uncnews.unc.edu

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

International Coverage

New drug cuts food cravings
The Courier Mail (Australia)
A NEW weight loss drug that works in the brain rather than the stomach looks set to be approved by American regulators in late January. ..."Clinicians and patients need additional options,'' John Buse, MD, of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, who addressed the committee on the drugmakers behalf, said. "The risk-to-benefits ratio, he said, falls clearly on the side of benefits.''

National Coverage

A Quest to Explain What Grades Really Mean
The New York Times
It could be a Zen koan: if everybody in the class gets an A, what does an A mean? The answer: Not what it should, says Andrew Perrin, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “An A should mean outstanding work; it should not be the default grade,” Mr. Perrin said. “If everyone gets an A for adequate completion of tasks, it cripples our ability to recognize exemplary scholarship.”

Shedding Light On Civil Rights-Era Citizens Councils
"All Things Considered" National Public Radio
Comments from Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour that appeared to praise the work of so-called Citizens Councils are raising controversy. Many cite the Citizens Councils as racist organizations that fought against racial equality. NPR's Audie Cornish talks to University of North Carolina journalism professor Hodding Carter III, who grew up in Mississippi, and whose father documented the rise of Citizens Councils.

Can Kindness Cut the Risk of Heart Disease?
The Huffington Post
...The repetition of kind acts might have a cumulative effect on oxytocin production levels, at least if research on hugs is anything to go by. Oxytocin increase is a side effect of hugging. It's actually been called the "cuddle chemical." In one piece of research involving 59 women and performed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, those women who reported the most amounts of hugs with their partner had the highest levels of oxytocin. They also had the lowest blood pressure.

Regional Coverage

2010: The Year of The Concussion (Blog)
The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.)
...Since 2004, the NCAA has sponsored a study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to track injuries throughout collegiate athletics. The NCAA hopes to release results of the study next spring, and it will include information on concussions sustained by student-athletes from 2004-09.

State and Local Coverage

For Carolina nurse, big ideas bring big results
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
From the time she was small, Debra J. Barksdale thought big. At the age of 9, she was inspired by the television show "Julia," starring Diahann Carroll as a black American nurse. ...Today, as an associate professor at UNC Chapel Hill's School of Nursing, she juggles teaching, research, mentoring, volunteering and providing leadership within and outside the school.

Diabetes care raises alarm
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Both (Lou) Wilson and Dr. John Buse, a UNC-Chapel Hill physician and former president of the American Diabetes Association, point out that many people with diabetes test their own blood sugar and administer insulin daily. However, Buse also noted that insulin is a powerful drug that has to be administered with care. "It is the drug that is most commonly associated with serious medical errors in medical facilities," Buse said. "Hopefully the people that own these facilities, that run these facilities, understand that insulin is a drug where the margin for error is very small."

Samuel Lai
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Samuel Lai, assistant professor in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy who is leading research efforts to halt pathogens invading the body by stopping them in the mucous membranes, was awarded a $100,000 one-year Grand Challenges Explorations grant by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project is among 65 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the fifth funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries.

Organ donor's gift resonates years later
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
Almost four years ago, Jason Ray, 21, lost his life but left the gift of life for others. Ray was hit by a car in New Jersey where he had traveled with the University of North Carolina basketball team. Jason was a student at UNC and played the popular, energetic mascot, "Rameses." He was also an organ donor. On Christmas Eve, his gift resonates.

Diabetes places teeth at risk
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
Diabetics face a variety of health concerns. Even their teeth are at risk for more diseases. ...Dry mouth can cause more cavities and other dental issues, said Dr. Janet Southerland, with the University of North Carolina of Dentistry. "They are at higher risk – about two times higher risk than most folks of developing gum disease," Southerland said.

Living with HIV
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
..."We are making steps with these medications but they are not widely available," said Peter Leone, North Carolina HIV/STD prevention and control medical director. He said condoms are still the most widely recommended method in HIV prevention to those who are sexually active. (Peter Leone is a professor of medicine and epidemiology at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

Scientists create 3-D model of landmarks
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Who says Rome wasn't built in a day? Computer scientists have invented a technique that automatically creates 3-D models of landmarks and geographical locations, using ordinary two-dimensional pictures available through Internet photo sharing sites like Flickr. ...It was devised by a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Swiss university, ETH-Zurich, led by Jan-Michael Frahm, Ph.D., research assistant professor of computer science in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences.

UNC-CH considers new rules for rush
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill wants to hold its fraternity and sorority members to higher academic standards. Officials are developing a performance-based recruiting system aimed at providing more structure to the traditional fraternity rush, the period at the start of the semester when fraternities find new members.

WakeMed enlists Fetzer (Under the Dome)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Tom Fetzer, who plans to step down as chairman of the state Republican Party next month, has taken WakeMed as his first consulting client. "Hopefully there will be others," he said. Last month, WakeMed launched a PR and political fight with its Chapel Hill rival, the UNC Health Care System. WakeMed officials have accused UNC Health of using its taxpayer support to pay for "predatory" expansion and disrupt the Wake County medical market.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/12/27/884440/wakemed-affiliates-with-heart.
html#storylink=misearch

Part of Manning closed for week
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A stretch of Manning Drive on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus will be closed Sunday through Dec. 31. The portion of Manning Drive between South Columbia Street and West Drive will be closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic to allow the installation of framework of a pedestrian bridge that will eventually span Manning Drive connecting the new dental sciences building to the Thurston-Bowles building.

Tradition in clay
The Chapel Hill Herald
Charles "Terry" Zug, the curator of a new exhibit of North Carolina pottery at the Ackland Art Museum, points to a display case containing several pots by Burlon B. Craig (1914-2002), a potter from the Catawba Valley area of the state. Craig was "the last of the utilitarian potters," and continued to use an older form of alkaline glaze on his pots.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4154/107/

Father and son assist growth
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Both the Moores are name brands in the business community. Merrette Moore, 39, was a founding partner of venture capital firm IDEA Fund Partners. Bill Moore, 71, is a partner at investment firm Franklin Street Partners, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School and chairman of RTI, the Research Triangle Park think tank.

Dream busters (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill News
It was graduation week at Carolina. All over Chapel Hill, students, and their families were celebrating a huge milestone in a young person's life: Graduating from university and beginning a new and productive life. I was having brunch with Ron Bilbao, his mother and brother, and a couple of university officials. Ron was the first Latino student at Carolina to run for student body president, one of the founders of the new Carolina Latina/o Collaborative on campus and the leader behind the Coalition for College Access. (Paul Cuadros is a professor at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communications.)

A Wall Street tale retold, with juicy bits to savor (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Nonstop efforts of beavering business writers have given us a good sense of the main contours of the financial crisis. Moreover, there is general agreement on the chronology and causes of the crisis and the cast of characters involved. (Peter A. Coclanis is Albert R. Newsome distinguished professor of history and director of the Global Research Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

'Tis the nature of the season (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Good morning, hallelujah, oh praise this most precious new day. Look outside and observe the birds. See how they move, Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal well wed, the red-bellied woodpecker who can sing like a hawk, the Crow brothers who fly away quickly, Mr. Bob White and Carolina Wren. (Donna Helen Crisp is a clinical assistant professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing.)

NFL urged to get tough
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Though they concede that Head Coach Butch Davis is ultimately accountable for problems within UNC-Chapel Hill's football program, several university trustees say the National Football League should take a tougher stance with sports agents who tempt college athletes with the promise of riches. "I'm not sure you can absolutely, 100 percent fix the agent thing," said Eddie Smith of Greenville, one of six UNC trustees who agreed to discuss the university's handling of the recent NCAA football investigation. "We can do everything we can on our side of the ball, but I just think that thing is out of control. The NFL and the NCAA and others need to do everything they can to bring that car out of the ditch."
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/unc-trustees-trust-butch-criticize-nfl

UNC's Elzy out for Music City Bowl
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina tailback Anthony Elzy did not travel with the team to Nashville, and will not play in the Thursday’s Music City Bowl, because he did not meet his obligations as a student athlete at UNC, team spokesman Kevin Best confirmed today.
Related Links:
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/12/27/1058662
http://www2.journalnow.com/sports/2010/dec/28/wssport01-unc-will-be-without
-elzy-for-bowl-ar-649279/

Issues and Trends

Compromise with builders was hardly a timid move (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Charlotte Observer
From Gov. Bev Perdue, in response to "New home building code a timid step up" (Dec. 20 editorial): In a recent editorial, the Observer called a compromise between my office and the state's Building Code Council to increase energy efficiency standards a "timid step." ...Some of your readers may recall a fire that destroyed a house on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill some years ago. My son lived in that house, and sadly, his best friend passed away in that fire. It could have just as easily been my son that day, and I've never wavered on my commitment to fire safety ever since.

A better way: Cut state pay (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Gov. Bev Perdue faces the worst crisis since the Great Depression, with a projected $3.7 billion shortfall in a $21 billion budget next year. Because the legislature seems unlikely to raise taxes, we are talking about a roughly 18 percent budget cut. To put that in perspective, you could close the shortfall if you shut down both the University of North Carolina and the state community college systems.
Related Link:
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/12/28/1058648

As expected, Bowles steps down as UNC president (Top Stories of 2010)
The Triangle Business Journal
Ending the shortest tenure as University of North Carolina System president since Gordon Gray in the 1950s, Charlotte’s Erskine Bowles will hand over the reins of the 17-campus system to Thomas Ross on Jan. 1.