Focus: Hidden - Philly Metro

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Do you have problems with dry eyes? If so, you're not alone—it's one of the most common reasons for patient visits to eye care professionals. Recent years have seen significant progress in management of patients with dry eyes, according to the September special issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

In the midst of a growing trend for Medicare patients to receive observation care in the hospital to determine if they should be formally admitted, a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows that for more than a quarter of beneficiaries with multiple observation stays, the cumulative out-of-pocket costs of these visits exceeds the deductible they would have owed for an inpatient hospital admission.

• share
• favorite_border

Bart C. De Jonghe, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Nursing and senior author of a new study published in the highly regarded Journal of Neuroscience, has advanced our understanding of how chemotherapy causes side effects. "It is our hope that this knowledge can be used to inform future research with the goal of further limiting, or even altogether preventing, common chemotherapy side effects in cancer patients,” Dr. De Jonghe explains.

• share
• favorite_border

Many seniors with cancer are also using complementary or alternative medicines that could interfere with their cancer treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

NCCN has published the NCCN Guidelines for Patients® and NCCN Quick Guide™ for Kidney Cancer, the newest addition to the library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients.

• share
• favorite_border

Caryn Lerman, PhD, the senior deputy director of Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, has received the National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award, a new grant bestowed upon influential cancer researchers to provide long-term support for their impactful and exceptional cancer research.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists who analyzed the genes involved in 10 autoimmune diseases that begin in childhood have found 22 genome-wide signals shared by two or more diseases. These shared gene sites may reveal potential targets for treatment with existing drugs.

• share
• favorite_border

As the Ebola virus disease pandemic unfolded in 2014, it may have seemed like a sudden and unprecedented event. But the disease has a long history, the epidemic is ongoing, and new outbreaks are certain to occur in the future, reports the September issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia.

• share
• favorite_border

An effective program to reduce work-family conflict (WFC) leads to reduced turnover and other cost savings for employers, reports a study in the September Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

• share
• favorite_border

A novel synthetic DNA vaccine can, for the first time, induce protective immunity against the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus in animal species. The experimental, preventive vaccine, given six weeks before exposure to the MERS virus, was found to fully protect rhesus macaques from disease.

• share
• favorite_border

For children with aggressive brain cancers called high-grade gliomas (HGG), the chances of survival are improved when surgery is successful in eliminating all visible cancer, reports a study in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

There may be two new ways to fight AIDS -- using a heat shock protein or a small molecule – to attack fibrils in semen associated with HIV during the initial phases of infection. HIV is most commonly transmitted in semen, which contains amyloid fibrils. These can increase the transmission of HIV by helping the it attach to the membrane surrounding human cells.

• share
• favorite_border

Websites for national and state health insurance marketplaces show evidence of improved efforts to assist patients in choosing health insurance plans, such as providing decision support tools, experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found. However, in a letter published in the August 18 issue the Annals of Internal Medicine, the Penn team recommends taking more steps to better support consumers in making informed health plan decisions.

• share
• favorite_border

Automated alerts generated using data from hospital anesthesia information management systems (AIMS) are a promising approach to influencing the behavior of anesthesia providers—with the goal of improving care for patients undergoing surgery, according to a paper published in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

• share
• favorite_border

Medicare patients in rural areas have lower rates of follow-up care after leaving the hospital—which may place them at higher risk of emergency department (ED) visits and repeat hospitalizations, according to a study in the September issue of Medical Care. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

Eye injections of the drug Avastin, used to treat retinal diseases, bring no greater risk of endophthalmitis, a potentially blinding eye infection, than injections with the much more expensive drug Lucentis made by the same company, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Their findings are published today in JAMA Ophthalmology.

• share
• favorite_border

Health care has much to learn from innovative high-tech companies, but not in the way most people think, according to a Perspective published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and authored by innovation experts from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Innovation, they say, can most effectively achieve meaningful outcomes by testing many new ideas quickly, cheaply, and contextually.

• share
• favorite_border

Thousands of students across Greater Philadelphia will soon start the next chapter of their lives as they begin their college journeys away from home. But with their new freedom comes the exposure to millions of germs while living and studying in close quarters with others.

• share
• favorite_border

Tumor cells associated with pancreatic cancer often behave like communities by working with each other to increase tumor spread and growth to different organs. Groups of these cancer cells are better than single cancer cells in driving tumor spread.

• share
• favorite_border

New Curriculum Platform uses iPads to Meet Students Where They Are – On Mobile Devices

• share
• favorite_border

While a new Penn Medicine study in this week’s Annals of Internal Medicine points to several promising cleaning tactics of “high-touch surfaces,” there’s a lack of evidence as to which is the most effective at reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

• share
• favorite_border

The editors of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery® and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery—Global Open®, the official medical journals of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), are pleased to announce the winners of the 2015 Best Paper Awards, recognizing outstanding new research and reviews from these leading plastic surgery journals.

• share
• favorite_border

Two Penn Medicine researchers from the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB) have been honored with the 2015 Outstanding Statistical Application Award from the American Statistical Association, to be presented today at the Joint Statistical Meetings.

• share
• favorite_border

A large randomized clinical trial of an emergency department (ED)-based program aimed at reducing incidents of excessive drinking and partner violence in women did not result in significant improvements in either risk factor, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

• share
• favorite_border

PEDSnet, a national clinical research network co-led by a pediatric researcher at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was approved for an $8.6 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

• share
• favorite_border

Results of a phase one trial show that an investigational topical drug, resiquimod gel, causes regression of both treated and untreated tumor lesions and may completely remove cancerous cells from both sites in patients with early stage cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) – a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that affects the skin. Currently, there is no cure for CTCL aside from a bone marrow transplant. However, the new study shows that the topical gel can eliminate malignant T cells, leading to diminished lesions.

