April 3, 2001
Contact: Jennifer Day, (313) 577-1058, jday@med.wayne.edu

April Tip Sheet

Wayne State University’s School of Medicine recently published its annual research magazine, Wayne Medicine. The magazine includes several stories on the most advanced medical providers and their work. Use this for both story ideas now and as a mini reference guide throughout the year for experts. What’s inside:

Anxiety Linked to Increased Cardiac Disease
People with anxiety disorders are four to six times more likely to experience long-term cardiac problems and to die suddenly from heart failure, according to a Wayne State University School of Medicine study by Dr. Vikram Yeragani.

How Doctors Live When Patients Die
Third-year medical students are learning the medical practice and social issues surrounding end-of-life care for terminal patients. A new clerkship requires them to spend time in a hospice or palliative medicine setting, allowing them to become more educated and more sensitive to patients.

Gene Therapy Improves Quality of Life
Wayne State University/Children’s Hospital of Michigan is one of four centers participating in a new clinical trial using gene therapy to replace a missing clotting factor in patients with hemophilia. Dr. Jeanne Lusher says this is a prime target for gene therapy because even a small increase in the clotting factor can make a significant impact in a patient’s quality of life.

Imaging Techniques Take Us Inside the Brain
The Brain Imaging Research Division at the WSU School of Medicine is helping clinicians and researchers learn how the human brain works. The division is preparing for its newest addition, a scanner with an extremely powerful 4T magnet that can monitor a much wider assortment of neurochemicals, distinguish even slight changes within the brain and relay those changes in real time.

Minority Health-Care Advocate Gets Her Start at WSU
A former WSU faculty member and medical school graduate, Dr. Anita Moncrease is crafting a national reputation as a minority health-care advocate and expert. As head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Health Professions’ Division of Health Professions Diversity, she focuses on improving minority recruitment into health professions.

Commanding Bone to Heal Thyself
Dr. J. Tracy Watson was the first physician in Michigan ¾ and one of the first in the country ¾ to use autologous growth factors to heal broken bones. Now, he and his colleagues at University Orthopaedics use AGF to stretch, reshape and even grow new bones where none previously existed.

Brain Surgeon Repairs Disfiguring Injuries
Dr. Daniel Michael is the first neurosurgeon in the world to use hydroxyapaptite, a powdered substance that is found in real human bone, to create an implant to replace damaged parts of the skull. The substance eventually grows into real bone, becoming a part of the patient’s own skeletal system.