Focus: Hidden - Pennsylvania

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Employers around the nation are increasingly searching for ways to help their employees make healthy lifestyle choices including encouraging obese employees to lose weight, often by offering financial incentives in the form of reduced health insurance premiums to help encourage success. But these programs are likely to fail, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published today in the January issue of Health Affairs.

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Wall Street investors take note: stock in companies recognized for outstanding employee health and wellness programs outperforms the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, according to three studies in the January Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

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New research shows four distinct patterns of symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) in military service members, and validates a new tool for assessing the quality-of-life impact of TBI. The studies appear in the January-February issue of The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (JHTR), an annual special issue devoted to TBI in the military. The official journal of the Brain Injury Association of America, JHTR is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Stevens Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing were recently funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to use policy flight simulators – pioneered by Stevens—to simulate use of the Transitional Care Model, developed by Penn Nursing.

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A Penn-led team found that ant caste behavior can be reprogrammed, indicating that an individual’s epigenetic, not genetic, makeup determines roles in ant colonies.

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An NSAID changed the composition and diversity of gut microbes, which in turn shaped how the drug is broken down and ultimately, cut its effectiveness, according to animal study

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The burden of recurrent acute and chronic pancreatitis in children may be higher than previously thought, with high costs related to repeated hospitalizations, report a pair of studies in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. The official journal of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, JPGN is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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A new study in mice has shown that cancers with KRAS-related gene mutations might benefit from a triple therapy with two experimental drugs plus radiation therapy.

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Long travel distances continue to be a significant obstacle to breast reconstruction after mastectomy for breast cancer, reports a study in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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Hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers are a popular treatment for facial lines and wrinkles, but early degradation of fillers may limit how long their effects last. Experimental evidence supports a simple technique for prolonging the effects of HA dermal fillers: using them together with botulinum toxin, reports a paper in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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Palbociclib, a new oral drug whose efficacy in combating breast cancer has been demonstrated alone and in combination with endocrine therapy, also has potential to combat other types of cancer, according to a literature review and additional original research conducted by experts at the Abramson Cancer Center in the University of Pennsylvania published this month in JAMA Oncology.

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The American Journal of Nursing (AJN) recognized the best nursing and health care publications of 2015 with an announcement of its annual Book of the Year Awards. Winners in 20 categories appear in the journal’s January issue. AJN, “the leading voice of nursing since 1900,” is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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A technique to combine the ultrasensitivity of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) with a slippery surface invented by Penn State researchers will make it feasible to detect single molecules of a number of chemical and biological species from gaseous, liquid or solid samples.

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Could hypnosis help to reduce the psychological trauma associated with "awake craniotomy" for brain cancers? A new "hypnosedation" technique offers a new alternative for patients undergoing awake surgery for gliomas, suggests a study in the January issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, published by Wolters Kluwer.

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The presence of myopia, or nearsightedness, significantly affects the muscles used in focusing the lens of the eye—a finding with important implications for the development of "accommodating" implanted intraocular lenses (IOLs) that can adjust to different visual distances, reports a study in the January issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH) has achieved Magnet® status – the highest institutional honor awarded for nursing excellence – from the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program®.

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More than 375,000 American each year experience a heart attack, during which blood flow to a part of the heart is impeded by blocked arteries. Physicians often treat patients with stents, which prop open the arteries to allow blood to flow again. They use two approaches to place stents: transradial, or entry of the catheter which delivers the stent through the wrist, or transfemoral, in which the catheter is placed through the groin. In a comparison of bleeding complications and mortality between the two approaches, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that those at risk for more bleeding were often treated with a riskier procedure – the transfemoral approach – a demonstration of the so-called risk-treatment paradox. The findings, from the largest study of its kind, are detailed in this week’s Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions.

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Understanding how tiny molecular motors called myosins use energy to fuel biological tasks like contracting muscles could lead to therapies for muscle diseases and cancers, say a team of researchers led by Penn State College of Medicine scientists.

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The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) announces the recipients of its 2016 student academic scholarships. The students (except the International Symposium on Superalloys Scholarship recipients) will receive their awards during the AIME-TMS Awards Ceremony or technical division events at the TMS 2016 Annual Meeting & Exhibition, February 14–18, 2016 in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee.

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Chocolate cupcakes made with black beans. Tuna salad mixed without mayo. Mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes. They may sound strange, but healthy swaps such as these are becoming more common not only in restaurants and cookbooks, but also in Food Services at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

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Thirteen percent of department leader positions at top academic medical institutions in the United States are held by women, while nearly 20 percent are held by men with mustaches. The findings of the tongue-in-cheek study, an analysis of more than 1,000 headshots of department leaders at top National Institutes of Health-funded academic medical institutions, provide a new context for examining gender disparities in the field.

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An MRI contrast agent that can pass through the blood-brain barrier will allow doctors to detect deadly brain tumors called gliomas earlier, say Penn State College of Medicine researchers. This ability opens the door to make this fatal cancer treatable.

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Weight loss due to dietary changes can improve sleepiness at any weight, says a study published by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania this month in the journal Sleep. The findings offer new insights into how weight fluctuations impact numerous aspects of sleep independent of body weight.

