We present 110 times of minima of 7 ultra-short orbital period eclipsing binaries.

We present 120 times of minima of 8 eclipsing binaries.

The occultation of the 14th mag star UCAC4 345-180315 by Pluto on the evening of the 19th of July, 2016 could be observed from large parts of Europe, middle east and northern Africa as well. A campaign had been organized with for many observers and observatories throughout Europe and other countries. Professional as well as amateur observatories and observers shared in a PRO-AM cooperation to achieve the highest possible degree of coverage. The scientific goal was the ongoing monitoring of Pluto's atmosphere, waiting for a possible shrinking of its pressure due to the increasing distance of Pluto from the sun.

Cytosolic phospholipase A2 (GIVA cPLA2) is the only PLA2 that exhibits a marked preference for hydrolysis of arachidonic acid containing phospholipid substrates releasing free arachidonic acid and lysophospholipids and giving rise to the generation of diverse lipid mediators involved in inflammatory conditions. Thus, the development of potent and selective GIVA cPLA2 inhibitors is of great importance. We have developed a novel class of such inhibitors based on the 2-oxoester functionality. This functionality in combination with a long aliphatic chain or a chain carrying an appropriate aromatic system, such as the biphenyl system, and a free carboxyl group leads to highly potent and selective GIVA cPLA2 inhibitors (XI(50) values 0.00007–0.00008) and docking studies aid in understanding this selectivity. A methyl 2-oxoester, with a short chain carrying a naphthalene ring, was found to preferentially inhibit the other major intracellular PLA2, the calcium-independent PLA2. In RAW264.7 macrophages, treatment with the most potent 2-oxoester GIVA cPLA2 inhibitor resulted in over 50% decrease in KLA-elicited prostaglandin D2 production. The novel, highly potent and selective GIVA cPLA2 inhibitors provide excellent tools for the study of the role of the enzyme and could contribute to the development of novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

INTRODUCTION: Aberrant subvesical bile ducts are a scarce anatomical variation, consisted by a network of bile ducts located in the peri-hepatic capsule of the gallbladder fossa. These rare ducts are usually discovered intraoperatively and their presence poses the risk of bile injury and clinically significant bile leak. PRESENTATION OF CASE: Aberrant subvesical bile ducts were unexpectedly identified in a young woman during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. These three ducts were clipped carefully for avoidance of bile duct injury and subsequent bile leak. The operation was uneventful. A meticulous review of the recent literature was conducted as well. DISCUSSION: This unusual anatomical variation of the biliary tract is mainly discovered during the operation. Thus, surgical injury of these ducts is nearly inevitable and it provokes the severe complication of bile leak. Bile injury represents the most crucial and life-threatening postoperative complication of cholecystectomies. Surgeons in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen should be constantly aware of this rare anatomical variation. CONCLUSION: Aberrant subvesical bile ducts are associated with a high risk of surgical bile duct injury. Nevertheless, meticulous operative technique combined with surgeons' perpetual awareness concerning this peculiar anatomical aberration leads to a safe laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Accreditation is an important process ensuring quality of academic programs in Biomedical Informatics. Certification ensures standards in knowledge and skills of professionals in Health Informatics. The process of Accreditation is analyzed for its pros and cons. Procedures are applied to ensure the completion of accreditation of a program is transparent, objective and leads in quality qualifications. Finally, the logistics required for Accreditation are calculated in terms of human resources as well to meeting cost expectations.

Using an extension of the full elastodynamic layer-multiple-scattering method to structures of fluid-saturated poroelastic spherical bodies, a comprehensive theoretical study of the acoustic response of double-porosity submerged liquid-saturated granular polymeric materials of specific morphology consisting of touching porous polymer spheres arranged in a fcc lattice, beyond the long-wavelength effective-medium description, is presented. Calculated transmission and absorption spectra of finite slabs of these materials are analyzed by reference to the acoustic modes of the constituent porous spherical grains as well as to relevant dispersion diagrams of corresponding infinite crystals, and a consistent interpretation of the results is provided. In particular, it is shown that resonant modes with very long lifetime, localized in the spheres in the form of slow longitudinal waves, which are peculiar to poroelastic materials, are formed when the viscous length is much shorter than the radius of the inner pores of the spheres. These modes, which can be easily tuned in frequency by adjusting the intrinsic porosity of the spheres, induce some remarkable features in the acoustic behavior of these double-porosity materials, such as narrow dispersionless absorption bands and directional transmission gaps.

Karampatsos, GP, Korfiatis, PG, Zaras, ND, Georgiadis, GV, and Terzis, GD. Acute effect of countermovement jumping on throwing performance in track and field athletes during competition. J Strength Cond Res 32(1): 359-364, 2017-The purpose of the study was to investigate whether performing 3 consecutive countermovement jumps (CMJs) just before an attempt enhances performance in track and field throwers during competition. Twelve shot putters, 8 hammer throwers, 9 discus throwers, and 3 javelin throwers of both sexes participated in the study. They performed 3 maximal CMJs 85 ± 12 seconds before the second, fourth, and sixth attempt during 3 different official competitions of national level. Maximal strength (1 repetition maximum [1RM]) in squat and bench press was measured 1 week after the competition. Mean throwing performance was significantly higher after the CMJs intervention (2.66 ± 4.3%, range of increase 0.02-18.98%, p = 0.0001). Similarly, maximum throwing performance was significantly higher after the CMJs (2.76 ± 3.29%, range of increase 0.09-13.93%, p = 0.0009). All but 2 athletes increased their best performance after the CMJs. The percentage increase in performance was similar between sexes (male athletes 2.56 ± 3.01%; female athletes 3.06 ± 3.76%, p = 0.677), but it was higher for the "lighter throws" (discus and javelin throw: 4.66 ± 4.11%) compared with the "heavier throws" (shot and hammer throw: 1.62 ± 2.04%, p = 0.008). The percentage increase in performance was not significantly correlated with 1RM squat or bench press, anthropometric characteristics, and personal best performance. These results suggest that performing 3 CMJs approximately 1 minute before an attempt may increase track and field throwing performance during competition.

Egocentrism is a central concept in the developmental psychology literature with important implications for adaptation and mental health. Despite its negative moral connotation, it is not related to egoism. Genetic epistemologist Jean Piaget introduced egocentrism (or centration) and described it as a normal phenomenon during the course of human development. Egocentrism is defined as a heightened focus on one’s self and it takes several forms in ontogeny. During adolescence, egocentrism is regarded to be associated with pubertal changes and important developmental tasks, such as the acquisition of new mental capacities, the process of separation from parents, and the formation of individuality. Research has shown that egocentrism may be at the root of a wide variety of typical adolescent behaviors and disturbances. In this entry we will briefly describe the two main theoretical models for the interpretation of adolescent egocentrism, namely the cognitive model and the psychodynamic “New Look” model. References to research evidence concerning the two models will also be made. Finally, conclusions about current understanding of adolescent egocentrism will be drawn.

Research on students’ motivation has mainly focused on interpersonal differences rather than on the ongoing, intrapersonal dynamics that forge students’ everyday life. In this five-month longitudinal (diary) study, we recruited a sample of 179 high school students from Greece (35.8% males; Mage = 16.27; SD = 1.02) to investigate through multilevel analyses the ongoing dynamics of students’ motivation. We did so by examining the relation between autonomous functioning and aspects of study regulation (namely, study efforts and procrastination) and well-being (namely, subjective vitality and depressive feelings). After controlling for perceived competence, we found week-to-week autonomous functioning to relate positively to study efforts and subjective vitality and negatively to procrastination and depressive feelings. Interestingly, implicit theories of ability - the degree to which one believes that ability is fixed or amenable - were found to moderate the week-to-week relations of autonomous functioning to study efforts and homework procrastination. In particular, autonomous functioning co-varied positively to study efforts and negatively to homework procrastination only among students who believed that ability is malleable. Also, beliefs that ability is fixed predicted poorer grades, lower mean levels of study efforts, and higher homework procrastination. The results underscore the necessity of taking a more dynamic view when studying motivational phenomena and the importance of jointly considering the implicit theory framework and self-determination theory.

Two well-developed quaternary sand dune fields have been identified on the western and eastern side of Akrotiri promontory (Lemesos, Cyprus, Mediterranean Sea). The fields extend immediately from the low level of their source beaches onto higher ground (> 38m amsl).  Geomorphic observation supported by OSL dating of multimineral sand horizons demonstrate several phases of sand accumulation in the western field in contrast to the smaller eastern system, where the evidence direct to a relatively recent dune emplacement. The effects of climatic change, relative sea-level change and anthropogenic influence in dune evolution, have been evaluated in both sites in combination with documented evidence of human induced destabilization of the western sand dune field during the 1970s and 1980s. Both fields share similar topographic settings and situated in close proximity but they do not share an entirely similar evolution history. The observations and the data suggest the combination of local and regional control of the development of the sand dunes and the geochronological analysis with luminescence methodology support the ability of the method to reconstruct the evolution of sand dunes fields in the south eastern Mediterranean area.

Aspect is more or less universally recognized as the defining TMA category of the Greek verbal system. There is a consensus on this in both the philological tradition and the linguistic literature on aspect. It is moreover almost universally accepted that diachronically the Greek verbal system has been extremely conservative, remaining practically unchanged down to the present day.This paper largely accepts the former assumption, but not the latter, which has been increasingly challenged in the last few years. It is argued here that, while there has been little change morphologically, the system has been altered in a fundamental way. More specifically, it takes up the analysis proposed in Moser (2008 and 2009), according to which the history of the Greek verb indicates that the system of three (and later two) stems shifts from the expression of Aktionsart (actionality/lexical aspect) to the expression of (grammatical) aspect, and develops it further, taking a fresh look at the data from a different point of view and in the light of recent studies.

 

We look at Poisson geometry taking the viewpoint of singular foliations, understood as suitable submodules generated by Hamiltonian vector fields rather than partitions into (symplectic) leaves. The class of Poisson structures which behave best from this point of view, are those whose submodule generated by Hamiltonian vector fields arises from a smooth holonomy groupoid. We call them almost regular Poisson structures and determine them completely. They include regular Poisson and log symplectic manifolds, as well as several other Poisson structures whose symplectic foliation presents singularities. We show that the holonomy groupoid associated with an almost regular Poisson structure is a Poisson groupoid, integrating a naturally associated Lie bialgebroid. The Poisson structure on the holonomy groupoid is regular, and as such it provides a desingularization. The holonomy groupoid is "minimal" among Lie groupoids which give rise to the submodule generated by Hamiltonian vector fields. This implies that, in the case of log-symplectic manifolds, the holonomy groupoid coincides with the symplectic groupoid constructed by Gualtieri and Li. Last, we focus on the integrability of almost regular Poisson manifolds and exhibit the role of the second homotopy group of the source-fibers of the holonomy groupoid.

El objeto del presente trabajo es comparar la disponibilidad léxica de un grupo de aprendientes griegos de español de nivel C1 con la disponibilidad léxica de estudiantes españoles para detectar las diferencias o las similitudes entre los hablantes extranjeros y nativos de español. Para ello, se han analizado diferentes aspectos cuantitativos y cualitativos de la disponibilidad léxica de los dos grupos en cuestión  siguiendo las pautas metodológicas en las que se basan los estudios de disponibilidad léxica. Se ha recogido léxico de tres campos semánticos  (comida y bebida, la casa, profesiones y oficios) y los datos se han analizado con el objetivo de encontrar el número de palabras producidas, el promedio de las palabras producidas por participante, el número de vocablos (palabras diferentes), el promedio de los vocablos producidos por participante, el índice de cohesión y las palabras más comunes de cada campo semántico.

Au sein du complexe géopolitique méditerranéen, on observe ces derniers mois des mouvements dangereux de grande ampleur, dans le sous-système des Balkans occidentaux. La Grèce a le funeste privilège de constituer la frontière des deux sous-systèmes du complexe géopolitique méditerranéen:  a. du sous-système des Balkans et, b. du sous-système turco-proche-oriental. Nous allons démontrer d’une part, que ces deux sous-systèmes se trouvent confrontés à des disfonctionnements intenses et instables et d’autre part, que le facteur géopolitique déterminant de l’instabilité est celui de la sécurité énergétique. De surcroit, nous montrerons que les deux principaux pôles de puissances internationales que sont Moscou et Washington, de par leur antagonisme de type néo guerre froide, confèrent une dynamique déstabilisatrice au complexe géopolitique méditerranéen, dont l’épicentre se trouve dans les Balkans de l’ouest (Balkans occidentaux). La notion dite: «de type néo guerre froide» est utilisée pour souligner le fait qu’il existe une grande distance politico idéologique entre ces deux pôles (et bien sur, il en existe une plus grande encore entre Washington et Pékin), comme pendant la période de la guerre froide. La différence idéologique, en l’occurrence, réside entre l’approche cosmopolite et ultra libérale occidentale et l’approche nationale-identitaire conservatrice orientale, avec comme pole dominant Moscou.  Le corpus théorique de la présente analyse est celui de la géopolitique anglo-saxonne classique, issue de l’école de N. Spykman, ayant évolué avec l’approche de Z. Brzezinsky et celui de l’analyse géopolitique systémique contemporaine

INTRODUCTION: Identification and preservation of the facial nerve (FN) is a major challenge when performing parotidectomy. Anatomic variations of the relation between the FN and the retromandibular vein (RMV) pose a high risk of nerve injury and bleeding during the operation. PRESENTATION OF CASE: An unusual anatomic variation of the relation between the FN and the RMV was unexpectedly detected during superficial parotidectomy. The operation was uneventful. A meticulous review of the recent literature was conducted as well. DISCUSSION: Variations of the relation between the FN and the RMV are mainly identified during the operation, since when performing parotidectomy, surgeons typically detect all the FN branches by locating the RMV. Such kind of variations, are not as rare as considered and their presence complicates parotid surgery and increases the potentiality of nerve injury and hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: Surgeons' deep knowledge and perpetual awareness concerning the probable anatomic variations of the relation between the FN and the RMV combined with detailed exposure of the operative field and of the relationship between these adjacent anatomical structures lead to safe parotid surgery.

Complete mesocolic excision (CME) is a standardized surgical procedure for colonic cancer that requires ample knowledge of the anatomical patterns of the colic arteries. Variations of the colic vessels encumber both surgical and endovascular techniques. In the presented case below, the right colic artery was incidentally detected emerging from the right gastroepiploic artery, during CME. Surgeons should be always aware of this variation in order to perform safe abdominal surgeries and sufficient resection of the regional lymph nodes with a view to minimizing the probability of recurrence of disease when encountering colonic cancer.

In therapeutic interventions associated with melanin hyperpigmentation, tyrosinase is regarded as a target enzyme as it catalyzes the rate-limiting steps in mammalian melanogenesis. Since many known agents have been proven to be toxic, there has been increasing impetus to identify alternative tyrosinase inhibitors, especially from natural sources. In this study, we investigated 900 extracts from Greek plants for potential tyrosinase inhibitive properties. Among the five most potent extracts, the methanol extract of Morus alba wood (MAM) demonstrated a significant reduction in intracellular tyrosinase and melanin content in B16F10 melanoma cells. Bioassay-guided isolation led to the acquisition of twelve compounds: oxyresveratrol (1), kuwanon C (2), mulberroside A (3), resorcinol (4), dihydrooxyresveratol (5), trans-dihydromorin (6), 2,4,3′-trihydroxydihydrostilbene (7), kuwanon H (8), 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde (9), morusin (10), moracin M (11) and kuwanon G (12). Among these, 2,4,3′-trihydroxydihydrostilbene (7) is isolated for the first time from Morus alba and constitutes a novel potent tyrosinase inhibitor (IC50 0.8 ± 0.15). We report here for the first time dihydrooxyresveratrol (5) as a potent natural tyrosinase inhibitor (IC50 0.3 ± 0.05). Computational docking analysis indicated the binding modes of six tyrosinase inhibitors with the aminoacids of the active centre of tyrosinase. Finally, we found both MAM extract and compounds 1, 6 and 7 to significantly suppress in vivo melanogenesis during zebrafish embryogenesis.

