Se Selenium

According to Reuters.com, most of the “300,000 Americans who suffer cardiac arrest every year die. Despite massive investments in research and technology, fewer than eight in 100 leave the hospital alive, a rate that has remained stagnant for almost 30 years.” Even if the heart is restarted, most won’t make it and many of those who do end up brain damaged. Many feel these statistics could change if more people had access therapeutic hypothermia. The procedure, refined and researched at Penn, is the cooling of a patient to about six degrees Fahrenheit with cold intravenous saline, cooling blankets or ice packs and then waiting 24 hours before warming the patient slowly. "That's a lot of people going home to their families who otherwise would have died or had severe brain injury," said Benjamin S. Abella, MD, MPhil, assistant professor, Emergency Medicine and clinical research director of the Center for Resuscitation Science, who is quote throughout the article.

According to Reuters.com, most of the “300,000 Americans who suffer cardiac arrest every year die. Despite massive investments in research and technology, fewer than eight in 100 leave the hospital alive, a rate that has remained stagnant for almost 30 years.” Even if the heart is restarted, most won’t make it and many of those who do end up brain damaged. Many feel these statistics could change if more people had access therapeutic hypothermia. The procedure, refined and researched at Penn, is the cooling of a patient to about six degrees Fahrenheit with cold intravenous saline, cooling blankets or ice packs and then waiting 24 hours before warming the patient slowly. "That's a lot of people going home to their families who otherwise would have died or had severe brain injury," said Benjamin S. Abella, MD, MPhil, assistant professor, Emergency Medicine and clinical research director of the Center for Resuscitation Science, who is quote throughout the article.

Researchers hope to make ants a new genetic model organism to study the impact of epigenetics on everything from metabolism to social behavior. Lead author Shelley Berger, PhD, Daniel S. Och University Professor and director of the Epigenetics Program at Penn, is quoted in Scientific American online about the Science study out this week.

Researchers hope to make ants a new genetic model organism to study the impact of epigenetics on everything from metabolism to social behavior. Lead author Shelley Berger, PhD, Daniel S. Och University Professor and director of the Epigenetics Program at Penn, is quoted in Scientific American online about the Science study out this week.

Penn scientists are highlighted in a Philadelphia Inquirer article about their discovery of a genetic stutter that may influence the risk of developing ALS. Aaron Gitler, PhD, assistant professor of Cell and Developmental Biology; John Trojanowski, MD, PhD, director of the Institute of Aging; Nancy Bonini, PhD, professor of Biology; and Virginia Lee, PhD, co-director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, all co-authors on the Nature paper describing the work, were mentioned in the article. The finding links several ALS-related clues, including a 2006 discovery also made by Penn researchers that people with ALS build up abnormal deposits of a protein called TDP-43 in their brains.

Penn scientists are highlighted in a Philadelphia Inquirer article about their discovery of a genetic stutter that may influence the risk of developing ALS. Aaron Gitler, PhD, assistant professor of Cell and Developmental Biology; John Trojanowski, MD, PhD, director of the Institute of Aging; Nancy Bonini, PhD, professor of Biology; and Virginia Lee, PhD, co-director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, all co-authors on the Nature paper describing the work, were mentioned in the article. The finding links several ALS-related clues, including a 2006 discovery also made by Penn researchers that people with ALS build up abnormal deposits of a protein called TDP-43 in their brains.

Daniel Eun, MD, assistant professor of surgery in Urology and director of Robotic and Minimally Invasive Urologic Oncology and Reconstruction at Pennsylvania Hospital is featured in a story in a Philadelphia Inquirer on robotic surgery. Robotic surgery represents a vast improvement in visualization, says Eun, "It becomes a merging of what you'd see with your naked eye [with] the enhanced visualization of a camera that has magnification." Eun also cautions that, "If the robot is used in inexperienced hands, it can be a really dangerous weapon.” Without proper training, he added, using the robot can be disorienting. The story also addresses the cost of robotic surgery. Experts also suggest patients seek out surgeons who have done more cases, because they tend to have better results.

Daniel Eun, MD, assistant professor of surgery in Urology and director of Robotic and Minimally Invasive Urologic Oncology and Reconstruction at Pennsylvania Hospital is featured in a story in a Philadelphia Inquirer on robotic surgery. Robotic surgery represents a vast improvement in visualization, says Eun, "It becomes a merging of what you'd see with your naked eye [with] the enhanced visualization of a camera that has magnification." Eun also cautions that, "If the robot is used in inexperienced hands, it can be a really dangerous weapon.” Without proper training, he added, using the robot can be disorienting. The story also addresses the cost of robotic surgery. Experts also suggest patients seek out surgeons who have done more cases, because they tend to have better results.

What happens to the neurons in your brain when you experience a blow to the head? The impact can change the neural architecture of the brain from elastic to brittle. The research of Doug Smith, MD, director of Penn's Center for Brain Injury and Repair, on understanding how brain cells respond to injuries, is featured in the August issue of Discover.

What happens to the neurons in your brain when you experience a blow to the head? The impact can change the neural architecture of the brain from elastic to brittle. The research of Doug Smith, MD, director of Penn's Center for Brain Injury and Repair, on understanding how brain cells respond to injuries, is featured in the August issue of Discover.