Health & Wellness
Healthbeat
UNC awarded $1.7 million to
curb the spread of HIV in N.C.
A team of researchers from the UNC Institute
for Global Health & Infectious Diseases has
received a $1.7 million grant from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to
study novel HIV testing methods to detect acute
14! V inf^rtinn an/I tarnat
sexual networks to curb the
spread of HIV in North
Carolina.
The four-year study will
assess the performance and
cost-effectiveness of a new,
4th generation test to diag
nose acute HIV infection
(AHI). AHI is the period
between infection and
detection of HIV antibodies
and lasts up to 12 weeks.
During this brief window of time, the virus repli
cates rapidly, and the probability of transmission
is very high.
"We believe that a significant proportion of
HIV transmission by the sexual route is driven by
AHI," said Dr. Peter Leone, of the UNC School of
Medicine. "Identifying individuals with AHI
could have a significant positive impact on the
spread of the virus."
The Screening Targeted Populations to
Interrupt Ongoing Chains of Transmission with
Enhanced Partner Notification, or STOP, study
will use the AHI diagnosis to identify sexual net
works where there is a high risk for HIV transmis
sion and target them for prevention interventions,
particularly partner notification.
Men who have sex with men (MSM) increas
ingly use the internet to find sexual partners.
"The anonymity of the internet can limit the
ability to perform partner notification by tradi
tional means," said UNC's Dr. Lisa Hightow
Weidman. "These technologies will also include
real-time linkage to information about HIV test
ing sites for AHI. symptoms associated with AHI
and referral to HIV and STD care."
Black women in NYC face
increased childbirth dangers
(NNPA/Women's ENews) - A report released
last week indicates that African-American women
in New York City were seven times more likely to
die during pregnancy and childbirth than white
women
The report was released June 18 at an event
co-sponsored by The New York Academy of
Medicine and the New York City Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene. The report examined
161 pregnancy-related maternal deaths between
2001 and 2005. It found that women 40 years and
older were 2.6 times more likely to have a preg
nancy-related death than women under age 40.
Nearly 80 percent of the women who died had
Cesarean sections.
The leading causes for maternal mortality dur
ing this time were embolism, hemorrhage, infec
tion and pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Together, these factors accounted for 63 percent
of the 161 pregnancy-related deaths. Women over
40 were also at higher risk for dying during preg
nancy and childbirth. Two of the neighborhoods
identified as having extraordinarily high maternal
mortality rates were Southeast Queens and
Northeast Bronx. The death rate for women with
no insurance was nearly four times higher than for
insured women and nearly half of all women who
died from pregnancy-related causes were classi
fied as obese: 60 percent of the African-American
women were obese and 43 percent of the white
women were obese.
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS
OF AMERICA
Novant Health provides
free sports physicals
PrimeCarc Urgent Care and Novant
SportsMed provided tree sports physicals for 61
local children at the Winston-Salem Salvation
Army Boys and Girls Club's annual Community
Day on June 5. The Community Day was a full
day of fun, food and games for the children and an
opportunity to be screened for participation in
organized sports activities.
Dr. James Guerrini. medical director for
PrimcCare. said. "We were honored to provide
physicals for the children of the Boys and Girts
Club who are now able to participate in sports and
activities they enjoy so much. This is the second
year we have been able to do this and look for
ward to doing this on an annual basis. It is impor
tant for us as a healthcare orgam/ation to keep our
kids and our communities healthy and mobile"
State stepping up DUI checkpoints
SIM ( IM !o III! CHRONICLE
?
The Governor's Highway Safet)
Program announced this week that
state and local law enforcement offi
cers will be out in force over the
Fourth of July holiday as part of the
2010 "Booze It & Lose It: Operation
Firecracker" campaign. Checkpoints
and stepped-up patrols will be in
place across North Carolina
through Sunday. July 4. in an effort
to remove impaired drivers from the
roads.
"Our law enforcement officers
will be working hard to stop
impaired drivers and ensure the
safely of motorists traveling on our
highways." said David Weinstein.
director of the GHSP. "Driving
while impaired is never worth the
risk, and everyone should celebrate
responsibly
' Over last year's Independence
Day weekend, there were 120 alco
hol-related crashes resulting in six
fatalities and 105 injuries.
Officers charged more than
1 .300 North Carolina motorists with
driving while impaired during the
2009 "Booze It & Lose It: Operation
Firecracker" campaign. More than
4.800 stepped-up patrols and check
points were conducted.
New Leases on Life
IS2SS8"
1 99^
?jNTEFIORE
J) italOnier
I
f*K V vk sFntit-'Montrfiorr Medical Center
Juan Farias. 32 . with his children. Diego. 4. Alondra. 12. Aaron.
3. and Maripaz, 6, and his brother, Ricardo. Farias left
Montefiore Medical Center in Middletown. Sew York last month
after receiving a unique heart and liver transplant surgery. In
2009. only II such procedures were performed in the L .S.
