The number of incidents in which children under age 6 accidentally ate edible cannabis products rose to 3,054 in 2021, up from 207 in 2017 - a 1,375 percent increase, according to a study of national poison control data in the journal Pediatrics. The total number of cases over the five years was 7,043. The cases are a small but quickly growing portion of the more than 850,000 annual poison exposures in this age group tracked by the National Poison Data System (NPDS). Several factors probably have contributed to the increase: Edible cannabis products come in child-appealing forms, such as colorful gummy candies or tasty desserts; are seldom contained in child-resistant packaging; and are increasingly available as more states legalize recreational marijuana. Clinical toxicologist Varun Vohra said the Michigan Poison & Drug Information Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine, where he is the director, has experienced its own "pretty healthy increase in pediatric marijuana exposures, especially kids under 5 and mostly with edibles." The numbers continue to rise: In 2021, the poison center had 211 cases of youngsters under 19 exposed to edibles (156 of them under age 5); through October of 2022, it already had 225 cases (164 under age 5). 

Officer-involved shootings like the one in Warren Monday, are becoming all too common and just one reason why more cops are leaving law enforcement, industry experts say. Many who do stay on the force have a harder time coping with the risks. The same day as the Warren incident, gunshots were fired at an undercover Dearborn officer on the southwest side of Detroit. The officer was not hurt - at least physically. But the stress can cause lasting trauma. It is one reason why the Police Officers Association supports Frontline Strong Together, a therapy program for first responders based out of Wayne State University. 

The Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State University Law School on December 12 released a new edition of its "Portraits in Oversight" series that details the multiple congressional oversight investigations that exposed the deadly impact of the Love Canal environmental disaster and disclosed that it was just one of thousands of hazardous waste sites across the country. In response to these investigations and the public outcry that followed, Congress enacted the Superfund Program which provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority and funding to identify and clean up hazardous waste sites across the United States. Jim Townsend, director of the Levin Center noted, "Love Canal marked a turning point in Congress' willingness to acknowledge and investigate industrial waste sites poisoning American communities. The new Portrait in Oversight commemorates the bipartisan work that exposed and acted on a complex, nationwide environmental problem, reminding Congress and the public of what is possible."

By Nada Hassanein Diabetes is expected to surge dramatically in young people over the next several decades in what experts say should be a wake-up call to prioritize health in America. Researchers estimate that in 2060, there could be as many as 220,000 people under age 20 with Type 2 diabetes, an increase of nearly 700%, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Thursday. Those with Type 1, the most common type in young people, could see a 65% increase. Overall, the findings estimate that more than half a million young people could have diabetes in 2060, if current rates continue and with population increase. In 2017, that number was 213,000, according to the study published in American Diabetes Association's Diabetes Care. The statistics are concerning and should stir urgency in addressing the health of American young people, such as prioritizing efforts to bring obesity rates down, experts say. Despite a known link between obesity and Type 2 diabetes, "it’s very unsettling that we have not made any progress to really decrease this risk of Type 2 diabetes in children," said Dr. Colleen Buggs-Saxton, a pediatric endocrinologist at Wayne State University.

When you think resolution, you naturally might think about diet or exercise goals. But you should add "get better sleep" to that list. People should get at least 7 hours of sleep at night, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). "There's good evidence that getting less than that not only makes you feel sleepy and fatigued, but also, over time, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as poorer immune function," says James A Rowley, MD, professor of pulmonary and critical care and sleep medicine at Wayne State University and president-elect of AASM.

Erika Bocknek, associate professor of educational psychology at Wayne State University, wrote an article for The Conversation about sleep routines. Everyone knows that sleep is critical for growing children and their mental and physical health. Regular, high-quality sleep habits help children consolidate memory and learn better. A lack of sleep contributes to childhood depression, anxiety and even risk of suicide, along with physical health problems, including risk of injury. The challenge is making sure kids log those valuable zzz’s. She writes that there are three main components of high-quality sleep for children. First, they need enough total hours – sleep duration. Sleep quality is important, too – sleeping soundly during the night with few disruptions or awakenings. And, finally, there’s sleep timing – essentially, a consistent schedule, with bedtime and risetime about the same across the whole week.