Filamentous fungi provide excellent systems for investigating the role of the AP-2 complex in polar growth. Using Aspergillus nidulans, we show that AP-2 has a clathrin-independent essential role in polarity maintenance and growth. This is in line with a sequence analysis showing that the AP-2 β subunit (β2) of higher fungi lacks a clathrin-binding domain, and experiments showing that AP-2 does not co-localize with clathrin. We provide genetic and cellular evidence that AP-2 interacts with endocytic markers SlaB(End4) and SagA(End3) and the lipid flippases DnfA and DnfB in the sub-apical collar region of hyphae. The role of AP-2 in the maintenance of proper apical membrane lipid and cell wall composition is further supported by its functional interaction with BasA (sphingolipid biosynthesis) and StoA (apical sterol-rich membrane domains), and its essentiality in polar deposition of chitin. Our findings support that the AP-2 complex of dikarya has acquired, in the course of evolution, a specialized clathrin-independent function necessary for fungal polar growth.

Eukaryotic cells heavily depend on ATP generated by oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) within mitochondria. Besides being the main suppliers of cell's energy, mitochondria also provide an additional compartment for a wide range of cellular processes and metabolic pathways. Mitochondria constantly undergo fusion/fission events and form a mitochondrial network, which is a highly dynamic, tubular structure allowing for rapid and continuous exchange of genetic material, as well as, targeting dysfunctional mitochondria for degradation through mitochondrial selective autophagy (mitophagy). Mitophagy mediates the elimination of damaged and/or superfluous organelles, maintaining mitochondrial and cellular homeostasis. In this chapter, we present two versatile, noninvasive methods, developed for monitoring in vivo mitophagy in C. elegans. These procedures enable the assessment of mitophagy in several cell types during development or under stress conditions. Investigating the role of mitophagy at the organismal level is essential for the development of therapeutic interventions against age-related diseases.

PURPOSE: β-catenin and AXIN2 play an important role in the Wnt signaling pathway. The aim of this study was to investigate β-catenin and AXIN2 expression in colorectal cancer (CRC) and relate these findings with patients' clinicopathological features and prognosis. METHODS: 57 consecutive patients with surgically treated CRC were included in this study. Quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analyses were performed to characterize the expression of the aforementioned markers in CRC tissues. RESULTS: β-catenin overexpression in the nucleus was associated with advanced N stage CRCs (p=0.04). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that β-catenin overexpression is an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (OS). A positive correlation between β-catenin location and AXIN2 mRNA was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Nuclear β-catenin is a valuable prognostic factor. AXIN2 is a component of the "Destruction Complex" and also a Wnt target gene. However, the clinical importance of AXIN2 expression in CRC remains unclear.

The thermal comfort conditions in a complex urban area is influenced by the surrounding structures and obstacles which modify the incoming radiation fluxes. A measure of this modification is the sky view factor (SVF), which could be estimated in each point of a selected area if a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM), or other urban morphological data including the manmade infrastructure, are available. The goal of this study is to model the continuous SVF for a complex building environment in the campus of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, based on a high resolution DEM (0.09 m). For this purpose, we applied the structure-from-motion (SfM) technique, which takes advantage of the interpretation of ultra-high resolution colour images acquired by remotely piloted airborne systems, also known as drones or unmanned aerial vehicles. A quantitative analysis, by applying statistical metrics, yields perfect agreement between modelled and observed SVF values, over the examined area. The proposed methodology could be applied for human-biometeorology research in micro scale complex urban environments.

The thermal comfort conditions in a complex urban area is influenced by the surrounding structures and obstacles which modify the incoming radiation fluxes. A measure of this modification is the sky view factor (SVF), which could be estimated in each point of a selected area if a high resolution digital elevation model (DEM), or other urban morphological data including the manmade infrastructure, are available. The goal of this study is to model the continuous SVF for a complex building environment in the campus of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, based on a high resolution DEM (0.09 m). For this purpose, we applied the structure-from-motion (SfM) technique, which takes advantage of the interpretation of ultra-high resolution colour images acquired by remotely piloted airborne systems, also known as drones or unmanned aerial vehicles. A quantitative analysis, by applying statistical metrics, yields perfect agreement between modelled and observed SVF values, over the examined area. The proposed methodology could be applied for human-biometeorology research in micro scale complex urban environments.

Serial 3-dimensional dental model superimposition provides a risk-free, detailed evaluation of morphological alterations on a patient's mouth. Here, we evaluated accuracy and precision of five palatal areas, used for superimposition of maxillary 3D digital dental casts. Sixteen pre- and post-orthodontic treatment dental casts of growing patients (median time lapse: 15.1 months) were superimposed on each palatal area using the iterative closest point algorithm. Area A (medial 2/3 of the third rugae and a small area dorsal to them) was considered the gold standard, due to high anatomical stability. Areas B, C, and D added a distal extension along the midpalatal raphe, an anterior extension to the second rugae, and the remaining palatal surface, respectively. Area E was similar to A, located more posteriorly. Non parametric multivariate models showed minimal or no effect on accuracy and precision by operator, time point, or software settings. However, the choice of superimposition area resulted in statistically significant differences in accuracy and clinically significant differences in detected tooth movement (95% limits of agreement exceeding 1 mm and 3°). Superimposition on area A provided accurate, reproducible, and precise results. Outcomes were comparable for area B, but deteriorated when alternative areas were used.

© Cambridge University Press 2017. Aim: The aim of the present study was to assess the association of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with prenatal and postnatal depressive symptoms in a sample of pregnant women in Greece. Background: Earlier research supports a relationship between depression and diabetes, but only a few studies have examined the relationship between GDM and perinatal depressive symptomatology. Methods: A total of 117 women in their third trimester of pregnancy participated in the study. Demographic and obstetric history data were recorded during women's third trimester of pregnancy. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the validated Greek version of the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at two time points: on the third trimester of pregnancy and on the first week postpartum. Findings: Prevalence of GDM was 14.5%. Probable diagnosis of depression occurred for 12% of the sample during the antenatal assessment and 15.1% in the postpartum assessment. In the first week postpartum, women with GDM had significantly higher postpartum (but no antenatal) EPDS scores compared with the non-GDM cohort. In conclusion, GDM appears to be associated with depressive symptoms in the first week postpartum. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are discussed, emphasizing the importance of closely monitoring women with GDM who seem more vulnerable to developing depressive symptomatology during the postnatal period.

Sea level indicators, such as tidal notches and beachrocks, may provide valuable information for the relative sea level (RSL) changes of an area. Although beachrocks have received various arguments regarding their accuracy as sea level indicators, they have often been used to assess Holocene shoreline changes and crustally induced RSL changes. The study area, Okinawa, belongs to the Ryukyu Islands, Japan (Pacific Ocean), forming the emerged part of an active island arc, where the Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath the Asian continent. Various studies have noted evidence of emergence. Beachrocks have also been studied, however, detailed examinations of their spatial extend and cement characteristics has not been accomplished. In this context, the aim of this research is to discuss the RSL evolution in Okinawa through the re-evaluation of reported sea level indicators, along with additional observations on beachrocks and notches. Fieldwork was accomplished in the coastal zone of Okinawa, through detailed spatial mapping and sampling of beachrock occurrences. Coastal transects were accomplished in order to measure the width and depth/elevation of beachrock slabs. In order to perform petrographic analysis, stained thin sections were studied using transmitted light microscope where selected samples were studied under SEM.

The recent global financial crisis has triggered questions in the scientific area of capital structure dynamic determination regarding how “quickly” companies tend to adjust their capital structure to their long-term targets, in different macroeconomic states. We broaden the scope of the debate by focusing on SMEs and by discussing the relative importance of firm-specific and macroeconomic variables, when macroeconomic conditions change. Based on a partial adjustment model, we find that short-term and long-term debt ratios follow different patterns regarding their adjustment speeds; the adjustment speed for long-term debt slows down during the crisis, while the respective of the short-term debt is not affected. We also find clear differentiations of the effects and the contribution of the firm-specific and the macroeconomic variables between short-term debt and long-term debt ratios, when macroeconomic states change. We thus conclude that the nature and maturity of borrowing affect the persistence and endurance of the relationship between determinants and borrowing, across different macroeconomic states.

The magneto-optical response of a Faraday-active Fabry–Pérot etalon with birefringent mirrors is studied by means of electrodynamic simulations using the finite-element and the scattering-matrix methods. The specific structure under consideration consists of a magnetic garnet film sandwiched between two metallic layers, patterned with periodically spaced parallel grooves on their outer sides. Our results are analyzed by reference to the properties of the individual structural components and a consistent interpretation of the different spectral features observed is provided. It is shown that, by properly adjusting the geometrical parameters involved, strong Faraday rotation enhancement can be obtained through constructive synergy between the Fabry–Pérot resonant mode of the magneto-optical nanocavity and the slot plasmon mode localized in the grooves.

A century-old tenet in physics and engineering asserts that any type of system, having bandwidth Dw, can interact with a wave over only a constrained time period Dt inversely proportional to the bandwidth (Dt·Dw ∼ 2p). This law severely limits the generic capabilities of all types of resonant and wave-guiding systems in photonics, cavity quantum electrodynamics and optomechanics, acoustics, continuum mechanics, and atomic and optical physics but is thought to be completely fundamental, arising from basic Fourier reciprocity.We propose that this "fundamental" limit can be overcome in systems where Lorentz reciprocity is broken. As a system becomes more asymmetric in its transport properties, the degree to which the limit can be surpassed becomes greater. By way of example, we theoretically demonstrate how, in an astutely designed magnetized semiconductor heterostructure, the above limit can be exceeded by orders of magnitude by using realistic material parameters. Our findings revise prevailing paradigms for linear, time-invariant resonant systems, challenging the doctrine that high-quality resonances must invariably be narrowband and providing the possibility of developing devices with unprecedentedly high time-bandwidth performance.

This article is divided in three sections; the first is presenting the plethora of fiber optic and power cable geographical distribution, providing to the reader an insight to underwater infrastructure. Readers can bind together the importance of survey, lay, repair and maintenance of underwater cables and pipelines, based on the legal framework provided by the Energy Treaty and UNCLOS. The second section provides a brief report on notions mentioned in the International Energy Treaty. We also mention the Energy Treaty and the Energy Treaty Charter as a case study for pipeline and power cable installations; At the third section, we focus especially at the genesis of UNCLOS with regards to the EEZ maritime zone regime; At this section, we will present the difference between the terms marine research and cable route study, based on the applicable UNCLOS conventional terminology. The last section of this article will be an effort to carefully examine whether these two Treaties are sufficient to regulate transnational cable surveying and laying operations under the current geopolitical frame in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea; as new oil and gas fields are being developed in the region two factors affect the geopolitical equilibrium: 1) The disputed EEZ's in the Eastern Mediterranean, 2) The role of Turkey based on its destabilizing and revisionist stand as this is highlighted by extreme geopolitical behaviors causing the present instability in the geopolitical environment of the Eastern Mediterranean, mainly with regards to the supply of energy from discovered gas reservoirs in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The randomized phase 3 study ENDEAVOR demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) for carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) vs bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd) in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM). We conducted a preplanned subgroup analysis of ENDEAVOR to evaluate Kd vs Vd by cytogenetic risk. Of 785 patients with known cytogenetics, 210 (27%) had high-risk cytogenetics (Kd, n=97 (25%); Vd, n=113 (28%)) and 575 (73%) had standard-risk cytogenetics (Kd, n=284 (75%); Vd, n=291 (72%)). Median PFS in the high-risk group was 8.8 months for Kd vs 6.0 months for Vd (hazard ratio (HR), 0.65; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.45–0.92; P=0.0075). Median PFS in the standard-risk group was not estimable for Kd vs 10.2 months for Vd (HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.33–0.58; P<0.0001). Overall response rates were 72.2% (Kd) vs 58.4% (Vd) in the high-risk group and 79.2% (Kd) vs 66.0% (Vd) in the standard-risk group. In the high-risk group, 15.5% (Kd) vs 4.4% (Vd) achieved a complete response (CR) or better. In the standard-risk group, 13.0% (Kd) vs 7.9% (Vd) achieved ⩾CR. This preplanned subgroup analysis found that Kd was superior to Vd in relapsed or refractory MM, regardless of cytogenetic risk.Leukemia advance online publication, 3 February 2017; doi:10.1038/leu.2016.390. © 2017 The Author(s)

The randomized phase 3 study ENDEAVOR demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) for carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) vs bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd) in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM). We conducted a preplanned subgroup analysis of ENDEAVOR to evaluate Kd vs Vd by cytogenetic risk. Of 785 patients with known cytogenetics, 210 (27%) had high-risk cytogenetics (Kd, n=97 (25%); Vd, n=113 (28%)) and 575 (73%) had standard-risk cytogenetics (Kd, n=284 (75%); Vd, n=291 (72%)). Median PFS in the high-risk group was 8.8 months for Kd vs 6.0 months for Vd (hazard ratio (HR), 0.65; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.45–0.92; P=0.0075). Median PFS in the standard-risk group was not estimable for Kd vs 10.2 months for Vd (HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.33–0.58; P<0.0001). Overall response rates were 72.2% (Kd) vs 58.4% (Vd) in the high-risk group and 79.2% (Kd) vs 66.0% (Vd) in the standard-risk group. In the high-risk group, 15.5% (Kd) vs 4.4% (Vd) achieved a complete response (CR) or better. In the standard-risk group, 13.0% (Kd) vs 7.9% (Vd) achieved ⩾CR. This preplanned subgroup analysis found that Kd was superior to Vd in relapsed or refractory MM, regardless of cytogenetic risk.Leukemia advance online publication, 3 February 2017; doi:10.1038/leu.2016.390. © 2017 The Author(s)

This article examines patterns of reception through which a particular type of classical sculpture – the Caryatid – has been accepted into the cultural life of contemporary Greece. Loved by neoclassical architecture, though also prominent in Modern Greek design, as well as contemporary poetry and drama, the Caryatid serves as a logo for the country and the Greeks at large, especially when referring to their relations with their fellow-Europeans. In contemporary Greek culture, Caryatids are deployed as symbols of Greekness as well as a means to achieve the nation’s cultural emancipation against the supremacy of western, globalised modernity. Often derided as mere symptoms of colonial mimicry, through their inherent qualities of parody and subversiveness, such uses may sometimes prove unexpectedly successful in undermining modernity and its templates.

© Journal of Reproductive Medicine®, Inc. BACKGROUND: Menstrual disorders are common in adolescence and are usually caused by an immature hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. Occasionally, suppressed gonadotropins or a raised prolactin may raise suspicion for a central organic cause of amenorrhea. CASE: We present the cases of 3 adolescents with menstrual irregularities or amenorrhea who were found to have hypothalamic gliomas (2 cases) and a craniopharyngioma (1 case). An MRI of the brain revealed the diagnosis in all 3 cases. CONCLUSION: Although rare, brain disease should be included in the differential diagnosis of menstrual irregularities, particularly in cases of central delayed puberty, moderately raised prolactin, and hypothalamic amenorrhea with no clear functional cause, such as disturbed dietary habits, excessive exercise, or stress.

The reaction of the bis(pentalene)dititanium complex Ti2(μ:η5,η5-Pn)2 (Pn = C8H4(1,4-SiiPr3)2) with the N-heterocyclic carbene 1,3,4,5-tetramethylimidazol-2-ylidene results in intramolecular C-H activation of one of the iPr methyl groups of a Pn ligand and formation of a "tucked-in" bridging hydride complex. The "tuck-in" process is reversed by the addition of hydrogen, which yields a dihydride featuring terminal and bridging hydrides.

