http://www.pennmedicine.org/news The latest news about Neurology and Neurosurgery from Penn Medicine - the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Health System. en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss rachel.ewing@uphs.upenn.edu (Rachel Ewing) 2009, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania http://www.pennmedicine.org/images/pennmedicine_logo.jpg http://www.pennmedicine.org/news The presence of a gene can predict when a traumatic brain injury (TBI) will lead to early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Amyloid plaque deposits, known primarily for their role in Alzheimer’s disease, are found in nearly one third of people who die from acute TBI, within just hours of a brain injury and in people of all ages. This build up of Alzheimer’s-like deposits can be predicted by a variation in the gene that codes for the amyloid-busting enzyme, neprilsyin. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/brain-injury-alzheimers-genetic-risk/ Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:00:00 GMT Four professors from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, among them neuroscience researcher Amita Sehgal, PhD, have been elected as members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine. The new members bring Penn's total to 72, out of a total active membership of 1,610. Overall, the IOM named 65 new members this year and five foreign associates. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/10/institute-of-medicine/ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:00:00 GMT A new class of molecules capable of blocking the formation of specific protein clumps that are believed to contribute to the dementia of Alzheimer’s disease patients has been discovered by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the NIH Chemical Genomics Center. By assaying close to 300,000 compounds, the team has identified drug-like inhibitors of AD tau protein clumping, as reported in the journal Biochemistry. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/tau-protein-inhibitors/ Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:00:00 GMT Jason Karlawish, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and colleagues presented findings at the Alzheimer's Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) from a survey of American Academy of Neurology (AAN) members that assessed how neurologists are diagnosing and treating patients with mild cognitive symptoms. Results show that neurologists regularly see and treat people with MCI, despite the fact that the medications they are prescribing are not FDA-approved for this particular diagnostic category. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/mild-cognitive-impairment/ Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:45:00 GMT The Alzheimer's Association recognized four scientists for their extraordinary achievements in advancing Alzheimer's research at its 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna, Austria. The 2009 Khalid Iqbal Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Virginia M.-Y. Lee, Ph.D., M.B.A., director of Penn’s Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research. Dr. Lee's research focus includes determining the genesis and roles of various normal and abnormal brain proteins (amyloid, tau, etc.) thought to be the keys to the cause and progression of numerous brain diseases, including Alzheimer's. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/virginia-lee-alzheimers-lifetime-achievement-award/ Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:40:00 GMT More pieces in the complex autism inheritance puzzle are emerging in the latest study from a research team including geneticists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and several collaborating institutions. This study identified 27 different genetic regions where rare copy number variations – missing or extra copies of DNA segments – were found in the genes of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but not in the healthy controls. The complex combination of missing or extra copies of certain genes is thought to interfere with gene function, which can disrupt the production of proteins necessary for normal neurological development. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/06/autism-gene-mutations/ Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:00:00 GMT 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 (CHOP), 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. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/autism-genetics.html Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT For the past decade, researchers have tried to tweak cells at the gene and nucleus level to reprogram their identity. Now, working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined by molecules called messenger RNAs, which contain the chemical blueprint for how to make a protein, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering have found another way to change one cell type into another. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/rna-cell-reprogramming.html Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:00:00 GMT Gerard Schellenberg, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has received an $18.3 million five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to lead a genome-wide association (GWA) study to identify genes that may affect risk of Alzheimer’s disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/alzheimers-genetic-markers.html Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:50:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have engineered transplantable living nerve tissue that encourages and guides regeneration in an animal model. About 300,000 Americans suffer peripheral nerve injuries every year, in many cases resulting in permanent loss of motor function, sensory function, or both. But there are insufficient means for repair, according to neurosurgeons. "We have created a three-dimensional neural network, a living conduit in culture, which can be transplanted en masse to an injury site," explains senior author Douglas H. Smith, MD, Professor, Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at Penn. Smith and colleagues have successfully grown, transplanted, and integrated axon bundles that act as ‘jumper cables’ to the host tissue in order to bridge a damaged section of nerve. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/nerve-regeneration.html Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:10:00 GMT A test capable of confirming or ruling out Alzheimer’s disease has been validated and standardized by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. By measuring cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of two of the disease’s biochemical hallmarks – amyloid beta42 peptide and tau protein – the test also predicted whether a person’s mild cognitive impairment would convert to Alzheimer’s disease over time. Researchers were able to detect this devastating disease at the earliest stages, before dementia symptoms appeared and widespread irreversible damage occurred. The findings hold promise in the search for effective pharmaceutical therapies capable of halting the disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/csf-alzheimers-biomarker.html Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT The human brain's sensitivity to unexpected outcomes plays a fundamental role in the ability to adapt and learn new behaviors, according to a new study by a team of psychologists and neuroscientists from the University of Pennsylvania. Using a computer-based card game and microelectrodes to observe neuronal activity of the brain, the Penn study, published this week in the journal Science, suggests that neurons in the human substantia nigra, or SN, play a central role in reward-based learning, modulating learning based on the discrepancy between the expected and the realized outcome. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/learning-unexpected.html Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:30:00 GMT A University of Pennsylvania team has completed the first successful demonstration of a noninvasive optical device to monitor cerebral blood flow in patients with acute stroke, a leading cause of disability and death. The study is part of a $2.8 million, five-year Bioengineering Research Partnership grant from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Pennsylvania Health System Comprehensive Neuroscience Center. Principal investigator Arjun Yodh, professor of physics in the School of Arts and Sciences at Penn is joined by Rick Van Berg from the High Energy group of the Department of Physics and clinical collaborators John Detre, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology and Radiology, Joel Greenberg, PhD, Research Professor of Neurology and Scott Kasner, MD, MSCE, Associate Professor of Neurology in the School of Medicine at Penn. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/monitoring-brain-blood-flow.html Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:20:00 GMT If you ever argued with your mother when she told you to get some sleep after studying for an exam instead of pulling an all-nighter, you owe her an apology, because it turns out she's right. And now, scientists are beginning to understand why. In research published this week in Neuron, Marcos Frank, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, postdoctoral researcher Sara Aton, PhD, and colleagues describe for the first time how cellular changes in the sleeping brain promote the formation of memories. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/sleep-memory-formation.html Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:00:00 GMT A connection between genetic and environmental causes of Parkinson’s disease has been discovered by a research team led by Aaron D. Gitler, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Gitler and colleagues found a genetic interaction between two Parkinson's disease genes (alpha-synuclein and PARK9) and determined that the PARK9 protein can protect cells from manganese poisoning, which is an environmental risk factor for a Parkinson’s disease-like syndrome. The findings appear online this week in Nature Genetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/parkinsons-manganese.html Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:00:00 GMT Studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine on brain electrical signaling offer a fresh perspective on vertebrate evolution, provide additional evidence supporting Darwinian views of evolution, and may also lead to more effective treatment of epileptic seizures in infants. Researchers discovered how evolutionary changes produced a series of improvements in molecules generating electrical signals in nerves between 550 and 400 million years ago. By making nervous systems faster and smarter, these innovations appear to have contributed to the evolutionary success and diversity of vertebrate animals. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/01/evolution-epilepsy.html Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:00:00 GMT Michael P. Nusbaum, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will receive over $2.7 million over the next seven years from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to understand how a fundamental aspect of molecular signaling in the nervous system, called neuromodulation, modifies sensory-motor integration to enable a single neural network to generate the appropriate coordinated movement in different contexts. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/nusbaum-javits-neuroscience-award.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have discovered how the expression of the Sonic hedgehog gene is regulated during brain development and how mutations that alter this process cause brain malformations. The results appear online this month in Nature Genetics. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/10/sonic-brain-development.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are conducting studies on an experimental medication to block nerve damage and inflammation in the brain that can lead to progressive memory loss and behavioral changes in people with Alzheimer’s disease. Current Alzheimer’s disease therapies focus on improving symptoms rather than attacking the root of the disease progression. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/09/alzheimers-clinical-trial.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a protein from a most unlikely source -- baker’s yeast -- that might protect against Parkinson’s disease. More than a million Americans suffer from Parkinson's disease, and no treatments are available that fundamentally alter the course of the condition. By introducing the yeast protein Hsp104 into animal models of Parkinson’s disease, researchers prevented protein clumping that leads to nerve cell death characteristic of the disorder. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/08/hsp104-parkinsons-protein.html While scientists and physicians know what happens if you don’t get six to eight hours of shut-eye a night, investigators have long been puzzled about what controls the actual need for sleep. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine might have an answer, at least in fruit flies. In a recent study of fruit flies, they identified a gene that controls sleep. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/sleepless-fly-gene.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified two new techniques to detect the progression of Alzheimer’s disease earlier. By catching Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms are apparent, physicians can prescribe treatments to slow down the disease progression. In one study, researchers identified abnormal structural changes in the brains of seemingly normal elderly that indicated mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease. In a second study, researchers detected changes in cells that may help predict the transition from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/alzheimers-early-detection.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that mutations in two proteins associated with familial Alzheimer's disease disrupt the flow of calcium ions within neurons. The two proteins, called PS1 and PS2 (presenilin 1 and 2), interact with a calcium release channel in an intracellular cell compartment. