Objective: It had been found that environmental music was associated with an increase in alcohol consumption. The presence versus absence of music, high versus slow tempo and the different styles of environmental music is associated with different level of alcohol consumption. However, the effect of the level of the environmental music played in a bar still remained in question. Methods: Forty male beer drinkers were observed in a bar. According to a random distribution, patrons were exposed to the usual level of environmental music played in 2 bars where the experiment was carried out or were exposed to a high level. Results: The results show that high level volume led to increase alcohol consumption and reduced the average amount of time spent by the patrons to drink their glass. Conclusions: The impact of environmental music on consumption was discussed and the "arousal" hypothesis and the negative effect of loud music on social interaction were used to explain our results.

An experiment on consumers' behavior was carried out in a new field context. According to a random assignment, 60 customers from ages 12 to 14 years who entered a candy store were exposed to Top Forty music which was usually played in this store, music from cartoons (Captain Flame, Candy, Olive & Tom, etc.), or no music. Analysis showed that customers spent significantly more time in the store when cartoon music was played, but the two styles of music were not related to the amount of money spent.

Schindler and Kibarian reported prices ending with a nine were associated with more purchases among customers who were women. To generalize this effect to a new business context, two groups of 200 people were solicited at home and asked to buy pancakes to raise money for a charitable organization. In half of the cases, the price of pancakes was 1.99euro, and in the other half they were proposed at 2.00euro. Analysis showed that the price ending with nine was associated with more subjects agreeing to the request, 118 of 200 vs 91 of 200.

The "But you are free of..." technique is a compliance procedure which solicits someone to comply with a request by simply telling him that he is free to accept or to refuse the request. This semantic evocation leads to increased compliance with the request. A new evaluation of the generality of this technique was tested in an experiment in which subjects received an anonymous electronic mail which asked them to consult the site of a humanitarian association for children. Analysis showed that, when the semantic evocation of freedom is included in the message, a higher compliance rate was observed than in a situation in which this evocation was omitted.

Personal information is scarce in computer-mediated communication. So when information about the sender is attached with his or her e-mail, this could induce a powerful effect toward the receptor. Two experiments were carried out where males and females were solicited by e-mail to respond to a survey on their foods habits. In the first experiment, students were solicited whereas, in the second experiment, people taken at random in various e-mails lists were solicited. The questionnaire was an HTML form attached with the e-mail. The signature of the solicitor was presented as of a high status (a scientist) or of a mid status (an undergraduate student). Results show that, in both experiments, subjects agreed more favorably to the request when the solicitor was of high status. The importance of social information on computer-mediated communication is used to explain such results.

Personal information is scarce in computer-mediated communication. So when information about the sender is attached with an e-mail, this could induce a positive feeling toward the sender. An experiment was carried out where a male and a female student-solicitor, by way of an e-mail, requested a student-subject to participate in a survey. In half of the cases, a digital photograph of the solicitor appeared at the end of the e-mail. Results show that subjects agreed more readily to the request in the experimental condition than in the control condition where no digital photograph was sent with the e-mail. The importance of social information on computer-mediated communication is used to explain such results.

Authors instructed two groups of male participants to respond to a web personal advertisement that had a photograph of either an attractive or unattractive woman. In the physically attractiveness condition, it was found that the message was longer and contained few spelling and grammatical mistakes than in the condition where the male's participant believe that the personal advertisement came from an unattractive woman. Two undergradutates females who were unaware of the experimental conditions judged that they had more probability to respond to the male's message in the physically attractiveness condition.

"Foot-in-the-door" is a well-known compliance technique which increases compliance to a request. Many investigations with this paradigm have generally used prosocial requests to test its effect. Evaluation of the effect of foot-in-the-door was carried out with a courtship request. 360 young women were solicited in the street to accept having a drink with a young male confederate. In the foot-in-the-door condition, before being solicited to have a drink, the young woman was asked to give directions to the confederate or to give him a light for his cigarette. Analysis showed foot-in-the-door was associated with greater compliance to the second request. The theoretical implication of such results with this nonprosocial request are discussed.

ASIC4 is a member of the acid-sensing ion channel family that is broadly expressed in the mammalian nervous system, but has no known function. We demonstrate here that transfected ASIC4 is targeted to the plasma membrane in CHO-K1 cells, where it associates with ASIC1a and downregulates exogenous ASIC1a expression. This effect could also be observed on endogenous H+-gated currents in TSA-201 cells and ASIC3 currents in CHO-K1 cells, suggesting a physiological role for ASIC4 in regulating ASIC currents involved in pain mechanisms. Using a yeast two-hybrid assay we found that ASICs interact with proteins involved in diverse functions, including cytoskeletal proteins, enzymes, regulators of endocytosis and G-protein-coupled pathways. ASIC4 is the sole member of this ion channel class to interact strongly with polyubiquitin. The distinct functionally related sets of interacting proteins that bind individual ASICs identified in the yeast two-hybrid screen suggest potential roles for ASICs in a variety of cellular functions.

The highest recommended sound pressure levels for leisure sounds (music) in Sweden are 100 dB LAeq and 115 dB LAFmax for adults, and 97 dB LAeq and 110 dB LAFmax where children under the age of 13 have access. For arrangements intended for children, levels should be consistently less than 90 dB LAeq. In 2005, a national project was carried out with the aim of improving environments with high sound pressure levels from music, such as concert halls, restaurants, and cinemas. The project covered both live and recorded music. Of Sweden's 290 municipalities, 134 took part in the project, and 93 of these carried out sound measurements. Four hundred and seventy one establishments were investigated, 24% of which exceeded the highest recommended sound pressure levels for leisure sounds in Sweden. Of festival and concert events, 42% exceeded the recommended levels. Those who visit music events/establishments thus run a relatively high risk of exposure to harmful sound levels. Continued supervision in this field is therefore crucial.

An experiment on consumers' behavior was carried out in a new field context. According to a random assignment, 60 customers from ages 12 to 14 years who entered a candy store were exposed to Top Forty music which was usually played in this store, music from cartoons (Captain Flame, Candy, Olive & Tom, etc.), or no music. Analysis showed that customers spent significantly more time in the store when cartoon music was played, but the two styles of music were not related to the amount of money spent.

Two well-recognised, but inherently reductionist, relations between medicine and music are the attempted neuro-scientific understanding of responses to music and interest in music's contributions to clinical therapy. This paper proposes a third relation whereby music is seen as an organising metaphor for clinical medicine as a practice. Both music and clinical medicine affirm human well-being, and both do this inter alia through varieties of skilful, crafted yet spontaneous mutual engagement between a 'performer' and an 'audience'. I argue that this organising metaphor offers a corrective to the reductionist influences of the first two relations, illuminates a number of medicine's important features, and reaffirms the existential as being at the core of medicine's telos.