Tamara Hew-Butler, associate professor of exercise and sports science, wrote a piece about exercise-associated collapse – the mechanical and chemical disruptions to muscle cell membranes which trigger the muscle cells to burst. “I am seeing and hearing of more incidents of skeletal muscle ruptures that are causing harm in other parts of the body. This information is not designed to scare people back onto the couch. The key take-away from highlighting these cases is to remind athletes, coaches and mere mortals that the desired physiological response to a training stimulus requires both a gradual buildup period and period of recovery in between training sessions. Although symptomatic rhabdomyolysis is uncommon, this emergent complication of exercise should be on everyone’s radar since cases are on the rise. We coaches, trainers, scientists, practitioners and others encourage everyone to reap the joys and benefits of regular exercise training. However, we caution against exercising too much too soon. Self- (or coach-) inflicted skeletal muscle cell explosions are fully preventable with adherence to smart, physiologically sound approaches to training.

Kirsten Carlson, associate professor of law and adjunct associate professor of political science, wrote an article for The Conversation on the rules of impeachment. “Unlike a court of law, prior impeachment trials serve as precedent only in the nonlegal, nonbinding sense. The Senate can look to the procedures it has used in past impeachment proceedings, but those procedures do not have to be followed. The Constitution gives very little guidance on how an impeachment trial should proceed. Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 states, “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” After requiring that Senators be “on oath,” that the chief justice preside and that a two-thirds vote is required to convict, the Constitution leaves it to the Senate to make its own rules about how to conduct the trial. So the fight over procedures and precedents may not be over yet, especially since the Senate can change the rules by majority vote whenever it wants.

Susan P. Fino, professor of political science, wrote a piece for The Conversation about the senators’ impeachment oath. “The 100 United States senators who are jurors in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump have taken a special oath in order to take part in that proceeding. As they enter the active phase of the trial on Tuesday, this oath is supposed to govern their behavior. It’s not the first oath that the lawmakers have taken in their Senate careers. Members of Congress, as well as federal judicial officers and members of state legislatures, must swear to “support the Constitution.” But the Constitution does not specify the form of the oath. So the very first Congress crafted an oath of office and – with minor modifications – that is the oath each member of Congress swears when he or she takes her seat in the House or the Senate. There is a second oath that members of the Senate must take when conducting an impeachment trial. The specific text for this oath was developed in 1868 for the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.

Arash Javanbakht, assistant professor of psychiatry, wrote a piece for the Conversation on the vulnerability of veterans, refugees and victims of war crimes to PTSD. “Mental health is often used in political discourse and arguments. Post-traumatic stress disorder was the subject Jan. 8, when Rep. Ilhan Omar (D.-Minn.), herself a Somalian refugee who had spent years in a refugee camp in Kenya, said: “Every time I hear conversations around war, I find myself being stricken with PTSD.” Rep. Jim Banks (R.-Ind.), a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, found these comments “offensive to our nation’s veterans who really do have PTSD.” As an expert in research and treatment of PTSD, and a psychiatrist working with refugees and victims of torture, I hope to provide insight into this illness and its presentations in different populations.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a day to reflect not only on the man, but the movement that he came to represent. That reflection has some people thinking about all of the civil rights icons we’ve lost recently. Judge Damon Keith, Rep. John Conyers, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Aretha Franklin, Toni Morrison, Harris Wofford, and many more. As we move further into this decade we’ll lose more. What does the loss of the Civil Rights generation mean for the fight for equal rights moving forward? “They wanted to change laws, they wanted to improve legislation, they wanted to improve America,” says Ollie Johnson, chair and professor of the Department of African American Studies at Wayne State University. “I think we have unfinished business. And it really pains me to talk about it,” 

