June 4, 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

New leader keeps Cuban life on track
The Associated Press (International)
If Fidel Castro is larger than life, his brother seems almost smaller than it. ..."The conventional wisdom is that under Raul there will be less government by charisma and more government by procedure and protocol," said Louis Perez, a history professor at the University of North Carolina and author of numerous books on Cuba.

Flaxseed helps check prostate tumour spread
DailyIndia.com
A new study led by researchers at the Duke University Medical Center has found that Flaxseed, an edible seed that is rich in omega 3-fatty acids and fiber-related compounds known as lignans, is effective in halting prostate tumour growth. ...The multisite study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, also involved researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Retinopathy risk for migraine
ArabianBusiness.com (United Arab Emirates)
Middle-aged people with a history of migraines without aura have an increased risk for retinopathy, US researchers have found. Although any type of headache was associated with an increased risk, the link was only significant among subjects with migraine without aura, said lead author, Kathryn Rose, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina.

Avandia users told not to stop
Reuters
Patients should not haphazardly stop taking the controversial diabetes drug Avandia, even though it has been linked to heart risks, an early critic of the drug said yesterday. Dr. John Buse, chief of endocrinology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and incoming president of the American Diabetes Association, was one of the first experts to query the safety of GlaxoSmithKline's blockbuster drug.

With few options, Bancrofts soften Dow Jones stance
Reuters
The Bancroft family that controls Dow Jones & Co. has been criticized a lot in recent years for not investing enough in one of the world's great media brand names and for picking managers who pursued failed strategies. ..."That story's been told over and over again among newspaper families," said Philip Meyer, professor at the University of North Carolina and author of "The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age."
Related link: http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=165975

Corporate giving -- with strings
United Press International
Multinational businesses -- desperate to solve their public image crisis -- used to be content to simply shell out donations. Now, they want a share of the action, executives from some of the world's largest companies said Friday. ... With more involvement, private donors must also work to improve business practices that hurt overall health and try to avoid undermining the strong public health sectors that already exist in countries like Brazil, said Roger Nescimento, a fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Step on it!
The Ottawa Sun
More than half of Ottawa voters think speed limits should stay put on local highways, a new poll suggests. ...According to a 2001 University of North Carolina study, cellphones figure low on the driver distraction list, with radios and CDs and other passengers being 10 times more likely to be the cause of car accidents than phone use.

National Coverage

Immigrants Equal Growth . . .
The Washington Post
The Senate's rancorous debate over immigration reform has for the moment muffled an equally contentious dispute about immigrants' economic impact. ...That nets out to a modest $61 million drain on state coffers. But the study, by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also found that that deficit was dwarfed by the fact that Hispanics contributed more than $9 billion, or some 3 percent, to the state's economy in 2004, an amount projected to double by 2009.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/economicimpact010306.htm

Diabetes Expert to Testify on Avandia
The Wall Street Journal
GlaxoSmithKline PLC said it once had a scientific disagreement with a leading diabetes expert who was raising concerns in 1999 and 2000 about a potential heart risk tied to the drug Avandia, and the physician said that at the time he felt "intimidated" by the company. John Buse, a professor at the University of North Carolina and an incoming president of the American Diabetes Association, said in a written statement to The Wall Street Journal that he intended to reveal details about his 1999 encounter with the drug maker, then SmithKline Beecham, only under subpoena.

Doctor Says Drug Maker Tried to Quash His Criticism of Avandia
The New York Times
When a Congressional committee holds a hearing next Wednesday, the subject will be the safety of the diabetes drug Avandia and whether federal drug regulators have paid close enough attention to its potential risks. ...Dr. Burant said he was not familiar with specifics, but that the pressure had included Glaxo’s contacting the University of North Carolina medical school, where Dr. Buse was then on the faculty and is now the head of endocrinology.
Related link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/business/02statement.html

Mix, Scratch and Spin: You, Too, Can Become a D.J.
The New York Times
AT nightclubs, Bill Blaney long admired the skills and style of hip-hop D.J.’s. He spoke for years about wanting to keep an audience enthralled by scratching records and mixing digital sound to create music. ...Mark Katz, a musicologist and assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, credits the schools with democratizing the process of becoming a D.J.

Dealing with a batty situation: Wood vs. metal
USA Today
The decades-old debate between advocates of metal baseball bats and those who favor wood heated up this spring in New York City with the March 16 passage of a City Council bill to outlaw metal bats in high school games starting Sept. 1. ...Frederick Mueller, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, testified to the New York City Council "there is no evidence that batted balls are a greater problem from aluminum bats as compared to wood bats."

