This study explores 328 mobile daters’ (63% females; 86% heterosexuals) experiences with ghosting, using both open- and close-ended questions. First, we used thematic analysis to explore mobile dating app users’ motivations to ghost, the reported consequences of experiencing ghosting and reported strategies to cope with having been ghosted. Next, quantitative analyses were carried out to predict the likelihood of ghosting other users and which factors contribute to experiencing ghosting as more painful. As both our qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest, experiencing ghosting on a dating app can be quite painful and has an impact on users’ self-esteem and mental well-being. However, our findings on ghosters’ motives also stress a nuanced perspective on ghosting behavior, given that it is not necessarily done with harmful or conscious intent. As such, our findings also hold practical implications given that insights into mechanisms to cope with ghosting can help dating app users to rationalize their ghosting experience and thus limit its impact.

No abstract

Binocular grating acuity was tested in 138 low birth weight (LBW) neonates (birth weights ranging from 1500 to 2500 g) by means of the prototype version of the Acuity Card Procedure. No surrounding screen was used. Mean visual acuity of 107 neonates successfully assessed at mean corrected ages of -1.9 weeks (+/- 1.9 weeks) amounted to 0.58 cycles/degree (S.D. 0.71 octaves). Success rate was 77.5%. Mean postnatal age was 2.3 weeks (+/- 1.6 weeks). Acuity values of various subgroups ranged between 0.68 cycles/degree (S.D. 1.3 octaves) in low-risk, small for gestational age (SGA) preterms (n = 7), to 0.56 cycles/degree (S.D. 0.7 octaves) in SGA fullterms (n = 34), independent whether at low-or at high-risk. These differences were not significant, although with multiple regression analysis with adjustment for corrected age of testing, mean acuity of low-risk preterms was slightly better than of low-risk fullterms (P = 0.055). No significant change of acuity over corrected age could be demonstrated, except for a slight progress (r = 0.57; P less than 0.05) in the subgroup of 13 low-risk fullterms. The high variability of acuity values in neonates and the slow acuity development at term age hamper assessment of differences between various subgroups of neonates.

Clonidine was topically applied to the right eye of anesthetized cats. Unilateral administration induced a fall in intraocular pressure (IOP) in both eyes. This effect is not secondary to the slight fall in arterial blood pressure. Distribution experiments with 14C-clonidine revealed that only minor or negligible amounts of clonidine could be demonstrated in the contralateral eye. The concentrations of the labeled drug determined in the brain after topical application are sufficient to explain the bilateral decrease in IOP by a central mechanism. The IOP-lowering effect of clonidine upon its topical application to the eye is probably of central nervous origin and, therefore, similar to the centrally induced effect on IOP after systemic administration of the drug.

delta 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (delta 9-THC) was injected both intravenously and into the brain stem via the left vertebral artery. Contrary to results obtained with clonidine, neither the fall in intraocular pressure (IOP), nor the arterial hypotension induced by delta 9-THC, were enhanced after the 'central' administration of the drug. For clonidine, a central mechanism underlying the ocular hypotensive effect has recently been proposed. This suggestion is based upon the enhanced fall in IOP after 'central' administration of clonidine. The pontomedullary area is considered to be the main initial target of this drug. Obviously, the IOP-lavering mechanism of delta 9-THC is different from that of clonidine.