ANALYSIS OF EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND HEALTH-ECONOMIC INDICATORS IN CASE OF CHILDREN OCULAR TRAUMA

Analysis of epidemiological and health-economic indicators on ocular trauma involving children is important for developing targeted managerial, medical and educational strategies of health care providers and patients in order to reduce incidence and severity of pediatric ocular trauma. We analysed data collected from 29 children with ocular trauma from Emergency Hospital of Sibiu, between 2008-2016. For this children with closed globe injury it took an average of 7 days of hospitalization (IQR: (5; 9.5)), with a cost per day of hospitalization on average of 127 RON (IQR: (103; 136)), respectively a total hospitalization cost on average 856 RON (IQR: (529; 998)), with no significant gender or area differences. It took a slightly larger number of hospitalization days in the following situations: (1) in the case of mixed trauma compared to lamellar lacerations or contusions; (2) if the affected area was zone III compared to the other two areas (zone I and zone II); (3) where the visual acuity at admission was less than 1/6(0.16) compared to cases with visual acuity greater than 1/6(0.16); (4) in patients with hypertension at admission compared to those with normal tension or hypotension

Perception and use of landscape concepts in the procedure of Environmental Impact Assessment: Case study-Switzerland and Romania

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) defines landscape as "an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors". Because all aspects linked to landscape are evaluated during the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) procedure, we assessed the Swiss and Romanian experts' perception and EIA reports regarding the landscape concept. Therefore, we analysed Swiss and Romanian experts' perception of landscape, we evaluated concepts and methods used in environmental impact reports to assess landscape characteristics and functions, and how the ELC's aim and objectives are reflected by the EIA reports. The Canonical Correspondence Analysis performed to evaluate the experts' perception of landscape integration in the EIA procedure showed a significant relationship among pattern of answers and experts' professional background. Moreover, there is a significant difference between Swiss and Romanian expert's perception. Longer experience in the field and a higher level of education indicates higher awareness of landscape characteristics and properties, which demonstrates that alongside with the initial training, there is a need for developing a coherent long-life learning systems having landscape analysis as a focus. The ELC is familiar to nearly 86% of the Romanian Environmental Impact Assessment actors and nearly 29% of the Swiss experts. By contrast, most of the Romanian EIA reports analysed do not employ many concepts of the ELC, while most of the Swiss environmental reports incorporate objectives of landscape protection consistent with the Convention. Our study relies on the comparative investigation of representative case studies of Environmental Impact Assessment reports for industry, local infrastructures, tourism facilities, and wind farm projects, as well on tracking how the European Landscape Convention is reflected by the EIA reports. We found that EIA reports from both countries evaluate the visual landscape, thus, achieving subjective assessment of landscape aesthetics without focusing on social and ecological sub-systems. Quantitative elements of landscape analysis are mostly absent and it is challenging to evaluate whether environmental assessments are consistent among European Landscape Convention countries. To overcome the abstract way of evaluation of project's impact on landscape through EIA procedure, an improved landscape analysis procedure is needed and we propose developing technical guidelines, under the European Landscape Convention umbrella, in order to enhance landscape management. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Maintaining Cultural and Natural Biodiversity in the Carpathian Mountain Ecoregion: Need for an Integrated Landscape Approach

Landscapes located in the periphery of economic development, such as in parts of the Carpathian ecoregion, host remnants of both near-natural ecosystems and traditional agricultural land use systems. Such landscapes are important both for in situ conservation of natural and cultural biodiversity, and as references for biodiversity restoration elsewhere in Europe. This paper first reviews the contemporary understanding of benchmarks for biodiversity conservation in terms of ecosystems with natural disturbance regimes and pre-industrial cultural landscapes. Second, after providing a historical background, we review the challenges to natural and cultural biodiversity conservation and discuss current development trajectories. Third, we provide concrete examples from six Carpathian areas with different proportions of natural and cultural biodiversity. Fourth, we discuss the need for a diversity of management systems toward protection, management and restoration, spatial planning, and multi-sector governance for conservation of natural and cultural landscapes’ biodiversity. Finally, we stress the need to encourage integration of management, planning and governance of social and ecological systems to maintain natural and cultural biodiversity. The natural vegetation of the Carpathian Mountains is mostly forests and woodlands. Natural disturbances as wind, snow, frost, fire and flooding as well as insects and fungi resulted in forests characterized by old and large trees, diverse horizontal and vertical structures, and large amounts of dead wood in various stages of decay. While some near-natural forests remain, in most of the Carpathian ecoregion pre-industrial cultural landscapes evolved. Human use created traditional village system with infield houses, gardens, fields, meadows and outfield meadows and pastures, and woodlands which not only provide ecosystem services but also represent cultural heritage. The maintenance of natural and cultural biodiversity may require active management of species, habitats and processes. However, designing management systems that emulate natural and cultural landscape’s disturbance regimes is a major challenge requiring collaboration of private, public and civic sector stakeholders, and integration of social and ecological systems. Maintaining and restoring the traditional village system’s social capital as well as functional networks of protected areas and implementing sustainable forest management in managed forests are thus crucial. The Carpathian ecoregion forms a quasi-experiment with new country borders that have created stark contrasts among regions regarding natural and cultural biodiversity. This ecoregion can therefore be seen as a landscape-scale laboratory for systematic studies of interactions between ecological and social systems to support the development of an integrated landscape approach to biodiversity conservation and cultural heritage