Focus: Hidden - Pennsylvania

• share
• favorite_border

In this week's New England Journal of Medicine, researchers report results of a trial showing the efficacy of a new enzyme-replacement therapy for lysosomal acid lipase deficiency. In an accompanying editorial, Daniel J. Rader, MD, chair of the department of Genetics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, notes that this first-ever hepatocyte-targeting therapy will be pivotal in treating this disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Visit the website of a notable research university, and you'll likely read about the amount of federal dollars the institution won and spent in some recent year. But these types of marketing messages—which help attract faculty, students and patients—don't tell the whole story.

• share
• favorite_border

Many of us are guilty of neglecting our medicine cabinet – specifically, our prescriptions. Sometimes we feel the need to hang onto them, perhaps because they were costly or "just in case." But doing so may cause more harm than good.

• share
• favorite_border

The widespread practice of incentivizing mammogram completion via cash payments, typically by insurance companies and ranging from $10 to $250, is unethical according to a Viewpoint article published this week in JAMA by an expert from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Instead, incentives should be offered to women to use evidence-based decision aids to decide if they want a mammogram, even if this policy likely averts fewer breast cancer deaths overall.

• share
• favorite_border

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a severe form of premenstrual syndrome that causes major disruption in several areas of life for many women. Many treatment options have been proposed, but which are most effective? A comprehensive review of the evidence, including specific treatment guidelines, is presented in the September Journal of Psychiatric Practice, published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

The aging of the population, shifting diagnostic criteria, and new health care policy initiatives are some of the factors driving changes in mental health treatment for older Americans, according to the September special issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

Getting a sports pre-participation exam (PPE) is a familiar preseason ritual for student athletes. But what about the growing number of people, of all ages, interested in participating in wilderness athletic and adventure events? Issues and advice on the PPE for wilderness athletes are featured in a special September issue of the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

Wolters Kluwer, a leading global provider of information and point of care solutions for the healthcare industry, has entered a multi-year agreement to publish The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS), JBJS Essential Surgical Techniques, JBJS Case Connector and JBJS Reviews, beginning January 2016. The partnership, which brings together one of the most prominent brands in medical publishing and the premier publisher in the orthopaedic surgery market, marks the transition of the JBJS journals portfolio to a commercial publisher after more than a century of self-publishing.

• share
• favorite_border

The University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) has received an “exceptional” rating by the National Cancer Institute during an extensive peer-review process for its five-year competitive research support grant.

• share
• favorite_border

Jefferson researchers showed that a simple questionnaire, evaluation and pulse-oximetry monitoring can lead to early detection of sleep apnea in patients hospitalized for congestive heart failure.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study co-authored by scientists at Drexel University, published in the most recent issue of Biological Conservation, reveals the devastating impact of illegal logging on bird communities in the understory layer of Ghana’s Upper Guinea rain forests, one of the world's 25 “biodiversity hotspots” where the most biologically rich ecosystems are most threatened.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

In response to the growing challenge of providing nursing students with access to sufficient hands-on clinical education hours, Nursing Schools are turning to virtual simulation to fill the void. Today, Wolters Kluwer and Laerdal Medical announced that they have expanded vSim for Nursing™ with 52 additional curriculum-driven patient scenarios to be used with Fundamentals, Pharmacology, Gerontology, Maternity, and Pediatric curriculum.

• share
• favorite_border

New state laws in Pennsylvania are shaping the fight against child abuse through physicians and other healthcare providers.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

SJU with the Philadelphia Jewish community will dedicate “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time,” an original bronze sculpture portraying feminine allegorical figures signifying both the Jewish and Catholic religions on Friday, Sept. 25. Rabbi Skorka, the longtime friend of Pope Francis, with whom he co-authored a book about their interreligious dialogue, will deliver the keynote.

• share
• favorite_border

The multifunctional ubiquitin tweaks the activity of newly made proteins, which can influence DNA damage repair via BRCA1 and anti-inflammatory responses. One enzyme in particular, BRCC36, removes a specific type of ubiquitin central to DNA damage repair and inflammation. But BRCC36 doesn’t act on its own. It’s part of a complex with KIAA0157. How these two work together is finally coming into focus.

• share
• favorite_border

One of the longstanding debates in science, that has, perhaps unsurprisingly, permeated into the field of stem cell research, is the question of nature versus nurture influencing development. Science on stem cells thus far, has suggested that, as one side of the existential debate holds: their fate is not predestined. But new research from the Neural Stem Cell Institute and Drexel University suggests that the cells’ tabula might not be as rasa as we have been led to believe.

• share
• favorite_border

Blood in the urine can be a scary sight, yet it’s a symptom many people ignore until it is bad enough to land them in a hospital emergency department.

• share
• favorite_border

Acupuncture may be a viable treatment for women experiencing hot flashes as a result of estrogen-targeting therapies to treat breast cancer, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers analyzing the complicated genetic influences in inflammatory bowel disease have discovered new gene variants associated with an often-severe type of the disease that affects children under age five. The genes play key roles in immune function.

• share
• favorite_border

The Wistar Institute, an international leader in biomedical research in cancer, immunology and vaccines, and Spark Therapeutics, a gene therapy leader seeking to develop one-time, life-altering treatments for debilitating genetic diseases, announced today a collaboration designed to improve the durability of gene therapy treatments targeting the liver by advancing new ways to manage the immune response to treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

New York Times Well Columnist Suleika Jaouad will make keynote presentation at the annual meeting of the Association of American Cancer Institutes, October 25; PBS NewsHour analyst Susan Dentzer will be the moderator.

• share
• favorite_border

Aggressive cancer growth and alterations in gene activity without changes in DNA sequence (epigenetics) are associated with mutant p53 proteins, which has implications for such difficult-to-treat cancers as those in the pancreas and breast.

• share
• favorite_border

Electrical stimulation on the skin surface at the elbow can produce feeling in the hand—including rare “natural” sensations—according to a study just published in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. The hope is that surface electrical stimulation (SES) may someday be harnessed to provide “natural sensations” in body areas distant from where the stimulation occurs. If this could happen, it would lead to improved treatment for phantom limb pain, according to Katharine H. Polasek, assistant professor of engineering at Hope College in Holland, MI.

• share
• favorite_border

For women undergoing hysterectomy, removal of "hanging" abdominal fat and skin—a cosmetic procedure called panniculectomy—can be performed at the same surgery without increasing the risk of complications, reports a study in the September issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

• share
• favorite_border

What's the "safe" amount of fat to remove in patients undergoing liposuction? Rather than a hard-and-fast rule, the answer depends on the patient's body mass index (BMI), according to a report in the September issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

• share
• favorite_border

How much does spinal fusion surgery cost? The answer depends on what part of the country you live in, reports a study in the September 1 issue of Spine, published by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and Chester County Hospital were announced among the 2015 class of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality” list, and the first to be announced in the organization’s rolling admissions in 2015. The HRC Foundation is the educational arm of the country’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization. Since the program's inception in 2013, the Penn Medicine Program for LGBT Health has implemented 25 LGBT health education and training initiatives, had six research papers published or in press, and six research presentations given on various LGBT health topics.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Penn State have developed the first nano/micro-textured highly slippery surfaces able to outperform lotus leaf-inspired liquid repellent coatings, particularly in situations where the water is in the form of vapor or tiny droplets.

• 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

Only half of brain cancers actually start in the brain. The rest – as in the case of former president Jimmy Carter – are metastatic tumors from cancer that originated elsewhere in the body.

• 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

It's the time of year when parents are celebrating the return to routine as their children return to school – unless you have a teenager. For parents of teens, getting their children to go to bed on time and get up on time can be a struggle.

• 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

The medical school model that has existed for decades involves two years of study in the basic sciences followed by two years of clinical study. An initiative under way at Penn State College of Medicine will involve students in developing a new curriculum that integrates the two areas of study.

• 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

When a mosquito decides to dine on your blood, you typically know it – there’s pain, itch, and annoyance. Ticks, on the other hand, take a stealthier approach.