No abstract

We report an experiment that compared two explanations for the effect of congruency between a word's on screen spatial position and its meaning. On one account, congruency is explained by the match between position and a mental simulation of meaning. Alternatively, congruency is explained by the polarity alignment principle. To distinguish between these accounts we presented the same object names (e.g., shark, helicopter) in a sky decision task or an ocean decision task, such that response polarity and typical location were disentangled. Sky decision responses were faster to words at the top of the screen compared to words at the bottom of the screen, but the reverse was found for ocean decision responses. These results are problematic for the polarity principle, and support the claim that spatial attention is directed by mental simulation of the task-relevant conceptual dimension.

The conceptual metaphor theory states that abstract concepts are represented by image schemas from concrete domains. In the present study we investigated the mapping for SIMILARITY IS CLOSENESS using tasks with nonlinguistic materials. In Experiments 1 and 2 participants decided whether two squares were similar or dissimilar in colour. The spatial distance between the squares was varied. Performance to similar colours was better at shorter distances, whereas performance to dissimilar colours was better at longer distances. In Experiments 3 and 4 participants made distance decisions to similar and dissimilar colours squares. Performance was not affected by similarity. These results show that metaphorical mappings can be found even beyond the context of linguistic metaphors and that the mapping between SIMILARITY and CLOSENESS is asymmetrical.

Purpose: TZT-1027 {N2-(N,N-dimethyl-l-valyl)-N-[(1S,2R)-2-methoxy-4-[(2S)-2-[(1R,2R)-1-methoxy-2-methyl-3-oxo-3-[(2-phenylethyl)]amino]propyl]-1-pyrrolidinyl]-1-[(S)-1-methylpropyl]-4-oxobutyl]-N-methyl-l-valinamide} is a cytotoxic dolastatin 10 derivative inhibiting microtubule assembly through the binding to tubulins. The objectives of this phase I study was to assess the dose-limiting toxicities (DLT), to determine the maximum tolerated dose, and to study the pharmacokinetics of TZT-1027 when given i.v. over 60 minutes on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks to patients with advanced solid tumors. Experimental Design: Patients were treated with escalating doses of TZT-1027 at doses ranging from 1.35 to 2.7 mg/m2. For pharmacokinetic analysis, plasma sampling was done during the first and second course and assayed using a validated high-performance liquid chromatographic assay with mass spectrometric detection. Results: Seventeen patients received a total of >70 courses. The stopping dose was reached at 2.7 mg/m2, with neutropenia and infusion arm pain as DLT. Neutropenia was not complicated by fever. Over all dose levels, eight patients experienced pain in the infusion arm 1 to 2 days after administration of the drug, which seemed ameliorated by adding additional flushing after drug administration. Other side effects included nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. One partial response lasting >54 weeks was observed in an extensively pretreated patient with metastatic liposarcoma. The pharmacokinetics of TZT-1027 suggested linearity over the dose ranges. No correlation between body surface area and absolute CL of TZT-1027 was established, vindicating that a flat dosing regimen might be used in the future. A correlation was observed between the percentage decrease in neutrophil count and the AUC of TZT-1027. Conclusions: In this study, the DLT of TZT-1027 was neutropenia and infusion arm pain. The recommended dose for phase II studies of TZT-1027 is 2.4 mg/m2 given i.v. over 60 minutes, on days 1 and 8 every 21 days. Phase II studies have recently started.

Previous research suggests that adolescents' social network site use is related to their sexual development. However, the associations between adolescents' exposure to sexy self-presentations of others on social network sites and their sexual attitudes and experience have not yet been empirically supported. This study investigated reciprocal longitudinal relationships between adolescents' exposure to others' sexy self-presentations on social network sites and their sexual attitudes (i.e., sexual objectification of girls and instrumental attitudes towards sex) and sexual experience. We further tested whether these associations depended on adolescents' age and gender. Results from a representative two-wave panel study among 1,636 Dutch adolescents (aged 13-17, 51.5 % female) showed that exposure to sexy online self-presentations of others predicted changes in adolescents' experience with oral sex and intercourse 6 months later, but did not influence their sexual attitudes. Adolescents' instrumental attitudes towards sex, in turn, did predict their exposure to others' sexy online self-presentations. Sexual objectification increased such exposure for younger adolescents, but decreased exposure for older adolescents. In addition, adolescents' experience with genital touching as well as oral sex (only for adolescents aged 13-15) predicted their exposure to sexy self-presentations of others. These findings tentatively suggest that the influence on adolescents' sexual attitudes previously found for sexual media content may not hold for sexy self-presentations on social network sites. However, exposure to sexy self-presentations on social network sites is motivated by adolescents' sexual attitudes and behavior, especially among young adolescents.