unc.edu/news

International Coverage

Plastic RBC may help prevent malaria
The Times of India (India)
An American scientist has created an artificial version of red blood cells that can deliver vital oxygen to body tissues, and take away unwanted carbon dioxide in the bloodstream in the same way as the original red blood cells do. ...Joseph DeSimone, a chemical engineer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says that he has created tiny sacks of the polymer polyethylene glycol just eight micrometers across that are capable of deforming in a way that allows them to pass through the tiniest capillaries.

Disordered eating is widespread among U.S. women
The Tehran Times (Iran)
Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of young American women report disordered eating behaviors, and 10 percent report symptoms of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, a new survey finds. ...The survey was conducted by SELF magazine in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

National Coverage

Quick Takes: ...American Academy’s New Members
Inside Higher Ed
The American Academy of Arts & Science has named 190 new fellows and 22 foreign honorary members. The new members come from more than 50 universities and other institutions and range in age from 37 to 86. (Louis Perez, director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas and Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been elected an academy fellow.)
Related Link:
http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/04/2648n.htm
Link to the list of 2008 Academy Fellows:
http://www.amacad.org/news/new2008.aspx

You Name It, and Exercise Helps It
The New York Times
...In the February/March issue of ACE Certified News, Natalie Digate Muth, a registered dietitian and personal trainer, emphasized the value of a good workout for people suffering from depression. Mastering a new skill increases their sense of worth, social contact improves mood, and the endorphins released during exercise improve well-being. “Exercise is an important adjunct to pharmacological therapy, and it does not matter how severe the depression — exercise works equally well for people with moderate or severe depression,” wrote Ms. Muth, who is pursuing a medical degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Obama backers wince at Wright's remarks
USA Today
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's vigorous defense of himself may be sabotaging the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, his longtime parishioner, supporters of the Illinois senator and political observers said Monday. ...Ferrel Guillory, a political expert at the University of North Carolina, said the North Carolina Republican Party's plans to run ads featuring Wright could jeopardize Obama's efforts to broaden his base among blue-collar white voters in the state.

Regional Coverage

What's in a Dame : Take my SUV, but hands off my sushi (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
OK, so about all these economic concerns and stuff. ...Now might be a fitting time to mention the recent Self magazine / University of North Carolina study that reported that 75 percent of women have unhealthy thoughts and behaviors when it comes to food / their bodies. Which is truly shocking.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/survey-finds-disordered-eating-behaviors-among-
three-out-of-four-american-women.html

Don't take that sip!
The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.)
What should we be drinking for optimal health? The Beverage Guidance Panel is a group of nutrition experts who came out with recommendations for beverage consumption in the United States. The panel's leader, Barry Popkin, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, was inspired to educate Americans about how beverage consumption has contributed to our obesity.

Recalling the death of cheerleader
The Boston Globe (Mass.)
When Lauren Chang crumpled to the floor that Sunday evening, the medic assigned to the cheerleading competition was away from the action, restocking her supplies after treating three earlier injuries, according to the private ambulance company she worked for. ...From 1982 to 2006, 10 female athletes have died from injuries sustained, directly or indirectly, during cheerleading stunts performed at the high school and college level, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, which is based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

State and Local Coverage

Graduate school dean named
The Chapel Hill Herald
Steven Matson, professor and chair of the department of biology at UNC will become dean of the university's graduate school effective July 1. A member of the faculty since 1983, Matson is widely respected for his teaching, mentoring and research in the field of genetics and molecular biology, said Bernadette Gray-Little, executive vice chancellor and provost, in announcing the appointment.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/higher_education/story/1053665.html
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/matson-biology-professor-and-chair-
appointed-graduate-school-dean.html

UNC study links blood cell clumps to sickle cell disease
The Chapel Hill Herald
It's long been known that patients with sickle cell disease have malformed, "sickle-shaped" red blood cells -- which are normally disc-shaped -- that can cause sudden painful episodes when they block small blood vessels. Now, UNC researchers have shown that blood from sickle cell patients also contains clumps, or aggregates, of red and white blood cells that may contribute to the blockages.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/clumps-of-red-and-white-blood-cells-may-
contribute-to-sickle-cell-disease.html

