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In order to be competitive, companies can go overboard in trying to come up with creative designs for the loyalty reward programs. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, some of these designs can lead to unintended consequences.

Using a $225,000 microscope, researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5α that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys.

The finding could lead to new TRIM5α-based treatments that would knock out HIV in humans, said senior researcher Edward M. Campbell, PhD, of Loyola University Health System.

Campbell and colleagues report their findings in an article featured on the cover of the Sept. 15, 2010 issue of the journal Virology, now available online.

When it comes to our own pleasure, we like having a choice, but when it comes to utilitarian goals, we're just as happy being told what to do, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

If you think that your favorite coffee shop is a great gathering place for discussion, you should have been around in the Ottoman Empire starting in the 1550s. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research examines the role of coffee houses in the evolution of the consumer.

Authors Eminegül Karababa (University of Exeter, Exeter, UK) and Güliz Ger (Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey) dug wide and deep into the history of coffeehouses in the early modern Ottoman Empire and found they offered their patrons a lot more than coffee.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A new University of Florida study indicates extinct carnivorous mammals shrank in size during a global warming event that occurred 55 million years ago.

The study, scheduled to appear in the December print edition of the Journal of Mammalian Evolution and now available online, describes a new species that evolved to half the size of its ancestors during this period of global warming.

A poster of the Galton-Darwin-Wedgwood pedigree was prepared by Harry Hamilton Laughlin, Director of the Eugenics Record Office of the Carnegie Institute, and exhibited at the Third International Congress of Eugenics in 1932 at the American Museum of Natural History.

A photograph of this poster has been discovered in the archives of Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri alongside a photograph of a poster of a collection of rare Darwin family photographs, assembled by Leonard Darwin. The original posters have not been located.

Emergency room waiting times could be cut by over one third and patients' length of stay by almost two-thirds, thanks to a new approach to the triage process of sorting patients for further assessment and treatment, according to research published in the International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage this month.

Nabeel Mandahawi of The Hashemite University in Zarqa, Jordan and colleagues have turned to a design strategy known as Six Sigma commonly used by engineers and manufacturers to improve their products, reduce costs and boost energy efficiency.

Oxytocin (OT) is a hormone that plays an important role in social behavior—it has even been nicknamed "the love hormone" and "liquid trust." Increased levels of OT have been associated with greater caring, generosity, and trust. But does OT increase people's trust in just anybody or does it act more selectively?

The University of Cambridge's "Naked Scientists" are launching a new series of podcasts this week entitled "Naked Oceans".

These monthly, half-hour podcasts, funded by the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF), investigate various topics of ocean science and conservation. They are presented by Helen Scales and Sarah Castor-Perry, both members of the Naked Scientists team and Alumni of the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology.

Many consumers need help recognizing when their privacy is compromised,according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

"How can we make sense of the contradictory attitudes that individuals display toward privacy—from the seemingly reckless willingness of some to post personal and even incriminating information on social network sites, to the concern people express over the range of information being collected about them and the way it's being used?" write authors Leslie K. John, Alessandro Acquisti, and George Loewenstein (all Carnegie Mellon University).

In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[31-32]: 543-51), Stephanie Holt, a clinical pharmacologist, and coauthors present the PRISCUS List: a list of medications that carry an increased risk of side effects when given to elderly patients.

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Some nuclear-based breast imaging exams may increase a woman's risk of developing radiation-induced cancer, according to a special report appearing online and in the October issue of Radiology. However, the radiation dose and risk from mammography are very low.

The placement of alcohol-based hand disinfectants in businesses can reduce illness and absenteeism amongst the work force. A study published in the open access journal, BMC Infectious Diseases, has found that incidences of absenteeism in public administrations due to the common cold, fever and cough are significantly reduced when alcohol-based hand disinfectants are used by employees.