Fractures of the odontoid process seem to have an unclear and not well-understood behavior. This is well demonstrated in the literature as there is a disagreement in many fields, including the patterns of fractures, the percentage of pseudarthrosis or the appropriate treatment that is required. This situation makes the fracture itself a "challenging" one. Indeed, despite the existence of extensive literature, there are still many unresolved problems concerning these fractures. We recognize six main classification schemes of the odontoid process fractures which clearly demonstrate the presence of differences but, also, the disadvantages that these classifications are related to. The most important factors that render these fractures "enigmatic" are the anatomy of the odontoid, the diversity of fractures encountered, the radiological evaluation, the stability and the inability to incorporate the whole spectrum of fractures in one classification. The progress made the last decades in the field of the radiology and their follow-up permitted to better analyze these lesions and to extract useful conclusions.

Children's Creative Music-Making with Reflexive Interactive Technology discusses pioneering experiments conducted with young children using a new generation of music software for improvising and composing. Using artificial intelligence techniques, this software captures the children’s musical style and interactively reflects it in its responses. The book describes the potential of these applications to enhance children’s agency and musical identity by reflecting players’ musical inputs, storing and creating variations on them. Set in the broader context of current music education research, it addresses the benefits and challenges of incorporating music technologies in primary and pre-school education. It is comprised of six main chapters, which cover the creation of children's own music and their musical selves, critical thinking skills and learner agency, musical language development, and emotional intent during creative music-making. The authors provide a range of straight-forward techniques and strategies, which challenge conceptions of ‘difficult-to-use music technologies’ in formal music education. These are supported by an informative collection of practitioner vignettes written by teachers who have used the software in their classrooms. Not only are the teachers’ voices heard here, but also those of children as they discover some of the creative possibilities of music making. The book also provides free access to a companion website with teacher forums and a large bank of activities to explore. A toolkit serves as a database of the teaching activities in which MIROR applications have been used and provides a set of useful ideas regarding its future use in a variety of settings. This book demonstrates that music applications based on artificial intelligence techniques can make an important contribution to music education within primary and pre-school education. It will be of key interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of music education, music technology, early years and primary education, teaching and learning, and teacher educators. It will also serve as an important point of reference for Early Years and Primary practitioners.

We present a detailed analysis of the X-ray point source population of M81. By identifying HST counterparts to Chandra sources, taking into account the chance coincidence probability, we classify a large fraction of the X-ray point source population with unique counterparts: high-mass X-ray binaries and low-mass X-ray binaries in globular clusters. We then compare the shapes of the uncontaminated X-ray luminosity functions and the X-ray properties of sources of different classes to models and other existing work. We also calculate scaling relations with the star formation rate and stellar mass between the different classes of sources in global and sub-galactic scales. One initial, primary result is that the more massive and dense globular clusters are more likely to be associated with X-ray binaries.

Akrotiri peninsula is located 5km W of the city of Lemesos and is the southernmost part of the island of Cyprus. Akrotiri peninsula consists of Quaternary sediments which are unconformably deposited on Miocene Pachna formation (chalks and marls). The Quaternary sediments include marine and associated aeolian deposits, alluvial fans and lagoonal and deltaic sediments.  Quaternary marine deposits occur as raised marine terraces with arenitic composition and they are located between elevations of 2-3m and 16-18m amsl. Quaternary alluvial fans were formed by material from the Kouris River, the largest river in Cyprus, and contributed to the formation of a western tombolo, resulting in a bay in antiquity. Local tectonics and eustatic changes resulted in the creation of Holocene geomorphological features, predominately, a salt lake, with an average water table of about 2 m below MSL, which is surrounded by uplifted marine terraces and lagoonal sediments. Based on geomorphologic mapping of the Quaternary landforms and associated deposits, and the morphosedimentary analysis of the geomorphological features, a chronostratigraphic framework for the Holocene evolution of the area has been generated. Textual references of Akrotiri peninsula first appear in Roman time by geographer Strabo who is describing it as a peninsula – like place. In Venetian and Ottoman maps is depicted the evolution of the area, the formation of the eastern tombolo and the usage of the closed lake as a fishery. Also, the diversion of Kouris River by Saint John’s knights west of the village of Kolossi, assisted the production of Sugar Cane and influenced the topography of the area.

Jets in long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs) have to drill through the collapsing star in order to break out of it and produce the γ-ray signal while the central engine is still active. If the breakout time is shorter for more powerful engines, then the jet-collapsar interaction acts as a filter of less luminous jets. We show that the observed broken power-law GRB luminosity function is a natural outcome of this process. For a theoretically motivated breakout time that scales with jet luminosity as L-χ with χ ∼ 1/3-1/2, we show that the shape of the γ-ray duration distribution can be uniquely determined by the GRB luminosity function and matches the observed one. This analysis has also interesting implications about the supernova-central engine connection. We show that not only successful jets can deposit sufficient energy in the stellar envelope to power the GRB-associated supernovae, but also failed jets may operate in all Type Ib/c supernovae.

BACKGROUND: Posture, vision, and instrumentation limitations are the main predicaments of conventional laparoscopy. OBJECTIVE: To combine the ETHOS surgical chair, the three-dimensional laparoscope, and the Radius Surgical System manipulators, and compare the system with conventional laparoscopy and da Vinci in terms of task completion times and discomfort. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Fifteen trainees performed the three main laparoscopic suturing tasks of the Heilbronn training program (IV: simulation of dorsal venous complex suturing; V: circular suturing of tubular structure; and VI: urethrovesical anastomosis) in a pelvi trainer. The tasks were performed conventionally, utilizing the three devices, and robotically. Task completion times were recorded and the surgeon discomfort was evaluated using questionnaires. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Task completion times were compared using nonparametric Wilcoxon signed rank test and ergonomic scores were compared using Pearson chi-square test. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: The use of the full laparoscopic set (ETHOS chair, three-dimensional laparoscopic camera, Radius Surgical System needle holders), resulted in a significant improvement of the completion time of the three tested tasks compared with conventional laparoscopy (p<0.001) and similar to da Vinci surgery. After completing Tasks IV, V, and VI conventionally, 12 (80%), 13 (86.7%), and 13 (86.7%) of the 15 trainees, respectively, reported heavy total discomfort. The full laparoscopic system nullified heavy discomfort for Tasks IV and V and minimized it (6.7%) for the most demanding Task VI. Especially for Task VI, all trainees gained benefit, by using the system, in terms of task completion times and discomfort. The limited trainee robotic experience and the questionnaire subjectivity could be a potential limitation. CONCLUSIONS: The ergonomic laparoscopic system offers significantly improved task completion times and ergonomy than conventional laparoscopy. Furthermore, it demonstrates comparable results to robotic surgery. PATIENT SUMMARY: The study was conducted in a pelvi trainer and no patients were recruited.

AIM: To investigate the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided release of the first annular pulley and compare results with the conventional open operative technique. METHODS: In this prospective randomized, single-center, clinical study, 32 patients with trigger finger or trigger thumb, grade II-IV according to Green classification system, were recruited. Two groups were formed; Group A (16 patients) was treated with an ultrasound-guided percutaneous release of the affected A1 pulley under local anesthesia. Group B (16 patients) underwent an open surgical release of the A1 pulley, through a 10-15 mm incision. Patients were assessed pre- and postoperatively (follow-up: 2, 4 and 12 wk) by physicians blinded to the procedures. Treatment of triggering (primary variable of interest) was expressed as the "success rate" per digit. The time for taking postoperative pain killers, range of motion recovery, QuickDASH test scores (Greek version), return to normal activities (including work), complications and cosmetic results were assessed. RESULTS: The success rate in group A was 93.75% (15/16) and in group B 100% (16/16). Mean times in group A patients were 3.5 d for taking pain killers, 4.1 d for returning to normal activities, and 7.2 and 3.9 d for complete extension and flexion recovery, respectively. Mean QuickDASH scores in group A were 45.5 preoperatively and, 7.5, 0.5 and 0 after 2, 4, and 12 wk postoperatively. Mean times in group B patients were 2.9 d for taking pain killers, 17.8 d for returning to normal activities, and 5.6 and 3 d for complete extension and flexion recovery. Mean QuickDASH scores in group B were 43.2 preoperatively and, 8.2, 1.3 and 0 after 2, 4, and 12 wk postoperatively. The cosmetic results found excellent or good in 87.5% (14/16) of group A patients, while in 56.25% (9/16) of group B patients were evaluated as fair or poor. CONCLUSION: Treatment of the trigger finger using ultrasonography resulted in fewer absence of work days, and better cosmetic results, in comparison with the open surgery technique. It is a promising method that represents excellent results without major complications, so that it could be possibly be established as a first-line treatment in the trigger finger's disease.

BACKGROUND: The fungal genus Aspergillus is of critical importance to humankind. Species include those with industrial applications, important pathogens of humans, animals and crops, a source of potent carcinogenic contaminants of food, and an important genetic model. The genome sequences of eight aspergilli have already been explored to investigate aspects of fungal biology, raising questions about evolution and specialization within this genus. RESULTS: We have generated genome sequences for ten novel, highly diverse Aspergillus species and compared these in detail to sister and more distant genera. Comparative studies of key aspects of fungal biology, including primary and secondary metabolism, stress response, biomass degradation, and signal transduction, revealed both conservation and diversity among the species. Observed genomic differences were validated with experimental studies. This revealed several highlights, such as the potential for sex in asexual species, organic acid production genes being a key feature of black aspergilli, alternative approaches for degrading plant biomass, and indications for the genetic basis of stress response. A genome-wide phylogenetic analysis demonstrated in detail the relationship of the newly genome sequenced species with other aspergilli. CONCLUSIONS: Many aspects of biological differences between fungal species cannot be explained by current knowledge obtained from genome sequences. The comparative genomics and experimental study, presented here, allows for the first time a genus-wide view of the biological diversity of the aspergilli and in many, but not all, cases linked genome differences to phenotype. Insights gained could be exploited for biotechnological and medical applications of fungi.

Photometric measurements are prone to systematic errors presenting a challenge to low-amplitude variability detection. In search for a general-purpose variability detection technique able to recover a broad range of variability types including currently unknown ones, we test 18 statistical characteristics quantifying scatter and/or correlation between brightness measurements. We compare their performance in identifying variable objects in seven time series data sets obtained with telescopes ranging in size from a telephoto lens to 1 m-class and probing variability on time-scales from minutes to decades. The test data sets together include light curves of 127 539 objects, among them 1251 variable stars of various types and represent a range of observing conditions often found in ground-based variability surveys. The real data are complemented by simulations. We propose a combination of two indices that together recover a broad range of variability types from photometric data characterized by a wide variety of sampling patterns, photometric accuracies and percentages of outlier measurements. The first index is the interquartile range (IQR) of magnitude measurements, sensitive to variability irrespective of a time-scale and resistant to outliers. It can be complemented by the ratio of the light-curve variance to the mean square successive difference, 1/η, which is efficient in detecting variability on time-scales longer than the typical time interval between observations. Variable objects have larger 1/η and/or IQR values than non-variable objects of similar brightness. Another approach to variability detection is to combine many variability indices using principal component analysis. We present 124 previously unknown variable stars found in the test data.

This study compared the effects of unilateral and bilateral plyometric training on single and double-leg jumping performance, maximal strength and rate of force development (RFD). Fifteen moderately trained subjects were randomly assigned to either a unilateral (U, n=7) or bilateral group (B, n=8). Both groups performed maximal effort plyometric leg exercises two times per week for 6 weeks. The B group performed all exercises with both legs, while the U group performed half the repetitions with each leg, so that total exercise volume was the same. Jumping performance was assessed by countermovement jumps (CMJ) and drop jumps (DJ), while maximal isometric leg press strength and RFD were measured before and after training for each leg separately and both legs together. CMJ improvement with both legs was not significantly different between U (12.1±7.2%) and B (11.0±5.5%) groups. However, the sum of right and left leg CMJ only improved in the U group (19.0±7.1%, p<0.001) and was unchanged in the B group (3.4±8.4%, p=0.80). Maximal isometric leg press force with both legs was increased similarly between groups (B: 20.1±6.5%, U: 19.9±6.2%). However, the sum of right and left leg maximal force increased more in U compared to B group (23.8±9.1% vs. 11.9±6.2%, p=0.009, respectively). Similarly, the sum of right and left leg RFD0-50 and RFD0-100 were improved only in the U group (34-36%, p<0.01). Unilateral plyometric training was more effective at increasing both single and double-leg jumping performance, isometric leg press maximal force and RFD when compared to bilateral training.

Molecular mechanisms governing maintenance, commitment, and differentiation of stem cells are largely unexploited. Molecules involved in the regulation of multiple cellular processes are of particular importance for stem cell physiology, as they integrate different signals and coordinate cellular decisions related with self-renewal and fate determination. Geminin has emerged as a critical factor in DNA replication and stem cell differentiation in different stem cell populations. Its inhibitory interaction with Cdt1, a member of the prereplicative complex, ensures the controlled timing of DNA replication and, consequently, genomic stability in actively proliferating cells. In embryonic as well as somatic stem cells, Geminin has been shown to interact with transcription factors and epigenetic regulators to drive gene expression programs and ultimately guide cell fate decisions. An ever-growing number of studies suggests that these interactions of Geminin and proteins regulating transcription are conserved among metazoans. Interactions between Geminin and proteins modifying the epigenome, such as members of the repressive Polycomb group and the SWI/SNF proteins of the permissive Trithorax, have long been established. The complexity of these interactions, however, is only just beginning to unravel, revealing key roles on maintaining stem cell self-renewal and fate specification. In this review, we summarize current knowledge and give new perspectives for the role of Geminin on transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, alongside with its regulatory activity in DNA replication and their implication in the regulation of stem and progenitor cell biology. Stem Cells 2017;35:299-310.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Vasovagal syncope (VVS) is linked to more than one pathophysiologic mechanisms. Copeptin, an emerging cardiovascular marker, is a surrogate for arginine-vasopressin, which increases following VVS. We aimed to assess the dynamic pattern of copeptin levels in typical VVS, categorized by the degree of vasoconstriction during orthostasis, and healthy controls. METHODS: The following groups were studied: Group A (n=21), with adequate limb vasoconstriction during the first min. of tilt, assessed by limb plethysmography (at least 30% flow reduction); Group B (n=15), showing impaired vasoconstriction during orthostasis (<10% reduction); Group C (n=18), history of VVS and negative tilt test result; Group D (n=18), healthy controls. Copeptin plasma levels were assessed before and 5min following tilt test positivity or termination. RESULTS: Baseline copeptin values were similar in all groups (8.3+/-6.4 in Group A, 5.7+/-2.3pmol/l in B, 6.0+/-1.9 in C, and 6.9+/-2.6 in D, p: 0.41). Significant increases in copeptin during tilt were observed in all Groups of VVS patients (A, B, C), including those with negative tilt (Group C: from 6.0+/-1.9 to 27.7+/-12.6pmol/l, p: 0.001), but not in controls. Following tilt termination, a greater increase was observed in copeptin values in Group B vs all other Groups A, C, and D (111.6+/-63.5 vs 29.5+/-51.3, 27.7+/-12.6, and 8.3+/-2.9, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Copeptin increases following tilt not only in VVS with a positive response, but also in typical history patients with a negative test. Increased copeptin levels following orthostasis may be useful for diagnosing VVS

Aim : To evaluate the shape of the craniofacial complex in patients with tooth agenesis and compare it to matched controls. Subjects and methods : The sample comprised 456 patients that were allocated to three groups: the agenesis group of 100 patients with at least one missing tooth, excluding third molars, the third molar agenesis group (3dMAG; one to four missing third molars) of 52 patients and the control group (CG) of 304 patients with no missing teeth. The main craniofacial structures depicted on lateral cephalograms were digitized and traced with 15 curves and 127 landmarks. These landmarks were subjected to Procrustes superimposition and principal component analysis in order to describe shape variability of the cranial base, maxilla and mandible, as well as of the whole craniofacial complex. For statistical analysis, permutation tests were used (10 000 permutations without replacement). Results : Approximately half of the sample's variability was described by the first three principal components. Comparisons within the whole sample revealed sexual dimorphism of the craniofacial complex and its structures (P < 0.01). Differences between the agenesis group and matched controls were found in the shape of all craniofacial structures except for the cranial base (P < 0.05). Specifically, patients with agenesis presented with Class III tendency and hypodivergent skeletal pattern. However, the comparison between the 3dMAG and matched CG revealed no differences. Conclusion : The shape of the craniofacial complex differs in patients with tooth agenesis suggesting that common factors are implicated in tooth development and craniofacial morphology.

