New research from UBC's Sauder School of Business reveals that giving a free bump in service can backfire for retailers if the perk is given randomly in front of others. The new paper shows that consumers experience social discomfort when singled out for spontaneous special treatment, which may cause them to close their wallets. "Managerial wisdom guiding service and retail industries assumes that consumers get an uptick in esteem when they're allowed to skip a queue or get an upgrade," says Assistant Professor JoAndrea Hoegg, a co-author of the forthcoming study to ...

Charlottesville, VA (May 28, 2013). Selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) is a surgical procedure used to treat spasticity in some children with spastic cerebral palsy. This procedure appears to be effective, but for how long? Researchers from Montreal, Quebec, Canada,* set out to find the answer to this question by studying data from the McGill University Rhizotomy Database on 102 pediatric patients with long-term follow-up. The researchers found that, in the majority of children with spastic cerebral palsy, the benefits of SDR last throughout adolescence and into early adulthood. ...

Using a novel method of analyzing genetic variations in families, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that individually harmless genetic variations affecting related biochemical processes may team up to increase the risk of schizophrenia. They say their findings, reported May 28 in Translational Psychiatry, bring some clarity to the murky relationship between genetics and schizophrenia, and may lead to a genetic test that can predict which medications will be effective for individual patients. "It's long been clear that schizophrenia runs in families, but schizophrenia ...

Among men with prostate cancer, African Americans experience longer treatment delays after being diagnosed than Caucasians. That is the finding of an analysis published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study suggests that efforts are needed to reduce racial disparities in prostate cancer care in order to provide earlier treatment for African Americans. To see if there is a difference in the time from cancer diagnosis to initiation of treatment for African American men compared with Caucasian men with prostate cancer, ...

Blood diseases such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and myelodysplasia can develop from abnormal bone marrow cells and a dysfunctional bone marrow microenvironment that surrounds these cells. Until now, researchers have been unable to replace the cells that make up the bone marrow microenvironment. Researchers reporting in the May 28 issue of the Cell Press journal Developmental Cell have found that eliminating a gene in the cells found in this microenvironment causes them to die, therefore enabling donor cells to replace them. In addition to providing a better understanding ...

MADISON, Wis. — Transplantation of human stem cells in an experiment conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison improved survival and muscle function in rats used to model ALS, a nerve disease that destroys nerve control of muscles, causing death by respiratory failure. ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is sometimes called "Lou Gehrig's disease." According to the ALS Association, the condition strikes about 5,600 Americans each year. Only about half of patients are alive three years after diagnosis. In work recently completed at the UW School of Veterinary ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (http://www.ucr.edu) — To better understand how bacteria impact the environment a former University of California, Riverside graduate student spent nearly a year building a system that replicates a human colon, septic tank and groundwater and "fed" the colon three times a day during weeklong experiments to simulate human eating. Ian Marcus, who recently earned his Ph.D. from the UC Riverside Bourns College of Engineering, said discussion of the research often left people a bit perplexed. "People would give a kind-of-interested-but-definitely-don't-talk-about-it-during-dinner ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Hikers in New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest often hit the trail less prepared than they should be, according to a study that gauged readiness by how many of 10 essential items the hikers brought along. Young and inexperienced hikers were most likely to lack multiple items recommended by the State of New Hampshire's HikeSafe program, according to a paper in press at the journal Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. Hikers were also less likely to prepare fully if they were planning a short hike, even though those can quickly ...

Wind energy capacity is growing rapidly in the cold climates of the world. According to the latest forecasts, between 45 and 50 gigawatts of wind energy will be built in cold climates by 2017, which would mean an increase of as much as 72 per cent since the end of 2012 and investments amounting to approximately EUR 75 billion. "This is a huge opportunity," says Research Scientist Tomas Wallenius from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. "There has been a lot of talk about the potential of offshore wind power, but the market for cold climate wind energy is more than ...

A team of researchers from the UPNA/NUP-Public University of Navarre has developed new superresolution and segmentation methods for magnetic resonance images so that they can be applied to the structural study of psychosis. The aim is to be able to identify the differences that are produced in specific parts of the brain in psychotic patients with respect to their healthy relatives or other people. The project, run in coordination with doctors in the Psychiatry and Radiology Service of the ComplejoHospitalarioof Navarre, is based on the study of medical images obtained ...

Camels are divided into two species, the one-humped dromedary and the two-humped Bactrian camel. Whether equipped with one or two humps, camels are precious in desert regions throughout the world. Their ability to carry heavy loads over long distances makes them ideally suited for transportation. In addition, camels are able to survive for weeks in hostile environments without food and water. Despite the extremely arid conditions, camels still provide enough milk for human consumption and also have an important role as a source of meat. Camels are specialists when it comes ...

Resolvins are molecules naturally produced by the body from omega-3 fatty acids – a process that can be jumpstarted by common aspirin. In a new study, published in The FASEB Journal, researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe how resolvins could protect against the cognitive impairment that often affects recovery of surgical and critically ill patients. The study adds new knowledge on how peripheral surgery affects the brain and neuronal function contributing to the processes of cognitive decline. Hospitalization for surgery or critical illness can lead to cognitive ...

There is growing recognition that reductions in Arctic sea ice levels will influence patterns of atmospheric circulation both within and beyond the Arctic. New research in the International Journal of Climatology explores the impact of 2007 ice conditions, the second lowest Arctic sea ice extent in the satellite era, on atmospheric circulation and surface temperatures. Two 30-year simulations, one using the sea ice levels of 2007 and another using sea ice levels at the end of the 20th century, were used to access the impact of ice free seas. The results showed a significant ...

