Gypsy Research Articles

Non-Syndromic Hearing Loss in a Romanian Population: Carrier Status and Frequent Variants in the GJB2 Gene.

The genetic causes of autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL) are heterogeneous and highly ethnic-specific. We describe GJB2 (connexin 26) variants and carrier frequencies as part of our study and summarize previously reported ones for the Romanian population. In total, 284 unrelated children with bilateral congenital NSHL were enrolled between 2009 and 2018 in northwestern Romania. A tiered diagnostic approach was used: all subjects were tested for c.35delG, c.71G>A and deletions in GJB6 (connexin 30) using PCR-based methods. Furthermore, 124 cases undiagnosed at this stage were analyzed by multiplex-ligation-dependent probe amplifications (MLPA), probe mix P163, and sequencing of GJB2 exon 2. Targeted allele-specific PCR/restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) established definite ethio-pathogenical diagnosis for 72/284 (25.35%) of the cohort. Out of the 124 further analyzed, in 12 cases (9.67%), we found compound heterozygous point mutations in GJB2. We identified one case of deletion of exon 1 of the WFS1 (wolframin) gene. Carrier status evaluation used Illumina Infinium Global Screening Array (GSA) genotyping: the HINT cohort-416 individuals in northwest Romania, and the FUSE cohort-472 individuals in southwest Romania. GSA variants yielded a cumulated risk allele presence of 0.0284. A tiered diagnostic approach may be efficient in diagnosing ARNSHL. The summarized contributions to Romanian descriptive epidemiology of ARNSHL shows that pathogenic variants in the GJB2 gene are frequent among NSHL cases and have high carrier rates, especially for c.35delG and c.71G>A. These findings may serve in health strategy development.

Differences in health-related quality of life between the Roma community and the general population in Romania

BackgroundPrevious research has shown that Roma people report worse health outcomes than the general population and suffer from a myriad of economic and social disadvantages. The objective of this study was to assess the differences in the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) between the Roma people and the Romanian general population.MethodsTwo cross-sectional surveys were conducted face-to-face in 2018 and 2019 in two nationally representative samples of both the general population and Roma communities, recruited from all regions of Romania. Both samples completed the EQ-5D-5L and EQ-VAS questionnaires, as well as a range of sociodemographic questions. Coarsened Exact Matching and several different regression models were used to assess the differences in HRQoL between the two groups.Results2308 respondents were included in the matched sample: 1,621 general population individuals; 687 Roma people. Roma people had more problems with self-care, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression than the general population. They also reported a lower overall level of HRQoL than the general population of Romania, as reflected by the lower EQ-5D-5L and EQ-VAS scores. Our sensitivity analysis between Coarsened Exact Matching and other matching procedures showed consistent results across all regression models.ConclusionsIn Romania, the Roma community has a lower level of HRQoL than the general population. Understanding the underlying causes of this inequality should be the focus of future research. Policies aimed at reducing the level of health inequality between the Roma and the general populations should be promoted locally.

Knotting the Humanimal Assemblage. Race, Animals, and Art in Post-socialist Belgrade

The aim of this article is to show how ontic difference between humans and animals is produced and maintained through weaving and knotting various bodies and flows of matter – the humanimal assemblage. Race and effects of capitalism play decisive roles in the formation of such differences and include humans, postsocialist condition, investment urbanism, state apparatus, non-human beings, artworks, etc. Those humans who are defined as non-white are socially produced as spatio-temporally closer to animals in the whole spectrum of material-semiotic registers. By close reading of the installation Gypsies and Dogs and the event of a death of a dog to which I was a witness, I show the ways in which art plays an important role in this humanimal assemblage, together with the institutions that surround it and enable its production. Using concepts created by Deleuze and Guattari together with Afropessimist thought, I show that humanimal assemblage produces ontological rigidity in the Roma people and their relation with the companion dogs, as well as ethnic Serbs and their dogs as pets. Each human-animal relation is an effect and constitutive part of humanimal assemblage that forcefully relates human and nonhuman animals and other bodies and flows of matter. By thinking transversally, we can see that racialization, postsocialist condition, nascent neoliberal capitalist order, and artworld function to capture flows of matter, singularities-in-constitution, and tie them together in a single assemblage. In conclusion, the knots of the humanimal assemblage need to be unraveled by critical attention to the moments of ontological heterogenesis, which is grounded neither in ontological plasticity nor ontological rigidity.