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Emergencies and illnesses don't take time off over the December holidays ... neither do physicians and health care teams. This article interviews doctors who discuss their role in providing care over the holidays.

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The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has chosen Douglas G. Hock as its new executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO), following an extensive national search. Mr. Hock will assume his new duties on Feb. 1.

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The presence or absence of the CAP2 gene causes sudden cardiac death in mice. In particular, the absence of the gene interrupts the animal’s ability to send electrical signals to the heart to tell it to contract, a condition called cardiac conduction disease. Since humans have the same CAP2 gene, what we learn from the mice could advance our understanding of heart disease.

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Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine, working with Chinese and American colleagues, have discovered a novel way to enhance and restore cancer suppressor activity in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, resulting in better outcomes in a pre-clinical model of the disease.

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According to new research from the Monell Center, sensitivity to sweet taste varies widely across school-aged children and is in part genetically-determined. The findings may inform efforts to reduce sugar consumption and improve nutritional health of children.

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A new material that is both highly transparent and electrically conductive discovered by Penn State researchers could make large screen displays, smart windows and even touch screens and solar cells more affordable and efficient.

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Why do Hispanic women have reduced rates of epidural or spinal (neuraxial) analgesia during labor? Language barriers may be a key factor, according to a study in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

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Patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) have low survival rates—but why do some hospitals achieve higher survival than others? Higher nurse staffing levels and better working conditions may be part of the answer, reports a study in the January issue of Medical Care. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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An increasing proportion of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are undergoing recommended evaluation in the preschool years—but population rates of ASD remain higher in eight-year-olds compared to four-year-olds, reports a study in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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A new $1.5 million grant to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) from Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) supports an innovative approach to treating relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma, a high-risk childhood cancer.

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Stacey Cahn, PhD, associate professor of clinical psychology at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, offers tips to avoid awkward conversations about weight this holiday season.

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With food everywhere you look, difficult relatives and pressure to create perfect memories, the holidays can be a tough time for those who struggle with eating disorders.

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Is short stature a problem? In particular, when it does not result from an underlying disease, does it justify giving a child nightly injections of human growth hormone? Researchers shed light on a long-running controversy by focusing directly on parental concerns and decision-making.

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In newly published research, scientists at The Wistar Institute show that continued semen exposure in sex workers sustains changes in the cervical and vaginal microenvironment that may actually increase HIV-1 resistance. This information may lead the way to better preventative strategies that block the transmission of the virus and improved designs for future HIV vaccine studies that can monitor the described changes when recruiting sex workers into vaccine trials.

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Some of the same gene mutations that cause heart defects in children also lead to neurodevelopmental delays, including learning disabilities. New research may later enable clinicians to identify and treat infant heart patients at higher risk for neurodevelopmental problems.

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Whether aspirin may help prevent or reduce the risk of breast cancer remains a hotly debated research question. While past studies have indicated a potential benefit, most recently in hormone receptor-positive breast cancers, one new study from Penn Medicine suggests otherwise. Aspirin does not appear to be protective or associated with improved clinical outcomes or survival among breast cancer patients with aggressive disease, the researchers of one study report. However, another study suggests aspirin may in fact help reduce breast tissue density, which could lead to earlier detection of some breast cancers.

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Many BRCA 1/2-negative patients choose to proceed with comprehensive testing for genetic mutations that increase cancer risk, and when presented with counseling before and after testing, most make informed decisions and experience decreased levels of anxiety, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Basser Center for BRCA in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. The study will be presented on Thursday, December 10, 2015 as part of the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (Abstract #P2-09-01).

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Combining the new breast cancer drug palbociclib with paclitaxel (Taxol) shrank tumors in nearly half of patient with estrogen-receptor (ER) positive breast cancer, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results will be presented Saturday at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (Abstract P6-13-08). A second study (Abstract P4-13-04), to be presented Friday provides new clues to how breast cancer develops resistance to the palbociclib, a common occurrence among many patients who take the drug.

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Medical students in Emergency Departments often perform an initial evaluation of stable patients prior to supervising residents or attending physicians, who meanwhile provide care to other patients. Despite some concern over the possible effect to patients, new research shows the presence of medical students in the Emergency Department adds less than five minutes to the average length of a patient’s stay. The findings, from a team of researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, are published in the December 8 Medical Education issue of JAMA.

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In the first known study to examine the prevalence and treatment of psoriasis in older Americans, experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that black patients receiving Medicare are less likely to receive biologic therapies –medications derived from human or animal cells or tissues – for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis than white patients.

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Men taking androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer were almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the years that followed than those who didn’t undergo the therapy, an analysis of medical records from two large hospital systems by Penn Medicine and Stanford University researchers has shown.

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Ninety-three percent of pediatric patients (55 of 59) with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) went into remission after receiving an investigational therapy made from their own immune cells, with continuous remissions of over one year in 18 patients and over two years in nine patients. In an emerging new use of the same therapy, known as CTL019, more than half of patients (15 of 28) with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) also responded to infusions of the personalized cellular therapy.

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From the desk of Michael A. Young, president & CEO, PinnacleHealth System