News Briefs

Centennial of USDA Forest Service
to be focus of film, panel discussion

UNC’s Carolina Environmental Program will present a viewing of "The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film" at 7 p.m. April 12 in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building’s auditorium.

The viewing, which will be followed by a panel discussion, is free to the public.

The film was produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and examines the agency’s 100-year history. Included in the film are its founding by Gifford Pinchot and President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905, its development during the following 35 years, its dramatic expansion during and just after World War II and its struggle to serve all Americans while balancing the interests of the logging and ranching industries with those of the emerging environmental community.

Dr. Pete Andrews, Thomas Willis Lambeth distinguished professor of public policy at UNC, will moderate a panel discussion following the film. The discussion will feature Dr. Norm Christensen Jr., professor of ecology and founding dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University; Dr. Art Cooper, professor emeritus of forestry at N.C. State University; and Dr. Peter White, professor of biology and director of the N.C. Botanical Garden at UNC.

For more information on the CEP, visit http://www.cep.unc.edu/. For more information on the USDA Forest Service, click on http://www.fs.fed.us/.

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UNC’s Carolina Environmental Program will present an open lecture by Dr. Peter Coates, a reader in history at the University of Bristol in England, at 5 p.m. April 13 in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building’s auditorium.

The lecture is free to the public.

Coates specializes in 19^th- and 20^th-century American history, especially environmental history, which is the study of relations between people and the rest of the natural world.

His books include "The Trans-Alaska Pipeline Controversy" (1991), "In Nature’s Defence: Americans and Conservation" (1993), "Environment and History: the Taming of Nature in the United States and Southern Africa" (with William Beinart; 1995) and "Nature: Western Attitudes Since Ancient Times" (1998).

Coates’ lecture, "Knowing Nature Through Nationality: Non-Human Immigrants in American History," is based on his forthcoming book, "Strangers on the Land: Non-Human Immigrants in American History." The book focuses on the effect of invasive animal and plant species, such as the eucalyptus tree and the house sparrow, on the American environment and the history of the United States.

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UNC School of Medicine researchers have received a $600,000 grant to evaluate a method used by hospital emergency departments to assess children and prioritize their treatment.

The grant, given by the Health Resources and Services Administration, a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be used to fund a three-year study of a triage tool called the Emergency Severity Index.

In the first year, the researchers will evaluate the reliability and validity of the index as applied in pediatric cases. In the second year, they will revise the index based on the results of the evaluation. Then, in the final year, they will repeat the evaluation performed during the first year, using the newly revised index.

The study’s principal investigator is Dr. Anna Waller, associate professor of emergency medicine. Co-investigators are Dr. Debbie A. Travers, assistant professor of emergency medicine; and Dr. Jessica Katznelson, assistant professor of pediatrics.

Twenty-two percent of emergency department patients seen in U.S. emergency departments are children, but are no published consensus guidelines for pediatric triage nationwide.

This study will address the need for a tool that can be used to quickly and accurately identify the sickest children who present to the emergency department and are in need of immediate intervention, from less sick children who can wait for limited resources.

UNC’s department of emergency medicine will be the lead agency for the study. Other participating sites are WakeMed in Raleigh; Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa.; York Hospital in York, Pa.; and Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.

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UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center will hold its second annual fund-raiser in Chapel Hill, the Lineberger Beach Ball 2005, on the evening of April 9.

The Beach Ball, which will be in University Mall’s Center Court, will feature live music by the band Liquid Pleasure, dancing and food, compliments of Spice Street and Café Carolina and Bakery. Emcee for the event will be Mick Mixon, color analyst with the Tar Heel Sports Network since 1989.

Local artists, including Chapel Hill native Mary Coley Lovingood, Durham native Kristen Teer, Cam Cline, Rik Hermensen and Evie Ward, will decorate beach pails that will be displayed and offered for sale. Items will be auctioned, as well.

Last year’s event drew more than 500 attendees, and organizers expect more than 700 at the 2005 event. Proceeds will benefit UNC Lineberger’s cancer treatment, research and prevention programs.

UNC Lineberger is the state’s only public, comprehensive cancer center and serves people from all 100 N.C. counties.

For more information, including event sponsors, or to purchase tickets, visit www.unclineberger.org or call (919) 966-5905.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu