Researches concerning the requirement of irrigation in South region – Muntenia

The paper presented deals with the problem of soil fertility potential, but impaired due to quantity and time distribution of rainfall, due to decreasing precipitation and increasing amounts of global average temperature where crop irrigation may be the main solution to obtain production to meet food needs of the population (Christian Brauner, 2002) .In Romania, areas affected by drought and desertification are Dobrogea, southern Oltenia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and Baragan, with low precipitation amounts, ranging from 300-500 mm and a global average air temperature in the south and east, rising by 0.80 C (Guidance on adapting to climate change, 2008).According to statistics provided by the INS, the total irrigated surface waning,determine productions and low yields of the crops (grains and maize) in the studied area, South - Wallachia

Analysis of nominal income evolution in the rural area, on types of households. Case study, South Muntenia region

The income and consumption of the population are determined by the general evolution of the national economy, these know effects of the accession and post-accession processes of the country to the European Union. In this respect, in the present paper we proposed to study the evolution of the household, of the agricultural and nonagricultural income, supposing that the agricultural income determined a favorable evolution, using the research methods documenting, analyzing and processing of data by the secondary analysis. In Romania in the analyzed period, the decrease of the purchasing power of available income, inflation, high prices and tariffs for some goods and services led the households to reduce consumption to the bare minimum and to try to keep as much as possible the prior levels of consumption choosing to save costs

Researches on social infrastructure development, in South munTenia development region

The infrastructure constitutes a support element, with particular importance for supporting all economic and socio- cultural activities. The infrastructure covers both structural field, giving unity to the system unit and the spatial field, thus achieving a viable or not territorial configuration , which is reflected by different levels of accessibility in the physical, technical, economic or socio –cultural area. An important aspect for the development of the region, including the rural area, is the social infrastructure with reference to houses, education and health system. In this respect, in the present paper we propose the analysis of the social infrastructure, namely, house building , education and the health infrastructure, using as research methods, documenting, analyzing and processing the secondary analysis. The ascending dynamics of new house building in the rural area, can be combined with the dynamics of the population mobility and increasing economic importance of agricultural activities at social levels. The infrastructure for education is well represented in the region and thus it can support the development in good conditions of the educational act. From the analyzed data, it results a deficiency of providing health infrastructure in the rural area, this situation requiring major investments made with projects funded under various development programs

Analysis of nominal income evolution in the rural area, on types of households. Case study, South Muntenia region

The income and consumption of the population are determined by the general evolution of the national economy, these know effects of the accession and post-accession processes of the country to the European Union. In this respect, in the present paper we proposed to study the evolution of the household, of the agricultural and nonagricultural income, supposing that the agricultural income determined a favorable evolution, using the research methods documenting, analyzing and processing of data by the secondary analysis. In Romania in the analyzed period, the decrease of the purchasing power of available income, inflation, high prices and tariffs for some goods and services led the households to reduce consumption to the bare minimum and to try to keep as much as possible the prior levels of consumption choosing to save costs

Researches on social infrastructure development, in South munTenia development region

The infrastructure constitutes a support element, with particular importance for supporting all economic and socio- cultural activities. The infrastructure covers both structural field, giving unity to the system unit and the spatial field, thus achieving a viable or not territorial configuration , which is reflected by different levels of accessibility in the physical, technical, economic or socio –cultural area. An important aspect for the development of the region, including the rural area, is the social infrastructure with reference to houses, education and health system. In this respect, in the present paper we propose the analysis of the social infrastructure, namely, house building , education and the health infrastructure, using as research methods, documenting, analyzing and processing the secondary analysis. The ascending dynamics of new house building in the rural area, can be combined with the dynamics of the population mobility and increasing economic importance of agricultural activities at social levels. The infrastructure for education is well represented in the region and thus it can support the development in good conditions of the educational act. From the analyzed data, it results a deficiency of providing health infrastructure in the rural area, this situation requiring major investments made with projects funded under various development programs

Medication use by middle-aged and older participants of an exercise study: results from the Brain in Motion study

