News Releases

Penn Medicine dermatologists will offer free skin cancer screenings on Saturday, May 16 from 8 a.m. to noon at the new Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. Appointments are necessary and space is limited. Call 215-662-2737 to make a reservation and for more information. The screening is sponsored by Penn Medicine's Department of Dermatology and the Abramson Cancer Center.

Researchers have made an important step forward in understanding the complex genetic structure of autism spectrum disorders. A researcher collaboration, including geneticists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, have detected variations along a genetic pathway that is responsible for neurological development, learning and memory, which appears to play a significant role in the genetic risk of autism. Their findings were published in the journal Nature.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is among the top three research-oriented medical schools in the nation, according to an annual survey of the best graduate schools by U.S.News & World Report. Penn is ranked #3 in the prestigious survey.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues have discovered that a type of prostaglandin - one of a family of fatty compounds key to the cardiovscular system - may play the role of increasing blood pressure and accelerating atherosclerosis, at least in mice. Mice that lack the receptor for the type of prostaglandin studied, PGF2α, have lower blood pressure and less atherosclerosis than their non-mutant brethren. The results suggest that targeting this pathway could represent a novel therapeutic approach to cardiovascular disease.

Penn Medicine is opening its second special services, in-patient unit The Pavilion at Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH).

The circadian clock coordinates physiological and behavioral processes on a 24-hour rhythm, allowing animals to anticipate changes in their environment and prepare accordingly. Scientists already know that some genes are controlled by the clock and are turned on only one time during each 24-hour cycle. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies found that some genes are switched on once every 12 or 8 hours, indicating that shorter cycles of the circadian rhythm are also biologically encoded. Using a novel time-sampling approach in which the investigators looked at gene activity in the mouse liver every hour for 48 hours, they also found 10-fold more genes controlled by the 24-hour clock than previously reported.

This fourth annual event examines key issues in the history of women's health- from 'Female Pills' used to combat 'hysteria, stomach and period problems' in 18th century England to the invention of The Pill in 1960 by John Rock, MD. Women's health scholars will discuss Dr. Rock's role as the founder of reproductive medicine, examine miscarriage in late 18th and early 19th century America, and moral and political debate around the use of and funding for Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine and more. The conference is sponsored by the Professional Staff of the Pennsylvania Hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital Historic Collections, and the OB/GYN Department of the Pennsylvania Hospital.

As the cost of medical care and the number of people without medical care continue to rise and preventative care declines, a critical care nurse from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center has gathered experts in health and wellness together for a free community health fair in West Philadelphia. Children, adults and seniors can visit the 'Spring into Health Community Day' to receive blood pressure and diabetes screenings, HIV testing, nutritional counseling, pharmaceutical medication review, physical exercise tips and more. In addition, there will be cultural performances, face painting, light food and giveaways throughout the afternoon on Saturday, April 25.

An online tool that provides cancer survivors and their family members with an easy-to-follow roadmap for managing their health as they finish treatment and transition to life as a survivor got high marks from users, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research. Ninety-seven percent of people who used OncoLife™, the first online cancer survivorship care plan tool - developed by physicians and nurses from Penn's Abramson Cancer Center - rated their experience with the tool as 'good' to 'excellent,' and 84 percent said they planned to share their plan with their health care team.

In a finding that helps resolve a long-standing question in developmental biology, Klaus H. Kaestner, PhD, Professor of Genetics, and colleagues report in the journal Developmental Cell this week about how the mammalian gut forms. Mice were genetically engineered to lack the protein Cdx2 in the cells that normally go on to form the stomach and intestine. The mutant animals - which invariably die either before or just after birth - have an esophagus where these missing organs should be.