Saturday night Downtown Detroit was full of the holiday spirit and bright lights at the 48th annual Noel Night. The event was the first one since 2020 due to the pandemic and this year there was increased security to ensure a peaceful night. Detroit Police Commander Melissa Gardner says the increased security included four difference police agencies: Detroit Police, the Wayne County Reserves, Wayne State Police, and a private off-duty police force called Blue Line Protection.

By Phoebe Wall Howard  Ford shattered a sales record for the month of November after reaching a record-setting pace of 52,518 new orders for the 2023 Super Duty pickup in the last five days of October, when it averaged more than 10,000 trucks a day, according to monthly sales data. But the November sales report nearly triples that figure. The Super Duty pickup has a base price of $43,970 that often climbs past $90,000, depending on amenities selected by the buyer. Options include type of engine, wheels, tires, cloth or leather interior, display screen size and massaging seats. Ford now has orders for 151,870 Super Duty trucks since the order bank opened Oct. 27, the company revealed Friday. Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University, said Ford has a high-stakes interest in maintaining the appeal of the Super Duty that goes beyond just happy customers who want a pickup with a traditional internal combustion engine that pulls enormous loads of weight. These are the products that fund the future at Ford in electrification and technology research, he said. "This bodes well for the company's future," Masters said. "The sheer volume of orders is particularly surprising. It's very important for the company to have high levels of sales in these profitable areas." 

By Sherri Welch The Wayne State University Board of Governors on Friday adopted a block tuition model for undergraduate students. With the change, which takes effect in fall 2023, undergraduate students will pay the same amount for enrolling in 12-18 credits per semester. The shift incentivizes students to take full course loads and enables them to graduate sooner, WSU said in a release, noting it is the 11th public university in the state to adopt the model. "To fulfill Wayne State's mission as a university of access and an engine of social mobility, we constantly strive to align our students' goals with academic pathways to success," said Mark Kornbluh, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

By Cara Murez  Costs for epilepsy medications in the United States are skyrocketing, outpacing inflation and straining federal insurers Medicare and Medicaid, according to new research. Spending on antiseizure medications more than doubled in eight years for the government insurers, largely because of third-generation and brand-name drugs, the study found. "While it's very important that Medicare and Medicaid patients have access to these drugs, the cost to the system is significant and continues to rise each year," said Dr. Deepti Zutshi, lead study author and an associate professor of neurology at Wayne State University in Detroit. "The answer is not to remove access to the medications but consider ways to cap or head off costs so we can continue to ensure the longevity of Medicare and Medicaid," she said.  

Marick Masters, professor at Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business, shares insights about the types of jobs that may be most threatened by automation, fields expected to experience a high rate of job growth, and more. “The sectors in which the most growth is expected are healthcare, leisure and hospitality, advanced technology, data and information analysis, and alternative energy. Jobs that involve the provision of care and services for the elderly and infirm are like to grow considerably. Included among the specific jobs expecting growth are nurse practitioners, statisticians, health services managers, data analysts, and technicians working in alternative energy,” Masters said.  

The city of Ferndale has become the target of jokes and complaints on social media by fans of Taylor Swift because the vinyl records, CDs, sweatshirts, jewelry and other official merchandise sold on the singer's website are shipped from the Metro Detroit city by record label Universal Music Group NV through a company called Artist Endeavor LLC. And some fans who preordered her 10th studio album, "Midnights," released on Oct. 21 say they aren't coming, well, swiftly enough. Central parts of the country, like Michigan, often can be attractive to distributors for ease of access to customers nationally. Metro Detroit also is home to a major international airport, though it's still 30 minutes from Ferndale. Michigan may offer less costly real estate and labor than other states like Massachusetts, noted Hakan Yildiz, associate professor of supply chain management at Wayne State University. It also has a low risk for natural hazards like hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires. 

By Diane Cress  Diane Cress, associate professor of nutrition and food science at Wayne State University, wrote an article about the consequences of vitamin B12 deficiency, and how it is over overlooked by doctors. B12 deficiency is a common problem that affects an estimated 6% to 20% of the U.S. population. Cress outlines the symptoms of B12 deficiency, as well as the absorption process and treatment options.  “One primary symptom of B12 deficiency is fatigue – a level of tiredness or exhaustion so deep that it affects daily life activities. Other symptoms are neurological and may include tingling in the extremities, confusion, memory loss, depression and difficulty maintain balance…” Cress writes. “However, since there can be so many causes for these symptoms, health care providers may overlook the possibility of a B12 deficiency and fail to screen for it…”

By Mike Wilkinson  As Michigan and the nation are just weeks from beginning the fourth year of COVID-19, the signs are remarkably positive, according to new state data released Monday and Tuesday. For the first time since July, Michigan hospitals are treating fewer than 1,000 COVID-19 positive patients. New confirmed cases fell this week to the lowest level since April. The coronavirus positive test rate is now the lowest since May. The good news is widespread: hospitalizations have declined in every region in Michigan after hitting a recent high, state records show. But as Thanksgiving and the holidays approach, other data shows that the virus remains a threat: the state reported 223 deaths on Tuesday, the most since February. Though the deaths spanned several months, including 158 in November and 61 in October, they underscore that the virus is still taking lives daily across Michigan. Among that hardest hit: older residents and those who are unvaccinated or are not fully boosted. “It is very stark,” said Dr. Phil Levy, an emergency medicine physician at Detroit Receiving Hospital and a Wayne State University researcher. “If you’re not up-to-date (on vaccinations) you are exposing yourself to substantial risk.” 

