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Dec. 27, 2007 Carolina in the News Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media: International Coverage Addictions linked to impulsiveness
The Press Association
Alcoholics and drug addicts may be naturally more impulsive than other people, a new study suggests. ...Study leader Dr. Charlotte Boettiger, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said: "Think of the orbital frontal cortex as the brakes. With the brakes on, people choose for the future. Without the brakes they choose for the short-term gain."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/dec07/boettiger122507.html
Related Links: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/847752.html Families unaccustomed to gatherings
The United Press International
Many U.S. families have moved toward individual activities like listening to an iPod rather than joint activities -- making holidays more stressful. Dennis Orthner of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work says interaction -- such as a large holiday family gathering -- occurs only on special occasions, making them less familiar.
UNC Tip Sheet: http://www.unc.edu/news/newstips/2007/orthnerholidays122107.html Players put team above health
The Star (Toronto, Canada)
The Philadelphia Flyers refused to utter the c-word regarding Simon Gagné. ...A University of North Carolina study reported in 2005 that retired NFL players faced a 37 per cent higher risk of Alzheimer's than similarly aged U.S. males. ...Kevin Guskewiecz, one of the authors of that study and head of the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes, said their initial approach to the NHL to do similar research was turned down, but they plan to ask again.
Related Link: http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/288194
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/dec07/gutskconcussions120607.html Major problem for generals as voters reject coup leaders
The Scotsman (Scotland)
The party backing Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted Thai prime minister, easily won the most seats in yesterday's election – a stunning rejection of the coup that booted out the telecoms billionaire in 2006. ..."It depends how many red cards they have to issue," said Kevin Hewison, a Thai expert at the University of North Carolina. "If it's 40 or 50, it may be difficult, but if it's only ten or 20, they might be able to do it." National Coverage For Jets, Silence on Concussions Signals Unease
The New York Times
Laveranues Coles is equal parts receiver and raconteur, the New York Jets player who talks when no one else will. ...Kevin Guskiewicz, chairman of the department of exercise and sport science at the University of North Carolina, and his colleagues have published several papers based on surveys of more than 2,000 former N.F.L. players that found a correlation between a player’s concussion history and later-in-life clinical depression, cognitive impairment and early-onset dementia.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/dec07/gutskconcussions120607.html When Both Parents Suffer Dementia, Children Suspect It Is Also in Their Future
The New York Times
“I’ve seen a number of adult children that have not one but two parents with dementia,” said Dr. Daniel I. Kaufer, a neurologist and director of the memory disorders program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. “It’s like the perfect storm of dementia care.” A Threat So Big, Academics Try Collaboration
The New York Times
It is a basic tenet of university research: Economists conduct joint studies, chemists join forces in the laboratory, political scientists share ideas about other cultures — but rarely do the researchers cross disciplinary lines. ...Nor do the environmentally themed names necessarily convey an enviro-centric agenda. Many sustainability centers — the Kenan-Flagler Center for Sustainable Enterprise at the University of North Carolina is a good example — address global cultures, business ethics and corporate social responsibility along with environmental issues. Study Spotlights 'Exercise-Friendly' Day-Care Centers
HealthDay News
Access to the outdoors and portable toys can boost just how much exercise youngsters get at a day-care center, researchers say. ...(Diane) Ward is director of the intervention and policy division in the nutrition department at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.
UNC News Release:
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/dec07/wardplayground121107.html
Related Link:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071227/FEATURES03/
712270340/1010/FEATURES Web cigarette sales burn hole in high state taxes
The Associated Press
Wisconsin and other states either don't know who is buying cigarettes over the Internet and not paying state taxes, or they know and don't go after the culprits. ...States are in a tough spot when it comes to collecting taxes owed on Internet sales, said Kurt Ribisl, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina's school of public health who has spent the past eight years studying the issue. Santa Benefits Adults Too
"Morning Edition" National Public Radio
Psychologists say adults have as much to glean from the myth and magic of Santa as kids. Santa allows adults to escape the reality of their troubles and stresses. It's not too different from the many other ways adults suspend disbelief such as losing themselves in a good book or movie. (Barbara Hendricks is a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.) State & Local Coverage Looking back on a very good year (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The end of 2007 is fast approaching, offering a chance to reflect on Carolina's accomplishments, especially the ones we achieved with the help of our friends here in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County. (James Moeser is chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.) The business of big science
The Independent Tribune (Kannapolis)
...Dr. Steve Zeisel is recruiting the top scientists in the world for his Nutrition Research Institute. As chair of the Department of Nutrition at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Public Health, Zeisel researched choline, a chemical that is necessary for brain development. Now, Zeisel is going after how nutrition affects brain development, obesity and cancer. He is recruiting 18 faculty researchers to lead one of the three research teams the institute will field in Kannapolis. Federal budget bears gifts for Triangle
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Bringing home the bacon - it's Job 1 (or at least very close to the top) for any politician who cares about staying in the good graces of his or her constituents. ...Money for area universities, including $4.7 million supporting textile research at N.C. State and $1 million for medical research at UNC-Chapel Hill. UNC prof's passion is oceans; reputation backs it up
The Chapel Hill Herald
Nestled among the most extensive, living coral reefs in the North American waters lies an undersea laboratory. ...UNC marine sciences professor Christopher Martens and a team of five aquanauts spent nine days in Aquarius in September this year studying how denizens of the ocean change its composition. Drug errors a risk in long-term care
