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

National Coverage

Academia at a Crossroads — Can Our Great Universities Lead in a Time of Need (Column)
The Huffington Post

Pulitzer Prize winner David Rohde's recent article on our efforts at UNC to turn our university into an engine of innovation argues that America's research universities can make a profound difference in the battle to rebuild the country's economy and its middle class. …Rhode's plea that these magnificent institutions do more to generate economic activity while attacking society's biggest problems mirror arguments my co-author Holden Thorp and I make in our book. As Rhode reports, at UNC we are attempting to create a campus culture that focuses on solving important problems and in so doing generate economic activity and new jobs. (Buck Goldstein, University Entrepreneur in Residence, University of North Carolina.)

Nortin Hadler, author of several books on medical overtreatment, turns his
attention to what he calls the ‘medicalization’ of aging.
The Washington Post

Nortin Hadler, a professor of medicine and microbiology/immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been warning for years about the lack of evidence supporting many popular medical treatments and tests. His work is controversial. In books such as “Stabbed in the Back: Confronting Back Pain in an Overtreated Society” and “Worried Sick: A Prescription for Health in an Overtreated America,” Hadler argues for holding medical interventions to a high standard: Do they reduce mortality or substantially lessen the burden of illness?
Related Link:
http://gantdaily.com/2012/02/21/seniors-need-to-reevaluate-their-needs
-for-popular-medical-treatments-the-khn-interview/

Modern Monetary Theory, an unconventional take on economic strategy
The Washington Post

…“You can’t just fund any level of government that you want from spending money, because you’ll get runaway inflation and eventually the rate of inflation will increase faster than the rate that you’re extracting resources from the economy,” says Karl Smith, an economist at the University of North Carolina. “This is the classic hyperinflation problem that happened in Zimbabwe and the Weimar Republic.”

One way to lose weight: Watch what you drink (Blog)
The Atlanta Journal Constitution

How would you like to lose 5 pounds in six months? That may not sound like much, but you could potentially lose 10 pounds in a year. …Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tested that theory on a group of 318 overweight adults who, on average, had been consuming nearly 300 calories in liquids per day. Twenty percent of the participants shed 5 percent of their starting weight, which is considered clinically significant because other health indicators such as blood pressure improved.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5088/71/

Regional Coverage

Study: Autism signs detectable at 6 months
WLS-TV (ABC/Chicago, Ill.)

The early signs of autism can be detected in babies as young as six months, according to a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina. As part of the study, 92 infants underwent a special type of MRI called diffusion tension imaging. Researchers say the scans suggest autism doesn't appear abruptly, but instead develops over time during infancy.
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2012/february/brain-imaging-differences
-evident-at-6-months-in-infants-who-develop-autism

Baby brain development may signal autism
The Baltimore Sun (Maryland)

Babies who develop autism later in life may show signs of the disease in their brain development as early as six months old, new research has found. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other institutions looked at brain scans taken on babies at night while they were sleeping.

State and Local Coverage

Did stimulus program help Triad?
The News & Record (Greensboro)

…So far, state officials attribute about 25,000 jobs to various stimulus projects across North Carolina, said Jason Jolley, senior research director for the Carolina Center for Competitive Communities at UNC-Chapel Hill. “That is a lot of jobs,” Jolley said. “But if you think about what happened at the start of the recession, we lost 300,000 jobs.”

Warren responds to removal from DSS Board
WWAY-TV (ABC/Wilmington)

A day after fellow Brunswick County Commissioners removed him from the county's Social Services Board, Charles Warren is speaking out. …As there is no North Carolina statute or rule which sets forth any guidelines by which a member of the Board of Social Services can be removed, we can only look to the University of North Carolina School of Government's Handbook for County Social Services Boards, which suggests grounds for removal which constitute "good cause."

Charting cities' financial stewardship (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

The primary responsibility of local government is to provide essential services in an effective and cost-efficient manner. But without any metrics to measure whether they are accomplishing this objective, holding elected officials accountable is problematic. So I developed an index that shows how much North Carolina's 25 largest cities or towns charge their citizens for basic services. (Michael Jacobs is professor of the practice of finance at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and former head of corporate finance and corporate governance policy at the U.S. Treasury Department.)

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