Oct. 20, 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

Protein identified in mice sperm formation
United Press International
Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine found male mice missing both copies of the gene CIB1, which produces the protein, have testes about half the normal size and produce no mature sperm.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct06/parise101806.htm

Kids hang on to dad's every word
The News Scientist (United Kingdom)
Lynne Vernon-Feagans at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and her colleagues sat in on playtime with 92 families with dual incomes, observing how much each parent spoke to their child, the words and sentence structures they used, and the types of questions they asked.

Global airport impact study
The Australian
The $3.8 million study - which also involves the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in the US and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands - will look at the effect airports have on surrounding urban areas, including the push to develop airport land for non-aviation uses.

National Coverage

National Broadcast Note
Dr. Dianne Ward, professor and director of the division of nutrition in the School of Public Health, was interviewed today (Friday) for a health story that will air on the CBS Sunday Morning news program this week, Oct. 22. The story is the second of two stories about obesity that will air during the show. Ward discussed the scope of an overweight and obesity epidemic in the United States.
Note: CBS Sunday Morning airs locally on WRAL-TV 5 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. This week’s edition focuses solely on health and fitness.

Know Who Will Win the Election? You Can Bet on It!
The Wall Stree Journal
A study by economists at the University of North Carolina on speculative attacks on election markets found "little evidence that political stock markets can be systematically manipulated beyond short time periods."

Regional Coverage

Forest Labs Bogged Down With Celexa Legal Woes
Best Syndication (Pinon Hills, Calif.)
Lead researcher Philip Zeskind, a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said that a study of 34 babies might be small, but that the results were "alarming" and demanded a follow-up.

State and Local Coverage

Study to find whether Chinese plant can help Alzheimer's patients
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The University of North Carolina Hospitals are participating in the national clinical trial on Chinese club moss, which is already being sold in stores with nutritional supplements and is used in China as a treatment for cognitive disorders.

UNC testing herbal healing
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Marion Hinsdale, who lives with her daughter and son-in-law in Chapel Hill, signed up at UNC Hospitals to participate in a national clinical trial that hopes to determine whether an extract of a plant called Chinese club moss is a safe and effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia…"That kind of data is completely missing today from most nutraceuticals," said Dr. Daniel Kaufer, a UNC-CH neurologist and investigator in the Huperzine A trial.

Carolina North panel puts its end in sight
The Chapel Hill Herald
Concerned that their work wouldn't be done in time to provide input to UNC as it plans for its proposed second campus, the Carolina North Leadership Advisory Committee is trying to finish its job three months ahead of schedule.

UNC unsure about housing at Carolina North
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
David Gerber, an associate professor of surgery at UNC-Chapel Hill who sits on the committee, agreed that ample housing at Carolina North would attract the top-flight researchers needed to make the research campus function.

Race, class and education (Opinion)
The Charlotte Observer
K-12 education in America is in a profound state of crisis. Public schools are challenged by a range of issues, including crumbling infrastructure, teacher shortages, deficits in teacher quality and inadequate funding to provide America's youth with a world-class education...From James H. Johnson Jr., Kenan Distinguished Professor and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center, Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC Chapel Hill.

UNC Dental School To Outsource Technicians, Save $750,000 A Year
The Assoicated Press (N.C.)
Citing budget cuts by the state, the dental school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will lay off technicians next month and outsource their services. Administrators said the scheduled Nov. 27 layoffs of 15 technicians will save $750,000 a year, but some faculty members said the cuts are shortsighted.

UNC Hospitals collect another national award
WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill)
According to the Leapfrog Group…UNC Hospitals is one of the top 50 medical centers in the nation. Hospitals assistant director of public affairs Lynn Wooten says the Leapfrog Group does extensive research to determine the rankings.
UNC Health Care News Release: http://www.unchealthcare.org/site/newsroom/news/2006/Oct/leapfrog

Expert says Congress poll lacks insight
WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill)
UNC political opinion expert Michael MacKuen says deep down, Americans aren’t that critical of the government. Congressional re-election rates paradoxically reach 90 percent and above, a sign MacKuen says that people don’t truly know much about their Congress or at least don’t care enough to vote.

Please call me doctor, ad infinitum (Guest Column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Sometime ago I recall telephoning an office on the UNC campus where a graduate student worked part time. When he answered the phone, I called him by his first name as I usually did, and he replied, “From now on you will have to call me doctor.”… In Chapel Hill the degree of doctor is so common that nearly every other person you meet has one.
Note: This article is unavailable online.

Issues and Trends

Report touts Calif. biotech as profits remain elusive, N.C. tries
The Associated Press (N.C.)
In North Carolina, a major biotechnology research center being developed north of Charlotte will focus on food and the nutritional applications of biotechnology. The state's three major research universities - the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University - have said they plan to create research facilities at the campus.

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.