 |
Sept. 22, 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
Coin flip: cancer or grow old faster?
China View (Xinhua)
A team from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill looked at the gene's role in pancreatic islet cells, which produce and secrete the hormone insulin and which are defective in persons with Type 1 diabetes. Another team from the University of Michigan examined brain stem cells. A third team from Harvard University looked at p16INK4a in blood stem cells.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/cellaging090106.htmlNational Coverage
Breathing Easier
Forbes Magazine
Tanner Buck is 6 years old. He will be lucky to be alive at age 40. Buck, a wiry little boy with long, lank cornsilk hair, is one of 30,000 young Americans with the fatal genetic disease known as cystic fibrosis. It drowns the lungs in abnormally thick, sticky mucus and devastates the pancreas, liver and other organs...Now researchers hope new compounds may halt the deadly progression of cystic fibrosis. Inspire's drug, denufosol tetrasodium, emerged in the early 1990s from research by Dr. Richard Boucher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/cfrelease010706.htmNorth Carolina program unites communities with Guard, Reserve families
McClatchy Newspapers
In Washington, Congress is poised to pledge $5 million in its defense appropriations bill to the Citizen-Soldier Support Program, a year-old project run out of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and aided by other universities in the UNC system. Backers hope the appropriations bill passes Congress this month; the $5 million is included in both the House of Representatives and Senate versions.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/hydegift092006.htm
It's a big headache--and much more
The Chicago Tribune
For instance, there's a 2005 study out of the University of North Carolina's Center for the Study of Retired Athletes that found players with three or more concussions were five times more likely to develop the type of mild cognitive impairment that leads to Alzheimer's disease. Or another one that showed the link between depression and NFL players who had suffered three or more concussions.
Regional Coverage
If only O's fans sang 'Freebird' on way out
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Big number: 2,488. Number of former NFL players studied by the University of North Carolina in research on concussions. The study found 61 percent had suffered at least one concussion in their careers and 16 percent believe they have suffered long-term damage.
Giving a Heads Up
The Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Miss.)
There have been approximately 260 injuries (or less than 1 per 100,000 participants) from all levels of football resulting in paralysis over the past three decades, according to research by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina.
State and Local Coverage
UNC, Duke, NCSU share in $1.5M grant
The Triangle Business Journal
The U.S. Department of Defense has tapped a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as the lead researcher for a $1.5 million grant to study rare and threatened woodpeckers, butterflies and other animals on and around the Fort Bragg military base...Over the next five years, the team will look at the habitat needs of the red-cockaded woodpecker and a small brown butterfly called the St. Francis' satyr, both considered endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the eastern tiger salamander, a species considered threatened by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission; and the Carolina gopher frog, which is on the state's threatened list.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/rareanimals092106.htmUNC honored for affordability
The Daily Tar Heel
UNC-Chapel Hill ranked as the best value among public colleges and universities for the sixth consecutive time in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. UNC-CH was among five N.C. schools that appeared Monday in the magazine's "50 Best Values in Public Colleges." N.C. State University was next on the list, ranking 27th for out-of-state students. Kimberly Lankford, a contributing editor at Kiplinger's, said the magazine considers both value and academic strength in ranking colleges.Marketing with vision and view
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
"People who can afford that kind of house have options all over the world; they might choose a cottage in Ireland," said Robert Lauterborn, an advertising professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism. "It's possible to be much more targeted, but everybody else has access to the same technology, so the competition doesn't get any less."
Protection at play
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Steve Marshall, assistant professor at UNC's School of Public Health who studies protective equipment, participated in a recently completed study of mouthguards that he called the "definitive" look at the subject. He says he's not at liberty to discuss specifics because the study has yet to be published. But he did offer two generalizations.
Front-page ads to run in four N&O-owned papers
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Some of the biggest papers in the country are finding new spots to run ads. The Wall Street Journal recently began selling front-page ads. The New York Times began selling ads on the front of its business section in July, and previously sold ads on the front of its Metro section on Sundays. USA Today has carried ads at the bottom of its front page since 1999. "Newspapers are having trouble making money," said Philip Meyer, a journalism professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. "They have to try lots of different things."
