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Sept. 7, 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
Medications help smokers quit
United Press International
A review of 43 studies assessing tobacco cessation programs finds that U.S. adults who want to stop smoking would be helped by medications and therapy. Self-help smoking cessation strategies alone are often ineffective, according to a systematic review of studies conducted from 1980 through 2005 by Leah Ranney of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina, and researchers at RTI International.Secrets of Methusaleh: Gene plays dual role in ageing and cancer
Channel News Asia (Singapore)
Scientists delving into the mysteries of ageing have uncovered a key gene that could explain why tissues decline as the years pass..."The findings are remarkably consistent across the three papers," said Norman Sharpless, an assistant professor of medicine and genetics at the University of North Carolina, who led the work into the beta cells.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/cellaging090106.html
Related Links: http://www.dailyindia.com/show/57962.php/Scientists-study-mammalian-agingMother’s Drinking May Increase Child's Alcoholism Risk
Media India (India)
A new study has revealed that children born to moms who drank during their pregnancy have an increased risk of drinking problems by the time they are 21. Dr. James Garbutt, a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said, "We know about the detrimental effects of alcohol during pregnancy on brain development and some physical malformations, but this is one of the best studies showing that alcohol use itself may be another risk factor. It's another reason not to drink during pregnancy."
Related Links: http://www.health24.com/news/Addiction_Substance_abuse/1-887,37397.aspAlphaVax Announces Phase I Clinical Trial Results
Medical News Today (UK)
AlphaVax, a North Carolina-based vaccine company, presented an analysis of blinded results last week at the AIDS Vaccine 2006 meeting in Amsterdam from a Phase 1 clinical trial, run in collaboration with the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), evaluating a prototype HIV vaccine incorporating the HIV gag gene made using the company's alphavaccine technology...This HIV vaccine product using AlphaVax's proprietary technology, designated AVX101, has involved an extensive international collaboration including AlphaVax, DAIDS at the NIH, the NIAID-sponsored HVTN, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...The Wonders of Tea
Sun.Star (Phillipines)
Tea doesn't just taste great, it's good for your health, too! Recent studies in leading medical journals declare tea a potential heart tonic, cancer blocker, fat buster, immune stimulant, arthritis soother, virus fighter and cholesterol detoxifier...According to the researcher, Dr. Lenore Arab of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that 11 percent could translate to a potential preventive impact for 100,000-110,000 people were all persons at risk to increase their intakes by 3 cups/day. This estimate is based on an average number of 1.1 million heart attacks per year in the United States.National Coverage
Gene Called Link Between Life Span and Cancers
The New York Times
Biologists have uncovered a deep link between life span and cancer in the form of a gene that switches off stem cells as a person ages...The finding suggests that many degenerative diseases of aging are caused by an active shutting down of the stem cells that renew the body’s various tissues and are not just a passive disintegration of tissues under daily wear and tear. “I don’t think aging is a random process — it’s a program, an anticancer program,” said Dr. Norman E. Sharpless of the University of North Carolina, senior author of one of the three reports.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/cellaging090106.htmlTumor-suppressing gene also found to contribute to aging
The San Francisco Chronicle
Efforts to treat cancer by administering tumor-suppression gene therapy have generally not produced favorable results, partly because of the difficulties administering therapeutic genes in advanced cases. At the other extreme, cranking up stem cell activity to slow or reverse aging might work for a time but also could be "very risky -- strongly cancer-promoting," said Dr. Norman Sharpless, a cancer specialist and assistant professor of medicine and genetics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, whose laboratory looked at p16's function in pancreatic cells.Research on Cancer Gene Poses a Dilemma
National Public Radio
We all get old. But getting old is more than just the passage of time. There seems to be specific genetic signals that determine how fast we age. Norman Sharpless of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill has been searching for the genes related to aging. He focused on an anti-cancer gene called p16. Anti-cancer genes put the brakes on cell proliferation, so cells don't divide uncontrollably and form tumors. But he wondered whether p16 was also preventing aging organs from renewing themselves.
