Did T.O. Attempt Suicide?
(Published 9-27-06, CBS3) Dr. Paul Kolecki, of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Emergency medicine Department, says
it was unlikely there was a drug reaction between the Vicodin and natural supplement Dallas Cowboys football player Terrell
Owens took in and ade him collapse, in what was first believed to be a suicide attempt. Later, the suicide report proved to
be false, authorities said.
Department of Emergency Medicine
Media Coverage:
CBS3
6ABC
Birds Breast Cancer Campaign a Worthy Effort
(Published 9-25-06, Philadelphia Daily News) It was a sobering probability equation.
"There are 16 women in this room" Dr. Richard Pestell of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson told a group of reporters vesterday
at the NovaCare Complex. "And one in eight will get breast cancer, so two women in this room will get breast cancer before
they are 85."
CancerCARE at Jefferson
Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Inquirer
Comcast Sportsnet
phillyburbs.com
9-11 Health Effects Long Lasting
(Published 9-11-06, 6ABC) No matter where you were 5 years ago, chances are your health and well-being have been affected
in some way by the 9/11 tragedy. The prime impact, of course, has been on grieving families and on the rescuers and recovery
workers.
At Jefferson University Hospital, emergency preparedness chief Ed Jasper, M.D., 11, and other attacks go into the planning
for the "what if..."
Dr. Edward Jasper/Jefferson University Hospital: "London, Madrid, India, the train attacks. We're always looking at the responses
- what worked, what kind of didn't."
Medical students and staffers are learning more on how to recognize anthrax, and other potential bioterror agents.
Department of Emergency Medicine
Center for Bioterrorism and Emergency Preparedness
Media Coverage:
6ABC
Ugandan girl needs help to finish mending
(Published 9-11-06, Philadelphia Inquirer) Jennifer Anyayo has one more round to go. Then, if the planets are in alignment
or God is watching - or if bad men just choose to stop fighting - Jennifer will go home to a land at peace.
That would be a first for the 15-year-old victim of war. Jennifer suffered serious burns to her face, chest and arm that received
little medical attention for years. Folks who read her story wanted to help. In December, she arrived in the United States
to live, mainly, in Philadelphia and undergo surgery. Let me first update you on the Jennifer Anyayo Fund to which readers
already have contributed so generously. Your donations have paid for living expenses, including clothing and food. The money
has bought some medications, though James Plumb and medical students at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital raised money
to pay for most prescriptions.
We also need to reserve as much as $15,000 to buy a high-quality prosthetic to cover Jennifer's left hand, now only a bent
stump that ends at her metacarpals. A. Lee Osterman, a top Philadelphia hand surgeon, has generously donated his services,
as has Jefferson Health System's Methodist Hospital, to straighten her hand so it can be fitted with the prosthetic.
Department of Orthopedic Surgery
Philadelphia Hand Center
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Jefferson Medical College
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
The nose knows
(Published 9-11-06, Philadelphia Inquirer) For the millions of Americans who take drugs to treat mental illness, about the
only way psychiatrists can tell whether the medications are working is through observation and asking patients how they feel.
And even when doctors do find the right drugs, they can't explain exactly why the meds are effective. It's the glaring void
at the heart of mental health treatment. No one, from the scientists developing drugs to those who prescribe them, is able
to examine the diseased tissue: the cells of the human brain. Enter Nancy Rawson, a cell biologist at Monell Chemical Senses
Center in Philadelphia. She does it through the nose.
Working with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson University, Rawson takes advantage of a scientific
curiosity: The sensory cells in the nose, unlike those elsewhere in the body, are very similar to neurons in the brain, Rawson
says. And they can be easily plucked out for study, a few hundred at a time, because they grow back. Removing a clump of neurons
from the nose is a delicate business, but in the hands of Edmund Pribitkin, it's swift and painless.
The otolaryngology professor at Jefferson has done hundreds of the biopsies.
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