On Dec. 17, Casey Guevara graduated from a Michigan university nursing program for military veterans, where she was chosen for the special honor of giving a convocation speech. Guevara, who grew up in Tulsa and attended Edison Preparatory School, graduated previously from Tulsa Community College’s nursing program. She also spent eight years with the Oklahoma National Guard and achieved the rank of sergeant. Guevara had been thinking about a medical career since childhood, she said, but not necessarily as a nurse. That changed when, as a result of her personal health crisis, she got a view of the profession up close. “The care in the hospitals while I was ill — it was the nurses that were by my side the entire time,” she said. After the family relocated to Michigan, she learned that Wayne State School of Nursing in Detroit had a special accelerated program for military veterans that would allow her to earn a bachelor’s degree. Now that she’s officially a graduate, Guevara will go to work at a hospital in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. She’s starting off as an emergency room nurse. Her goal is eventually to move into labor and delivery. Now that she’s officially a graduate, Guevara will go to work at a hospital in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. She’s starting off as an emergency room nurse. Her goal is eventually to move into labor and delivery. In her graduation speech, Guevara said she told her fellow students that commencement should be a celebration of much more than just completing degree requirements.

By Sara Powers As a snowstorm is underway in many areas throughout the state, the Michigan Poison & Drug Information Center at the Wayne State University School of Medicine issued carbon monoxide warnings, encouraging Michiganders to safely prepare for the weather. If someone loses power, they should not run gas-powered generators indoors. "Carbon monoxide production results when a carbon-based fuel (gas, propane, natural gas, wood, charcoal) does not burn completely in a furnace, water heater, grill, generator or internal combustion engine. The resulting gas is colorless and odorless," according to Michigan Poison & Drug Information Center officials.

By Bret Jaspers  It’s been about three months since Sophia Lewis’ son Shamond died after being arrested and taken to the Dallas County Jail. She wants answers. For now, she only has questions. Medical records say Shamond came to Parkland Hospital unresponsive. That was about thirteen hours after Dallas Police took him to the jail. He died six days after arriving at the hospital. Sophia wants to know what happened between his arrest and his arrival at the hospital. She was at the scene of the arrest. While he appeared to be having a psychotic episode, Sophia said he was otherwise physically fine. Shamond’s severe mental illness is at the heart of his story. The 24-year-old had struggled with schizophrenia for about five years, sometimes landing in law enforcement custody and other times in the care of a mental health facility. The conversation around how law enforcement responds to patients with mental illness often focuses on that first, unpredictable interaction on the street. Wayne State University professor and dean Sheryl Kubiak said there’s been an increased push for training and awareness that must go beyond the initial arrest. Kubiak researches the intersection of the criminal and legal systems and behavioral health. “We have to expand it not only to law enforcement officers on the street, but we also have to do it for law enforcement and corrections officers who are working in institutional settings,” Kubiak said. Kubiak says 20 to 25% of people in jails nationally are like Shamond Lewis — folks with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and serious depression. And jailers don’t always know that that’s what’s going on. “Because of confidentiality, it may be that just the medical staff has that information,” she said. “And I think that, unfortunately, jail administrators and jail staff aren’t generally trained in understanding mental illness or mental health.” 

By Betty Gold and Juno DeMelo  The new year is a great time for a health reset. But when we set the bar too high, we inevitably blow it, blame ourselves, and go back to the status quo. You're supposed to get two and a half hours of moderate-intensity physical activity each week, or about 30 minutes five days a week.9 But don't let those numbers intimidate you out of doing what you can. Experts say you can break down the time into 10-minute sessions without missing out on exercise's physical and mental benefits. And research backs up the power of short workouts: One study found that 13 minutes of weight training three times a week is enough to build strength, while another showed that just five minutes a day of running is all it takes to reduce your risk of death from cardiovascular disease. "Some studies suggest that merely standing is good for metabolic health," says Tamara Hew-Butler, PhD, an associate professor of exercise and sports science at Wayne State University in Detroit. "The bottom line is that any exercise is better than none at all."

Arash Javanbakht, associate professor of psychiatry, and Linda Saab, assistant professor of psychiatry, wrote an article about the holiday blues. “The holiday blues – that feeling of being in a lower or more anxious mood amid the significant change in our environment and the multitude of stressors that the holidays can bring – is a phenomenon that is yet to be researched thoroughly. However, as academic psychiatrists and neuroscience researchers, we have seen how several factors contribute to this experience,” they write. Javanbakht and Saab discuss factors contributing to the holiday blues, including memories of holidays past, the sense of social or financial burden or obligation, and unrealistic expectations.  

Feeling proud of your background is key to one’s mental health when dealing with online racism, a new study in the Journal of Applied Communication Research suggests. Identity affirmation was linked to better psychological health in Asian Americans who were faced by a rise in online hate speech at the start of the COVID pandemic. Being proud of who you are and what you stand for, a form of resilience, was also associated with better physical health, better personal relationships and greater satisfaction with living circumstances. “Online hate speech attacks deep components of human identity and so may have sparked people’s need to reaffirm core elements of who they are,” says researcher Stephanie Tom Tong, an associate professor of communication studies at Wayne State University in the US. “This may have offered them comfort, provided them with meaning or helped guide their behavior, making them more able to protect themselves against the damaging effects of online racial harassment.” 