This study investigated emerging adulthood and transition to adulthood in Greece, a highly underresearched issue in this country. Participants were 784 university students aged 17.5-27.5 years. Criteria for the transition to adulthood, developmental features of emerging adulthood, perceived adult status, views of the future (optimism), and sociodemographic variables were assessed. The results support the existence of emerging adulthood as a distinct life period in Greece. More than two thirds of the sample were self-perceived emerging adults. Most prevalent criteria were Norm compliance and Family capacities. Developmental features of emerging adulthood ranked high, especially Identity exploration, Experimentation/possibilities, and Feeling “in-between”. Statistically significant variations emerged as a function of gender, age, living arrangement, job experience, and perceived adult status. Views of the future were cautiously optimistic. Similarities with existing data and differences related to the specific characteristics of the Southern European context are discussed.

Today's rich digital information environment is characterized by the multitude of data sources providing information that has not yet reached its full potential in eHealth. The aim of the presented approach, namely CrowdHEALTH, is to introduce a new paradigm of Holistic Health Records (HHRs) that include all health determinants. HHRs are transformed into HHRs clusters capturing the clinical, social and human context of population segments and as a result collective knowledge for different factors. The proposed approach also seamlessly integrates big data technologies across the complete data path, providing of Data as a Service (DaaS) to the health ecosystem stakeholders, as well as to policy makers towards a "health in all policies" approach. Cross-domain co-creation of policies is feasible through a rich toolkit, being provided on top of the DaaS, incorporating mechanisms for causal and risk analysis, and for the compilation of predictions.

NCS1 proteins are H(+) or Na(+) symporters responsible for the uptake of purines, pyrimidines or related metabolites in bacteria, fungi and some plants. Fungal NCS1 are classified into two evolutionary and structurally distinct subfamilies, known as Fur- and Fcy-like transporters. These subfamilies have expanded and functionally diversified by gene duplications. The Fur subfamily of the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans includes both major and cryptic transporters specific for uracil, 5-fluorouracil, allantoin or/and uric acid. Here we functionally analyse all four A. nidulans Fcy transporters (FcyA, FcyC, FcyD and FcyE) with previously unknown function. Our analysis shows that FcyD is moderate-affinity, low-capacity, highly specific adenine transporter, whereas FcyE contributes to 8-azaguanine uptake. Mutational analysis of FcyD, supported by homology modelling and substrate docking, shows that two variably conserved residues (Leu356 and Ser359) in transmembrane segment 8 (TMS8) are critical for transport kinetics and specificity differences among Fcy transporters, while two conserved residues (Phe167 and Ser171) in TMS3 are also important for function. Importantly, mutation S359N converts FcyD to a promiscuous nucleobase transporter capable of recognizing adenine, xanthine and several nucleobase analogues. Our results reveal the importance of specific residues in the functional evolution of NCS1 transporters.

The methylation of U1498 located in the 16S ribosomal RNA of Escherichia coli is an important modification affecting ribosomal activity. RsmE methyltransferases methylate specifically this position in a mechanism that requires an S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet) molecule as cofactor. Here we report the structure of Apo and AdoMet-bound Lpg2936 from Legionella pneumophila at 1.5 and 2.3 A, respectively. The protein comprises an N-terminal PUA domain and a C-terminal SPOUT domain. The latter is responsible for protein dimerization and cofactor binding. Comparison with similar structures suggests that Lpg2936 is an RsmE-like enzyme that can target the equivalent of U1498 in the L. pneumophila ribosomal RNA, thereby potentially enhancing ribosomal activity during infection-mediated effector production. The multiple copies of the enzyme found in both structures reveal a flexible conformation of the bound AdoMet ligand. Isothermal titration calorimetry measurements suggest an asymmetric two site binding mode. Our results therefore also provide unprecedented insights into AdoMet/RsmE interaction, furthering our understanding of the RsmE catalytic mechanism.

A family of benzotriazole based coordination compounds, obtained in two steps and good yields from commercially available materials, formulated as [CuII(L1)2(MeCN)2]·2ClO4·MeCN (1), [CuII(L1)(NO3)2]·MeCN (2), [ZnII(L1)2(H2O)2]·2ClO4·2MeCN (3), [CuII(L1)2Cl2]2 (4), [CuII5(L1)2Cl10] (5), [CuII2(L1)4Br2]·4MeCN·CuII2Br6 (6), [CuII(L1)2(MeCN)2]·2BF4 (7), [CuII(L1)2(CF3SO3)2] (8), [ZnII(L1)2(MeCN)2]·2CF3SO3 (9), [CuII2(L2)4(H2O)2]·4CF3SO3·4Me2CO (10), and [CuII2(L3)4(CF3SO3)2]·2CF3SO3·Me2CO (11), are reported. These air-stable compounds were tested as homogeneous catalysts for the A3 coupling synthesis of propargylamine derivatives from aldehyde, amine, and alkyne under a noninert atmosphere. Fine tuning of the catalyst resulted in a one-dimensional (1D) coordination polymer (CP) (8) with excellent catalytic activity in a wide range of substrates, avoiding any issues that would inhibit its performance.

Introduction: Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia (WM) is a rare, indolent, incurable, low-grade B-cell lymphoplasmacytic neoplasm. This review article provides a modern clinical perspective of the individualized management of patients with symptomatic WM, in the context of the updated treatment guidelines and the currently available trial data. Areas covered: Rituximab-based regimens (such as the dexamethasone, rituximab and cyclophosphamide combination, DRC) are the most widely used in the management of both newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory patients with WM. Recently, the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib has been licensed for use in WM with exciting results. Several investigational single agent and combination regimens are being evaluated for response, efficacy and tolerability in phase II clinical trials, including new generation monoclonal antibodies (ofatumumab), immunomodulatory agents (thalidomide and lenalidomide), proteasome inhibitors (bortezomib and carfilzomib), Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors (ibrutinib and acalabrutinib), phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin pathway inhibitors (everolimus and perifosene), and histone deacetylase inhibitors (panobinostat) both in the setting of newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory disease. Expert opinion: WM therapeutic approach should be individualized for each patient in accordance to the intensity of the disease characteristics, age, comorbidities, efficacy, tolerability and safety profile of each drug. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Introduction: Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia (WM) is a rare, indolent, incurable, low-grade B-cell lymphoplasmacytic neoplasm. This review article provides a modern clinical perspective of the individualized management of patients with symptomatic WM, in the context of the updated treatment guidelines and the currently available trial data. Areas covered: Rituximab-based regimens (such as the dexamethasone, rituximab and cyclophosphamide combination, DRC) are the most widely used in the management of both newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory patients with WM. Recently, the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib has been licensed for use in WM with exciting results. Several investigational single agent and combination regimens are being evaluated for response, efficacy and tolerability in phase II clinical trials, including new generation monoclonal antibodies (ofatumumab), immunomodulatory agents (thalidomide and lenalidomide), proteasome inhibitors (bortezomib and carfilzomib), Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors (ibrutinib and acalabrutinib), phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin pathway inhibitors (everolimus and perifosene), and histone deacetylase inhibitors (panobinostat) both in the setting of newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory disease. Expert opinion: WM therapeutic approach should be individualized for each patient in accordance to the intensity of the disease characteristics, age, comorbidities, efficacy, tolerability and safety profile of each drug. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Early management of vascular injury, starting at the field, is imperative for survival no less than any operative maneuver. Contemporary prehospital management of vascular trauma, including appropriate fluid and volume infusion, tourniquets, and hemostatic agents, has reversed the historically known limb hemorrhage as a leading cause of death. In this context, damage control (DC) surgery has evolved to DC resuscitation (DCR) as an overarching concept that draws together preoperative and operative interventions aiming at rapidly reducing bleeding from vascular disruption, optimizing oxygenation, and clinical outcomes. This review addresses contemporary DCR techniques from the prehospital to the surgical setting, focusing on civilian vascular injuries.

BACKGROUND: New diagnoses of HIV-1 infection among people who inject drugs (PWID) increased significantly during 2011 in Athens. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to investigate the patterns of HIV epidemic spread among PWID and to estimate the transmission dynamics for the major local transmission networks (LTNs). METHODS: We analyzed sequences from 2,274 HIV-infected subjects sampled in Greece during 01/01/2011-31/10/2014. Of specimens in our sample, 874 sequences were isolated from HIV-infected PWID. Phylodynamic analysis was performed using birth-death serial skyline models. RESULTS: Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the majority of sequences from PWID (N=746, 85.4%) fell within four LTNs: CRF14_BG (N=456, 58.3%), CRF35_AD (N=149, 19.1%), subtype B (N=118, 15.1%) and A1 (N=59, 7.5%). In addition to PWID, we also found that sequences from 36 non-PWID belonged to the LTNs corresponding to cross-group transmissions. Based on the estimated plots of the effective reproductive number (Re) over time, subtype A1 and CRF35_AD LTNs showed a sharp increase before and during 2011 (maximum value of Re=3.0 and Re=4.6, respectively). For subtype B and CRF14_BG LTNs, the Re was increasing until the end of 2012 (maximum value of Re=3.2 and Re=3.0, respectively). CONCLUSION: HIV transmissions within subtype A1 and CRF35_AD LTNs increased sharply during the early stage of the outbreak, in contrast to subtype B and CRF14_BG. A significant reduction in the number of infections was estimated on all transmission networks from the beginning of 2013 onwards. Prevention measures that took place in the Athens metropolitan area at the end of 2012 including also the ARISTOTLE program may explain this decrease.

Swift_J010745.0-722740 is a BeXRB candidate located in the SMC (ATel #5778) with no X-ray pulsations detected so far. Its companion exhibits strong (0.3-0.4 mag) outbursts, with a recurring time of 1180 d (ATel #5781, #5778).

This research project investigates the influence of a number of economic and financial variables on the profitability of Greek enterprises from 2006 to 2013, namely: annual revenue, exports as a binary variable, number of employees, sectoral composition, investments and founding year. Three models were tested using linear stepwise regression as well as logistic regression. The fit to the data is low, indicating that other important factors, in addition to those tested, influence the development of corporate profits more. Running the models for individual years we see that in the years 2010 and 2011 mark a shift in the direction of the relation of several of our variables to profits (such as the age of the enterprise and the number of employees). The full application of austerity policies because of the crisis may be the explanation for that, indicating that the crisis did not have a unified influence on profitability. More importantly statistically significant results are observed in relations which conflict with economic theory, namely exports are negatively correlated to profitability (Model 1) or not correlated at all (Model 2). Our models do not contribute to understanding the determinants of profitability but rather the difficulties to identify smooth profitability patterns at times of crisis and austerity. The research is still in progress as we strive to improve the explanatory power of the models, by expanding the number of variables and using additional statistical methods.

The paper starts recalling the various stages that lead to the definition of the Early Byzantine Tectonic Paroxysm (EBTP), which was determined mainly from fossil uplifted shorelines of the Eastern Mediterranean between the middle of the 4th century and the middle of the 6th century CE. A comparison of catalogues of earthquakes may show that possibly an important event occurred in 361 CE in the northern Adriatic, i.e. near the beginning of a sequence of clustered earth movements. This event is proposed as the most likely for the coseismic subsidence of a known slightly submerged tidal notch that developed along over 200 km of the Croatian shoreline.

The aim of this preliminary study is to present the usage behaviour of mHealth applications. A survey was conducted among 352 Smartphone users; 109 of them had used mHealth applications as well. The usage of these applications seemed to be quite low. Young people had used mHealth applications more than the elders. Also, there was not found a statistically significant relationship between the gender and the usage of mHealth applications.

{© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between disordered eating attitudes and emotional/behavioral adjustment in Greek adolescents as well as the moderating role of gender and body mass index (BMI) in this relationship. Methods: Ninety adolescents, 11–18 years old, were assessed using anthropometric measurements; demographics, eating attitudes and level of emotional/behavioral adjustment were examined via self-reported questionnaires. Results: Disordered eating attitudes were prevalent in 17.8% of the sample. A significant relationship was found between disordered eating attitudes and Youth Self-Report (YSR) anxiety score (r = .22, p < .05). Gender significantly moderated the relationship between YSR anxiety symptoms and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) scores (b = .59

Le début du XXe siècle, est pour la Grèce une période de transition entre la méthode traditionnelle et la méthode directe. On se préoccupe davantage pour l’enseignement de la langue vivante et de son aspect plus pratique. Ainsi, de nombreux pédagogues, encouragés par la multiplication des instituts de langue, écoles commerciales mais aussi par l’intérêt croissant de la jeunesse hellénique pour les concours administratifs (qui exigeaient une bonne connaissance de la langue française) proposent des nouvelles méthodes d’apprentissage du français et font carrière en publiant des ouvrages divers pour l’enseignement de la langue. C’est dans ce cadre que paraît à Athènes, de 1908 à 1911, Ἡ Γαλλική Ἐφημερίς, une publication hebdomadaire bilingue. Son éditeur, Théodore Kyprios, professeur de français et auteur par la suite de nombreux manuels, se vante de mettre à la disposition des apprenants grecs un outil innovant pour l’apprentissage de la langue française. Il s’agit, en effet, d’une revue destinée à l’autoapprentissage de la langue. Tout en restant près de la tradition scolaire qui continue à promouvoir l’usage de la traduction dans l’enseignement des langues, Ἡ Γαλλική Ἐφημερίς vise à une maîtrise effective de la langue, comme moyen de communication, et à des connaissances vraiment utiles et indispensables dans les relations sociales quotidiennes. Il s’applique, enfin, à donner à ses lecteurs le contexte culturel dans lequel évolue le peuple dont on étudie la langue

Fires of 2007 have consumed large areas of Black pine and endemic fir forests in Greece. The current research aims at examining the role of geomorphology and lithology that govern the soil properties upon the post-fire vegetation recovery at the landscape level. A case study from Taygetos Mt, a large part of which was burned in 2007, is presented. Based on the interpretation of a high spatial and spectral resolution satellite image (WorldView-3, 4/2015), GIS thematic layers have been created showing unburned and regenerated patches over various lithological types. A network of sites was selected for field sampling representing various combinations of the above. Data on recovery of the main tree species as well as on total vegetation cover were collected. Results prove the relationship between regeneration ability and plant species traits as well as the existence of unburned patches near the burned ones. Black pine had regenerated from seeds dispersed from cones that have remained intact on unburned or scorched trees, close enough to the burned patches, while Greek fir presented remarkably low regeneration, lacking of any response mechanism. Plant species recovery seems to be controlled by the geology as it was found weaker in plots overlying carbonate, permeable, not easily erodible formations as compared to that observed over clastic, impermeable, erodible formations of schists, even for the same species. In conclusion, post-fire vegetation recovery at the landscape level seems to be a complex process controlled not only from species biology but also from the landscape features.

