Focus: Hidden - Pennsylvania

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SW Pennsylvania far exceeds national averages for telltale signs of the stress and risk faced by caregivers.

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Louis J. Soslowsky, PhD, the Fairhill Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will receive the H.R. Lissner Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

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Transportation professionals from around the state, mid-Atlantic region and country will gather for the 23rd annual Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference (TESC). Held December 6-8, at The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center and hosted by the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, TESC brings together experts in industry and academia to discuss some of the most important issues in transportation.

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Incidental durotomy—small tears of the outer membrane of the spinal cord—are a common occurrence in spinal surgery, and may lead to litigation. Most malpractice cases associated with dural tear end in a ruling in favor of the surgeon, reports a study in the journal Spine, published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Making an AD mouse model that incorporates both Aβ and tau pathologies in a more AD-relevant context has been greatly sought after but difficult to accomplish. This study is a big step for AD research, which will allow testing of new therapies in a more realistic context.

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Penn Medicine launches first-of-its-kind app for bariatric surgery patients. Penn Life Gained is built using Apple CareKit, a software framework designed to help people actively manage their own medical conditions.

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The National Science Foundation has awarded more than $446,000 for a new collaborative engineering project that will allow drivers to make more informed travel decisions and allow government organizations to better regulate travel within heavily congested major metropolitan areas.

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At this year’s 42nd annual NIAF Gala Weekend at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in D.C., all aspects of Italian heritage were celebrated, including food, the fine arts, and scientific discovery. The weekend’s events included the medical conference, “Mediterranean Diet, Human Health and Longevity,” sharing the latest in research into a vital part of Italian culture –– diet and food. Conference presentations explored how the recipes of Italian grandmothers are among the healthiest in the world and can even help fight disease, such as cancer.

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Female Parkinson’s disease patients are much less likely than male patients to have caregivers, despite the fact that caregivers report greater strain in caring for male patients. The findings come from a large study reported today in Neurology by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. According to the researchers, the disparity between female and male patients probably derives in part from the fact that women tend to outlive their most likely potential caregivers: their husbands.

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Less than one-third of patients with glaucoma talk to their doctor about the costs of medications needed to control their disease, reports a study in the December issue of Optometry and Vision Science, the official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Cancer survivors and patient advocates joined clinicians, employers, policy makers, and pharmaceutical and biotech industry representatives to address survivorship in cancer care at NCCN Patient Advocacy Summit.

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A common, hands-on method for teaching genetics in grade school encourages students to compare their earlobes with those of their parents: Are they attached and smoothly mesh with the jawline? Or are they detached and dangly? The answer is meant to teach students about dominant and recessive genes. Simple, right? Not so fast.

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Mass shootings such as the one in Las Vegas earlier this fall have highlighted the need for bystanders to learn first aid techniques to stop bleeding.

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An antibody therapy against a key inflammatory molecule involved in migraines reduces the number of headaches that chronic migraine patients experience per month in a phase III trial.

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Brand new NCCN Guidelines® map out best practices for treating patients with AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma.

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Physician-researchers from the Cardiac Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recently presented new findings on pediatric cardiovascular disease at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2017 in Anaheim, Calif. Among many abstracts presented were research on racial disparities in bystander CPR methods in children with sudden cardiac arrest, and findings that children with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may be at risk for sudden cardiac death.

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The number of doctors and advance practitioners in the United States who focus on nursing home care rose by more than a third between 2012 and 2015, according to a new study published today in JAMA from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Of all physicians and advance practitioners who do any work in nursing homes, 21 percent now specialize in nursing home care. The authors say the trend suggests the rise of a significant new specialty in medical practice, though how it will affect patient outcomes and continuity of care is yet to be seen.

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Researchers identify several lncRNAs that are linked to the ovarian cancer in a cohort of patients. These lncRNAs were reproducibly altered and are responsible for a shift in cellular function that contributes to the metastatic properties of the cancer cells.

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Among women with dense breast tissue, for whom traditional mammograms are less effective at detecting cancer, who request additional screening after a negative mammogram, abbreviated breast MRI (AB-MR) may be a valuable cancer detection tool. In a study of 195 asymptomatic women with dense breast tissue who had a negative mammogram within the previous 11 months, AB-MR detected five additional cancers after a negative screening mammography, according to preliminary findings from a Penn Medicine team presented this week at the Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago.

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The traits we inherit from our family define and connect us in countless ways. Sometimes these traits are obvious, like curly hair or dimples. But sometimes what we inherit remains hidden, like BRCA gene mutations. With the help of celebrities like actress Cobie Smulders, star of television comedy series How I Met Your Mother and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Basser Center for BRCA launched a video and social media campaign—with the hashtag #invisiblegenes—in the hopes that it will highlight illnesses that can be prevented or treated with early detection.

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The MINT Trials are irredeemably flawed by study design, patient selection, procedural technique, and data analysis. That's the conclusion of a statement signed November 21st by the Multisociety Pain Workgroup (MPW), a collection of pain societies comprised of physicians who prescribe and/or perform interventional spine procedures to accurately diagnose and treat patients suffering from spine pathologies.

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People whose genetic makeup triggers a later-than-average start to puberty have lower bone mineral density, especially in their lower spine. Because adolescence is a critical period for accruing bone, this effect may increase a person’s risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures later in life.

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Women have smaller, more breakable nerve fibers in the brain compared to men that may make them more susceptible to concussions, suggests a new study from Penn Medicine neuroscientists published online today in the journal Experimental Neurology.

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The CORE Prize for Oncology 2017 was awarded to Professor Antonio Giordano for his groundbreaking discoveries in the field of the cell cycle, which have established an understanding of the fundamental mechanisms at the basis of cancer and the development of a new class of anticancer therapeutics.

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UPMC Pinnacle and Harristown Enterprises celebrated the opening of Strawberry Square FamilyCare with a ribbon cutting today. The new practice, located in Suite 165 on the first floor of the Strawberry Square complex, opens for patients Monday, Nov. 20.

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New study in JNCCN calls for more planning and research to prepare for the increasing financial burden of treating breast cancer.

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Can acupuncture and yoga help to fight the opioid epidemic? These and other integrative medicine approaches have shown at least preliminary evidence of effectiveness in pain management, according to an article in the December issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia—a special thematic issue addressing the opioid crisis.

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Infants with various forms of congenital heart disease require a stable source of blood flow to their lungs in order to survive until a more definitive operation can be performed. In a recent study, pediatric researchers compared two methods to provide that flow: a shunt to reroute blood and an implanted stent to maintain an open path for blood flow. They found that stents were preferable for selected patients.

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Malaria parasites, although widespread among wild chimpanzees and gorillas, have not been detected in bonobos, a chimp cousin. Although the researchers saw evidence of a new malaria species in bonobos, it was limited to one small area of their range. This work helps the hunt for biological loopholes to potentially exploit the life history of ape pathogens to better understand how they cross over to humans.

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NCCN and Pfizer announce funding for projects evaluating different clinical care pathways to improve breast cancer care, with a particular emphasis on underserved patients.

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Patients and family members are either neutral or uncomfortable with the idea of "overlapping" or "concurrent" surgery, where the attending surgeon isn't present in the operating room for part of the procedure, according to survey results published in the November 15, 2017 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in partnership with Wolters Kluwer.

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  PHILADELPHIA—Anil K. Rustgi, MD, chief of the division of Gastroenterology and T. Grier Miller Professor of Medicine and Genetics, and Hongzhe Li, PhD, a professor of biostatistics in Biostatistics and Epidemiology, both at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

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Diagnosing a concussion can sometimes be a guessing game, but clues taken from small molecules in saliva may be able to help diagnose and predict the duration of concussions in children, according to researchers at Penn State College of Medicine.

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A team of researchers from Penn State and Princeton University have taken a big step toward creating a diode laser from a hybrid organic-inorganic material that can be deposited from solution on a laboratory benchtop.

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As a young scientist, British researcher David Peters was focused on brain aneurysms as researched through the lens of high-throughput genomics. But when his wife became pregnant with the first of their two children, his world – both as a husband and a scientist – dramatically changed course.

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Sage Snyder and Julia Dickman are sophomores in high school. They do all the normal things high schoolers do – hang out with their friends, go shopping, and play sports after school. But for these two, the buck doesn’t stop there. Sage and Julia were both born prematurely. They spent the first several months of their lives in intensive care, and over the years have continued to experience the lasting effects of premature birth. Together with other teens who were born premature, Sage and Julia founded Preemies 4 Prevention, an effort that officially launches this month and works to raise awareness of the devastating effects of preterm birth and support for research at Penn’s March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center.

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The addition of a nature-like fish passage to a Susquehanna River dam in Pennsylvania should allow migrating fish to more easily reach spawning grounds, according to Penn State researchers.

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With rifle deer season around the corner in Pennsylvania, thousands of hunters – of all ages – are preparing to head into the woods. Falls from tree stands continue to be a common hunting accident, yet can sometimes be overlooked – for example, when hunting safety courses focus on firearms.

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A Penn State-led research team is hoping to enlist insects as allies in an effort to make crops more tolerant of environmental stressors, after the crops are already growing in the greenhouse or field.

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The Association of American Cancer Institutes opposes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Medicare Programs: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment Systems rule, which threatens access to lifesaving treatments for uninsured and underserved patients.

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A new treatment program that combines the power of technology with tried and true methods to help cancer patients overcome their addiction to tobacco is ready to enroll its first patients at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center. As part of the program, doctors are alerted about a patient’s tobacco use through the electronic medical record. At that point, an automated referral is made for the patient to Penn’s Tobacco Use Treatment Service (TUTS), which then directly provides patients with state-of-the-science tobacco use treatment in an effort to get them to quit for good and assist with their medical treatment and recovery.

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A team led by Penn Medicine’s Mary Regina Boland, PhD, an assistant professor of Informatics in Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, looked at previously documented associations between specific diseases and being born at a certain time of the year, probing deeper to pinpoint the links between them.

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Penn Medicine researchers have singled out a bacterial enzyme behind an imbalance in the gut microbiome linked to Crohn’s disease. The new study, published online this week in Science Translational Medicine, suggests that wiping out a significant portion of the bacteria in the gut microbiome, and then re-introducing a certain type of “good” bacteria that lacks this enzyme, known as urease, may be an effective approach to better treat these diseases.

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Using smartphone cameras, parents can reliably take high-quality photographs of their child’s skin condition to send to a dermatologist for diagnosis. This finding suggests that direct-to-patient dermatology can accurately provide pediatric dermatology care.

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Using a different marker to track a patient’s glycemic levels could help improve outcomes after surgery for diabetic and non-diabetic patients alike.

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Pregnant women with opioid use disorder (OUD) are more likely to receive evidence-based treatment with an "opioid agonist"—usually methadone—in states where those medications are covered by Medicaid, reports a study in the December issue of Medical Care, published by Wolters Kluwer.