News Articles

Public health campaigns intended to reduce unhealthy behaviors like binge drinking and eating junk food often focus on the risks of those behaviorsb but a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests a relatively simple but surprisingly effective strategy to improve consumer health based on common sense: like the risky behavior with an 'out' group.
Authors Jonah Berger from the University of Pennsylvania and Lindsay Rand from Stanford University found that linking a risky behavior with a group that the targeted audience doesn't want to be associated with caused participants to reduce unhealthy behaviors.
The studies began by identifying groups of people who study participants liked, but with whom the participants would not want to be confused — "outgroups." In the first study, the participants were undergraduates and the "outgroup" was graduate students. When participants were led to believe that graduate students consumed more junk food, they chose 28% fewer junk-food items than participants who thought their group ate more junk food.

Scientists at Aston University in Birmingham, UK are carrying out a unique study using the eyes to detect early signs of health problems which could lead to diabetes, and they’re looking for volunteers to help.
A team of scientists from Aston’s Ophthalmic Research Group (ORG) are looking for healthy 20-65 year olds to take part in a free health check - results of which could help in detecting risk for diabetes or early diabetic changes. The scientists are particularly interested in the differences in these factors between the South Asian community and Caucasian population in Birmingham.

Business veterans claim you cannot teach ‘experience’ but a group of European researchers say you can. They developed software that helps players acquire real-life skills and realistic experiences through game playing. But this game is no executive toy.
The interactive software, ChangeMasters, has caught the imagination of business colleges in the USA and elsewhere and it has prompted interest in corporate Europe as well.
The researchers believe it gives students real-world skills through ‘experience.’ “Experience is the best and simplest way to learn anything, that is why it is so valued in the business world,” explains Professor Albert Angehrn.

Fast food and coke instead of fruits and vegetables: the consequences can already be seen in children – more and more of them suffer from overweight and adiposity. But what are the reasons?
In what way are they connected, for example, with social status and body weight of the parents?
On the trail of overweight, the health scientist Prof. Dr. Günter Eissing, Technische Universität Dortmund, carefully examined 432 Dortmund children at the age of three, in cooperation with BKK Hoesch, Public Health Authority and the city’s statistical department. More precisely, he measured them.
Based on height and weight, Prof. Eissing calculated the Body Mass Index (BMI), compared it with birth certificate data and medical examination documents, and found out: after the first three years of their lives, 22 percent of the boys and eleven percent of the girls are overweight.

Medical care for athletes competing at the Beijing Olympics involves more than just basic emergency care during the events. Pre-treatment and a thorough understanding of sports trauma, physiology, cardiology and biochemistry are all a requisite to ensure that the world’s top athletes are able to compete, safely and at the highest levels.
A new journal, SMARTT (Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation, Therapy and Technology) has been established to facilitate the rapid transmission of knowledge amongst the multidisciplinary community who support the health of athletes. This peer reviewed open access journal will inspire clinicians, practitioners, scientists and engineers to work together towards a common goal of improving the quality of life and performance of the international community of athletes.

Together with colleagues from the Department of Dermatology and Allergy and the Center for Allergy and Environment (ZAUM) of the Technische Universität München, scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München have pinpointed a major gene for allergic diseases. The gene was localized using cutting edge technologies for examining the whole human genome at the Helmholtz Zentrum München.
The newly discovered FCER1A gene encodes the alpha chain of high affinity IgE receptor, which plays a major role in controlling allergic responses. The team of scientists led by Dr. Stephan Weidinger from the Technische Universität München and Dr. Thomas Illig from the Helmholtz Zentrum München found that certain variations of the FCER1A gene decisively influence the production of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies. IgE antibodies are a particular type of antibody that is normally used to protect against parasites. In Western lifestyle countries with less contact, however, elevated IgE levels are associated with allergic disorders.

Students from the University of Maryland attending the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change got a special session with academy-award winning actress Vanessa Redgrave August 13.
"One of the problems for us all is that we are not, and cannot often be aware of what's going on that the camera hasn't focused on," she told the students.
During a session with students and faculty from five continents and fifteen countries, Ms. Redgrave drew connections between the responsibilities of an actor and those of journalists.

WADDINXVEEN, The Netherlands, August 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Exactly 40 years after Woodstock, a "Rock for Nature" rock concert will be held in the Schwabisch Hall in Germany from August 22 through 24. The concert's theme will be organic, genetic-manipulation free agriculture. Eosta's sister organization "Soil & More" will fully compensate all CO2 emissions arising from the concert with "carbon credits" obtained through composting projects for organic agriculture.
The concert will feature world-famous artists and bands such as Scorpions, Nena, Joe Cocker and Roger Hodgson (formerly with Supertramp). In addition, there will be a wide range of get-togethers focusing on the main subject of the concert.

LONDON, August 22 /PRNewswire/ -- One in four British women admits to not looking after her teeth, including brushing and flossing, on a daily basis, according to a new survey released today.
The survey asked women how important a good smile was; nearly two thirds (65%) of the women surveyed believe that a good smile results in a more confident individual, followed by 18% who said that someone with a good smile would be more likely to be successful in regards to romance and attracting a partner.
Teeth are clearly important in making an impression, but Brits are still living up to the stereotype of having bad teeth, as over one third of the women surveyed (36%) reported that they are embarrassed by their teeth. When asked what they would improve about their smile 49% of the participants stated 'very white teeth', followed by 29% wanting even and straight teeth.

Households located in poor neighborhoods pay more for the same items than people living in wealthy ones, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. Author Debabrata Talukdar of Columbia University found that the critical factor in how much a household spends on groceries is whether it has access to a car.
According to the findings, those without access to cars—which are exclusively poor households, but include only 40 percent of poor households— pay higher prices for groceries than households with access to a car (whether wealthy or poor). Lacking mobility means consumers buy from the nearest neighborhood store rather than larger regional or national grocery chains, which have lower prices.

People are more than happy to fool themselves and nothing can make dieters who cheat happier than those `100 calorie' sized snacks.
As a result of that 'it is smaller so I can eat more of them' mentality, chronic dieters tend to consume more calories when foods and packages are smaller, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. The authors examined consumer behavior regarding "mini-packs," 100-calorie food packages that are marketed to help people control calorie intake.

The systematics of celestial bodies needs to be revised, say researchers at the Argelander Institute of Astronomy of the University of Bonn. Brown dwarfs, to-date merely regarded as stars which were below normal size, may well be stellar ‘miscarriages' and need to be treated as a separate class in addition to stars and planets.
Brown dwarfs (or BDs) are what scientists call objects which populate the galaxies apart from the stars. Unlike the latter, they cannot develop high-yield hydrogen fusion as in the interior of our sun due to their low mass (less than about 8% of the sun’s mass). But in addition to this brown dwarfs and stars also seem to be different in their ‘mating behavior’.