Technologies and Solutions for Collaborative Processes in Mutating Cities

The city, a place of contemporary living par excellence, challenges the planner by making it necessary to adapt progressively quicker to changes and to overcome the traditional design approach linked to the modern idea of the industrial city. Indeed, living in non-stationary contexts, the complexity of problems nowadays requires a new planning endeavor capable of testing future solutions ‘in the field’ rather than ‘on paper,’ involving citizens, but also continuously adapting processes to achieve the expected results. The proposed contribution aims to document possible ways to trigger virtuous urban renewal processes, sustainably activating tangible and intangible resources. The topic will be investigated from the point of view of the triad: ‘project, technology, and digital solutions,’ adopting a social perspective. The latter ensures the active involvement of citizens in strategic decisions, increasing their awareness and civic sense, but also supporting the proposition of evolving plan-ning scenarios in order to develop solutions that will be concrete, achievable, and resilient. The core element concerns the way in which it is possible to promote the creation of an extended social mind through which collective behavioral change can be fostered. In some cases, digital technologies prove to be the effective ‘expert instru-ment,’ also for understanding the planned intervention, opening the design process for different stakeholders not necessarily familiar with technical conventions. According to Floridi, digital transformation ‘disconnects and reconnects specific processes,’ and the project represents the most powerful innovation element to promote the ecological transition. These dynamics will be explored through the analysis of some research and project activities that directly involved the authors of this article

Evolution of the neutron quasi-elastic scattering through the ferroelectric phase transition in 93%PbZn1/3_{1/3}Nb2/3_{2/3}O3_3 - 7% PbTiO3_3

We show that the neutron diffuse scattering in relaxor ferroelectric (1-x)PbZn$_{1/3}$Nb$_{2/3}$O$_{3}$ - x PbTiO$_{3}$ (x=0.07) consists of two components. The first component is strictly elastic but extended in q-space and grows below 600 K. The second component, that was not reported before for the (1-x)PbZn$_{1/3}$Nb$_{2/3}$O$_{3}$ - x PbTiO$_{3}$ (x=0.07) relaxor ferroelectrics, is quasi-elastic with a line-width that has a similar temperature dependence as the width of the central peak observed by Brillouin spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of the susceptibility of the quasi-elastic scattering has a maximum at the ferroelectric transition

Herniile de diafragmă congenitale

USMF N. TestemiţanuIntroducere. Herniile de diafragmă congenitale (HDC) reprezintă o problemă medicală multidisciplinară, o provocare pentru imagiștii care stabilesc diagnosticul și pentru chirurgii care tratează pacienţii. Fiind tema multor studii de specialitate, această maladie are o incidenţă destul de joasă (1:2500 – 1:5000), însă o mortalitate foarte mare (până la 80%). Prezenţa de la naștere a herniei diafragmei periclitează viaţa nou-născutului, astfel un diagnostic rapid, prompt și corect se impune și devine esenţial. Scopul lucrării: ne-am propus să efectuăm un studiu descriptiv și retrospectiv al literaturii și experienţei clinice a mai multor cazuri de hernie de diafragmă congenitală cu trecerea în revistă a unor criterii radiologice de diagnostic al acestei maladii. Material și metodă. Studiul a inclus analiza mai multor cazuri clinice de HDC, în diagnosticul căror s-a aplicat metoda radiologică. Cazurile clinice și clișeele radiologice au fost preluate din IMSP ICȘDOSMC, secţia Radiologie, din perioada 2005-2007 și studiate retrospectiv. De asemenea, studiul comportă și caracter descriptiv al datelor de literatură cu privire la etiologia, embriologia și diagnosticul HDC. Rezultate. În rezultatul studierii cazurilor clinice, în paralel cu analiza clișeelor radiologice, am apreciat criteriile de diagnostic radiologic, am determinat deosebirile dintre herniile cu diferit sediu (anterioare și posterioare), precum și criteriile de bază pentru diagnosticul diferenţial. Concluzii. Herniile de diafragmă congenitale reprezintă o entitate nozologică rar întâlnită, dar cu o mortalitate foarte înaltă. Depistarea timpurie este determinativă în elaborarea conduitei terapeutice de urgenţă, în alegerea procedeului chirurgical corespunzător. Explorările radiologice de rutină, precum radiografia toracică antero-posterioară, pot fi suficiente pentru stabilirea diagnosticului

