J. Larry Jameson, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the next executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of Penn’s School of Medicine, effective July 1, 2011.
Investigators have described a previously unknown biological mechanism in cells that prevents them from cannibalizing themselves for fuel. The mechanism involves the fuel used by cells under normal conditions and relies on an ongoing transfer of calcium between two cell components via an ion channel. Without this transfer, cells start consuming themselves as a way of to get enough energy.
Biologists have been studying how the protein AMPK works for several decades and know that once it is activated, AMPK turns on a large number of genes by passing the "make more energy" message through numerous signaling cascades in the cell. What was not known, until now, was that AMPK also works via an epigenetic mechanism to slow down or stop cell growth. Researchers found that AMPK binds directly to sites on chromosomes called promoters that regulate gene expression related to cell metabolism.
Investigators have found that fruit fly males -- in which the activity of an Alzheimer’s disease protein is reduced by 50 percent -- show impairments in learning and memory as they age. What’s more, the researchers were able to prevent the age-related deficits by treating the flies with drugs such as lithium, or by genetic manipulations that reduced nerve-cell signaling.
A novel therapy designed to attack tumors in patients with a genetic mutation in either BRCA1 or BRCA2, slowed tumor growth in 85 percent of advanced breast cancer patients treated in a small study, researchers report in the July 6 issue of The Lancet.
A media seminar and expert panel to explore the pros and cons of one of the hottest and most hotly contested approaches to modern surgery – remote and minimally invasive surgery through the use of robots – from surgical, ethical and financial perspectives.
Using high-throughput sequencing to map the locations of a common type of jumping gene within a person’s entire genome, researchers found extensive variation in these locations among the individuals they studied, further underscoring the role of these errant genes in maintaining genetic diversity.
Cancer patients who’ve been told to rest and avoid exercise can – and should – find ways to be physically active both during and after treatment, according to new national guidelines.
New research from the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center reveals a possible genetic basis for why a particular side effect – joint pain referred to as aromatase inhibitor-associated arthralgia (AIAA) – occurs and shows promise for treating these symptoms in breast cancer survivors without interfering with the drugs’ efficacy.
Early trials using targeted monoclonal antibodies in combination with existing therapies show promise in treating pancreatic cancer and metastatic breast cancer, according to research by investigators from the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center.
In a finding with potential drug-development implications, researchers report the discovery of an intermediate state between early-stage fat cells and fully mature ones that is only present transiently during the fat-cell formation process. This intermediate state is induced by hormones related to cortisol, which are known to contribute to obesity and metabolic disturbances in people.
Researchers investigating a regulatory protein involved in a rare genetic disease have shown that it may be related to epileptic and autistic symptoms in other more common neurological disorders. A team of researchers demonstrated how mutations in the STRAD-alpha gene can cause a disease called PMSE (polyhydramnios, megalencephaly, and symptomatic epilepsy) syndrome, found in a handful of Amish children.
The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has been ranked #2 among the nation’s research-oriented medical schools, according to the annual survey by U.S.News & World Report, rising from #3 in last year’s survey.
An approach designed to reduce HIV/STDs previously used exclusively by academic researchers has successfully been implemented by community-based organizations (CBOs), an important component in national strategies to curtail the spread of HIV, meaning far more “at risk” youths can be reached.
A team of cardiologists, materials scientists, and bioengineers have created and tested a new type of implantable device for measuring the heart’s electrical output that they say is a vast improvement over current devices. The new device represents the first use of flexible silicon technology for a medical application. The technology may herald the next generation of active, flexible, implantable devices for applications in cardiology and neurology.
Louis J. Soslowsky, Ph.D. Fairhill professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and professor of Bioengineering, director of the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory and Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was named the 2010 winner of the Ann Doner Vaughan Kappa Delta Award by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Researchers have found that one particularly aggressive type of blood cancer, mixed lineage leukemia, has an unusual way to keep the molecular motors running. The cancer cells rely on the normal version of an associated protein to stay alive.
A surge in volunteers following a major disaster can overwhelm a response system, and without overall coordination, can actually make a situation worse instead of better .The outpouring of medical volunteers who responded to the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti in January provides a roadmap for health care providers during future disasters, say the authors of a New England Journal of Medicine “Perspectives” piece that will be published online February 24.
