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April 5, 2006
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:International Coverage
Obese people don't see it that way
Reuters
Obese people are accurate in assessing their height and weight, but only 15 per cent think of themselves as obese, a new study shows. ..."I think it's a misconception in people's minds about what constitutes obesity," Dr Kimberly P Truesdale of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health. "I think a lot of people when they think about obesity they think of someone that's extremely obese, 400 pounds (181.44 kg) or so."
National Coverage
Child Sex as Internet Fare, Through Eyes of a Victim
The New York Times
The sexual exploitation of children on the Internet is a $20 billion industry that continues to expand in the United States and abroad, overwhelming attempts by the authorities to curb its growth, witnesses said at a Congressional hearing on Tuesday. ..."Online predators befriend adolescents," said Dr. Sharon Cooper, a pediatrician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was one of the witnesses. "They become closer to them than some family members are."
Related Links: http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=4726373&nav=2aKD
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/8465913/detail.htmlObesity Among U.S. Women Leveling Off, Study Shows
The Washington Post
The rapid rise in obesity has stalled among women in the United States, the first sign that the epidemic may be peaking, federal health officials reported Tuesday. ..."We know that women in this society are very focused on their weight--somewhat for health issues and somewhat for appearance issues,'' said June Stevens of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ``That may make them more susceptible to the public health messages we have been sending out.''
Many Obese Don't See the Problem
HealthDay News
Many obese Americans don't consider themselves obese, a new study finds. ...Based on the participants' body mass index (BMI), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers found there were 31 normal weight people, 40 overweight people and 33 obese people in the study group.
10 Perks for Teens Who Exercise
WebMD
Teens who make exercise and physical activity a habit have a lot going for them, researchers report. Melissa Nelson, RD, and Penny Gordon-Larsen, PhD, found that physically active teens are less likely to engage in risky behaviors (such as smoking, drinking, and sex) and more likely to have positive traits (such as better self-esteem, higher grades, and more sleep).
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/adolescentped033006.htmFit Teens May Be Safer Teens
HealthDay News
The key to keeping kids on the straight and narrow may lie in keeping them physically fit and away from the TV. ...On the other hand, "adolescents who spend a lot of time watching TV or playing computer video games tend to be at higher risk for engaging in all of these risky behaviors," study co-author Dr. Penny Gordon-Larsen, assistant professor of nutrition, said in a prepared statement.
Extreme spots on Earth may yield clues to life on Mars
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Nathalie Cabrol will never get to Mars, but the 42-year-old NASA planetary scientist is doing the next best thing. ..."We have on our own planet something close to another biosphere,'' Andreas Teske, a marine scientist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told an astrobiology conference in Washington on March 28. ``We can call it extraterrestrial life on our own planet.''
Gene therapy trial offers hope
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Shelly Weller tries not to think about the long term. ..."Typically, these patients transition from being able to walk to wheelchairs by 6 to 9 years old," said R. Jude Samulski, director of the Gene Therapy Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "If we can rescue their lower limbs, that would be a tremendous advance in terms of quality of life."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/mdtrial032906.htmProtesting Yoo
The San Francisco Bay Guardian
They gather every Thursday afternoon outside UC Berkeley's Boalt School of Law, usually no more than a dozen committed souls, displaying enlarged photos of detainees who have been tortured by American soldiers and handing out flyers to mostly uninterested passersby. ...Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina, said the ambiguities created by the Bush and Yoo positions could be problematic on the ground: "It is a little bit confusing, and not outrightly clear, what the formal legal position on torture in the administration is and whether that's being communicated on the battlefield."
Culinary icon gets Southern makeover
Tribune Media Services
...Marcie Cohen Ferris, in "Matzo Ball Gumbo, Culinary Tales of the Jewish South" (University of North Carolina Press, $29.95), does not tell tales of Jews from Baton Rouge, but she does relate hilarious and heartwarming stories about how Southern and Jewish cultures have melded at the dinner table, throughout the South. Ferris, who is an assistant professor of American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, turned her doctoral dissertation into a readable account of how small communities of Jews throughout the South settled into the larger community and how they balanced their Southern and Jewish identities, something so many of our immigrant populations are wrestling with today.
System relies on formats that were developed by CDC to transmit, track statewide data
Government Computer News
When Hurricane Katrina evacuees reached North Carolina last year, public health officials tracked the resulting surge in emergency room visits via a standards-driven statewide biosurveillance network. “Katrina evacuees were using the emergency rooms for prescription refills and diabetes management,” said Dr. Anna Waller, principal investigator on the NC-DETECT project and a research associate professor at the University of North Carolina’s emergency medicine department.
State & Local Coverage
Aging nation to fight dementia
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
He feels lucky, Harold Edwards said, that his memory loss and other mental symptoms are easier to handle than those of his father and two sisters. ...The disease is getting more research, said Dr. Heidi Roth, assistant professor of neurology at UNC-Chapel Hill. "The exciting thing is that there may be different types of treatment and prevention for vascular dementia by treating risk factors early," Roth said.
