One of the most important shifts of the 21st century is the ability of consumers to participate in markets they love such as music and fashion. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research reveals how ordinary consumers have changed the inner workings of the fashion business by sharing their passion for fashion on a wide variety of websites. "The accumulation of rather small, individually incremental, innovations in existing practices by consumers can cumulatively help to usher in important market-level changes in the institutional work that supports a market, the ...

Both traditional and HIV-related risk factors can predict the likelihood of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. In the study, Amanda Mocroft, of University College London, United Kingdom, and colleagues developed and validated a risk score model that can help inform choices among antiretroviral drugs for patients with HIV. Antiretroviral therapy can help control HIV, extending the life expectancy of those with the virus. However, some antiretroviral drugs may be nephrotoxic (harmful to the kidney), increasing ...

A meritocracy holds that if you work hard enough, you can succeed in life, regardless of race, religion, gender or social status. But a new study from UC Berkeley suggests that, despite egalitarian efforts to downplay class as a forecaster for intelligence and achievement, many people still believe their destiny is tied to their station in life. The UC Berkeley study looked specifically at attitudes in India to the Hindu caste system. It found that children and adults who were more influenced by caste were also more likely to believe that their own natural aptitude, academic ...

Montréal, March 31, 2015 - A team of researchers at the IRCM led by Frédéric Charron, PhD, in collaboration with bioengineers at McGill University, uncovered a new kind of synergy in the development of the nervous system, which explains an important mechanism required for neural circuits to form properly. Their breakthrough, published today in the scientific journal PLoS Biology, could eventually help develop tools to repair nerve cells following injuries to the nervous system (such as the brain and spinal cord). Researchers in Dr. Charron's laboratory ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Researchers at UC Davis have illuminated an important distinction between mice and humans: how human livers heal. The difference centers on a protein called PPARα, which activates liver regeneration. Normally, mouse PPARα is far more active and efficient than the human form, allowing mice to quickly regenerate damaged livers. However, the research shows that protein fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) can boost the regenerative effects of human PPARα. The findings suggest that the molecule could offer significant therapeutic benefits ...

Memory and as well as connections between brain cells were restored in mice with a model of Alzheimer's given an experimental cancer drug, Yale School of Medicine researchers reported in the journal Annals of Neurology. The drug, AZD05030, developed by Astra Zeneca proved disappointing in treating solid tumors but appears to block damage triggered during the formation of amyloid-beta plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. The new study, funded by an innovative National Institutes of Health (NIH) program to test failed drugs on different diseases, has led to the launch ...

Study the label of almost any food product and you're likely to see the rather vague warning "May contain peanuts" somewhere on there, unless of course it's a product that definitely does contain peanuts. As now revealed in a paper in the latest issue of JNIRS--Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, these warnings of peanut contamination could soon lose much of their uncertainty, thanks to a novel form of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy known as NIR hyperspectral imaging (HSI). Any food product may contain traces of peanut if it is made with powdered foodstuffs like ...

March 31, 2015 - For chronically ill patients with major depression, an approach to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that incorporates patients' religious beliefs is at least as effective as conventional CBT, suggests a study in the April issue of The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer. "Integrating religious clients' beliefs into CBT does not appear to significantly reduce its effectiveness, especially in religious clients," write Dr Harold Koenig of Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., and colleagues. They ...

Research by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests that having a short series of phone conversations with trained counselors can substantially boost recovery and reduce pain in patients after spinal surgery. The phone calls, designed to enrich standard pre- and post-operative care by reinforcing the value of sticking with physical therapy and back-strengthening exercise regimens, are a relatively inexpensive and simple intervention that can maximize surgical outcomes for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who undergo spinal surgeries every year, the investigators say. A ...

Lung diseases like emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis are common among people with malfunctioning telomeres, the "caps" or ends of chromosomes. Now, researchers from Johns Hopkins say they have discovered what goes wrong and why. Mary Armanios, M.D., an associate professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine., and her colleagues report that some stem cells vital to lung cell oxygenation undergo premature aging -- and stop dividing and proliferating -- when their telomeres are defective. The stem cells are those in the alveoli, the tiny air exchange ...

Increasing state alcohol taxes could prevent thousands of deaths a year from car crashes, say University of Florida Health researchers, who found alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes decreased after taxes on beer, wine and spirits went up in Illinois. A team of UF Health researchers discovered that fatal alcohol-related car crashes in Illinois declined 26 percent after a 2009 increase in alcohol tax. The decrease was even more marked for young people, at 37 percent. The reduction was similar for crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and extremely drunken drivers, ...

Soil organic matter, long thought to be a semi-permanent storehouse for ancient carbon, may be much more vulnerable to climate change than previously thought. Plants direct between 40 percent and 60 percent of photosynthetically fixed carbon to their roots and much of this carbon is secreted and then taken up by root-associated soil microorganisms. Elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere are projected to increase the quantity and alter the composition of root secretions released into the soil. In new research in the March 30 edition of the journal, ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass--Sitting in traffic during rush hour is not just frustrating for drivers; it also adds unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Now a study by researchers at MIT could lead to better ways of programming a city's stoplights to reduce delays, improve efficiency, and reduce emissions. The new findings are reported in a pair of papers by assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering Carolina Osorio and alumna Kanchana Nanduri SM '13, published in the journals Transportation Science and Transportation Research: Part B. In these ...

