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

International Coverage

AIDS Cure Quest Advances as Merck Cancer Drug Attacks Hidden HIV
Bloomberg News

The 30-year quest for an AIDS cure advanced as scientists succeeded for the first time in attacking HIV in its hardest-to-reach hideouts with a cancer drug made by Merck & Co. (MRK) In a trial involving six men with HIV, researchers led by David Margolis at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill used a dose of Merck’s Zolinza to rouse the virus from inside certain immune-system cells, where it evades regular AIDS drugs. That’s a crucial step toward eliminating the virus from the body. The findings were presented at a conference in Seattle yesterday.
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2012/march/drug-helps-purge-
hidden-hiv-virus-study-shows

No make-up, no blow-drys and hairy legs! How two women are going au
naturel for 60 days to rediscover their inner confidence
The Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

…Kelly Finley, a women’s and gender studies professor at University of North Carolina supports the project as bringing up important issues for women, especially those in the workplace. 'We’ve been painting our faces for millennia,' she explained to the Observer. 'But when you feel like you have to wear makeup or you won’t have power, then that’s something different.'

National Coverage

Setback on AIDS Drug Is Re-evaluated
The New York Times

…In a different study, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed that they had used a cancer drug, vorinostat, to purge the virus hiding in the CD4 cells of six men who were already doing well on triple-therapy cocktails. Although the cocktails can make the virus vanish from the blood, it hides in different types of cells, ready to roar back if the patient stops taking the cocktails. Rooting some out with vorinostat “may not be the magic bullet,” said Dr. David Margolis, the study’s lead researcher, “but it suggests we can build a path that may lead to a cure.”
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2012/march/drug-helps-
purge-hidden-hiv-virus-study-shows

SXSW: TIME Reporters on Tech, Politics, Arts, Biz and Social Media
Time

…TIME White House Correspondent Michael Scherer will be moderating a panel on Sunday, March 11 featuring digital experts from media, politics and academia about how the Internet has influenced the 2012 election. Participants include co-founder of Personal Democracy Forum Micah Sifry; BBC.com North American Editor Claudia Milne; Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina Zeynep Tufekci and Digital Director of Obama for America Teddy Goff.

Regional Coverage

OHSU gets $6 million for alcohol study
The Portland Business Journal (Oregon)

A group led by Oregon Health & Science University researchers has landed $21 million to study the links between stress, anxiety and alcoholism. …Other facilities participating in the grant and study include Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Tennessee’s Health Sciences Center.

UVa researchers find DNA in new places
The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.)

Researchers led by a University of Virginia scientist found DNA in places it wasn’t previously thought to be, a discovery that could have implications for how scientists search for genetic causes of diseases such as autism and schizophrenia. …The team that did the research included academics from UVa and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

State and Local Coverage

UNC researchers find cancer drug that may help fight HIV
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill have discovered what could be a vital step toward a cure for HIV. By giving patients a drug normally used for treating some kinds of lymphoma, they have managed to make dormant, hidden HIV viruses reveal their presence. That's crucial if scientists want to find a way to target the viruses and completely eliminate them from the body, said Dr. David Margolis, a professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, and epidemiology who lead the study.
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2012/march/drug-helps-
purge-hidden-hiv-virus-study-shows

Medical schools brace for change
The Triangle Business Journal

Major changes in the way medical schools gain accreditation might revolutionize how doctors are trained but also could inflict more costs on an already stretched medical education system. …Currently, medical schools such as those Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill base standards on how many procedures its residents perform, with the assumption that they achieved competency through practice, says Dr. Thomas Nasca, ACGME chief executive.

Alexandria CEO foresees cluster of jobs in alliance
The Triangle Business Journal

…The RTP cluster will have much of its research focused on rare and orphaned diseases, says Paul Watkins, a professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. The humanitarian nature of the research will attract investors, even in a poor fundraising market, he says.

Voices for Civil Rights Part II
WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill)

The Southern Oral History Program at UNC-Chapel Hill has just completed work on a new collection of interviews about the civil rights movement. Over the last year and a half, oral historians traveled the country to document the experiences of lay-people and leaders from the movement. This series is part of a joint project between the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress. Seth Kotch coordinated the effort, and he's joining us each Friday to share some of what they found for a series we're calling Voices for Civil Rights.

Cellular Obscura
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM

In the mid-1990s, Shawn Rocco's job as a photojournalist for the News & Observer newspaper changed. …Enter a flip phone circa 1996. The camera embedded in that phone turned out to be Rocco’s saving grace. He used that camera to exercise his artistic muscle. Thousands of images later, an exhibition of Rocco’s cell phone photography is on view at the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill through April 7th

PlayMakers, dramatic art to present reading of ‘8,’ a new play
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

PlayMakers Repertory Company and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill department of dramatic art will present a one-night-only staged reading of “8,” a new play chronicling the historic trial in the federal constitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 8, in April.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5124/66/

Issues and Trends

Gender-Neutral Housing: No Excuses for UNC-Chapel Hill
The Huffington Post

Safety for transgender college students needs to be a priority. According to Campus Pride's 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People, less than 7 percent of institutions of higher education have inclusive nondiscrimination polices with regard to gender identity and expression of transgender students, faculty, and staff.

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