Linguistic Validation of the Romanian and Hungarian Translations of the Attitudes About Sexuality for People with Disabilities Questionnaire

The identification of the attitudes towards sexuality and sexual education in family settings are starting points for the development of sexual education intervention programs for people with special needs, as well as training parents to convey objective and needs-oriented sexual health education to their children. The purpose of this study is to provide the academic and educational community in Romania with linguistically and psychometrically validated versions of the Romanian and Hungarian translations of the Sexual Attitude Questionnaire for Persons with Disabilities (Porat, 2009). 246 Romanian and Hungarian speaking participants completed the online questionnaire. The results indicate very good psychometric properties of the Romanian and Hungarian translations of the questionnaire, allowing the assessment of attitudes towards the sexuality of people with disabilities in relation to other relevant psychological and social variables.

Psychometric Properties of the Questionnaire Covid-19 Stress on the Romanian Community Sample

The objective of the present research is to adapt the 36-item COVID-19 Stress Rating Scales to the Romanian population. It is a self-report scale used to assess the stress caused by COVID-19 through six dimensions: Danger, Socio-economic consequences, Xenophobia, Contamination, Traumatic stress, Verification. A total of 160 medically qualified participants, aged 19-59 years, completed a socio-demographic data sheet and the COVID-19 Stress Rating Scales. A high internal consistency was obtained for the 6 scales of the instrument, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients in the range 0.74-0.86. Exploratory factor analysis and Confirmatory factor analysis were also evaluated. The results indicate that the Romanian version of the CSS has good psychometric properties, being a suitable instrument for the assessment of stress caused by COVID-19.

SEISMICITY of the CARPATHIANS in 2016–2017

The article describes seismic observations in the Carpathian region in 2016–2017, which were carried out, as before, by two organizations from two states: in Ukraine – the seismicity department of the Carpathian region of the Institute of Geophysics of the NAS of Ukraine, in Moldova – the seismology laboratory of the Institute of Geology and Seismology of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova. In Ukraine, 20 stationary digital stations and 1 temporary in the area of Stebnik with a processing center in Lviv, in Moldova – six stations with a center in Chisinau. Different programs, local hodographs and magnitudes were used. The consolidated catalog of earthquakes was created in Lviv. A maps of epicenters and a table of the distribution of earthquakes of different classes by region are given. The total number of earthquakes in 2016–2017 was NΣ=140 in the range KR =4.0–14.4 with depths h=1–160 km and the total seismic energy ΣE=2.92·1014 J. The maximum earthquake with KR=14.4, MSH=5.7 and hрР=95 km was registered on September 23, 2016 located in the Vrancea zone. The earthquake was felt by the population in Romania and Moldova. In the cities of Chisinau and Cahul, the earthquake was felt with intensity I=3–4 points. In the Precarpathian and Transcarpathian regions, all earthquakes are weaker. The strongest event in Transcarpathia was a tangible earthquake, which occurred north of the village of Uglya, Tyachevo district, on June 6, 2017 with KR=9.8, of h=5 km. The earthquake was felt by the population of 20 settlements with an intensity ranging from 2 to 4–5 points. The most powerful event in Precarpathian in 2016–2017 there was a tangible earthquake that occurred in the Drohobych district of the Lvov region on September 29, 2017 with KR=9.8 at a depth of 1.9 ± 0.4 km. Perhaps it was a tectonic earthquake that triggered a collapse in the mine, or vice versa – the collapse of the rocks was recorded as a seismic event. The strongest event in Bukovina was an earthquake that occurred on July 12, 2016 at 18h21m with an energy class of KR=9.9 and magnitude МSH=3.0 in the area of the village of Kurazhin, Khmelnitsky region and was felt by the population with an intensity of 3–4 points. In general, in the seismically active zone of Vrancea and Bukovina in 2016–2017 there was an increase in the level of seismicity compared to those in 2012–2015, and in areas № 1, 3 and 8 there was a slight decrease in the level of seismicity.

Social inclusion and equality between men and women

The objective of the research is focused on the study of the evolution of sexism as a cultural parameter in the Roma population whose people maintain recognition as an ethnic minority in Europe. The design selected for this study is descriptive. This study involves testing the reliability of the reduced version of the ambivalent sexism inventory (ASI; Glick and Fiske, 1996) scale among a representative group of the Roma population belonging to the city of Toledo. A representative sample of 44 people aged between 16 and 40 years was selected, with an average of 27.3. The results confirm the reliability of the scale and provide little differentiation and sex-disaggregated results. The responses on the items show a high degree of sexism among the participants. The obtained results give a better understanding of the scope of gender roles and, therefore, can help us to reorient interventions in the prevention of gender inequalities or early school dropouts among Roma girls.

