June 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

Combination drugs to combat cancer
Reuters
Using combinations of “smart bomb” cancer drugs that target specific proteins and avoid the indiscriminate cell destruction of chemotherapy may be the wave of the future for cancer patients, experts say. ... “Most of us feel that except for in very rare instances, tumours are driven by multiple pathways and therefore it makes sense that a multi-targeted approach makes most sense,” said Mark Socinski, associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun06/lungcaner060106.htm

Congo-Kinshasa: U.S. Ambassador Inaugurates HIV/Aids Care Center in Kinshasa
AllAfrica.com
U.S. Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Roger Meece June 3 helped inaugurate an HIV/AIDS care unit in the Bomoi healthcare center, a community facility operated by the Salvation Army in the capital's N'Djili neighborhood. ... The University of North Carolina received funding from the U.S. government to set up the HIV/AIDS care unit, which will have the primary task of providing healthcare to patients and their families suffering from the disease that has killed 23 million people worldwide, 90 percent of them in Africa.

National Coverage

Pfizer's Sutent May Treat Lung Cancer, Study Says
Bloomberg News
Pfizer Inc.'s Sutent, the drugmaker's new medicine for stomach and kidney tumors, halted the growth of lung cancer in about half of patients with advanced disease in a small study. ... "The majority of patients had some evidence of tumor shrinkage,'' with many shrinking 30 percent or more," said Mark A. Socinski, associate professor at the University of North Carolina's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Pfizer's Sutent shrinks tumors in kidneys, lungs
CNNMoney.com
Sutent, an anti-cancer drug from Pfizer that's been on the market just a few months, shrank tumors and stopped them from spreading in the lungs and kidneys of patients, according to studies unveiled this weekend. ... Dr. Mark Socinski, the lead researcher in the lung cancer study who is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina's oncology program, acknowledged that the study was still in the early stages, but said that Sutent "could have a place in the treatment of lung cancer, either alone or in combination with other agents."
Related Links: http://www.thestreet.com/_googlen/stocks/pharmaceuticals/
10289630.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA
http://www.medpagetoday.com/2005MeetingCoverage/2005ASCOMeeting/tb/3457

The Return of Fania, the Record Company That Made Salsa Hot
The New York Times
Fania Records, the legendary New York label that pioneered salsa, has often been called the Latin Motown. ... "Fania is the catalog of salsa music, an unmatched body of recordings," said David Garcia, an assistant professor of music at the University of North Carolina and an expert on Latin music.

Should you disinfect your computer keyboard? Will this harm it?
Boston Globe
Computer keyboards are a breeding ground for bacteria, especially when keyboards are shared, according to a study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology in March. ... Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, led by epidemiologist William A. Rutala, swabbed 25 computer keyboards that were used frequently by multiple nurses and other healthcare providers.
UNC Health Care News Release: http://www.unchealthcare.org/site/newsroom/news/2006/Apr/keyboards

The Right Time and Place for Big Questions
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In April a national poll conducted by Harvard University found that seven out of 10 college students consider religion to be important in their lives. ... the class will also probably contain a larger group of students in the middle, whom Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in his recent book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford 2005), calls "moralistic, therapeutic deists" — those who affirm that religion is a "good thing" because it makes you feel like a better person.

Regional Coverage

Popular Grilling Foods Could Help Keep You Young
WKRC-TV (Cincinnati, CBS)
It turns out that there is something in many of the meats we commonly toss on the grill that could help keep at least part of your body forever young. ... A new study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found a nutrient in these meats might help reduce the odds of what is called cartilage erosion and that is the very thing that leads to knee pain, joint pain, and osteoarthritis.

The shadow lingers
The York Daily Record (York, Pa.)
Ten years ago a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to link radiation from the Three Mile Island accident to health problems in test cases of about 2,000 plaintiffs. ... Steve Wing, associate professor in the epidemiology department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, found as the estimated radiation dose increased, the cancer incidence increased after the accident, based on where plumes from the accident traveled.

Outdoor theaters fight for survival
The Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)
Locally and nationally, historical dramas such as Prestonsburg's The Legend of Jenny Wiley and popular theater venues like Danville's Pioneer Playhouse have been challenged to make ends meet with increasing production costs and an increasingly distracted audience. ... It is not a challenge Kentucky theaters face alone. "Audiences are splintering off in dozens of different directions," says Scott Parker, director of the Institute of Outdoor Drama at the University of North Carolina.

