Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
2010 Rhodes Scholars announced — a breakdown by school (Blog)
The Washington Post
This weekend the Rhodes Trust announced its next class of Rhodes Scholars. The 32 students will study (for free) at the University of Oxford in England for two or three years, starting next October. …University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: S. Paul Shorkey, Jr. of Charlotte
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4122/75/
A Prescription for Abdominal Pain: Due Diligence
The New York Times
…Miranda A. L. van Tilburg, a psychologist who is assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, was the lead author of a study published a year ago in Pediatrics, which showed good effects from a treatment called guided imagery. “We would give them therapeutic suggestions,” Dr. van Tilburg said, “like imagining something in your hand that melts in your hand like butter and then you put it in your tummy and it makes it stronger, or imagine drinking your favorite drink and again the inside of your tummy is coated with this special layer.”
Radiation Worries for Children in Dentists’ Chairs
The New York Times
Because children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to radiation, doctors three years ago mounted a national campaign to protect them by reducing diagnostic radiation to only those levels seen as absolutely necessary. …Dr. John B. Ludlow, a University of North Carolina professor who has published widely quoted studies on dental radiation, said he suspects that some dentists avoid faster film because they mistakenly believe it is harder to process.
Foreclosure takes toll on increasing number of children (Blog)
The Washington Post
…Some of the parents in the study, conducted by the National Council of La Raza and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said their children blamed them for losing the home. Eight families reported increased conflict among siblings.
Teaching Medical Robots
U.S. News & World Report
During the past decade, the growing use of medical robotic devices to perform minimally invasive surgery–procedures done through small incisions—has made it easier for surgeons to do many things they couldn't do before. But the new technology can't do everything—yet. …He is collaborating with …Ron Alterovitz, assistant professor in the University of North Carolina department of computer sciences.
Newfound water risk: Lead-leaching valves
Science News
Hidden elements in drinking-water lines can shed large amounts of lead, a toxic heavy metal. And it's quite legal, even if it does skirt the intent of federal regulations. …The new valve data are just the latest lead problem turned up by Edwards’ crew and Carolyn Elfland, an associate vice chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Regional Coverage
States Battle with Federal Government on Health Care
WTMA 1250-AM (Charleston, S.C.)
At a time when Medicaid enrollment is on a steady rise and the economy remains weak, health care has also unearthed old tensions between states and the federal government that lie at the heart of the health care debate. …"There's not an easy villain," said William Roper, dean of the school of public health at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "We as Americans want people to be covered by health insurance and get health services that they need, but we have a much greater appetite for public services than we have an appetite for the taxes that pay for them and that has produced over years — and more recently over the last few years — a gigantic budget deficit."
Saying thanks helps bond relationships
The Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
…Expressing gratitude can make your and your beloved's heart flutter even more, according to a research study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In "It's the Little Things: Everyday Gratitude as a Booster Shot for Romantic Relationships," author Sara Algoe studied 67 cohabiting couples, almost a quarter of which were married.
State and Local Coverage
Scholarships and scholarship (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
It’s the season for scholarships — first Sunday’s announcement that three students from Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill had earned Rhodes Scholarships, then Monday’s notice that the Marshall Scholarships have been awarded. …These scholarships aren’t the achievement, not really. They’re the key to the gate. We congratulate Dunnmon, Steven Paul Shorkey, Deschamps-Laporte, Altemose, Buse and Speidel for their honors and for their success so far — and we look forward to seeing what is to come.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4122/75/
Football supporters (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Your Nov. 21 editorial castigating UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp was filled with inaccuracies and inappropriate accusations that suggest a strong anti-Carolina bias. No, broad support for head football coach Butch Davis is not based on the team's record. No, Thorp does not pretend to predict the future: He bases his decisions on the factual evidence that is available, and he will adjust his decisions if the evidence changes. No, our high standards in athletics have not been harmed. (Steve Reznick, Chair, UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty Athletics Committee, Chapel Hill)
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/11/23/820876/drained-unc-needs-to-regroup.html
Issues and Trends
Deficit-Cutting Proposal Revives Debate Over In-School Interest Subsidy on Student Loans
The Chronicle of Higher Education
…Under current law, the federal government pays the interest that accrues on Perkins Loans and subsidized Stafford loans while a student is enrolled in college, for six months after graduation, and during deferments. The draft proposal released this month by the deficit commission's co-chairmen—Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Erskine B. Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina and a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton—suggested eliminating the subsidy on Stafford loans as a way to cut down on government spending.