The Digital Discourse of Romanian Social Media Prosumers During the Covid-19 Pandemic

"The Digital Discourse of Romanian Social Media Prosumers during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Social media platforms provide the digital playground for users to manifest a strong form of clicktivism and, at the same time, a deep sense of belonging. In this digital space, users produce discourses with in-built ideologies which have a strong impact on society. Through digitized practices (following, sharing, commenting, posting), users become social actors who design and redesign their behaviour and life choices in relation to the individuals and groups which they follow online on a regular basis. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, through the use of social media, various users have become movers and shakers in Romania. This study aims to analyse the new media discourse showing the Romanian people’s attitude towards the Covid-19 pandemic in the time span of September-October 2021. As such, the linguistic manifestation of users (including micro-celebrities and public figures) was reflected in the polarization of Romanian society, resulting in people mistrusting authorities, and medical experts and giving voice to users who would not normally have a voice in the matter of a global pandemic. Keywords: clicktivism, digital discourse, digitized practices, prosumers, debunking "

The legal status of the Jews in Romania during World War II

The question of the Jews has been a concern, of not only the historian, since ancient times to the contemporaneity. A black page in the human history, the Holocaust is now meant to highlight an objective presentation of the facts and the political actors who endorsed or maintained such a tragedy. The interwar legislation, the political activity of some personalities at that time, including people of culture, the programs and the historical stages that formed the basis of the anti–Semitic practices are some of the topics approached in the article, meant to reflect, more than half a century later, the particularly serious events that the Jewish population in Romania experienced. The presentation of the historical events related to this sensitive subject, without pretending completeness, aims to assimilate some knowledge related to a global event, which represented a challenge to the most elementary human values.

Considerations on the Influence of the Globalization Phenomenon on Small-sized Communities

"The present study is the result of a field research carried out in July 2022 in the municipality of Calafat in Dolj county. The findings of the study draw attention to global trends in urbanization. Currently, urbanization is an indicator of social development, and on a global level we find that societies registered on positive development trends also go through an intense process of urban development. This is also due to the fact that the city is at the same time both the result and the engine of the development of a society. In the case of small communities in Romania, we observe a reverse process, of deurbanization of small urban communities. Forced industrialization from the communist period was followed by the lack of solutions necessary for economic performance. The consultation of statistical data and the correlation with the way the population of small towns perceives the reality allow the estimation that globalization has had a destructive effect on the incompletely developed small towns by focusing only on industrial production and ignoring all the necessities of the urbanization process. "

Improving attitudes towards minority groups by thinking about the thoughts and meta‐cognitions of their members

AbstractResearch on persuasion has shown that for attitudes to change people need to take into consideration not only the thoughts message recipients generate in response to proposals but also how people think about their own thoughts (metacognition). In the present research, we introduce a new perspective for improving outgroup attitudes focused on the distinction between cognition and metacognition but this time applied to the perceptions of others’ minds. Specifically, we examined to what extent thinking about the mental processes of outgroup members influences attitudes towards those outgroups. We compared the impact of thinking about how others think (perceived primary cognition) with how others think about their own thoughts (perceived secondary cognition or metacognition). In the primary cognition treatment, participants answered questions about the thinking processes of outgroup members. In the secondary cognition treatment, participants answered questions that required them to consider how outgroup members think about their own thoughts (i.e., metacognition). Compared to controls, these treatments were capable of improving attitudes of Spanish citizens towards Syrian refugees, South American immigrants, and Roma people. A third study used a minimal group paradigm in which a fictitious outgroup was described as having primary (vs. secondary) cognition. A final study also tested the implications of assuming that groups have one type of cognition or another. The effects of the two treatments varied depending on the type of outgroup.

Via Transilvanica in the Mehedinți County

"Via Transilvanica is a cultural pedestrian road that connects three historical regions of Romania: Moldova, Transylvania and Banat. Kilometer zero of this road is in the municipality of Drobeta Turnu Severin, where the history of the Romanian people began, consisting of the symbiosis of Dacians and Romanians. The road, initiated and built during last 4 years, by the Ușeriu brothers, is marked, from kilometer to kilometer, with andesite markers that were carved by volunteer artists with symbols representing the main tourist attractions on each route. The Via Transilvanica includes 7 segments, depending on the historical areas: Bucovina, Tinutul de Sus, Terra Siculorum, Terra Saxonum, Terra Dacica, Terra Banatica and Terra Romana. Travelers have to follow a number of 67 routes walking or cycling. In the Mehedinți county, this road includes 5 of the 7 routes of Terra Romana. Tourists cross the Mehedinți Plateau towards the Mehedinți Mountains, passing through one of the main karst areas in Romania, across the Mesozoic limestone bar Cireșu-Baia De Aramă. The Via Transilvanica project aims to culturalize the masses and to develop the local economy in particular. In the Mehedinți county, one of the risks is related to protected natural areas and carrying capacity."

