uncnews.unc.edu

National Coverage

Weekly Drug Helps Type 2 Diabetics
HealthDay News
Diabetics getting weekly injections of an experimental long-lasting version of the drug exenatide lowered their glucose levels and lost weight over the year they were on the medication, a new study reports. ..."Patients significantly reduced their blood glucose levels and, on average, lost a total of over 9 pounds. These improvements were sustained for a year," Dr. John B. Buse, director of the Diabetes Care Center and chief of the division of endocrinology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.

Regional Coverage

Local history unfolds in Fort Mill
The Fort Mill Times (South Carolina)
The story of life along the Catawba River 250 years ago surfaces gradually here in the forest, where only the occasional sound of an archeologist's digging interrupts a bird's chirp or the creaking of a tree. ..."By 1743, there are historical accounts of more than 20 dialects being spoken in the area," said Stephen Davis Jr., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill associate director of Research Laboratories of Archeology.

State and Local Coverage

Open incentives deals (Editorial)
The News & Record (Greensboro)
Taxpayers don't know much about economic incentives, and what they think they know may be wrong. ...The legislature has commissioned a study by the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at UNC-Chapel Hill to quantify the economic impact realized for the billions spent. The results should guide future incentives policies.

An inside look at cancer (Under the Dome)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The legislature will soon host a giant colon. The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center will bring a giant inflatable colon to the General Assembly on June 26. From 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the cancer center will host events inside and outside the building -- and the colon -- to promote screening and awareness for a host of different kinds of cancer. Health experts will be on hand to answer questions.

Bill on UNC airport panel may be slowed
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Orange County commissioners want more discussion of a bill before a House committee that would give the University of North Carolina the power to create airport authorities.

Roses & raspberries (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
ROSES to the nearly 1,000 people who showed up to donate blood at the 20th annual Carolina Blood Drive last week. Organizers had set a goal of 1,000 useable units. They came up just a tad short; they got 966 useable units from the more than 980 donors.
UNC News Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/blood-drive-produces-966-units.html

Home away from home (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill News
There's no place like home. Or is there? "This place is so welcoming," said Richard Cruse, about the SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals. ...It provides affordable temporary housing for critically ill patients and their families, while the adult patient undergoes treatment at UNC for transplants, cancer, burns, trauma and eating disorders.

Churches, friends rally to help heal sick child
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Inoperable brain tumor, said doctors at UNC-Chapel Hill. Fewer than 10 percent with the tumor, a "diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma," live another 18 months, according to The Cure Starts Now, a group formed to search for a cure for brainstem tumors.

Museum exhibit explores the garden
The Chapel Hill News
...The Ackland Art Museum at UNC presents a special exhibition of works of art that call attention to the unique styles developed through the centuries to represent and interpret garden imagery. "In and Around the Garden: Perspectives East and West," organized by curator of exhibitions Barbara Matilsky, explores a range of garden-centered themes -- from the scientific to the spiritual -- in a rich variety of works that span time, genre, and geography.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/ upcoming-events
--carolina---june-2008.html

Exhibit features water as medium and subject
The Chapel Hill News
Human beings' fascination with the movement of water goes back thousands of years. ..."Flowing like Water: The Art of Liquidity," a special collection installation at the Ackland Art Museum on the UNC campus, explores how the liquid materials of painting, drawing, and even sculpture have provided analogies to the flow of water.

Issues and Trends

House panel backs 3 anti-smoking measures
The Associated Press
Anti-smoking advocates scored a small victory Tuesday when the House Health Committee approved three bills to ban smoking in and around government property. ...Last year, they enabled University of North Carolina officials and public school officials to create their bans.

Judge weighs release of Carson autopsy report
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A Superior Court judge today will consider a request by The News & Observer to unseal a medical examiner's report of an autopsy on UNC-Chapel Hill student leader Eve Carson.
Related Link:
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880611011

Orange vigilant against gangs
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
An arrest last week in a Hillsborough shooting was a rare instance in Orange County: Police said with certainty that one of the suspects was a gang member. ...The slaying of UNC-Chapel Hill student leader Eve Carson intensified concerns about gangs.

Madrona raises $250 million
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Washington)
Madrona Venture Group has raised a $250 million venture fund, the largest in the 13-year history of the Seattle venture capital firm. ...The positive results also attracted a new group of investors, including the University of North Carolina, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the YMCA Retirement Fund and Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Scientists at GSK expect layoffs
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Hundreds of highly paid GlaxoSmithKline scientists will find out today whether they still have jobs as the drug maker steps up a restructuring program it announced in October to counter slow sales....The layoffs have been in the works for weeks, said Stephen Frye, GSK's former head of drug discovery, who joined the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty last year.

Cooperation needed for bicyclists' safety (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill News
Thank you for the brilliant June 1 guest column on biking in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. ...It's quite shocking to realize that college towns like Madison, Wisc., have 10 times the number of cyclists as UNC. (Altha Cravey, Carrboro)