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Working-class consumers: A look at the complex social system of a trailer park

Contrary to stereotypes, low-income trailer park residents form distinct groups with different visions of morality, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

"These findings emphasize the multiplicity and richness of social identities that exist within the same social class of the working poor," write authors Bige Saatcioglu (Ozyegin University) and Julie L. Ozanne (Virginia Tech).

How do consumers compare prices? It depends on how powerful they feel

Your reaction to the price on a bottle of wine or another product is partly a response to how powerful you feel, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

"The degree to which one feels powerful influences which type of price comparison threatens their sense of self-importance and, in turn, affects the perception of price unfairness," write authors Liyin Jin, Yanqun He (both Fudan University), and Ying Zhang (University of Texas, Austin).

Novel mechanism discovered in first line of immune defense

1. Scientists from A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) have discovered a new defense mechanism that the immune system utilises to combat infections. The team's discovery of how a novel protein unexpectedly activates an immune response shows how this mechanism can also be used to get rid of tumour cells. This research was done in collaboration with University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, published in July 2013 in Nature Immunology.

Life deep down: A new beautiful translucent snail from the deepest cave in Croatia

Scientists discovered a new species of a peculiar cave-dwelling snail in one of the 20 deepest cave systems in the world, Lukina Jama–Trojama in Croatia. The newly discovered species belongs to a genus of minute air-breathing land snails that have lost visual orientation and are considered to be true eutroglobionts, or exclusive cave-dwellers. The study describing the new species was published in the open access journal Subterranean Biology.

Micro-gels from tiny ice algae play an important role in polar ocean carbon budgets

A community of microscopic algae and bacteria thrives within the Arctic and Antarctic pack ice. These ice-organisms are adapted to growing on the ice crystal surfaces and within a labyrinth of channels and pores that permeate the ice floes.

It is a hostile place to grow with temperatures often at -10°C to -20°C, low light and within six or seven times more salty brines in the ice channels compared to the underlying seawater from where these organisms originate.

Life found in the sediments of an Antarctic subglacial lake for the first time

Evidence of diverse life forms dating back nearly a hundred thousand years has been found in subglacial lake sediments by a group of British scientists.

The possibility that extreme life forms might exist in the cold and dark lakes hidden kilometres beneath the Antarctic ice sheet has fascinated scientists for decades.

Motorized microscopic matchsticks move in water with sense of direction

Chemists, physicists and computer scientists at the University of Warwick have come together to devise a new powerful and very versatile way of controlling the speed and direction of motion of microscopic structures in water using what they have dubbed chemically 'motorised microscopic matchsticks'.

Stress protein expression in early phase spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury

Spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury is a stress injury to the spinal cord. Therefore, research on the expression of stress-related protein in neurons could be of great significance for the pathological mechanism and control measures for spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury. Previous studies from Dr. Shanyong Zhang and colleagues from China-Japan Friendship Hospital of Jilin University identified 21 differentially expressed proteins in rabbits with spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion injury using differential proteomics.

3 out of every 4 cases of bladder cancer display mutations in the same gene

Researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have discovered that more than 70% of bladder tumours display somatic mutations in the TERT gene (telomerase reverse transcriptase). The TERT gene is involved in the protection of DNA and in cellular ageing processes and cancer. These results make this gene the most mutated in these tumours.

Kids reduce stress in goat herds

Dairy goats are usually separated from their mothers a few days to weeks after birth and reintroduced into the herd months later – on most farms either in the last months of first pregnancy or shortly after parturition/kidding. The practice is supposed to ensure stable milk production in the herd but it clearly causes stress to the goats. Problems arise because goat herds have a strictly hierarchical social structure and changes in herd composition may lead to serious rivalries and increased aggressive behaviour.

Rare, inherited mutation leaves children susceptible to acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Researchers have discovered the first inherited gene mutation linked exclusively to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) occurring in multiple relatives in individual families. The discovery of the PAX5 gene mutation was led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and others. The work appears in the current advance online edition of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

The real reason to worry about bees

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 10, 2013 — Honeybees should be on everyone's worry list, and not because of the risk of a nasty sting, an expert on the health of those beneficial insects said here today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.

New evidence that orangutans and gorillas can match images based on biological categories

The ability to form a general concept that connects what we know about the members of a category allows humans to respond appropriately when they encounter a novel member of that category. At an early age, children form categories to, for example, differentiate animals from inanimate objects and to differentiate dogs from cats. New research shows that other apes may form similar categories to represent different types of animals.

Doctor turns to singing and social media to change medical practice

Barcelona, Spain: A doctor from the UK has shown how an innovative music video can help increase awareness of how to treat asthma.

Dr Tapas Mukherjee, from Glenfield Hospital in the UK, produced and starred in a music video to draw attention to new guidelines showing a better way of managing asthma.

A study presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress in Barcelona today (10 September 2013), has demonstrated the success of this video and suggests that social media can be used to successfully improve medical practice.

Experts take on challenge of breast density notification laws

OAK BROOK, Ill. – A team of California-based breast imagers and breast cancer risk specialists have developed a website to help navigate the new challenges posed by breast density notification laws, according to a special report published online in the journal Radiology.