Natural Science

PHILADELPHIA — Periodontitis, a form of chronic gum disease that affects nearly half of the U.S. adult population, results when the bacterial community in the mouth becomes unbalanced, leading to inflammation and eventually bone loss. In its most severe form, which affects 8.5 percent of U.S. adults, periodontitis can impact systemic health.

PHILADELPHIA – Five faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  Two are from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, two are from its School of Arts and Sciences and one has appointments in both schools.

PHILADELPHIA — One of the most promising innovations of nanotechnology has been the ability to perform rapid nanofabrication using nanometer-scale tips.  Heating such tips can dramatically increase fabrication speeds, but high speed and high temperature have been known to blunt their atomically sharp points.

PHILADELPHIA — El Yunque rock is a majestic, anvil-shaped promontory that has been an icon of the island of Puerto Rico since pre-Columbian times. The barren rock, standing 3,412 feet high, protrudes above primary old growth forest and is enshrouded in clouds, swept constantly by the trade winds and frequently stricken by hurricanes. The rock receives an average of three rain showers a day and more than 14 feet of rain every year. Given Puerto Rico’s warm and dynamic tropical climate, El Yunque should be covered with vegetation and eroding rapidly.

PHILADELPHIA — Passing one’s genes on to the next generation is a mark of evolutionary success. So it makes sense that the body would work to ensure that the genes the next generation inherits are exact replicas of the originals.

Cindy Nicoletti, a 2011 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, is one of those lucky people who has known since childhood what she wanted to do with her life.

“I always wanted to be a teacher,” she says. “That was my main focus, ever since second grade.”

PHILADELPHIA — When a virus such as influenza invades our bodies, interferon proteins are among the first immune molecules produced to fight off the attack. Interferon can also play a role in suppressing tumor growth and the effects of autoimmune diseases, and doctors may use an artificial form of interferon to treat patients with certain cancers or multiple sclerosis. But even this approach sometimes fails when patients’ bodies reject the foreign interferon or growing resistant to its effects.