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Social fears are considered common and life-restrictive problems, especially among young people. This study examined young people’s experiences of social fears. The data consisted of responses collected via a qualitative e-form questionnaire from Finnish participants (n = 78) whose average age was 25 years. The data were analysed with the content analysis method. The theoretical insights of the study were drawn from symbolic interactionism and the existential-phenomenological approach. The participants’ fears were classified and named in relation to social situations and significant others to 1) Formal situations and authorities 2) Groups and peers 3) Public places and anonymous crowds 4) Dyadic relationships and close people 5) Generalized fears. The study indicates the diversity of social fears. It suggests that dealing with underlying reasons and getting new healing experiences of fear-inducing social situations can help sufferers.

Fruit set in angiosperms marks the transition from flowering to fruit production and a commitment to seed dispersal. Studies with Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) fruit have shown that pollination and subsequent fertilization induce the biosynthesis of several hormones, including auxin and gibberellins (GAs), which stimulate fruit set. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the gaseous hormone ethylene may also influence fruit set, but this has yet to be substantiated with molecular or mechanistic data. Here, we examined fruit set at the biochemical and genetic levels, using hormone and inhibitor treatments, and mutants that affect auxin or ethylene signaling. The expression of system-1 ethylene biosynthetic genes and the production of ethylene decreased during pollination-dependent fruit set in wild-type tomato and during pollination-independent fruit set in the auxin hypersensitive mutant iaa9-3. Blocking ethylene perception in emasculated flowers, using either the ethylene-insensitive Sletr1-1 mutation or 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), resulted in elongated parthenocarpic fruit and increased cell expansion, whereas simultaneous treatment with the GA biosynthesis inhibitor paclobutrazol (PAC) inhibited parthenocarpy. Additionally, the application of the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) to pollinated ovaries reduced fruit set. Furthermore, Sletr1-1 parthenocarpic fruits did not exhibit increased auxin accumulation, but rather had elevated levels of bioactive GAs, most likely reflecting an increase in transcripts encoding the GA-biosynthetic enzyme SlGA20ox3, as well as a reduction in the levels of transcripts encoding the GA-inactivating enzymes SlGA2ox4 and SlGA2ox5. Taken together, our results suggest that ethylene plays a role in tomato fruit set by suppressing GA metabolism., (© 2015 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Novel photochromic amphipathic molecules, KMR-AZn (Gd-DTPA-AZCn), composed of hydrophilic Gd-DTPA and hydrophobic alkylated azobenzene were prepared. In aqueous environment, KMR-AZn indicated self-assembly. The resulting aggregates were demonstrated to be able to include a hydrophobic drug substitute (hydrophobic fluorescent dye) into the internal core, and to release the included compound upon photoirradiation within 10 min through the influence of azobenzene photoisomerization. This micellar MRI contrast agent exhibited three- to four-fold higher r(1) relaxivity (r(1) = 14.5-16.5 mM(-1) s(-1), 0.47 T at 40°C) than the widely applied small molecule contrast agent Gd-DTPA (Magnevist(®) r(1)  = 4.1 mM(-1) s(-1), 0.47 T at 40°C). This dual functionality of encapsulated compound release and increased MR imaging contrast indicates that KMR-AZn is a potential candidate for application as a lipid-based MRI-traceable drug carrier., (© 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Photochemistry and Photobiology © 2012 The American Society of Photobiology.)