N.C. colleges
lead the nation in
j smoking restrictions
CHRONICLE STAFF RfcPOKI
Colleges in North Carolina are leading the way in the
implementation of policies that curb smoking.
UNC-Chapel Hill study reports that in the first four years
of the North Carolina Tobacco-Free Colleges Initiative. 33
college campuses in the state adopted tobacco-free policies
that prevent tobacco use to the maximum extent allowed by
law In fact. North Carolina leads the nation in the number of
college campuses that have voluntarily banned or severely
restricted smoking.
TU . ? 1 ?
I lie lOUIlN
of the study
have been
printed in the
j o u r n at
" T ob a c c o
Control."
"Our stud\
shows that
North Carolina
is a national
leader in pro
tecting college
students from
the clear dan
gers of second
hand smoke."
said Dr. Adam
Goldstein .
director of the Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program
(TPEP) at the UNC School of Medicine, which conducted
the study to ev aluate the Tobacco-Free Colleges Initiative for
the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund < HWTI )
Tobacco-Free Colleges Initiative was developed to com
bat an increase in smoking among college students that
researchers observed in the 1990s.
Prior to the Tobacco-Free Colleges Initiative, only one
small college with 7(H) students had a tobacco-free policy
According to the study, the anti-smoking policies protect
more than 159.000 college students - as well as tacultv. stall
and campus visitors - from secondhand smoke
In addition to the 100 percent tobacco-free campus poli
cies. the Tobacco-Free Colleges Initiative has resulted in 64
new policies that limit smoking in portions of campus, in
off-campus venues, bv campus organizations, and that
restricted tobacco industn, promotions on college campuses.
Creative Solutions to Save Mother Earth
Eye-catching plants along N.C. highways to be used for biofnel
SIM ( I \l Id I III CHRONIC I I.
A small field of bright yel
low flowers planted by the N.C.
Department of Transportation
along Interstate 40 may look
like any other bed of wildflow
ers. but in the case of this crop,
there is more than meets the
eye. Two weeks ago; NCDOT
harvested these flowers - actu
ally canola plants with the aim
of turning them into fuel for
dicsel engines. The plants are
part of a pilot program with
N.C. State University to
research the feasibility of grow -
ing biofuel crops 011 highway
rights of way.
Modeled after a Utah-based
initiative called Freeways to
Fuel, the program, which
recently garnered national atten
tion. is unique in thai it utilizes
land otherwise unsuitable for
food crops or livestock.
Geographic Information System
(GIS) mapping tools are used to
find suitable locations to grow
crops on NCDOT rights of way.
Through this partnership.
NCDOT plants and maintains
the crops while N.C. State,
which has a growing biofuels
program, conducts research on
the plantings
"The biodiescl program is
one example of out depart
ment's overall commitment to
creating a more livable, sustain
able future in North Carolina."
said Transportation Secretary
Gene Conti "We are constantly
exploring innovative ways to
realize this vision, ;whether we
M IK 1 1 |
Canola plants are harvested near a state highway.
are using alternative fuels like
biodiesel and solar power, eon
serving energy at the state's first
green rest area or recycling con
struction materials."
The N.C. program is in its
second year, and this year's
crop, totaling just under 10
acres, consisted of four plots of
canola grown along roadways in
Raleigh. Faison, Mount Airy
and Rutherford Count) N 0.
State will process the crop using
specialized equipment designed
to extract oil from the canola
seeds to make biodiesel
"This program is an excel
lent example of what can be
done through a successful part
nership. and gives us the oppor
tunity to work with the universi
ty to explore the feasibility of
growing biofuel," said state
roadside environmental field
operations engineer Ted
Sherrod. who chairs the biofuels
research project. "Biodiesel
plants like Panola and sunflower
produce beautiful Minims that
make our roadsides more attrac
tive. and beyond that, provide a
source of cleaner-burning fuel."
NCDOT and N.C. State
experimented with sunflowers
last year as the program's inau
gural crop with yields averaging
almost 55G pounds of sunflower
seed per acre. After processing,
it is possible to generate about
40 gallons of biodiesel from
each acre of sunflowers.
N.C. State researchers calcu
lated that the cost of biodiesel
production would equal the cost
of purchasing gasoline or diesel
fuel, and have less environmen
tal impact. Biodiesel crops
require minimal maintenance,
along with possessing aesthetic
value.
WFUBMC
digging deeper
to provide
charity care
CHRONICLE STAFF RggOjH
As the economy here and
across the nation continues to
struggle. Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical
Center increased its charity
care to treat local people in
need oJ health care services
The Medical Center's
a n n u a J
Community
Benefits
report
states that
its charity
care
increased
by 38 per
cent for the
fiscal year
that ended
WcConnrll
June 30. *2009. The cost of
providing Medicare and
Medicaid services nearly
quadrupled during the same
period, according to the
report
Wake Forest Baptist's
community benefits totaled
SI 46.3 million, a 33 percent
increase over the previous
year The figures are a com
bined total of N.C. Baptist
Hospital and Wake Forest
University Health Sciences,
which arc components of
Wake Forest University
Sec ( harit> mi t*