At Least Half of Students Admit to Cheating
The Washington Post
What do ankles, calculators and water bottles have in common? ..."Anytime there are stakes, there is cheating," said Gregory J. Cizek, associate professor of educational measurement and evaluation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

How to Teach Business Ethics (Opinion-editorial column)
Inside Higher Ed
The dreaded question: “So, what are you teaching this semester?” When I reply that I teach a business ethics course, more often than not my questioner laughs and asks whether that isn’t an oxymoron. And then laughs some more. ...Terry L. Price is visiting associate professor of philosophy and a fellow at the Parr Center for Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Feathered" Dinosaur Was Bald, Not Bird Ancestor, Controversial Study Says
National Geographic News
A shadow of doubt has been thrown over the widely held theory that dinosaurs had feathers and that they gave rise to modern birds. ..."The existence of protofeathers in these dinosaurs was considered critical evidence that birds were derived from dinosaurs," said study co-author Alan Feduccia, a bird evolution expert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Gifts and Bequests
The Chronicle of Higher Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To support faculty and student research and academic programs at the School of Public Health: $50-million from Dennis and Joan Gillings.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/gillingsgift022107.html

Regional Coverage

Graduation advice: Be kind, believe, be good to your mom (Editorial)
The Rockford Register Star (Ill.)
Few of us remember what our high school or college commencement speakers had to say, but, most likely, the speech was some version of: Find your passion and follow it. Do good. Don’t be mean. ...Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the University of North Carolina, on leadership: “All too often, we follow people simply because they have commanded us to follow; they prompt us to put aside our doubts because they are decisive and because they are so sure they are right.”
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may07/postcommencement051407.html

Shanahan says concussion research helps
The Denver Post
As would any coach concerned about the safety of his players, the Broncos' Mike Shanahan was interested in learning about a study released this week about the effects of concussions. The study, conducted by Kevin Guskiewicz of the University of North Carolina's Center for the Study of Retired Athletes, found that NFL players who incurred at least three concussions during their pro careers were three times as likely to develop clinical depression than those with no concussions.
Related links: http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkx
MTkmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcxNDYxODMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/dolphins/content/sports/
epaper/2007/06/03/a1b_concussions_0603.html

Living Well: Pediatrician takes on teen weight battle
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
As a Stanford University resident physician in the San Francisco area, Dr. Eliana Perrin saw a high percentage of teenage patients who were overweight or obese. "That was in a state not known for overweight kids," she said. So when the pediatrician moved to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Children's Hospital, she figured the number of teen patients carrying unhealthy body weight would only increase.

Region destined to become aerotropolis, consultants say
Crain's Detroit Business
Policy consultants at the Mackinac Policy Conference said Friday that Southeast Michigan is destined to become an “aerotropolis” — a booming hub of air travel and commerce. The key will be to collaborate the planning efforts of Willow Run Airport, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, local and state governments and other key stakeholders to ensure development in and around the airports is “economically efficient, physically attractive and environmentally sustainable,” said John Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina.

State and Local Coverage

Lawmakers push for cancer research
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina legislators and UNC-Chapel Hill leaders want to put the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center on a level with household names in the field: Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. ...The center's director, Dr. Shelley Earp, said he's almost speechless at the proposed level of support.

Reform leaves uncertainty on education
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
As the immigration reform debate continues in Congress and around the country, the fate of increased higher education opportunities for undocumented students remains uncertain. ...Shirley Ort, director of financial aid at UNC Chapel Hill, said there are a handful of undocumented students at the school, but they don't qualify to receive state or federal funding.

Questions from readers (Question-answer)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As part of this series, The N&O has asked Dr. Douglas J. Crawford-Brown of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to answer your questions. Crawford-Brown is director of UNC's Institute for the Environment and a professor in the departments of environmental sciences and engineering, and public policy.

Fights, firings part of job
The Charlotte Observer
In other job interviews, being fired from a previous position or quitting because you couldn't get along with your bosses would be black marks on a resume. ...Carl Stenberg, a professor of public administration and government at the School of Government at UNC Chapel Hill, said he hasn't seen any statistics on how often city managers are fired.

