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Science27 Aug 2014

Gifts that generate gratitude keep customers loyal

Despite major retailers investing tens of millions of dollars a year into loyalty programs, they are a dying breed, with customers struggling to see the benefits of signing up, according to QUT research. But benefits that stimulate gratitude in customers have the power to strengthen the seller-customer relationship and ensure loyalty, researchers Dr Syed Hasan, Professor Ian Lings, Associate Professor Larry Neale and Dr Gary Mortimer, from QUT's School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, found. Lead researcher Dr Hasan, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, said ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

Piglet weaning age no bar to litter frequency

University of Adelaide research has shown that piglets can be weaned later with no negative effects on sow birthing frequency. The outcome of the study at the University's Roseworthy campus, published in the journal Animal Reproduction Science, is an important finding for pig producers. It allows improvements in piglet health and welfare without loss of production. "Sows don't usually start their oestrous cycles again during lactation, only coming on heat after their piglets have been weaned," says Ms Alice Weaver, PhD candidate with the School of Animal and Veterinary ...

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Energy27 Aug 2014

Measurement at Big Bang conditions confirms lithium problem

The field of astrophysics has a stubborn problem and it's called lithium. The quantities of lithium predicted to have resulted from the Big Bang are not actually present in stars. But the calculations are correct – a fact which has now been confirmed for the first time in experiments conducted at the underground laboratory in the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy. As part of an international team, researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) studied how much lithium forms under Big Bang conditions. The results were published in "Physical Review Letters". Lithium, ...

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Medicine27 Aug 2014

Gamblers are greedy bird-brains, University of Warwick research finds

Gamblers are greedy bird-brains, University of Warwick research finds Gamblers show the same tendencies as pigeons when they make risky decisions, new research has shown. Researchers, led by Dr Elliot Ludvig of the University of Warwick's Department of Psychology, conducted tests that found that both human gamblers and pigeons were 35% more likely to gamble for high-value than low-value rewards. Published in Biology Letters, the researchers argue that the test results show the important role that memories of previous biggest wins and losses play when we make risky ...

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Medicine27 Aug 2014

The thunder god vine, assisted by nanotechnology, could shake up future cancer treatment

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-associated death worldwide. These regrettably poor prognoses are due to the difficulty in treating this cancer using conventional chemotherapeutic drugs such as doxorubicin, epirubicin, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, etoposide or combinations therein. This may be attributed to that the conventional medicines are not able to reach in a sufficient concentration in the liver tumor cells at levels that are not harmful to the rest of the body. Considering the large percentage of patients that are deemed ineligible ...

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Medicine27 Aug 2014

DTU researchers film protein quake for the first time

One of nature's mysteries is how plants survive impact by the huge amounts of energy contained in the sun's rays, while using this energy for photosynthesis. The hypothesis is that the light-absorbing proteins in the plant's blades quickly dissipate the energy throughout the entire protein molecule through so-called protein quakes. Researchers at DTU Physics have now managed to successfully 'film' this process. Both plants, algae and bacteria contain light-absorbing proteins which play a role in photosynthesis and thus how the organisms produce energy. However, it has ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

A prescription for better stroke care

TORONTO, Aug. 27, 2014 – Stroke patients are 70 per cent more likely to continue taking their stroke prevention medications one year later if they have a prescription in hand when discharged – according to researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). Using data from 11 stroke centres, researchers determined how many Ontarians were taking their medications one week, one year and two years after having a stroke. The results reveal the importance of simple interventions, such as giving a prescription to a patient before ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

The roots of human altruism

VIDEO: Sakis play the group service game. Click here for more information. Scientists have long been searching for the factor that determines why humans often behave so selflessly. It was known that humans share this tendency with species of small Latin American primates of the family Callitrichidae (tamarins and marmosets), leading some to suggest that cooperative care for the young, which is ubiquitous in this family, was responsible for spontaneous helping behavior. But it ...