CMS to alert DSS about sex allegations
The Charlotte Observer
For weeks, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials have defended their decision not to tell child welfare social workers about allegations of child molestation by a former teacher. ..."Understandably, there's a lot of confusion," said Janet Mason, a professor and juvenile law expert at the Institute of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill. "But if it's a crime, it's not something for DSS to work on."
Online, as in off, adult supervision is required
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Increasing concerns about the safety of teens who socialize online haven't caused Joel Mock to panic. The information technology professional simply uses a few tricks to check his daughters' movements on Myspace.com. ..."It gets you connected to a community," says Debashis Aikat, a UNC-Chapel Hill professor who follows online social networking trends. "American young people have so much pressure to make friendships. ... A lot of these adolescents are going into cyberspace to make that connection with like-minded people."
Origin in PR, future all over (Opinion-editorial column)
The Charlotte Observer
Public relations professionals build reputations. Marketers build brands and sell products. Companies often hire separate firms to get both jobs done. ...Sridhar Balasubramanian, an associate professor of marketing at UNC-Chapel Hill, said it has gotten more expensive and difficult for global companies to work with multiple marketing and public relations firms and some are opting for one-stop shops
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/425313.htmlForum targets 'crisis of silence'
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When psychiatrist Linnea Smith and others began organizing a conference on sex trafficking two years ago, they decided to put the words "Breaking the Crisis of Silence" in the title because few people realized such human exploitation was happening in North Carolina. ...What has come out of the collaboration with UNC-Chapel Hill, the Carolina Women's Center and other agencies is a two-day international conference starting Friday at the Radisson Hotel in Research Triangle Park.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/straffic031606.htmDeLay passed PAC money on to Republicans in need in N.C.
The Winston-Salem Journal
Tom DeLay represented Sugarland, Texas, but his influence was felt nationwide. ...Ferrell Guillory, the director of the Program on Southern Politics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that in recent years, leaders of both parties have donated a lot of money to other party members because it helps them keep tight control over voting.
Too many of us overdo it with vitamin supplements (Commentary)
The Charlotte Observer
I've got a money-saving tip: Cut back on the number of vitamin supplements you buy. Three out of four American households buy vitamin and mineral supplements, spending $7 billion last year, according to industry figures reported last month by The Wall Street Journal. But in most cases, there's little evidence to show most supplements are effective. Sometimes, high doses can be harmful.
What's important? (Letter to the editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Dr. Robert Shelton, a scientist, credible physicist and provost of UNC-Chapel Hill, recently received a promotion to become president of the University of Arizona. The news received a bare mention in the back pages of The N&O.
Most Hospitals Dump Blood Donated By Certain Patients
WNCN-TV (NBC, Raleigh)
The Carolinas Blood Center is considering seeking a federal waiver to allow it to use blood donated by people with a rare genetic disease. ...Rex and the other 70 facilities nationwide accepting blood from hemochromatosis patients aren't allowed to charge a collection fee from donors. University of North Carolina Hospitals and the Duke University Medical Center charge for such services.
Roses & Raspberries (Editorial commentary)
The Chapel Hill News
Roses to coach Sylvia Hatchell and the North Carolina women's basketball team, for a spectacular season. It didn't end quite the way we had it scripted; Carolina, which had a bead on the national championship all year long, wound up falling in the semifinals to Maryland. Give the Terps credit; they were the only team all year to beat UNC's racehorses to the finish line, and they did it twice. ...Roses to the many students and staff from UNC -- and probably some from the area high schools, too -- who spent their spring breaks soaking up rays while working on hurricane relief in the Gulf Coast. It is customary to head south for spring break. Usually that means the beach somewhere for a week of fun, the exact nature of which we won't go into.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/helpothers030806.htm
Issues & Trends
UNC official will become chief financial officer at WFU
The Winston-Salem Journal
Nancy Suttenfield, the vice chancellor for finance and administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will become the chief financial officer at Wake Forest University.
Related Links: http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-720737.html
http://triad.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2006/04/03/daily20.htmlReport: North Carolina notable in nanotech
The Triangle Business Journal
About 20 percent of all nanotechnology research activity in the United States takes place in the South, and North Carolina is leading the pack, according to a report released Tuesday by the Southern Growth Policy Board. ...North Carolina claims two of the board's Top 25 nanotech publishing universities in North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and leads the region in the number of dissertations on nanotechnology published statewide at 122.
Produced by News Services, Carolina in the News is an e-mail sampling of current news media coverage about Carolina people and programs, as well as issues and trends that affect the university. Stories usually will be online and available free for a limited time - often one to two weeks. Expiration dates before stories move to archives vary by media outlet. Some outlets require free user registration or a subscription.
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