Disparities regarding life quality in Central and Eastern European Countries

The analysis of social indicators and the analysis of life quality are very important in order to know, in time, the changes of the main social and economic phenomena that characterize a society. To monitor the social system is a priority of modern societies because it helps to identify in time the changes of unemployment main aspects, health of population, person’s level of security, educational level, life satisfaction, and even the subjective part of life quality. The increase of life quality has to be a purpose of social and economic politics. Taking into consideration the progress and especially the life standard attained by the developed countries of the world, each country that presents deficiencies in social politics has to identify the best measures as an answer to the existing social needs. This research aims to study the disparities regarding life quality in the following Central and Eastern European Countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Moldavia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus. The paper is structured as it follows: (1) introduction, (2) description of variables, (3) analysis of life quality in the Central and Eastern European Countries and (4) conclusion. The methodological approach is based on cluster analysis and the variables were selected taking into account theoretical, conceptual and practical reasons, trying to be relevant for the investigated problems and in straight connection with the analysis objectives. We try also to balance the number of the socio-economic demographic variables with the variables of the living level. From the analysis, in both cases, (with four or two groups), the revealed image is the same. There is a class of countries with a high level of life quality, characterized by a high socio-economic standard, and consequently good life conditions, and a class made of low socio-economic standard countries with low GDP, due to the inefficiency of economical politics or to the hell of civil wars and with big problems regarding corruption, civil and political liberties, life satisfaction, infant mortality and unemployment. This research offers a better understanding of macroeconomics politics effects that are promoted at the level of this region as well as their improvement.cluster analysis, life quality, matrix, dendrogram, Ward algorithm

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DURING THE ECONOMIC CRISIS. THE CASE OF THE ROMANIAN COMPANIES

The aim of the present paper is to identify and comment on the existing relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the current economic crisis, by focusing on the experience of the Romanian companies. After briefly defining the concept of CSR, the article presents the above mentioned relationship from a triple perspective: the lack of ethics as a cause of the economic crisis, the threat of CSR in periods of crisis and the opportunity of CSR in periods of crisis, considering that the last perspective could be maximized if companies are going to approach CSR from a strategic point of view. Finally, the second part of the paper presents what Romanian companies really do, but, more important, what they should do in order to increase their effectiveness in terms of CSR implementation when social budgets seem to remain constant or even decrease.Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Crisis, Stakeholders, Risk Management

Integrated Analysis of the Use of Non-Reimbursable Funds. Financial Audit of Non- Reimbursable Funds

The Community funds absorption constitutes itself an objective of the post-accession strategy.Their main role is to close the variances in the economic development level of the EU state members. Whathas been the significance of 12 years EU membership for Romania? Have we succeeded to increase theabsorption degree of the European funds? In what fields? In 2017, was the the termination of the cooperationProtocol, regarding the setting up and the conduct of financial audit for European and other non-reimbursablefunds, a beneficial measure? What is the actual role of the financial audit

The Features of Leisure Physical Occupations on Adults: A Descriptive Study

AbstractThe aim of this study is to identify and evaluate the features of the leisure physical occupations at the adult age. We realized a descriptive study (N = 80, adults in the urban area), through which we tried to determine the relationship between the leisure physical occupations and the socio-demographics variables (gender, level of education, achieved incomes, parental status). The study's results offer us the possibility of identifying the social groups with the lowest chances of practicing leisure physical activities. Starting from these results, we should be able to propose possible strategies of people's involvement in this kind of activities

The emerging role of neutrophils in neurodegeneration

Neutrophils are the first line of defense in the innate immune system, helping to maintain tissue homeostasis as well as eliminating pathogens and self-components. The traditional view of neutrophils as simple phagocytes has been revised over the last decade as new research reveals their unappreciated complexity. Neutrophils are phenotypically and functionally heterogeneous, allowing them to act as modulators of both inflammation and immune responses. During acute inflammation, neutrophils perform a variety of beneficial effector functions, but when inflammation is induced by injury (sterile inflammation) the benefits of neutrophils in tissue repair are more controversial. In several pathological conditions, including cancer and autoimmune diseases, neutrophils can trigger harmful tissue damage. Interestingly, neutrophils are also key players in neuroinflammatory disorders, during which they transmigrate in the central nervous system, acquire a toxic phenotype, home in on neurons, and release harmful molecules that compromise neuronal functions. In this review, we discuss recent data that redefine the cell biology and phenotype of neutrophils, focusing on the role of these cells in multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease, both of which feature strong neuroinflammatory components

Optimization of biosynthesis conditions and catalitic behavior evaluation of cellulase-free xylanase produced by a new Streptomyces sp. strain

Cellulase-free xylanase by Streptomyces sp.P12-137 was obtained bycultivation on the wheat bran as the sole carbon source. The effect of carbon and nitrogen sources and a ratio of them on the cellulase-free xylanase production was investigated. The new isolate Streptomyces sp. strain was able to grow in submerged system and to produce an increased level of xylanase. Wheat bran induced xylanase biosynthesis yield at a high level (9.27 UA/ml). For economical reasons cultivation was achieved on a cheap fermentative medium represented by agro-industrial wastes. The optima of the pH and temperature of the crude xylanase activity were 5.5 and 70°C,respectively

Toll-Like Receptor 2 Mediates In Vivo Pro- and Anti-inflammatory Effects of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and Modulates Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Mycobacteria display pro- and anti-inflammatory effects in human and experimental pathology. We show here that both effects are mediated by Toll-like receptor 2 (Tlr2), by exploiting a previously characterized Tlr2 variant (Met82Ile). Tlr2 82ile promoted self-specific proinflammatory polarization as well as expansion of ag-specific FoxP3(+) Tregs, while Tlr2 82met impairs the expansion of Tregs and reduces the production of IFN-γ and IL-17 proinflammatory cytokines. Preferential dimerization with Tlr1 or Tlr6 could not explain these differences. In silico, we showed that Tlr2 variant Met82Ile modified the binding pocket for peptidoglycans and participated directly to a putative binding pocket for sugars and cadherins. The distinct pro- and anti-inflammatory actions impacted severity, extent of remission, and distribution of the lesions within the central nervous system of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Thus, Tlr2 has a janus function in vivo as mediator of the role of bacterial products in balancing pro- and anti-inflammatory immune responses