Instrumentalising the Past: The Germanic Myth in National Socialist Context

In the search for an explanatory model for the present or even more, for a fundament for national identity, many old traditions were rediscovered and reutilized according to contemporary desires. In the case of Germany, a forever politically fragmented space, justifying unity was all the more important, especially beginning with the 19th century when it had a real chance to establish itself as a state. Then, beyond nationalism and romanticism, at the dawn of the Third Reich, the myth of a unified, powerful, pure people with a tradition dating since time immemorial became almost a rule in an ideology that attempted to go back to the past and select those elements which could have ensured a historical basis for the regime. In this study, we will attempt to focus on two important aspects of this type of instrumentalisation. The focus of the discussion is mainly Tacitus’ Germania, a work which has been forever invoked in all sorts of contexts as a means to discover the ancient Germans and create a link to the modern ones, but in the same time the main beliefs in the realm of history and archaeology are underlined, so as to catch a better glimpse of how the regime has been instrumentalising and overinterpreting highly controversial facts

Aesthetic Heathenism: Pagan Revival in Extreme Metal Music

Neopaganism, briefly defined as the attempt to reconstruct and reinterpret pre-Christian heritage, is not confined to purely religious movements. A romanticized view of ancestral religion particularly expressed through an extensive use of mythological elements adapted to a contemporary context now represents a fundamental part of certain scenes that utilize them to construct a primordialist view of the past. Pagan metal makes use of religion and mythology as a form of cultural capital to suggest cultural distinctiveness in order to create an alternative antimodern, conservative discourse to mainstream culture. Artists attempt to forge and empower a new identity shaped by language, music, style, behavior and values when they, for instance, dwell on old myths which they recontextualize according to their own agenda. Starting from an exploration of American and European pagan revivalist movements, this paper pinpoints the main characteristics of the relationship between Neopaganism and musical expression by evoking and commenting on textual and non-textual evidence in an attempt to offer a paradigm for understanding the intersections between spirituality and popular culture

PHYSICAL QUALITY EVALUATION OF SOME SOILS FROM DOLJCOUNTY

The quantity and quality of yield is determined by the soil quality. The agriculture is one of the main human activities that affect soil quality. In Dolj, the agriculture occupies an important place in the economy of the County. The main soils found in DoljCounty were Chernozems and Luvisols. Several indicators are used to quantify the physical quality of the soil. To assess soil physical quality, disturbed samples from each pedogenetic horizon were collected to analyse: particle size distribution, soil organic content, dispersion and macrohydrostability. Undisturbed samples were also collected (by using a core sampler), for: bulk density, total porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, resistance to penetration determination. The degree of compaction, the packing density, the structural stability index as well as the structural instability index were obtained by calculation.  The results showed that according to the degree of compaction values, both studied Luvisols (except ArenicLuvisols), and HyposodicCalcaro-calcic Chernozems and Haplic Chernozems with fine texture were severely compacted and required loosening works. Most of the studied horizons of Luvisols had low – extremely low permeability. With a few exceptions, the values of the resistance to penetration were medium. The HyposodicCalcaro-calcic Chernozems shows the highest values of structural instability index

THE WEATHERING AS A MAIN PROCESS MODELLING THE SOIL VITAL ENVIRONMENT

The objectives of the paper had been to evaluate the level at which weathering, as the main process active in the studied soil, proceed to modelling the soil vital environment. The researches had been performed in Patranjeni area, located in The ApuseniMountains, on an AlosolRodic. The results pointed out that on the general background of an extremely anthropic polluted and acid soil (pH below 4.5), the micromorphological observation (on the oriented thin sections) had been reveal an intense weathered process of the skeleton grains (composed of greenish grey sandstones). Consequently, the soil matrix had been in situ enriched with large amounts of weathered products which kept the soil in a state of youth and gives mainly to the Bt2horizon the characteristics of a layer known as „alteration bed‟. The analytical data showed an extremely high level of total Fe, ranging between 14712 ppm and 23759 ppm, whereas the total Mn values are lower and ranged from 176 ppm to 743 ppm. The acidification directly influenced the soil life environment, by increasing: the weathering of the skeleton grains, the soil matrix debazification and the organic matter oxidation. In addition, the soil ecosystem being affected, the soil inhabitants (from macro- to micro-scale) had been also affected. On the other hand, the soil vital environment had been modelled mainly by the weathering that locally buffered the highly acidity and created a vital environment for the soil life

