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March 30, 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
Explosives go unleaded
Chemistry World (Cambridge, UK)
Explosives could become safer following the synthesis of lead-free environmentally-friendly primary explosives, by US researchers. ...By studying previously developed explosive compounds, researchers led by Thomas Meyer from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, based their primary explosive around a non-toxic compound that was highly energetic and rich in oxygen and nitrogen.
National Coverage
'To Hate' Duke is to 'Be Happy Forever'
USA Today
As the author of a book about the basketball rivalry between Duke and the University of North Carolina, Will Blythe knew that the better Duke did, the better it was for his book. But Blythe, an obsessive UNC fan, celebrated last week when Duke, the team he loves to hate, was eliminated from the NCAA tournament.
Regional Coverage
Should Women Have C-Sections If They're Not Necessary?
WNBC (New York, N.Y.)
More mothers-to-be are requesting to deliver their babies through cesarean section, even though there's no medical necessity for it -- a controversial trend that prompted the National Institutes of Health to convene an expert panel. ...Certainly some reasons are fear of pelvic floor prolapse, or incontinence in the future," said Dr. Alice Chuang, of the University of North Carolina. "Sometimes it is just a fear of the pain associated with labor."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/rti032906.htmState & Local Coverage
Chapel Hill bio launches human trials for gene therapy
The Triangle Business Journal
Asklepios Biopharmaceutical Inc. has ushered its lead product candidate into the first human gene therapy trial in the United States for a particular type of muscular dystrophy. A clinical trial is under way at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio to test the safety and effectiveness of Biostrophin as a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The therapy was developed over two years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Pittsburgh and is licensed to Chapel Hill-based AskBio.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/mdtrial032906.htmRentenbach honored for Chapel Hill project
The Triad Business Journal
The Associated General Contractors of America honored Carolinas AGC members Rentenbach Constructors Inc. and C.T. Wilson Construction Co. Inc. with a 2006 Aon Build America Award for their joint construction-management efforts on the Rams Head Center in Chapel Hill. ...The Rams Head Center was constructed on a 4.6-acre site at UNC-Chapel Hill. The center includes a dining facility, recreation facility, grocery store and landscaped plaza -- all built on top of a new, 700-car parking deck.
Mentoring program coming to Durham
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Students teaching students -- that's the model for Breakthrough Collaborative, a nationwide tutoring and mentoring program for middle-schoolers that will be coming to Durham. ...Students Katie Cohen and Amanda Dorsey at Duke and Emily Mary Williams at UNC are also part of an organizing committee with about 13 members drawn from Duke, UNC and Durham.
Duke, UNC step up to Final Four (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
In NCAA Division I women's basketball, there seems no question about which conference is best -- it's the one spelled ACC. That was driven home like a game-sealing three-pointer when our two Tobacco Road teams knocked off perennial powerhouses on Tuesday to advance to the Final Four.
Sexual assault rally at UNC spotlights probe of Duke team
The Chapel Hill Herald
At a UNC rally on Wednesday to raise awareness of sexual assault against women, the keynote speaker urged men in the audience to work to prevent such violence. The rally and subsequent march around campus were together known as "Take Back the Night," and were part of the ninth annual Women's Week. Campuses and organizations worldwide sponsor "Take Back the Night" programs to give people a chance to speak out against rape and sexual assault.
Ethics lecture slated at UNC
The Chapel Hill Herald
Jeffrey Nealon, professor of English at Pennsylvania State University, will discuss the ethics of French philosopher Michel Foucault on April 6 at UNC. Nealon's lecture, "Foucault's Infamous Ethics: Biopower, Globalization and Ethical Scarcity," will be at 5 p.m. in Room 3411 of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union off South Road. The talk will be the last in the "Ethics and Recent Critical Theory" lecture series, which investigated changed views about ethics.
North Carolina gambles lottery won't fade again
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Lotteries are as American as Jamestown and George Washington and as Carolina Blue as the old South Building on that campus in Chapel Hill. ...More than 50 academies and schools were authorized by the legislature to conduct lotteries, including two drawings in 1801 to help finish construction of what is now known as the South Building at UNC-Chapel Hill. North Carolina also authorized lotteries to finance private ventures.