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Medicine27 Aug 2014

Fighting prostate cancer with a tomato-rich diet

Men who eat over 10 portions a week of tomatoes have an 18 per cent lower risk of developing prostate cancer, new research suggests. With 35,000 new cases every year in the UK, and around 10,000 deaths, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Rates are higher in developed countries, which some experts believe is linked to a Westernised diet and lifestyle. To assess if following dietary and lifestyle recommendations reduces risk of prostate cancer, researchers at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford looked at the diets and lifestyle ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

Leading scientists call for a stop to non-essential use of fluorochemicals

Fluorochemicals are synthetically produced chemicals, which repel water and oil and are persistent towards aggressive physical and chemical conditions in industrial processing. These characteristics have made the fluorochemicals useful in numerous processes and products, such as coatings for food paper and board. The problem with fluorochemicals is that they are difficult to break down and accumulate in both humans and the environment. Some fluorochemicals have known correlations with harmful health effects, such as cancer, increased cholesterol and a weaker immune system ...

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Earth Science27 Aug 2014

Penn paleontologists describe a possible dinosaur nest and young 'babysitter'

Dinosaurs are often depicted as giant, frightening beasts. But every creature is a baby once. A new examination of a rock slab containing fossils of 24 very young dinosaurs and one older individual is suggestive of a group of hatchlings overseen by a caretaker, according to a new study by University of Pennsylvania researchers. Penn's Brandon P. Hedrick and Peter Dodson led the work, collaborating with researchers from China's Dalian Museum of Natural History, where the specimen is held. Hedrick is a doctoral student in the School of Arts & Sciences' Department of Earth ...

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Medicine27 Aug 2014

Potential therapy for incurable Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

This news release is available in German. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A is the most common inherited disease affecting the peripheral nervous system. Researchers from the Department of Neurogenetics at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine and University Medical Centre Göttingen have discovered that the maturity of Schwann cells is impaired in rats with the disease. These cells enwrap the nerve fibres with an insulating layer known as myelin, which facilitates the rapid transfer of electrical impulses. If Schwann cells cannot mature correctly, ...

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Medicine27 Aug 2014

Potential therapy for the Sudan strain of Ebola could help contain some future outbreaks

Ebola is a rare, but deadly disease that exists as five strains, none of which have approved therapies. One of the most lethal strains is the Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV). Although not the strain currently devastating West Africa, SUDV has caused widespread illness, even as recently as 2012. In a new study appearing in the journal ACS Chemical Biology, researchers now report a possible therapy that could someday help treat patients infected with SUDV. John Dye, Sachdev Sidhu, Jonathan Lai and colleagues explain that about 50-90 percent of ebola patients die after experiencing ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

How to prevent organic food fraud

A growing number of consumers are willing to pay a premium for fruits, vegetables and other foods labelled "organic", but whether they're getting what the label claims is another matter. Now scientists studying conventional and organic tomatoes are devising a new way to make sure farms are labelling their produce appropriately. Their report, which appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, could help prevent organic food fraud. Researchers from the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority and the Wuerzburg University note that the demand for organic ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

New study throws into question long-held belief about depression

New evidence puts into doubt the long-standing belief that a deficiency in serotonin — a chemical messenger in the brain — plays a central role in depression. In the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, scientists report that mice lacking the ability to make serotonin in their brains (and thus should have been "depressed" by conventional wisdom) did not show depression-like symptoms. Donald Kuhn and colleagues at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center and Wayne State University School of Medicine note that depression poses a major public health problem. More than 350 million ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

Fear, safety and the role of sleep in human PTSD

The effectiveness of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment may hinge significantly upon sleep quality, report researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System in a paper published today in the Journal of Neuroscience. "I think these findings help us understand why sleep disturbances and nightmares are such important symptoms in PTSD," said Sean P.A. Drummond, PhD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. "Our study ...

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Medicine27 Aug 2014

Men who are uneducated about their prostate cancer have difficulty making good treatment choices

They say knowledge is power, and a new UCLA study has shown this is definitely the case when it comes to men making the best decisions about how to treat their prostate cancer. UCLA researchers found that men who aren't well educated about their disease have a much more difficult time making treatment decisions, called decisional conflict, a challenge that could negatively impact the quality of their care and their long-term outcomes. The study should serve as a wake-up call for physicians, who can use the findings to target men less likely to know a lot about their ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

In sync and in control?