Opportunities for optimization of antipsychotic treatment

Universitatea de Stat de Medicină şi Farmacie „Nicolae Testemiţanu”, Chişinău, Republica MoldovaIntroducere. Există situații în care un antipsihotic înlocuit cu altul: a) lipsa de răspuns la terapie ; b) intoleranța la medicamente. Scopul lucrării. Elucidarea modului de schimbare a antipsihoticelor. Material și metode. Au fost studiate publicații științifice din ultimii 10 ani dedicate temei respective. Rezultate. Indicații principale pentru schimbarea antipsihoticului: a) răspunsul slab la terapie; b) efectele adverse intolerabile, asociate cu non-aderență la tratament; c) agravarea stării generale de sănătate; c) solicitarea unui alt antipsihotic de către pacienți. Una dintre metodele de schimbare a antipsihoticelor cu diferite proprietăți farmacologice este titrarea încrucișată. În timpul titrării încrucișate starea pacientului să se îmbunătățească semnificativ, dar se va opta pentru monoterapie. În cazul în care, transferul se face de la un antipsihotic la altul cu proprietăți receptorale similare, titrarea încrucișată poate fi efectuată în decurs de o săptămână. Concluzii. 1) Există particularități specifice de substituție a medicamentelor antipsihotice. 2) Titrarea încrucișată a dozelor permite evitarea efectelor secundare și crește aderența la tratament.Background. There are situations in which an antipsychotic is switching by another: a) lack of response to therapy; b) drug intolerance. Objective of the study. To elucidate the way of switching antipsychotics. Materials and methods. Scientific publications from the last 10 years dedicated to the respective theme were studied. Results. Main indications for switch the antipsychotic: a) poor response to therapy; b) intolerable adverse effects, associated with non-adherence to treatment; c) worsening of the general state of health; c) requesting another antipsychotic by patients. One of the methods of switching antipsychotics with different pharmacological properties is cross-titration. During cross-titration the patient’s condition should improve significantly, but we have to opt for monotherapy. If transferring from one antipsychotic to another with similar receptor properties, cross-titration can be performed within one week. Conclusions. 1) There are specific peculiarities of substitution of antipsychotic drugs. 2) Cross-titration of doses allows avoiding side effects and increases adherence to treatment

Overlap mechanisms of transient global amnesia and COVID-19 infection: review

Background: An increasing number of patients with Transient Global Amnesia (TGA) was reported during the COVID-19 pandemics. However, there are limited data on the mechanisms of TGA linked with this infection. The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of COVID-19 infection on the hippocampal function and its potential mechanisms for TGA. A narrative literature review was performed, while searching on PubMed the following keywords: “transient global amnesia”, “COVID-19”, “hippocampus”. Ten English-written publications (clinical cases, cross-sectional studies, prospective studies) were selected. The time period covered was 2019 – 2021. During recovery from COVID-19, frequent cases of neurocognitive deficits (78%) were reported. It’s also known that TGA can be triggered by physical and emotional stress. It is possible that TGA’s pathogenesis (arterial ischemia, venous congestion, metabolic stress) could involve the CA1 hippocampal region – the most sensitive area to hypoxia, linked to afferent inputs from the medial and lateral entorhinal cortexes. These regions include high concentrations of Zinc ions and play a key role in modulating memory and spatial learning. Meantime, SARS-CoV-2 was previously detected in the olfactory bulb, amygdala, entorhinal, temporal and frontal cortex (20%); and most severe cases COVID-19 were associated with Zinc deficiency (57.4%). Conclusions: The review highlights the precipitating events for TGA and their implications at the hippocampal level, jointly with similar pathophysiological changes reported in the novel coronavirus infection. This could explain the effect of COVID-19 infection on the hippocampus function and the potential mechanisms for TGA

Influnce of soil acidification on some soil physical properties (water stable aggregates and dispersion)