Wayne State University Law School’s Moot Court program concluded its inaugural Peter Henning Moot Court Competition earlier this month. Of the 30 junior members who participated in the two-day competition, 2L Chloe Brueck prevailed as the Fall 2022 In-House champion.  During the competition’s Preliminary Rounds, judges evaluated oral advocates based on the substantive content of their arguments, knowledge of the record, extemporaneous abilities, and courtroom demeanor. The top eight oralists from the preliminaries advanced to the competition’s upper rounds the next day. 

By Irving Mejia-Hilario  Tens of millions of pounds of tiny pieces of plastic called ‘microplastics’ enter the Great Lakes each year. Exposure is linked to learning and memory issues in animals; researchers fear similar effects on humans. Experts say minor policy changes like banning microbeads are inadequate to combat the issue. Microplastics come from various sources, including litter like nurdles and water bottles, as well as wear-and-tear on the plastic products that seem ubiquitous in everyday life. Polyester fleece blankets and shirts release plastic into wastewater with every wash. Car tires emit a plastic dust as they wear against road surfaces. Though scientists have been tracking microplastics in the ocean since the 1970s, their 2013 discovery in the Great Lakes raised a new alarm. The lakes provide drinking water for 40 million people in the U.S. and Canada, while supporting an entire food web that sustains commercial, tribal, and recreational fishing economies. Fears of a looming crisis in the Great Lakes prompted researchers from Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University to host a roundtable discussion in May to discuss the growing threat. They fear society is disregarding a major environmental and health hazard, said Rodrigo Fernandez-Valdivia, an assistant professor in the School of Medicine at Wayne State University who spoke at the meeting. “At some point, this may overcome us, as humans,” Fernandez-Valdivia said. “We need to not finger-point at countries and regions, and recognize that this is a global problem.” 

By Kalie VanDewater and Ira Winer  During their lifetime, one in 70 women will receive a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, which is the second most common gynecologic cancer in the United States, according to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Among these, 15% to 30% will have platinum-resistant or refractory ovarian cancer, data show. Although the FDA granted fast track designation to a combination therapy for platinum-resistant disease in May, studies are still ongoing to identify other potential treatment options. Healio spoke with Ira Winer, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the division of gynecologic oncology at Wayne State University in Detroit, to learn more about what treatments show the most promise for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. “Taking a step back, ovarian cancer in general can be a difficult disease to treat. This is largely due to the fact that it is a difficult disease to recognize and diagnose because the symptoms can be vague and are often mild. Once a patient is diagnosed with ovarian cancer, they will be treated with platinum-based chemotherapies combined with surgery up front. Maintenance strategies are also utilized to prevent recurrent disease,” said Winer. “Unfortunately, still, approximately 80% of patients will recur ultimately. Once platinum resistance is identified, very few conventional agents offer significant response as the disease becomes resistant to prototypical/conventional DNA-damaging agents. 

For Amesite Inc., the beginning of the fourth quarter is an opportunity to look back on some of its exciting news as well as the momentum it has built from the third quarter. This includes some key partnerships with universities, multi-institution buyers and businesses. In August, Amesite announced it was expanding its partnership with Wayne State University’s College of Engineering to move their Amesite-powered platform — Warrior TechSource — to Amesite’s V5 eCommerce platform. This gives Warrior TechSource the added capabilities of Amesite’s scalable e-commerce ecosystem, to expand its streamlined and integrated course learning services to a 30,000-strong student and alumni network. 

By Clara G Zundel Clara G. Zundel, a postdoctoral research fellow in psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Wayne State University, wrote an article summarizing findings that people who breathe polluted air experience changes within the brain regions that control emotions, which may make them more likely to develop anxiety and depression than someone who breathes cleaner air. “In our analysis, 73% of the studies reported higher mental health symptoms and behaviors in humans and animals, such as rats, that were exposed to higher-than-average levels of pollution. Some exposures that led to negative effects occurred in air pollution ranges that are currently considered “safe” by the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards,” she writes. “In addition, we discovered that 95% of studies examining brain effects found significant physical and functional changes within the emotion-regulation brain regions in those exposed to increased levels of air pollution.”