Survey: Asthma out of control
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Preston Champion's family has no illusions about asthma's dangers. After no attacks for five years, Preston got socked by a bad one late one night in 2005. ..."Asthma is the leading cause of lost school time for children. It's one of the leading causes of hospitalization. It can be better controlled and people can have improvements to their lives," said Dr. David Peden, director of UNC's Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biology.

Over $1 million in taxes spent by representatives on bulk mail
The Winston-Salem Journal
House members of the North Carolina congressional delegation spent more than $1 million of taxpayer money on bulk mailings to constituents during the last Congress. ..."First-term members of Congress are most vulnerable in that first re-election campaign," said Ferrel Guillory, the director of the Program on Public Life at UNC Chapel Hill.

Peek into an extinct way of American life (Opinion column)
The Charlotte Observer
Gastonia's cotton mill kids reach out across 99 years. ...And it was there Gastonia native and UNC Chapel Hill professor Robert Allen found them about two years ago, while researching an unrelated project. "They were incredibly arresting images," Allen, 56, told me recently. "They resonated with me very powerfully."

Inland, more rain may not quench thirst
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Eroding beaches and widening estuaries aren't the only water-related trouble expected from climate change in North Carolina. ...The Orange County water utility has asked UNC-Chapel Hill geography professor Larry Band for help. The watershed expert is trying to evaluate which climate change predictions are most accurate for Orange County. That would clarify how changes will affect its ability to deliver water to customers, said Ed Holland, the utility's planning director.

Study asks how ADHD teens cope
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Paula Luper failed her end-of-third-grade test in 1998, leaving 14 questions blank. ...Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University chose Johnston County because of its diversity and manageable size.

UNC eyeing law school relocation
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC officials plan to take a serious look at the notion of relocating the School of Law to the envisioned Carolina North campus. ..."It's at the very early stages," UNC's Jack Evans said about the law school idea. "It's an interesting possibility to all parties."

Imagining Carolina North (Opinion column)
The Chapel Hill News
Imagine... Imagine a thriving research community in the heart of Chapel Hill -- a home for innovative technologies and business opportunities, a model of sustainability, self-sufficient, self-powered, a place of the future on a footprint small enough to preserve the surrounding 700 acres of woodlands and streams. ...When the subject of Carolina North comes up, you are almost certain to hear one of these two scenarios described, depending on who's doing the talking. It sometimes seems like the future is either the shining city on the hill or doom and gloom, with nothing in between.

UNC med school receives donation
The Chapel Hill Herald
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings has made a gift to UNC's divisions of clinical laboratory science and cytotechnology to name a new cytotechnology classroom in the School of Medicine's Bondurant Hall.

Timing of sun exposure may affect melanoma mutations
The Chapel Hill Herald
Skin cancers often contain different gene mutations, but just how these mutations contribute to the cause of melanomas has been a mystery. ..."The findings suggest that melanoma subtypes have different causes. This is important for learning more about how to prevent and treat skin cancer," said Nancy Thomas, associate professor of dermatology in the UNC School of Medicine, a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and lead author of the study.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may07/skincancer053007.html

Rex won't lose its hue as UNC Health goes blue
The Triangle Business Journal
UNC Health Care, and its flagship hospital in Chapel Hill, is preparing for a media blitz this fall that will put a new stamp on the Chapel Hill health care provider, but don't expect its Raleigh operation, Rex Hospital, to be all tangled up in blue.

Issues and Trends

UNC to push online degrees
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Educators who run the University of North Carolina system are hungry to enroll more students like Rob Gray. A physiologist at Duke University Hospital by day, he drives about 20 miles west each evening to Efland, where he eventually settles in for a few hours of classwork at the Rob Gray campus of East Carolina University.

Senate plan gives UNC schools significant lift
The Greensboro News & Record
Along with finally excising two "temporary" tax increases that should have expired in 2003, the state Senate's 2007-08 spending plan is notably generous to the University of North Carolina system -- proposing about $67 million more in funding for universities and administration than the House version.

Looking to be greener
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Hillsborough Town Board may hire a consultant to help the city increase energy efficiency in its public buildings. ...UNC-Chapel Hill has signed a similar agreement for universities.

Utility worked with UNC on lead problem (Letter to the editor)
The Chapel Hill News
The Orange County Board of Health would like to express its appreciation to Orange Water and Sewer Authority for its commitment to ensuring that their customers have safe drinking water. ...OWASA's collaboration with UNC as it investigated possible sources for lead in the water in some of its buildings was swift and thorough.

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.