FOR THE PEOPLE: What UNC is doing for North Carolina—and Beyond

UNC at AIDS Conference: A group of scientists from UNC, including 15 faculty members affiliated with the Center for AIDS Research, reported their latest findings at the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, in mid-July. UNC faculty made presentations at the conference on topics ranging from a vaccine against the HIV infection to the need for better training and counseling for people who convey bad news to HIV/AIDS patients. Some of the presenters from UNC were Drs. Robert Johnston, Nancy Davis, Ron Swanstrom and Jeffrey Frelinger, who reported that clinical tests for the HIV vaccine in South Africa and the United States would begin next year.

Teens Not Eating as Well: A considerable shift occurred in the diets of U.S. teenagers between 1965 and 1996 that could compromise the future health of the nation's people, a major new study at UNC shows. Researchers say that more strokes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cases of the bone-weakening condition known as osteoporosis are imminent. Total milk consumption dropped nearly 50 percent among adolescents over the three decades studied, they found. That decrease was accompanied by a heavy increase in consumption of sugar-laden soft drinks and fruit-flavored beverages. Teens also began eating more of their vegetables in the form of fatty fried potatoes than their parents did. The researchers analyzed dietary survey information from a subset of 12, 498 teens from an original group of 90,000 participants in four U.S. Department of Agriculture surveys that began in 1965.

Which Came First: By painstakingly studying a fossil unearthed in central Asia and first reported in 1970, a team of U.S. and Russian researchers, including one from UNC, has discovered what they believe are by far the oldest feathers ever found. The discovery casts serious doubt on the view that birds descended from dinosaurs, as many paleontologists maintain. Ornithologists, who study birds, say that feathers and the creatures that grew them predated dinosaurs and that both birds and dinosaurs undoubtedly evolved from earlier reptilian ancestors known as archosaurs. Dr. Alan Feduccia, chair of biology at UNC, was one of the authors of the report for the journal Science.

Endometriosis and Infertility: Missing proteins from cells lining the wombs of women with endometriosis may be linked to infertility, according to a recent study led by a UNC scientist. In endometriosis, fragments of the uterine lining implant in other parts of the pelvis, such as the vagina, bladder and rectum. The condition is present in up to 40 percent of women with infertility, but as many as half of the women still become pregnant without treatment. The new study, headed by Dr. Bruce A. Lessey, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, suggests that a reduction of certain cellular proteins that play an important role in the embryo's attachment to the uterine lining, or endometrium, contribute to a woman's infertility but likely is reversible with treatment.

HIV In Gene Therapy: HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, may be adapted for use in gene therapy to treat genetic diseases and immune system disorders including AIDS itself, according to one UNC scientist. New findings reported in the journal Molecular Therapy provide the first evidence that a genetically stripped-down amalgam of HIV components not only can safely deliver genes to target cells in the body but can be fashioned with a molecular switch system that turns off these genes in response to a common antibiotic. This was achieved without toxic affects in laboratory rats. It suggests that doctors someday may be able to control gene expression in people who are treated with gene therapy vectors based on HIV. With such control, genes can be switched off when no longer needed, and if adverse effects develop, gene expression can be curtailed. The new study was led by Dr. Tal Kafri, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology. Kafri conducted the study while he was a postdoctoral scientist with Dr. Inder M. Verma at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif.

Protein and Cell Shape: Scientists at UNC have discovered a new protein that appears to play a key role in determining the shape of cells and allowing them to move. The discovery of the protein palladin could have implications on a number of biological processes, including brain development, wound healing, the invasive spread of cancer and the implantation of the embryo in the uterus. Dr. Carol Otey, assistant professor of cell and molecular physiology, said palladin appears to be quite influential in the architecture of cells. Otey said the newly discovered protein seems to provide a molecular "glue" for maintaining cellular shape and for the attachment of cells to one another via their plasma membranes. Exactly what the new protein does in normal cells and in cancer cells remains to be seen, she said.

Red Wine, Cancer Fighter: French people experience lower rates of heart disease death and certain cancers despite drinking more wine on average than Americans. UNC scientists have confirmed and explained this paradox by discovering why a compound found in grapes and related products, such as red wine, show natural cancer-fighting properties that might be important in preventing or treating the illness. A substance called trans-Resveratrol, or Res, scientists found, modulates the activity of a certain protein that attaches to DNA inside cell nuclei and turns genes on and off like a switch. Res seems to turn off a natural protective mechanism in the body involving the protein that prevents cancer cells from being destroyed, as should occur. Dr. Minnie Holmes-McNary, a nutritional biologist and postdoctoral fellow, and her mentor, Dr. Albert S. Baldwin Jr., a biology professor, co-authored a report on the findings for the scientific journal Cancer Research.

Sickle Cell Treatment: Unusual infections and lumps of fat called emboli that clog arteries in the lungs appear to be under-appreciated causes of acute chest syndrome in sickle cell disease patients. The syndrome, which is a group of debilitating symptoms, is the leading cause of death among sickle cell patients, according to a new study that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. Authors included Dr. Eugene P. Orringer, UNC professor of medicine. Earlier diagnosis and more aggressive treatment of symptoms might save many victims of the illness, which is the most common inherited disorder among African-American people in the United States, researchers say. Improved treatment may include earlier use of oxygen, more effective antibiotics, incentive spirometry and chest physical therapy in patients who develop the chest syndrome.

—Worth Civils