Wayne State University has received $6 million to recruit and hire 30 new humanities faculty and create a Black studies center. The money – from The Mellon Foundation – will help fund a cluster hire program that will recruit 10 early career scholars in the humanities for a tenure-track preparatory initiative; 10 new tenure-track hires; and 10 tenured faculty at the associate or full professor level. The focus will be on scholars with research interests including people of color, race, racism, inequality, equality, and justice. 

Wayne State University is leading a project, called Recovering from Expected Flooding Under Residential Buildings (REFURB), which will use technology to improve recovery from and preparation for ongoing flooding in homes in eastside Detroit neighborhoods. The research team will focus on sewer systems that are undersized and poorly maintained. “Our focus will be in neighborhoods with older homes connected to again sewer systems that are undersized and poorly maintained due to racially-driven development policy and investment decisions,” said Richard Smith, REFURB principal investigator and associate dean for research and professor in the School of Social Work. The grant comes from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as part of the Civic Innovation Challenge. Researchers will gather data, research what support is needed and develop systems to put in place for Detroiters. 

Students at Henry Ford College will now be able to get guaranteed admission to Wayne State University through a new transfer partnership. The Wayne State Transfer Pathway program allows students to begin their academic studies at Henry Ford College and then transfer to Wayne State University with guaranteed admission. In addition to the guaranteed admission, students who go through this program will earn an associate degree and bachelor's degree.  "Wayne State has had a longstanding partnership with HFC, and this new agreement, which enhances the collaboration between our two institutions, will benefit our students and contribute to the State's competitiveness," said Wilson. "We are offering students, including non-traditional and adult learners, high-quality education and seamless pathways to earn two degrees, which will set them on a trajectory of economic advancement and social mobility. At the same time, we are preparing a pool of graduates that will support the talent needs of local employers, city and state agencies, be it in areas such as electrical technology, computer science, public health, or urban planning." Through this program, students will be able to complete class requirements for both degrees within four years.  

By Kim Kozlowski  Detroit students have a new pathway to a four-year degree at Wayne State University. Officials on Monday are set to launch an initiative for students earning a credential from Henry Ford College that guarantees admission into Wayne State University to earn a four-year degree. The program is for all HFC students, including those who are simultaneously attending college while in high school. But the program will especially serve the more than 2,000 Detroit residents attending HFC, including those who are part of the Detroit Promise, which guarantees free college tuition. The program, to be known as the Henry Ford College Learn4ward and Wayne State Transfer Pathways, creates another opportunity for residents to increase their social mobility and removes another barrier in the statewide effort to increase the number of residents with a credential or degree and eliminate the racial and ethnic disparity gap by 2030. It is the second partnership that Henry Ford College has unveiled in six weeks that does away with the need for students with a 2.5 grade point average to ask a four-year institution for enrollment and hope their credits will transfer. It's an exciting program for all transfer students and especially those who can transfer their applied degrees to WSU, said Ahmad Ezzeddine, vice president for academic student affairs and global engagement at Wayne State. Applied degrees are technical degrees such as an emergency medical technician certification. Such credits historically have not been accepted for transfer at four-year universities. "It is not just articulating one program to another; we are looking at a broad set of majors," Ezzeddine said. "Students in any of their majors can have a clear path to a four-year degree option at Wayne State University." Students who have transferred make up 35%-40% of WSU's undergraduate student population, Ezzedine said. "So it's an important part of the population for us," Ezzeddine said. "This partnership is very important." 

Twitter is once again attempting to launch its premium service, a month after a previous attempt failed. The social media company said Saturday it would let users buy subscriptions to Twitter Blue to get a blue checkmark and access special features starting Monday. The blue checkmark was originally given to companies, celebrities, government entities and journalists verified by the platform. After Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, he launched a service granting blue checks to anyone willing to pay $8 a month. But it was inundated by imposter accounts, including those impersonating Musk’s businesses Tesla and SpaceX, so Twitter suspended the service days after its launch. Nick Matter, who teaches digital marketing in the Mike Ilitch School of Business and is the associate director of marketing at the Wayne State University Graduate School, discusses the ongoing story. “…as far as I can tell, the platform seems to be running the same as it did yesterday, and even before Musk acquired it. So now, it’s really a matter of what comes next,” Matter said. “It sounds like there are going to be a couple of different checkmarks. People think of the blue checkmark, which would still be the standard. But they would have a separate checkmark for companies, which would be gold, and a separate checkmark for government entities, which would be grey. I think this is their way of trying to solve the issue of people masquerading as businesses, but that’s still doesn’t address the issue of fake accounts…”