Total joint replacement surgeries can help relieve joint pain common in people with conditions like osteoarthritis. But sometimes, the debris from prosthetic joints leads to aseptic loosening, or disintegration of surrounding bones. In 2009, a Wayne State University researcher determined that the anti-inflammatory antibiotic erythromycin can prevent and treat such disintegration, however, there are side effects associated with long-term usage of erythromycin. Weiping Ren, associate professor of biomedical engineering in WSU's College of Engineering, has found a solution. Erythromycin can be administered directly at the site of bone breakdown, rather than orally, so the whole body is not affected. The details of Ren's study are published in the August 2011 issue of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

Researchers have been given almost half a million dollars to work graphene - which they think will be more stable than traditional materials - into implantable electrode systems. Mark Ming-Cheng Cheng, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Wayne State University thinks graphene might do better than the platinum and iridium oxide electrodes more commonly used because it carries such a large amount of charge and is, by virtue of its two-dimensional nature, extremely thin. These qualities would overcome the difficulties faced by the current technology which, when it is made small enough to fit, doesn't carry enough charge to deal with scar tissue.

About 30,000 college students have been removed from the food stamps program in Michigan saving approximately $75 million per year. Under the new rules, only single mothers and students who work 20 hours a week may be able to keep their benefits. College students generally are not eligible for federal food assistance but nearly all of them in Michigan had qualified for the state\'s program under an exception for those participating in an employment and training program whose criteria included attending college. Wayne State University students Erik Boyes and Mohammed Almihtar comment in the story.

Charlie Cavell, a Wayne State University social work student, founder of a nonprofit organization and charter school board member, is interviewed in a NPR segment about reviving Detroit.

Members of the Detroit Area Transit Authority Panel plan to participate in a workshop at Wayne State University where the creation of a public transit system for parts of southeast Michigan will be discussed. Panel members will share their experiences with light rail systems in Atlanta, Dallas and Denver as well as in Utah and with Detroit-area business and community leaders. Engineering work has started on Detroit\'s $500 million rail project along Woodward Avenue. The first 3.4-mile first phase between the New Center area and downtown is expected to be completed by 2016. The route eventually will have 19 passenger stations from downtown to the city limits at Eight Mile Road. http://www.freep.com/article/20110808/NEWS05/108080326/Suburbs-looking-get-board-light-rail http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/17836a8a551a402e89505b1f5acc82c7/MI--Transit-Authority-Workshop/ http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=2790&DateTime=8%2F8%2F2011+8%3A11%3A27+AM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=2790&playclip=True&RefPage= http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110805/FREE/110809920

In theaters Wednesday, the movie titled "The Help," based on the best-selling book, captures what life was like for black maids working for white employers in 1960s Mississippi. \"They worked long hours for very little pay,\" said Melba Joyce Boyd, chair of Wayne State University\'s Department of Africana Studies. \"These women focused on their children, supported their education and the civil rights movement that brought about change and possibilities. They were the humble, foot soldiers of a revolution, whose spiritual strength transformed a nation.\" The threat of sexual abuse was ever-present, said Wayne State University history professor Danielle McGuire. \"Every time a girl or woman took a job, she had to be very careful about what could happen there in that home,\" said McGuire, author of \"At the Dark End of the Street,\" a book examining sexual abuse of black women and how it played a role in propelling Rosa Parks\' activism. http://www.freep.com/article/20110808/ENT01/108080317/Detroit-domestic-workers-share-their-experiences-Help-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

Experts gathered yesterday at an invitation-only panel discussion at Wayne State University to discuss the proposed transit system for Detroit. The panel was made up of transit system executives from the public systems Detroit has examined as possible models for its new line: Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Portland, Dallas and Denver. They\'ve been gathered into an advisory board called the Detroit Area Transit Authority Panel. The audience at the McGregor Conference Center was a who\'s-who of transit personalities and politicians: Megan Owens of TRU, John Swatosh of SMART, DDOT Woodward rail chief Norm White, city COO Chris Brown, city council members Gary Brown and Charles Pugh, state Sen. Coleman Young II, Congressmen Gary Peters and John Conyers, staff from SEMCOG, and dozens of others. http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/08/08/woodward-rail-to-break-ground-this-year/ http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=2785&DateTime=8%2F8%2F2011+3%3A09%3A03+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=2785&playclip=True&RefPage= http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=1004&DateTime=8%2F8%2F2011+11%3A10%3A15+AM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=1004&playclip=True&RefPage= http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=2785&DateTime=8%2F8%2F2011+7%3A13%3A20+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=2785&playclip=True&RefPage= http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=1004&DateTime=8%2F8%2F2011+5%3A27%3A06+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=1004&playclip=True&RefPage=

A major project funded for the Toledo area is one for nearly $500,000, in which Wayne State University physiologist Jeffrey L. Ram said he will attempt to develop a screening process for early detection of invasive species. Many exotics, such as zebra mussels can damage lake ecology and drive up industry costs. Ram said he will use Toledo Harbor as his base of operations because it is the warmest, the most conducive for exotics, and the most biologically vulnerable part of the lake system. http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2011/08/08/Feds-to-fund-manmade-wetlands-at-Maumee-Bay.html http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=3195&DateTime=8%2F8%2F2011+11%3A11%3A36+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=3195&playclip=True&RefPage=

Congressman Hansen Clarke will host a free forum today at Wayne State University's David Adamany Undergraduate Library's Bernath Auditorium. The event is designed for local business owners about contracting with the Department of Homeland Security. Business owners in metro Detroit will be able to meet Department of Homeland Security procurement officials to learn of available contracts through the department.

