Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour wrote about the Perinatology Research Branch (PRB) of the National Institutes of Health, which is housed on the campus of WSU. The PRB's mission is to employ the best of science to improve infant mortality. Last year, results of a worldwide PRB-led study were described as the most significant advance in combating prematurity in decades. The study found that a daily dose of self-applied progesterone gel reduced the risk of preterm delivery in women with a short cervix by 45 percent. The study also showed the use of progesterone reduced the rate of respiratory distress syndrome in newborns by 61 percent. This is medicine that can be implemented quickly and inexpensively to change dramatically the fate of women and their babies around the world. This spring, PRB researchers demonstrated that a nanotechnology-based drug treatment in newborn rabbits with cerebral palsy provided dramatic improvement of movement disorders and the inflammatory process of the brain that causes many cases of cerebral palsy. The findings strongly suggest that there may be an opportunity immediately after birth for drug treatment that could minimize the disorder. "Universities do many things, and the effects reach far beyond the labs and campuses. We teach students; they improve the world. We make discoveries; new knowledge improves people's lives. And sometimes, with great science and great care, we save lives."

The 313 Project Scholarship Committee recently presented three Detroit high school students with the Dean Michele R. Miller 2012 Scholarship. Aisa Villarosa Berg, director of the nonprofit founded by three Wayne Law school alumni, made the announcement.

Researchers at Wayne State University's School of Medicine have shown that reduced blood flow from the heart leads to loss of gray matter in the brain. This novel work, led by Dr. Pratik Bhattacharya, assistant professor of neurology and the stroke quality officer of the Detroit Medical Center, was recently published in the Journal of Neurological Sciences. "We showed that low left ventricular ejection fraction may lead to cerebral grey matter injury," Bhattacharya said. Using fully automated software known as Siena, Bhattacharya observed that the lower the cardiac ejection fraction, the lower the gray matter volume. This relationship was not observed for the cerebral white matter. The discovery suggests the unique sensitivity of the cerebral gray matter to possible chronic hypoxic injury in patients with poor cardiac outflow. Further studies are needed to examine how to optimize strategies to treat cardiac failure, reduce or prevent further cortical injury.

A Wayne State University researcher has developed technology that opens new possibilities for health care and medical applications of electronic devices. Yong Xu, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering, has developed a simple technology compatible with silicon-on-insulator complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor processes for making flexible electronics. "A Silicon-On-Insulator Complementary-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Compatible Flexible Electronics Technology," published recently in Applied Physics Letters, describes the project, which was part of a National Science Foundation effort. Flexible electronics have attracted a lot of attention for their enormous potential in many important applications, such as wearable health monitoring devices and medical implants. While a number of approaches to making flexible sensors or electronics have been developed over the last two decades, Xu said those technologies cannot take full advantage of mainstream CMOS processes. "The ultimate goal is to develop flexible and stretchable systems integrated with electronics, sensors, microfluidics, and power sources, which will have a profound impact on personalized medicine, telemedicine and health care delivery," Xu said.

Service to people with disabilities - including limitations that are mild to moderate and therefore not covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act - is the goal of Project ALFA (Accessible Libraries for All), a pilot LIS project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Project ALFA is teaching 30 MLIS candidates at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and Wayne State University about the needs of people who are "extralegally ably challenged", explains Alabama-based principal investigator Laurie Bonnici, giving as an example "someone with peripheral arterial disease, who may have a hard time using a touchscreen device." Bonnici and Stephanie Maatta Smith, her ALFA counterpart at Wayne State, have created an LIS track comprised of two electives as well as field trips during which students use materials from a sensory-perception alteration kit to simulate the experience of impaired vision, hearing, and mobility.

Some Detroit community activists say they're concerned that there won't be proper checks in place to report and investigate alleged abuse by county and state law enforcement officers who have been brought in to help local police fight violent crime. State police troopers and Wayne County sheriff's deputies have increased patrols as a short-staffed Detroit Police Department also deals with $75 million in budget cuts. Two state police squads began working last month in Detroit, while sheriff's deputies started patrolling streets inside the city in June, The Detroit News reported Tuesday. Officials with the state police, county sheriff's department and Wayne State University campus police have been invited to a Sept. 13 community meeting by the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners.