PURPOSE: Despite recent research advantages on the molecular and subcellular background, bladder cancer (BlCa) remains a clinically neglected malignancy. This is strongly reflected by the generic approach of disease diagnosis and management. Additionally, patients' prognosis became a rather demanding task due to the great disease heterogeneity. Here, we aimed to evaluate, for the first time, the clinical value of KLK13 in BlCa. METHODS: A total of 279 bladder specimens (137 tumors, 107 adjacent normal tissues and 35 healthy samples) were included. Total RNA was extracted, reverse transcribed, and KLK13 expression was assessed by quantitative real-time PCR. RESULTS: KLK13 expression is significantly increased in bladder tumors compared to normal adjacent epithelium. However, reduced KLK13 expression is correlated with disease aggressiveness, including higher tumor stage and grade, and high-risk TaT1 tumors according to the EORTC stratification. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis highlighted the prognostic value of the reduced KLK13 expression for the prediction of TaT1 patients' recurrence and shorter disease-free survival following TURBT. Finally, the combination of KLK13 expression with EORTC-risk stratification results to an improved prediction of TaT1 patients' outcome. CONCLUSION: This first clinical study of KLK13 in BlCa reveals its deregulated expression in bladder tumors and highlights KLK13 as a promising marker for improving TaT1 patients' prognosis following treatment.

Background: Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a group of relatively rare infections, usually caused by two or more pathogens. It affects the skin and subcutaneous tissues of lower and upper limbs, perineal area (Fournier’s gangrene) and the abdominal wall. Early diagnosis and aggressive surgical management are of high significance for the management of this potentially lethal disease. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in patients who presented,during the last decade,at four University Surgical Departments in the area of Athens, Greece, with an admission diagnosis of NF. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were gathered, and the preoperative and surgical treatment, as well as the postoperative treatment was analyzed for these patients. Results: A total of 62 patients were included in the study. The mean age of patients was 63.7 (47 male patients). Advanced age (over 65 years) (P<0.01) and female sex (P=0.04) correlated significantly with mortality. Perineum was the mostly infected site (46.8%), followed by the lower limbs (35.5%), and the upper limbs and the axillary region (8.1%). Diabetes mellitus was the most common co-existing disease (40.3%), followed by hypertension (25.8%) and obesity (17,7%). The most common symptom was local pain and tenderness (90.3%). Septic shock occurred in 8 patients (12.9%), and strongly correlated with mortality (P<0.01). Laboratory data were used to calculate retrospectively the LRINEC score of every patient; 26 patients (41.9%) had LRINEC score under 6, 20 patients (32.3%) had LRINEC score 6-8 and 16 patients (25.8%) had LRINEC score >9. Surgical debridement was performed in all patients (mean no. of repeated debridement 4.8), and in 16 cases (25.8%) the infected limb was amputated. The mean length of hospital stay was 19.7 days, and the overall mortality rate of our series was 17.7%. Conclusions: Diagnosis of NF requires high suspect among clinicians, as its clinical image is non-specific. Laboratory tests can depict the severity of the disease; therefore they must be carefully evaluated. Urgent surgical debridement is the mainstay of treatment in all patients; the need of repetitive surgical debridement is undisputed.

Age-dependent collapse of lipid homeostasis results in spillover of lipids and excessive fat deposition in nonadipose tissues. Ectopic fat contributes to lipotoxicity and has been implicated in the development of a metabolic syndrome that increases risk of age-associated diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms coupling ectopic fat accumulation with aging remain obscure. Here, we use nonlinear imaging modalities to visualize and quantify age-dependent ectopic lipid accumulation in Caenorhabditis elegans We find that aging is accompanied by pronounced deposition of lipids in nonadipose tissues, including the nervous system. Importantly, interventions that promote longevity such as low insulin signaling, germ-line loss, and dietary restriction, which effectively delay aging in evolutionary divergent organisms, diminish the rate of ectopic fat accumulation and the size of lipid droplets. Suppression of lipotoxic accumulation of fat in heterologous tissues is dependent on helix-loop-helix (HLH)-30/transcription factor EB (TFEB) and autophagy. Our findings in their totality highlight the pivotal role of HLH-30/TFEB and autophagic processes in the maintenance of lipid homeostasis during aging, in addition to establishing nonlinear imaging as a powerful tool for monitoring ectopic lipid droplet deposition in vivo.

Although forest fires are considered an integral part of Mediterranean forest ecosystems, they nevertheless constitute one of the most devastating natural hazards. Apart from the direct consequences, fires induce longer term effects in the geomorphological and hydrological processes, influencing environmental factors that in turn can affect the occurrence of other natural hazards, such as floods and mass movement phenomena. This work focuses on the forest fire of 2007 in Peloponnese, Greece that burnt 1773 km2, causing 78 fatalities and very significant damages in property and infrastructure and went down as the largest fire in the country’s record. It examines the occurrence of flood and mass movement phenomena, before and after this mega-fire and studies different influencing factors to investigate the degree to which the 2007 fire and/or other parameters have affected their frequency.Observational evidence based on several data sources collected during the period 1989-2016 show that the 2007 fire has contributed to an increase of average flood and mass movement events frequency by approximately 3.3 and 5.6 times respectively. Fire affected areas record a substantial increase in the occurrence of both phenomena, presenting a noticeably stronger increase compared to neighbouring areas that have not been affected. Examination of the monthly occurrence of events showed an increase even in months of the year were rainfall intensity presented decreasing trends. Although no major land use changes has been identified and chlorophyll is shown to recover 2 years after the fire incident, differences on the type of vegetation as tall forest has been substituted with lower vegetation are considered significant drivers for the observed changes in hydrogeomorphic response of the fire affected basins.

The use of dopamine replacement therapies (DRT) in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) can lead to the development of dopamine dysregulation syndrome (DDS) and impulse control disorders (ICD), behavioral disturbances characterized by compulsive DRT self-medication and development of impulsive behaviors. However, the mechanisms behind these disturbances are poorly understood. In animal models of PD, the assessment of the rewarding properties of levodopa (LD), one of the most common drugs used in PD, has produced conflicting results, and its ability to promote increased impulsivity is still understudied. Moreover, it is unclear whether acute and chronic LD therapy differently affects reward and impulsivity. In this study we aimed at assessing, in an animal model of PD with bilateral mesostriatal and mesocorticolimbic degeneration, the behavioral effects of LD therapy regarding reward and impulsivity. Animals with either sham or 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced bilateral lesions in the (SNc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) were exposed to acute and chronic LD treatment. We used the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm to evaluate the rewarding effects of LD, whereas impulsive behavior was measured with the variable delay-to-signal (VDS) task. Correlation analyses between behavioral measurements of reward or impulsivity and lesion extent in SNc/VTA were performed to pinpoint possible anatomical links of LD-induced behavioral changes. We show that LD, particularly when administered chronically, caused the development of impulsive-like behaviors in 6-OHDA-lesioned animals in the VDS. However, neither acute or chronic LD administration had rewarding effects in 6-OHDA-lesioned animals in the CPP. Our results show that in a bilateral rat model of PD, LD leads to the development of impulsive behaviors, strengthening the association between DRT and DDS/ICD in PD.

The use of dopamine replacement therapies (DRT) in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) can lead to the development of dopamine dysregulation syndrome (DDS) and impulse control disorders (ICD), behavioral disturbances characterized by compulsive DRT self-medication and development of impulsive behaviors. However, the mechanisms behind these disturbances are poorly understood. In animal models of PD, the assessment of the rewarding properties of levodopa (LD), one of the most common drugs used in PD, has produced conflicting results, and its ability to promote increased impulsivity is still understudied. Moreover, it is unclear whether acute and chronic LD therapy differently affects reward and impulsivity. In this study we aimed at assessing, in an animal model of PD with bilateral mesostriatal and mesocorticolimbic degeneration, the behavioral effects of LD therapy regarding reward and impulsivity. Animals with either sham or 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced bilateral lesions in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) were exposed to acute and chronic LD treatment. We used the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm to evaluate the rewarding effects of LD, whereas impulsive behavior was measured with the variable delay-to-signal (VDS) task. Correlation analyses between behavioral measurements of reward or impulsivity and lesion extent in SNc/VTA were performed to pinpoint possible anatomical links of LD-induced behavioral changes. We show that LD, particularly when administered chronically, caused the development of impulsive-like behaviors in 6-OHDA-lesioned animals in the VDS. However, neither acute or chronic LD administration had rewarding effects in 6-OHDA-lesioned animals in the CPP. Our results show that in a bilateral rat model of PD, LD leads to the development of impulsive behaviors, strengthening the association between DRT and DDS/ICD in PD.

A series of experiments was carried out to investigate possible structural or biochemical alterations in Gossypium hirsutum plants after a long term (21 days) exposure to non ionizing radiation (1882 MHz) emitted from the base unit of a cordless DECT system. Exposed plants, compared to the negative (matched) controls, seem to be seriously affected. Notably lower biomass production for the above ground part and the root was recorded. Reduction of the photosynthetic pigments and severe damage of the chloroplast structure were also observed. It seems that non ionizing radiation can be noxious for plant life functions. © 2016 Elsevier GmbH

Aim of the study was to investigate whether high-intensity interval cycling performed immediately after resistance training would inhibit muscle strength increase and hypertrophy expected from resistance training per se. Twenty-two young men were assigned into either resistance training (RE; N = 11) or resistance training plus high-intensity interval cycling (REC; N = 11). Lower body muscle strength and rate of force development (RFD), quadriceps cross-sectional area (CSA) and vastus lateralis muscle architecture, muscle fiber type composition and capillarization, and estimated aerobic capacity were evaluated before and after 8 weeks of training (2 times per week). Muscle strength and quadriceps CSA were significantly and similarly increased after both interventions. Fiber CSA increased significantly and similarly after both RE (type I: 13.6 ± 3.7%, type IIA: 17.6 ± 4.4%, type IIX: 23.2 ± 5.7%, P < 0.05) and REC (type I: 10.0 ± 2.7%, type IIA: 14.8 ± 4.3% type IIX: 20.8 ± 6.0%, P < 0.05). In contrast, RFD decreased and fascicle angle increased (P < 0.05) only after REC. Capillary density and estimated aerobic capacity increased (P < 0.05) only after REC. These results suggest that high-intensity interval cycling performed after heavy-resistance exercise may not inhibit resistance exercise-induced muscle strength/hypertrophy after 2 months of training, while it prompts aerobic capacity and muscle capillarization. The addition of high-intensity cycling after heavy-resistance exercise may decrease RFD partly due to muscle architectural changes.

Apart from direct consequences, forest fires induce water related effects related to geomorphological and hydrological processes, triggering floods and mass movement phenomena. This work focuses on the forest fire of 2007 in Peloponnese, Greece that to date corresponds to the largest fire in the country’s record. It examines the occurrence of flood and mass movement phenomena, before and after this fire and analyses different influencing factors to investigate the degree to which the 2007 fire and/or other parameters have affected their frequency. Observational evidence collected during the period 1989-2016 show that the 2007 fire has contributed to an increase of average flood and mass movement events frequency by approximately 3.3 and 5.6 times respectively. Fire affected areas record a substantial increase in the occurrence of both phenomena, presenting a noticeably stronger increase compared to neighbouring areas that have not been affected. Examination of the monthly occurrence of events showed an increase even in months of the year were rainfall intensity presented decreasing trends. Although no major land use changes has been identified and chlorophyll is shown to recover 2 years after the fire incident, differences on the type of vegetation as tall forest has been substituted with lower vegetation are considered significant drivers for the observed increase in flood and mass movement frequency in the fire affected areas.

We investigated the effectiveness of two teaching formats that fall under the canopy of Mosston and Ashworth’s (2008) practice style, on fifth grade students’ motor skill performance and task engagement. Both formats are also known as station teaching or learning centers. In the teacher-rotated format (TR), the teacher decides the amount of time apportioned during practice at each station, whereas in the learner-rotated format (LR), each learner decides on task order and the amount of time spent at each station. Ten-year-old children (N = 60) were randomly assigned to the TR group (n = 20), the LR group (n = 25), and a control group (n = 15). A soccer dribbling test was employed to evaluate the soccer dribbling skill prior to and after the instructional intervention. The same soccer dribbling tasks were taught to the learners in both treatment groups in eight 30-min sessions. ANCOVA on the posttest scores showed a significant difference between the experimental groups and the control group (p < .001) and between the two experimental groups, favoring the LR group (p < .001). A 3 × 2 (Group × Test) repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant improvement of the soccer dribbling skill for both teaching formats (p < .001) but not for the control group. An ANOVA on the overall practice trial data yielded significant differences between the two formats, favoring the LR group (p < .001). Both formats were found to be effective, but the results indicate that given the opportunity to reapportion their practice time, learners in the LR format took advantage of this opportunity and improved their performance further.

Introduction: Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common hematologic malignancy and despite significant outcome improvements with novel agents, the majority of patients will eventually relapse and develop treatment resistance. Immunotherapy is emerging as a promising therapeutic approach in MM. Areas covered: Elotuzumab is a monoclonal antibody directly targeting the SLAMF7 receptor, expressed on normal and malignant plasma cells. Elotuzumab has no meaningful antimyeloma activity when given as monotherapy to patients with relapsed or refractory MM (RRMM). However, it demonstrated significant antimyeloma activity in preclinical studies and when it is combined with other antimyeloma agents (i.e. bortezomib or lenalidomide) in clinical trials, it improved response and clinical outcomes with no additive toxicity. This review provides a brief description of the elotuzumab mechanism of action and an overview on its efficacy in preclinical and clinical trials, including its safety and toxicity profile. Expert commentary: Based on the results of a phase 3 clinical trial (ELOQUENT-2), which compared lenalidomide and dexamethasone with or without elotuzumab in patients with RRMM, elotuzumab was approved by FDA in November 2015 for MM patients who received 1–3 prior lines of therapy. Studies with combinations of elotuzumab with other anti-myeloma drugs in different phases of MM are ongoing. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Introduction: Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common hematologic malignancy and despite significant outcome improvements with novel agents, the majority of patients will eventually relapse and develop treatment resistance. Immunotherapy is emerging as a promising therapeutic approach in MM. Areas covered: Elotuzumab is a monoclonal antibody directly targeting the SLAMF7 receptor, expressed on normal and malignant plasma cells. Elotuzumab has no meaningful antimyeloma activity when given as monotherapy to patients with relapsed or refractory MM (RRMM). However, it demonstrated significant antimyeloma activity in preclinical studies and when it is combined with other antimyeloma agents (i.e. bortezomib or lenalidomide) in clinical trials, it improved response and clinical outcomes with no additive toxicity. This review provides a brief description of the elotuzumab mechanism of action and an overview on its efficacy in preclinical and clinical trials, including its safety and toxicity profile. Expert commentary: Based on the results of a phase 3 clinical trial (ELOQUENT-2), which compared lenalidomide and dexamethasone with or without elotuzumab in patients with RRMM, elotuzumab was approved by FDA in November 2015 for MM patients who received 1–3 prior lines of therapy. Studies with combinations of elotuzumab with other anti-myeloma drugs in different phases of MM are ongoing. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Atomic carbon wires represent the ultimate one-atom-thick one-dimensional structure. We use a Tight-binding (TB) approach to determine the electronic structure of polyynic and cumulenic carbynes, in terms of their dispersion relations (for cyclic boundaries), eigenspectra (for fixed boundaries) and density of states (DOS). We further derive the transmission coefficient at zero-bias by attaching the carbynes to semi-infinite metallic leads, and demonstrate the effect of the coupling strength and asymmetry to the transparency of the system to incident carriers. Finally, we determine the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of carbynes and study the effect of factors such as the weakening of the coupling of the system to one of the leads, the relative position of the Fermi levels of the carbyne and the leads, the leads' bandwidth and, finally, the difference in the energy structure between the leads. Our results confirm and reproduce some of the most recent experimental findings.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The treatment of hepatitis C (HCV) with interferon (IFN)-free direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) is anticipated to change the future burden of disease. The aim of this study is to quantify the impact of IFN-free DAAs on HCV-related morbidity and mortality in Greece under different scenarios concerning treatment coverage and primary prevention, including the proposed by World Health Organization Global Hepatitis Strategy. METHODS: A previously described model was used to project the future disease burden up to 2030 under scenarios, which includes treatment based on the combination of pegylated-IFN with ribavirin (base case) and scenarios using DAAs therapies. RESULTS: Under the base case scenario, an increase in HCV-related morbidity and mortality is predicted in Greece (mortality in 2030: +23.6% compared with 2015). If DAAs are used with the same treatment coverage, the number of hepatocellular carcinoma cases and of liver related deaths are predicted to be lower by 4-7% compared with 2015. Under increased treatment coverage (from 2000 treated/year to approximately 5000/year in 2015-2020 and 2500/year subsequently), morbidity and mortality will decrease by 43-53% in 2030 compared with 2015. To achieve the WHO Global Hepatitis Strategy goals, a total number of 86 500 chronic hepatitis C patients will have to be treated during 2015-2030. CONCLUSIONS: Elimination of HCV in Greece by 2030 necessitates great improvements in primary prevention, implementation of large screening programs and high treatment coverage.