Australian scientists have discovered a new population of 'memory' immune cells, throwing light on what the body does when it sees a microbe for the second time. This insight, and others like it, will enable the development of more targeted and effective vaccines. Two of the key players in our immune systems are white blood cells known as 'T cells' and 'B cells'. B cells make antibodies, and T cells either help B cells make antibodies, or else kill invading microbes. B cells and killer T cells are known to leave behind 'memory' cells to patrol the body, after they have ...

At some point, probably 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, humans began talking to one another in a uniquely complex form. It is easy to imagine this epochal change as cavemen grunting, or hunter-gatherers mumbling and pointing. But in a new paper, an MIT linguist contends that human language likely developed quite rapidly into a sophisticated system: Instead of mumbles and grunts, people deployed syntax and structures resembling the ones we use today. "The hierarchical complexity found in present-day language is likely to have been present in human language since its emergence," ...

Alcoholism takes a toll on every aspect of a person's life, including skin problems. Now, a new research report appearing in the April 2015 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, helps explain why this happens and what might be done to address it. In the report, researchers used mice show how chronic alcohol intake compromises the skin's protective immune response. They also were able to show how certain interventions may improve the skin's immune response. Ultimately, the hope is that this research could aid in the development of immune-based therapies to combat skin ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Increasing state alcohol taxes could prevent thousands of deaths a year from car crashes, say University of Florida Health researchers, who found alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes decreased after taxes on beer, wine and spirits went up in Illinois. A team of UF Health researchers discovered that fatal alcohol-related car crashes in Illinois declined 26 percent after a 2009 increase in alcohol tax. The decrease was even more marked for young people, at 37 percent. The reduction was similar for crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and extremely ...

A history of depression may put women at risk for developing diabetes during pregnancy, according to research published in the latest issue of the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing by researchers from Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing (MNSON). This study also pointed to how common depression is during pregnancy and the need for screening and education. "Women with a history of depression should be aware of their risk for gestational diabetes during pregnancy and raise the issue with their doctor," said Mary Byrn, PhD, RN, ...

WASHINGTON, DC, March 31, 2015 -- People whose sexual identities changed toward same-sex attraction in early adulthood reported more symptoms of depression in a nationwide survey than those whose sexual orientations did not change or changed in the opposite direction, according to a new study by a University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) sociologist. The study, "Sexual Orientation Identity Change and Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Analysis," which appears in the current issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found that gay, lesbian, and bisexual people ...

This news release is available in French. Domestic violence takes many forms. The control of a woman's reproductive choices by her partner is one of them. A major study published in PLOS One, led by McGill PhD student Lauren Maxwell, showed that women who are abused by their partner or ex-partner are much less likely to use contraception; this exposes them to sexually transmitted diseases and leads to more frequent unintended pregnancies and abortions. These findings could influence how physicians provide contraceptive counselling. Negotiating for contraception A ...

The latest challenges of early breast cancer research include refining classification and predicting treatment responses, according to a report on the 14th St Gallen International Breast Cancer Consensus Conference, published in ecancermedicalscience. The 2015 conference assembled nearly 3200 participants from 134 countries worldwide in Vienna, Austria to decide the consensus of breast cancer care and treatment. Led by Dr Angela Esposito of the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, the report highlights some of the controversial areas discussed in this important ...

Children who received training grasped concept of Brace principle Analogical comparison is a natural and engaging process for children Findings reveal ways to support children's learning in and out of school EVANSTON, Ill. --- Children love to build things. Often half the fun for them is building something and then knocking it down. But in a study carried out in the Chicago Children's Museum, children had just as much fun learning how to keep their masterpieces upright -- they learned a key elementary engineering principle. "The use of a diagonal ...

More midriff, cleavage and muscle is seen in MTV's popular television docusoaps such as The Real World, Jersey Shore or Laguna Beach than in the average American household. Semi-naked brawny Adonises and even more scantily clad thin women strut around on screen simply to grab the audience's attention. In the process, they present a warped view to young viewers about how they should look. Such docusoaps are definitely more ideal than real, say Mark Flynn of the Coastal Carolina University and Sung-Yeon Park of Bowling Green State University in the US. The findings, which ...

During prenatal development, the brains of most animals, including humans, develop specifically male or female characteristics. In most species, some portions of male and female brains are a different size, and may have a different number of neurons and synapses. However, scientists have known little about the details of how this differentiation occurs. Now, a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) has illuminated details about this process. Margaret McCarthy, PhD, professor and chairman of the Department of Pharmacology, studied ...

March 31, 2015 - How did former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg succeed in achieving so much of his "comprehensive and far-reaching" public health agenda? Key strategies included harnessing the full authority of the City health department and mobilizing the existing workforce to focus on targeted reforms, according to a study in the March/April issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer. Those strategies might help to make similar public health initiatives work in other cities, suggests the report by ...