Matching unique genetic information from cancer patients’ tumors with treatment options – an emerging area of precision medicine efforts – often fails to identify all patients who may respond to certain therapies. Other molecular information from patients may reveal these so-called “hidden responders."
A promising class of drugs known as CD40 monoclonal antibodies could be the spark needed to light the fire in the immune system of patients who don’t respond to the newer cancer immunotherapies. Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, director of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an internationally renowned cancer immunotherapy expert, makes the case for the drugs in a new perspective piece published this week in Cancer Cell, as part of a series in the issue focusing on the next phase of the evolving field of cancer immunotherapy.
PHILADELPHIA – Jeffrey S. Berns, MD, associate chief of the division of Renal-Electrolyte and Hypertension in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received the 2018 Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Award from the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), an award given to clinicians who display excellence in clinical nephrology.
New research shines a light on specific cell types that drive normal or diseased kidney function at the molecular level.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System, Mercy Health System of Southeastern Pennsylvania (Mercy) and St. Mary Medical Center (St. Mary) have announced an alliance to focus on the development of joint clinical care programs and population health initiatives to improve health care throughout the Greater Philadelphia region.
Rats who were dosed with nicotine during their adolescence grew up to drink alcohol more often than those who weren’t exposed to nicotine or were only exposed to it during adulthood. Exposure to nicotine at a young age changed the neuronal circuitry in the rat brain’s reward pathways
Marylyn D. Ritchie, PhD, a nationally regarded geneticist and expert in using big data and machine-learning methods to improve human health, has been appointed as director, Center for Translational Bioinformatics, Institute for Biomedical Informatics (IBI) in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
A group of Penn researchers hopes to improve the understanding of these present-day ailments by looking at the very engine of evolution: natural selection in humans.
The composition of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract may hold clues to help predict which cancer patients are most apt to benefit from the personalized cellular therapies that have shown unprecedented promise in the fight against hard-to-treat cancers.
E. John Wherry, PhD, co-leader of the Abramson Cancer Center’s Immunobiology Program and director of the Institute for Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a Phillip A. Sharp Innovation in Collaboration Award from Stand Up To Cancer.
Every day, about 165 in-flight emergencies occur on the 100,000 or so airplanes that take to the skies around the world, according to the most recent estimates. But, there are currently no federal guidelines for physicians in these situations, and there is no mandatory reporting system that tracks in-flight emergencies. After being the only physician on board during two in-flight emergencies, Rachel Zang, MD, an Emergency Medicine resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, learned as much as she could about the laws and what exactly is in on-board medical kits. Today she imparts that knowledge to other physicians.
PHILADELPHIA – The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and Chester County Hospital were announced among the 2018 class of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s The HRC Foundation is the educational arm of the country’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization.
A well-studied enzyme called SIRT1 declines in the blood vessels with age and restoring it reverses the effects of vascular aging in mice. After receiving a supplement called NMN, older mice showed increased capillary density, blood flow, mobility, and endurance
Limiting first-year medical residents to 16-hour work shifts, compared to “flexing” them to allow for some longer shifts, generally makes residents more satisfied with their training and work-life balance, but their training directors more dissatisfied with curtailed educational opportunities. That’s one conclusion of a new study published online March 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Cities experienced 2.3 more assaults than average on days when hosting presidential campaign rallies for Donald Trump during the lead-up to the 2016 United States Presidential Election, according to a first of its kind study published online today in Epidemiology by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton rallies were not linked to any increase in assaults.
High drug prices as well as the excessive use of imaging and surgical procedures, and excessive administrative burdens contribute the majority to America’s health care overspending compared to Europe, argues policy expert Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, chair of the department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in an editorial in this week’s JAMA.
The Mahoney Institute for Neurosciences (MINS) at the University of Pennsylvania announced that Michael R. Bruchas, PhD, the Henry E. Mallinckrodt Professor in the departments of Anesthesiology and Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, is the recipient of the inaugural Rising Star Award in neuroscience research.
Today, in a late-breaking featured clinical research session at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions 2018, researchers from Penn Medicine present first-of-its-kind data on the impact of real-time CYP2C19 genotype results when prescribing antiplatelet drugs in the clinic.
Researchers found that the fruit fly blood brain barrier has a molecular clock that makes it more penetrable during certain hours of the day. Giving mutant flies a drug for treating seizures at night was more effective.
Many women suffer from acid reflux in early pregnancy, but it can often be confused with other early pregnancy symptoms or go undiagnosed.
Shinjae Chung, PhD, an assistant professor of Neuroscience, and Iain Mathieson, PhD, an assistant professor of Genetics, both from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have been awarded highly competitive 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships.
Medicare’s experimental mandatory bundled payment model for knee and hip replacements is more likely to yield cost savings when the surgeries are performed in larger hospitals that do more of these procedures, according to a study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Non-profit and major teaching hospital status also appear to be associated with cost savings, the Penn Medicine analysis found.
Researchers profiled the epigenomic landscape of Alzheimer’s brains, specifically in one of the regions affected early in AD, the lateral temporal lobe. They compared these to both younger and elderly cognitively normal control subjects. The team described the genome-wide enrichment of a chemical modification of histone proteins that regulates the compaction of chromosomes in the nucleus. Changes along the genome in disease versus normal aging brains may signify places for future drug development.
The Castleman Disease Research Program is collaborating with Pulse Infoframe Inc., a medical informatics company, to power its global ACCELERATE Natural History Registry platform, which is designed to help improve understanding of the rare disease, facilitate research and clinical studies, and identify effective therapies.
Patients who sustain severe head injuries tend to have better outcomes if they are taken to a designated trauma center, but 44 percent of them are first taken to hospitals without these specialized care capabilities, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Hilary Van Horn, whose stepdad is suffering from Lewy body dementia, challenges everyone to make an "Earth Angel" in an awareness and fundraising campaign for the Penn Memory Center.
