Heart and vascular disease is the leading cause of disability and death of women in the United States. The majority of heart diseases in women include coronary artery disease and heart attack, heart failure, valve disease, and arrhythmia -- some of which can lead to sudden death. Peripheral vascular diseases (sometimes called PAD--peripheral artery disease) can lead to debilitating stroke or amputation. Congenital heart diseases, or cardiac conditions present at birth, are less common but equally important and require lifelong care. (more)
Four years ago, a few key people at Penn State had a vision to bring together students and alumni for a gala evening. That vision turned into the first Penn State President's Concert in 2007, featuring several of the School of Music's top performing ensembles in a special performance at Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall. Hosted by President Graham B. Spanier and sponsored jointly by the Alumni Association and the School of Music, the President's Concert was such a hit that it became an annual event. This year's President's Concert will feature the Penn State Philharmonic performing in America's most prestigious concert hall, New York City's Carnegie Hall, at 8 p.m. March 24. As with the previous concerts, there will be a pre-concert reception for alumni and friends. "It's definitely going to be something completely beyond anything else I've ever done as a musician," said percussionist and music education freshman Laura Brown. (more)
Nearly everyone has experienced deja vu, a brief sensation of having experienced a new situation or feeling in the past. Based upon recent study of epilepsy patients, researchers believe that deja vu originates in the temporal and frontal lobes, according to Claire Flaherty-Craig, a neuropsychologist at Hershey Medical Center and assistant professor with the College of Medicine. "Statistically it occurs more in late adolescence and frequency of episodes declines with age," she said. (more)
Anyone struggling with Web site technology issues, such as how to create a Web site, how to promote a Web site and how to ensure a Web site's security, may want to consider the PennTAP Technology Series being offered at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, in March. (more)
Penn State Fayette's CEO Conversations series will begin on Feb. 17 with a talk by William M. Lambert, president and CEO of Mine Safety Appliances Company. This free event is open to the public and will be held in the Maggie Hardy Magerko Auditorium in Penn State Fayette's Community Center, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. (more)
A workshop on sustainability will be presented from 1 to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 19, in room 51 of the Conference Center at Penn State New Kensington as part of the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence's series of events on teaching sustainability across the curriculum. (more)
Squeezing into a tight pair of pants can be a painful experience, but a new type of "pants" recommended for certain heart patients actually squeezes back and provides pain relief. Called enhanced external counter pulsation (EECP(r)), the outpatient therapy uses three sets of blood pressure-like cuffs wrapped around the legs and buttocks that inflate and deflate with the patient's heartbeat. The squeezing action increases blood flow and oxygen to the heart and other organs, often reducing or even eliminating symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath and fatigue. (more)
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus has partnered with the Uniontown Herald-Standard to present a series of community forums titled "CSI: Fayette County," that will examine topics related to local crime rates, drug culture and law enforcement. The first forum will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 1, Penn State Fayette's Corporate Training Center in the Eberly Building. (more)
Picture a dinosaur. Huge, menacing creatures, they ruled the Earth for nearly 200 million years, striking fear with every ground-shaking stride. Yet these great beasts were no match for a 6-mile wide meteor that struck near modern-day Mexico 65 million years ago, incinerating everything in its path. This catastrophic impact -- called the Cretaceous-Tertiary or K/T extinction event -- spelled doom for the dinosaurs and many other species. Some animals, however, including many small mammals, managed to survive. How did they do it? (more)
Technological advances in medicine have helped increase someone's chance of surviving cancer, recovering from a traumatic injury, or beating the odds of a disease that was once considered untreatable. But there are no advances that can substitute for the need of blood. The three major components of blood--red cells, platelets, and plasma--play a huge role in many patients' treatments and procedures. Across the nation, 5 million people in the United States receive life-saving blood transfusions on an annual basis, and only 5 percent of the eligible population donates. (more)
