UD student gives back to the local hospital that saved his life

A University of Dayton senior won a competition to donate money to a local hospital that helped save his life.

Brandon Mayforth recently took the top prize of $500 in a “philanthropy tournament” in a class at UD. The top finishers in the tournament earned money to donate to the organization of their choice and Mayforth chose Dayton Children’s Hospital because a doctor there diagnosed him with a rare intestinal disease that threatened his life.

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Mayforth presented the $500 check to Adam Mezoff, now vice president and chief medical officer at Dayton Children’s, on Jan. 24, according to UD.

Mezoff discovered Mayforth had superior mesenteric artery syndrome, a disease in which one’s arteries compress the intestines. Only 400 cases have ever been reported, according to UD.

Mayforth received the diagnosis during his first year at UD, and at the time he carried a 1.67 grade-point average and was put on academic probation.

“I would just wake up one night and the pain was there,” Mayforth said in a press release. “It would last two to three months, and in the worst case, it lasted five months. No medicine could help it.”

After receiving treatment, he was able to attend class regularly and he has since made the dean’s list and is on track to graduate, according to UD.

The donation and tournament was made possible through the university’s Gary Mioli Leadership in Community Fund.

Wright State announced three finalists for its president’s job will visit campus beginning Thursday.

University officials said they will announce the names of each candidate at noon a day before they visit campus, meaning we will know the name of the first candidate on Wednesday. The other two candidates come to campus on Feb. 5 and Feb. 7.

Gov. John Kasich wants to require colleges to provide textbooks to students beginning in 2018. Kasich announced the proposal in the two-year budget plan he announced on Monday in Columbus.

Colleges would be able to charge a fee of no more than $300 to offset the cost of those course materials.

A final financial tally indicates Wright State University lost a little more than $1.7 million on the 2016 presidential debate it didn’t end up hosting.

The final finances for the debate, released last week, also show the university spent more than $2.6 million on upgrading the main campus’ and Nutter Center’s networking infrastructure and repairing the arena’s heating and cooling system and smoke detection system, according to an analysis from the university.

Cedarville University turns 130 years old last week as Ohio approved its charter on Jan. 26, 1887

The university, which now enrolls around 3,700 students, almost folded just a few years after it started in 1890. A donation of $25,000 saved it though and its first class of students, five people, graduated in 1897, according to the university.

A fecal transplant, the process of introducing donated healthy microbes into people with a gastrointestinal disease to re-balance the stomach, may help alleviate symptoms of Autism in children, a new study has found.

Behavioral symptoms of Autism and gastrointestinal distress are often related, according to research by an Ohio State University grad student. Both symptoms improved when a small group of children with the disorder underwent fecal transplants and subsequent treatment.

Central State University is moving forward with updates to its Hallie Q. Brown Memorial Library following the State Controlling Board’s approval on Jan. 24 of more than $388,000 in funding for phase two of the facility’s modernization project.

Construction for the project is estimated to cost more than $3.2 million, according to a request to the controlling board.

Wright State University is expanding its data backup and recovery capabilities with more than $800,000 approved by the State Controlling Board last week.

The money will help pay for network routers and for WSU’s portion of a remote information technology disaster recovery site in Fairborn, according to the university’s request to the board. Wright State is collaborating with Ohio University on the data center to lower costs.

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