This volume presents essays written in honour of Stratis Kyriakidis, Emeritus Professor of Latin Literature at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Greece. It offers a rich assortment of scholarship on classical literature, ranging from Homeric epic, and the tradition of ecphrasis it spawned in a number of genres, to 17th-century English translations of Virgil’s Aeneid. The collection is divided into two sections, the first on Greek literature, and the second on Latin literature. The sixteen chapters within offer fresh insights and thoughtful readings of a variety of works of classical literature, as well-known as the Iliad and the Aeneid and as exotic as the epigrams of Geminus.

L'ouvrage nous invite à revisiter le xviiie siècle sous un prisme très actuel : celui du changement et de la rupture. Inventeur de notre modernité, le siècle des Lumières est en effet un temps important de transition de l’histoire occidentale : traversé de tensions, de conflits et de contradictions, il marque le passage d’un monde qui se voulait stable et cohérent à un autre porteur de mouvement et, de ce fait, de changement. Institutions et structures traditionnelles, valeurs et principes séculaires, tout est remis en cause par l’affirmation de nouvelles dynamiques économiques, sociales et politiques ainsi que par une effervescence intellectuelle, culturelle et morale inédite. Ce livre pourrait autant s’avérer utile à un public étudiant qu’intéresser un lectorat plus large, féru d’histoire et intrigué par les enjeux d’un passé lointain, notamment quand ceux-ci semblent, dans le contexte de crise civilisationnelle de notre ère, se projeter dans un avenir en train de s’inventer.Compte renduhttps://www.gregoiredetours.fr/epoque-moderne/lumieres/loukia-efthymiou-les-crises-de-la-france-des-lumieres/

The authors who documented the lives of emperors –with very few exceptions, such as Procopius and Michael Psellos– were not particularly interested in their private or romantic aff airs. Occasionally they might mention imperial wives by name, but they would make extensive references to empresses only when their actions infl uenced political developments. What they neglected to do, however, was to approach those illicit incidents from a feminine point of view as well; as a result, certain questions emerge, revolving around the central reference point of the women concerned, both as parts of the regularity of marital relations and as agents leading to the disruption or circumvention. The aim of this study is to present, with the use of telling references from the above-mentioned sources, the distinct and/or interlocked “love” parts played by Byzantium’s crowned women, to attempt their categorization and to draw certain broad conclusions conerning their roles as wives, paramours and mistressess.

Στις 29 Σεπτεμβρίου 1945, το Empire Patrol, ένα βρετανικό πλοίο που μετέφερε Καστελλοριζιούς πρόσφυγες του Β΄ Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου στο Καστελλόριζο μετά από τη διετή προσφυγιά τους στο Νουζεϊράτ της Παλαιστίνης, έπιασε φωτιά και ναυάγησε 28 ναυτικά μίλια έξω από το Πορτ Σαΐντ, στέλνοντας στον θάνατο 33 Καστελλοριζιούς. Κάποιοι νέοι και παιδιά που επέζησαν αργότερα μετανάστευσαν στην Αυστραλία, όπου ήδη υπήρχαν κοινότητες Καστελλοριζιών από τις αρχές του 20ού αιώνα. Εκεί ανασυγκρότησαν τη ζωή τους, αλλά και τις τραυματικές μνήμες του εκπατρισμού, της προσφυγιάς, του ναυαγίου και της επιστροφής στο κατεστραμμένο από βομβαρδισμούς και φωτιές Καστελλόριζο. Δημιούργησαν έναν πολυφωνικό, βιωματικό και νεωτερικό (στο διαδίκτυο) τόπο μνήμης για το ναυάγιο και τα πλαισιωτικά του γεγονότα, με στόχο να διατηρήσουν τη μνήμη του και να «παραδώσουν ιστορία» στους απογόνους τους, καθιστώντας το τραυματικό αυτό γεγονός, κεντρικό σύμβολο της καστελλοριζιακής ταυτότητας στη διασπορά και στοιχείο δημόσιας μνήμης στην κοινωνία της Αυστραλίας. Το βιβλίο αυτό είναι το αποτέλεσμα μακρόχρονης επιτόπιας και πολυτοπικής έρευνας της συγγραφέως στην καστελλοριζιακή κοινότητα του Περθ Δυτικής Αυστραλίας, αλλά και στις κοινότητες των Καστελλοριζιών του νησιού, της Ρόδου και της Αθήνας. Μελετά ενδελεχώς τη συγκρότηση και τη μεταβίβαση της συλλογικής, της τραυματικής και της λαϊκής μνήμης μέσα από την ανάλυση ζωντανών (προφορικών), δοσμένων και ηχητικά σε ψηφιακό δίσκο, και διαδικτυακών αφηγήσεων και τελετουργιών για το ναυάγιο. Συνδυάζοντας τα επιστημονικά εργαλεία και τις προσεγγίσεις της ανθρωπολογίας, της λαογραφίας και της προφορικής ιστορίας, επιχειρεί μια σφαιρική προσέγγιση στη μελέτη της καστελλοριζιακής διασποράς, της ιστορίας και της ταυτότητάς της στην Αυστραλία και στις σχέσεις της με τον τόπο καταγωγής της. Η ανάλυση της ανασυγκρότησης της μνήμης της προσφυγιάς και του ναυαγίου των Καστελλοριζιών της Αυστραλίας αλλά και της Ελλάδας, εισάγει επίκαιρο προβληματισμό, καθώς το ακριτικό Καστελλόριζο σήμερα υποδέχεται δεκάδες προσφύγων που συχνά αφήνουν πίσω τους ανάλογες εμπειρίες προσβλέποντας σε μια νέα ζωή σε άλλες, ιδανικά φιλόξενες, πατρίδες.

We report on the morphology and optical properties of CuInS2/ZnS core-shell quantum dots in solid films by means of AFM, SEM, HRTEM, steady state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The amount of aggregation of the CuInS2/ZnS QDs was controlled by changing the preparation conditions of the films. A red-shift of the PL spectrum of CuInS2/ZnS core-shell quantum dots, deposited as solid films on silicon substrates, is observed upon increasing the amount of aggregation. The presence of larger aggregates was found to lead to a larger PL red-shift. Besides, as the degree of aggregation increased, the PL decay became slower. We attribute the observed PL red-shift to energy transfer from the smaller to the larger dots within the aggregates, with the emission being realized via a long decay recombination mechanism (100-200 ns), the origin of which is discussed. © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Social collaborative filtering recommender systems extend the traditional user-to-item interaction with explicit user-to-user relationships, thereby allowing for a wider exploration of correlations among users and items, that potentially lead to better recommendations. A number of methods have been proposed in the direction of exploring the social network, either locally (i.e. the vicinity of each user) or globally. In this paper, we propose a novel methodology for collaborative filtering social recommendation that tries to combine the merits of both the aforementioned approaches, based on the soft-clustering of the Friend-of-a-Friend (FoaF) network of each user. This task is accomplished by the non-negative factorization of the adjacency matrix of the FoaF graph, while the edge-centric logic of the factorization algorithm is ameliorated by incorporating more general structural properties of the graph, such as the number of edges and stars, through the introduction of the exponential random graph models. The preliminary results obtained reveal the potential of this idea.

The present paper tries to devise a rating system for evaluating the likelihood of success of publicly supported companies. In recent literature we encounter quality indexes, composed of variables like name selection, registration location, intellectual property rights etc., which predict fairly accurately startup success. Unfortunately such indexes can only be compiled for countries with open administrations facilitating access and cross-checking of company data. We argue, however, that it is countries with less open administrations that have the highest need of ex ante quality assessment in order to maximise the public return of investment of state support mechanisms. This is why we suggest that, rather than giving up research on the likelihood of company growth because of lack of systematic open data, we can test firm dynamism based on public domain information. Dynamic firms, we assume, will be more likely to grow. The Web and Social Media data, which have until now mostly been used for marketing purposes, can be a valuable source of information for our purpose. We attempted to use the digital footprint as a proxy for the dynamism of SMEs and startups. Using State Aid schemes (i.e. public support to profit-oriented companies) in the period 2007-2013 in Greece we constructed a sample of 2000 companies and rated them individually for their presence (or not) in Facebook, LinkedIn, a site (with or without registered domain name), e-mail with domain name, references, size of the site, sales via web, search function, communication, regular update, FAQs and after sales support availability. Testing for sector, region, type of company and type of support scheme we find a statistically significant result for the more dynamic sectors, type of schemes and type of companies, while the regional level appears to be irrelevant, as companies in all regions demonstrate a fairly unified digital presence.

This study reviews and synthesises existing information generated within the SCOPSCO (Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid) deep drilling project. The four main aims of the project are to infer (i) the age and origin of Lake Ohrid (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Republic of Albania), (ii) its regional seismotectonic history, (iii) volcanic activity and climate change in the central northern Mediterranean region, and (iv) the influence of major geological events on the evolution of its endemic species. The Ohrid basin formed by transtension during the Miocene, opened during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and the lake established de novo in the still relatively narrow valley between 1.9 and 1.3 Ma. The lake history is recorded in a 584 m long sediment sequence, which was recovered within the framework of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) from the central part (DEEP site) of the lake in spring 2013. To date, 54 tephra and cryptotephra horizons have been found in the upper 460 m of this sequence. Tephrochronology and tuning biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters revealed that the upper 247.8 m represent the last 637 kyr. The multi-proxy data set covering these 637 kyr indicates long-term variability. Some proxies show a change from generally cooler and wetter to drier and warmer glacial and interglacial periods around 300 ka. Short-term environmental change caused, for example, by tephra deposition or the climatic impact of millennial-scale Dansgaard–Oeschger and Heinrich events are superimposed on the long-term trends. Evolutionary studies on the extant fauna indicate that Lake Ohrid was not a refugial area for regional freshwater animals. This differs from the surrounding catchment, where the mountainous setting with relatively high water availability provided a refuge for temperate and montane trees during the relatively cold and dry glacial periods. Although Lake Ohrid experienced significant environmental change over the last 637 kyr, preliminary molecular data from extant microgastropod species do not indicate significant changes in diversification rate during this period. The reasons for this constant rate remain largely unknown, but a possible lack of environmentally induced extinction events in Lake Ohrid and/or the high resilience of the ecosystems may have played a role.

In Fig. 4a the heat map legend is as follows: [figure presented]

Health information systems can improve the quality of services in healthcare. Evaluation of health information systems in hospitals is a very complex process, and it is more effective when different aspects are considered. The present work aims to develop an evaluation framework of an integrated HIS in order to improve the quality of healthcare services provided in Cyprus. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used, that measured three aspects of the system: technology, human factor and organization. Preliminary results showed that while participants seem to agree with the potential benefits of the integrated HIS, safety of data within the HIS is seen as a problem. Qualitatively, the study pointed to 3 factors that might improve the current integrated HIS: increasing interdisciplinary cooperation, training of staff, and upgrading the infrastructure. Further studies will provide a comprehensive picture for Cyprus, so that appropriate measures can be proposed and put in action.

ERA-Interim, ECMWF’s reanalysis product, includes wave and atmospheric characteristics, with high temporal andspatial scale, providing more information on the marine state. Even though their assimilation process has been validated and verified in numerous studies, their performance in more local scales is still under examination. This research focuses on the evaluation of performance of ERA-Interim reanalysis datasets in the Greek Seas for wind and wave characteristics in comparison to POSEIDON buoy data. The results prove fair to good correlation for wave height (r = 0.67-0.94) and wind speed (r= 0.71-0.83) and different error statistics per sub-region. The upper 10% analysis shows an underestimate of 10-15% for wind speed and wave height from ERA-Interim in relation to the buoy measurements. The ERA-Interim and the buoy monthly means and standard deviations are also presented and discussed according to seasonal patterns. The results of the study are compared to other researches of wave hindcasting and wind reanalysis data for the Greek Seas and globally. It is shown that ERA-Interim products could be regarded as representative for the Greek Seas, although their application should be made with caution regarding the assessment of extreme conditions (i.e. given in analyses of upper percentiles) and especially at nearshore locations due to complex coastline configuration enhanced by the great number of islands

{ERA-Interim, ECMWF's reanalysis product, includes wave and atmospheric characteristics, with high temporal and spatial scale, providing more information on the marine state. Even though their assimilation process has been validated and verified in numerous studies, their performance in more local scales is still under examination. This research focuses on the evaluation of performance of ERA-Interim reanalysis datasets in the Greek Seas for wind and wave characteristics in comparison to POSEIDON buoy data. The results prove fair to good correlation for wave height (r=0.67-0.94) and wind speed (r=0.71-0.83) and different error statistics per sub-region. The analysis of the upper 10% (90th percentile) shows an underestimate of 10-15% for wind speed and wave height from ERA-Interim in relation to the buoy measurements. The ERA-Interim and the buoy monthly means and standard deviations are also presented and discussed according to seasonal patterns. The results of the study are compared to other researches of wave hindcasting and wind reanalysis data for the Greek Seas and globally. It is shown that ERA-Interim products could be regarded as representative for the Greek Seas, although their application should be made with caution regarding the assessment of extreme conditions (i.e. given in analyses of upper percentiles) and especially at nearshore locations due to complex coastline configuration enhanced by the great number of islands.}

Background: EORTC 24971 was a phase III trial demonstrating superiority of induction regimen TPF (docetaxel, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil) over PF (cisplatin/5-fluorouracil), in terms of progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in locoregionally advanced unresectable head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. We conducted a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data aiming to evaluate whether only HPV(-) patients (pts) benefit from adding docetaxel to PF, in which case deintensifying induction treatment in HPV(+) pts could be considered. Patients and methods: Pretherapy tumor biopsies (blocks or slides) were assessed for high-risk HPV by p16 immunohistochemistry, PCR and quantitative PCR. HPV-DNA+ and/or p16+ tumors were subjected to in situ hybridization (ISH) and HPV E6 oncogene expression qRT-PCR analysis. Primary and secondary objectives were to evaluate the value of HPV/p16 status as predictive factor of treatment benefit in terms of PFS and OS. The predictive effect was analyzed based on the model used in the primary analysis of the study with the addition of a treatment by marker interaction term and tested at two-sided 5% significance level. Results: Of 358, 119 pts had available tumor samples and 58 of them had oropharyngeal cancer. Median follow-up was 8.7 years. Sixteen of 119 (14%) evaluable samples were p16+ and 20 of 79 (25%) evaluable tumors were HPV-DNA+. 13 of 40 pts (33%) assessed with HPV-DNA ISH and 12 of 28 pts (43%) assessed for HPV E6 mRNA were positive. The preplanned analysis showed no statistical evidence of predictive value of HPV/p16 status for PFS (P = 0.287) or OS (P = 0.118). Conclusions: The incidence of HPV positivity was low in the subset of EORTC 24971 pts analyzed. In this analysis only powered to detect a large treatment by marker interaction, there was no statistical evidence that treatment effect found overall was different in magnitude in HPV(+) or HPV(-) pts. These results do not justify selection of TPF versus PF according to HPV status.

