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July 25, 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
Party drugs helping spread HIV
The Australian
Party drugs such as crystal methamphetamine have been firmly linked to HIV infection among young gay men in the US. ...According to the team leader -- infectious disease expert Christopher Hurt with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- the findings confirmed that gay sex and club drugs were a dangerous cocktail that was helping to spread HIV "like wildfire".
Related link: http://www.ssonet.com.au/display.asp?ArticleID=6792
Osteo med castrates drug-resistant bacteria
National Review of Medicine (Canada)
A team of US researchers found that clodronate and etidronate, first generation bisphosphonates, block an enzyme in E coli cells that allows bacterial 'mating' and gene transfer. "The surprise was that they also killed the cells carrying the resistance gene," says lead author Matt Redinbo, PhD, biochemist and biophysicist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Regional Coverage
'Elaborate game of chicken': UW player in faculty hiring, retention game
The Capital Times (Wis.)
UW-Madison officials complain frequently about raids by other universities that pay more to steal key faculty, leading Gov. Jim Doyle to include a $10 million faculty retention fund in his proposed UW System budget earlier this year. ...Steve Allred, executive associate provost at UNC Chapel Hill, wouldn't comment on Golden's departure for UW-Madison except to say: "We miss him, he was a great guy, but now he is a full dean."
Coaches divided on proposal for preseason practice
The Daily Record (N.J.)
According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, 31 football players have suffered heat-stroke deaths since 1995 in the United States.
Summer safety at amusement parks
The Buffalo News (N.Y.)
As children enjoy the long, lazy days of summer, parents may want to bone up on precautionary measures. ...A team at the University of North Carolina has linked a high cumulative level of sun exposure between infancy and age 20 with the development of a mutation known as BRAF in the skin cancer gene, which accounts for about half of all melanomas.
State & Local Coverage
HIV drugs get start elsewhere
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
HIV/AIDS drug development is booming. Dozens of experimental medicines and vaccines are being studied to see which will help patients live longer and maybe even prevent infection. ..."We are very, very busy," said Dr. Charles van der Horst, an AIDS specialist at UNC. "We're doing tons of studies."
Knight Chair being expanded
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The Knight Chair at UNC's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, a professorship created in 1991, is being expanded to embrace the digital age with a new title and an endowment boost of $200,000.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jul07/knightunc072307.html
UNC construction boom beginning to wind down
The Chapel Hill News
After five years of unmatched expansion, the largest construction program in the history of the UNC system is winding down. With almost 75 percent of the $2.5 billion program complete, the final projects on the 16 campuses should be done by late next year. "We might see a day when we have more expensive construction programs, but I don't know if we will ever match the pace of the past seven years," said Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor for facilities planning and construction at UNC-CH.
Weight-loss advice: If it's not water, rethink that drink (Commentary)
The Charlotte Observer
If you want to gain weight, have a drink. When you drink your calories in liquid form, you are likely to take in more calories than if you chewed your food instead. It's an observation confirmed recently by research reported by nutrition scientists at Purdue University. Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC.
Those cons have pros (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Your July 20 item "Pros and cons of Edwards' plan to attack poverty," which ran alongside a longer article on John Edwards' campaign, was misleading. ...Sandy Smith-Nonini, Ph.D. Research assistant professor, Department of Anthropology UNC-Chapel Hill.
Issues & Trends
Out-of-state alums ride with pride
The Charlotte Observer
When Jaimee Mancuso, 25, moved to Charlotte two years ago, one of the first things she did was order a Virginia Tech license tag. ...The first college tags, including UNC Chapel Hill, N.C. State and East Carolina, appeared in 1992 after the schools approached the state legislature.
Powelltoon, football places (Cartoon)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
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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