The Wayne State University Law School announced last week that Denise D'Allura has joined the WSU Division of Development and Alumni Affairs as development director. Her responsibilities include leading the law school development team and managing the law school's fundraising program. "On behalf of the law school and WSU, I'm pleased to welcome Ms. D'Allura to campus," said Wayne Law Dean Robert M. Ackerman. "She is an experienced, passionate and dedicated professional whose ability to make meaningful connections enriches the lives and futures of the people and organizations she serves."

Matthew Seeger has been appointed dean of Wayne State University\'s College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts. He previously served as interim dean of the college and has been a faculty member and administrator at Wayne State for 26 years. Harvey Hollins III, Wayne State University\'s vice president for government and community affairs, will serve as Gov. Rick Snyder\'s director of the Michigan Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives beginning Sept. 1. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110807/SUB01/110809904/week-on-the-web-agree-tells-sec-it-is-in-default-on-loan-for-borders#

In a story about the M1 Rail project, Wayne State University is noted as committing $3 million for a station, along with Henry Ford Hospital. A new cost estimate for the 19-stop light-rail line that stretches from downtown to near the Michigan State Fairgrounds at the Eight Mile Road city limits is being generated now, said Mark Ryan, a vice president with San Francisco-based engineering firm URS Corp., which has been hired by DDOT to do the project\'s preliminary engineering and design. The preliminary estimate was $528 million, and a more detailed cost will be assembled as engineering and design is done over the next few months. Each stop costs an estimated $2 million to $4 million, Ryan said, and the cars are expected to be $3.5 million to $4 million each. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110807/SUB01/308079989/added-rail-stop-points-to-likely-site-for-wings-arena

Dr. Mark Juzych has been appointed chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Kresge Eye Institute. Juzych has been chief of ophthalmology at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit since 2001. Dr. Sunitha Santhakumar has been appointed to the state Advisory Committee on Pain and Symptom Management by Gov. Rick Snyder. Santhakumar, assistant professor in the Department of Neurology and medical director of the neurology clinic at Wayne State University School of Medicine, will serve a two-year term. Dr. Hikmet Jamil, Wayne State University professor of family medicine and public health sciences, has received a \"Special Tribute\" from Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature for his studies involving the health disorders of Iraqi refugees and immigrants. Jamil, a co-investigator of a study tracking Iraqi refugees in metro Detroit who have been exposed to war in their home country, also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Iraqi Medical Sciences Association. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110807/SUB01/308079971/health-care-people

Dr. Noreen Rossi, professor of internal medicine at Wayne State University's School of Medicine, was a guest on Carol Cain's "Michigan Matters" program which examined kidney disease. It is estimated that over 900,000 people in Michigan have kidney disease, and are not aware of it. http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=1009&DateTime=8%2F7%2F2011+11%3A01%3A29+AM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=1009&playclip=True&RefPage=

About 300 students were welcomed to Wayne State University's School of Medicine during the traditional "White Coat" ceremony. WSU medical school spokesperson Phil Van Hulle commented about the event. http://mms.tveyes.com/Transcript.asp?StationID=2785&DateTime=8%2F6%2F2011+9%3A14%3A06+PM&LineNumber=&MediaStationID=2785&playclip=True&RefPage=

An opinion piece commends Gov. Rick Snyder\'s appointment week of Harvey Hollins III to the new Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives and recommends that Hollins advocate for cities and advise the governor on the ways state policy impacts the state\'s urban areas in the realms of housing, transportation, education, poverty, corrections and criminal justice. A photo of Hollins is included.

For the first time in four decades, a new medical school will open in Michigan: the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. The state's first privately funded medical school is expected to give the region an economic boost as it launches the first of three new medical schools in the state. Located in Rochester, Oakland-Beaumont is the state\'s fifth medical school and the first to open in Michigan since 1969, when Michigan State University\'s College of Osteopathic Medicine was founded. MSU also trains medical doctors, as does the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. Central and Western Michigan universities also are expected to open medical schools in 2013 and 2014, giving Michigan three of the nation\'s 17 new medical schools that are in various stages of accreditation.

Wayne State University Center for Chicano Boricua Studies is coming together with the Consortium of Hispanic Agencies to host the Latino Agenda Conference. It runs today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the WSU Student Center Ballroom. The theme of the conference is \"Creating a Sustainable Future through Self-Determination and Building Alliances Across Cultures\".

Besides Whole Foods Market coming to Detroit's Midtown area, out-of-state investors and small suburban retailers either are looking to do business ore already have located in the area just north of downtown. Whole Foods, the Austin, Texas-based natural and organic food store chain, cited a growing food movement in Detroit for its decision last week to open a 20,000-square-foot store near the Detroit Medical Center by 2013. Other suburban investors in Midtown include Tom and Peggy Brennan of Troy, who used their retirement money to convert a former Model T showroom into a business incubator for five to eight environmentally focused companies. The Brennans renamed the building the Green Garage. Wayne State University is noted as one of the major institutions in the Midtown area.

Three unions have filed a lawsuit to stop what members call \"an unprecedented power grab\" by Detroit Public Schools\' emergency manager, who used the state\'s tough new law to impose wage cuts and higher health care costs on employees. The suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit against emergency manager Roy Roberts and state Treasurer Andy Dillon, was brought by leaders of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees and the Detroit Federation of Paraprofessionals. DFT President Keith Johnson said the suit is challenging the constitutionality of the state\'s emergency manager law to break collective bargaining agreements. Robert Sedler, professor of constitutional law at Wayne State University, said he does not think the unions will prevail. \"The two grounds they have asserted don\'t easily lend themselves to this type of case,\" Sedler said. \"This doesn\'t seem to be the kind of thing the contracts clause was written for. It\'s more private contracts, not collective bargaining agreements involving public employees.\"