Jackson College students wishing to pursue a business management degree from Wayne State University soon can do so without the commute. Starting May 4, business tools and applications and advanced organizational behavior classes from Wayne State’s Mike Ilitch School of Business will be available for enrollment for the summer semester at Jackson College. “We hope to expand our schedule in the future to include additional majors within the Ilitch School,” said Carol Baldwin, WSU’s manager of marketing and communications of educational outreach. “Students also have the option of enrolling in online courses.” The Mike Ilitch School of Business faculty will teach all courses, including Prity Patel, who is available to meet with Jackson College students from Monday to Wednesday and by appointment. “Jackson students can transfer up to 82 credits to Wayne State by following an articulation agreement that is in place between our two institutions,” Baldwin said. WSU Provost Keith Whitfield believes the partnership is equally beneficial for them. “As a public institution, we are thrilled about this new partnership with Jackson College because it will allow us to serve a new group of students that we haven’t previously reached directly,” Whitfield said in a news release. “Most of our partnerships are in the tri-county area, so this is a big and exciting step west for us. We’ve had great conversations with President Phelan and Jackson’s leadership team, and the idea of bringing a four-year business degree to this campus is exciting. We are proud of what we do in Detroit and we believe this partnership will be an asset in Jackson as well.”

Who is in Michigan jails, for how long and why, largely remains unknown following months of investigation. The Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration released its final report this week, leaving many questions. What is known is that even a short stay in jail is destabilizing, said Sheryl Kubiak, dean of Wayne State University’s School of Social Work, and a task force member. “If you had a job, you may lose it, and if you lose your job, then you might lose your housing. These unintended consequences have a big effect, which is why we want to work with the legislature now, while the momentum is still going.” Task force members will now work with the legislature in an effort to have at least some of their recommendations enacted through passage of new laws and/or statues, Kubiak said. “I’m optimistic. I think many of the legislators have had experience in the criminal justice system, as attorneys or in other ways, and I think they understand some of these issues very well,” Kubiak said. “We’ve made a good start here with smart and committed people.”

The fish populations of the Great Lakes have changed dramatically in the years since invasive species first arrived. Bloodsucking sea lampreys have decimated native lake trout, and tiny alewives have feasted on the eggs and young of trout and other native species. But there’s good news too, as researchers roll out solutions to help manage invasive fish populations and maintain the diversity of species. Donna Kashian, SciFri Book Club reader and biology professor at Wayne State University said, “I have so many wonderful memories of the Great Lakes, both as a child whose parents had a cabin near Lake Michigan and as an adult doing research on the lakes. But one in particular stands out. I was doing research on Lake Huron, I don’t even remember what we were looking at on that particular day. It was late in the season, maybe August. We were in the middle of the lake—flat water, clear blue skies—and monarch butterflies were just flying everywhere. We’re in the middle of their migration south. It was so surreal and beautiful. I knew birds use the lake as a flyway in their migration, but I never knew monarchs did.

Michigan’s three research universities presidents, M. Roy Wilson, Wayne State, Mark S. Schlissel, University of Michigan, and Samuel L. Stanley Jr., Michigan State, co-wrote an opinion piece about efforts among the University Research Corridor (URC) institutions to address the opioid crisis. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 2,033 people in Michigan died of overdose deaths involving opioids in 2017, a rate of 21.2 deaths per 100,000 persons, higher than the national rate of 14.6 deaths per 100,000. Michigan now ranks in the top third nationally for drug-related deaths, with over half due to synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl. If Michigan is to reduce those numbers and save lives, it must continue to look for innovative and research-driven ways to take action. That’s why the three major state universities that make up Michigan’s URC have won millions of dollars in competitive federal funds and other grants to train more physicians and counselors statewide to become addiction medicine specialists who can treat patients. Researchers at the three universities also are investigating new ways to keep opioid users who have kicked the habit from taking up the drug again; addressing opioid addiction in jails; finding better ways to treat chronic back pain to lessen reliance on opioids; working with the administration of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to develop a medical provider toolkit to help doctors follow safer opioid prescribing practices; and launching a free online course for health and social services professionals and graduate students examining ways to deal with the opioid epidemic through prevention, intervention, education and policy. As medical doctors and researchers, this is a cause we must win. We are pledging our three URC universities to the fight. 