• share
• favorite_border

New research from The Wistar Institute has identified an interaction between proteins that provides a pivotal role in organizing chromosomes during mitosis so that vital genetic information gets passed on safely.

• share
• favorite_border

Cancer researchers already know of some oncogenes and other factors that promote the development of colon cancers, but they don’t yet have the full picture of how these cancers originate and spread. Now researchers have illuminated another powerful factor in this process, by unraveling an additional pathway for the origin of colon cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

Moles are benign tumors found on the skin of almost every adult. Scientists have known for years that a mutation in the BRAF gene makes them start growing, but until now haven’t understood why they stop. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a major genetic factor that keeps moles in their usual non-cancerous, no-growth state.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has awarded Nancy Speck, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania the 2015 Henry M. Stratton Medal for Basic Science for her “seminal contributions in the area of hematology research.”

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers analyzed circadian rhythms in abundance and type of microbiota in the gut and feces of mice using genetic sequencing. They found that the absolute abundance of a large group of rod-shaped bacteria common in the gut and skin of animals, and relative species make-up of the microbiome, changed over a 24-hour cycle, and this rhythmicity was more pronounced in female mice.

• share
• favorite_border

James Metz, MD, has been named the chair of the department of Radiation Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

• share
• favorite_border

The roughly nine million Americans who rely on prescription sleeping pills to treat chronic insomnia may be able to get relief from as little as half of the drugs, and may even be helped by taking placebos in the treatment plan, according to new research published today in the journal Sleep Medicine by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Their findings starkly contrast with the standard prescribing practices for chronic insomnia treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers have devised an entirely new approach to vaccines – creating immunity without vaccination. They demonstrated that animals injected with synthetic DNA engineered to encode a specific neutralizing antibody against the dengue virus were capable of producing the exact antibodies necessary to protect against disease, without the need for standard antigen-based vaccination. This approach, was rapid, protecting animals within a week of administration.

• share
• favorite_border

NCCN is now accepting original abstracts from investigators for consideration for the NCCN 21st Annual Conference General Poster Session; the deadline for submissions is Friday, November 6, 2015.

• share
• favorite_border

Georgia Campus - Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine celebrates 10 years of impact. Since opening its doors in 2005, the college has generated millions of dollars in economic impact, created dozens of jobs and helped train hundreds of students to do more for themselves, the community and the world.

• share
• favorite_border

Edith Mitchell, M.D., Professor of Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University, will be appointed as President of the National Medical Association (NMA) at the NMA’s 113th Annual Convention and Scientific Assembly in Detroit, Michigan on Tuesday August 4th.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study questions the relevance of fish oil-derived substances and their purported anti-inflammatory effects in humans.

• share
• favorite_border

Working with yeast and worms, researchers found that incorrect gene expression is a hallmark of aged cells and that reducing such “noise” extends lifespan in these organisms.

• share
• favorite_border

Some women with breast cancer can now undergo a "one and done" approach combining nipple-sparing mastectomy with immediate single-stage implant (SSI) breast reconstruction in a single procedure, according to a report in the July issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

• share
• favorite_border

More women are expressing interest in plastic surgery to restore a more youthful figure after having children. An update on combined procedures for postpartum body contouring—addressing the abdomen, breasts, and other problem areas—is presented in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

• share
• favorite_border

Charging people to participate in research studies is likely to undermine the fundamental ethical basis of clinical research, according to a new paper written by bioethicists, including lead author Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, chair of the department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and published in Science Translational Medicine. The paper outlines the arguments for and against the concept of “pay-to-play” research, ultimately concluding that this type of approach compromises the overall integrity of clinical research.

• share
• favorite_border

Surgeons at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) joined with colleagues from Penn Medicine recently to complete the world’s first bilateral hand transplant on a child. Earlier this month, the surgical team successfully transplanted donor hands and forearms onto eight-year-old Zion Harvey who, several years earlier, had undergone amputation of his hands and feet and a kidney transplant following a serious infection.

• share
• favorite_border

Eyes with central vision loss adapt by developing a new fixation point in a different part of the retina, called the preferred retinal location (PRL). Now for the first time, a new method makes it possible to identify PRLs in both eyes simultaneously, reports a study in the August issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

Drexel University engineering researchers and students are joining an international effort led by PeaceTech Lab, a non-profit entity launched by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), to prepare the next generation of humanitarian engineers. The PeaceTech Lab’s Young Engineers Program seeks to use the skills of talented young technologists in service of communities in conflict zones around the world who are seeking to create a sustainable peace.

• share
• favorite_border

Stillbirth or late termination of pregnancy due to severe fetal anomalies is a heartbreaking event for women and families—and one that poses challenges for all members of the healthcare team as they seek to provide empathic and supportive care, according to a special article in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

• share
• favorite_border

Patient satisfaction ratings after surgery for spinal degenerative disease—especially in terms of reduced pain and disability—are a good indicator of the procedure's effectiveness, reports a study in the August issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

Physicians in training are twice as likely to order a costly brand-name statin (used to lower blood cholesterol levels) when supervised by senior physicians who prefer those medications in their own practice, according to a new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

The average wait time for a kidney transplant is five years and there are more than 100,000 people on the waiting list. However, there are thousands of viable hepatitis C-positive kidneys that are discarded each year solely because they’re infected. A new perspective paper in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that “new antiviral therapies with cure rates exceeding 95 percent should prompt transplant-community leaders to view HCV (hepatitis C virus)-positive organs as a valuable opportunity for transplant candidates with or without pre-existing HCV infection.”