uncnews.unc.edu

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

International Coverage

Breast milk's anti-viral effect 'could protect against Aids virus'
The Daily Mail (United Kingdom)
Breast milk may protect children against the Aids virus, research suggests. ... Study leader Dr Victor Garcia, from the University of North Carolina in the US, said: 'This study provides significant insight into the amazing ability of breast milk to destroy HIV and prevent its transmission.
UNC Release: http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2012/june/breast-milk-kills-hiv-and-blocks-its-oral-transmission-in-humanized-mouse

Baby wash causes newborns to test positive for pot: Study
The Toronto Sun
A U.S. study published this month suggests popular baby washes cause newborns to mistakenly test positive for exposure to marijuana. Researchers studied the phenomenon after doctors at University of North Carolina (UNC) Hospitals noticed a spike in false positive results for THC -- the active ingredient in pot -- during routine urine tests.

National Coverage

Breast Milk Blocks HIV Transmission in Mice, Study Finds
ABC News
Women with HIV are often told by health care providers to refrain from breastfeeding for fear their breast milk will transmit the virus to their infants. But a new study released Thursday in the journal PLoS Pathogens suggests breast milk may kill the virus and protect against its transmission. ... Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine fed mice whose immune systems had been engineered to mimic those of humans breast milk from healthy human donors that had been injected with HIV.
UNC Release: http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2012/june/breast-milk-kills-hiv-and-blocks-its-oral-transmission-in-humanized-mouse
Related Link: http://www.newsday.com/news/health/human-breast-milk-may-block-hiv-mouse-study-finds-1.3783025

Study: Couch potatoes are thriving around world, not just U.S.
The Los Angeles Times
Too many Americans may be overweight couch potatoes, but a new study finds that people in four other big countries are just as out of shape and sedentary as we are. People in China and Brazil, in particular, are becoming more sedentary as those countries modernize, and residents of the United Kingdom are even more inactive than Americans, according to a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Strange reason for newborns' positive pot test found
MSNBC
... It's important to note the soaps do not produce a "high," or any other effects of marijuana, in infants. "It's not marijuana a in any way, shape or form," said study researcher Catherine Hammett-Stabler, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

No Back Row
Inside Higher Ed
...Over the past few weeks I’ve been allowed to sit in on M.B.A. classes being offered in an online-only program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. I was encouraged to look at the program by John Katzman, the founder of 2tor, the private company that is providing both the technology platform and marketing expertise for UNC.

Pop Warner Weighing Research and Risks in Concussion Prevention Efforts
The New York Times
...Kevin Guskiewicz, a friend of Bailes, is the founding director of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center at the University of North Carolina. He said he believed contact was a necessary ingredient for youth football. Without contact, he said, players might be unprepared to face competition from bigger athletes at the high school level, which could cause “serious catastrophic injury.”

UNC still dealing with aftermath
The Associated Press
Three months after the NCAA hit North Carolina's football program with sanctions, the school is still cleaning up the lingering mess that has become more than just an athletics issue. In the past month, a university investigation launched amid the football probe into improper benefits and academic misconduct revealed embarrassing irregularities and suspect classes in an academic department, with football players making up more than a third of enrollments in those classes.

State and Local Coverage

UNC study finds rapid declines in worldwide physical activity
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
A new study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers finds a global decline in activity levels and predicts a continuing rise in inactivity in countries around the world. When viewed in the context of physical activity levels throughout human evolution, the global decline in physical activity in just the past few decades is particularly abrupt.
Related Link: http://wunc.org/programs/news/archive/SAK061512.mp3/view?searchterm=unc

Ending the War on Drugs
WUNC-FM
The United States spends billions of dollars each year to fight the drug trade, but demand for illegal substances persists. ... Host Frank Stasio ponders that question with Isaac Campos, assistant professor of history at the University of Cincinnati and author of the book “Home Grown: Marijuana and the Origins of Mexico's War on Drugs”(UNC Press/2012); and Art Benavie, an economics professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of the book, “Drugs: America’s Holy War” (Routledge/2008).

Budget writers nip at edges of incentives
Triangle Business Journal
... However, UNC-Chapel Hill researcher Brent Lane, who came up with the jobs creation estimates, admits there is no credible way to verify the numbers. Even so, Lane says he still thinks the approach is a good one. “I thought and still think it was better than a lot of things we do with our tax codes,” he says.

UNC-CH leads in money allotted to retain valued faculty
Triangle Business Journal
The University of North Carolina System has disbursed more money to help UNC-Chapel Hill retain its top faculty than to any other campus. Moreover, it disbursed more money to three universities – UNC-CH, N.C. State University and UNC-Charlotte – than to the other 13 state institutions combined.

UNC's Elfland Stepping Down
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
After a long career spanning four decades, UNC’s associate vice chancellor for Campus Services, Carolyn Elfland, has announced she’s stepping down in June of next year. Finance and Administration Vice Chancellor Karol Kain Gray made the announcement public in a message to faculty and staff on Monday.

UNC system president calls for board oversight of academic investigation
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC system President Tom Ross, responding to complaints about a lack of oversight for UNC-Chapel Hill, called Thursday for a four-member panel of the Board of Governors to review the university’s investigation of its African and Afro-American Studies Department.
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/06/15/2139061/former-unc-aide-was-close-to-athletics.html

Board of Governors to review UNC academic investigation
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
Four members of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors will review UNC-Chapel Hill's investigation into academic irregularities involving a former faculty member, officials said Thursday.

Panel to review investigation into academic fraud at UNC
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
University of North Carolina system President Tom Ross on Thursday appointed a four-member panel to review UNC’s internal investigation into academic fraud within the university’s Department of African and Afro-American Studies.
Related links:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/uncnow/unc-coach-roy-williams-on-afam-controversy-it%E2%80%99s-not-a-basketball-issue#storylink=cpy
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/video?id=8701769

Issues and Trends

No Funding for Higher Ed 'Race to the Top'
Inside Higher Ed
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $68.5 billion budget for the Education Department for fiscal year 2013 along party lines Thursday, but one big Obama administration initiative was missing: a "Race to the Top" for higher education intended to spur changes in state systems.

UNC Governors Try To Recover $35 Mill In Lost Financial Aid
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
With the economy continuing to stagnate and college students still struggling to make payments, UNC’s Board of Governors is taking another look at financial aid. "It's important...to remember that more than half of our undergraduate resident students (did) receive some sort of need-based aid in 2010-11," says Ginger Burks, UNC’s associate vice president for finance. UNC's Board of Governors is considering modifications to the existing financial aid program; Burks spoke at Thursday’s meeting of the Board's Budget and Finance Committee.