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/calcium-channels-alzheimers.html The Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has received $500,000 from the Bilger Foundation to identify new approaches and unique drug targets for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and, through its Drug Discovery Center, translate these research findings into new therapeutic drugs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/cndr-bilger-gift.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that the unfolded protein response, which is an adaptive response to stress induced by sleep deprivation, is impaired in the brains of old mice. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/upr-cellular-aging-mice.html Two years ago researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that misfolded proteins called TDP-43 accumulated in the motor areas of the brains of patients with amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. Now, the same group has shown that TDP-43 accumulates throughout the brain, suggesting ALS has broader neurological effects than previously appreciated and treatments need to take into account more than motor neuron areas. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/als-tdp43-throughout-brain.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that introns, or junk DNA to some, associated with RNA are an important molecular guide to making nerve-cell electrical channels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb08/nerve-cell.html The entire January issue of NeuroSignals is devoted to describing neurodegenerative disease research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Health System. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan08/special-issue.html James Shorter, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been named an inaugural recipient of the 2007 NIH Director's New Innovator Award. This highly prestigious award totals 1.5 million in direct costs over five years to each of 29 investigators, many of whom are in the early stages of their careers. More than 2,100 applications were received for this extremely competitive program. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct07/biochemist-NIH-award.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center have begun ACT III – a Phase II/III Randomized Study – to investigate the addition of CDX-110 vaccine to standard care maintenance chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive form of primary brain tumor. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/brain-tumor-vaccine-trial.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report how the gene for utrophin, which codes for a protein very similar to dystrophin, the defective protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), puts the brakes on its own expression in muscle cells, thereby suggesting a new target for treatment. The findings were published online in Molecular Biology Cell, in advance of print publication. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul07/target-muscular-dystrophy.html The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will receive $1.5 million annually from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) over the next five years to study the molecular mechanisms that underlie the cognitive and movement aspects of Parkinson’s disease, as well as enhance the care and treatment of patients and training of physicians. The Penn Udall Center is the only center to focus on dementia and Parkinson’s disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/parkinsons-center-excellence.html Many age-related neurological diseases are associated with defective proteins accumulating in nerve cells, suggesting that the cell's normal disposal mechanisms are not operating correctly. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a molecular link between the cell's two major pathways for breaking down proteins and have succeeded in using this link to rescue neurodegenerative diseases in a simple animal model. The study appears this week in Nature. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/cell-protein-recycling.html Using new MRI techniques to analyze tissue composition and structure in the brain, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging successfully detected mild cognitive disorder (MCI), a condition in which patients suffer mild memory problems and is often an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Results of the research were published in a recent issue of Neurobiology of Aging. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/mri-early-alzheimers.html David F. Dinges, PhD, Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Chief of the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, and Director of the Unit for Experimental Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been awarded the 2007 Distinguished Public Service Medal from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/dinges-NASA-medal.html Most research on Lou Gehrig's disease therapeutics has been based on the assumption that its two forms (sporadic and hereditary) are similar in their underlying cause. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found an absolute biochemical distinction between these two disease variants, suggesting that current approaches to drug discovery should be re-examined. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/forms-ALS-biochemically-different.html Using a new type of drug that targets a specific genetic defect, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, along with colleagues at PTC Therapeutics Inc. and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, have for the first time demonstrated restoration of muscle function in a mouse model of Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD). The research appears ahead of print in an advanced online publication of Nature. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/muscle-restoration-muscular-dystrophy.html According to a study that appears in the April 17 issue of Neurology, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that natalizumab (TYSABRI-reg-) -- a drug that slows disability and reduces relapse rates in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) -- also reduces vision loss in patients with relapsing MS. Vision loss is one of the most common and disabling symptoms of MS. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/ms-drug-vision.html Using a novel video-imaging system, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been able to observe proteins important in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease moving along axons, extensions of nerve cells that carry proteins away from the cell body. Understanding this process of axonal transport is important for studying many neurodegenerative diseases. The study appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/axon-protein-movement.html In 2002, Thomas and Carol Hallinan, of Northeast Philadelphia, lost their son, Peter, 31, to Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma -- a type of brain tumor that affects 190,000 people in the U.S. each year, and is the second most common cause of cancer death in young people ages 15-34. To honor their son's memory, The Hallinans have partnered with the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn's Department of Neurosurgery to build support for the advancement of clinical research for patients who suffer from brain tumors. 