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Mistakes in prescribing, ordering and dispensing medicine top the list of complaints to state adult care homes. ..."Good training for both the people who administer the drugs and people who monitor drugs is really imperative," said Thomas Konrad, a senior researcher at the UNC-Chapel Hill Institute on Aging. Clean hands can prevent the spread of colds
The Charlotte Observer
We are in the middle of a busy and hectic holiday season, visiting more family and friends, probably not getting enough sleep and eating "on the run." ...A recent study by UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill showed that cleaning a surface with a disinfectant wipe for just five seconds was 95 percent to 100 percent effective in getting rid of germs. Smile! There's a Way to Hide Braces
WRAL-CBS (Raleigh)
Many people live with crooked teeth, gaps or overbites because they do not like the way braces look, but they do not have to be seen at all. ...Hammeke asked Dr. Rose Sheats, an orthodontist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for the most unobtrusive solution possible. Triangle isn't sold on waterless urinals
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As a water-free urinal salesman whose territory covers the Southeast, Robert Turner is accustomed to having North Carolinians doubt his company's product. ..."In many of our campus buildings, the water-free urinals have been favorably received," said Cindy Pollock Shea, director of UNC-Chapel Hill's Sustainability Office, which has installed 160 of them since 2002. City lost month of water in summer
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Water Management Department statistics suggest that Durham lost enough water to leaks and other problems in the opening stages of the drought to keep residents supplied for nearly a month at present-day rates of demand. ...Analysts at the UNC School of Government's Environmental Finance Center also found that Durham's fiscal 2006-07 water revenues were roughly 24 percent higher than the department's expenses. Candidate pool for managers drying up
The Star-News (Wilmington)
When Rob Gandy first applied to be city manager of this small waterfront community, nearly 80 people were vying for the job. ...Stenberg, who is also director of the master of public administration degree program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said about half of his graduates will become town or county managers, a number the state is hoping to improve. Worries about the shrinking newspaper
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The News & Observer got skinnier last week. The newspaper removed the movie summaries from the Channels TV book on Sunday, reducing its size by 10 pages. ...It's a downward spiral, says Phil Meyer, journalism professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and author of "The Vanishing Newspaper." Ins and outs of better nutrition (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Out with the old and in with the new! The start of a new year makes this a great time to assess diets and habits and make changes to improve your and your family's health. Remember: Small changes for the better can have big impact over the long term. (Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill.) Brightly shining star was really Mars
The Charlotte Observer
That star that shone brightly Monday night -- it wasn't the Star of Bethlehem. It wasn't even a star. It was Mars. ..."We're periodically overtaking and making laps," said Wayne Christiansen, director of the Morehead Observatory and a professor of astronomy at UNC Chapel Hill, referring to planet Earth. Christmas Plums, Lumps
The Winston-Salem Journal
When Santa does his thing tonight, he’ll have lumps of coal for the naughty and sugarplums for the nice. Here are the Journal’s best guesses as to what some people will find in their stockings on Christmas morning. ...Sugarplum: To a pair of North Carolina scientists. ...Second, to Dr. Oliver Smithies of UNC Chapel Hill, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for research that permitted scientists to alter genes in laboratory mice so they can create customized research specimens. ...Coal: To UNC Chapel Hill athletics director Dick Baddour, for providing a $291,000-a-year raise to the school’s football coach, Butch Davis, even though the team had only four wins this season. And coal to Chancellor James Moeser, for allowing the raise and taking a big one for himself, too. Roses & raspberries
The Chapel Hill News
RASPBERRIES to the UNC board of trustees for bailing on a chance to take a stand against the arms-race mentality that rules college athletics. The trustees, by an 11-2 vote, approved a raise of $291,000 for football coach Butch Davis after his first season, in which his Tar Heels went 4-8. MTV taps journalism student for campaign
The Chapel Hill Herald
A UNC journalism student who created a ripple in the election cycle last fall is about to go national. Second-year graduate student Carla Babb was one of 51 reporters chosen to cover the presidential campaign as part of MTV's Street Team '08.
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/847688.html Issues & Trends Who wins? who loses?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A Capitol cop stood guard in the lobby of the community college system office early this month while staffers decorated for the holiday and buzzed about the coming announcement of a new president. ...A study last year by UNC-Chapel Hill researchers found that Hispanics pump about $9 billion annually into the state's economy as consumers and taxpayers, but the influx of new workers also holds down wages. One of the researchers, John Kasarda, said the economic impact could double in five years.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/845419.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/845421.html Battle over Michigan Stadium has national implications
The Detroit News (Mich.)
Days before the U.S. Department of Justice joined a lawsuit against the University of Michigan, alleging the Big House is hundreds of wheelchair seats shy of meeting federal law, the case was resonating nearly 700 miles away. At University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, construction crews were in the midst of demolishing the university's baseball stadium. Alarmed by the federal sanctions threatened against U-M, UNC's director of disability services sent a message to the project's architect: Are we perfectly satisfied with the redesign of our stadium? Smoking ban at WSSU to affect most of campus
The Winston-Salem Journal
Winston-Salem State University will ban smoking from much of its campus starting Jan. 1. The new smoking policy comes after the General Assembly passed new smoking laws earlier this year. ...Another new law applies to UNC campuses and allows smoking to be banned on school grounds up to 100 feet from buildings. Rathskeller closes again
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Rathskeller, a popular restaurant on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill, shut its doors to customers last week on orders from the state Department of Revenue. ...It has for years been a hangout for UNC-CH students. Alcohol involved in alleged assault
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Police are looking into what role alcohol may have played in an alleged sexual assault against three UNC-Chapel Hill football players, one of whom is not yet 21.
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Carolina in the News 
