Saint Augustine – The Apologist of Love

AbstractThe concept of love crosses the history of mankind as a red thread, being a topic of reflection for philosophers and theologians, Christian or not, as well as a source of inspiration for virtually any kind of creation: literary, poetical, visual, etc. Thence, the various meanings attributed to the term – from the significations that emerge in such expressions as love of wisdom, love of knowledge, love of country to the acceptations of words such as Eros, philia, or agape. In these circumstances, we see why the universality of love, its various shapes, the final purpose of love, the ways in which it can be misled from its true goals, or its psychological or sociological aspects are just as many landmarks in the exegesis of this concept.One of the scholars who made very insightful and nuanced analyses of love, which was both the essence and the dominant of his entire life, was Saint Augustine, a theologian, a philosopher, and a well-known writer. Starting from sexual desire, passing through friendship and love for one's neighbour, and culminating in the love by God and the love for God, the successor of the Apostles Paul and John, while leaning relentlessly on faith, on the one hand, opened his heart and confessed the stages of his own conversion, and, on the other, sought to transform those he addressed into better Christians. As a result, this study aims to exemplify all these forms of love in Saint Augustine's works, to show the path walked from the egocentrism of his passion to unconditional selfless love through self-knowledge, to highlight the relationship established between moral and God's love, to facilitate the accurate understanding of Divine transcendence, and, overall, to show why this theologian was also called the “doctor of love”

Învățământul academic privat în Spania

Regardless of the country, generally the decision to study at a public or private university is not an easy one. This study aims at offering a comprehensive image on academic education in Spain and at showing succinctly the new changes that are required in view of improving its qualities, under all aspects. For better clarification, the analysis aims at comparing the two existing systems – public and private. Thus, after identifying the particularities of the territorial-administrative organization and listing the ministries with attributions in the field of education, a history of Spanish universities is presented, together with the main private universities in operation in 2021. There follows a short exposition of the main legislative provisions that regulate Spanish education, a description of the way in which the university admission exam is organized, as well as of certain information regarding the state involvement in funding private universities, both in Spain and in EU. Finally, figures are provided regarding the evolution of the number of universities and students

Composition, Antioxidant, and Antifungal Properties of Lavender Floral Waters

During essential oil preparation from aromatic plants, floral waters or hydrosols or hydrolates are obtained as by-products presenting inhibitory effects on phytopathogenic fungi growth, while avoiding the main problem of soil accumulation observed for currently used fungicides [...

New Hydrogel Formulations Based on Natural and Synthetic Polymers for Skin Regeneration

The skin, which represents about 16% of the total body mass, acts as a protective barrier against external microbial factors [1]. Therefore, damaged tissues, especially burns, require rapid local coverage to avoid infections and to ensure the protective barrier function of the skin [2]. The aim of this study was to design and characterize new hydrogel formulations based on natural and synthetic polymers and that were biodegradable and cytocompatible to serve as temporary dressings with regenerative properties for skin wound healing. The proposed experimental variants of the hydrogels are based on mixtures of gelatin (Gel), sodium alginate (Alg), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and methylcellulose (MC1500) in different weight ratios: Gel-Alg (1:0.75, g/g), Gel-Alg-PVA (1:0.27:0.18, g/g/g) and Gel-Alg-MC1500 (1:0.26:0.35, g/g/g). Physicochemical and biochemical characterizations were performed to determine the swelling degree, biodegradation in physiological conditions (pH 7.4, 37 °C) and in the presence of collagenase (mimicking the inflamed wounded milieu), viscosity, and syneresis, while their ultrastructure was investigated by SEM analysis [3]. The L929 murine fibroblast culture was used to assess the in vitro cytocompatibility of the hydrogels after 24 h and 48 h of cultivation using quantitative MTT and LDH assays [4]. Cell morphology was observed in treated cultures by light microscopy after Giemsa staining. The physicochemical and biochemical analyses indicated that the novel polymeric hydrogels variants had a good swelling capacity due to the presence of Alg, had an adjustable viscosity, and controlled biodegradation over time in both physiological and inflamed conditions. Two mixture variants were outlined: Gel-Alg-PVA with reduced porosity and low biodegradability over time and Gel-Alg-MC1500 with increased porosity and higher biodegradation over time, even in the physiological environment. The SEM morphology observations showed that the hydrogels had a dense and microporous structure, with pores of irregular shapes and sizes, which could ensure skin protection against external microbial agents while also maintaining the required degree of humidity and oxygen exchange with the external environment. In vitro quantitative tests indicated a high degree of cytocompatibility for all of the tested hydrogels, with cell viability percentages higher than 90%. The cell morphology observations revealed that in the presence of hydrogel samples, the L929 murine fibroblasts maintained their normal phenotype, and the cell density was similar to that of the negative control (untreated cells). Overall, our findings indicated that the hydrogels containing synthetic polymers (Gel-Alg-PVA, Gel-Alg-MC1500) had adequate physicochemical, biochemical, and biological properties that should be further tested to determine their role as biomaterials for skin tissue engineering applications