Perceptions regarding the quality of life among beneficiaries of home and residential care services

The article aims to present the results of a qualitative research conducted among elderly persons (aged 65 years and more) who receive home and residential care in Romania. The research objectives were to collect perceptions with regard to the overall appreciation of the quality of life and the way the quality of services received influence elderly’s image with regard to their own life. The scarcity of data on quality of life of dependent older persons recommended the use of qualitative methods. Data collection included ten semi-structured interviews with beneficiaries of social and healthcare services. Findings show that the quality of life is a multidimensional concept, very often related to the health status, the level of autonomy, the social contacts, and the existence of a social support network. The results have implications for public policy makers, and supplement the knowledge with regard to the quality of life in older age

Personality traits, role ambiguity, and relational competence as predictors for teacher subjective wellbeing

The coronavirus pandemic has significantly reshaped the way teaching activities are carried out, thus intensifying the stress felt by teachers. The teacher-student relationship has also changed under the influence of social constraints. Together, these have affected teachers’ work efficiency and redefined their connection with the school. The present study aims to examine the extent to which personality traits, role ambiguity, and relational competence predict teacher subjective wellbeing. The study sample consisted of 105 university teachers. Three hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for each of the three criterion variables used in this research: teaching efficacy, school connectedness, and teacher subjective wellbeing. The results indicated that the personality traits emotionality, extraversion, and conscientiousness are significant predictors for all three variables, while honesty-humility, agreeableness, and openness to experience are not predictors for any of the variables. However, in the third step of the regression analysis, conscientiousness was found to lose its predictive quality for the variables school connectedness and teacher subjective wellbeing, its place being taken by emotionality. Both role ambiguity and relational competence are significant predictors for teaching efficacy, for school connectedness, and for teacher subjective wellbeing. Based on these results, universities can design some measures to reduce role ambiguity of teachers and can identify areas of training needed to increase their relational competence, while simultaneously reducing the costs associated with wellbeing and productivity problems. Several training modules and courses are proposed to be designed and included in the curriculum of initial and in-service teacher training programs, in order to contribute to increasing teachers’ performance

Évaluation de la tension artérielle et de la pression du pouls dans le syndrome métabolique

Objectif. L’objectif de notre étude est d’évaluer la pression artérielle et la pression différentielle chez les patients atteints du syndrome métabolique (SM), afin de déceler et de prévenir les complications cardiovasculaires qui peuvent survenir chez ces patients. Matériels et méthodes. L’analyse des cas‑témoin a été faite sur un total de 1528 patients, dans un cabinet de médecine familiale, les sujets étant répartis en deux groupes: le lot avec SM et le groupe témoin (sans SM). Le groupe avec SM se composait de 388 patients diagnostiqués selon les critères harmonisés. Le groupe témoin sans SM était composé de 1140 patients n’ayant pas présenté au moins trois critères diagnostiques du syndrome métabolique. Résultats. La pression différentielle, les valeurs calculées pour les patients atteints de syndrome métabolique ont été généralement plus élevées que le taux moyen escompté à 40 mmHg, avec une valeur moyenne de 47,86 ± 12,02 mmHg. Le groupe de contrôle a une valeur moyenne (40,28 ±12.20 mmHg) du pouls, une pression significativement plus faible (p<0.0001). Conclusions. La tension différentielle est associée aux complications cardiovasculaires positives, en particulier chez les personnes âgées et surtout aux valeurs supérieure ou égale à 60 mmHg, mais cette association n’est pas indépendante de la tension artérielle

Phyto-Functionalized Silver Nanoparticles Derived from Conifer Bark Extracts and Evaluation of Their Antimicrobial and Cytogenotoxic Effects

Silver nanoparticles synthesized using plant extracts as reducing and capping agents showed various biological activities. In the present study, colloidal silver nanoparticle solutions were produced from the aqueous extracts of Picea abies and Pinus nigra bark. The phenolic profile of bark extracts was analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The synthesis of silver nanoparticles was monitored using UV-Vis spectroscopy by measuring the Surface Plasmon Resonance band. Silver nanoparticles were characterized by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray and transmission electron microscopy analyses. The antimicrobial and cytogenotoxic effects of silver nanoparticles were evaluated by disk diffusion and Allium cepa assays, respectively. Picea abies and Pinus nigra bark extract derived silver nanoparticles were spherical (mean hydrodynamic diameters of 78.48 and 77.66 nm, respectively) and well dispersed, having a narrow particle size distribution (polydispersity index values of 0.334 and 0.224, respectively) and good stability (zeta potential values of −10.8 and −14.6 mV, respectively). Silver nanoparticles showed stronger antibacterial, antifungal, and antimitotic effects than the bark extracts used for their synthesis. Silver nanoparticles obtained in the present study are promising candidates for the development of novel formulations with various therapeutic applications

Factors Affecting the Work Motivation of Officers in the Romanian Army

This paper presents the results of a study in which we aimed to identify factors that influence the work motivation of officers active in the Romanian military system. We developed a hierarchy of these factors depending on the frequency of their occurrence in answers to open questions addressed on this issue. In order to process responses we used the Atlas.ti program, a specialized software in qualitative analysis of large corpora of text, graphs, audio and video materials. Seven factors have been identified that increase the motivation to work and nine factors that decrease the work motivation of officers from the selected sample