During non-ferrous metallurgical plant from Zlatna were emitted into the air both sulfur dioxide and powder of metal sulphides and metal oxides. Dioxide and trioxide sulfur in contact with rain water converts to sulfuric acid that leading to the formation of acid precipitation, which in contact with soils lead to its acidification. Acid soils have less favorable physical properties including poorly formed or damaged structure. In this paper is studied the influence of soil acidification on some physical properties as water stable aggregates and dispersion. In the reserached area, the water stable aggregates of soils range in the field of small-very large values, with median belongs to moderate class values and only 10% had values that belong to high and very high classes. In the soils investigated from Zlatna area, the water stable aggregates is significant, respectively, very significantly influenced by the soil physical and chemical properties as: clay, content of humus, Ca2+ ions, percentage of base saturation, sum of exchangeable bases, soil reaction, and cation exchange capacity. Lowest correlation was established with soil reaction (r=0.338*) and the strongest correlation was with total cation exchange capacity (r=0.756***). Dispersion ranges in the field of low-very high values and over 75% of the values belong to classes of high-very high values

A SENSITIVE SANDY SOIL UNDER PASTURE AS MICROORGANISM HABITAT PROVIDER

The sandy soils are sensitive ecosystems, being in a precarious equilibrium with the pedolandscape conditions, any changes could bring drastically modifications into the soil environment. The researches had been performed in Suceava Tableland, in Stephan the Great area, on a Luvosol albic-psamic, lamelar. The researches in the paper focused on the upper part of the argic horizon, on Bt1 sub-horizon characteristics at macro- and microscopic scale. In this respect, at the macro-morphological level, the Bt1 sub-horizon is composed of a sequence of thick lamellae (3–5 cm) separated by the inter-lamellar spaces. The granulometric analysis showed that the lamellae had a medium loamy texture, while the inter-lamellar spaces had coarse granulometric composition. At micromorphological level, the image emphasized, in the lamellae, the presence of the clayey±Fe±humiccoating the mineral grains and clogging part of the inter-granular spaces. The results of the microbiological investigation showed a concentration of the microorganisms into the lamellae, while in the inter-lamellar spaces, their development has been scarce. The total counts of bacteria and fungi registered low number (16.81 x 106 viable cells x g-1d.s. and 1.026 x 103cfus x g-1d.s., respectively). Despite of these results, the data of the global indicator of the soil microbiological activity, the soil respiration respectively, attend high level of activity (31.357 mg CO2 x g-1d.s.). The researches pointed out that the sandy soil is a very sensitive environment for the soil life, but the presence of the clayey±Fe lamellae proved to be a hospitable habitat. &nbsp

MICRIBIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY IN A HIGHLY POLLUTED SOIL

To emphasize the microbiological activity in a polluted soil, the microbiologicalindicators (the number of bacteria; the number of fungi; and the soil respiration) had been analyzed, both from the qualitative and the qualitative point of view. The researches had been performed in Patranjeni area, in ApuseniMountains on a slope of the AmpoiValley. The soil is AlosolRodicanthropic polluted (with dioxide and trioxide sulphur emissions). The results showed that total counts of bacteria showed very low (220 x 106 viable cells x g-1d.s.) to medium (1270 x 106 viable cells x g-1d.s.) viable cells in the plant root active layer, while the fungi total counts showed a very low number in all the pedogenetic horizons (ranging between 2.40 x 103cfus x g-1d.s. and 3.70 x 103cfus x g-1d.s.). The global indicator of the soil microbiological activity is soil respiration, to which data pointed out low activity (64.20 mg CO2 x g-1d.s.) in the soil profile, except the top horizon, where the activity is medium (11.3 – 11.4 mg CO2 x g-1d.s.). The results of the taxonomic identification showed for bacteria the dominance of Baccilus and Pseudomonas, while for fungi, the dominance of Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Fusarium

A pedo-transfer function for predicting the physical quality of agricultural soils

Pedo-transfer functions are mathematical equations that use basic features describing the soil (e.g. particle size distribution, bulk density, organic matter content) in order to predict other properties the values of which are not otherwise available. To predict the physical quality of agricultural soils a pedo-transfer function that uses basic soil properties (e.g. particle size distribution, dry bulk density, organic matter content) was produced. Evaluation of the soil physical quality was done by using the S index values. S is a measure of soil structure which controls many of the physical properties of soils. S index was calculated after using the Arya-Paris model in order to obtain the parameters from van Genuchten equation that describe the water retention properties of soils. Data analysis from 1923 soil horizons showed that the S index can be predicted by a single equation from basic soil features, such as clay contents and dry bulk density values that were taken as independent data variables. A statistically significant multiple linear regression equation was found and proposed as pedo-transfer function for prediction of the soil physical quality index, S (r2 = 0.41; p < 0.0001). Pedo-transfer functions are useful solutions for investigation of different aspects of the physical quality of agricultural soils that do not have readily-available measured data