Prevalence and Predictors of Renal Disease in a National Representative Sample of the Romanian Adult Population: Data from the SEPHAR IV Survey.

Background: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) correlates with the prevalence of hypertension (HT). We studied the prevalence and predictors of CKD in a representative sample of the Romanian adult population. Methods: A sample of 1470 subjects were enrolled in the SEPHAR IV (Study for the Evaluation of Prevalence of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Risk) survey. All subjects were evaluated for blood pressure (BP) and extensive evaluations of target organ damage, blood, and urine samples were undertaken. Results: A total of 883 subjects were included in the statistical analysis. Those experiencing CKD with an eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 were older at 71.94 ± 7.4 years (n = 19, 2.15%) compared with those without renal impairment at 50.3 ± 16.21 years (n = 864, 97.85%), p < 0.0001. The prevalence of CKD among hypertensives (379 from 883) was 4.49% (17/379), while 17 out of 19 subjects with CKD had HT (89.47%). After adjusting for age, sex, and diabetic status, only serum uric acid (SUR) > 6.9 mg/dL (OR: 6.61; 95% CI: 2.063, 10.83; p = 0.004) was an independent risk factor and a predictor of CKD. Conclusions: The prevalence of CKD in hypertensive Romanian adults was more than ten times higher than in the normotensive population. Levels of SUR > 6.9 mg/dL were predictors of CKD.

War against the Poor: Social Violence Against Roma in Eastern Europe During COVID-19 at the Intersection of Class and Race

This article positions the social violence against Roma in Eastern Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic in historical perspective. It is based on primary data derived from the project Marginality on the Margins of Europe – The Impact of COVID-19 on Roma Communities in Non-EU Countries in Eastern Europe, collected in 2020 by researchers in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine. This data is contextualised with the help of secondary literature on historical epidemics and pandemics, as well as societal responses to them, with a particular focus on the ensuing scapegoating of minorities in certain cases. The article first makes the case for the importance of historicising such responses to pandemics in different contexts as a safeguard against ‘exceptionalising’ either the ongoing pandemic or the Roma minority. Further, it argues against a reductionist perspective that treats the Roma primarily – or even exclusively – along the lines of their representing a ‘national minority’, a concept that is heavily tilted toward a cultural-linguistic definition of the group. In contrast, it posits that hate speech and racist incidents against the Roma in the context of the pandemic (and more generally) are better understood by factoring in the intersection of race and class, where the long-standing racialization of the Roma in Eastern Europe is inflected by the latter as much as the former. Finally, zooming out from the case study under consideration to consider other instances of ‘Othering’ encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic, it draws attention to the different scales at which exclusion operates, and to the advantages provided by an awareness of the multiple spatial and temporal layers constitutive of such a scalar approach.

Genome-wide analysis of the TCP gene family and their expression pattern in Cymbidium goeringii.

TCP gene family are specific transcription factors for plant, and considered to play an important role in development and growth. However, few related studies investigated the TCP gene trait and how it plays a role in growth and development of Orchidaceae. In this study, we obtained 14 TCP genes (CgTCPs) from the Spring Orchid Cymbidium goeringii genome. The classification results showed that 14 CgTCPs were mainly divided into two clades as follows: four PCF genes (Class I), nine CIN genes and one CYC gene (Class II). The sequence analysis showed that the TCP proteins of C. goeringii contain four conserved regions (basic Helix-Loop-Helix) in the TCP domain. The exon-intron structure varied in the clade according to a comparative investigation of the gene structure, and some genes had no introns. There are fewer CgTCP homologous gene pairs compared with Dendrobium catenatum and Phalaenopsis equestris, suggesting that the TCP genes in C. goeringii suffered more loss events. The majority of the cis-elements revealed to be enriched in the function of light responsiveness, followed by MeJA and ABA responsiveness, demonstrating their functions in regulating by light and phytohormones. The collinearity study revealed that the TCPs in D. catenatum, P. equestris and C. goeringii almost 1:1. The transcriptomic data and real-time reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) expression profiles showed that the flower-specific expression of the TCP class II genes (CgCIN2, CgCIN5 and CgCIN6) may be related to the regulation of florescence. Altogether, this study provides a comprehensive analysis uncovering the underlying function of TCP genes in Orchidaceae.

