uncnews.unc.edu

National Coverage

Like Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia Debate Persists
ABC News (National)
... Critics say there is no reason to classify fibromyalgia as a disease. "There is no such thing as a fibromyalgia person," said Dr. Nortin Hadler, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina's school of medicine in Chapel Hill. "The issue is not is it real... the issue is, are they diseased so that we need to fix their biochemistry or their minds. It's fairly counterintuitive."
Related link: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinions/x453759721

Drug Exemptions Triple in MLB
The Washington Post
The number of Major League Baseball players granted permission to use banned drugs for medical reasons more than tripled last season from the previous one, according to statistical information released during yesterday's hearing on steroids in Major League Baseball in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. ... Selig and MLB Players Association chief Donald Fehr noted that TUEs are overseen and granted only by the sport's independent program administrator, Bryan W. Smith, who was the team physician for the University of North Carolina for 10 years.

Regional Coverage

House seeks to ban herb
The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.)
Virginia lawmakers want to prevent people from getting their hands on salvia divinorum, a hallucinogenic herb with unknown psychological risks that has increased in popularity in recent years. ... "When people take a large enough dose, they are transported to what they described as a different place and time, and typically they don"t know how they got there," said Dr. Bryan Roth, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina. "So for some people, it could be frightening. For some, it could be exciting. It depends on the person."

State and Local Coverage

Maternity wards to coach parents: Don't shake baby
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Babies cry. It's normal. If you think you might lose your cool, put the baby in a crib and walk away. ..."If you walk away from a baby, they're safer than being shaken," said Desmond Runyan, a professor of social medicine and pediatrics at UNC-CH and principal investigator for the project. "That's what we need parents to hear."
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/unc-duke-lead-first-statewide-
shaken-baby-prevention-research-project-in-u.s..html
Related Links:
http://wunc.org/programs/news/archive/NRH011508.mp3/view
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-915912.cfm
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880115022

Road ahead to Carolina North may be bumpy (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
...The Year of Carolina North -- when many important decisions about the future of UNC's proposed massive new campus are likely to be made -- got off to a rough start last weekend. At the Chapel Hill Town Council's annual retreat Saturday, there was clearly some anger, distrust and skepticism when the subject of Carolina North came up.

Ann Arbor, Mich., to be eyed for ideas
The Chapel Hill Herald
The Community Leadership Council's second intercity visit will land in a familiar region of the country. ...Furthermore, UNC Chancellor James Moeser said the university sees the University of Michigan as a model of the future in terms of academic research.

Roses & raspberries
The Chapel Hill News
ROSES to the Carolina Global Water Partnership, a collaborative project designed to provide safe drinking water for families in Cambodia. ...Headed by Mark Sobsey of the UNC School of Public Health, the project is developing models and means to get purification systems in place in rural Cambodia.

Let there be an end (Column)
The Chapel Hill News
Anson Dorrance must feel a bit like that guy in the TV commercial about travel reservations, the one where a jack-hammer starts drowning him out every time he tries to ask his wife a question in their hotel room. ...Almost a decade after it first started, the sexual harassment lawsuit against Dorrance is settled.
UNC Statement:
http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/011408aaa.html
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/2750/story/882983.html

Campaign scrambles to explain errant 'e'
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It began with a simple misspelling. It ended three hours later with a candidate for governor having to clean up after a vowel-related damage-control operation went awry. ..."It strikes me as a rather minor error and a rather minor incident made worse, as usual, by someone simply trying to paper it over rather than saying directly, 'We made a mistake,' " Ferrel Guillory, director of the UNC-Chapel Hill Program on Public Life, said in an interview.

Great books for Everyman
The Chapel Hill News
Joseph Dent knew the gifts that great literature could bring to those fortunate enough to become acquainted with it; he worked with books his entire life, first as a master bookbinder and then as a publisher. ...UNC’s Wilson Library will examine the 102-year history of Everyman's Library in a free public exhibit, "The ABC of Collecting Everyman's Library: Archives, Books, Collections."
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/everymans-library-
exhibit-program-in-wilson-library.html

Orange commissioners hear views on tax options
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Orange County Commissioners on Tuesday met to hear presentations to help them decide whether to put a local revenue option before voters. ...Karl Smith, an economist from UNC-CH's School of Government, said the first question is, "Which tax raises more money today?"

Franklin hospital may move to richer spot
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Critics of a for-profit Franklin County hospital's plan to move near the border of affluent Wake County are dismayed that a subsidiary of the taxpayer-supported UNC Health Care system is helping to do it. ...In November, Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, a wholly owned subsidiary of UNC, announced it would join with Franklin Regional Medical Center's for-profit owner, Health Management Associates of Naples, Fla., to build a hospital in Youngsville.

How to be a better patient
The Chapel Hill News
One of the biggest responsibilities I have, and one of the most rewarding ones, is educating physicians at all steps of their training. I worry a lot about whether we are doing enough to make better physicians, and I worry about all of the forces that affect the jobs that physicians do. (Cam Patterson is chief of cardiology for the UNC School of Medicine, UNC Hospitals, and the UNC Health Care System.)

Keep the law school on the UNC campus (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill News
For Chancellor James Moeser, it may be a "no-brainer" to relocate the law school to Carolina North. But for law students, faculty and alumni, the move will gut the spirit of the place. (Adrian R. Halpern, Chapel Hill)

Issues and Trends

American Council on Education Names Molly Broad as President
Chronicle of Higher Education
Molly Corbett Broad, who orchestrated sweeping changes to the tradition-bound University of North Carolina system during her recent nine-year tenure there, was named president of the American Council on Education on Tuesday.
Related links:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/16/broad

Arizona Cancer Center earns world-class reputation
The News & Sun (Green Valley, Ariz.)
...In November, its gastrointestinal cancer program received renewal of a five-year, $12 million Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant from NCI. The center is one of only five institutions nationwide to receive this grant; the others include Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the University of North Carolina and Vanderbilt University.

Area boasts some champion trees
The Chapel Hill Herald
Ever see a tree so big that you thought it had to be the biggest one around? Well, the N.C. Division of Forest Resources keeps track of the biggest trees in the state, and Orange and Durham counties have some that are, in fact, championship trees. ...The biggest roundleaf sweetgum, measuring 81 feet in height, is in the Coker Arboretum on the UNC campus, where visitors are welcome to wander the grounds and view the many varieties of trees and plants, including the tree.