Related Links: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/906/1
http://www.hhmi.org/news/morrison20060906.html
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/nation/15456527.htm
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=144515 years later, security questions linger
The New York Journal
Government officials, security experts and academic researchers disagree on just how secure we have made ourselves as a nation since the deadliest attack on U.S. soil. But they all agree on one notion — that we can never be entirely impregnable to terror...America's anti-terrorism efforts have nonetheless yielded results, said David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.State and Local Coverage
Moeser outlines 'no small dreams' for UNC-CH
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser delivered his State of the University speech Wednesday. The speech is the chancellor's annual accounting of campus priorities and accomplishments. About 400 people attended the event in the student union...Moeser announced a goal of obtaining $1 billion in annual research grants by 2015, a target he called audacious. In the most recent year, UNC-CH brought in $593 million in research funding. "We should dream no small dreams."
Related Links: http://www.unc.edu
http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2006/State06082906.html
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-767504.html
http://www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2006/09/07/University/
Moeser.Outlines.Bold.Vision-2260165page2.shtml?norewrite200609070911&
sourcedomain=www.dailytarheel.com
http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=1679Report: Most states flunk in college affordability
The Associated Press
A new, independent report on higher education flunks most states when it comes to affordability. It gives better but still mixed grades in other areas, such as college participation and completion rates. The biennial study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education evaluates how well higher education is serving the public _ and leaves little doubt where the system is failing. Forty-three states received "F"s for affordability, up from 36 two years ago. The others got "D"s, except Utah and California, both of which eked out a "C."Research shows gene holds clues to aging
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Doctors might one day be able to calculate a patient's true biological age -- a state that doesn't always match the number of candles squeezed onto that last birthday cake. The promise comes from new studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and elsewhere focusing on one gene that hinders stem cells from multiplying in mice. Stem cells are vital to the repair of damaged tissue in humans, a process that falters as people grow old.N.C. companies can get advice from UNC students
WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill)
A few lucky in-state companies will have the opportunity to get free business consulting from M-B-A students at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. North Carolina companies and non-profits have until the end of September to apply to participate in the program. That’s Kenan-Flagler Professor of Management Ed Cornet. He says that the participating companies can save a substantial amount of money by working with the students.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/STAR090106.htmlCollege profile: UNC-Chapel Hill
The News and Record (Greensboro)
UNC-Chapel Hill has a 37 percent acceptance rate and an average SAT score of 1300. Applicants are assessed in a variety of areas. Academic excellence is determined by courses, grades, test scores, recommendations and essays. Excellence in areas such as the arts, athletics, leadership and citizenship are also considered.UNC workers want right to collective bargaining
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The UNC Employee Forum -- the organization that represents nonfaculty workers at the university -- is supporting the repeal of a North Carolina statute that makes collective bargaining between the state and public employees illegal. The statute, N.C. General Statute 95-98, states that any agreement or contract between a government authority in North Carolina and any union of public employees would be "illegal, unlawful, void and of no effect."Carolina North panel meets today
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Leadership Advisory Committee for Carolina North will meet at 4 p.m. today in the Redbud Room of the William and Ida Friday Continuing Education Center, off N.C. 54. The committee's purpose is to get community input on the planned research campus from as broad a range of interests as possible. The committee was asked to develop principles that will guide the university in preparing plans for submission to local governing bodies as part of the regulatory process.Kicking the habit: Survey shows teen smoking has declined
The Daily Reflector (Greeneville)
The Pitt County Board of Education adopted a 100 percent tobacco-free policy at the April 24 board meeting. The policy becomes effective Jan. 1, 2007. The University of North Carolina School of Family Medicine reported that high schools with a tobacco-free policy have 40 percent fewer smokers than schools without the policy. Pitt County Schools' Superintendent Beverly Reep said signs would be placed in schools this week announcing the policy.'Circle' examines life, aging, art
The Chapel Hill Herald
In Derek Goldman's adaptation of Circle, performed tonight and Friday evening in Memorial Hall, Hagen's observations about aging and a life enriched by art are interwoven with the soaring lines from Puccini's aria Vissi d'Arte... Rhodes, a UNC professor and musical director for Circle, called the songs "an eclectic and wonderful mix of musical styles that really flow out of the stories, the spoken text." Singers also include UNC's Timothy Sparks, East Carolina's Toppin and North Carolina Central University's Richard Banks.A perk for parkers
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
All Mai Wickelgren wanted when she signed up for the SmartCommute Challenge last year was to do her small part to help the environment. Park the car a couple of days a week, take the bus, and cut down on the pollutants her car was spewing into the atmosphere...Wickelgren lost weight taking the SmartCommute Challenge. Jim Rawlings, director of pastoral care for UNC Hospitals, took the bus and flushed the stress from his system. Ellison Jones with the Triangle J Council of Governments ran/walked to work and became a better backpacker.Take a lesson from Indian cooking
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
I've loved Indian food for years, but I've never really understood it. The spice combinations used to season Indian dishes are mysterious to me, and foods are made with a greater variety of lentils than you'll find at Harris Teeter. Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a licensed, registered dietitian and author. She holds a doctorate in health policy and administration from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she is a clinical assistant professor in the School of Public Health.West House, R.I.P.
