uncnews.unc.edu

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

International Coverage

Ten Questions - Sarah Perez
Financial Times (United Kingdom)
Sarah Perez recently joined the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School in the US, as the executive director of EMBA programmes. These programmes include the Evening MBA, Weekend MBA and Global OneMBA, all of which are now offering Forté Foundation Fellowships for women.

Yoga and Stretching Both Ease Chronic Back Pain
Reuters (Wire Service)
Weekly yoga classes eased pain and improved functioning in some people with chronic lower back pain – but the yoga sessions weren't any better than regular stretching classes, according to a new study. ..."We've known for a while... that exercise is good for back pain," said Dr. Timothy Carey, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who wrote a commentary published with the study. Yoga, he told Reuters Health, "seems to be a perfectly good option for people with back pain, but it is not a preferred option."

On jury duty? Careful what you tweet
Reuters (Wire Service)
...Consultants usually stop monitoring jurors once the trial is underway, according to Anthony and Kurzman. This is because lawyers are concerned about their ethical obligation to report jurors for discussing the trial outside of the jury box. While that obligation varies from state-to-state, said University of North Carolina assistant law professor Bernard Burk, even in those states where you don't have to tell, few lawyers would want to risk angering a judge by failing to pass along information that could taint a verdict.

Tanning 'safer in the morning'
The Daily Mirror (United Kingdom)
Soaking up the sun could be safer in the morning. The level of a protein which repairs DNA damage made by cancer-causing UV rays is highest at this time. ...Prof Aziz Sancar of the University of North Carolina, in the US, said: “It would suggest restricting sunbathing to the morning hours would reduce the risk of skin cancer in humans. But further studies are needed.”

National Coverage

Good Times Gone Bad: The Right to Harm Ourselves (Book Review)
The New York Times
...But the microscopic version of events is useful primarily for the evaluation of experimental animals and deceased pugilists. For the living, sports medicine now has its own version of the Breathalyzer — a helmet equipped with accelerometers that can quantify both the number and the cumulative force of blows sustained. (Kevin Guskiewicz, the University of North Carolina sports physiologist who developed this technology, recently received a MacArthur “genius” award.)

Mosque and state (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Los Angeles Times
...And there's broader evidence that over the long run, Islamic parties aren't the threat to democracy that many believe. Two researchers at the University of North Carolina, Charles Kurzman and Ijlal Naqvi, have studied 160 elections in the Muslim world in which Islamist parties competed. They found that Islamists tended to score highest in "breakthrough" elections, the first votes held after a revolution.

Say ‘Om’: Yoga Helps Low Back Pain, Study Finds (Blog)
ABC News
...In an accompanying comment, Dr. Timothy Carey, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said exercise should become a regular component of treatment for low back pain. “We physicians should refer our patients for exercise, practitioners should work to standardize treatments, and payers should encourage these treatments through minimization of co-payments for therapies that have both effectiveness and modest cost,” he wrote.

Conservation Calibration
Business Officer Magazine
In its inaugural National Building Competition in 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized Morrison Residence Hall for achieving the greatest overall percentage of energy reduction of any building entered in the competition. The 10-story, 218,000-square-foot building, located on the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) campus, was constructed in 1965 and renovated in 2007. (Carolyn Elfland is associate vice chancellor for campus services and Chris Martin is director of energy management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

State and Local Coverage

UNC study: Weight may hinder flu vaccine's benefits
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
That annual flu shot may be significantly less effective if you're overweight, according to a new study by UNC-Chapel Hill researchers. ..."Basically what we're finding is that with increasing BMI (body mass index), from overweight to obese, the immune response to the vaccine is not as robust as it is for individuals who are at a healthy weight," said Melinda Beck, a professor and associate chairwoman of nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and senior author of the study.

UNC cardiologist receives honor
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Cam Patterson, division chief of cardiology at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine has been named the recipient of the 2012 North America Vascular Biology Association Judah Folkman Award in vascular biology.

UNC Scientist Added As TEDMED Conference Speaker
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
UNC scientist and nanotech entrepreneur Joseph DeSimone has joined an exclusive list of speakers for this year’s TEDMED conference, an annual event where science and technology leaders advance the pursuits of health and science. DeSimone’s talk is entitled “Can Nanotechnology Deliver Mega Results?” and will focus on the latest achievements in nanomedicine, with a focus on PRINT technology, a technique developed in a UNC lab.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4847/71/

A lost Way (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The "Carolina Way," it's always been called. Dean Smith, the basketball coaching legend who played fair, graduated his players and stood up for noble causes, spent his career in Chapel Hill and retired as the personification of all that was right with college athletics. Through the years, as other universities wrestled with scandal, alumni of UNC-CH were proud of their alma mater's sterling reputation.

UNC's Withers won't attend NCAA hearing
The Associated Press
North Carolina interim coach Everett Withers says he won't attend the school's hearing with the NCAA infractions committee later this week.

Issues and Trends

Panel will tackle ethics in athletics
McClatchy Newspapers
After a round of high-profile scandals in college sports this year, an advisory panel said Monday it would launch a wide review of practices ranging from student-athlete scholarships to postseason play. Although any recommendations made by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics won't be binding, NCAA President Mark Emmert and several university presidents said they welcome the review of an increasingly dysfunctional system.