uncnews.unc.edu

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

International Coverage

Prostate Cancer Therapy Too Good to Be True Explodes Health Cost
Bloomberg Businessweek
...A University of North Carolina study of prostate cancer patients released in February found a somewhat higher rate of bowel side effects with the new machines, and similar rates of impotence and other side effects. While not definitive, the finding may indicate the protons lose precision as they penetrate the body, said lead researcher Ronald Chen, an oncologist at the university’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

National Coverage

What makes NC different in gay marriage debate?
The Associated Press
..."North Carolina is an ambivalent state," said Harry Watson, director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. "It's got very strong conservative instincts, and it's got very strong liberal instincts. It's one of the things that's peculiar about Tar Heel politics that voters can go either way depending on the issue or the politician."

Character and Its Discontents (Blog)
The New York Times
What is character? Ordinarily, we envision character as a set of stable and unified dispositions: we expect the timid employee to be shy on a regular basis, not just on some days, and we picture him as a mellow father, not as a tyrant at home. (Iskra Fileva is a visiting assistant professor of philosophy and faculty fellow of the Parr Center for Ethics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.)

Israelis pose a no-skinny-models plan to target eating disorders (Blog)
The Los Angeles Times
...University of North Carolina eating disorders specialist Cynthia M. Bulik gave "unequivocal kudos" to the provision that requires media outlets to disclose their graphic alteration of women's bodies, saying there are "no downsides" to letting girls and women know that these pictures "do not reflect real women's bodies."

Link Between Opioids and Cancer Growth
Ivanhoe
...The other study led by Andrey Bortsov, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of North Carolina, used human data to study the opioid-cancer link. Researchers observed survival rates from an earlier study of 2,000 breast cancer patients. The women being treated had a tiny genetic mutation that caused them to be less sensitive to opioids and were more likely to survive another ten years after treatment.

Bits and bytes
The Washington Post
Landover-based online education company 2tor is partnering with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to develop an online version of the university’s Master of Public Administration degree. 2tor aims to remove some of the stigma attached to Internet-based education by creating programs with well-regarded universities.

Checklist keeps heart failure patients out of hospital
USA Today
...Among those with high scores, patients who saw images of their hearts were 2½ times as likely to take their statin drugs and more than three times as likely to lose weight. Most patients lost around five to 15 pounds, he said. Seeing these images can be a "come to Jesus moment" for many patients who aren't taking their heart risks seriously, said Cam Patterson, chief of cardiology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who wasn't involved in the studies.

Regional Coverage

YSU’s look at hospice prompts national study
The Vindicator (Youngstown, Ohio)
A Youngstown State University pilot study of perceptions about hospice prompted a national study. ...Van Dussen said he and co-authors Krystal K. Culler, now a graduate student at the University of Akron, and John G. Cagle of the University of North Carolina Institute on Aging, approached churches to find older people from diverse populations.

State and Local Coverage

Water woes (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was making a speech Thursday to announce a partnership involving the government, private businesses, advocacy groups and researchers, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp was making some remarks about a campus initiative over the next two years to study issues regarding the world’s water supply. They could have been in the same pulpit on World Water Day.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5185/107/

Tomasulo's signs help Raleigh folks walk (Tar Heel of the Week)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...“It was incredibly positive to see how a few plastic signs with words on them could resonate and impact a larger discussion,” says Tomasulo, who is completing concurrent master’s degrees in urban planning and landscape architecture at N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill. “It’s all about engaging with your place.”

New treatments keep the aging voice spry
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...As the baby boomers grow old, the estimated 30 percent of older North Carolinians with speech disorders will roughly double over the next two decades. Those born between 1946 and 1964 will likely object even more than today’s patients to a lessened ability to speak and be heard clearly, said Dr. Robert Buckmire, a UNC Chapel Hill otolaryngologist.

Cuban-American wishes pope would reconsider visit
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...After Castro’s more than 50 years in power, these concerns about the government gaining validity no longer make sense, said Louis Perez, a professor of history and an expert on Cuba at UNC-Chapel Hill. “The Vatican does not have the capacity to legitimize this government,” Perez said. “This government is already there by its own internal logic, its own credibility or by force or by however one wants to define it. The Catholic Church has become a partner to the Cuban government. That’s a fact.”

Radio host to appear in Durham after retracting show on Apple manufacturing
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Jean Folkerts, the Alumni Distinguished Professor and former dean of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, thinks audiences appreciate the difference between fiction and fact. They can be moved by both, but they don’t want one to be presented as the other. “I think you can use dramatic license within a factual setting,” Folkerts said. “You don’t have to create something that’s not real in order to do that.

Privilege fees on sweepstakes a tax boon
The Star News (Wilmington)
...On Feb. 21, the N.C. Court of Appeals dismissed many of the operators' claims, though the ruling was a divided 2-1, which gives the plaintiffs the right to ask the state Supreme Court to consider the case, wrote Chris McLaughlin, an attorney who maintains a local government law blog for the School of Government at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

State allows citizens to take out warrants
The Star News (Wilmington)
...While felony charges can only be levied after authorities conduct an official investigation, North Carolina is among a handful of states where private individuals may take out misdemeanor warrants without any involvement from the police. ..."It's a distinctive feature of North Carolina law," Jeffrey Welty, an assistant professor at the UNC School of Government, said about the so-called self-initiated warrants during a telephone interview last year. "I haven't surveyed all 50 states, but if we're not unique, we're pretty close."

How do genes pick eye color?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Jim Evans is a Bryson Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill. Here, he explains the science behind those baby blues (or browns or greens). ...It turns out that more than a dozen genes control eye color. So depending on how variations in these genes are mixed and matched by your parents, just about any combination of eye colors can result in a given family. That said, the two genes that appear to be most responsible for determining a person’s eye color are called OCA2 and HERC2.

Spinning gold into health care
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
...The Center for Child and Family Health, a partnership between Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. Central University, is looking to bolster its pediatric mental health clinic with a Pot of Gold fundraiser organized with the help of National Pawn. Donations of gold, silver or platinum jewelry — or monetary gifts — can be dropped off at the Guess Road location of National Pawn, and 100 percent of the value will be remitted to CCFH.

UNC Health Care posts $209M net income
The Triangle Business Journal
Nine months after the end of its fiscal year, the University of North Carolina Health Care system released its 2010-11 financial results. For the year, the system recorded an operating income of $118 million, a 16 percent increase from the previous year.

Shades of blue (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
I read with interest the March 23 article “UNC wants no ties to Limbaugh.” I didn’t quite understand why the university would inject itself into this situation knowing that many of its grads and contributors are likely Rush Limbaugh fans. (Larry Eldridge, Emerald Isle)

Issues and Trends

NC students plan meeting to oppose tuition hikes
The Associated Press
Student activists from across North Carolina are planning to meet in Greensboro to plan opposition to tuition increases, budget cuts and other education-related issues. The NC Defend Education Coalition says the Saturday gathering on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro will include chances to organize and plan strategies together.