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Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:

International Coverage

Merck, Sangamo to Gain From $70 Million Boost in AIDS Cure Hunt
Bloomberg News

…The biggest grant, of $6.3 million in the first year, will go to a group of 19 laboratories led by David Margolis, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He’s working with Merck to develop a line of drugs aimed at purging HIV from cells where it hides out, evading AIDS treatments and condemning patients to a lifetime of popping pills. “The NIH has said for a while that it’s one of the top three priorities in AIDS research,” Margolis said in a telephone interview. “Now they’re putting their money where their mouth is.”
UNC Release:
http://uncmedne.ws/margolis

More supermarkets don't mean better health
Reuters (Wire Service)

…But the link between food access and what people eat is complicated, said study author Penny Gordon-Larsen, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "It's not simply enough to introduce a grocery store," she told Reuters Health. "Our findings provide some evidence for zoning restrictions on fast food restaurants within 3 km of low-income residents but suggest that increased access to food stores may require complementary or alternative strategies to promote dietary behavior change," she and her colleagues wrote.

Giving in to snack attacks and the perils of mindless eating
The National Post (Canada)

…In the study, researchers from the University of North Carolina used data from four other studies of U.S. adults conducted over a 30-year period to determine which of three factors contributed most to increases in energy (read: calories) intake across the population: portion size, eating occasions or energy density.

National Coverage

Merck collaborates with academics on HIV research
The Associated Press

…A team of academics led by professors at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill campus and assisted by Merck will research ways to purge HIV infections from the body. Another team of academics centered at the University of California San Francisco will research HIV reservoirs, areas where the virus may lie dormant.
UNC Release:
http://uncmedne.ws/margolis

A boost for HIV-AIDS research (Blog)
The Washington Post

A group of three collaborating labs will receive $70 million toward researching a cure to HIV/AIDS. The funding will be doled out over five years to teams at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and the University of California, San Francisco working with the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida. The two universities are members of the Martin Delaney Collaboratory, a partnership between university and corporate labs to research a cure for HIV/AIDS.
Related Links:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/07/11/merck-to-partner-
with-us-universities-on-hiv-projects/

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/07/12/a-m-vitals-government-issues
-rules-on-state-insurance-exchanges/

Fast Food Is King of the Neighborhood, Study Reports
HealthDay News

Into America's fight against obesity comes new research pitting fast food against fruits and veggies, and fast food, it seems, is the winner. …"It's not enough to say we will build it [supermarkets] and people will come," said lead researcher Penny Gordon-Larsen, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health in Chapel Hill.

Educators Accused Of Tampering With Students' Tests From D.C. To Pennsylvania
The Huffington Post

…"The rooster is guarding the hen house," said Gregory Cizek, a University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill professor involved in analysis of Atlanta's schools. "When you're asking the state Department of Education to follow up on the state education system's potential problems, you're asking the wrong people to follow up on that. It should be some external or independent arm that does the follow up or the analyses."

Can Smoking Protect Your Joints?
The Huffington Post

…Leigh Callahan, Ph.D., an arthritis researcher and professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says the findings are likely to spur scientists to explore the relationship between smoking and arthritis more closely. The study "makes you want to understand the mechanism underlying the association," she says.

What Does Bottle-Feeding Have to Do With Autism Risk?
Time

…Gallup's hypothesis is intriguing if simplistic, says Miriam Labbok, professor of maternal and child health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute. "I think there's more than meets the eye in all of this," says Labbok. "I'm not surprised, but it's probably more of a proxy for something else that is probably happening."

Regional Coverage

CEAL and UNC Promote Excellence in Person-Centered Care Domains of Practice
The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)

The Center for Excellence in Assisted Living (CEAL), a unique collaborative of national provider, consumer, and advocacy organizations, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) have released seminal person-centered attributes and indicators developed and approved unanimously by CEAL through an initiative funded by
The Commonwealth Fund.

State and Local Coverage

UNC researchers will seek AIDS cure
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

A national consortium of researchers led by a team at UNC-Chapel Hill has won a major federal grant aimed at curing AIDS. The group was awarded $32 million over five years to seek ways to cure HIV patients by eradicating hidden reservoirs in the immune systems of patients taking anti-retroviral drugs. It's part of the first major funding initiative aimed at eliminating HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, from the cells and tissues of patients, said Dr. David Margolis, a professor in UNC's School of Medicine and its Gillings School of Global Public Health. He is the principal investigator for the group, which includes researchers from nine other universities.
Related Links:
http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/healthteam/story/9847127/
http://wunc.org/programs/news/archive/tdm071211.mp3/view
http://www.chapelboro.com/UNC-Receives-Grant-in-Innovative-Study-on-HIV-and-/10325343
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/14667438/article-UNC-tapped-to-
lead-effort-for-AIDS-cure?instance=main_article

UNC Release:
http://uncmedne.ws/margolis

Roundtable on U.S. debt crisis to feature Hagan
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., will join former congressional budget leaders and fiscal budget experts for a roundtable discussion on the nation's debt crisis at 10 a.m. July 25 at the Kenan Center on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. "The Debt Crisis and Saving Our Fiscal Future" event, hosted by the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, is free and open to the public.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4624/67/

UNC institute unlocking mysteries of weight control
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

The room isn't much to look at. Small and plain, with a twin bed, a chair, a dorm-size refrigerator, a sink and a toilet. But the spartan appearance is deceiving. This "metabolic chamber" at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute has cost about $1 million to build and maintain. It's the newest and most sensitive of 17 such research tools in the world, according to Dr. Steven Zeisel, the institute's director.

Chancellor Thorp's message to the campus community
We are facing a very difficult year. Across campus, units are going to be cutting budgets even more than they’ve already been cut.
Related Links:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/12/1337957/unc-health-moves-money-to-universities.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2011/07/12/unc-health-care-gives-universities-20m.html?response=no

Committee meets again to review WakeMed's proposed Rex purchase
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

A special committee of the UNC Health Care System board of directors held its second meeting Monday to continue its review of WakeMed's $750 million offer to purchase Rex Healthcare.
Related Link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/2011/07/unc-health-care-conducting-due.html
http://wunc.org/programs/news/archive/NRH071211_WakeMed.mp3/view

Unemployment rate hides thousands of NC jobless
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)

…Many economists say a more accurate picture can be seen in what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calls the U-6 number. That includes people so frustrated they gave up an active job search, those scraping by on part-time work because they can't find full-time employment and those in the midst of training for a career change. "I think it's a much better depiction of our economic health, which is really dire, not only in North Carolina, but across the country," said Jason Jolley, senior research director at the Center For Competitive Economies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

UNC professor tries to go email free
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Paul Jones is testing a theory that workers are more productive without email. "Email is creaky and old," Jones said. Jones said sorting through spam and unimportant email bogs down the workday.

Hearing moved up in former UNC player's lawsuit
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)

A hearing on the lawsuit filed by former University of North Carolina football player Michael McAdoo against the school and NCAA has been moved up.

Issues and Trends

Community colleges can combine (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

North Carolina's community colleges are all about efficiency and management innovation, according to system President Scott Ralls. There's a lot to his claim. The community college system's expenditures per student are less than half of those at University of North Carolina schools. Plus, during the three years of the economic downturn, the system absorbed a 28 percent increase in enrollment, even though state appropriations rose by only 5.5 percent.

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