A study finds that forced distribution ratings systems, where a predetermined percentage of low-performing employees is fired every year, can be an effective way to improve a company’s workforce, although these benefits diminish over time.
“A significant number of organizations either already use, or are considering using, ’rank and yank’ systems of the type we studied, said Steve Scullen, one of the authors and associate professor of management at Drake University.
A new study documenting the treatment of late-life depression by Canadian health professionals will be presented today at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada. The study is the first to assess whether people diagnosed with late-life depression receive ’guideline concordant pharmacotherapy’ medication recommended in guidelines issued by the Canadian Psychiatric Association.
The research, conducted by Dr. Maida Sewitch at the McGill University Hea
A paper published in today’s issue of Science has challenged beliefs about the role of dopamine in the brain, which could lead to new treatments for Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and drug addiction. The research suggests that dopamine has a far wider, less specialised role than previously hypothesised.
The paper, written by experts at the University of Sheffield and Macquarie University in Sydney, focused on the role of dopamine as a neurotransmitter. Researchers sought to det
It’s common knowledge that the high price of crude oil has driven up fertilizer prices. But studies here have shown cattle can gain 3 pounds per day grazing spring pastures of a new disease-tolerant clover.
“That’s with no added nitrogen, as you’d have to do with ryegrass pastures,” said Dr. Ray Smith, legume breeder with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.
Commercial nitrogen fertilizer costs have increased to 40 cents per pound from about 35 cent
Milk prices dairy farmers received in 2004 were higher than in recent years but dairying, like all forms of agriculture is a vicious treadmill, demanding ever more increased efficiency to stay in place, said a dairy nutritionist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.
“And an accelerated calf growth program is one way they are looking to increase efficiency and productivity,” said Dr. Barry Lambert, who has a joint appointment with the Experiment Station and Tarleton
Weizmann Institute findings might advance search for new therapies for injured nerve fibers
Long distance messengers star in many heroic tales, perhaps the most famous being the one about the runner who carried the news about the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in the fateful battle of Marathon. A team of researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science has now discovered how molecular messengers perform a crucial role in the ability of injured nerve cells to heal them
If there were no bench for second-string players on a football team, who would substitute for tired or injured team members? A team of Weizmann Institute scientists has found that, if the team were made up of genes, they might pull athletes who can play a little football in a pinch from nearby basketball or rugby teams. Their findings were published in the March issue of Nature Genetics.
Dr. Yitzhak (Tzachi) Pilpel and graduate students Ran Kafri and Arren Bar-Even, of the Institu
Constructed wetlands in planned communities can aid in surface water cleanup and flood prevention, according to Purdue University scientists who completed a five-year study on the management system.
The research, begun in 1998 on three constructed ponds, or wetland cells, on a newly renovated golf course on the university campus, showed that 11 of 17 measurable chemicals in surface water were reduced after running through the system, said Ron Turco, soil microbiologist and senior
Researchers at the U. S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University have developed a new bond coat for thermal barrier coatings, or TBCs, that may allow gas turbine engines in aircraft and other power-generating technologies to better withstand severe, high-temperature environments. The basic research effort could provide a TBC system with significantly improved reliability and durability of turbine blades, thus enabling higher operating efficiencies and extending engine l
Mistakes made by human subjects in identifying the facing direction of faces, cars or meaningless objects have yielded evidence that the brain contains nerve cells, or neurons, whose job is to encode the viewing angle of objects. It is well known that certain neurons respond to color, motion, edges and other aspects of our environment. Now, University of Minnesota researchers have found that our visual cortex contains neurons that tell us, for example, whether a face is turned in our directio
Forgiveness is hard to do…especially for entitled people
When harsh words or actions tear a relationship apart, forgiveness can sometimes mend it. Because forgiveness implies letting go of justified feelings of resentment, it can be costly in terms of pride. Certain types of people–those with a high sense of narcissistic entitlement–may be especially reluctant to face the costs of forgiving others, according to Case Western Reserve University psychologist Julie Exline. The Case ass
Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School have discovered a gene called NPHP5 and found mutations in this gene that cause a rare genetic disease called Senior-Loken syndrome. Children with this syndrome develop a type of cystic kidney disease called nephronophthisis*, as well as a form of blindness called retinitis pigmentosa.
In both the eye and the kidney, U-M scientists found that mutations in NPHP5 produced defects in hair-like cellular structures called cilia,
A new integrated facility designed to give scientists unprecedented insights into the chemical and biological reactions which can transform renewable plant and waste materials into useful sources of energy was dedicated yesterday at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Called the Biomass Surface Characterization Laboratory (BSCL), the $2.85 million facility features an array of electron and optical microscopes, and other advanced res
Prostate screenings could be ’teachable moment’ to encourage colon checks
Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in men, but according to a new University of Michigan Health System study, fewer than half of men surveyed were up-to-date with colon cancer screenings. What men do pay attention to is prostate cancer. And that has researchers thinking an annual prostate cancer screening might be a good opportunity to urge men to be screened for colon cancer
Dr. Peter Hurd initially thought the idea was “a pile of hooey”, but he changed his mind when he saw the data.
Hurd and his graduate student Allison Bailey have shown that a man’s index finger length relative to ring finger length can predict how inclined that man is to be physically aggressive. Women do not show a similar effect.
A psychologist at the University of Alberta, Hurd said that it has been known for more than a century that the length of the index finger
Freezing tumors is an effective way to treat a cancer patient’s pain, preliminary results of a new study show.
The study, which appears in the March 2005 issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology, found that cryoablation relieved the pain of four patients who had very advanced disease. The patients had various types of cancer that had spread to areas outside the abdomen organs, said Damian E. Dupuy, MD, professor of diagnostic imaging at Brown Medical School in Providence,
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