An on-line press kit is available. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/good-shepherd-penn-partners.htm The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) entered into an agreement today to purchase Graduate Hospital from Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC). UPHS will continue Graduate's 80-year tradition of providing quality health care to its community by converting the hospital into a comprehensive rehabilitation center and operating it in partnership with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network. Once Graduate Hospital is refurbished, it will also house a long-term acute care hospital and provide enhanced educational and research opportunities related to the science of rehabilitation medicine. The purchase is expected to be complete by March 30, 2007. The financial terms were not disclosed at this time. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/graduate-hospital-purchase.htm Members of the media are invited to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) for the first annual Delaware Valley Health Council Gift of Life Award presentation. The award was established last year to recognize a hospital for excellence in family care and outstanding rates of organ donation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/gift-of-life-award.htm Investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine describe the basis for developing a biological interface that could link a patient's nervous system to a thought-driven artificial limb. Their conceptual framework - which brings together years of spinal-cord injury research - is published in the January issue of Neurosurgery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/thought-driven-artificial-limb.htm At a reception in University City, an exceptionally dedicated, retired nurse was honored for making a donation of one million dollars to her former employer, the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Radiation Oncology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/radiation-oncology-fellowship.htm How do blood clots maintain that precise balance of stiffness for wound healing and flexibility to go with the flow? Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the School of Arts and Sciences have shown that a well-known protein structure acts as a molecular spring, explaining one way that clots may stretch and bend under such physical stresses as blood flow. They report their findings in a Letter in the latest online edition of the Biophysical Journal. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/blood-clot-flexibility.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated the potential of a new type of therapy for patients who suffer from high cholesterol levels. The findings are in the January 11 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). In this study, patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a high-risk condition refractory to conventional therapy, had a remarkable 51% reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or 'bad cholesterol' levels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/MTP-inhibition-reduce-high-cholesterol.htm Use of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drugs for the treatment of acid-related diseases such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is associated with a greater risk of hip fracture, according to a study in the December 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/proton-pump-inhibitor-hip-fracture-link.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have pinpointed a key regulatory protein that translates blood flow into gene expression. The investigators showed that in a model of mouse embryonic development a transcription factor called Klf2, which resides in cells that line blood vessels, is activated by rapid, pulsed blood flow, as reported in the December issue of Developmental Cell. Understanding Klf2's role in blood vessel and muscle biology could help with fighting atherosclerosis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/blood-flow-gene-expression.htm Topics include being sleepy behind the wheel, keeping your New Year's resolutions, winter skin, the risks in shoveling snow, and restless legs syndrome (RLS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/holiday-season-health-experts.htm The University of Pennsylvania Health System's virtual intensive care unit, Penn E-lert, has upgraded by adding new alerts and alarms, equipment interfaces and converting to paperless record keeping. These enhancements will add another dimension to this invaluable system, increasing the speed, transparency and accuracy of treatment for the critically ill. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/penn-e-lert-upgrades.htm For the tenth consecutive year, the University of Pennsylvania Health System's Penn Care at Home unit will visit homebound patients in the West Philadelphia area with Santa Claus and carolers to provide holiday cheer this Thursday, Dec. 14. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/penn-care-at-home-caroling.htm Clinical researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Health System are starting a trial utilizing a new mechanism to treat the heart when its electrical pulses essentially short-circuit, referred to as atrial fibrillation (A-Fib). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/HIFU-ablation.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that hospitals with high and low performance on Medicare quality measures had little difference in the rate of death for three common conditions at the hospitals, indicating that the performance measures may not accurately reflect patient outcomes. Senior author Rachel M. Werner, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Core Investigator with the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and colleague Eric Bradlow, PhD, Professor of Marketing and Statistics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School report their findings in the December 13th issue of JAMA. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/medicare-quality-measures.htm Recent findings from an observational study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine suggest that men between 65 and 80 years of age who received treatment for early stage, localized prostate cancer lived significantly longer than men who did not receive treatment. The study will be published in the December 13th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/early-prostate-cancer-treatment.htm The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia will host 'The Vulcanization of the Human Mind: Neuroimaging, Decision-Making, and Ethics,' a panel discussion exploring how humans make complex decisions involving risk, reward, danger and right and wrong. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/psychiatry-panel-discussion.htm Vera Krymskaya, PhD, Research Associate Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Division at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has dedicated the last several years of her career to combating Lymphangioleimyomatosis (LAM), a rare, deadly lung disease (related to hormones) that no one had even heard of a decade ago. The disease targets only women, striking them down during their childbearing years. It can be triggered by pregnancy, progresses rapidly, and often results in death within ten years. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/LAM-lung-disease.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found by targeting the function of a single gene that it is possible to inhibit bone decay while simultaneously stimulating bone formation. This concept may lead to drug treatments for osteoporosis and other bone diseases. Senior author Yongwon Choi, PhD, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues report their findings in the December issue of Nature Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/bone-formation-decay-gene.htm University of Pennsylvania alumni Ralph J. Roberts and his son Brian L. Roberts have pledged $15 million to help create the first-of-its-kind proton therapy center for the treatment of cancer. The Roberts Proton Therapy Center will be unique in its ability to fully integrate conventional radiation treatment with proton radiation, which more accurately targets tumors and leaves surrounding healthy tissue unaffected. The Center will also be the first to be located on the campus of a world-class academic medical center, facilitating scientific research to measure and improve this innovative therapy. The gift will help finance the construction and equipment for the center, scheduled to open to patients in 2009. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/roberts-proton-therapy-center.htm Of the five senses, taste is one of the least understood, but now researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have come one step closer to understanding how the sense of taste develops. They have pinpointed a molecular pathway that regulates the development of taste buds. Using genetically engineered mice, they discovered that a signaling pathway activated by small proteins called Wnts is required for initiating taste-bud formation. They have also determined that Wnt proteins are required for hooking up the wiring of taste signals to the brain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/taste-bud-development.htm Six powerful pillars of light will outline the 75,000 square feet of space where the world's first fully integrated proton therapy center will be built at PENN Medicine. Visible to residents across Philadelphia, as well as the guests and honorees at a special naming ceremony from a VIP reception on the top floor of the Biomedical Research Building, the beams of light symbolize the bright future of cancer therapy in which a stream of protons are accelerated to near light speed, bent by powerful magnets and focused with incredible precision at tumors lodged deep within the human body. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/proton-therapy-center-invitation.htm