Quality of Life of Older Persons: The Role and Challenges of Social Services Providers

Considering the growing number of older persons, ensuring the quality of life of them, as well as the social services designed for this population category, has become more and more important. Especially in the case of dependent older persons, social services are essential components, as they contribute to a better quality of life. The aim of this paper was to examine the perspectives of social services providers for older persons with respect to their role and the challenges encountered in ensuring the quality of life of older beneficiaries. In order to answer our objectives, we employed a qualitative methodology, using the focus group method to collect information from social services providers (both residential and home care). Multiple factors are related to a good quality of life in old age: some are related to individual characteristics, while others are related to the provision of services. The provision of quality social services that adequately respond to the needs of beneficiaries contributes to increasing the degree of independence and maintaining the physical and mental health of dependent older persons

Factors Associated with the Participation of Older Adults in Cultural and Sports Activities

In the context of population aging, we have witnessed an increased interest in studying the participation of older persons in cultural and sport activities. The aim of this paper is to identify the participation rate in cultural and sports activities among Romanian older adults and the sociodemographics/behavioral variables that correlate with the participation rate in cultural and sports activities. In order to answer our research questions, we employed a questionnaire-based survey, and we used a nationally representative sample. Results point to low participation in both cultural and sports activities. Gender, residence, education, income, degree of mobility, internet connection, and availability of financial resources are significant variables that correlate with the engagement of older people in cultural and sports activities. Our study could serve as a base for concrete policy measures in the field of health and social inclusion of older persons

ANATOMICAL AND FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION OF THE MUSCULAR APONEUROTIC CERVICOFACIAL SYSTEM

Superficial muscular aponeurotic system (SMAS) is a musculoskeletal sheath extending from the frontal muscle to the platysma and it acts as a “contraction amplifier of the facial muscles”. SMAS action is to transmit muscular contraction to the skin: each muscle contraction follows a preferential direction in the network. The aim of this study is to highlight anatomical-functional features of SMAS, which can be applied in buccoomaxilofacial and aesthetic surgery. The study was conducted on 12 cephalic extremities, meticulously dissected in the “Ion Iancu” Anatomy Institute of “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iaşi, Romania. On each stage of dissection, mesoscopic images were captured using the Kaps SOM 62 operating microscope. SMAS presents two parts in continuity with each other: cervicofacial, with predominantly aponeurotic structure and cervical, with essentially muscular structure. We highlighted through dissections the existence of cervicofacial SMAS, its limits, as well as the neighboring relations with the fasciae and vasculonervous elements which are important from a surgical point of view. Knowing regional SMAS can have a great applicability in surgical practice, especially in pathological interventions in the buccomaxilofacial field, but also in surgery for facial rejuvenation

Proposed Methodology for Accuracy Improvement of LOD1 3D Building Models Created Based on Stereo Pl&eacute;iades Satellite Imagery

Three-dimensional city models play an important role for a large number of applications in urban environments, and thus it is of high interest to create them automatically, accurately and in a cost-effective manner. This paper presents a new methodology for point cloud accuracy improvement to generate terrain topographic models and 3D building modeling with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) CityGML standard, level of detail 1 (LOD1), using very high-resolution (VHR) satellite images. In that context, a number of steps are given attention (which are often (in the literature) not considered in detail), including the local geoid and the role of the digital terrain model (DTM) in the dense image matching process. The quality of the resulting models is analyzed thoroughly. For this objective, two stereo Pl&eacute;iades 1 satellite images over Iasi city were acquired in September 2016, and 142 points were measured in situ by global navigation satellite system real-time kinematic positioning (GNSS-RTK) technology. First, the quasigeoid surface resulting from EGG2008 regional gravimetric model was corrected based on data from GNSS and leveling measurements using a four-parameter transformation, and the ellipsoidal heights of the 142 GNSS-RTK points were corrected based on the local quasigeoid surface. The DTM of the study area was created based on low-resolution airborne laser scanner (LR ALS) point clouds that have been filtered using the robust filter algorithm and a mask for buildings, and the ellipsoidal heights were also corrected with the local quasigeoid surface, resulting in a standard deviation of 37.3 cm for 50 levelling points and 28.1 cm for the 142 GNSS-RTK points. For the point cloud generation, two scenarios were considered: (1) no DTM and ground control points (GCPs) with uncorrected ellipsoidal heights resulting in an RMS difference (Z) for the 64 GCPs and 78 ChPs of 69.8 cm and (2) with LR ALS-DTM and GCPs with corrected ellipsoidal height values resulting in an RMS difference (Z) of 60.9 cm. The LOD1 models of 1550 buildings from the Iasi city center were created based on Pl&eacute;iades-DSM point clouds (corrected and not corrected) and existing building sub-footprints, with four methods for the derivation of the building roof elevations, resulting in a standard deviation of 1.6 m against high-resolution (HR) ALS point cloud in the case of the best scenario. The proposed method for height extraction and reconstruction of the city structure performed the best compared with other studies on multiple satellite stereo imagery