Identification of New Betalains in Separated Betacyanin and Betaxanthin Fractions from Ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus Caldas) by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS.

An improved methodology of achieving an accurate separation of pure fractions of betacyanins and betaxanthins from Ullucus tuberosus Caldas has been carried out. For that purpose, an in-depth chemical identification of each betalain fraction using HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS was developed. This procedure allowed to evaluate the fractionation efficiency and also identify a large number of betalains, most of which have not been described so far in this raw material: betanidin- and isobetanidin-5-O-(4'-O-malonyl-ß-glucoside), 2-decarboxy-phyllocactin, betanidin- and isobetanidin-6-O-(6'-O-feruloyl)-ß-glucoside (gomphrenin and isogomphrenin III), dehydro-phyllocactin and isophyllocactin, and arginine and glycine-betaxanthins (portulacaxanthin III). Moreover, the availability of pure betalain fractions by the proposed methodology permitted to establish the total betalain content and the antioxidant activity of both separated betacyanin and betaxanthin fractions of ulluco for the first time. The results suggest Ullucus tuberosus as an underutilized food bioactive source with a high concentration of total betaxanthins (21.8 µg indicaxanthin/g fresh ulluco) and betacyanins (44.5 µg betanin/g fresh ulluco), strongly correlated to the Folin-Ciocalteau reduction capacity.

An extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior to predict willingness to pay for the conservation of an urban park.

This paper relates the concept of moral obligation and the components of the Theory of Planned Behavior to determine their influence on the willingness to pay of visitors for park conservation. The sample consists of 190 visitors to an urban Spanish park. The mean willingness to pay estimated was 12.67€ per year. The results also indicated that moral norm was the major factor in predicting behavioral intention, followed by attitudes. The new relations established between the components of the Theory of Planned Behavior show that social norms significantly determine the attitudes, moral norms and perceived behavioral control of individuals. The proportion of explained variance shows that the inclusion of moral norms improves the explanatory power of the original model of the Theory of Planned Behavior (32-40%). Community-based social marketing and local campaigns are the main strategies that should be followed by land managers with the objective of promoting responsible, pro-environmental attitudes as well as a greater willingness to pay for this type of goods.

Potential use of new Colombian sources of betalains. Color stability of ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus) extracts under different pH and thermal conditions.

The potential use of ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus) extracts to be added as natural colorant to other products has been studied. The stability of ulluco extracts at different pHs and temperatures over time has been thoroughly conducted. Our attention was focused on the tristimulus colorimetry, differential colorimetry and betalains related to color. On the basis of the results, although ulluco extract adjusted to pH4 showed a significantly lower color intensity (C*ab~40), the stability of red hue (hab) over time was higher. Betalain content showed the same trend, and lower values in highly-acidic extracts have been reported. It could be also affirmed that visually appreciable color changes (ΔE*ab>2) were induced when pH changed and different temperatures were applied. Despite of the vivid red color of the initial extracts, ulluco extracts added to low-acidic foodstuffs showed a tendency towards yellowish tonalities (values of hab from 45° to 80°), mitigated by using refrigeration storage conditions (hab values from 45° to 55°).

Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value-Belief-Norm Theory explaining willingness to pay for a suburban park.

This paper analyses whether the environmental profile of park visitors as defined by the components of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Value-Belief-Norm Theory, determines their willingness to pay for park conservation. The sample consists of 194 visitors to a suburban Spanish park. Under these theories, it is shown that positive attitudes, a strong orientation towards biospheric and altruistic values with strong pro-environmental and normative beliefs determine the visitors' willingness to pay. Various fit statistics and the proportion of explained variance reveal that Theory of Planned Behavior has a greater influence on willingness to pay. The managers of urban spaces should direct their efforts to obtaining greater knowledge of people's attitudes, beliefs and pro-environmental values given their importance in their decisions regarding economic valuation of this sort of resources.

The role of satisfaction and emotional response in the choice mechanisms of suburban natural-areas users.

The unique observations and experiences of users of suburban natural areas lead them to perceive their surroundings in a manner associated with their personal values. It follows that every individual has a unique cognitive decision-making structure. This paper examines users' affective and cognitive evaluation of a particular suburban natural area by applying the means-end chain method to reveal the cognitive mechanism by which users link the attributes and benefits of an environmental public good with their own personal values. Analysis of a survey conducted of visitors to a Spanish suburban natural area (park) reveals the main attributes to be the opportunity to practice sports and proximity of the park and the main potential benefits to be the improvement of physical and psychological well-being. The desired personal values include fun, quality of life and self-fulfillment at the individual level and improved social relationships at the collective level. The paper also tests for cross-group, cognitive-structure differences in visitor groups, segmented by level of satisfaction and reported range of emotions, and finds that perceived physical and psychological health improvements and individual and social awareness increase with higher levels of satisfaction and emotional response. Therefore, the recommendations for natural area management suggested by these findings include enhancing the scenic beauty and peacefulness of suburban natural areas in order to improve the affective state of visitors because this could contribute to reducing social costs (including health care) within the area of influence of the natural area.

Problemas de comunicación percibidos por las enfermeras / Communications problems as perceived by nurses

La interacción de las enfermeras con las demás personas en el desarrollo de suejercicio profesional puede ser una fuente de estrés laboral.Objetivo: describir las dificultades de comunicación percibidas por las enfermerascon los pacientes, familiares y equipos de trabajo.Diseño de estudio descriptivo transversal, con una muestra de 59 enfermeras delComplejo Hospitalario de Ourense, pertenecientes a varios servicios de hospitalizaciónde enfermos agudos.Metodología: cuestionario autoadministrado conteniendo variables demográficasy valoración de los niveles de dificultad percibida en tres áreas de relación, segúnpropuesta de Ulla et al (2002).Resultados: las enfermeras perciben más dificultades para comunicarse con losfamiliares próximos al paciente y menos para la relación con el equipo de trabajo,aunque en este área es mayor la dificultad para comunicarse con el médico.Los hombres perciben menos problemas de comunicación. Con la edad mejora lapercepción de la comunicación con el paciente y familia y empeora con los miembrosdel equipo

The interaction of nurses with other individuals during the performance of their professionalduties can be a source of professional stress.Objective: to describe communication difficulties the nurse may experience withpatients, relatives and their colleagues.This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study conducted on a sample of 59 nurses froma hospital in Ourense, working at hospitalisation wards and Acute Care Unit.Methodology: self-administered questionnaire containing demographic variablesand evaluation of the level of difficulty perceived in three interaction/relationshipareas, according to Ulla et al proposal.Results: nurses find it more difficult to communicate with relatives close to the patientand less difficult to communicate with other members of their team, eventhough it must be mentioned that within this group, communication with thephysician is the hardest. Men perceived fewer communication problems. Withage, communication is perceived to improve with the patient and family and to worse with colleagues (AU)