'For Pete's Sake' -- an evening of dinner, dancing, and a silent auction -- is a sold-out event with an expected attendance of 250 people. Proceeds will support brain tumor research at Penn. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/brain-tumor-event.html Unlike most of our sensory systems that detect only one type of stimuli, our sense of smell works double duty, detecting both chemical and mechanical stimuli to improve how we smell, according to University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience. This finding, plus the fact that both types of stimuli produce reaction in olfactory nerve cells, which control how our brain perceives what we smell, explains why we sniff to smell something, and why our sense of smell is synchronized with inhaling. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/mechanics-of-smell.html Over 150 third and fourth graders from the Penn Alexander School, the Henry C. Lea School, the Charles R. Drew School, and the Sterck/Delaware School for the Deaf will spend a morning on the Penn campus 'judging' hands-on science activities developed by undergraduate students in Penn's Biological Basis of Behavior program and graduate students in neuroscience. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/kids-judge-science-fair.html For individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), transitioning from adolescence to adulthood presents many challenging issues. In addition to the usual stresses of adolescence, young adults with ASD need help dealing with social skills, sexuality, and, at times, extreme anxiety that may result from tension and confusion. Adults with ASD face communication and social problems that can affect employment, personal relationships, and the other skills needed to live an independent life. These challenges affect not only the individual, but also their parents, siblings, and other friends and family members. As children with ASD transition into adulthood, those who care for them are often left asking, “what now?” http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/autism-conference.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that common inhaled anesthetics increase the number of amyloid plaques in the brains of animals, which might accelerate the onset of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Roderic Eckenhoff, MD, Vice Chair of Research in the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, and his co-authors, report their findings in the March 7th online edition of Neurobiology of Aging. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/anesthesia-alzheimers-plaque.html Physicians initially diagnosed Phil Marfuta, 28, with tension headaches, which seemed reasonable to him since he is a busy graduate student studying physics at Princeton University. However, as the days went on his headaches did not subside, and when a CT scan and an MRI revealed two tumors, Phil underwent emergency surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. One of Phil’s tumors was a grade IV glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), which is the most aggressive form of primary brain tumor. Typically once diagnosed, the median survival time for a patient with a GBM is 12 months. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/brain-tumor-trial.html Approximately 9 million to 15 million people in the U.S. suffer from recurrent bouts of dizziness and 3 million experience symptoms of dizziness nearly every day. According to a paper that appears in the February issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that chronic subjective dizziness (CSD) may have several common causes, including anxiety disorders, migraine, mild traumatic brain injuries, and neurally mediated dysautonomias – disorders in the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary actions. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/chronic-subjective-dizziness.html The University of Pennsylvania has received a $2 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles for a pioneering study on the genomics of Parkinson's disease. The Keck Foundation's program supports basic biomedical research and the development of pioneering new technologies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/keck-grant-parkinsons.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that impaired function and loss of synapses in the hippocampus of a mouse form of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is related to the activation of immune cells called microglia, which cause inflammation. These events precede the formation of tangles -- twisted fibers of tau protein that build up inside nerve cells -- a hallmark of advanced AD. The researchers report their findings in the February 1 issue of Neuron. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/microglia-activation-alzheimers.htm WITH VIDEOS: Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that microtubules – components responsible for shape, movement, and replication within cells – use proteins that act as molecular motors and brakes to organize into their correct structure. If microtubules are not formed properly such basic functions as cell division and transport can go wrong, which may have implications in such disease processes as cancer and dementia. The study, published in the January issue of Cell, is featured on the cover of that issue. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/microtubule-molecular-motor-brake.htm Investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine describe the basis for developing a biological interface that could link a patient's nervous system to a thought-driven artificial limb. Their conceptual framework - which brings together years of spinal-cord injury research - is published in the January issue of Neurosurgery. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/thought-driven-artificial-limb.htm Topics include being sleepy behind the wheel, keeping your New Year's resolutions, winter skin, the risks in shoveling snow, and restless legs syndrome (RLS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/holiday-season-health-experts.htm The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia will host 'The Vulcanization of the Human Mind: Neuroimaging, Decision-Making, and Ethics,' a panel discussion exploring how humans make complex decisions involving risk, reward, danger and right and wrong. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/psychiatry-panel-discussion.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered decreased activity in the frontal lobes, an area of the brain associated with being in control of one's self, in subjects who were 'speaking in tongues' (glossolalia). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct06/glossolalia.htm Three professors at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine were elected yesterday as members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine. The new members bring Penn's total to 58, out of over 1500 worldwide. Overall, 65 new members were named this year. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct06/IOM.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered the major disease protein for two neurodegenerative disorders: a type of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig's disease. A protein called TDP-43 was found to accumulate abnormally in post-mortem brain tissue from individuals diagnosed with either disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct06/TDP43.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that children with autism showed signs of abnormal blood-vessel function and damaging levels of oxidative stress compared to healthy children. The children with autism possessed levels of biochemicals that indicate the presence of constricted blood vessels via the endothelium (the cells that line vessels) with a higher tendency to form clots (through cells called platelets). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug06/autbldvsl.htm Truck drivers who routinely get too little sleep or suffer from sleep apnea show signs of fatigue and impaired performance that can make them a hazard on the road, according to a major new study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug06/drvslp.htm Mary Ann Keenan, MD, Chief of Neuro-Orthopaedics for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, has been named a recipient of the first-annual Ladies' Home Journal Health Breakthrough Awards. The award recognizes leading medical professionals who are making life-saving and life-enhancing discoveries in research, treatment and diagnostics that have significantly helped women and families. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug06/keenanLHJ.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are examining the effectiveness of meditation on early cognitive impairment. Once this new study is completed, the results could help answer lingering questions over whether or not stress-reducing techniques and mind exercises can lessen or even prevent cognitive decline. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul06/medcog.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine estimate that the human retina can transmit visual input at about the same rate as an Ethernet connection, one of the most common local area network systems used today. They present their findings in the July issue of Current Biology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul06/retinput.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that chronic ibuprofen therapy given after brain injury worsens cognitive abilities. These findings - in a preliminary, animal-model study - have important implications for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients who are often prescribed such nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) as ibuprofen for chronic pain. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul06/NSAIDbrain.htm Over the last several months, the labs of Yale Goldman, MD, PhD, Director of the Pennsylvania Muscle Institute at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Erika Holzbaur, PhD, Professor of Physiology, have published a group of papers that, taken together, show proteins that function as molecular motors are surprisingly flexible and agile, able to navigate obstacles within the cell. These observations could lead to better ways to treat motor neuron diseases. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul06/molmotors.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have isolated a new source of adult stem cells that appear to have the potential to differentiate into several cell types. If their approach to growing these cells can be scaled up and proves to be safe and effective in animal and human studies, it could one day provide the tissue needed by an individual for treating a host of disorders, including peripheral nerve disease, Parkinson's disease, and spinal cord injury. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul06/stemfoll.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a new protein required for the circadian response to light in fruit flies. The discovery of this protein - named JET - brings investigators one step closer to understanding the process by which the body's internal clock synchronizes to light. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/JET.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in collaboration with scientists at the City University of New York, have identified a striking dysregulation in neuronal receptor activity in the postmortem brain tissue from patients with schizophrenia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/schzrcptr.htm Members of the media are invited to come see an amazing new PET/CT at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Its powerful advanced 'time-of-flight' technology, pioneered in part at Penn, makes it the first clinical machine of its kind in the world. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/PETCTITC.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a brain region previously known for its role in learning and memory also serves as the location of sleep regulation in fruit flies. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/sleepreg.htm The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) has announced today that they will begin construction on a new proton therapy treatment facility to provide patients in the greater-Philadelphia region and beyond with the most advanced and sophisticated form of cancer treatment available. To be equipped by the Ion Beam Application, S.A. (IBA) company based in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, the proton therapy center will be located adjacent to The Raymond and Ruth Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, a $302 million structure that is now being built to house Penn's outpatient cancer, cardiovascular, diagnostic, and surgical services. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/protonCAM.htm The Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Brain Tumor Society present a one-day seminar designed for pediatric and adult brain tumor patients, survivors, and their caregivers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/BTSsem.htm Media Advisory -- The Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Brain Tumor Society present a one-day seminar designed for pediatric and adult brain tumor patients, survivors, and their caregivers. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/BTSsemMA.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that a protein called Elk-1 interacts with mitochondria, the energy storehouse of a cell, suggesting that this protein - typically active in the nucleus - could play a role in cell death, and mitochondria-related diseases such as neurodegeneration and schizophrenia. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/BTSsem.htm