The Investigation of Major Predictors of Well-Being in a Sample of Romanian University Students in the Post-Covid-19 Period

"The Coronavirus-induced pandemic has had a significant impact on the physical and psychological functioning of the entire world’s population. Research has indicated that besides the physical threat to health itself, the implications of constant uncertainty, separation from and/or loss of loved ones, loss of freedom to travel, shortage of food and financial resources, disruptions of usual life-routines, changing work and learning habits, further aggravate the effect of initial stressors, leading to increased levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety, PTSD, insomnia, lowered levels of well-being, and confusion. Unfortunately, just as the two-years long pandemic ended, the Ukrainian war started, and the Romanian population, since our country borders Ukraine, has experienced a novel type of stress, that of the possibility of being attacked, affected economically. Almost simultaneously, the online education has returned to classical form of teaching, amidst semester, being another stress factor for students. Our results indicated that the two-year long pandemic was considered as having the greatest impact by almost two-thirds of the students. Furthermore, the lack of self-efficacy component of perceived stress was a constant and strong predictor of all components of well-being (subjective and psychological), and perceived helplessness for subjective well-being. Regarding emotion regulation strategies refocus on planning, positive reevaluation, self- and other blame, withdrawal and actively approaching the source of stress proved to be the most important predictors. The results of our investigation may be beneficial for the tailoring of future prevention and intervention programs that would target the enhancement of psychological adaptation of students. Keywords: stress, depressive symptoms, uncertainty, emotion regulation strategies, subjective and psychological well-being, post COVID-19. "

Roma people and the Europeanization process. The status of European minority.

Roma people and the Europeanization process. The status of European minority.

Faith on the Margins: Religion and Civic Emancipation among Roma People during Communist Rule in Romania

Abstract This paper analyzes the way in which religion bolstered Roma people’s demands for civic emancipation and strengthened their ethnic and cultural identity in 1970s and 1980s Romania. Based on documents mainly from the former secret police, the Securitate, the paper is divided into two main parts. The “rst is a general overview of the state of the Roma people in communist Romania and the main initiatives for their civic emancipation. Next, the paper uses the perspective of “lived religion” to study three elements that informed the religious life of Roma during the 1970s and 1980s. These are the persistence of religious beliefs, the creation of Gypsy Neo-Protestant churches, and religious pilgrimage. Moreover, the paper will show that religious practice strengthened ethnic identity, favoured individual agency, and raised questions about equal rights and religious freedom.

The Trickster and the Witch

At the centre of this article stands a striking but poorly understood artefact held at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm (NM.0159389): A piece of bovine leg bone carved in the likeness of a human skull. Traditionally described as an “idol”, the artefact belongs to abundle of “witchcraft tools” (trolltyg) that have been attributed to the legendary witch, “captain Elin”, loosely built on the historical person Elin Eriksdotter from Mofikerud, who was tried in a late witch trial in Näs, Värmland, in 1720. Scholars have long knownthat the attribution of the skull figure and most of the other items to Elin is false. In this article, we first describe how the association with “captain Elin” arose, shedding new light on the creation of the legend and its association with the “witchcraft tools”. Secondly,we present new archival evidence that suggests an entirely different context for the bone artefact, namely in the encounters between Romani people and the majority population at the end of the Swedish Great Power era. We discuss the significance of this new contextfor the cultural memory of magic and witchcraft in Sweden, and for our understanding of the Romani minority’s place in early-modern society.

Perceptions and Misperceptions on Roma People during the First Half of the 20TH Century. A Glimpse into the Romanian Press

Abstract History has shown a 20th century marked by political, geopolitical, social, and economic metamorphosis, especially for the European continent. Romanian’s physical borders were reshaped during the first half of this century and caught between a political, social, and ethnic whirlwind. For Roma people, the 1920s and 1930s came with substantial turmoil as their efforts to establish various forms of representation and organization were not supported by the Romanian authorities, nor by public opinion. The public discourse was dominated by prejudice, stereotypes, and amplified marginalization. The far-right’s extreme tendencies, compounded by public discourse, spread Roma stereotypes such as “the thief”, “the other”, “the diseases carrier”, “the pariah”, “the unwanted” etc., and generated the idea of “us against them” which heavily impacted the deportation process.