For people with metabolic syndrome, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts may help reverse the condition, indicate findings from a clinical trial published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). About 25% of adults around the world have metabolic syndrome. The syndrome exists in the presence of three or more factors such as large waist circumference, high blood pressure, low HDL-cholesterol, high levels of triglycerides and high blood sugar concentrations that can increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease and death. Spanish ...

Research in zebrafish has helped identify the cause of an unknown genetic disorder affecting a boy and two of his uncles, scientists report in an article published October 14 in the journal Genetics. The findings demonstrate the growing importance of zebrafish as laboratory models of rare diseases. Such models allow geneticists to make sense of the deluge of candidate disease genes being uncovered by advances in sequencing technologies. Although rare diseases are uncommon individually, together they affect as many as 25 million people in the United States. The project ...

BOSTON –– More women are having ovary-removing surgery as a cancer prevention measure, but many are often unaware of sexual or psychological side effects of the procedure. A new study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute shows a half-day educational program can help successfully deal with these issues by educating women on how to address them. The program taught women how to manage some of the physical and emotional difficulties that can follow ovary-removing surgery and helped many participants resume satisfying sexual activity and reduce feelings ...

Berkeley — Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have taken proteins from nerve cells and used them to create a "smart" material that is extremely sensitive to its environment. This marriage of materials science and biology could give birth to a flexible, sensitive coating that is easy and cheap to manufacture in large quantities. The work, to be published Tuesday, Oct. 14, in the journal Nature Communications, could lead to new types of biological sensors, flow valves and controlled drug release systems, the researchers said. Biomedical applications ...

Suppose you grabbed a few cookies before heading out to the grocery store and start to feel guilty or ashamed about breaking your diet. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, feeling guilty might find you comparing calories in different cartons of ice cream. Feeling ashamed might keep you from buying any ice cream in the first place. "We examined the emotions of guilt and shame and found that when consumers feel guilty, they tend to focus on concrete details at the expense of the bigger picture. On the other hand, when consumers feel ashamed, they ...

Should every successful product launch involve some sort of dazzling spectacle? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research tells us that this might be a great way to market an upgrade, but a flashy launch could backfire if a new product is truly innovative. "The accepted wisdom is that consumers get excited about new and unique products they cannot immediately understand. However, these feelings of excitement can quickly change to tension and anxiety if we can't ultimately make sense of what a product does, especially if we are in a stimulating retail environment," ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The job market for new college graduates is red hot. After several years of modest growth, hiring is expected to jump a whopping 16 percent for newly minted degree-holders in 2014-15, according to key findings from Recruiting Trends. The annual survey, by Michigan State University economist Phil Gardner, is the nation's largest with nearly 5,700 companies responding. "Employers are recruiting new college graduates at levels not seen since the dot-com frenzy of 1999-2000," said Gardner, director of MSU's Collegiate Employment Research Institute. ...

WASHINGTON D.C., October 14, 2014 -- For scientists probing the electronic structure of materials using a relatively new technique called resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering (RIXS) in the last few years, a persistent question has been how to account for "split peak" spectra seen in some hydrogen-bonded materials. In RIXS, low-energy X-rays from synchrotron or X-ray free-electron laser light sources scatter off molecules within the studied material. If those molecules include light elements, such as the -OH group in alcohols, the complex spectra RIXS produces are ...

MANHATTAN, Kansas — Pest insects may be sickened to learn to that researchers at Kansas State University have discovered a genetic mechanism that helps compromise their immune system. Michael Kanost, university distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, led a study by Kansas State University researchers that looked at how protein molecules in the blood of insects function in insects' immune system. Insects use proteins that bind to the surface of pathogens to detect infections in their body. "For example, when a mosquito transmits a pathogen ...

Do consumers make the same choices when products such as beer, soft drinks, or candy bars are sold individually or in bundles? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers purchase a greater variety of products when they are packaged individually rather than bundled together. "When consumers choose multiple products, they are influenced by the mere mechanics of choosing, regardless of their product preference. Consumers are more likely to seek variety when choosing from single rather than bundled products," write authors Mauricio Mittelman (Universidad ...

DENVER (Oct. 14, 2014) – America's streets are designed and evaluated with a an inherent bias toward the needs of motor vehicles, ignoring those of bicyclists, pedestrians, and public transit users, according to a new study co-authored by Wesley Marshall of the University of Colorado Denver. "The most common way to measure transportation performance is with the level-of-service standard," said Marshall, PhD, PE, assistant professor of civil engineering at the CU Denver College of Engineering and Applied Science, the top public research university in Denver. "But ...

Every year rotavirus causes half a million diarrhoea-related deaths amongst children in developing countries. Existing vaccines provide poor protection. The reason could be a widespread genetic resistance amongst children, according to virologists at Linköping University. Acute diarrhoeal illnesses cause nearly one-fifth of all child deaths in developing countries. The most common cause is rotavirus. Improved sanitation and hygiene have had a limited effect on the spread of the illness. Today, vaccination is considered the most important method for reducing mortality. ...

