What is it that allows some brands to succeed and some to fail? Why is it sometimes better to be first and other times more advantageous to reach the market later? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research takes a close look at the learning process consumers use to evaluate brands.
Brain
Brain imaging shows that the brains of teens that use marijuana are working harder than the brains of their peers who abstain from the drug. At the 2008 annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Boston, Mass., Krista Lisdahl Medina, a University of Cincinnati assistant professor of psychology, presented collaborative research with Susan Tapert, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.
The first few weeks at university can be a difficult time for freshers as they attempt to settle in to their new academic and social life.
Researchers at the University of Leicester have found that a high proportion of freshers use the internet to smooth the settling-in process.
The University is now exploring ways of using internet platforms that most students are familiar with -- social networking sites and podcasting -- to help new arrivals get their bearings.
A landmark study led by North Carolina State University researchers shows that African-American seniors who have trouble falling asleep are at higher risk of having memory problems – raising the possibility that identifying and treating sleep difficulties in the elderly may help preserve their cognitive functioning. The study is the first to examine the link between sleep and cognitive functioning in older African-Americans.
The more alcohol an individual drinks, the smaller his or her total brain volume, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers, as part of a nine-site study, helped discover the best of three currently-used treatments for convergence insufficiency in children. Convergence refers to the natural ability of the eyes to focus and align while viewing objects up close. Children with convergence insufficiency tend to have blurred or double vision or headaches and corresponding issues in reading and concentrating, which ultimately impact learning.
A majority of Parkinson's disease patients had insufficient levels of vitamin D in a new study from Emory University School of Medicine.
The fraction of Parkinson's patients with vitamin D insufficiency, 55 percent, was significantly more than patients with Alzheimer's disease (41 percent) or healthy elderly people (36 percent).
The results are published in the October issue of Archives of Neurology.
The finding adds to evidence that low vitamin D is associated with Parkinson's, says first author Marian Evatt, MD, assistant professor of neurology at Emory.
CINCINNATI – When it comes to embryo formation in the lowly fruit fly, a little molecular messiness actually leads to enhanced developmental precision, according to a study in the Oct. 14 Developmental Cell from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
New research may help reveal why different parts of the brain can come under attack in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). According to a new study in mice with an MS-like disease, the brain's response to a protein produced by invading T cells dictates whether it's the spinal cord or cerebellum that comes under fire. The study—from researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and Washington University in St. Louis—will be published online on October 13th in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Scientists at Bonn and Düsseldorf Universities have discovered an important hair-loss gene. During their study, the researchers investigated over 500,000 positions in the human genome, and found a gene variant which occurs clearly more frequently in bald men than in control persons. The results are to be published in the November issue of the journal Nature Genetics (online publication on October 12th 2008 18:00 London time, doi: 10.1038/ng.228).
Study reveals that signs of heart disease are attributed to stress more frequently in women than men
WASHINGTON – OCTOBER 12, 2008 – Research presented at the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), found that coronary heart disease (CHD) symptoms presented in the context of a stressful life event were identified as psychogenic in origin when presented by women and organic in origin when presented by men. The study could help explain why there is often a delay in the assessment of women with heart disease.
EUGENE, Ore. -- (Oct. 10, 2008) -- In the first three days of the country's economic meltdown that began Sept. 29, 81 percent of Americans surveyed in a national poll agreed or strongly agreed that the financial crisis "poses a greater threat to the quality of my life than does the threat of terrorism." And researchers found little trust in the government and even less in business leaders.
EVANSTON, Ill. --- "Is Barack Obama Black or Biracial?" a recent CNN.com headline asks.
The question of whether Obama should be considered black or multiracial has been a concern of the media throughout the campaign.
Should such racial characterizations of people like Obama -- who have one black parent and one white parent -- really matter?
According to a new Northwestern University study, they do matter.
Abdominal venous thrombosis may present as BCS or SVT. Hereditary and acquired risk factors have been implicated in the etiopathogenesis of abdominal venous thrombosis. Hereditary risk factors for thrombophilia include Factor V Leiden gene mutation, Prothrombin gene mutation, homozygous methyl tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene mutation and deficiencies of coagulation inhibitor Protein C, Protein S and Antithrombin III. There are few studies from South Asian region which have comprehensively evaluated prothrombotic risk factors in BCS and PVT.