uncnews.unc.edu

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

National Coverage

Surgeons Treat Brain Aneurysm Through the Nose
Fox News
Traditional methods of treating a ruptured brain aneurysm usually involve pretty invasive techniques, such as removing a piece of a patients skull, but surgeons at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have found a new way to stop the bleeding – and they do it by going right through the nose.
UNC Release:
http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2011/January/through-the-nose?utm
_source=release&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=germanwala-zanation

Another view on kids: Focus on early education (Opinion-Editorial Column)
USA Today
Sad, but true: Most young adults in the U.S. cannot qualify for military service, and one major reason lies with our troubled educational system. ...A continuing long-term University of North Carolina study, started in 1972, found that at-risk children who participated in an early education program were two-and-a-half times more likely to be attending a four-year college at age 21 than those who did not participate.

Comparative Effectiveness: Hope Or Hype? (Blog)
Forbes.com
...There is no simple or satisfactory answer to how we can develop and provide cutting-edge treatments at a cost that society can afford. University of North Carolina School of Medicine Professor Joel E. Tepper captured the conundrum this way, “Many so-called advances in fact provide trivial advantage for the patient despite huge costs, and there is a total disconnect on the part of many people who demand full access to any and every medical intervention while not wanting to pay for it (either through society or the individual).”

State and Local Coverage

Record number of students apply to UNC-Chapel Hill
The Triangle Business Journal
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced Monday that it has offered admission to 5,104 candidates who applied by the first of two admission deadlines for the 2011 fall entering class. The admitted students were chosen from a record first-deadline pool of 14,018 – 7 percent higher than a year ago, the school said in a written statement.
Related Links:
http://wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=17238
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/11116196/article-UNC-accepts-5-014
-of-23-500-applicants?instance=homethirdleft
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4243/75/

Farmer: Cuts Not Affecting Quality Of New Students
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
UNC’s Chancellor Holden Thorp has already mandated a campus-wide budget cut of five percent. With additional cuts likely on the way it could result in a significant loss of jobs, reduced credit hours and larger class sizes. Despite the impending cuts, though, the director of undergraduate admissions at UNC Stephen Farmer says there has been no influence on the quality of University’s admissions process.

Local experts, residents forecast address
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
...Michael Gerhardt, a presidential scholar at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Law, thinks the president will point out that the two major political parties actually have collaborated effectively in the recent past. "I think the president will say that the parties in Congress have worked together, particularly in the last few months, to solve significant problems," Gerhardt said. "I think he will say that they should continue to do that and that they are not being sent to Washington to be obstructive or to kick the can down the road."

Blue Cross expects to shrink - and expand
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Blue Cross is in discussions with hospitals and physicians across the state to set up partnerships similar to one recently announced with the UNC Health Care System. Under that agreement, Blue Cross and UNC Health plan to develop a medical practice in Durham or Orange County that will provide care for about 5,000 members, most of whom have chronic, costly conditions.

Experience of a lifetime
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Alissa, a junior at Panther Creek High School in Cary, is considering a career in medicine, and she's getting a preview of that life through a program called HPREP at UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. HPREP - Health Professions Recruitment Exposure Program - gives high school students a chance to meet and shadow med school students, faculty and working professionals to get a glimpse of what it takes to work in the field.

Issues and Trends

2011-12 NC General Assembly at a glance
The Associated Press
...Closing a potential $3.7 billion gap between expected revenues and expenses for the year starting July 1 will be the top priority for lawmakers. The gap includes setting aside $200 million each to cover expected additional costs to the state employee health insurance plan, Medicaid and enrollment growth in the public schools and University of North Carolina and community college systems.