State & Local Coverage

Progress -- finally -- on Carolina North (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Well, at least they're talking. And at least they're talking civilly. That's a start. The Carolina North Leadership Advisory Committee met again this past week and progress was made. Perhaps the most significant aspect of that progress was that there was no real sniping at the meeting, as there had been, via long distance, in the days before.

Bus tour put challenges in front seat (Opinion-editorial column)
The Chapel Hill News
Last month's Tar Heel Bus Tour was a five-day crash course in North Carolina. The trip revealed both the state's "challenges" and its "opportunities," to quote UNC Chancellor James Moeser, who graciously hosted three dozen new faculty, librarians and administrators on a journey from Halifax to Beaufort and Charlotte to Chimney Rock. ... Philip Cohen is an associate professor of sociology at UNC.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may06/bustour051106.htm

N.C. loses one of its great friends (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Hugh Morton, who died this week at age 85, was known for many things. He was a photographer whose varied subjects included North Carolina celebrities, Tar Heel sports heroes and mountain vistas. He was an ardent conservationist who fought the federal government and won. He was a decorated veteran of World War II, a civic leader and a successful businessman.
Chancellor's statement: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun06/mortonstatement060106.htm

Mountain man (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Hugh Morton, who died Thursday at the age of 85, will be eulogized in a multitude of places with many memories. Photographers will remember him as one of the best of their number, a master of the landscape, of the spontaneous shot, of the casual capture of a famous personality.
Related Links: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/
WSJ_ColumnistArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149188226362
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/14737667.htm
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/447102.html

Summer school surplus at UNC
The Chapel Hill Herald
At lunchtime one day last week, Garrett Kimball was one of a handful of UNC students studying outside of Lenoir Hall. ... Enrollment in UNC's summer classes has been growing in recent years, but much of that increase is in off-campus programs -- like study abroad or distance learning.

N.C. tribe leaders gather for health
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
State health statistics show that American Indians are more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis than whites or African-Americans in North Carolina. ... Mekeisha Williams and Lisa Macon Harrison from (North Carolina Institute for Public Health which is part of the UNC School of Public Health) led classes on the basics of public health and leadership.

Groups work to avoid end-of-life battles
The News & Observer
In North Carolina … the statutory tools patients and their families use to direct the ends of their lives are confusing, limited and often ineffective when death is near, say doctors, lawyers and others at work on changing them. … Dr. Anthony Caprio, assistant professor of medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill, says the new form should work for people no matter their views on prolonging life.

Dizzy? It may be loose crystals
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Technically known as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, it accounts for about 50 percent of dizziness in people over 50. And its incidence will increase as baby boomers grow older. ... The condition arises when calcium carbonate crystals get loose in the inner ear, wind up in the semi-circular canals and cause changes in sensation on one side of the head, said Dr. Craig Buchman, a UNC-Chapel Hill professor and chief of neurotology and skull-based surgery.

Link of sports, society discussed
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Although sports sometimes free people from society's norms, they often reveal and shape ideas of right and wrong, said Jan Boxill, who teaches ethics in UNC-Chapel Hill's philosophy department. ... "Sports without a doubt reflect society, but not just passively," she said. "Sport also reflects back on society."

Longtime Ackland director departed
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
(Ackland Art Museum) Gerald D. Bolas, 56, says that after 30 years directing three museums, it was time to pursue a consulting business that he has anted for a long time. ... "I love the Ackland. It's been a privilege to be the director at this great university," Bolas said.
Note: No link available.

The Da Vinci opening (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
The debates over "The Da Vinci Code" book and movie have shown many curious Americans how ignorant they are about biblical history. ... At least 45 books challenge or explain the many points in Dan Brown's religious murder mystery, including a good one by Bart Ehrman, religious studies chairman at UNC Chapel Hill.

Issues & Trends

Heavy-handed on campus crime (Opinion-editorial column)
The Daily News (Jacksonville, N.C.)
Now, if one state senator gets his way, fingerprinting could be, well, routine, for thousands of teenagers every year. Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake, has filed a bill that would require the University of North Carolina to conduct background checks, including fingerprinting, on everyone admitted into the system.

Tar Heels don't scrimp as hosts
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It took more than an impressive record for North Carolina to become the host team in this weekend's Chapel Hill Regional baseball tournament. ... Athletics director Dick Baddour said Carolina offered $65,000 to the NCAA, which requires a minimum guarantee of $50,000 from the bidding team.

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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