Ageing and responsible consumption

Multiple studies show that the contemporary society is increasingly more responsible and ask companies to prove responsible citizens, too. The current study aims to a better understanding of the role of age plans in responsible consumption attitudes and values. Investigating the literature in the field, including studies developed worldwide as well as on the Romanian market. The research documents that the younger adults are more responsible and greener than older persons. Nevertheless, the older the consumer, the more trustful in the personal impact of her/his consumption is. The older adults seem to be less inclined towards responsible buying. The available data also suggests that the age gap is closing, and older consumers tend to be increasingly more responsible

Sex Role Identity, Communication Skills, and Group Popularity

Using two groups of undergraduate students (N = 71) the present paper argues about the importance of sex role identity (Bem, 1981) as a potential predictor of group popularity. The results show that participants with psychological androgine identity tend to use better their communication skills and become popular among their peers. Contray to previous studies (e.g. Hall, 1984; Saarni, 1999) focused on gender gap in communication skills, the current study emphasis on the importance of the sex role identity (Bem, 1974, 1975) in undestanding the relation between communication skills and likeability

Older Audiences and Digital Media: Focus on Romania

This report discusses descriptive results of the Computer Assisted Telephone based Survey (CATI) conducted in Romania in December 2016. The present survey is part of the international project Cross-National Longitudinal Study: Older Audiences in the Digital Media Environment (see www.actproject.ca/), and it is planned to be conducted every two years, in three waves, on the same sample of older adults. The sample is representative for the online population of people 60 years old and above living in Romania. The results show that TV is the most important media channel for this age group, followed by radio. Also, we can talk about a specialization of media consume at older people, with Television and television set playing a central role, followed by radio (and radio set), whereas newspapers and magazines are accessed both online and offline. One important incentive for older people to go online and try different mediated communication options is to share their life routine with family and friends. While the Internet becomes a communication medium used all over the paces, older people preferred using it in their own private homes. The report also indicates the important role of mediated communication in interpersonal communication mechanisms in the case of older people

Consulting in Electronic Commerce

Economic development of electronic services provide advice and many agents of existing referral systems to recommend and provide products, information and customized views of the community through a personalized interaction in real time. Distributed systems of autonomous agents are becoming increasingly important in electronic comet because the basic decisions of agents advice on trust and reputation are taken in a similar way human society. If these decisions will be like a real consumer protection, when new aspects of online consumer legislation will become useful information in advice and consulting of electronic commerce

Mapping challenges of the Romanian NGOs. A focus on human resources

The effectiveness of NGOs, similar to other types of organizations, depends on the quality and implication of their employees and volunteers. The literature highlights the role of learning capabilities, organizational learning, networking and community capacity building in ensuring organizational sustainable development in the NGO sector. In this framework, professional human resources should be an important part of the management strategy. Continuous and personalized training would be also important for NGOs. The present paper presents a qualitative investigation aiming to map the training needs and practices of the NGO sector in Romania, both from the perspective of its representatives and its stakeholders. The findings show a general agreement and concern related to the professionalism of the workers in the sector, as well as related to the lack of explicit responsibility/the feeling of being accountable assumed by the members of the sector. The study also revealed a need for closer cooperation between the members of the Quadruple Helix. 

The Advancement in the Early Diagnostics of Developmental Hip Dysplasia in Infants – The Role of Ultrasound Screening

Developmental hip dysplasia (DDH) is a deformation of the locomotor system that can occur on previously normal bone structures in late fetal development. The study was undertaken to determine the value of continuous ultrasound screening in early diagnosis of DDH. In the area covered by the Labin Primary Health Center, clinical and ultrasound examination of the hips was performed in all children during the fourth month of life from 1989 to 2001. The incidence of DDH was 3.3%. The authors compared the obtained results with results of clinically examined hips in the period from 1968 to 1988 (incidence 1.7%), before the ultrasound diagnostics was introduced. The hip radiograms were performed only in children with clinically positive signs of higher degree of DHD. The ultrasound examination was performed with Hitachi EUB 410 real time linear transducer with a 5 MHz probe. The examiners used methods and criteria suggested by Graf. The most useful feature of the ultrasound method is that it allows the visualization of cartilaginous femoral head and its relationship to the acetabulum in infants. The method is non-invasive, repeatable, without risk of ionizing radiation or need for the contrast material administration. The results of the study revealed an important increase of DHD incidence after the introduction of ultrasound examination. US is highly sensitive in hip imaging and reveals the existence of a number of dislocated and subluxated hips that otherwise would be missed. The anomaly was discovered in the early period of life, which is very important for appropriate therapeutic effects

The Advancement in the Early Diagnostics of Developmental Hip Dysplasia in Infants – The Role of Ultrasound Screening