Spanish in preschool? Sí!
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When searching for a “quality” preschool program, some experts caution parents not to be swayed by the "extras" that the program offers. "Just looking at the special offerings is not a clue to how good a preschool really is," said Thelma Harms, director of curriculum and development for the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the UNC- Chapel Hill. Harms is the lead author of the Environment Rating Scales, a survey used to assess preschool programs.
'Flyboys' may lift local game maker
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A movie tie-in could give IEntertainment a blockbuster audience, but there's a danger that the game could crash and burn if "Flyboys" isn't a hit on the big screen. "It's no longer just about the quality of the game. It's also about whether the movie succeeds or not," said Sridhar Balasubramanian, a marketing professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. "If the movie is a flop, the game will find it very difficult to take off by itself."
Genetics forum aims to engage public
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Community Genetics Forum, organized by UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute, was the latest push to move discussions about genetics from laboratories to the main streets of North Carolina. Trying to get people outside science engaged in genetic topics isn't simple work. Funding comes and goes. North Carolina had a genome task force for more than two years, but grant funding ran out in 2005.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/geneticsforum090706.htmNonprofit's president to visit UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense, will discuss environmental issues at 4 p.m. Tuesday at UNC-Chapel Hill's James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, in the Graham Memorial Building. Krupp's free public talk will be in the Kresge Foundation Common Room (039). A question-and-answer session will follow. The talk is sponsored by the Robertson Scholars Program.
UNC News Briefs: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2006/092006.htmVaccine Guards Against Cervical Cancer For Teens
WRAL-TV (Raleigh)
The teenagers are at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, and the human pappillomavirus, or HPV, can be caught without sexual intercourse, experts said. "In fact, it does not require sex to transmit it, just close contact," said UNC epidemiologist Dr. David Weber. "Rubbing up against each other, even digital manipulation with the fingers, can transmit these viruses."
Brisket celebrates culture
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
That time, while captured tenderly in "Driving Miss Daisy," really takes off in Marcie Cohen Ferris' "Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South." Ferris is a professor of American Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, a cultural anthropologist and a pretty good foodie. In her book, she captures the Jewish culture in a land of Christians and the forbidden foods that Southern folks love, like pork and shellfish.
Issues and Trends
The World's Most Powerful Women
Forbes Magazine
Our annual listing of the 100 most powerful women in the world is based on a power ranking that is the composite of visibility (measured by press citations) and economic impact. The later, in turn, reflects three things: résumé (a prime minister is more powerful than a senator); the size of the economic sphere over which a leader holds sway; and a multiplier that aims to make different financial yardsticks comparable.
Note: This list contains two UNC alumnae - Sallie Krawcheck, who earned her master of business administration in 1992 and her bachelor's degree in journalism and political science in 1987, and Ann Livermore, who earned her master of business adminstration in 1982 and her bachelor's degree in economics in 1980.
Young: Universities must improve graduation rate
The Citizen-Times (Asheville)
As a Buncombe County Commissioner and now a member of the board of governors for the University of North Carolina system, David Young says he has a front seat to see the intersection of education and the economy. While the 16 campuses of the university system do a good job, turning out well-trained graduates for the new economy, Young sees some problems ahead for both the county and the state unless some disturbing numbers are reversed, earlier in the educational process.
City mulling benefits of hiring project managers
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
All four of the firms in the proposal before the council have taken on work for the UNC system, which is undergoing an expansion drive fueled by a $3.1 billion statewide bond issue. UNC officials have said their experience is consistent with the findings of a Penn State University study that found that manager-led projects get done faster and slightly cheaper than those where the sponsoring government procures a set of blueprints, sends a project out to bids and assigns the job to whatever contractor submits the low bid.
Strippers Banned From Campus Events At Duke University
The Associated Press (National)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University do not have policies regarding strippers on campus. "It's never been on our radar screen," said Jonathan Sauls, assistant dean of students at UNC Chapel Hill. He said the university instead relies on a broadly written code that governs student conduct. "You're letting people know what the standards are without trying to forecast every specific way that someone might violate the policy," Sauls said.
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.