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1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-benzoyl-5-pyrazolone 4-ethyl-thiosemicarbazone (HL) and its copper(II), vanadium(V) and nickel(II) complexes: [Cu(L)(Cl)]·C2H5OH·(1), [Cu(L)2]·H2O (2), [Cu(L)(Br)]·H2O·CH3OH (3), [Cu(L)(NO3)]·2C2H5OH (4), [VO2(L)]·2H2O (5), [Ni(L)2]·H2O (6), were synthesized and characterized. The ligand has been characterized by elemental analyses, IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The tridentate nature of the ligand is evident from the IR spectra. The copper(II), vanadium(V) and nickel(II) complexes have been characterized by different physico-chemical techniques such as molar conductivity, magnetic susceptibility measurements and electronic, infrared and electron paramagnetic resonance spectral studies. The structures of the ligand and its copper(II) (2, 4), and vanadium(V) (5) complexes have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The composition of the coordination polyhedron of the central atom in 2, 4 and 5 is different. The tetrahedral coordination geometry of Cu was found in complex 2 while in complex 4, it is square planar, in complex 5 the coordination polyhedron of the central ion is distorted square pyramid. The in vitro antibacterial activity of the complexes against Escherichia coli, Salmonella abony, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and the antifungal activity against Candida albicans strains was higher for the metal complexes than for free ligand. The effect of the free ligand and its metal complexes on the proliferation of HL-60 cells was tested.

The sustainable consumption and integration of digital solutions with respect to sustainable consumption have been encouraged by the new European circular economy action plan. Digital adoption has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic; companies have been challenged to rapidly adapt to the constant evolution of consumer needs and expectations, leading to valuable insights into the advancement of green business practices and a consequent rethinking of their business model. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the major shifts in sustainable consumer behavior on the Romanian retail market within the context of the Green European Deal, and retailers’ priorities in agilely adapting to these significant evolutions. Based on a comprehensive literature review on these major shifts and significant evolutions at the national and international levels, a quantitative study was carried out to evaluate the Romanian retail market and identify the major challenges faced by retailers in dealing with the new set of priorities. The data collection was conducted via a survey used in the retail environment, applied within a Romanian supermarket chain. The Romanian retail sector has a particular configuration, which may have an impact upon the study’s generalizability. Located in Central and Eastern Europe at the crossroads of the EU, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and the Middle East, Romania is a leading destination for foreign direct investment, and it is recognized for the similarities of its distribution and sales channels, the range of its retail outlets, and the local retail market dominance on the Big Box segment by reputed major retailers. A spectacular evolution is recorded in Romania’s e-commerce market, including from the point of view of the long-standing and memorable traditional relationship between Romania and China which was confirmed more recently by Romanian consumers who prefer to buy online from stores in China. Our consumer research provides retailers with deep consumer insights with regard to their priorities in their agile adaptation. According to our research, Romanian consumers are environmentally concerned consumers, displaying an increased awareness about the important role they play with respect to impacting sustainable production and consumption by adopting green purchase behavior. Our study also points to the fact that retailers, although faced with challenges in targeting consumers with customized messages to reinforce their brand perception on sustainability issues, do pay considerable attention to sustainability as a personal value embraced by consumers and are willing to focus on digitizing their business processes to enable new, sustainable business models.

The study on a subset of 208 patients with diastolic dysfunction with the ejection fraction preserved discusses the possibility of circulating CRP levels to be accepted as a diagnostic marker. In order to carry out a comparative analysis of the significance of hsCRP serum values, the study also included a subgroup labeled as control, consisting of the same number of patients, but diagnosed only with painful chronic ischemic cardiopathy - a stable form of angina pectoris. The conclusion of the study is that the circulating level of hs-CRP can be accepted as a diagnostic marker for both ischemic cardiopathy and diastolic dysfunction with preserved ejection fraction. The result, corroborated with data from other studies that recognize the serum concentration of hs-CRP as a predictor marker in cardiovascular disease, supports its usefulness as a marker for cardiac insufficiency with a history of ischemic cardiopathy, without being a marker for assessing the degree of myocardial contractility deficiency.

Nowadays, the competition registered on the Romanian markets regarding the activity of private ophthalmology organizations has raised their interest in developing consumer-oriented strategies. The key factor that assures a differentiation as well as a competitive advantage is the service quality from a marketing perspective. Objectives: From a marketing perspective, service quality is measured as a perceived discrepancy between the consumers’ expectations and was actually performed in health care services. The most widely and validated measurement is the SERVQUAL scale. However, a variety of SERVQUAL scales have been applied in different health care environments without taking into consideration the specialty of the health care service. Thus, the objective of this paper was to measure the service quality in the Romanian ophthalmology private organizations using the SERVQUAL measurement, by identifying the SERVQUAL dimensions, which register the highest and the lowest gap scores. Materials and methods: The instrument for data collection was the SERVQUAL self-administered questionnaire that consisted of 22 items measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The sample size encompassed 100 participants and the sampling technique was the snowball. The internal consistency, validity and the reliability of the SERVQUAL scale was determined by the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and factor analysis. The SERVQUAL questionnaire focused on 5 dimensions (tangibles, reliability, assurance, empathy and responsiveness) and each dimension, in its turn, was characterized by different items. Results: The mean age of the participants was 49.52 years, with a mean income of 3031 Romanian Currency and the mean period of wearing eyeglasses was 5 years (±2). Further, there were 47% females and 53% males. The overall internal consistency of the SERVQUAL scale, as well as the dimensions’ internal consistency were all above 0.7 and the factor analysis revealed that the items loaded properly on each dimension. Moreover, the gap scores of the SERVQUAL scale’s dimensions pinpointed that the highest gap score was registered by the Tangibles dimension and the lowest gap score was registered by the Reliability dimension. Conclusions: Performing the ophthalmology service right the first time, contributes significantly to the improvement of the marketing effectiveness and the operating efficiency.