Aug. 2, 2007

Carolina in the News

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:

International Coverage

Swift action needed
Welland Tribune (Canada)
...In July 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Elaprase. Health Canada approved its use last month. The American approval was based on a study by Dr. Joseph Muenzer, associate professor of pediatrics and genetics at the University of North Carolina, who conducted a year-long trial in 2004.

Drug industry increasingly influences breast cancer research
SpiritIndia.com
Breast cancer treatment trials supported by the pharmaceutical industry are more likely to report positive results than non-sponsored studies, according to a study to be published in the April 1, 2007 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. ...Breast cancer affects over 1 million women worldwide annually, making treatment R&D in this area important for public health and potentially lucrative if an effective drug is developed. Jeffrey Peppercorn, M.D., M.P.H. of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and his colleagues investigated the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and published breast cancer therapy research.

U.S. army kids hurt by deployment, study finds
Nova Scotia News (Canada)
Incidents of child abuse and neglect among U.S. army families rise significantly when a parent is deployed to a combat zone and the problem is greatest when women are left behind to keep the home fires burning, a study has found. ..."But what we found when we looked at that is really it seemed that the deployment had the greatest effect on the civilian wives that were left behind when their husbands went off to war," Martin said Tuesday from Chapel Hill, N.C. "For that particular group, when we analyzed the data, we found that the rate of child neglect increased almost four times amongst these women, and the rate of physical child abuse almost doubled."

National Coverage

Progesterone Prevents Preterm Birth for Some Women
HealthDay News
The hormone progesterone may help prevent preterm birth in some women, but it doesn't work for everyone. ..."The phenomenon of preterm birth is complex and there are probably multiple pathways involved so, ultimately, we will probably have to have multiple solutions," said Dr. John Thorp, a co-author on the twin study and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Related Link: http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=16807
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug07/ThorpProgesterone072707.html

Regional Coverage

Coping with deployment: Army says it helps families
The Olympian (Wash.)
Fort Lewis and Madigan Army Medical Center develop and offer many programs to help military families deal with stress when a spouse is deployed to a combat zone, officials said Wednesday. Their remarks came on the day the Journal of the American Medical Association published an Army-funded study that found incidents of child neglect and abuse among Army families significantly increased when a parent is deployed to a combat zone. ...The study, conducted by the nonprofit RTI International and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, found that the rate of child mistreatment was more than 40 percent higher during deployment than when a soldier-parent was home.
Related Link: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/health/13799930/detail.html
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jul07/MilitaryAbuse072607.html

FSU conducts a study with at-risk mothers
The Tallahassee Democrat (Fla.)
...Kiara Cromer, a Florida State University doctoral student from Helena, Montana, is studying the occurrence of obsessive compulsive symptoms after women give birth. Cromer received $36,000 from the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation, beating out researchers who have already earned doctorates or medical degrees, to develop and test a prevention program at FSU and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill for postpartum obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

State & Local Coverage

UNC receives Mellon grant
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York has given a $2.5 million grant to UNC-Chapel Hill for medieval and early modern studies.
Related Link: http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2007/07/30/daily25.html?jst=b_ln_hl
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug07/medievalmellon080107.html

Legislature establishing cancer research fund at UNC
The Chapel Hill Herald
The state's first University Cancer Research Fund will be established at the UNC School of Medicine and the university's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. ..."There are 41,000 new cancer cases and 17,000 deaths annually in North Carolina, and more than 560,000 annual deaths nationally. Cancer is an economic, social and personal burden for our state and affected families," said William Roper, dean of the School of Medicine and chief executive officer of the UNC Health Care System.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug07/nccancerfundnat080107.html

Plans Unveiled for Carolina North Project
WRAL-TV (CBS)
The public got a peek Tuesday at one of the largest development projects in Chapel Hill history. Carolina North, which is designed to be an academic and research campus, will sit on 250 university-owned acres two miles north of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

Trustees to get look at Carolina North plans
The Carrboro Citizen
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees reviews concept plans this week for 15-year and 50-year build outs for Carolina North. In its initial phase, the plans call for a cluster of buildings adjacent to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Municipal Drive along with a co-generation plant, transit stations and other infrastructure to be built over a 15-year span. The 15-year plan includes an estimated 4,700-5,000 parking spaces and roughly 2.5 million square feet of facilities including research centers, the possible move of the UNC Law School and other academic activities, patient care clinics and offices for UNC Health Care and housing.

Think before you guzzle that diet soda (Commentary)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Soft drink makers just can't catch a break these days. Regular sugar-packed soft drinks, blamed for rising obesity rates in children, have been the target of school vending machine vigilantes and parents on junk food patrol. Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a licensed, registered dietitian. She holds a doctorate in health policy and administration from UNC-Chapel Hill where she directs the doctoral program in health leadership in the School of Public Health.

UNC fuss over article is inching to action
The Chapel Hill Herald
The dispute over whether a university publication is obligated to publish an article submitted by the UNC Employee Forum inched toward formal action Wednesday, but it may be months before the situation is resolved.

Ruffin's poll to test waters for tax hike
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
County Manager Mike Ruffin says he's already commissioned a poll that would gauge voter opinion on the possibility of raising either the county's sales or land transfer taxes to raise money to help finance infrastructure. A professor from UNC Chapel Hill will conduct the poll on the county's behalf, and try to contact 350 to 400 voters, Ruffin said.

Hamner Institute Hosts Program to Encourage More Chemistry, Science Students
WRAL-TV (CBS)
The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences will host a symposium on Aug. 2 designed to encourage more students to pursue chemistry or related degrees and careers. ...The symposium wraps up an eight-week program that enabled students to participate in activities at Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Issues & Trends

Senate committee kills bill to stop tuition break
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
A state Senate committee has killed a bill sponsored by Durham Rep. Paul Luebke that would have ended the tuition break graduates of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics receive at UNC system universities.

Questionable results (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Regarding the July 28 news story "Duke discounts hydraulic incident": Duke University Health System has released a two-year follow-up report on a group of 3,648 patients who were inadvertently exposed to hydraulic fluid while undergoing surgery at Duke Hospitals. The report concludes that there were no ill effects from this exposure. However, anyone with a background in medical research will be able to spot a fatal flaw in the design of this study: It does not include a comparison group of patients who underwent normal surgery (without exposure to hydraulic fluid). Steve Marshall is an epidemiologist at UNC-Chapel Hill.

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.

Carolina in the News is also posted daily to the News Services Web page, http://www.unc.edu/news/clips/index.shtml.

Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.