The Independent Weekly (Raleigh)
Last month was a sad month for me and the core group that worked for three years to save West House, the elegant, if quirky, brick house with an enclosed, serpentine-walled garden built by Kenneth Tanner in 1935 on private property for his son and four other students to use as a dormitory while they attended UNC-Chapel Hill. Designed by noted Charlotte architect Martin Boyer (whose buildings there are getting preservation recognition), it was built of the finest materials with slate roof tiles and copper gutters, the only known structure of its kind (a private dormitory!) in the country.Issues and Trends
Report: N.C. not containing college costs
The Winston-Salem Journal
North Carolina is a solid B student when it comes to college preparation, participation and completion, but it is failing in its ability to provide affordable education...Affordability was just one factor, but it's the one on which states did most poorly overall. Of the 50 states, 43 scored an F in keeping college costs down and providing financial aid based on need. Utah and California received C-minus, the best grades.Bowles boosts teacher education
The News and Record (Greensboro)
During his inauguration as UNC system president, Erskine Bowles said the state's public universities had to operate efficiently, produce more and better teachers and improve retention rates..."I want to define success," said Bowles, a twice-unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate who served as White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration. "Right now, if I just don't get in trouble then I've had a good year. How are you going to hold me accountable?" Bowles said the UNC system does well at attracting students but a "wholly unacceptable" job ensuring that students graduate with a meaningful degree.N.C. gets an 'F' in college tuition
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Despite a reputation for bargain universities, North Carolina's college affordability is deteriorating, according to a new national report on higher education. The report gives the state good marks for students' preparation, participation and college degree completion. But North Carolina's public and private colleges get an "F" for affordability along with those in 42 other states, according to figures released today by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a nonpartisan policy research group based in California.S.C. receives low grades on national higher education report
The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)
A national report on higher education gives South Carolina low marks on preparing students for college, enrolling them in education beyond high school and making it affordable for them to do so...The report comes just a few weeks after a state think tank criticized near-annual tuition increases in the University of North Carolina system.Bar set high for graduation rate
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
NCAA President Myles Brand came to the idyllic campus of Elon University on Wednesday to push for an elusive college ideal -- a higher graduation rate for student-athletes. Standing before a massive, shining pipe organ in a classic, brick auditorium on Elon's campus, Brand said the goal of his presidency is to reach a point where four out of five Division I athletes leave school with a degree.
Related Links: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/15461125.htm
http://www.wral.com/news/9799566/detail.html
http://www.heraldsun.com/sports/18-767541.htmlDuke will deal on Central Campus project
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Duke University is willing to negotiate square-footage limits on the commercial component of its Central Campus project, but is not willing to accept caps tied to the amount of space already devoted to those functions, Provost Peter Lange said Wednesday...Officials at UNC Chapel Hill agreed five years to a similar regulatory scheme for their main campus, but City/County Planning Director Frank Duke said the only way to do that in Durham would be to leave chunks of the Central Campus tract out of the pending rezoning.###
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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