In the aftermath of the Aug. 9 shooting of an 18-year-old African American man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, much of the nation's attention has been focused on how law enforcement's use of military gear might have inflamed tensions. But what if the simple act of marching in unison — as riot police routinely do — increases the likelihood that law enforcement will use excessive force in policing protests? That's the suggestion of a new study by a pair of UCLA social scientists. "We have found that when men are walking in step with other men, they ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

Study identifies upside to financial innovations

Financial innovations can make or break an economy. While the negative impact of financial innovation has been extensively covered, a new study of financial innovations before and during the last financial crisis indicates that financial innovations are not all bad. Many provide positive returns, especially in the United States. However, those that are easy for consumers to understand provide the best returns for investors. The study by Gerard J. Tellis, professor, director of the Center for Global Innovation and Neely Professor of American Enterprise at USC Marshall ...

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Medicine27 Aug 2014

Soda tax for adolescents and exercise for children best strategies for reducing obesity

Ann Arbor, MI, August 27, 2014 — Childhood obesity in the United States remains high. A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages such as sodas, energy drinks, sweet teas, and sports drinks would reduce obesity in adolescents more than other policies, such as exercise or an advertising ban, and would also generate significant revenue for additional obesity prevention activities, say researchers writing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The study also demonstrated that physical activity would benefit children ages 6-12 most. Nearly one in three young people between ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

Happy Camp and July Fire Complexes in California

As of seven hours ago the Happy Camp Complex of fires had consumed 24,939 acres of land in Northern California, the July complex had consumed 35,530 as of eight hours ago. Lightning strikes started seventeen fires on the Happy Camp Ranger District of the Klamath National Forest when a thunderstorm passed through the area on August 11, 2014. All but three of those fires are now 100 percent contained. The following is a list of contained fires and their size at containment: Delta, 150 acres; Sutcliffe, 27 acres; Jackson, 21 acres;Thompson, 17 acres; Tims, 13 acres; Ranch, ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

Researchers discover why Listeria bacterium is so hard to fight

Listeria is a dreaded bacterium that can be found in both unprocessed and processed foods. Over the last few weeks, 28 persons in Denmark have been infected with Listeria from processed food, sold in supermarkets. 13 have died. The bacterium is notoriously difficult to fight because it has an almost uncanny ability to adapt to changes in its surroundings, says Associate Professor Birgitte Kallipolitis, University of Southern Denmark. Together with colleagues from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, she has published a study, which in details reveals ...

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Environment27 Aug 2014

Museum specimens, modern cities show how an insect pest will respond to climate change

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that century-old museum specimens hold clues to how global climate change will affect a common insect pest that can weaken and kill trees – and the news is not good. "Recent studies found that scale insect populations increase on oak and maple trees in warmer urban areas, which raises the possibility that these pests may also increase with global warming," says Dr. Elsa Youngsteadt, a research associate at NC State and lead author of a paper on the work. "More scale insects would be a problem, since scales ...

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Space27 Aug 2014

What lit up the universe?

New research from UCL shows we will soon uncover the origin of the ultraviolet light that bathes the cosmos, helping scientists understand how galaxies were built. The study published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters by UCL cosmologists Dr Andrew Pontzen and Dr Hiranya Peiris (both UCL Physics & Astronomy), together with collaborators at Princeton and Barcelona Universities, shows how forthcoming astronomical surveys will reveal what lit up the cosmos. "Which produces more light? A country's biggest cities or its many tiny towns?" asked Dr Pontzen, lead author ...

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Science27 Aug 2014

Sheepdogs use simple rules to herd sheep

Sheepdogs use just two simple rules to round up large herds of sheep, scientists have discovered. The findings could lead to the development of robots that can gather and herd livestock, crowd control techniques, or new methods to clean up the environment. For the first time scientists used GPS technology to understand how sheepdogs do their jobs so well. Until now, they had no idea how the dogs manage to get so many unwilling sheep to move in the same direction. NERC fellow, Dr Andrew King of Swansea University, fitted a flock of sheep and a sheepdog with backpacks ...

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