Acute flaccid myelitis is a rare but serious condition affecting the nervous system causing the muscles and reflexes in the body to become weak. While the condition or clinical manifestations of AFM are not new, the outbreak of cases that have been reported to the Center for Disease Control Prevention since 2014, when the agency began its surveillance for the condition, are new. "It's a clinical phenomenon that could be caused by a variety of causes," said Li, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Neurology and Scientific Director of Translational Neuroscience Initiative at Wayne State University. Li was among the doctors in Michigan who helped solve the mysteries surrounding West Nile, during its earliest outbreak in New York City. It was his research that produced scientific evidence showing that West Nile patients had damage to the spinal cord. "

January is National Blood Donor Month: a time to raise awareness on the importance of donating blood. According to Dr. Martin Bluth, professor of pathology with Wayne State University, blood is used every two seconds in the U.S., which is why there's a constant need. "The different kinds of products that are required for blood utilization -- whether it's red cells, or plasma, or platelets -- are in constant demand simply because there's a shelf life to them." he told WWJ's Deanna Lites.

As a psychiatrist specialized in anxiety and trauma, I often tell my patients and students that to understand how fear works in us, we have to see it in the context where it evolved. Ten thousand years ago, if another human frowned at us, chances were high one of us would be dead in a couple minutes. In the tribal life of our ancestors, if other tribe members did not like you, you would be dead, or exiled and dead.

Some of the same blood markers that spike following a heart attack also skyrocket in amateur long-distance runners, especially those who do a full marathon, researchers say. The small study in Spain tested non-professional runners before and after 10K, half-marathon and full-marathon races and found that a protein called troponin, which indicates damage to the heart muscle, surges to many times its normal level after a full marathon. It's not clear if this represents long-term damage, however, the study team writes in the journal Circulation. While deaths in long distance races are relatively rare, we shouldn't forget that the runner who sparked the marathon competitions, the Greek herald, Pheidippides, who in 490 BC ran a distance of about 26 miles from Marathon to Athens with the news of the victory his people had over the Persians died shortly after delivering that news, said Dr. James Glazier, a cardiologist at Detroit Medical Center and a clinical professor of medicine at Wayne State University, who wasn't involved in the study. The increase in troponin levels "suggests that marathons put quite a strain on the heart," Glazier said. "Other studies that looked at MRIs of the hearts of runners showed that they can become very enlarged after a race and we worry that with competitive running you might get some scarring of the heart and then maybe some rhythm problems."

Sonia Brown — known to many as "Auntie Na" — works with the Kresge Foundation and Wayne State University. She has created a health clinic, food pantry, clothing distribution center, and tutoring center called "Auntie Na's House." The “village,” as Brown refers to it, is on Yellowstone Street on Detroit's west side. “Our programs are community-based. It started off with just trying to help some of the young mothers in the community with day-to-day living and responsibilities: clothes and food," Brown said. Now, the program helps in a variety of ways including babysitting children, providing educational opportunities, and holding meet and greets for neighbors.

Arash Javanbakht, assistant professor of psychiatry at Wayne State University, wrote an article for The Conversation on the social consequences of mass gun violence.  “I am a trauma and anxiety researcher and clinician psychiatrist, and I know that the effects of such violence are far-reaching. While the immediate survivors are most affected, the rest of society suffers, too.”

Residents of Wayne County are the unhealthiest of Michigan's 83 counties, according to a ranking by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Bridging that disparity was the target of a Wednesday summit at Wayne State University. Participants suggested ways to promote healthy eating, behaviors and environments. But the focus was on disparities affecting Detroit’s population, including asthma, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The university brought together leaders of corporations, health care systems,  community organizations, foundations, policymakers and academics.

The first 1,000 days of life, from conception until the age of two, help build a strong foundation for a child’s growth and development. The good news is that the simple choices moms-to-be make every day can have a big impact on their child. In fact, a newly developed scanning technique allowed a team of researchers from Wayne State University to examine the neural activity of 47 fetuses, between 30 and 37 weeks of gestation. 

Turning a university research project into a for-profit company typically takes a veteran of the startup ecosystem, someone familiar with defining market opportunity and figuring out how to find customers in that market and make them pay for what you have. That was true for Cardiosound LLC, which formally launched in August. The company grew from efforts by Gaurav Kapur, a physician and associate professor of pediatrics at Wayne State, to find a better way to measure blood pressure, particularly in infants, where current methods are notoriously inaccurate. Kapur reached out to some colleagues at WSU — Sean Wu, a professor of mechanical engineering; Yong Xu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering; and William Lyman, a professor of pediatrics.