Wayne State is now open for business in Jackson. Today people packed into Jackson College to learn about a new partnership between the two schools. The partnership allows students at Jackson College to obtain a degree in Business from Wayne State University without leaving Jackson. The president of Jackson College says this will help change the lives of young people across the Jackson area, and give students new opportunities while keeping tuition costs low. Students will start at Jackson College by taking some of the basic courses then transition in Wayne State classes. Advisers will work with students to make sure they are on the right track, and to make the transition as smooth as possible. “We try not to let students fall between the cracks. Our goal is to make sure that we get students across the finish line. Having a great start at Jackson College, and then being able to finish at Wayne State University is just a perfect pairing,” said Provost, and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Wayne State University, Keith Whitfield.

Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson today announced the appointment of Mark Schweitzer, M.D., as dean of the university’s School of Medicine and vice president of Health Affairs for the university. Schweitzer, a preeminent radiologist and chair of the Department of Radiology at the Stony Brook University School of Medicine in New York, will join the university and School of Medicine on April 27. “We conducted in-depth interviews with a number of outstanding candidates during a yearlong national search, and Schweitzer’s experience, enthusiasm and vision made him a perfect fit for Wayne State University,” Wilson said. “Our faculty, our students, and the people of Detroit and the surrounding region will see great advances with Schweitzer’s leadership and energy. He will quickly become a leading contributor to our great city’s ongoing renaissance.” In addition to his leadership role in the School of Medicine, as vice president of Health Affairs, Schweitzer will work with the deans of WSU’s College of Nursing and the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences on clinical training issues. In this role, he will develop avenues to strengthen collaboration between the three schools to advance interprofessional, team-based approaches to healthcare. “I attended inner-city public universities during my undergraduate and medical school training, and I served at public safety net hospitals,” Schweitzer said. “My passion throughout my career has been education at all levels. The DNA of Wayne State University and the city of Detroit are intertwined, and the university’s national reputation is illustrious. I’m very much looking forward to serving the people of greater Detroit and Michigan.” An outstanding medical scholar and educator, Schweitzer is a talented administrator who has served in many hospital and medical practice roles, including vice chair for clinical practice and chair of the Information Management Group for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Extensively published and a lecturer for Harvard University Medical School, he holds a number of medical patents. “The Board of Governors is extremely pleased to be hiring someone the caliber of Dr. Mark Schweitzer to assume what is a critically important leadership position,” said Marilyn Kelly, chair of the board. “Wayne State’s health-related education and community programs are a vital part of the university’s identity and mission, and we think that Mark is the right person to lead us into the future.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) fled civil war in Somalia when she was 8 years old, then spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya. As a result, she says, she has post-traumatic stress disorder as an adult. But when she mentioned the condition publicly this week in the context of conflict between the U.S. and Iran, she got pushback from a Republican member of Congress. But psychology experts as well as some veterans say Rep. Jim Banks’s remarks are based on a misconception about PTSD, a mental health condition that can cause flashbacks, insomnia, nightmares, and other distressing symptoms. Though it was long associated with soldiers coming home from war, PTSD is also common among children and other civilians who live through war, as well as people who experience sexual assault and other forms of violence. Syrian refugees living in the United States, for example, have rates of PTSD comparable with those among Vietnam veterans, Arash Javanbakht, a psychiatrist and trauma specialist who has worked with refugees, told Vox. In addition to nightmares and flashbacks, the disorder can also cause people to avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma, Javanbakht said. People with PTSD also often develop depression as well. PTSD is unfortunately common — around 8 percent of the US population lives with the disorder, Javanbakht said. Rates are much higher among combat veterans, with around 30 percent of soldiers who served in Vietnam developing the condition over the course of their lives. They are also very high among refugees, who “are exposed to a lot of trauma and stress in a cumulative way,” he explained.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have taken a turn, with retaliation on military bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops and a statement from President Trump about the conflict. Trump says there were no U.S. casualties in the attacks, and announced a new round of sanctions on Iran. He also called on NATO to become more involved “in the Middle East process.” The president struck a tone that suggested Iran is standing down after its retaliation on Tuesday night. But this is just another development in the long-running story of the U.S. relationship with Iran — tracing back to the birth of the Islamic Republic. Saeed Khan, Wayne State University Near and Middle East expert, discussed what these events mean in this context. 