Spare the rod, group urges
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina is one of 21 states that allows corporal punishment in public schools, but state education officials don't monitor these punishments closely enough, a child advocacy group said in a report it released today. Teaming with UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work students, Action for Children surveyed all 115 of the state's school districts, finding 60 still permit corporal punishment.
Related Link:
http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2008-04-29-0003.html

Clinton stresses readiness to lead
The Charlotte Observer
On the day her campaign announced an endorsement from N.C. Gov. Mike Easley, Sen. Hillary Clinton told voters in Charlotte to treat Tuesday's primary as a hiring decision. ...Ferrel Guillory, a political analyst at UNC Chapel Hill, said it "depends on how the loser handles the (national) convention."

What does it mean to be biracial?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Moving beyond race was a big promise of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, if you believe media blatherers who tend toward obvious storylines and glom happily on to such catchphrases as "post-racial." ...(Lisa Boxill) Ruth's father, Bernard Boxill, is a professor in social and political philosophy and African-American philosophy at UNC-Chapel Hill, and he's written extensively on the subject of race.

N&O planning to trim workforce
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The News & Observer is offering buyouts to nearly a quarter of its workforce in an effort to tighten spending in the face of declining revenue, but whether layoffs will occur was not clear. ...When UNC Chapel Hill journalism professor Philip Meyer was reached for comment, he said it was "another step in the decline of the newspaper." "The newspaper industry is in a transition from ink on paper to online," said the author of "The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age." "It's not taking a lot of risk by investing new money in the new product, so it's going to squeeze the money from the old business."
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1053695.html

Monitors taken off four sex offenders
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Four sex offenders hooked to satellite tracking systems had ankle bracelets and signal boxes removed after a Wake Superior Court judge ruled they shouldn't be subject to lifetime monitoring. ...The legislature has created more oversight as public concerns about sex offenders increased, said John Rubin, a UNC-Chapel Hill professor who has studied the programs.

The bell tolls for low-income drivers (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The N.C. Turnpike Authority is advocating regressive toll road solutions that will negatively affect our broader transit needs for the next 40 years. ...A 2002 study at UNC showed that 45 percent of low-income families in the state do not have credit cards and that 25 percent of all minority families in the nation do not have any bank accounts.

Support transfer tax, not Realtors (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The Realtors who have spent millions of dollars trying to defeat the transfer tax proposal on the May 6 ballot in Orange County are engaged in a risky business. For if, as their slick commercials and mailings suggest, the proposed 0.4 percent tax on home sales will cause economic hardship, empty houses, and perhaps even threaten the American family and our way of life, the same can be said about Realtors themselves -- who charge a 6 percent tax on every home sale. (David H. Schanzer teaches public policy at UNC Chapel Hill and Duke and is a homeowner in Orange County.)

Vince Gill to be in UNC hospital benefit
The Chapel Hill Herald
Nineteen-time Grammy Award winner Vince Gill will perform a charity concert at Memorial Hall Wednesday at 8 p.m. Gill is donating 100 percent of the proceeds from this benefit performance to North Carolina Children's Hospital's Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology.

Issues and Trends

Clinton highlights Obama's objection to gas tax holiday
The Associated Press
Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Barack Obama on Monday for opposing proposals to suspend federal gas taxes this summer, a plan she and Republican John McCain have endorsed. ...Obama capped his day at the University of North Carolina's basketball arena, which was filled with about 15,000 cheering people he sought to energize to cast early ballots through Saturday.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/948/story/1053604.html

As economy slows, is any area really `recession-proof'?
The Associated Press
The catering business isn't what economists would call "recession-proof." ...About 70 percent of the firm's business comes from the Triangle's three big research universities _ Duke down the road in Durham, North Carolina State in Raleigh and, of course, the University of North Carolina's flagship campus right there in Chapel Hill. Even with the national economy slipping toward the doldrums, business is steady here.

More info sealed in Carson killing
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A court hearing to consider unsealing the search warrants in the Eve Carson murder case ended Monday with yet another document under seal.
Related Links:
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-946565.cfm
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080429/NRSTAFF/
329288964/-1/NEWSRECRSSARKIVE