Body

Having an attractive model shill for a product only helps influence sales in certain situations, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. It seems it all depends on the set-up for the advertising.

Consumers react strongly to their product choices being copied, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. They really dislike it when the copycat is someone similar to them.

"Have you ever gone to a party only to learn upon arrival that another guest is wearing the same dress or shirt as you?" ask authors Katherine White (University of British Columbia) and Jennifer J. Argo (University of Alberta). The researchers looked at what happens when someone else copies a consumer's product choice.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Like rock stars of the rodent world, the flashiest performers of a Central American mouse species get the most attention from the ladies, a University of Florida study shows.

Neotropical singing mice woo their mates with high-pitched vocal trills, and a bravura performance attracts more interest from females, according to a study published online this week in the journal Animal Behaviour by doctoral candidate Bret Pasch and colleagues in the department of biology at the University of Florida.

There may be a natural solution to the mystery of how small amounts of a banned drug that disrupts thyroid function and plumps up livestock gets into their bodies — and the bodies of humans, scientists are reporting. Their study, which appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, reports the first evidence that the substance can form naturally in feed and food.

The quest for better ways of encapsulating medicine so that it can reach diseased parts of the body has led scientists to harness — for the first time — living human cells to produce natural capsules with channels for releasing drugs and diagnostic agents. The report appears in ACS' journal Nano Letters.

A high level of a hormone that regulates phosphate is associated with an increased risk of kidney failure and death among chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, according to a recent study led by researchers at the University of Miami and funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Diseases and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health. Results are in the June 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Every living plant cell and animal cell is surrounded by a membrane that helps it communicate with other cells and the outside world. These cellular membranes contain receptor molecules that serve as the cell's eyes and ears.

The receptor molecules accomplish three basic things in the communication process: 1) recognize an outside signal, 2) transport that signal across the cell's membrane and 3) initiate the reading of the signal inside the cell and then initiate the cell's response to that signal. These steps are collectively known as transmembrane signaling.

Men are sometimes criticized for being unwilling to ask for directions when they travel, but they can benefit from looking for help as they begin their journeys as fathers, according to a researcher on fatherhood at the University of Chicago.

Along the way, they should not shy from asserting their roles, said Jennifer Bellamy, an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.

CHICAGO (June 15, 2011) – Use of a glowing gel that shows kids how well they wash their hands by illustrating bacteria they missed while washing and may significantly improve hand hygiene, according to a study published in the July issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. What makes this particular intervention unique is where it was performed: a children's hospital emergency department waiting room.

A new report launched today by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) in collaboration with the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (EFPIA) reveals that the burden of fractures in Europe has been vastly underestimated. The report concludes that in Europe's five largest countries and Sweden alone, an estimated 2.5 million new fragility fractures occurred in 2010 – the equivalent of 280 fractures per hour. It also showed an astounding eighty deaths per day attributable to fragility fractures.

Philadelphia, PA, June 14, 2011 – Frostbite can be a minor injury or a life-threatening condition. In the June issue of Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, a panel of experts has published evidence-based practice guidelines issued by the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS) for the prevention and treatment of frostbite to guide clinicians and disseminate knowledge about best practices.

Specific types of "helper" T cells that are crucial to maintaining functioning immune systems contain an enzyme called PDI (protein disulfide isomerase). This enzyme affects how proteins fold into specific shapes, which in turn influences how the T cells behave. PDI also plays a role in HIV infection by helping to change the shape of the surface envelope protein of the virus, enabling the virus to interact optimally with receptors on the T cells, such as the CD4 molecule.

When populations around the globe started turning to agriculture around 10,000 years ago, regardless of their locations and type of crops, a similar trend occurred: The height and health of the people declined.

"This broad and consistent pattern holds up when you look at standardized studies of whole skeletons in populations," says Amanda Mummert, an Emory University graduate student in anthropology.

An evaluation of the Public Health Grid (PHGrid) technology during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic could enhance the capabilities of epidemiologists and disease-control agencies when the next emergent disease appears, according to a study published in the International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing.