Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Flu vaccine for all except babies
United Press International
U.S. government officials urge everyone age 6 months and older to get an influenza shot, which contains vaccine against H1N1 and two other strains of flu. …"The message is simple now," Dr. David Weber, professor of medicine, pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says in a statement. "If you're more than 6 months of age, get the (influenza) vaccine."
UNC Release:
http://www.med.unc.edu/www/news/2010/august/government-urges-universal-flu-vaccinations
National Coverage
AARP Says Brand-Name Drug Prices Up 8% in 2009
The New York Times
A new report on retail prices of brand-name drugs shows the 217 products most used by older Americans increased by an average of 8.3 percent during 2009, the largest increase in years, even as inflation was negative. …A new report on retail prices of brand-name drugs shows the 217 products most used by older Americans increased by an average of 8.3 percent during 2009, the largest increase in years, even as inflation was negative.
31 GOP Senators Oppose U.N. Children's Rights Convention
CBS News
Thirty-one Republican senators are cosponsoring a resolution opposing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, according to the conservative group ParentalRights.org, which is pushing the resolution. …According to University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers, however, only 24 countries have banned all forms of corporal punishment at school and at home, while 193 countries have signed onto the treaty.
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2010/August/corporal-punishment-of-children-remains-common
-worldwide-unc-studies-find?utm_source=release&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=corporal
Diets That Don't Work: Where Enterprise Resource Planning Goes Wrong (Column)
The Wall Street Journal
Over the past decade, large companies have invested billions of dollars and a lot of time trying to simplify the business processes and technologies they use to keep their organizations running. (Dr. Segars is the RBC Bank distinguished professor, faculty director of the Center for Sustainable Enterprise and the chairman of the strategy and entrepreneurship faculty area at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, N.C. Dr. Chatterjee is an associate professor in the management information systems department at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business in Athens, Ga.)
Defender of the deep: The oil's not gone
CNN.com
Samantha Joye's office is littered with otherworldly artifacts from the deep ocean: a mussel the size of a football; a vase filled with tube worms, which look like grissini breadsticks; a photo of the world's biggest bacteria. …She was so competitive in basketball, for instance, that she walked on to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill team her freshman year.
Regional Coverage
Knock it off: That counterfeit Prada bag may be bad for your soul
The New York Daily News
That knock-off bag or watch may fool your friends, but it may turn you into a dishonest, cynical person. Scientists from Harvard, Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted an experiment that began by giving a large group of women a pair of expensive Chloé sunglasses, according to research published in Psychological Science and excerpted in Scientific American.
More U.S. candidates are hunting for votes with guns
The Anchorage Daily News (Alaska)
Sarah Palin may not have been the first female politician associated with recreational gun use, but her image as a big-game hunter comfortable with firearms of various kinds seems to have prompted candidates across the U.S. to make guns supporting props in their political advertising. National Public Radio wonders what aim they serve. …"It's product differentiation," says Mac McCorkle, who teaches the politics of public policy at Duke University and the University of North Carolina.
State and Local Coverage
HIV said to differ in blood, semen
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
HIV-infected blood and semen hold different versions of the virus that causes AIDS, a finding that could help researchers working to find an effective vaccine, according to a new study by researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill. …"If everything we know about HIV is based on the virus that is in the blood, when in fact the virus in the semen can evolve to be different, it may be that we have an incomplete view of what is going on in the transmission of the virus," said Dr. Ronald Swanstrom , senior author of the study and professor of biochemistry, microbiology and immunology at the UNC School of Medicine.
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2010/August/aids-virus-changes-in-
semen-make-it-different-than-in-blood
Flu shots urged for all over 6 months
The Chapel Hill Herald
Flu vaccine will soon be available at local pharmacies and doctor's offices, and government officials are urging everyone over 6 months of age to receive it. This year's vaccine protects against H1N1 and two other strains of seasonal flu. The recommendation represents a break from past years, when the government focused on vaccinating people in certain "high-risk" groups and those in contact with people at high risk. "The message is simple now," said David Weber, professor of medicine, pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "If you're more than 6 months of age, get the vaccine."
UNC Release:
http://www.med.unc.edu/www/news/2010/august/government-urges-universal-flu-vaccinations
The Final Frontier
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
At one time or another, each of us has looked up and wondered what’s out there in that place called space. Scientists, artists and philosophers have all ventured their thoughts. In the 20th century, manned space flight changed everything, making us denizens of the universe. Still, the galaxies above remain a source of endless speculation. Host Frank Stasio will explore space with Dan Reichart, associate professor of astrophysics at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; Marc Lange, Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor of Philosophy at UNC Chapel Hill; Chris Brown, Director of the North Carolina Space Initiative; Todd Boyette, Director of Morehead Planetarium and science fiction writer David Drake.
Scientist: Stem cell ruling 'closes a door'
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
A judge's decision that blocks federal funding for embryonic stem cell research could have a chilling effect, say local scientists, but the full impact of the ruling is still unclear. As the White House was reviewing how to respond to the decision, a temporary injunction issued by Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, local researchers worried that "this really closes a door," in the words of Larysa Pevny, a neuroscientist and faculty director of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Facility at UNC Chapel Hill.