Background: EORTC 24971 was a phase III trial demonstrating superiority of induction regimen TPF (docetaxel, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil) over PF (cisplatin/5-fluorouracil), in terms of progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in locoregionally advanced unresectable head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. We conducted a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data aiming to evaluate whether only HPV(-) patients (pts) benefit from adding docetaxel to PF, in which case deintensifying induction treatment in HPV(+) pts could be considered. Patients and methods: Pretherapy tumor biopsies (blocks or slides) were assessed for high-risk HPV by p16 immunohistochemistry, PCR and quantitative PCR. HPV-DNA+ and/or p16+ tumors were subjected to in situ hybridization (ISH) and HPV E6 oncogene expression qRT-PCR analysis. Primary and secondary objectives were to evaluate the value of HPV/p16 status as predictive factor of treatment benefit in terms of PFS and OS. The predictive effect was analyzed based on the model used in the primary analysis of the study with the addition of a treatment by marker interaction term and tested at two-sided 5% significance level. Results: Of 358, 119 pts had available tumor samples and 58 of them had oropharyngeal cancer. Median follow-up was 8.7 years. Sixteen of 119 (14%) evaluable samples were p16+ and 20 of 79 (25%) evaluable tumors were HPV-DNA+. 13 of 40 pts (33%) assessed with HPV-DNA ISH and 12 of 28 pts (43%) assessed for HPV E6 mRNA were positive. The preplanned analysis showed no statistical evidence of predictive value of HPV/p16 status for PFS (P = 0.287) or OS (P = 0.118). Conclusions: The incidence of HPV positivity was low in the subset of EORTC 24971 pts analyzed. In this analysis only powered to detect a large treatment by marker interaction, there was no statistical evidence that treatment effect found overall was different in magnitude in HPV(+) or HPV(-) pts. These results do not justify selection of TPF versus PF according to HPV status

This analysis assessed the utility of the limiting antigen avidity assay (LAg). Samples of people who inject drugs (PWID) in Greece with documented duration of HIV-1 infection were tested by LAg. A LAg-normalized optical density (ODn) ⩽1·5 corresponds to a recency window period of 130 days. The proportion true recent (PTR) and proportion false recent (PFR) were estimated in 28 seroconverters and in 366 samples collected >6 months after HIV diagnosis, respectively. The association between LAg ODn and HIV RNA level was evaluated in 232 persons. The PTR was 85·7%. The PFR was 20·8% but fell to 5·9% in samples from treatment-naive individuals with long-standing infection (>1 year), and to 0 in samples with the circulating recombinant form CRF35 AD. A LAg-based algorithm with a PFR of 3·3% estimated a similar incidence trend to that calculated by analyses based on HIV-1 seroconversions. In recently infected persons indicated by LAg, the median log10 HIV RNA level was high (5·30, interquartile range 4·56-5·90). LAg can help identify highly infectious HIV(+) individuals as it accurately identifies recent infections and is correlated with the HIV RNA level. It can also produce reliable estimates of HIV-1 incidence.

This analysis assessed the utility of the limiting antigen avidity assay (LAg). Samples of people who inject drugs (PWID) in Greece with documented duration of HIV-1 infection were tested by LAg. A LAg-normalized optical density (ODn) 1.5 corresponds to a recency window period of 130 days. The proportion true recent (PTR) and proportion false recent (PFR) were estimated in 28 seroconverters and in 366 samples collected >6 months after HIV diagnosis, respectively. The association between LAg ODn and HIV RNA level was evaluated in 232 persons. The PTR was 85.7%. The PFR was 20.8% but fell to 5.9% in samples from treatment-naive individuals with long-standing infection (>1 year), and to 0 in samples with the circulating recombinant form CRF35 AD. A LAg-based algorithm with a PFR of 3.3% estimated a similar incidence trend to that calculated by analyses based on HIV-1 seroconversions. In recently infected persons indicated by LAg, the median log10 HIV RNA level was high (5.30, interquartile range 4.56-5.90). LAg can help identify highly infectious HIV(+) individuals as it accurately identifies recent infections and is correlated with the HIV RNA level. It can also produce reliable estimates of HIV-1 incidence.

Context. The Exploring the X-ray Transient and variable Sky (EXTraS) project searches for coherent signals in the X-ray archival data of XMM-Newton. Aims: XMM-Newton performed more than 400 pointed observations in the region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We inspected the results of the EXTraS period search to systematically look for new X-ray pulsators in our neighbour galaxy. Methods: We analysed the XMM-Newton observations of two sources from the 3XMM catalogue which show significant signals for coherent pulsations. Results: 3XMM J051259.8-682640 was detected as a source with a hard X-ray spectrum in two XMM-Newton observations, revealing a periodic modulation of the X-ray flux with 956 s. As optical counterpart we identify an early-type star with Hα emission. The OGLE I-band light curve exhibits a regular pattern with three brightness dips which mark a period of 1350 d. The X-ray spectrum of 3XMM J051034.6-670353 is dominated by a super-soft blackbody-like emission component (kT 70 eV) which is modulated by nearly 100% with a period of 1418 s. From GROND observations we suggest a star with r' = 20.9 mag as a possible counterpart of the X-ray source. Conclusions: 3XMM J051259.8-682640 is confirmed as a new Be/X-ray binary pulsar in the LMC. We discuss the long-term optical period as the likely orbital period which would be the longest known from a high-mass X-ray binary. The spectral and temporal properties of the super-soft source 3XMM J051034.6-670353 are very similar to those of RX J0806.3+1527 and RX J1914.4+2456 suggesting that it belongs to the class of double-degenerate polars and is located in our Galaxy rather than in the LMC.

The General Health Questionnaire – 28 (GHQ-28) is one of the most widely used screening instruments for psychiatric disorders. The aim of the present study was to examine the factor structure and the internal consistency of the Greek GHQ-28 in a sample of 501 university students (302 females; Mage = 20.5 years). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) did not provide an optimal fit for the original four-factor structure. Therefore, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were conducted in search of alternative models with optimal fit. Models obtained from EFA and PCA were compared through further CFA. The model derived from EFA was the best-fitting solution and yielded three factors: Anxiety/Somatic Complaints (a unified factor), Social Dysfunction, and Severe Depression. In addition, internal consistency assessed through Cronbach's alpha was acceptable for all subscales both in the four- and in the new three-factor model. Possible explanations for the differentiations found in the structure of the Greek GHQ-28 are discussed in the framework of the existing literature on the use of this measure worldwide.

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili” (HP) is a literary source of semi-natural and human-induced landscapes that centred on seductive environmental attributes, such as gardens, groves, pergolas and dispersed ancient ruins, which represent knowledge derived from the tradition and experience of ages. HP is the short title of one of the most influential books of the Renaissance (the first edition was published by Aldus Manutius in Venice, in 1499); it is the story of a man (Poliphilos), who falls asleep and dreams of traversing landscapes and gardens containing plants, ancient ruins and allegorical figures, in order to be reunited with his beloved (Polia). Interest in this novel has been revived, due to substantial influence on landscape and garden design. In this study, attention has been given to the botanical section preserved in the text. Paying attention to narratives provides a source for (re)considering conceptions of landscapes, nature and culture, wild and domesticated plant life. Arboreal and bush plants here quoted disclose aspects of plant diversity and ecophysiology; among a large number of plant taxa, roses, myrtle, pines, cypresses, laurels, acanthus, oaks, olive trees, juniper, ivy, thyme, oregano, violets, wormwood and cyclamens were the most frequently cited. Also, the seasonality of Mediterranean landscapes, indicated by flowering and fruit-bearing indigenous plants, can be traced through textual passages. Its wood-engraved illustrations of portrayed landscapes and botanic sketches (e.g. ferns, palms, oaks, cypresses, box trees and foliage of laurel, acanthus, grapevine and ivy) constitute evidence for both plant diversity and natural history, at the end of the fifteenth-century.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between muscle fiber composition and the rate of force development (RFD) in well-trained individuals with different training background. Thirty-eight young males with different training background participated: 9 endurance runners, 10 power-trained, 9 strength-trained, and 10 sedentary. They performed maximal isometric leg press for the measurement of RFD. Body composition (dual x-ray absorptiometry) and vastus lateralis fiber type composition was also evaluated. When all participants were examined as a group, moderate correlations were found between the percent of type II muscle fibers and RFD between 100-600ms (r: 0.321 - 0.497, p<0.05). The correlation coefficients were higher for the cross-sectional area (CSA) and the %CSA of type II and IIx muscle fibers (r: 0.599 - 0.847, p<0.001). For the power group, RFD up to 250ms was highly correlated with % type IIx muscle fibers and type IIx fiber CSA (r: 0.670 - 0.826, p<0.05), as well as with %CSA of type IIx fibers (r: 0.714 - 0.975, p<0.05). Significant correlations were found between the relative RFD (·kg lower extremities lean mass) and CSA-%CSA of type II and IIx fibers for the power group (r: 0.676 - 0.903, p<0.05). No significant correlations were found between muscle morphology and RFD for the other groups. In conclusion, the present data suggest that there is a strong link between the type IIx muscle fibers and early RFD and relative RFD in power-trained participants. Type II fibers seem to be moderately linked with RFD in non-power-trained individuals.

We study the frequency content of an extra carrier oscillation along characteristic periodic B-DNA polymers made of N monomers. We employ two variants of the Tight-Binding approach, a wire model and an extended ladder model including diagonal hoppings. In the former, the site is a monomer, i.e., a base pair, while, in the latter, the site is a base. Initially, we focus on the Fourier Spectra of the probabilities to find the extra carrier at each monomer, having placed it at time zero at a specific monomer. Using the Fourier amplitude of each component of the frequency spectrum, we define the weighted mean frequency (WMF) for each site, a measure of its frequency content. To obtain a measure of the overall frequency content of carrier oscillations in the polymer, we define the total weighted mean frequency (TWMF), averaging the WMFs of all sites weighting over the probabilities of finding the extra carrier at each site. The frequency content is generally in the THz domain. Finally, we also give an example of an aperiodic sequence, the (A, T) Cantor dust.

Virtually omitted from established narratives of American modernism, yet central in the histories of the reception of European Surrealism in the US, Charles Henri Ford’s life and work have been recovered in important queer genealogies within Anglo-American modernism. Yet within this process or recovery, Ford’s poetic work is still largely overlooked, and this may have to do less with its marked Surrealist influences and/or derivative aspects than with the somewhat unclassifiable and composite texture of Ford’s poems. This article revisits Ford’s early poetry as a space of convergence and dialogue between distinct yet interrelated poetics: from the 1938 A Garden of Disorder to the 1949, Sleep in a Nest of Flames, a queer subjectivity assimilates concurrently Surrealist poetics and Djuna Barnes’s equally unclassifiable queer modernism with and against American poetic modernisms.

This article examines the nominal inflectional system of a group of Asia Minor Greek dialects (Dawkins 1910, 1916), which developed, in parallel with the fusional inflectional system, an agglutinative one due to language contact with Turkish. We argue that the ‘old’ fusional ending or the theme vowel was reanalyzed as part of the nominal stem. This novel structure was actualized by means of two competing options: in some dialects, the reanalysis was actualized transparently in all inflectional forms rendering an agglutinative pattern of inflection, whereas in dialects with limited agglutination the actualization took the form of a special type of vowel assimilation. More specifically, as part of the nominal stem, the ‘old’ theme vowel signals its merge with the root by allowing it to absorb some or all of its features. Formally, the phonological process is treated as an instance of indirect licensing (Walker 2011), according to which the theme vowel acts as a trigger due to its privileged position as a segment of the categorizer n, i.e. the head of the stem.

Glycogen phosphorylase (GP) plays a key role in glucose regulation. The design and synthesis of a new potent inhibitor of GP is described. By exploiting its optical properties, it is shown that, due to an extended hydrogen bonding network, the local pH in the GP catalytic site is higher than 12. For the full story, see the Communication by A. Venturini, E. D. Chrysina, D. Markovitsi, T. Gimisis et al. on page 8800 ff.

Context. The first Gaia Data Release contains the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). This is a subset of about 2 million stars for which, besides the position and photometry, the proper motion and parallax are calculated using HIPPARCOS and Tycho-2 positions in 1991.25 as prior information. Aims: We investigate the scientific potential and limitations of the TGAS component by means of the astrometric data for open clusters. Methods: Mean cluster parallax and proper motion values are derived taking into account the error correlations within the astrometric solutions for individual stars, an estimate of the internal velocity dispersion in the cluster, and, where relevant, the effects of the depth of the cluster along the line of sight. Internal consistency of the TGAS data is assessed. Results: Values given for standard uncertainties are still inaccurate and may lead to unrealistic unit-weight standard deviations of least squares solutions for cluster parameters. Reconstructed mean cluster parallax and proper motion values are generally in very good agreement with earlier HIPPARCOS-based determination, although the Gaia mean parallax for the Pleiades is a significant exception. We have no current explanation for that discrepancy. Most clusters are observed to extend to nearly 15 pc from the cluster centre, and it will be up to future Gaia releases to establish whether those potential cluster-member stars are still dynamically bound to the clusters. Conclusions: The Gaia DR1 provides the means to examine open clusters far beyond their more easily visible cores, and can provide membership assessments based on proper motions and parallaxes. A combined HR diagram shows the same features as observed before using the HIPPARCOS data, with clearly increased luminosities for older A and F dwarfs. Tables D.1 to D.19 are also available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/601/A19

Context. Parallaxes for 331 classical Cepheids, 31 Type II Cepheids, and 364 RR Lyrae stars in common between Gaia and the HIPPARCOS and Tycho-2 catalogues are published in Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) as part of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS). Aims: In order to test these first parallax measurements of the primary standard candles of the cosmological distance ladder, which involve astrometry collected by Gaia during the initial 14 months of science operation, we compared them with literature estimates and derived new period-luminosity (PL), period-Wesenheit (PW) relations for classical and Type II Cepheids and infrared PL, PL-metallicity (PLZ), and optical luminosity-metallicity (MV-[Fe/H]) relations for the RR Lyrae stars, with zero points based on TGAS. Methods: Classical Cepheids were carefully selected in order to discard known or suspected binary systems. The final sample comprises 102 fundamental mode pulsators with periods ranging from 1.68 to 51.66 days (of which 33 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The Type II Cepheids include a total of 26 W Virginis and BL Herculis stars spanning the period range from 1.16 to 30.00 days (of which only 7 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The RR Lyrae stars include 200 sources with pulsation period ranging from 0.27 to 0.80 days (of which 112 with σϖ/ϖ< 0.5). The new relations were computed using multi-band (V,I,J,Ks) photometry and spectroscopic metal abundances available in the literature, and by applying three alternative approaches: (i) linear least-squares fitting of the absolute magnitudes inferred from direct transformation of the TGAS parallaxes; (ii) adopting astrometry-based luminosities; and (iii) using a Bayesian fitting approach. The last two methods work in parallax space where parallaxes are used directly, thus maintaining symmetrical errors and allowing negative parallaxes to be used. The TGAS-based PL,PW,PLZ, and MV- [Fe/H] relations are discussed by comparing the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud provided by different types of pulsating stars and alternative fitting methods. Results: Good agreement is found from direct comparison of the parallaxes of RR Lyrae stars for which both TGAS and HST measurements are available. Similarly, very good agreement is found between the TGAS values and the parallaxes inferred from the absolute magnitudes of Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars analysed with the Baade-Wesselink method. TGAS values also compare favourably with the parallaxes inferred by theoretical model fitting of the multi-band light curves for two of the three classical Cepheids and one RR Lyrae star, which were analysed with this technique in our samples. The K-band PL relations show the significant improvement of the TGAS parallaxes for Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars with respect to the HIPPARCOS measurements. This is particularly true for the RR Lyrae stars for which improvement in quality and statistics is impressive. Conclusions: TGAS parallaxes bring a significant added value to the previous HIPPARCOS estimates. The relations presented in this paper represent the first Gaia-calibrated relations and form a work-in-progress milestone report in the wait for Gaia-only parallaxes of which a first solution will become available with Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) in 2018. Full Tables A.1-A.3 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/605/A79