Quality assurance standards in healthcare

School of Management in Public Health, Nicolae Testemitsanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Department of Radiology, Medpark International Hospital, Chisinau, the Republic of MoldovaBackground: The Association Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Moldova (RM) creates a framework for closer cooperation in many areas, including health care. This requires adjustment of legislation and quality assurance standards in RM to the EU acts and international instruments. The article provides an overview of the concept of healthcare quality and related standardization processes for quality assurance and health care assessment. It comprises a literature review of the published work in this area with a special emphasis on the standards and normative legislature applied to healthcare as well as a brief description of the regulatory standardization structures and organizations at the local, regional and international level. Conclusions: Healthcare quality does not represent an absolute standard of excellence, but rather a much wider concept comprising optimal service delivery for all involved parties and a shared commitment for continuous improvement. After proclaiming its independence, RM has adopted a series of legislations aimed at adjusting the national standards to those implemented at the EU and international level, having become an affiliated member of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and a correspondent member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). These steps are in complete agreement with the European integration course taken by the Republic of Moldova. Continuing these efforts is the key to reaping the benefits of European integration

Radiological particularities of the obstructive vaginal anomalies

Introduction: Obstructive vaginal anomalies (OVA) are a very rare pathology, occurring at a frequency of 0.1% of newborn girls. OVA is a broad spectrum of various Müllerian anomalies: imperforate hymen (IH), complete transverse vaginal septum (CTVS), Herlyn-Werner-Wunderlich syndrome (HWW). Objective of the study: Evaluation of radiological features of obstructive vaginal anomalies by ultrasound examination (USG), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Material and methods: The retrospective and prospective study included 52 patients operated in the Department of Surgical Gynecology of the Institute of Mother and Child. The mean age was 15.7±0.3 years (95% CI: 14.97–16.34). Diagnosis confirmed by the USG exam (n=52,100%), CT (n=4, 7,7%) and MRI (n=7, 13,4%). Results: In all cases (100%) USG (transabdominal or transrectal) were performed. IH was detected in 29 (55.8%) cases, USG demonstrates hypoecogenic hematometrocolpos, MRI in T1W images - important uterine dilatation, intrauterine and intravaginal hemorrhagic fluid with hyperextension up to hymen; in T2W images – hyposemnal of intrauterine hemorrhagic content. CTVS was present in 8 (15.4%) cases, CT – intrauterine hyperdensus content with density up to 55UH; MRI demonstrates a vaginal transverse membrane appreciates its thickness and location. HWW syndrome was diagnosed in 15 (28.8%) patients and included uterus didelphys, obstructive hemivagina and ipsilateral renal agenesis. USG reveals renal agenesis and compensatory renal hypertrophy, the uterus didelphys with hypoecogenic fluid in the hemiuterus suggestive for haematometra, hematosalpinx. Based on the imaging data, the mean volume of the hematocolpos was 923.6±79.1 ml (95% CI:764.8–1082). Hematometra was detected in 23(44%) patients, hematosalpinx and pelvic endometriosis – 3(5.7%). Based on radiological findings (USG, TC and MRI), the maximal size of hematocolpos was 112.4±5.8 mm (95% CI:100.6–124.2), the minimal size was 76.7±3.5 mm (95% CI:69.64–83.81). In 16(30.7%) cases vaginal malformations were combined with renal anomalies. Conclusions: Modern imaging techniques elucidate the particularities of the radiological anatomy of OVA, allow early diagnosis of this pathology, treatment management to restore menstrual and fertile function

Evidence-based medicine – an innovative approach to clinical medicine

School of Public Health, Department of Radiology, Nicolae Testemitsanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Chisinau, the Republic of MoldovaBackground: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) represents an approach that integrates clinical experience and patient’s values with the best available research information. It involves a process of lifelong problem-based learning that requires a variety of new skills for medical practitioners such as efficient literature-searching, familiarity with the types of research evidence, clinical literature evaluation and evidence appraisal. The key elements of EBM such as common EBM steps that have been developed to provide an efficient framework for medical practitioners, the types of evidence and how the evidence is appraised for validity, the types of research studies and study designs as well as their corresponding levels of evidence and the “evidence pyramid”. It is necessary to increase the awareness of EBM principles among medical practitioners and pave the way to an evidence-based clinical practice. Conclusions: 1. EBM integrates the best available information with patient’s values, clinical expertise and latest research evidence; 2. A significant progress in the practical implementation of EBM has been made by the increasing availability of EBM resources able to search, appraise and summarize the literature on a given topic; 3. An important element of external evidence and EBM are represented by the systematic reviews and meta-analyses, designed to provide relevant summaries about the best available evidence on a specific topic while minimizing the bias; 4. As a result of increasing demands for an evidencebased approach and a wider availability of information resources, EBM is gaining increasing support among the medical practitioners, optimizing their clinical decision-making, increasing their confidence and facilitating their clinical practice

Spin-glass state and long-range magnetic order in Pb(Fe1/2Nb1/2)O3

We have investigated the magnetic ground-state of the multiferroic relaxor ferroelectric \pfn with $\mu$SR spectroscopy and neutron scattering. We find that a transition to a partially disordered phase occurs below T=20 K that coexists with long-range antiferromagnetic ordering. The disordered phase resembles a spin-glass. No clustering of magnetic ions could be evidenced by $\mu$SR so that the coexistence appears homogeneous in the sample