Researchers have identified a lung stem cell that repairs the organ’s gas exchange compartment. They isolated and characterized these progenitor cells from mouse and human lungs and demonstrated they are essential to repairing lung tissue damaged by severe influenza and other respiratory ailments.
Blood plasma samples from a mouse that received the Angptl3 CRISPR treatment (right) and a mouse that was untreated (left). The cloudiness of the sample on the left is from the high content of cholesterol and triglycerides.
The world of DTC DNA test kits, namely for cardiovascular disease
Researchers describe the role of a transcription factor called TCF-1 in targeting the condensed chromatin and regulating the availability of genome sequences in T-cell development. The new connection between TCF-1 and chromatin will aid in developing new therapies using epigenetic drugs to alter T-cell fate in cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases.
Researchers engineered mice in which the damage caused by a mutant human TDP-43 protein could be reversed by one type of brain immune cell. TDP-43 is a protein that misfolds and accumulates in the motor areas of the brains of ALS patients. They found that microglia, the first and primary immune response cells in the brain and spinal cord, are essential for dealing with TDP-43-associated neuron death.
African Americans with atrial fibrillation (AF) – a quivering or irregular heartbeat that can lead to a host of dangerous complications – have a significantly higher risk of stroke than Caucasians with the condition, according to new research published today in HeartRhythm by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The new findings build on previous studies examining the impact of race on the risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF), which is linked to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other complications. It’s well reported that African Americans have a lower risk of developing AF as compared to Caucasians, but until now, there was little data on the additional risks that come with AF for each race.
Researchers have shown for the first time that a key protein called KMT2D involved in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression guides this renewal.
An antibody used to treat the skin disease psoriasis is also effective at reducing aortic inflammation, a key marker of future risk of major cardiovascular events.
A comprehensive evaluation by clinical researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania identified a neurological syndrome that left U.S. government personnel serving in Havana, Cuba with persistent memory and thinking dysfunction, as well as vision and balance problems after hearing unusual noises in their homes or hotel rooms. The team published their findings today in JAMA.
A kinase inhibitor called cabozantinib could be a viable therapy option for patients with metastatic, radioactive iodine-resistant thyroid cancer. In a trial initiated and led by the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, tumors shrunk in 34 out of 35 patients who took the drug, and more than half of those patients saw the tumor size decrease by more than 30 percent.
Penn Medicine Announces its new Center for Connected Care to centralize the health system’s telemedicine activities.
— Jamie Shuda, EdD, a prominent K-12 educator and researcher at Penn Medicine, has been named co-recipient of the 2018 Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence by the Genetics Society of America (GSA) for “extraordinary contributions to genetics education.”
It’s well known that the human body functions on a 24-hour, or circadian, schedule. The up-and-down daily cycles of a long-studied clock protein called Rev-erb coordinates the ebb and flow of gene expression by tightening and loosening loops in chromosomes, according to new research.
E. John Wherry, PhD, a cancer and immunology researcher at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the most highly cited investigators in his field, has been awarded a “Convergence 2.0” research grant by Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) to investigate immune system response to cancers.
In 1987, National Football League players went on strike. As a response, NFL teams scrambled to fill their rosters with “replacement players,” individuals who had some experience with college or professional football, but who weren’t part of NFL rosters that year. The replacement players themselves became a footnote in sports history. It turns out these players may actually play a critical role in football today - by helping us understand how playing in the NFL affects long-term health. In our recent study, published in JAMA, we compared the life expectancies of professional NFL players who debuted between 1982 and 1992 to the life expectancies of replacement players from the 1987 strike.
When it comes to the physical scars surgery leaves behind, a new study shows patients and doctors often don’t assess their severity the same way. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found patients and physicians disagreed in their scar evaluations 28 percent of the time, with patients more likely to focus on the depth of the scar while physicians were more likely to emphasize coloration and texture.
As these services grow and attempt to become more mainstream, concerns among the medical community abound about their safety and effectiveness, particularly given that most of these services and products are unregulated, much like the supplement industry.
The Penn Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease has received a $5 million commitment from Mark Winkelman and his family. The generous donation from Winkelman, a former chair of the Penn Medicine Board, will help support and build upon the center’s personalized, family-based approach to care and strengthen its research efforts.
Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be debilitating and standard treatment can take months, often leaving those affected unable to work or care for their families. But, a new study demonstrated that many PTSD sufferers can benefit from an expedited course of treatment. In the first study of its kind, Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy was found to be as effective when administered over two weeks as when it is provided over eight weeks for treating PTSD in active-duty military personnel.
Researchers at Penn are working to uncover ways to encourage the cells in and around the meniscus to repair themselves, hopefully leading to less invasive procedures.
Decline in reading and watching TV before bed and increasing opportunities to perform tasks online and from home could be why, Penn study finds
For patients who have never been prescribed opioids, larger numbers of tablets given with the initial prescription is associated with long-term use and more tablets leftover that could be diverted for misuse or abuse. Implementing a default option for a lower quantity of tablets in the electronic medical records (EMR) discharge orders may help combat the issue by “nudging” physicians to prescribe smaller quantities consistent with prescribing guidelines Penn Medicine researchers show in a new study published this week in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Penn Orthopaedics and Princeton Orthopedic Associates have announced a new strategic alliance in an effort to enhance and continue to improve orthopaedic care to patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As part of the Penn Medicine Orthopaedic Specialty Network, physicians and surgeons at each entity will work collaboratively across state lines to expand patients’ access to highly specialized orthopaedic care, while improving care team communication and processes, and collecting data to help physicians advance clinical research and care.
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