BACKGROUND: Over the past 50 years, there has been an increase in the utilization of prescribed, over-the-counter (OTC) medications, and natural health products. Although it is known that medication use is common among older persons, accurate data on the patterns of use, including the quantity and type of medications consumed in a generally healthy older population from a Canadian perspective are lacking. In this study, we study the pattern of medication use in a sedentary but otherwise healthy older persons use and determined if there was an association between medication use and aerobic fitness level. METHODS: All participants enrolled in the Brain in Motion study provided the name, formulation, dosage and frequency of any medications they were consuming at the time of their baseline assessment. Maximal aerobic capacity (VO(2)max) was determined on each participant. RESULTS: Two hundred seventy one participants (mean age 65.9 ± 6.5 years; range 55–92; 54.6% females) were enrolled. Most were taking one or more (1+) prescribed medication (n = 204, 75.3%), 1+ natural health product (n = 221, 81.5%) and/or 1+ over-the-counter (OTC) drug (n = 174, 64.2%). The most commonly used prescribed medications were HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) (n = 52, 19.2%). The most common natural health product was vitamin D (n = 201, 74.2%). For OTC drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (n = 82, 30.3%) were the most common. Females were more likely than males to take 1+ OTC medications, as well as supplements. Those over 65 years of age were more likely to consume prescription drugs than their counterparts (p ≤ 0.05). Subjects taking more than two prescribed or OTC medications were less physically fit as determined by their VO(2)max. The average daily Vitamin D intake was 1896.3 IU per participant. CONCLUSIONS: Medication use was common in otherwise healthy older individuals. Consumption was higher among females and those older than 65 years. Vitamin D intake was over two-fold higher than the recommended 800 IU/day for older persons, but within the tolerable upper intake of 4,000 IU/day. The appropriateness of the high rate of medication use in this generally healthy population deserves further investigation

Prioritization of genes driving congenital phenotypes of patients with de novo genomic structural variants

Background:Genomic structural variants (SVs) can affect many genes and regulatory elements. Therefore, the molecular mechanisms driving the phenotypes of patients carrying de novo SVs are frequently unknown. Methods:We applied a combination of systematic experimental and bioinformatic methods to improve the molecular diagnosis of 39 patients with multiple congenital abnormalities and/or intellectual disability harboring apparent de novo SVs, most with an inconclusive diagnosis after regular genetic testing. Results: In 7 of these cases (18%), whole-genome sequencing analysis revealed disease-relevant complexities of the SVs missed in routine microarray-based analyses. We developed a computational tool to predict the effects on genes directly affected by SVs and on genes indirectly affected likely due to the changes in chromatin organization and impact on regulatory mechanisms. By combining these functional predictions with extensive phenotype information, candidate driver genes were identified in 16/39 (41%) patients. In 8 cases, evidence was found for the involvement of multiple candidate drivers contributing to different parts of the phenotypes. Subsequently, we applied this computational method to two cohorts containing a total of 379 patients with previously detected and classified de novo SVs and identified candidate driver genes in 189 cases (50%), including 40 cases whose SVs were previously not classified as pathogenic. Pathogenic position effects were predicted in 28% of all studied cases with balanced SVs and in 11% of the cases with copy number variants. Conclusions:These results demonstrate an integrated computational and experimental approach to predict driver genes based on analyses of WGS data with phenotype association and chromatin organization datasets. These analyses nominate new pathogenic loci and have strong potential to improve the molecular diagnosis of patients with de novo SVs

Clinical complexity and impact of the ABC (Atrial fibrillation Better Care) pathway in patients with atrial fibrillation: a report from the ESC-EHRA EURObservational Research Programme in AF General Long-Term Registry

Background: Clinical complexity is increasingly prevalent among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The ‘Atrial fibrillation Better Care’ (ABC) pathway approach has been proposed to streamline a more holistic and integrated approach to AF care; however, there are limited data on its usefulness among clinically complex patients. We aim to determine the impact of ABC pathway in a contemporary cohort of clinically complex AF patients. Methods: From the ESC-EHRA EORP-AF General Long-Term Registry, we analysed clinically complex AF patients, defined as the presence of frailty, multimorbidity and/or polypharmacy. A K-medoids cluster analysis was performed to identify different groups of clinical complexity. The impact of an ABC-adherent approach on major outcomes was analysed through Cox-regression analyses and delay of event (DoE) analyses. Results: Among 9966 AF patients included, 8289 (83.1%) were clinically complex. Adherence to the ABC pathway in the clinically complex group reduced the risk of all-cause death (adjusted HR [aHR]: 0.72, 95%CI 0.58–0.91), major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs; aHR: 0.68, 95%CI 0.52–0.87) and composite outcome (aHR: 0.70, 95%CI: 0.58–0.85). Adherence to the ABC pathway was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of death (aHR: 0.74, 95%CI 0.56–0.98) and composite outcome (aHR: 0.76, 95%CI 0.60–0.96) also in the high-complexity cluster; similar trends were observed for MACEs. In DoE analyses, an ABC-adherent approach resulted in significant gains in event-free survival for all the outcomes investigated in clinically complex patients. Based on absolute risk reduction at 1 year of follow-up, the number needed to treat for ABC pathway adherence was 24 for all-cause death, 31 for MACEs and 20 for the composite outcome. Conclusions: An ABC-adherent approach reduces the risk of major outcomes in clinically complex AF patients. Ensuring adherence to the ABC pathway is essential to improve clinical outcomes among clinically complex AF patients