Brianna Sohl, 23, is among a group of Wayne State University Medical School students involved with furthering health care for LBGT patients. Sohl volunteers at the Detroit-based Corktown Health Center, the first clinic of its kind in Metro Detroit to offer a safe, affirming space for people in the lesbian, bisexual, gay, transsexual community. “Many patients who self-identify as members of this community have not found physicians or clinics where they feel comfortable,” says Laytona Riddle-Jones, M.D., the medical director at Corktown and an assistant professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at Wayne State. 

In health care, big data is being used to predict epidemics, improve care, prevent unnecessary diseases and deaths, motivate patient fitness and lower costs. As assistant vice president of Translational Science and Clinical Research Innovation at Wayne State University and associate chair of Clinical Research for WSU’s Department of Emergency Medicine, Phillip Levy and his team develop, design and conduct studies on the determinants of health and diseases in the Detroit area based on massive sets of data.

Wayne State University has always been a cornerstone of Detroit’s giving spirit, and since appointing Dr. M. Roy Wilson as president in 2013, the university has revved up its efforts to rehabilitate the urban community that surrounds it. Wilson brings years of experience in both university and health care administration. In 2016, President Wilson introduced Wayne Med-Direct, a program that guarantees tuition-free, direct admission to Wayne State School of Medicine to 10 talented high school students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds across the city.  

Selfies have become a matter of life and death. New research identified 259 other deaths worldwide in the past six years related to selfies, of which more than a million are taken a day. In addition to dangerous selfie poses, experts also warn that posting selfies also may inadvertently expose people to other dangers: identity theft, cyber bullying and, for the selfies in bad taste, potential disqualification from school and work opportunities. Dr. David Rosenberg, the chair of the Wayne State University psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, said this technology certainly can be "a good servant" by enhancing quality of life, but it also tends to be a "cruel and crippling master." Still, not all news about selfies is bad, and the new selfie study offered a potential solution.

If you have trouble falling asleep at night, you may be one of the 30 percent of adults who suffers from insomnia. According to James A. Rowley, a professor of internal medicine at Wayne State University, causes include stress at home and/or work, or a stressful life event such as the death of a loved one, an upcoming exam, or a big move. Other common reasons include an irregular sleep/wake pattern, excessive alcohol use, and drinking caffeinated beverages or smoking before bed.

A Chesterfield Township senior living community is welcoming medical students from Wayne State University as part of a pilot program aimed at offering educational opportunities for both residents and physicians in training. The Village of East Harbor is one of four Presbyterian Villages of Michigan sites selected to take part in the program. Physicians in training from the Wayne State University School of Medicine are invited to the facilities for an overnight stay to learn about the challenges of aging and experience the qualities exhibited by elderly patients. Students provide educational opportunities on fall prevention, strength and balance exercises, properly managing medications, regular vision checks and how to make their living environments safer.

Wayne State University announced this week that its program, the Michigan Area Health Education Center , has received $1.1 million from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

"This is a part of Wayne State Medical School's social mission," said Dr. Jennifer Mendez, the medical school's director of co-curricular programs and assistant professor of internal medicine. "It is a way for our students to apply their classroom knowledge to real-life situations." The Wayne State students also formed an organization to support Auntie Na's this year after being inspired during volunteer efforts during the last school year. It includes about 20 members.

Researchers from Wayne State University’s School of Medicine say some non-traditional forms of treatment are helping lessen the mental impact of the Syrian civil war on refugees.

Wayne State University researchers are working with a refugee resettlement agency on efforts that aim to ease anxiety, depression and stress among Syrian refugees in the Detroit area. The Wayne State School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences has developed the project with Samaritas, the state's largest resettlement organization. The program includes a dance class for children, art therapy for teenagers and yoga for women. Organizers say incorporating art, movement and mindfulness seeks to help refugees deal with emotions and trauma. They cite the importance of such programs in a state that has taken in the second-highest number of Syrian refugees coming to the U.S.

Research conducted at the Wayne State University School of Medicine has helped confirm the effectiveness of a blood biomarker that can indicate if patients with a head injury can avoid a costly CT scan because the blood test results indicate no traumatic brain injury (TBI). The findings, published online in The Lancet Neurology on July 24, validated the use of a diagnostic blood test developed by Banyan Biomarkers Inc. to rule out the need for a head CT scan in patients 18 years and older with suspected TBI.