Winning big will be rare indeed
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Thousands of North Carolinians will buy scratch-off lottery tickets today, hoping to win big as the state offers the games for the first time in the modern era. ...Andrew Nobel, an associate professor of statistics at UNC-Chapel Hill, said that studying the games won't change their outcome.
Starting from scratch
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Today it becomes easier to scratch in public. So if you feel like it, go ahead and reach into your pocket -- not to scratch, there are children present -- but to pull out a coin. You'll need it to play that lottery ticket. ..."Scratching and itching go way back in evolution, for those of us who believe in evolution," says Dr. Lowell Goldsmith, professor of dermatology at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Patients can steer endings
The Fayetteville Observer
A year ago this week, Terri Schiavo died. ...Physicians groups such as the American Medical Association have been outspoken opponents of medically assisted suicide, but the public has remained divided. A poll in the late 1990s by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed the state’s population evenly divided on assisted suicide.
Assisted suicide could put doctors in peril
The Fayetteville Observer
A doctor who helps a terminally ill patient commit suicide enters a legal danger zone in North Carolina. ...As for the patient, suicide is legal in North Carolina. But “there is no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide,” says Dean M. Harris, a lawyer and professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health.
Panel Scrutinizing C-Section Risks, Benefits
WNCN-TV (NBC, Raleigh)
National statistics show Caesarean section rates are at an all-time high in the United States. ...Nearly three in 10 U.S. women have given birth by Cesarean section. Dr. Alice Chuang, an obstetrician at the University of North Carolina, said an increasing number of those cases do not have a clear medical need.
Save money: Skip vitamins (Commentary)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
I have a money-saving tip that's better than clipping coupons: Cut back on the number of vitamin supplements you buy. Three out of four American households buy vitamin and mineral supplements, spending $7 billion last year, according to industry figures reported earlier this month by The Wall Street Journal. ...Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC.
Complications of diabetes can be prevented with careful attention to diet and exercise (Commentary)
News 14
Diabetes mellitus affects over 20 million people in the United States. Estimates suggest that for children born in this decade, about 40 percent will develop diabetes in their lifetime. Almost a third of people with diabetes do not even know that they have diabetes because like its partners in crime - high blood pressure and high cholesterol - high blood sugar is not associated with symptoms. ...John B. Buse, MD, PhD, is director of the UNC Diabetes Care Center, which is part of the University of North Carolina Health Care System.
Musical legacy of Black Mountain College focus of festival in Chapel Hill
The Asheville Citizen-Times
- The musical legacy of Black Mountain College will be the focus of the 2006 Festival on the Hill today through Sunday at the UNC-Chapel Hill. National and international scholars and musicians will explore the influence of the Western North Carolina college through four concerts and two days of lectures and workshops, all open to the public.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/blackmountain032106.htm5 Questions with Eric Chilton
goTriad.com
A foam-rubber ram suit is some kind of hot. Just ask Eric Chilton, who was chosen as UNC-Chapel Hill's first mascot 20 years ago. The first time he wore the suit, he threw up in the locker room at halftime. UNC hoops star J.R. Reid asked him, "You all right, little man?"
Billy Arthur, 'wonderful symbol' of UNC, dies
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
William J. "Billy" Arthur, a journalist, publisher, legislator, businessman and a "wonderful symbol of Carolina," has died at the age of 95. Mr. Arthur, who passed away Monday, was well-known and well-loved for the enthusiastic life he led, his newspaper columns that kept people laughing across the state and his small stature, which never held him back from being one of the most popular men on the UNC campus and in the state of North Carolina.
Boating victim was medical milestone
The Wilmington Morning Star
One of four men whose deaths made headlines after a Brunswick County boating accident earlier this month made news with his birth as well, nearly 22 years ago. ...Carl Bose, chief of Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, cared for the triplets after their somewhat premature birth. He sent the family a sympathy card after learning of Lyerly’s death.
New UNC center is a waste of energy (Letter to the editor)
The Chapel Hill Herald
What a sinking feeling to find out that UNC has accepted $150,000 from Progress Energy to create the Center for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economic Development. What's next -- the Tonya Harding Institute for Sports Ethics? Dick Cheney Charm School?
Note: No link available.
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.
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