Wayne State University has launched a teaching residency project for the Detroit and Dearborn public school districts that aims to address the state's shortage of STEM teachers and support workforce development. The $2.5 million program, Metro Detroit Teaching Residency for Urban Excellence (TRUE) Project, will seek recent college graduates and mid-career professionals with STEM expertise in the metro Detroit region, especially those in the automotive and technology industries who may be impacted by plant closures. Program officials said the project will prepare 36 professionals as K-12 STEM teachers over an 18-month period, during which they will complete a master’s degree and receive their teaching certification, followed by a two-year induction period of mentoring and professional development. Keith Whitfield, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs and professor at Wayne State University, said he applauds the project’s innovative approach toward building pillars of sustainability in the region. “Having highly qualified science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educators in the classroom is vital to the development of our nation’s and region’s workforce," Whitfield said. "Through our investment in the Metro Detroit TRUE Project, coupled with other efforts at the university, it is our aim to provide students in Detroit Public Schools Community District and Dearborn Public Schools with the STEM educators and experiences that spark learners’ curiosity to explore STEM related concepts that they can apply in the classroom, community and the world of work so they can thrive in the new knowledge economy.” 

We’re getting a clearer picture of what’s causing the green ooze toxic contamination that is flowing from the closed Electro-Plating Services site in Madison Heights and onto I-696. State and federal officials have said rainwater and groundwater flowing through a vat in the basement caused Hexavalent Chromium to leak out. Bill Shuster takes it a step further telling 7 Action News, “This water is picking up the contaminants that are still in the soil there.” Shuster is the Chair of the Wayne State University Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. The EPA spent $1.4 million to do a massive cleanup inside the facility after the state shut it down in 2016. How much contamination was left behind? Shuster speculated, “We would have to look at the data and analyze what’s in the affluent. Well, the gut instinct there was quite a bit left in there.” Shuster says the green ooze is colored by a marker added to the cancer causing Hexavalent Chromium. And he says options to prevent trouble after the cleanup included excavating the vat, making sure it is not coming in contact with groundwater and he says, “I probably would have capped it, ensured that water wouldn’t be getting in from the top. Into the pit. I can’t criticize EPA or MEDQ EGLE but if I was in charge, these are the things I would be looking at.”

The Wayne State University's Word Warriors are parsing through the mullock to help you become more luculent this new year. The university's Word Warriors series aims to bring back words that have fallen out of style to help us commoners embellish our everyday vocabulary. “Too often we limit ourselves to words that are momentarily popular or broadly applicable, and so rob ourselves of English’s inherent beauty and agility,” the group’s website states. “Alarmed by this tendency, the Word Warriors of Wayne State University propose to help rejuvenate the language we love by advocating for words of substance that see far too little use.” “Each year, I’m curious to see how many old words — which are often new to me — will be recommended to us by our Word Warriors around the globe,” said Chris Williams, head of the Word Warriors program. “Once again, they did not disappoint. The English language is so versatile and unique, and we’ve ended up with a list of 10 great words.” The program, now in its 11th year, relies on submissions from the public and group administrators. Weekly entries can be found at wordwarriors.wayne.edu and on Facebook. 

For Michiganders hoping to expand their vocabularies in 2020, Wayne State University has some suggestions. The Oxford English Dictionary estimates there are about 170 thousand words in current use in the English language. But there are more than a million words in the language overall. Wayne State’s Word Warriors have come up with a list of 10 words to reclaim from the linguistic cellar. The list is composed of submissions from both WSU administrators and from people around the world. Though you may wish they left the cellar door closed. For example, you may struggle to add cachinnate to a casual conversation. Cachinnate means to ‘to laugh loudly.’ Somnambulant describes a person who resembles a sleepwalker, which is a common sight on a Monday morning in any office. You might consider this list to be rubbish (or mullock) but understand, the reason behind the list is simply to show the versatility of the English language. To see all the words WSU administrators hope to bring back from the brink of obsolescence in years past, go to wordwarriors.wayne.edu.

