ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Promoting and supporting agency have been at the heart of the debate multidisciplinary. To promote self-awareness of young people's agency and identify persons in need of support the Assessment Tool for Perceived Agency (ATPA-22) was developed. AIM: This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the ATPA-22. Participants were young adults not in education, employment or training (NEETs) and students in higher education (HEI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The main data analysis was implemented by Many Faceted Rasch (MFR) analysis. RESULTS: The ATPA-22 items defined a unidimensional construct with reasonable internal consistency and separation ability. The ATPA-22 was capable of detecting differences between HEI students and young adult NEETs. Nine differential functioning items emerged between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: ATPA-22 shows promise as a tool to assess young adults' perceived agency. Anyhow, as the individual life situation affects strongly to perceived agency, research on the stability of the ATPA-22 among different populations is needed. SIGNIFICANCE: The purpose of the ATPA-22 is to measure perceived agency of individuals, and to identify aspects of agency in need for support. ATPA-22 can be used as a tool for promoting self-awareness of occupational challenges.
Subject(s)
Disabled Children/psychology , Disabled Children/rehabilitation , Employment/psychology , Healthy Volunteers/psychology , Psychometrics/standards , Rehabilitation/methods , Unemployment/psychology , Adolescent , Educational Status , Female , Humans , Male , Reproducibility of Results , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
Sea buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides, SB) leaves contain wide-ranging bioactive compounds. Processing of the leaves into beverages/food presents great potential for supporting human health. The research aimed to investigate the impact of different processing methods on phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities of tea-type infusions prepared from SB leaves. Leaves of two SB cultivars, 'Terhi' and 'Tytti', were processed with different methods commonly used for tea processing. Phenolic compounds in the infusions were analyzed with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode-Array Detection and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Ionization-Tandem Mass Spectrometry. Isorhamnetin-3-O-glucoside-7-O-rhamnoside, isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside and kaempferol-3-O-hexoside-7-O-rhamnoside were the three major flavonol glycosides, stachyurin and casuarinin were the most abundant ellagitannins. The infusions of 'Tytti' contained more total phenolics than those of 'Terhi' (pâ¯<â¯0.05). High temperature processing resulted in higher content of total phenolics and ellagitannins in the infusions compared with low temperatures (pâ¯<â¯0.05). Thermal processing decreased the antioxidant activities of the infusions.
Subject(s)
Antioxidants/chemistry , Hippophae/chemistry , Phenols/analysis , Tea/chemistry , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid , Freeze Drying , Glycosides/analysis , Glycosides/chemistry , Hippophae/metabolism , Hydrolyzable Tannins/analysis , Hydrolyzable Tannins/chemistry , Phenols/chemistry , Plant Leaves/chemistry , Plant Leaves/metabolism , Principal Component Analysis , Tandem Mass Spectrometry , TemperatureABSTRACT
Ellagitannins are a subclass of hydrolysable tannins that have been suggested to function as defensive compounds of plants against herbivores. However, it is known that the conditions in the digestive tracts of different herbivores are variable, so it seems reasonable to anticipate that the reactivities and modes of actions of these ingested defensive compounds would also be different. A previous study on a few ellagitannins has shown that these polyphenolic compounds are highly oxidizable at high pH and that their bioactivity can be attributed to certain structural features. Herein, the activities of 13 ellagitannins using the deoxyribose assay were measured. The results provided information about the anti-oxidant, pro-oxidant and metal chelating properties of ellagitannins. Surprisingly, many of the tested ellagitannins exhibited pro-oxidant activities even at neutral pH and only moderate to low radical scavenging activities, although the metal chelating capacities of all tested ellagitannins were relatively high.
Subject(s)
Antioxidants/metabolism , Hydrolyzable Tannins/metabolism , Oxidants/metabolism , Antioxidants/chemistry , Hydrolyzable Tannins/chemistry , Oxidants/chemistry , Oxidation-Reduction , Reactive Oxygen Species/chemistryABSTRACT
The results of a screening study, in which a total of 82 Finnish plant species were studied for their ellagitannin composition and content, are presented. The total ellagitannin content was determined by HPLC-DAD, the detected ellagitannins were further characterized by HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS and divided into four structurally different sub-groups. Thirty plant species were found to contain ellagitannins and the ellagitannin content in the crude extracts varied from few mgg(-1) to over a hundred mgg(-1). Plant families that were rich in ellagitannins (>90mgg(-1) of the crude extract) were Onagraceae, Lyhtraceae, Geraniaceae, Elaeagnaceae, Fagaceae and some species from Rosaceae. Plant species that contained moderate amounts of ellagitannins (31-89mgg(-1) of the crude extract) were representatives of the family Rosaceae. Plant species that contained low amounts of ellagitannins (1-30mgg(-1) of the crude extract) were representatives of the families Betulaceae and Myricaceae. The specific ellagitannin composition of the species allowed their chemotaxonomic classification and the comparison between the older Cronquist's classification and the nowadays preferred Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification.