A new strain of yellow-green algae, heterococcus sp. DN1, which may prove to be an efficient source for biodiesel, has been discovered in the snow fields of the Rocky Mountains. Research examining this new alga, published in Biotechnology Progress, reveals that H. sp. DN1 was found to grow at temperatures approaching freezing and to accumulate large intracellular stores of lipids. H. sp. DN1 produces the highest quantity of lipids when grown undisturbed with high light in low temperatures. Algae that can grow in extreme conditions and accumulate lipids are of great interest ...

As ash dieback disease continues to threaten common ash trees across Europe, new research in the Journal of Quaternary Science explores the historic impact of forest diseases to discover if diseases played a significant factor in vegetation change. The study explores how large-scale pathogen outbreaks were much more infrequent in the past, which suggests the human role in transporting pathogens to new locations, such as the international seed trade, is a major factor. "The temperate and boreal forests of Europe and North America have been subject to repeated pathogen ...

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have pinpointed a genetic marker for sporadic breast cancer – one of a handful identified to date in Caucasians. Researchers have identified many genetic markers for familial breast cancers, but not for sporadic breast cancer which accounts for 80 per cent of all cases. Sambasivarao Damaraju, a professor with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and a researcher at the Cross Cancer Institute, worked with his team to scan the DNA of about 7,200 Alberta women, including those who have had sporadic breast cancer and those who ...

New research from the University of Southampton shows that copper and copper alloys will rapidly destroy norovirus – the highly-infectious sickness bug. The virus can be contracted from contaminated food or water, person-to-person contact, and contact with contaminated surfaces, meaning surfaces made from copper could effectively shut down one avenue of infection. Worldwide, norovirus is responsible for more than 267 million cases of acute gastroenteritis every year. There is no specific treatment or vaccine, and outbreaks regularly shut down hospital wards and care ...

A new study has proven that being bullied during childhood directly increases the likelihood of self- harm in late adolescence. The analysis, led by researchers from the University of Warwick in association with colleagues at the University of Bristol, highlights that being bullied at primary school age can cause enough distress to significantly increase the risk of self-harming in later adolescence. Almost 5,000 participants in the Children of the 90s study were assessed for exposure to bullying between seven and ten years of age and later asked whether they had engaged ...

Have you experienced seeing a painting or a play that has left you with no feelings whatsoever, whilst a friend thought it was beautiful and meaningful? Experts have argued for years about the feasibility of researching art appreciation, and what should be taken into consideration. Neuroscientists believe that biological processes that take place in the brain decide whether one likes a work of art or not. Historians and philosophers say that this is far too narrow a viewpoint. They believe that what you know about the artist's intentions, when the work was created, and ...

VIDEO: This shows the methods used in the playback experiment. Click here for more information. A new study highlights the 'parasitism by theft' of bumblebees that invade birds' nests and claim them as their own. Their warning buzz helps bumblebees to "scare" the bird away from the nest. The work by Piotr Jablonski and colleagues, from the Laboratory of Behavioral Ecology and Evolution at Seoul National University in South Korea, is published online in Springer's journal, Behavioral ...

Entanglement is a property in quantum mechanics that seemed so unbelievable and so lacking in detail that, 66 years ago this spring, Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance." But a mathematician at Case Western Reserve University and two of his recent PhD graduates show entanglement is actually prevalent in large quantum systems and have identified the threshold at which it occurs. The finding holds promise for the ongoing push to understand and take advantage of the property. If harnessed, entanglement could yield super high-speed communications, hack-proof ...

Quantum communication systems offer the promise of virtually unbreakable encryption. Unlike classical encryption, which is used to send secure data over networks today and whose security depends on the difficulty of solving mathematical problems like the factoring of large numbers, most quantum encryption schemes keep the encryption key separate from the data. This approach ensures that an eavesdropper with access only to the data could not decipher the key. However, researchers have recently demonstrated that even quantum encryption may be susceptible to hacking. In ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- An Indiana University study has found that a unique omega-3 supplement derived from the New Zealand green-lipped mussel significantly improved lung function and reduced airway inflammation in asthmatics who experience exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, also called exercise-induced asthma. Timothy Mickleborough, professor in the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, said his findings are similar to his studies involving fish oil but required a much smaller dosage of the supplement. His new study, appearing online in the journal Respiratory Medicine, ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - While the mutated KRAS oncogene is associated with many cancers, it has not yet been successfully targeted by a therapeutic agent. Scientists are trying to find another way to target the gene by blocking signals from another protein downstream. A University of North Carolina School of Medicine team offers first evidence of the role of a protein called GSK-3 alpha in promoting oncogenic KRAS function. When the scientists inhibited GSK-3 in a model of pancreatic tumors, the team got a strong anti-tumor response, thus offering a potential therapeutic ...

CHICAGO (May 28, 2013)—Addicted to soda? You may be shocked to learn that drinking large quantities of your favorite carbonated soda could be as damaging to your teeth as methamphetamine and crack cocaine use. The consumption of illegal drugs and abusive intake of soda can cause similar damage to your mouth through the process of tooth erosion, according to a case study published in the March/April 2013 issue of General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical journal of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD). Tooth erosion occurs when acid wears away tooth enamel, which ...