Developmental hip dysplasia (DDH) is a deformation of the locomotor system that can occur on previously normal bone structures in late fetal development. The study was undertaken to determine the value of continuous ultrasound screening in early diagnosis of DDH. In the area covered by the Labin Primary Health Center, clinical and ultrasound examination of the hips was performed in all children during the fourth month of life from 1989 to 2001. The incidence of DDH was 3.3%. The authors compared the obtained results with results of clinically examined hips in the period from 1968 to 1988 (incidence 1.7%), before the ultrasound diagnostics was introduced. The hip radiograms were performed only in children with clinically positive signs of higher degree of DHD. The ultrasound examination was performed with Hitachi EUB 410 real time linear transducer with a 5 MHz probe. The examiners used methods and criteria suggested by Graf. The most useful feature of the ultrasound method is that it allows the visualization of cartilaginous femoral head and its relationship to the acetabulum in infants. The method is non-invasive, repeatable, without risk of ionizing radiation or need for the contrast material administration. The results of the study revealed an important increase of DHD incidence after the introduction of ultrasound examination. US is highly sensitive in hip imaging and reveals the existence of a number of dislocated and subluxated hips that otherwise would be missed. The anomaly was discovered in the early period of life, which is very important for appropriate therapeutic effects

Treatment with human, recombinant FSH improves sperm DNA fragmentation in idiopathic infertile men depending on the FSH receptor polymorphism p.N680S: A pharmacogenetic study

Study question: Does the spermDNAfragmentation index (DFI) improve depending on the FSH receptor (FSHR) genotype as assessed by the nonsynonymous polymorphisms rs6166 (p.N680S) after 3 months of recombinant FSH treatment in men with idiopathic infertility? summary answer: FSH treatment significantly improves sperm DFI only in idiopathic infertile men with the p.N680S homozygous N FSHR. what is known already: FSH, fundamental for spermatogenesis, is empirically used to treat male idiopathic infertility and several studies suggest that DFI could be a candidate predictor of response to FSH treatment, in terms of probability to conceive. Furthermore, it is known that the FSHR single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs6166 (p.N680S) influences ovarian response in women and testicular volume in men. study design, size and duration: Amulticenter, longitudinal, prospective, open-label, two-arm clinical trial was performed. Subjects enrolled were idiopathic infertile men who received 150 IU recombinant human FSH s.c. every other day for 12 weeks and were followed-up for a further 12 weeks after FSH withdrawal. Patients were evaluated at baseline, at the end of treatment and at the end of follow-up. participants/materials, setting, methods: Eighty-nine men with idiopathic infertility carrier of the FSHR p.N680S homozygousNor S genotype, FSH 64 8 IU/l and DFI >15%,were enrolled. A total of 66 patients had DFI analysis completed on at least two visits. DFI was evaluated in one laboratory by TUNEL/PI (propidium iodide) assay coupled to flow cytometry, resolving two different fractions of sperm, namely the 'brighter' and 'dimmer' sperm DFI fractions. main results and the roleof chance: Thirty-eightmen(57.6%)were carriers of the p.N680S homozygousNand 28 (42.4%) of the homozygous S FSHR. Sperm concentration/number was highly heterogeneous and both groups included men ranging from severe oligozoospermia to normozoospermia. Total DFI was significantly lower at the end of the study in homozygous carriers of the p.N680SNversus p.N680S S allele (P = 0.008). Total DFI decreased significantly from baseline to the end of the study (P = 0.021) only in carriers of the p.N680S homozygous N polymorphism, and this decrease involved the sperm population containing vital sperm (i.e. brighter sperm) (P = 0.008). The dimmer sperm DFI fraction, including only nonvital sperm, was significantly larger in p.N680S S homozygous patients than in homozygous N men (P = 0.018). Total DFIwas inversely related to total sperm number (P = 0.020) and progressive sperm motility (P = 0.014).Whenpatients were further stratified according to sperm concentration (normoozospermic versus oligozoospermic) or -211G>T polymorphism in the FSHB gene (rs10835638) (homozygous Gversus others), the significant improvement of sperm DFI in FSHR p.N680S homozygousNmen was independent of sperm concentration and associated with the homozygous FSHB -211G>T homozygous G genotype. limitations, reasons for caution: The statistical power of the study is 86.9% with alpha error 0.05. This is the first pharmacogenetic study suggesting that FSH treatment induces a significant improvement of total DFI in men carriers of the p.N680S homozygousNFSHR; however, the results need to be confirmed in larger studies using a personalized FSH dosage and treatment duration. wider implications of the findings: The evaluation of sperm DFI as a surrogate marker of sperm quality, and of the FSHR SNP rs6166 (p.N680S), might be useful to predict the response to FSH treatment in men with idiopathic infertility. study funding/competing interest(s): The study was supported by an unrestricted grant to M.S. and H.M.B. from Merck Serono that provided the drug used in the study. MS received additional grants from Merck Serono and IBSA as well as honoraria from Merck Serono. The remaining authors declare that no conflicts of interest are present. trial registration number: EudraCT number 2010-020240-35