Slow-healing or non-healing bone fractures in otherwise healthy people may be caused by gene variants that are common in the population, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. "We found associations between certain gene polymorphisms and delayed fracture healing in a sample of patients," said J. Spence Reid, professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation. "Our study was preliminary but it demonstrated the feasibility of a larger one, which we're now working to set up." The identification of gene variants that delay fracture healing could lead to screening ...

The application of a new, precise way to turn genes on and off within cells, described online October 9, 2014 in two articles in the journal Cell, is likely to lead to a better understanding of diseases and possibly to new therapies, according to UC San Francisco scientists. The key to the advance is a new invention, called the SunTag, a series of molecular hooks for hanging multiple copies of biologically active molecules onto a single protein scaffold used to target genes or other molecules. Compared to molecules assembled without these hooks, those incorporating the ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The discovery of a cellular snooze button has allowed a team of Michigan State University scientists to potentially improve biofuel production and offer insight on the early stages of cancer. The discovery that the protein CHT7 is a likely repressor of cellular quiescence, or resting state, is published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This cellular switch, which influences algae's growth and oil production, also wields control of cellular growth – and tumor growth – in humans. Christoph ...

A program that provides guidance to primary care physicians about appropriately prescribing antibiotics for children is effective, but its improvements wear off after regular auditing and feedback are discontinued. "Our findings suggest that interventions with outpatient healthcare providers should include continued feedback to clinicians to remain effective," said study leader Jeffrey S. Gerber, M.D., Ph.D., an infectious diseases specialist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Gerber and colleagues from CHOP published their research online Oct. 10 in ...

LAWRENCE — Few people devote time to pondering the ancient origins of the eel-like lamprey, yet the evolutionary saga of the bloodsucker holds essential clues to the biological roots of humanity. Today, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a description of fossilized lamprey larvae that date back to the Lower Cretaceous — at least 65 million years ago. They're the oldest identified fossils displaying the creature in stages of pre-metamorphosis and metamorphosis. "Among animals with backbones, everything, including us, evolved from ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Researchers have known for decades that stress contributes to heart disease. But a new analysis by researchers at Duke Medicine shows mental stress may tax women's hearts more than men's. The research appears online Oct. 13, 2014, in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. "Normally when under stress, we fight back or run away. In order to do that, we need to pump more blood to the body," said Wei Jiang, M.D., the study's senior author and professor of medicine, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Duke University School of Medicine. ...

Washington D.C., October 14, 2014 -- Even as the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics has enshrined light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the single most significant and disruptive energy-efficient lighting solution of today, scientists around the world continue unabated to search for the even-better-bulbs of tomorrow. Enter carbon electronics. Electronics based on carbon, especially carbon nanotubes (CNTs), are emerging as successors to silicon for making semiconductor materials. And they may enable a new generation of brighter, low-power, low-cost lighting devices that could challenge ...

In the first study to look at would-be diseases carried by New York City rats, scientists at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health identified bacterial pathogens, including E. coli, Salmonella, and C. difficile, that cause mild to life-threatening gastroenteritis in people; Seoul hantavirus, which causes Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever and kidney failure in humans; and the closest relative to human hepatitis C. Results appear in the journal mBio. The researchers trapped 133 Norway rats at 5 sites in New York City, ...

Cracking the genetic code of a common disease affecting grape production could improve vineyard management and help protect the multibillion-dollar industry that includes raisins, juice, jam/jelly, fresh grapes, grape-seed extract and oil, vinegar and wine. A Rochester Institute of Technology scientist and an RIT alumnus are close to completing the genetic blueprint, or microbiome, of grape crown gall tumor disease—the bane of vineyards worldwide. Their study focuses on 16 grape varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling, from vineyards in the New York ...

What would happen to all those millions of Snickers fans if their favorite chocolate bar was temporarily out of stock? Would they wait for it to be available again or would they quickly switch allegiance to Milky Way or Kit Kat? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when you can't get your favorite product, you'll quickly forget about it if you can find a good replacement. "We studied situations in which products are temporarily unavailable. We found that desire for a product depends on the amount of time that has passed since a consumer was able ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – One of the first-known oncogenes has a protein partner that helps breast cancer proliferate and when it's blocked, so is the cancer, scientists report. The gene ErbB2, commonly called HER2, is highly expressed in about 25 percent of breast cancers. Scientists have now found the protein Erbin, thought to be an anti-tumor factor, also is highly expressed in these cancers and essential to ErbB2's support of breast cancer. When scientists interfere with the interaction between the two in mice, it inhibits tumor development and the usual spread to the ...

Imagine you're dining out with a friend who insists on sharing some chocolate cake for dessert. Since the decision has already been made for you, you gladly join in without feeling any regret. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers are happier when someone else decides they can indulge in dessert or other guilty pleasures. "Most of us don't like being forced to do things. The freedom to make our own decisions generally energizes us and increases our sense of well-being. However, when it comes to purchasing and consuming products normally ...

Consumers worldwide associate France with fashion and luxury and are willing to pay a lot for French luxury products such as perfume and wine. But what about products made in countries with less favorable reputations? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that consumers won't judge a country's products by its reputation if the products are well-made. "Positive feelings about a country don't always translate into more favorable opinions of its products. A positive opinion of a country may actually make consumers think more about whether or not the country ...