“Shake It Baby, Shake It”: Media Preferences, Sexual Attitudes and Gender Stereotypes Among Adolescents

In this study exposure to and preferences for three important youth media (TV, music styles/music TV, internet) were examined in relation to adolescents’ permissive sexual attitudes and gender stereotypes (i.e., views of men as sex-driven and tough, and of women as sex objects). Multivariate structural analysis of data from a school-based sample of 480 13 to 16-year-old Dutch students revealed that preferences, rather than exposure were associated with attitudes and stereotypes. For both girls and boys, preferences for hip-hop and hard-house music were associated positively with gender stereotypes and preference for classical music was negatively associated with gender stereotypes. Particularly for boys, using internet to find explicit sexual content emerged as a powerful indicator of all attitudes and stereotypes

Dose-effect study of Gelsemium sempervirens in high dilutions on anxiety-related responses in mice

Introduction This study was designed to investigate the putative anxiolytic-like activity of ultra-low doses of Gelsemium sempervirens (G. sempervirens), produced according to the homeopathic pharmacopeia. Methods Five different centesimal (C) dilutions of G. sempervirens (4C, 5C, 7C, 9C and 30C), the drug buspirone (5 mg/kg) and solvent vehicle were delivered intraperitoneally to groups of ICR-CD1 mice over a period of 9 days. The behavioral effects were assessed in the open-field (OF) and light\u2013dark (LD) tests in blind and randomized fashion. Results Most G. sempervirens dilutions did not affect the total distance traveled in the OF (only the 5C had an almost significant stimulatory effect on this parameter), indicating that the medicine caused no sedation effects or unspecific changes in locomotor activity. In the same test, buspirone induced a slight but statistically significant decrease in locomotion. G. sempervirens showed little stimulatory activity on the time spent and distance traveled in the central zone of the OF, but this effect was not statistically significant. In the LD test, G. sempervirens increased the % time spent in the light compartment, an indicator of anxiolytic-like activity, with a statistically significant effect using the 5C, 9C and 30C dilutions. These effects were comparable to those of buspirone. The number of transitions between the compartments of the LD test markedly increased with G. sempervirens 5C, 9C and 30C dilutions. Conclusion The overall pattern of results provides evidence that G. sempervirens acts on the emotional reactivity of mice, and that its anxiolytic-like effects are apparent, with a non-linear relationship, even at high dilutions

Fluoroalkyl-functional imidazoles and imidazolium–based ionic liquids prepared via thiol-ene/yne click chemistry

A fluorinated thiol was systematically investigated against a diverse set of –ene- and –yne-bearing imidazole and imidazolium substrates in the pursuit of new cation-fluorinated, omniphobic (hydrophobic and oleophobic) ionic liquids for aerospace applications. Compounds were prepared using UV-initiated click chemistry at quantitative conversion and purified with relative ease. Seven ionic liquids were synthesized and have isolated yields ranging from 74% to >99%. Five of the new cation-fluorinated ionic liquids are hydrophobic and two are liquids at room temperature. In addition to hydrophobicity, the seven ionic liquids’ solubilities were qualitatively examined across a wide spectrum of conventional organic solvents. Of note, the majority of the prepared ionic liquids are insoluble in water and hexanes yet soluble in methanol, acetone, acetonitrile, and dichloromethane. In addition to intriguing solubility properties, the ionic liquids in this study have high densities without the incorporation of heavy atoms, ranging from 1.596 to 1.924 g cm−3. The fluorinated salts also show good short-term thermal stability in air, with decomposition temperatures ranging from 215 °C to 320 °C. Other relevant characterization methods include spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and physical property measurements where appropriate. The X-ray crystal structure of a divalent, cation-fluorinated ionic liquid from this study was also obtained and shows unique fluorous domains in the extended structure, providing valuable insight into the materials’ physical properties. This work highlights a family of compounds moving towards omniphobic ionic liquids yielding potential possibilities for future applications