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The fruit sector in Romania and, particularly, the apple production sector, is considered to have been in decline in recent decades. Changes in the behavior and consumption habits of the population, together with climate change and the increase in fruit imports, have caused shortages in this sector. Apples are regarded as a national fruit in Romania, but recently, there have been significant transformations in apple production and consumption. In order to practically observe the recorded information published in a database for this sector, we developed a questionnaire, which was completed by people in Romania. The aim of this paper was to identify the types of apple consumer profiles in Romania. The reason for choosing this specific fruit was linked to the investigated objective of the projects to which this article is related. Regarding the approached methodology, the paper focused on analyzing descriptive statistics, frequencies and clustering, by which means we designed a pattern of the apple consumer profiles in Romania. Furthermore, the profiles of respondents from two regions of Romania (South-Muntenia and South-East Regions) were explored in more detail. The findings of this research indicate a young, educated consumer profile and a distinct pattern revealed by the three clusters from the specific regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dental caries still have a high prevalence in Romania. The aim of this paper is to determine the prevalence of caries in children (aged 6 to 8 years) correlated with individual-level predictors and socio-economic variables. A stratified, randomized nationally representative sample was established, taking into consideration the total number of preschool children and based on administrative units and residence. Self-assessment was performed by means of the Oral Health Questionnaire for Children (WHO). Examinations were conducted by 10 standardized examiners, with International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) caries codes higher than 3 considered as dentinal caries, missing teeth as MT, and restorations as FT. DMFT and SiC indexes were calculated accordingly. The dataset for each outcome variable was analyzed by the Hurdle approach analyzed. The gender distribution was similar (47.22% male and 52.78% female), with 42.65% residing in rural areas. The mean DMFT value for the sample was 4.89 and SiC index 9.83. A negative association could be seen between DMFT and the father's level of education (β = −0.33, SE = 0.07, p < 0.01) as well as the mother's education (β = −0.25, SE = 0.07, p < 0.01). In conclusion, caries prevalence is very high in Romania as compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for this age group in correlation with socio-economic factors and oral health behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to identify the existence of some relationships between certain psychomotor behaviors, which we consider specific to swimming, and learning to execute the technique of some swimming styles (front crawl and backstroke). The study was carried out for 10 months and included 76 children (40 boys and 36 girls) aged between 6 and 9 years who practice recreational swimming in a city in Romania. Several tools were used: the Tapping test for manual dexterity, the Goodenough test for body schema, the Flamingo test for static balance, and the horizontal buoyancy test for body balance on the water. The results indicated better ratings on all psychomotor behaviors analyzed according to gender (in favor of girls compared to boys). The levels of all analyzed psychomotor behaviors have a direct relationship to the subjects' age. Also, we identified moderate positive correlations for manual dexterity (rs = 0.63 in the front crawl style; rs = 0.57 in the backstroke style) and strong correlations for body schema, static balance and buoyancy, coordination with the learning of the two swimming styles (r or rs between 0.77 and 0.85). In conclusion, psychomotor behaviors can be predictors for learning swimming styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A considerable body of research has analyzed the development of children internationally adopted from Romania. However, domestic adoption remains largely uninvestigated. Our study examined the behavioral adjustment of 52 Romanian adolescents domestically adopted. Adoptive mothers and their children completed Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) – School Age forms. While overall our sample did not differ from the normative population, the rate of subjects obtaining clinical scores was higher. Behavioral problems did not appear to be linked to the considered pre-adoption risk factors. The overall positive adjustment of this rare sample of domestic adoptees encourages a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved in the success of this child welfare policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]