Sopuruchi (Victor) Chukwueke grew up as an outcast in the village of Ovim in southeastern Nigeria. Tumors that distorted one side of his face wouldn't stop growing, and a medicine man said he should be taken away and drowned. In 2001, when he was 15, his parents took him to an orphanage and abandoned him. He was rescued by a missionary nun, who arranged for medical care in the U.S. Eleven years and seven operations later, doctors have removed the benign growths caused by the genetic disease neurofibromatosis and have performed reconstructive surgery. In that time, Chukwueke, who lost his right eye to the tumors, has earned a high school equivalency diploma, achieved a 3.82 grade-point average as a biochemistry and chemical biology major at Wayne State University and won acceptance to the University of Toledo's medical school in Ohio. The only hope Chukwueke has of achieving his goal is enactment of legislation sponsored by U.S. Senator Carl Levin that applies solely to him and would give him permanent U.S. residency. The bill would grant permanent residency to Chukwueke as long as he applies for it within two years of the bill becoming law. Christopher Harris, an administrator in the pathology department at Wayne State's medical school, worked with Levin's office to arrange for Chukwueke's mother, Mary, to travel to Detroit in May 2011 to see her son for the first time in a decade and watch him address his graduating class at commencement.

Despite legal and political obstacles, a group of Grosse Pointe Shores residents, led by the mayor pro tem, is pressing to move from Wayne County to Macomb County, citing potential tax savings. The City Council is expected Tuesday to discuss the issue, which supporters want to place on the November ballot. Under a 1974 state law, cities in more than one county can move entirely into one county with voter approval. Wayne State University constitutional law professor Robert Sedler said if the counties don't vote in favor of the switch, the city can ask the legislature to do it. "They could redraw these boundaries," he said. "It's not a judicial act. It's a political act."

Correctional facility employees who trust supervisors and management are less likely to experience job burnout, a Wayne State University researcher has found. "Trust builds commitment and involvement in the job," said Eric Lambert, professor and chair of criminal justice in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, "but lack of trust leads to burnout and stresses people out." Lambert's team defined burnout as consisting of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and feelings of being ineffective at work. "Prisons need human beings to operate," he said. "You cannot use machines; it's not like an assembly line. Everything you deal with involves interaction with inmates, co-workers and supervisors." Lambert said his study opens the door for trust research at other types of correctional facilities, but believes the findings will translate and affirm the role of trust levels as a key factor in burnout. The next step - which can be taken without costing a lot of money or resources - is for correctional facilities to develop ways to build trust.

Craig Fahle spoke with Barbara Redman, College of Nursing dean, about the effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on nurses. They discussed how the ACA will affect current nurses and nursing education.

Michigan State University College of Law's Small Business & Nonprofit Clinic and the Wayne State University Business and Community Law Clinic will host Detroit small business owners for a Detroit Entrepreneur Social on Wednesday, Aug. 22 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University. Entrepreneurs are invited to assist with the Michigan Applied Public Policy Research Project to help identify legal and government barriers to entrepreneurial activity and job creation in the state. The event will bring together small business owners from a broad range of occupations to conduct a survey and investigate the regulations firsthand.

Wayne State University researchers are testing a new technique for its efficacy in using fetal cells for the early diagnosis of conditions such as miscarriage or Down syndrome. Through a two-year, $418,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, researchers will gather human fetal cells from the first two months of pregnancy using a new test that's similar to a Pap smear. "The earlier you get the information, the more time the doctor has to manage whatever problems are coming up during or after the mother's pregnancy," D. Randall Armant, an obstetrics and gynecology professor at WSU's medical school, said in a statement. "It also gives the parents more time to make decisions about the pregnancy."

