Adolescent identity formation: a Swedish study of identity status using the EOM-EIS-II.

The aim of this study was to examine ego identity status among Swedish adolescents using the EOM-EIS-II. Identity status scores and distributions were examined for 222 (108 female, 114 male) Swedish high school students. Identity status differences were found between genders. There was a greater likelihood of female adolescents being categorized as moratoriums than were males, and there was a greater likelihood of males being categorized as diffusions than were females. Statistically significant differences were found between genders on the following subscales: moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion. No statistically significant differences were found between females and males on the identity achievement subscale. To achieve a preliminary construct validation of the results from the EOM-EIS-II, four of the 222 participants were also assessed using Marcia's identity status interview. A fairly good accordance between the interview assessment of identity status and the EOM-EIS-II assessment were found. Interview results showed differences between the interviewers on each subscale (IA, M, F, and D). The same differences were detected on three of four subscales when assessing these individuals' identity statuses using the EOM-EIS-II.

Factorial design for the development of automated solid-phase extraction in the 96-well format for determination of tesaglitazar, in plasma, by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

An analytical method was developed for the determination, in blood plasma, of a novel peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) agonist drug, tesaglitazar. The drug and the isotope labelled internal standard were isolated by solid-phase extraction (SPE) on hexylsilica, separated by reversed-phase liquid chromatography and quantified by tandem mass spectrometry. Factorial design and a robotic sample processor were employed in the exploration and optimisation of the SPE procedure in the 96-well format. This allowed rapid development of the method, notably limiting the process to four experiments before validation. The detectability was greatly improved by utilising the formation of sodium adducts in atmospheric pressure positive ionisation mass spectrometry. Absolute recovery was more than 95% with a coefficient of variation of 5% at a level of 8.7 nM. The accuracy and precision of the automated SPE method presented here matched the excellence of the previously used method based on manual liquid-liquid extraction. Furthermore, the method resulted in an increased sample throughput.