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July 19, 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
Statin or low LDL cholesterol linked to Parkinson's Disease
SpiritIndia.com
Results of a recent study linking low LDL cholesterol to Parkinson's provide the strongest evidence to date that it could be real, because statins work by reducing LDL cholesterol. The study by researchers at University of North Carolina showed that patients with low levels of LDL cholesterol are more than three and a half times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than those with higher LDL levels.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/dec06/parkinsonsldl121806.htmBrain tissue reveals possible genetic trigger for schizophrenia
SpiritIndia.com
A study led by scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may have identified a molecular mechanism involved in the development of schizophrenia.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/perkins032807.htmlSuped-up computed tomography scanners
News-Medical.net (Australia)
A University of North Carolina team has pioneered a method that collects images from many sources at once, instead of the current serial method of data collection. UNC's Jian Zhang will discuss the technique at next week's annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in Minneapolis.
National Coverage
Obama, Edwards Shift Focus to US Poverty
The Associated Press (National)
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday challenged John Edwards' claim as the anti-poverty candidate and reminded voters of his experience working with the inner-city poor. ...After the 2004 presidential election won by George W. Bush, Edwards helped establish a poverty center at the University of North Carolina.
Related Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/WireStory?id=3391451&page=2Study: Liquid calories often result in people eating more later
The Los Angeles Times
Glasses of juice may go down easier and quicker than bowls of fruit, but if you drink them, beware. ...Barry Popkin, the director of the interdisciplinary obesity program at the University of North Carolina, says the study highlights how a broad array of liquid foods do not fill people up the way solid foods do.
Bush Advisers Try to Fix Tech Policy
The Chronicle of Higher Education
On the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, members have spent a year evaluating the 14 federal agencies that support IT research, to the annual tune of $3.1-billion. "Almost all academic computing is covered by this umbrella," said Daniel A. Reed, a council member and vice chancellor for information technology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Regional Coverage
Big financial news
The Times (New Jersey)
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch can't buy love, but he's willing to pay $5 billion for Dow Jones and the next best thing: respectability. ...The true test would come if the Journal prepared a hard-hitting investigative piece on a topic such as China, a market of keen interest to Murdoch, said Chrisopher Roush, an assistant professor of business journalism at the University of North Carolina.
State & Local Coverage
UNC and Chinese university open logistics center in Beijing
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Tsinghua University, China's top technology university, officially have launched a new joint Research Center for Logistics and Economic Development in Beijing with four days of events at the center.
UNC News Brief: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2007/071807.htmlUNC, Chinese university open center
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is teaming up with a Chinese university to open a logistics center in Beijing. UNC and Tsinghua University, China's top technology university, launched the Research Center for Logistics and Economic Department earlier this week.
Grant to expand UNC program
The Chapel Hill Herald
A UNC-based program aimed at improving the quality of preventive medical care given at primary care practices has been awarded a grant to expand the program. The program, called Improving Performance in Practice, will receive nearly $250,000 from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust to add 10 new primary care practices that serve low-income individuals. The goal is to dramatically improve preventive care provided in primary care practices.
'Paris of the Piedmont' due for name change?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A local group trying to temporarily change Carrboro's nickname might get a boost today when activist Cindy Sheehan comes to town....Erik Engstrom, an assistant professor of political science at UNC-Chapel Hill, said he would be shocked if the calls for impeachment went anywhere.
Homes don't fit near airport
The News-Record (Greensboro)
Developer Roy Carroll did do the right thing, even if he didn't quite sound as if he'd convinced himself. ...It makes more sense to reserve the airport area for development that takes best advantage of the transportation opportunities the airport is poised to provide. That point was stressed recently by John D. Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC-Chapel Hill, in a report for Piedmont Triad Partnership.
Volunteers take over rape crisis center
The Fayetteville Observer
After 31 years of service, Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County is right back where it started — a poorly funded organization run by volunteers. ...But it may not be enough to keep the center going — especially without a full-time leader to take charge, said Donna Bickford, director of the Carolina Women’s Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Final public forum slated on Chatham's economic development
Chatham Journal Weekly
With four public forums already completed, the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has slated one final community forum to receive input from residents on economic development. ...The forum will be led by staff from the University of North Carolina’s Center for Competitive Economies, an economic development research center at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
Don't drink yourself fat (Commentary)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
If you want to gain weight, have a drink. That's because when you drink your calories, you are likely to take in more of them than if you chewed them as solid food instead. ...Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and clinical assistant professor in Department of Health Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill.
What’s eating you? (Commentary)
Mountain Express
The other day, a young mother from the Midwest called the Tick-Borne Infections Council of North Carolina. She had just visited North Carolina, had gone hiking, and upon her return home had found a tick embedded in her skin. ...Marcia Herman-Giddens, an adjunct professor of child and family health at the UNC School of Public Health, is president of the Tick-Borne Infections Council of North Carolina.
Issues & Trends
No easy solutions to campus safety
The Chapel Hill Herald
In the immediate aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, campus and law enforcement officials took a lot of heat for their response procedures. ...UNC system officials are learning, however, that it's easy to criticize, but that coordination of a reaction to such an event is anything but "cut and dried."
Inspire receives $75 million infusion
The News & Observer
Inspire Pharmaceuticals ensured it has the money it needs to simultaneously introduce a new pink-eye treatment and continue development of other experimental drugs by raising $75 million from a blue-chip investor.
Note: Inspire is among UNC's spin-off companies.
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.
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