UNC’s Roper named 98th most powerful in health care
The Triangle Business Journal
UNC Health Care CEO Dr. William Roper has won a place among Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare 2010. Roper, who also serves as the dean of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine, claimed the No. 98 spot on the list. He was the only Triangle-based selection among the top 100, who were selected by readers of Modern Healthcare magazine.
Spanking remains popular form of discipline (Blog)
WRAL.com
Fewer kids are spanked today than in 1975, but nearly 80 percent of preschoolers are still spanked in the United States. And corporal punishment remains common around the world even though two dozen countries have banned it since 1979. So say three separate, recently published studies of corporal punishment led by researchers at the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center.
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2010/August/corporal-punishment-of-children-remains-common
-worldwide-unc-studies-find?utm_source=release&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=corporal
Genetics underlie formation of body's back-up bypass vessels
The Chapel Hill Herald
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have uncovered the genetic architecture controlling the growth of the collateral circulation — the "back-up" blood vessels that can provide oxygen to starved tissues in the event of a heart attack or stroke. …"This has really been the holy grail in our field, how to get new collaterals to form in a tissue with few in the first place" said senior study author James E. Faber, professor of cell and molecular physiology at UNC.
UNC Release:
http://www.med.unc.edu/www/news/2010/august/genetics-underlie-the-formation
-of-the-body2019s-back-up-bypass-vessels
Towns and UNC urge extra caution on roads
The Chapel Hill News
As a new school year opens, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and UNC are urging community members to take extra precautions on the roads. Construction and repaving projects along major thoroughfares require pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists to pay particular attention. Drivers and pedestrians are urged to take special care at seven new pedestrian crosswalks installed this summer on or near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and East Franklin Street.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3825/68/
UNC students flock for work-study programs
The Triangle Business Journal
At one point Tuesday afternoon, the line had more than 1,000 UNC students waiting to pick up the work-study referral forms. Reason: They need the money to pay for school.
No booze for rush at UNC this year
The Triangle Business Journal
In an effort to satisfy administrators upset over problems among fraternities, the Interfraternity Council at UNC in Chapel Hill is trying something new this year – moving rush to the beginning of the year and making it alcohol-free.
Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof to speak Sept. 14
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof will discuss "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" on Sept. 14 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kristof will deliver the free public Frank Porter Graham Lecture at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3832/107/
An adventure beyond description
The Chapel Hill News
…The trip was about more than bikes and bonding, however. The team of riders — students from Chapel Hill High School, East Chapel Hill and Carrboro high schools — was cycling to raise funds for cancer research at UNC Lineberger. "We're just so excited to have them back and just so much in awe of what they've done and this journey they've taken for us," said Dianne Shaw, Deputy CommunicationsDirector for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She added that it was likely the youngsters would now and forever be intimately aligned with the fight against cancer.
Manager’s push for outside help raises concerns
The Smoky Mountain News
Finding a new police chief for Sylva might take more time than anticipated after some of the town’s board members balked at using outside help. …The new method means that commissioners aren’t included in the decision unless the manager asks for participation, according Frayda S. Bluestein, who serves in the School of Government for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Roses and Raspberries (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
…Roses to the Ackland Art Museum, which plans to open a gallery shop in the long-vacant space underneath the Top of the Hill restaurant. That corner space is one of the most visible storefronts in Chapel Hill, on the main intersection in town at Franklin and Columbia streets. A vacant space is not the first thing we want visitors approaching downtown to see.
Picking cotton, rebuilding trust (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Richmond County Daily Journal
…Coincidentally, this week new UNC-Chapel Hill students discussed a book that showed how eyewitness testimony delivered with confidence and certainty led to the conviction and imprisonment of an innocent accused. The book is “Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption” by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton (with Erin Torneo). (D.G. Martin hosts UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch, which airs Sundays at 5 p.m.)
With breakfast, go for staying power (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When starting a busy day, think of your breakfast as something that will give you staying power. By the time most of us are ready to leave for work or school in the morning, we could benefit from something to eat – even if it's just a nibble. A morning meal boosts your energy level after an all-night fast and may improve your ability to perform your job. Eating breakfast can also keep you from becoming overly hungry later on. (Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the department of health policy and administration in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Issues and Trends
A larger presence for USDA at N.C. Research Campus
The Charlotte Business Journal
The first U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists will begin work at the N.C. Research Campus in September. And Congress is considering a second federal earmark of up to $1 million that would keep the federal agency at the Kannapolis life-sciences hub through fiscal 2011. The funding represents continued efforts to establish a USDA Human Nutrition Research Center in Kannapolis.
Highway Patrol advisory panel discusses hiring of interim commander
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
A six-person advisory panel appointed to help restructure the beleaguered state Highway Patrol met Tuesday to discuss the hiring of an interim commander. …The panel includes University of North Carolina law professors Julius Chambers and Norma Houston, former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker, Mecklenburg County District Attorney Peter Gilchrist, former state Court of Appeals Judge Ralph Walker and Mitchell, who is a former state Supreme Court Justice.