Physical, Psychological and Sexual Abuse of the Minor in the Families from the Northwestern Region of Romania- Social and Medical Forensics.

BACKGROUND: In Romania, the abuse within the family of the minor child is a widespread phenomenon, its extent is insufficiently known because of ignorance/not reporting all the existing cases. METHODS: The participants of the research are represented by two independent groups from the NW Romania 2007-2011, one for sociological study (1544 parents and 1283 children) and another for forensic statistical study (2761 cases of abused children). The sociological study was carried out by analyzing questionnaires applied in schools located in Bihor County, both to children and parents. The statistical analysis was carried out by studying the cases of the physically, sexually, and psychologically abused minors, recorded at Bihor County Forensic Service. RESULTS: Physical neglect and physical abuse are the most common forms of child abuse. The forensic analysis highlight that most of the victims are male from urban areas. Physical abuse is more common in the 16-18 age group, psychological abuse in children aged between 6-10 yr, and sexual abuse in children under the age of 14 years. Girls were subject to sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional abuse, more frequently in rural areas; boys were most often victims of exploitation, physical, and emotional abuse in both urban and rural areas. CONCLUSION: The results of the study led to the formulation of general guidelines on this phenomenon and highlight the need for proposals to improve the current situation of child abuse within the family.

Assessing the microbiological contamination along with environmental factors of old books in the 1490-founded Bistrița Monastery, Romania.

Microbial contamination and damaging effects due to environmental factors (temperature, humidity) of old books is an extremely important issue in the heritage preserving field, being a great threat to this unique cultural and literary treasure. This paper analysed the indoor environmental conditions, the microbiological characteristics of the air and the condition itself of 27 clerical books (from eighteenth to nineteenth centuries), randomly chosen from the library of Bistrița Monastery, Romania. The analysis revealed that most of the books were contaminated and damaged by moulds and yeasts. The statistical analysis (chi-square test) shows that the incidence of mould species was not coincidental. The most common isolated fungi discovered on old books were Penicillium spp. (40.7%), Cladosporium spp. (33.3%) and Fusarium spp. (29.6%). Fungal contamination was observed in 17 books. Microbiota air tests have shown possible contamination by air flow. Often, the measured temperature/humidity values are not in line with the requirements of the legislation in force, especially during the cold seasons, the average minimum temperature varying from 3 to 6 °C to an average maximum temperature of 22-25 °C; the values of relative humidity were between 27 and 77%. In terms of storage conditions, the recorded values of temperature and humidity are extremely harmful to the stored documents. Therefore, these indoor environmental conditions have to be improved, in order to reduce/eliminate potential sources of fungal contamination and to achieve optimal environmental preserving conditions.