uncnews.unc.edu

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

National Coverage

Colleges urged to use socioeconomic affirmative action
USA Today
Colleges and universities should adopt affirmative-action policies based on socioeconomic status, argues a new report that finds the most disadvantaged students on average score 784 points lower on the SAT than those from the wealthiest, most educated families. ... "Somebody who believes his or her child is entitled to a space (in a school's freshman class) doesn't care whether that child's space is taken by a student of color or by a student from the other side of the tracks," says Steven Farmer, undergraduate admissions director at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Antiretrovirals During Breast-Feeding Shield Babies From HIV, Study Shows
Healthday News
In sub-Saharan Africa, many mothers with HIV are faced with an awful choice: breast-feed their babies and risk infecting them or use formula, which is often out of reach because of cost or can sicken the baby due to a lack of clean drinking water. ... In the United States, HIV-positive women are typically given antiretrovirals during pregnancy to avoid passing HIV to their babies in utero or during labor and delivery. After the baby is born, women are advised to use formula instead of breast-feeding for the same reason, said senior study author Dr. Charles M. van der Horst, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Implantable Electrodes Target Pancreatic Cancer
Technology Review (Cambridge, Mass.)
Researchers at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill have designed an implant that precisely supplies chemotherapy drugs to hard-to-reach pancreatic tumors using an electric field. The approach, which Joseph DeSimone described during a presentation at the Koch Cancer Institute's summer symposium in Cambridge, MA, on June 11, involves implanting an electrode carrying a reservoir of the drugs directly into the pancreas. When a second electrode is pinned to the side of the body or implanted inside, an electric field can be generated, driving the drugs out of the reservoir and into the tumor. Tests on pancreatic tumors in mice showed promising results that the team hopes to publish in the coming months.

Regional Coverage

Five healthy habits to help lose weight
The Statesman Journal (Salem, Ore.)
Building a better breakfast is a habit that's been shown to help weight-management efforts. However, changing lifestyle habits can be tough. ... Drink water or low-fat milk. University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health obesity expert Barry Popkin has shown American adults per capita consume sweetened beverages to the tune of nearly 500 calories per day. His conclusion, "You are what you drink."

State and Local Coverage

UNC journalism students take top honors (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A tip of the hat to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill, which has taken first place overall in the Intercollegiate Competition of the Hearst Journalism Awards. The first-place finish, announced by Hearst last week, was announced last week in New York City. It resulted from cumulative points earned by 11 UNC-CH students who competed in monthly writing, photojournalism, broadcast and multimedia competitions during the last school year.
UNC Brief: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3705/107/

UNC Researchers Probe Racial Cancer Disparity
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
UNC researchers conducted a study to examine why African-Americans are consistently less likely than white patients to seek surgery for lung cancer. Lead researcher and UNC Associate Professor of Medicine Dr. Samuel Cykert (SIGH-kurt) spent more than five years working on the study and he recognizes the dangers of refusing treatment.
UNC Release: http://www.unchealthcare.org/site/newsroom/news/2010/June/cykert-jama-lung-cancer

HAZMAT called to UNC campus
WTVD-TV (ABC/Raleigh)
A HAZMAT crew was called to a gas leak on UNC Chapel Hill's campus Wednesday. Crews were called to the 100 block on Mason Farm Road around 6 p.m. when officials say someone in a chemistry lab accidentally mixed two chemicals that produced a small amount of chlorine gas.
Related Link: http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/7801375/

Issues and Trends

UNC hoops icon Walter Davis fires it up for the less fortunate
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Well, the man is 55. “Sweet D” is what they called him, or “The Greyhound,” and on Friday he returns to Tobacco Road for a little golf for a noble cause. Davis is hosting the Seventh Annual Banks Foundation Self Help Golf Tournament at The Preserve at Jordan Lake Golf Club in Chapel Hill. The Banks Foundation is a nonprofit organization helping families getting off welfare and out of public housing transition to private homeownership. The foundation, named after Durham lawyer Sherrod Banks, has provided downpayment assistance to families who have qualified to purchase their first homes.

Vying for funds, educators defend their claims
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
... In the past year, tight budgets have heightened the competition between the teachers group and the state university system, with the NCAE claiming that Senate leaders protect the universities. NCAE stepped up its criticism of university spending this year...