July 13, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

Jobs start to flow again for MBA students
Financial Times, UK
With an enormous sigh of relief US business schools confirmed this summer that the dearth of jobs for graduating Master of Business Administration students is coming to an end....Both are now back in the market, although Mindy Storrie, director of graduate career service at the Kenan-Flagler school at the University of North Carolina and recently appointed president of the MBA Career Services Council, believes management consultancies have changed the way they hire MBAs.

National Coverage

Will Compasses Point South?
The New York Times
The collapse of the Earth's magnetic field, which both guards the planet and guides many of its creatures, appears to have started in earnest about 150 years ago....Dr. Kenneth J. Lohmann, a biologist at the University of North Carolina who has pioneered magnetic navigation studies in loggerhead turtles, said if the field became weak enough "there would be problems for the turtles." His research suggests they use it not only for a general sense of direction but as a precise map of their location.

New, Lower Goal Is Set for Cholesterol
The Wall Street Journal
Heart experts are once again revising cholesterol treatment guidelines, urging patients with high risk of heart attacks to consider reducing their LDL, or bad cholesterol, to levels significantly below current recommendations....Sidney Smith, a cardiologist at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of the panel, said an update was necessary because recently reported clinical trials suggest that patients considered in compliance with the 2001 guidelines get additional benefits -- including improved survival -- with even-lower LDL.

Cholesterol guidelines get stricter
USA Today
Updated government guidelines published Tuesday suggest that people at risk for a heart attack or stroke should lower their "bad" cholesterol levels even further than previously recommended....An LDL of 100 "yields results, but 70 looks even better," says co-author Sidney Smith, a cardiologist at the University of North Carolina.

Doctors now want your cholesterol even lower, but how?
USA Today
If you have high cholesterol, you might feel like throwing up your hands when you hear that experts are now suggesting that some people reduce their LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, even lower than what doctors had been telling patients...."I don't think we should try to do this with drugs alone," says Sidney Smith, a University of North Carolina cardiologist.

Reduce bad cholesterol even more, U.S. advises
Chicago Sun-Times
The government is advising people at high risk for heart attacks to try even harder to lower their bad cholesterol....Patients with high LDL cholesterol should exercise, lose weight if overweight and eat a low-saturated fat diet, said Dr. Sidney Smith of the University of North Carolina, a member of the guidelines panel.

Heart Patients Urged to Slash Cholesterol
National Associated Press
Health officials are issuing a stern message to people who have recently had a heart attack: Lower your "bad cholesterol" to rock-bottom levels...."By doing this we expect further reduction of death from heart disease, as well as heart attacks, and the need for expensive re-vascularization procedures like bypass surgery and coronary angioplasty," said Dr. Sidney Smith, a co-author, former president of the American Heart Association and professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina.

Cholesterol: How Low Is Low?
CBS News
People who have recently had a heart attack should lower their "bad cholesterol" to rock bottom levels, according to new guidelines issued Monday...."By doing this we expect further reduction of death from heart disease, as well as heart attacks, and the need for expensive re-vascularization procedures like bypass surgery and coronary angioplasty," says Dr. Sidney Smith, a co-author, former president of the American Heart Association and professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina.

Bart Ehrman discusses neglected and recently rediscovered ancient Christian writings
NPR, "Fresh Air"
Bart Ehrman is a scholar of neglected and recently rediscovered ancient Christian writings. He has two recent books. "Lost Scriptures" is a collection of writings from books that didn't make it into the New Testament. Some of the translations are his own. In the book "Lost Christianities," Ehrman explores what these non-canonical writings reveal about the various forms of Christian faith and practice in the second and third centuries. Ehrman chairs the religious studies department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Terry spoke to him in December.

State & Local News

UNC shapes program to aid citizen-soldiers, their families
Asheville Citizen-Times
UNC Chapel Hill is leading an effort to help families of military reservists and national guardsmen cope with the stresses of life while their loved ones are overseas....Chancellor James Moeser said the U.S. House Appropriations Committee last month approved $3 million for the university's Citizen-Soldier Initiative.

A state university hopes to reach out to military families
WLOS-TV (ABC, Asheville)
UNC-Chapel Hill proposes a new program to offer more support to people on the home front...(JAMES MOESER, CHANCELLOR:) "These families we found don't have the kind of support regular military get like at Ft. Bragg, because they're dispersed in small communities."

Pre-election manager choice OK
Shelby Star, NC
Cleveland County Manager Lane Alexander announced last week he would retire at the end of November....The N.C. General Statutes delegates commissioners to choose the manager, but it does not say if it must be done before or after an election, according to A. Fleming Bell II, a professor of public law and government at the N.C. Institute of Government.

Immobilizer enables bypass surgery on beating heart
Triangle Business News
Coronary artery bypass operations have become a common surgical procedure in this country. Recently developed medical devices are giving heart surgeons more options for conducting the surgery....There was an "explosion in the number of CABGs done in the '70s and '80s," according to University of North Carolina cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Brett Sheridan, when improvements in the technology made the surgery "much safer and easier."

Shaffer, raised funds for UNC
The News & Observer
Charles Milton Shaffer, the first director of fund raising at UNC-Chapel Hill and a Tar Heel football player during the leather-helmet era, died Monday at a retirement community in Winston-Salem. He was 90.

Issues & Trends

Chancellor Compensation (Editorial)
The Winston-Salem Journal
The University of North Carolina Board of Governors avoided the politically expedient path to solving its chancellors' compensation problem last week in rejecting the notion of private pay for public service.

State senator questions UNC funding formula
The Herald-Sun
A longtime state senator has raised questions about the way the UNC system calculates its funding needs for enrollment growth, going so far as offering an amendment that would have dropped $64 million from the university's budget.

N.C. Senator Says Future Of UNC Scholarships May Be In Life Insurance
WRAL-TV (CBS, Raleigh)
An unusual fund-raising scheme is raising eyebrows in the insurance industry....The measure is tied to the budget about to be agreed on in the Legislature. Sen. Tony Rand, of Fayetteville, who also is treasurer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Alumni Association, came up with the idea as a way to raise money for his alma mater.

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/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.

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