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Penn Medicine experts urge for basic safeguards if Medicaid work requirement policies continue to prevail

When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced controversial policies inviting states to establish work requirements as a condition to receive Medicaid, many in the medical community opposed it.

10 May 2018

Penn surgeons perform first ever robot-assisted complex spinal surgery for rare tumor removal

Noah Pernikoff is back to his life in New York City after becoming the first patient in the world to undergo a complex three-part, robotic-assisted surgery.

3 May 2018

New T cell biomarker could be much-needed patient-selection tool for CAR T cell therapy

Penn Medicine researchers may have found the reason why some patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia don't respond to chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, and the answer is tied to how primed patients' immune systems are before the therapy is administered.

30 Apr 2018

New study reveals potential for better diagnosis and treatment of TBI patients

Patients who've suffered from traumatic brain injuries have changes in tiny blood vessels in their brains that researchers believe are linked to a range of cognitive symptoms, according to new findings presented at the 2018 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.

30 Apr 2018

Five best practices to help reduce unplanned acute care for cancer patients

Unnecessary emergency department visits and hospitalizations are debilitating for patients with cancer and far too common - and costly - for the United States health care system.

24 Apr 2018

Study reveals surprising insights into RNA-binding proteins

A host of special molecules called nuclear RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), when misplaced outside the nucleus, form the harmful clumps seen in several brain disorders, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

20 Apr 2018

Experts propose new solutions to increase benefit, affordability of targeted cancer medicines

Spending on cancer drugs in the United States has nearly doubled in the past five years and continues to grow, imposing substantial financial burden on patients with cancer.

18 Apr 2018

Omega-3 supplements found to be ineffective in alleviating dry eye symptoms

More than 16 million Americans suffer from dry eye, an often chronic condition that causes burning, itching, or stinging sensations in the eye, as well as impaired vision.

13 Apr 2018

New cancer vaccine yields promising results in clinical study

A new type of cancer vaccine has yielded promising results in an initial clinical trial conducted at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

11 Apr 2018

Cancer risk increases with longer wait time for diagnostic testing

The longer a patient with a positive screening result waits for diagnostic testing, the worse their cancer outcomes may become, according to a literature review of breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung studies in the journal CA led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

10 Apr 2018

Penn research provides unprecedented insight into kidney physiology and disease

The kidney is a highly complex organ – far beyond a simple filter. Its function requires intricate interactions between many highly specialized cell types to extract waste, balances body fluids, form urine, regulate blood pressure, and secrete hormones.

6 Apr 2018

Gut bacteria may hold clues to predict effectiveness of cancer immunotherapies

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, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

3 Apr 2018

Restoring enzyme may help reverse effects of vascular aging, study shows

As people age, their blood-vessel density and blood flow decrease, which is why it's harder to maintain muscle mass after 40 and endurance in the later decades, even with exercise.

23 Mar 2018

Bundled payment model for knee and hip replacements more likely to work better for larger hospitals

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.

7 Mar 2018

Study findings establish basis for epigenetic link between aging and Alzheimer's disease

Although certain genetic variants increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD), age is the strongest known risk factor. But the way in which molecular processes of aging predispose people to AD, or become impaired in AD remains a mystery.

6 Mar 2018

Head injury patients have better outcomes when treated by trauma centers, research shows

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.

2 Mar 2018

Never too late to operate? Surgery near end of life is common, costly

At 87, Maxine Stanich cared more about improving the quality of her life than prolonging it. She suffered from a long list of health problems, including heart failure and chronic lung disease that could leave her gasping for breath.

28 Feb 2018

CRISPR-like gene editing could be potential way to treat patients with harmful blood lipid levels

Using a variation of CRISPR gene editing may be a potential strategy for mimicking the protective effects of a genetic mutation linked to lower cholesterol levels and heart disease risks, according to new mouse research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published this week in Circulation.

28 Feb 2018

Penn study sheds new light on immune cell identity

Almost all cells in the human body have identical DNA sequences, yet there are 200-plus cell types with different sizes, shapes, and chemical compositions. Determining what parts of the genome are read to make protein and which are silenced is orchestrated by proteins called transcription factors.

21 Feb 2018

Key protein involved in epigenetic regulation of gene expression guides skin cell renewal

Approximately once a month, our skin completely renews itself. If this highly coordinated process goes awry, it can lead to a variety of skin diseases, ranging from skin cancer to psoriasis.

19 Feb 2018