Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Study links marijuana smoking to gum disease
Reuters (wire service)
Smoking marijuana, much like smoking tobacco, may increase a person's risk for gum disease that can lead to tooth loss, researchers said on Tuesday. …James Beck of the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry, who also worked on the study, said he hopes further research is conducted to confirm a link between marijuana and gum disease.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/cannabis-indicated-
as-possible-risk-for-gum-disease–in-young-people.html
Smoking pot appears to fuel risk of early gum disease: study
The Canadian Press
There doesn't seem to be any shortage of reasons cited as to why marijuana is bad for health. Now from the world of dentistry comes another: regular pot-smoking seems to bump up the risk of developing gum disease – and earlier in life than expected. …In North America, "we think about periodontal disease as being a problem after the age of 35," said co-author James Beck, a professor of dental ecology at the University of North Carolina.
Related Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7226969.stm
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=
f941c64b-05c0-4060-b973-7f6dd6d2edee
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10490882
The language of young people
The Star (Malaysia)
SLANG is the language of young people. It is a fast-moving river and although its bends and flows seem the same, they are, they must be, composed of different cascades and crests. …My colleague Connie Eble at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, collects slang from her students every semester.
National Coverage
Marijuana Smokers Have Increased Risk of Gum Disease
Bloomberg News
Smoking marijuana regularly as a young adult can lead to gum disease by age 30 or younger… …Applying statistical techniques to exclude tobacco smoking, dental visits and plaque, researchers found “cannabis smoking is related to periodontal disease above and beyond tobacco smoking,'' said James Beck, a co-author and professor at the University of North Carolina's school of dentistry said in a phone interview today.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/cannabis-indicated-
as-possible-risk-for-gum-disease–in-young-people.html
Regional Coverage
The end of a bad rap for casseroles
The Houston Chronicle
Like Rodney Dangerfield, the casserole gets no respect. To many, the word conjures up church basements and Pyrex pans filled with bland blends of mushy noodles, cream soups, mayonnaise, sour cream and cheese. …Cooks can usually get away with including 50 percent more vegetables than a recipe calls for, says Suzanne Havala Hobbs, a registered dietitian and faculty member in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Progress made on Kanawha community, museum site
The Times-News (Fort Mill, S.C.)
Archeological work on the site of the planned Kanawha development south of Sutton Road drove changes to the original plan shown to the Fort Mill Town Council last year. …Last summer, two archeologists, Brett Riggs and Stephen Davis, who teach at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, led a dig on the site and uncovered about 35,000 artifacts, from shards of pottery to glass beads and pipes to handmade nails and rusted pieces of flintlock muskets.
State and Local Coverage
Study links heavy marijuana use with gum disease
The Chapel Hill Herald
Young people who are heavy smokers of cannabis may be putting themselves at significant risk for periodontal disease, according to a UNC researcher. …"In the United States, we think about periodontal disease as being a problem after the age of 35," said James Beck, Kenan professor of dental ecology at the UNC School of Dentistry.
UNC News Advisory:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/cannabis-indicated-
as-possible-risk-for-gum-disease–in-young-people.html
Science bus: Experiments roll at Gray's Creek
The Fayetteville Observer
Do boys still take up most of the seats in high school science classes? Fat chance at Gray’s Creek High School. About three-quarters of one of LeAndra Barriage’s anatomy and physiology classes was made up of girls Tuesday. Her students — the boys, too — got the benefit of a visit from one of the University of North Carolina’s science buses.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/destiny-science-bus/carolinas-destiny-an
d-discovery-buses-bring-science-lessons-to-sandhills-students.html
UNC Research Shows Exercise Is Great Arthritis Medicine
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
People with arthritis know the disease can be painful and limiting, and many sufferers may think that exercise would further damage to their joints. To the contrary, however, a major University of North Carolina study found that appropriate exercise is actually the best medicine.
Kenyan slum is focus of talk
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC alumnus Rye Barcott, founder and president of Carolina for Kibera, will give a free public lecture Friday at 5 p.m. in the Fed Ex Global Education Center Auditorium. Barcott is the guest of the Carolina Annual Fund, University Career Services and the Carolina Class of 2008, which are co-sponsoring his talk and a reception to follow from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the center's atrium.
UNC Event Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/alumnus-veteran-
rye-barcott-to-give-talk-friday-on-carolina-for-kibera-unrest-in-kenya.html
Open house for new UNC center
The Chapel Hill News
The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) will host an open house for its new engagement center at Carolina on Thursday, Feb. 7, featuring state-of-the-art visualization technology and collaboration tools.
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-922089.cfm
UNC News Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/renci-hosts-open-
house-thursday-for-new-unc-chapel-hill-engagement-center.html
Delany to speak on sports, media
The Chapel Hill Herald
The UNC School of Law will host Big Ten Conference Commissioner Jim Delany Thursday as the featured speaker for the inaugural Carolina Law Alumni Speaker Series.
UNC Event Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/big-tens-jim-delany
-featured-at-first-carolina-law-alumni-speaker-series.html
Tonight, we're the center of the universe (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Won't this be fun? Isn't it always? …But tonight, most everyone around here gets to watch the basketball game, Duke-Carolina CCXXIII, and we know, of course, that it's much more important than life and death. It's our Super Bowl.
Sharing files and trouble
The Chapel Hill News
In March, Denise Rodriguez downloaded the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" to her computer. A few days later, she faced the real inconvenient truth — UNC had cut off her Internet service.
Raleigh's Biggest Water Customers Cutting Back
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to move to Stage 2 water restrictions on Feb. 15. …With Raleigh's main water supply, Falls Lake, dwindling, the school has also launched a "water-saving challenge" with students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The art of hope
The Chapel Hill News
In 2000 an art gallery opened in Chapel Hill and I was fortunate enough to be able to write about its first exhibit. “Brushes with Life: Art, Artists, and Mental Illness,” on the third floor of the UNC Neuroscience hospital, exhibits work by former and current patients of the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program (STEP) as well as clients from Club Nova, the clubhouse for people with mental health issues in Carrboro. …Paula Mayence, a registered nurse in the UNC Department of Psychiatry, is one of the founders of the Brushes with Life gallery.
Issues and Trends
Right turn on rail (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For the second time, a group of Triangle citizens and leaders that likely has the big picture in view is proposing a regional mass transit plan with a strong rail component. …Separately, the committee said the region should build a 16-mile, electric-powered light rail line from UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill to downtown Durham. And it would add at least 120 buses to the region's existing service — a vital upgrade.
It's not haunted, it just needs a friend
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Walking into the Edward Kidder Graham House is a lot like walking into a haunted house. …Edward Graham built the house in 1908 and lived in it until 1914 when he became president of the University of North Carolina. Other residents of the house included his cousin Frank Porter Graham, who also became president of the university and a U.S. senator.
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-922096.cfm
Town, university ignore pitfalls of Carolina North (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill News
Town and gown have finally met to launch the initial making of Carolina North. The pas de deux is under way. A polite conversation is accompanying the dance, but the big questions have gone unspoken. (Philip Duchastel lives in Carrboro.)