When stroke strikes, choking off blood supply to the brain, every minute counts: Nearly 2 million neurons die each minute a stroke is left untreated, making it a race to recognize symptoms so that lifesaving “clot-busting” drugs can be administered. Forty-five percent of Americans – 135 million people -- are more than an hour away from primary stroke centers, the facilities that are best equipped to care for them if they are stricken by the condition, according to new research led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
The severe shortage of specially-trained intensivist physicians has hospital intensive care units (ICUs) nationwide struggling to staff units with critical care teams led by intensivists. A new Penn Medicine report found that replacing intensivist-led teams with multidisciplinary care teams can also reduce the risk of dying in intensive care units.
Examining brain tissue from over 500 individuals in 11 countries, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues found a new risk factor for the second-most-common cause of early-onset dementia after Alzheimer’s disease.
Experts from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are available to offer expert medical insight and commentary during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on issues ranging from the effects of performance enhancing drugs to concerns about the spread of novel H1N1, head trauma and more.
Researchers have found that three different degenerative brain disorders are linked by a toxic form of the same protein. Elk-1 was found in clumps of misshaped proteins that are the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Huntington’s disease. This suggests a molecular link between the presence of inclusions and neuronal loss that is shared across a spectrum of neurodegenerative disease. Identifying these links could open up novel avenues for therapeutic intervention.
New research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine may help more smokers keep their New Year’s resolution by helping them quit smoking. Extended use of a nicotine patch – 24 weeks versus the standard eight weeks recommended by manufacturers – boosts the number of smokers who maintain their cigarette abstinence and helps more of those who backslide into the habit while wearing the patch, according to a study which will be published in the February 2 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
A new study weighs in on the controversy over sex education, finding that an abstinence-only intervention for pre-teens was more successful in delaying the onset of sexual activity than a health-promotion control intervention. After two years, one-third of the abstinence-only group reported having sex, compared to one-half of the control group.
On Monday, January 25th “Penn Medicine Team One” – the first medical team from Penn Medicine to fly to Haiti - left from Philadelphia to provide expert medical care in Haiti.
People who are in car crashes or suffer serious falls, gunshot or knife wounds and other injuries at nights or on weekends do not appear to be affected by the same medical care disparities -- the so-called "weekend effect" -- as patients who suffer heart attacks, strokes, cardiac arrests and other time-sensitive illnesses during those “off hours,” according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
A multi-disciplinary team of Penn researchers, including diabetes, weight loss and bariatric surgery experts, are conducting a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to determine if bariatric surgery, either gastric bypass or adjustable gastric banding surgery, is more effective than lifestyle modification to reduce weight and ultimately treat Type 2 diabetes.
A minimally invasive surgical approach developed by head and neck surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, California) has been cleared for TransOral otolaryngologic surgical procedures to treat benign tumors and select malignant tumors in adults.
Researchers have developed a new model of skin cancer based on the knowledge that a common cancer-related molecule called Src kinase is activated in human skin-cancer samples.
Two studies published this month in the Journal of Clinical Investigation provide a significant advance in understanding how some species of monkeys such as sooty mangabeys and African green monkeys avoid AIDS when infected with SIV, the simian equivalent of HIV.
An international team of scientists is taking the first step in developing a treatment for a rare genetic disorder called fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), in which the body’s skeletal muscles and soft connective tissue turns to bone.
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.
Researchers identified a small molecule that inhibits the heat shock protein HSP70. They also showed that the HSP inhibitor, called PES, could stop tumor formation and significantly extend survival of mice.
Researchers demonstrate 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.
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.
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.
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 uncovered 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.
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 study published in Cell. The new data 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.
Researchers have discovered a molecular circuit involving the oxygen-carrying component of hemoglobin -- heme -- that helps maintain proper metabolism in the body, providing new insights into metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. This happens through a molecular pathway that allows the cell to monitor and adjust internal heme levels via Rev-erbα, creating more when heme levels fall, and slowing it down when levels rise.
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.
A tissue-repair-and-regeneration pathway in the human body, including wound healing, is essential for the early lung to develop properly, researchers found. Genetically engineered mice fail to develop lungs when two molecules in this pathway, Wnt2 and Wnt2b, are knocked out.
Errors in cell division can cause mutations that lead to cancer, and a new study could shed light on the role of chromosome abnormalities in uncontrolled cell replication. They uncovered the molecular players and mechanism underlying a little-studied stage of cellular division called Anaphase B.
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.
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.
A new class of molecules capable of blocking the formation of specific protein clumps that are believed to contribute to Alzheimer's disease pathology has been discovered by researchers. By assaying close to 300,000 compounds, they have identified drug-like inhibitors of AD tau protein clumping.
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 cardiovascular disease. The answer is a process known as protein unfolding.
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 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 represents the first example of how circulating cells may contribute to abnormal bone formation.