The world we’re living in today is faster and more connected than ever before. An estimated 4.1 billion people worldwide use the internet, and that number is rapidly growing. No aspect of our lives and our society is untouched by connectivity. In 2018, 95 percent of Americans spent an average 5 hours per week shopping online; last year 81 percent of mobile phone users in the U.S. accessed the internet via their phones. Fulfilling the potential of connected technology requires public officials to consider and address complex matters such as equity, security, privacy, governance and investment. Comcast Business partnered with Crain’s Content Studio to bring together Michigan technology executives and leaders from Michigan’s state, county and local governments for a discussion of diverse communities’ experiences, best practices and possibilities related to smart technology-enabled infrastructure and public services. Rural communities face unique challenges when it comes to implementing Smart City technology. Across Michigan, an estimated 381,000 households lack access to broadband internet; 368,000 of those households are in rural areas. Ned Staebler, president and CEO of TechTown and vice president for economic development at Wayne State University, points out that similar issues present challenges in urban communities. “We’ve found that urban and rural problems often aren’t very different. They may differ in scale, maybe in density issues, but they’re very similar,” said Staebler, who helped launch the Detroit Urban Solutions program between TechTown, Wayne State University and NextEnergy. That initiative has united practitioners to innovate solutions to a broad range of urban issues using IoT technology. “We really feel that what smart cities are about is leveraging technology to find solutions to citizens’ problems,” he added. Staebler pointed out that disenfranchised populations in both urban and rural communities may simply not know the importance of and opportunities inherent in robust connectivity. “They don’t think it’s for them. They don’t know why this would be beneficial. They don’t know why they need it,” said Staebler. “We need to bring them in and include them in this economy. If we’re designing new solutions to help folks in our communities, we also have to make sure that they know it exists, what the benefits are and how to access them, and that they have the devices and connectedness to do it.”

If you need Medicaid in Michigan, you’ll have to work…or get a waiver. New regulations pushed through by the State’s Republican Legislature and signed by then-governor Rick Snyder in 2018 went into effect on Jan. 1. The Trump administration is also pushing work requirements for those who receive federal food assistance and has tightened work requirements for those receiving food stamps or SNAP benefits. The move will kick 688,000 underprivileged people out of the program. Judith Wineman is a full-time faculty member in the Wayne State School of Social Work and the director of CHAMPS. The program helps young adults who have aged out of the foster care and the juvenile justice system get to – and stay in college. She says work requirements are a moral crisis. Marla Garmo is a Campus Coach for Wayne State’s CHAMPS program. “We have to think about what it really says about us as a country that we will allow people to go hungry, to lose out on their food stamps benefits and enforce a work requirement that really can be unattainable for some individuals.” Garmo says the system is set up to make the application process more difficult. “People have to apply online instead of a paper application and they might not have access to a computer, or don’t know how to use a computer. There’s a lot of barriers. So once you’ve been deemed eligible and given these benefits, now you’re being told there are additional requirements. None of that gets to why people can’t find a job.” These requirements often disproportionately affect underprivileged communities. “Poor people, immigrants, people that don’t speak the language, elderly people can’t advocate for themselves,” says Wineman. “To me, it’s a political smokescreen to say, ‘We’re doing this great thing by saving all this money by forcing people to work.’ To me and other social workers, that is not the answer.”

M. Roy Wilson, M.D., is entering his seventh year as president of Wayne State University with a portfolio of accomplishments. Wilson, an ophthalmologist and researcher who has published papers on glaucoma and blindness in populations from the Caribbean to West Africa, previously has served as deputy director for strategic scientific planning and program coordination at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of National Institutes of Health. He also was dean of  the medical school at Creighton University in Omaha. Of all his achievements during his tenure, Wilson has said he is most proud of how Wayne State has increased graduation rates. Since he took office, Wayne State has nearly doubled its graduation rate to 47 percent from 26 percent. Wilson has said the school has more work to do to reach its goal of a 50 percent graduation rate before 2021. In 2020, Wayne State expects to complete several construction projects , including the STEM Innovation Learning Center, which will bring all of WSU’s science, technology, engineering and math programs into one building. He also has pointed to moving the historic McKenzie house on Cass Avenue to the other side of the block on 2nd Avenue, allowing the expansion of the Hilberry Theater, which will allow the complex to house a new jazz center. Last year, Wayne State established a partnership with the Detroit Pistons that will allow for the construction of a new $25 million arena for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. The arena also will serve as the home of the Piston’s G League team. Wilson also oversaw a turnaround of the Wayne State University School of Medicine.