Researchers at Penn State found negative mood is associated with higher levels of inflammation, inspiring future research to investigate how daily interventions can improve mood.

Penn State student Alexis Basciano is conducting research to better understand how individuals with autism interpret emotions using music. Her inspiration behind the project is her brother, who is autistic, and her own love and appreciation of music.

Researchers at Penn State, the University of Michigan, and UCLA studied Medicare’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) disproportionately penalizes safety net hospitals, leading to concerns that the program’s omission of patient social complexity may aggravate healthcare disparities by penalizing financially-challenged hospitals and reducing their resources to improve care. The researchers found that although adding patient functional and social factors improves the program’s ability to distinguish patients who are or are not readmitted, it does so only slightly.