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Viruses Can Make You Fat The
following article is reprinted from Popular Mechanics, October 2000. It
features Nikhil Dhurandhar, assistant professor, nutrition and food
sciences, who published a study in the August issue of The International
Journal of Obesity Research. A virus like the one that causes the common cold may explain why some people get fat no matter how much they diet. Nikhil Dhurandhar, a researcher at WSU, injected lab animals with the virus AD-36, then fed them and control groups the same amount of food. The infected mice and chickens turned more of their food into body fat. In
studies with humans, AD-36 turned up in 30 percent of obese people, but
in only 5 percent of thin people, says Dr. Dhurandhar. If follow-up studies confirm initial findings, it might be possible to vaccinate people against the ravages of potato chips.
STAR trial compares breast cancer drugs Post-menopausal women ages 35 and
older, who are at increased risk for breast cancer, may be eligible for
the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR). STAR is a national trial
launched in 1999 to compare the effectiveness of the medications
Tamoxifen and Raloxifene as breast cancer preventives. Michael Simon, MD, associate
professor of internal medicine and Karmanos medical oncologist, is the
principal investigator on the study. The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer
Institute is one of 193 North American (U.S. and Canada) sites to enroll
women for STAR, which is sponsored by the National Surgical Adjuvant
Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP). Approximately 22,000 women are
expected to participate. “STAR represents the increased emphasis in the medical community on cancer prevention,” said Dr. Simon. “Along with cancer detection and treatment, enhanced prevention techniques help us more effectively battle cancer.” In 1998, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Tamoxifen as a breast cancer preventive, and it is the first medication known to prevent breast cancer. Raloxifene is currently prescribed to help prevent the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis. STAR’s
goal is to determine whether Raloxifene is either more or less effective
than Tamoxifen in reducing the incidence of invasive breast cancer in
postmenopausal women who are at increased risk for the disease. A
secondary goal is to determine whether Raloxifene reduces the rate of
endometrial cancer compared to Tamoxifen.
Study of physical activity targets inactive women Women with busy lifestyles are finding that physical activity is low on the priority list, said Mary Nies, PhD, RN, professor of community medicine and assistant dean for family, community and mental health at the College of Nursing. She is conducting a study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, to explore ways for women to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives. “The
purpose of my study is to increase physical activity and improve health
outcomes,” said Dr. Nies. “Physical activity is essential to
maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Women don’t realize that even a daily
walk may improve their health.” The three-year study will include 300 women who will receive individual exercise intervention counseling from an interdisciplinary team composed of: a nurse scientist, psychologist, statistician, exercise physiologist and medical doctor. For
more information, call (313) 577-3124.
Harper's new name highlights alliance with SOM The
Detroit Medical Center announced in the fall, 2000, that it has changed
the name of Harper Hospital to Harper University Hospital. The new name
is designed to promote the institution's historical alliance with the
WSU School of Medicine and to highlight the hospital's distinguished,
130-year history. As the first teaching hospital in Metro Detroit,
Harper has designed a marketing plan that focuses on “winning medical
battles with a history of medical excellence.” The
advertising campaign is currently underway.
Research and technology park planned Wayne
State University plans to establish a research and technology park that
will feature a business incubation center, offices and residential
development on a 75-acre parcel located north of campus and west of
Woodward Avenue between WSU and the New Center. The first phase of the
park is being developed jointly by the university, General Motors Corp.
and the Henry Ford Health System. The
park is expected to produce substantial benefits to the university, the
community, Detroit, Wayne County and Michigan – including up to 1,800
new jobs. Richard
Blouse, Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Detroit
Regional Chamber, said, “The fruition of the Wayne State University
Research and Technology Park is an integral step in the creation of
infrastructure supportive of emerging industries in the Detroit
region.”
Drs.
Crissman and Porter make AAMC presentation At
the 111th annual meeting of the Association of American Medical
Colleges, Drs. John Crissman (dean of the WSU School of Medicine) and
Arthur Porter (CEO of the Detroit Medical Center) presented a focus
session on “Changing Institutional Structures and Partnership,”
using their institutions for a case study of reorganization. The past
year has been spent transitioning from a partnership with the DMC to one
that is based on a contractual relationship, in which DMC support of WSU
departments has been dramatically restructured through objective methods
that underlie the basis of financial support. Dr.
Crissman's closing remark was that “..the clear winner was neither the
medical center nor the medical school, but rather the academic mission
of medicine and the enduring value of education and research as critical
enterprises that must be sustained in order to benefit the regional and
academic communities we serve.”
WSU staff members decorate dolls for needy kids Ja
Esta Jones, student records and registration, rallied the support of 20
Wayne State staff members to help design and dress dolls that were
distributed to needy children through holiday programs sponsored by the
Detroit Police Department (9th Precinct) and the Detroit
Goodfellows. Pictured
below are the volunteers and their personal creations.
School of Medicine staff members designed dolls and distributed them to needy children for the holidays.
WSU engineer writes best-selling book on Purple Gang
Paul Kavieff's book on Detroit's mafia has reached No. 3 on Michigan's best-seller list. Paul
Kavieff, an engineer at Wayne State University School of Medicine, has
written a best-selling book on Detroit’s legendary Purple Gang. “The Purple Gang: A History of the Detroit Underworld, 1910-1945” has climbed to the No. 3 rank on the Michigan best-sellers list. The book chronicles the evolution of a group of unruly street kids from Detroit’s East Side into a powerful city-wide mafia. “Prohibition
allowed this group of young men to become one of America’s most
powerful and infamous bands of thugs and mobsters,” Kavieff said.
“During the chaos of Prohibition, they rose to the highest ranks of
organized crime – then self-destructed with greediness and
betrayal.” Kavieff,
whose extensive personal library includes a number of first-edition
historical works on organized crime, spent hundreds of hours over the
past decade interviewing remaining Purple Gang members as well as
relatives and friends of those who died. His research has taken him to
numerous police departments, libraries, museums as well as the Federal
Bureau of Investigations. The author, a graduate of Oakland University, is working on his master’s degree in U.S. social history at Wayne State University. “The Purple Gang” costs $22 and is published by Barricade Books. PHOTO:
Paul Kavieff’s book on Detroit’s mafia has reached No. 3 on
Michigan’s best-seller list.
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