Cynthia Bir, Wayne State University biomedical engineer, commented in a story about University of Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson and Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt, who has been called the fastest human ever. Robinson recently said that he's watched Bolt run, and he's pretty sure he can beat him in a 40-yard dash. Bir disagrees: "If Bolt is running the 40, he would run it differently than if he was running the 100," said Bir, who works on the television show "Sports Science." "I think Denard is fast, don't get me wrong. But side by side, Bolt would win."

The Harvard Business School Club of Michigan, comprised of local graduates of Harvard Business School, announced that Nancy Schlichting, CEO of Henry Ford Health System, has been selected as the Club's annual Business Leader of the Year. The Business Leader of the Year dinner honoring Schlichting is 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 22 at The Atheneum Hotel, 1000 Brush St., Detroit. It will be emceed by Wayne State University President and Harvard University graduate Allan Gilmour.

Wayne State University researchers are testing a way to determine the status of fetal chromosomes that could lead to healthier outcomes for mothers and their babies. Supported by a two-year, $418,000 exploratory/developmental grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health, the researchers will capture human fetal cells for genetic study within the first two months of pregnancy using a newly developed, safe, noninvasive retrieval technique similar to a Pap test. D. Randall Armant, Ph.D., and Michael P. Diamond, M.D., professors of obstetrics and gynecology in Wayne State's School of Medicine, are the principal investigators of the study. Susan Land, Ph.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, is a co-investigator.

Compuware Corp. announced the launch of a mainframe computing education and summer internship program with Wayne State University's College of Engineering. The program is designed to introduce students to mainframe software development while helping cultivate and retain a vibrant high-tech talent pool within Metro Detroit. The first phase of the program, which kicked off this spring at Wayne State, featured an intensive 10-week course that provided more than 60 computer science students the opportunity to build and deploy real mainframe technology. "We welcome the opportunity to work closely with partners in the business and industrial sector including our friends at Compuware, and we are committed to making sure that Wayne State College of Engineering Warriors graduate fully prepared to make a bottom-line impact on the region's economy," said Darin Ellis, associate dean at the Wayne State University College of Engineering.

In the past, investors wanted to back entrepreneurs who had a proven track record. But investors today are beginning to become keenly aware of the virtues and values of entrepreneurs who have made catastrophic errors in their professional pasts. "The change is indicative of a culture shift," says Ned Staebler, vice president for economic development at Wayne State University. "This shift hasn't occurred out of some transcendental revelation. Rather, investors have seen numerous resilient entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes and have a big success after one or more failures. As rational actors, investors want to be a part of that success."

A demonstration of tap dancing is featured on this Fox 2 preview of the Motor City Tap Fest being held at various locations including Wayne State University Thursday through Saturday. Master Tap Dance classes are being offered at Old Main as part of the event.

Wayne State University dedicated the Robert Aronson Intaglio Studio in honor of printmaker Aronson who is senior development advisor at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. The studio, located in the Art Building, features workstations, etching presses and cabinets stocked with inks, chalks and oils. The naming was made possible via a gift from Aronson's longtime friend, WSU alumnus, Eugene Applebaum. WSU President Allan Gilmour and the James Pearson Duffy Department of Art and Art History, College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, hosted a dedication ceremony and dinner on July 11. WSU President Allan Gilmour said, "We are here because two very good and interesting people have brought us together. Bob (Aronson) loves what goes on in that room. It's a working room so they do real things in there. You can see the scars of generations of students, and of professors and others who worked and created there."

An article notes that companies like Detroit-based Compuware and IBM are preparing for a shortage of mainframe workers. Compuware estimates that as many as 40 percent of the world's mainframe programmers will be retiring in the near future. The skills shortage has prompted Compuware to team up with several Michigan universities to provide free mainframe software development trainings. The first 10-week course kicked off this spring at Wayne State University's College of Engineering, attracting more than 60 students. Fifteen of them, including 20-year-old Thyrus Gorges, completed the challenging, non-credit course. This fall, he plans to take a second mainframe course that Compuware will be offering at Wayne State. "I will be pretty valuable in a few years," he predicted. A photo of Gorges is included.