Context. The Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) is a large spectroscopic survey that provides a unique opportunity to study the distribution of spectroscopic multiple systems among different populations of the Galaxy. Aims: Our aim is to detect binarity/multiplicity for stars targeted by the GES from the analysis of the cross-correlation functions (CCFs) of the GES spectra with spectral templates. Methods: We developed a method based on the computation of the CCF successive derivatives to detect multiple peaks and determine their radial velocities, even when the peaks are strongly blended. The parameters of the detection of extrema (DOE) code have been optimized for each GES GIRAFFE and UVES setup to maximize detection. The DOE code therefore allows to automatically detect multiple line spectroscopic binaries (SBn, n ≥ 2). Results: We apply this method on the fourth GES internal data release and detect 354 SBn candidates (342 SB2, 11 SB3, and even one SB4), including only nine SBs known in the literature. This implies that about 98% of these SBn candidates are new because of their faint visual magnitude that can reach V = 19. Visual inspection of the SBn candidate spectra reveals that the most probable candidates have indeed a composite spectrum. Among the SB2 candidates, an orbital solution could be computed for two previously unknown binaries: CNAME 06404608+0949173 (known as V642 Mon) in NGC 2264 and CNAME 19013257-0027338 in Berkeley 81 (Be 81). A detailed analysis of the unique SB4 (four peaks in the CCF) reveals that CNAME 08414659-5303449 (HD 74438) in the open cluster IC 2391 is a physically bound stellar quadruple system. The SB candidates belonging to stellar clusters are reviewed in detail to discard false detections. We suggest that atmospheric parameters should not be used for these system components; SB-specific pipelines should be used instead. Conclusions: Our implementation of an automatic detection of spectroscopic binaries within the GES has allowed the efficient discovery of many new multiple systems. With the detection of the SB1 candidates that will be the subject of a forthcoming paper, the study of the statistical and physical properties of the spectroscopic multiple systems will soon be possible for the entire GES sample. Based on data products from observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory under programme ID 188.B-3002. These data products have been processed by the Cambridge Astronomy Survey Unit (CASU) at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, and by the FLAMES/UVES reduction team at INAF/Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri. These data have been obtained from the Gaia-ESO Survey Data Archive, prepared and hosted by the Wide Field Astronomy Unit, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, which is funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Context. Trumpler 23 is a moderately populated, intermediate-age open cluster within the solar circle at a RGC 6 kpc. It is in a crowded field very close to the Galactic plane and the color-magnitude diagram shows significant field contamination and possible differential reddening; it is a relatively understudied cluster for these reasons, but its location makes it a key object for determining Galactic abundance distributions. Aims: New data from the Gaia-ESO Survey enable the first ever radial velocity and spectroscopic metallicity measurements for this cluster. We aim to use velocities to isolate cluster members, providing more leverage for determining cluster parameters. Methods: Gaia-ESO Survey data for 167 potential members have yielded radial velocity measurements, which were used to determine the systemic velocity of the cluster and membership of individual stars. Atmospheric parameters were also used as a check on membership when available. Literature photometry was used to re-determine cluster parameters based on radial velocity member stars only; theoretical isochrones are fit in the V, V-I diagram. Cluster abundance measurements of ten radial-velocity member stars with high-resolution spectroscopy are presented for 24 elements. These abundances have been compared to local disk stars, and where possible placed within the context of literature gradient studies. Results: We find Trumpler 23 to have an age of 0.80 ± 0.10 Gyr, significant differential reddening with an estimated mean cluster E(V-I) of 1.02, and an apparent distance modulus of 14.15 ± 0.20. We find an average cluster metallicity of [Fe/H] = 0.14 ± 0.03 dex, a solar [α/Fe] abundance, and notably subsolar [s-process/Fe] abundances.

The aim of this study was to develop a dual-modality PET/MR imaging probe by radiolabeling iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (IONPs), surface functionalized with water soluble stabilizer 2,3-dicarboxypropane-1,1-diphosphonic acid (DPD), with the positron emitter Gallium-68. Magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 MNPs) were synthesized via coprecipitation method and were stabilized with DPD. The Fe3O4-DPD MNPs were characterized based on their structure, morphology, size, surface charge, and magnetic properties. In vitro cytotoxicity studies showed reduced toxicity in normal cells, compared to cancer cells. Fe3O4-DPD MNPs were successfully labeled with Gallium-68 at high radiochemical purity (> 91%) and their stability in human serum and in PBS was demonstrated, along with their further characterization on size and magnetic properties. The ex vivo biodistribution studies in normal Swiss mice showed high uptake in the liver followed by spleen. The acquired PET images were in accordance with the ex vivo biodistribution results. Our findings indicate that 68 Ga-Fe3O4-DPD MNPs could serve as an important diagnostic tool for biomedical imaging.

Objective Although perceived need-supportive and need-thwarting coaching have received considerable attention, the question whether coach behavior fluctuates from game to game, with resulting associations with players’ moral behavior has not been examined. Design and method A Belgian sample of soccer players (N = 197; M = 26.57) was followed during five competition games, with players completing measures both prior to and following each game assessing, pre-game and on-game perceived coaching as well as athletes’ moral behavior. Results Results of multilevel analyses indicated that there exists substantial variation in perceived need-thwarting and need-supportive coaching behavior from game to game. The game-to-game variation in perceived pre-game need-thwarting coaching behavior related positively to variation in the adoption of an objectifying stance, which, in turn, related to variation in antisocial behavior oriented towards the opponent, the referee, and even their own teammates. Variation in perceived on-game need-supportive and need-thwarting coaching behavior yielded an additional relation to team-related moral outcomes. Finally, supplementary analysis indicated that these effects also held for an objective marker of moral functioning (i.e., number of yellow cards) and that players’ level of competition-contingent pay related to their antisocial behavior via an objectifying stance. Conclusion The discussion highlights the fluctuating and dynamic nature of motivating coaching behavior, and its association with players’ moral functioning.

AbstractObjective Although perceived need-supportive and need-thwarting coaching have received considerable attention, the question whether coach behavior fluctuates from game to game, with resulting associations with players’ moral behavior has not been examined. Design and method A Belgian sample of soccer players (N = 197; M = 26.57) was followed during five competition games, with players completing measures both prior to and following each game assessing, pre-game and on-game perceived coaching as well as athletes’ moral behavior. Results Results of multilevel analyses indicated that there exists substantial variation in perceived need-thwarting and need-supportive coaching behavior from game to game. The game-to-game variation in perceived pre-game need-thwarting coaching behavior related positively to variation in the adoption of an objectifying stance, which, in turn, related to variation in antisocial behavior oriented towards the opponent, the referee, and even their own teammates. Variation in perceived on-game need-supportive and need-thwarting coaching behavior yielded an additional relation to team-related moral outcomes. Finally, supplementary analysis indicated that these effects also held for an objective marker of moral functioning (i.e., number of yellow cards) and that players’ level of competition-contingent pay related to their antisocial behavior via an objectifying stance. Conclusion The discussion highlights the fluctuating and dynamic nature of motivating coaching behavior, and its association with players’ moral functioning.

Neural stem cells have been considered as a source of stem cells that can be used for cell replacement therapies in neurodegenerative diseases, as they can be isolated and expanded in vitro and can be used for autologous grafting. However, due to low percentages of survival and varying patterns of differentiation, strategies that will enhance the efficacy of transplantation are under scrutiny. In this article, we have examined whether alterations in Geminin's expression, a protein that coordinates the balance between self-renewal and differentiation, can improve the properties of stem cells transplanted in 6-OHDA hemiparkinsonian mouse model. Our results indicate that, in the absence of Geminin, grafted cells differentiating into dopaminergic neurons were decreased, while an increased number of oligodendrocytes were detected. The number of proliferating multipotent cells was not modified by the absence of Geminin. These findings encourage research related to the impact of Geminin on transplantations for neurodegenerative disorders, as an important molecule in influencing differentiation decisions of the cells composing the graft.

Thousands of European and American women provided their services, lobbied, raised funds, food supplies and clothing to support the Greek Revolution.  Along with the relief activities of the 1820’s and 1830’s, the great interest in Greece produced a strong desire to send teachers and missionaries to Greece in Bondage.  Women’s 19th century accounts examine the position of the subjugated Greeks in the Aegean Islands and Asia Minor. European and American women—educators and philanthropists—worked for the advancement of female education. They even established schools for the preservation of Hellenic cultural heritage. This paper focuses on the first-hand accounts of 19th century European aristocratic and middle-class women volunteers, and specifically their social contribution during the Crimean War (1853-1856), when the English and French colonial experience encouraged female volunteerism. It spotlights the social service provided by English, French and German nurses and philanthropists—as agents of social change—who cared for the soldiers in the hospitals of Constantinople and its environs, concluding with their invaluable recommendations. The female accounts describe the British military and naval hospitals, hospital huts, nurses duties and difficulties confronted (1,500 patients per 3 volunteers); the Women’s Hospital; the French hospitals; the French military system; the Sisters of Mercy; the Sisters of Charity; the women who followed their husbands to war, including the destitute wives and babies of the English soldiers. Astonishing are the accounts concerning the degrading social status of the English soldier’s wife as opposed to the respect and protection enjoyed by the French soldier’s wife.  

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017. Lichen sclerosus is a chronic skin disease, mainly localised at the introitus and perineum. When the condition remains untreated, gradual atrophy of skin structures leads to permanent scarring, making early diagnosis and treatment crucial. We reviewed all patients diagnosed with lichen sclerosus presenting to a tertiary referral centre for paediatric and adolescent gynaecology between January 2011 and December 2015 to assess disease presentation and response to treatment. We identified 15 cases, with a mean age at diagnosis of 8.8 years. Their main presenting symptoms were vulvar pruritus and vulvar soreness. Seven girls had already atrophic changes, and in four girls, this amounted to clitoral phimosis, labial resorption or labial adhesion formation. The median delay in diagnosis was 7 months. Thirteen patients received local treatment with potent corticosteroids, responding well to treatment. However, 4 girls relapsed within 2 to 36 months. Two adolescents required surgical treatment, one because of urinary retention and the second because of dyspareunia caused by clitoral entrapment. Conclusions: There was a delay in diagnosis in most patients and this resulted in irreversible genital skin changes, which would have been preventable, had treatment been instituted promptly. The response to treatment with local corticosteroids was usually effective, leading to both symptom alleviation and prevention of disease progression. Atrophic changes and skin complications however were not reversed.

This work focuses on the beachrocks of Paros and Naxos Islands, in central Cyclades, Aegean Sea, Greece, in an attempt to study their geochemistry and interpret their palaeoenvironmental significance. Beachrocks are coastal sedimentary formations, consisting of beach sediments that are relatively quickly cemented through the precipitation of CaCO3. However, debate still exists concerning their depositional environment, and therefore, their use as indicators for sea-level changes.In this study we focus on the beachrocks of Paros and Naxos islands, which are found at various depths. For the aim of the present study, representative bulk samples from both islands were analyzed for their mineralogical (XRD and SEM) and chemical (XRF) composition. The cement agent and the fine sand/clay fraction of the samples mainly consist of authigenic magnesian calcite, which commonly precipitates in shallow marine environments, especially in high concentration of Ca2+(>4 mol% CaCO3 or 1.2 wt.%). Furthermore, a series of clastic silicate and alumino-silicate minerals are detected. The predominant coarse fragments hosted within the cement material are quartz, plagioclase and K-feldspar.The texture of the beachrock samples varies from almost homogeneous sandstone to a mixture of lithologies, such as massive gravel, sandstone and claystone. Most of the grains are flattened and only rarely angular pieces of siliceous rocks occur, hosted in the fine-grained Mg-calcite cement. This grain size and shape is indicative of the genetic environment of beachrocks, implying the maturity level of cementation from early stage to modern situation.The beachrock samples derived from various depositional periods and depths, from the front and end slabs. The beachrocks were also correlated with stratigraphical material from boreholes and archaeological remains from the study area in an attempt to understand the coastal changes during the late Holocene in Central Cyclades.

Combining geological and geomorphological data together with geodetic SAR interferometry (InSAR) measurements an attempt has been made to investigate the vertical deformation of the Itea-Amfissa basin at the northern part of the Corinth rift. The north–south trending basin has been developed normally to the east – west trending Corinth Rift and on the hanging wall of the Itea-Amfissa detachment. In the stratigraphy of the Itea–Amfissa supra-detachment basin, two sequences can be distinguished; the lower marine polymict conglomerate of Early–Middle Miocene age and the upper terrestrial monomict carbonate breccia of Late Miocene age. The unconformity between them has been uplifted to the north of the basin up to the elevation of 1100m and subsided below sea level at its southern part. Remnants of low-relief surfaces are retained on top of the upper terrestrial sequence, that permit to reconstruct the paleo-landscape of the basin and to measure the spatial distribution of its vertical deformation after compensating the erosional isostatic adjustment. The exact delineation of the paleo-landscape, involved detailed mapping as well as quantitative analysis of geomorphological features caused by river incision, based on measurements of several tectonic geomorphology indices. Geodetic InSAR estimates of vertical ground displacements, combining almost 10 years of ascending and descending ENVISAT data, were also utilized both for refinement of delineated surfaces as well as for validation of geology-based deformation trends. Interferometric results were constrained to the geologic time frame, considering the well-defined long-term deformation trend of a doline, proven to be sinking over the last 6000 years. It is shown that over the last 10 years the largest uplift rates are observed within the Itea-Amfissa basin, while the coastline regions follow a more complex spatial deformation pattern of successive submergences and uplifts. The synthesis of geological and geomorphological data indicates that the Itea-Amfissa extensional basin from its development in the Middle-Late Miocene and throughout Plio-Quaternary, has been tilted towards south, while contemporary geodetic measurements from InSAR confirm that the basin is still uplifting with regard to its surrounding mountains and coastal areas.  

Aim: There is great variation of growth among individuals. The question whether patients with different skeletal discrepancies grow differently is biologically interesting but also important in designing clinical trials. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether growth direction depends on the initial craniofacial pattern. Subjects and method: The sample consisted of 350 lateral cephalograms of 175 subjects (91 females and 84 males) followed during normal growth without any orthodontic treatment. The examined ages were 12 (T1) and 14 (T2) years. The cephalograms were obtained from the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation (AAOF) Craniofacial Growth Legacy Collection (Burlington, Fels, Iowa, and Oregon growth studies). We digitally traced 15 curves on each cephalogram, comprehensively covering the craniofacial skeleton, and located 127 points on the curves, 117 of which were sliding semilandmarks and 10 fixed. Procrustes alignment, principal component analysis and two-block partial least squares analysis were performed, after sliding the semilandmarks to minimize bending energy. Results: The first 10 principal components (PCs) described approximately 71 per cent of the total shape variance. PC1 was related to shape variance in the vertical direction (low/high angle skeletal pattern) and PC2 was mainly related to shape variance in the anteroposterior direction (Class II/Class III pattern). PC3 was mainly related to the shape variance of the mandibular angle. All subjects shared a similar growth trajectory in shape space. We did not find any correlation between the initial shape and the magnitude of shape change between T1 and T2, but males showed a greater shape change than females. The direction of shape change was moderately correlated to the initial shape (RV coefficient: 0.14, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The initial shape of the craniofacial complex covaried weakly with the direction of shape change during growth.

This research was conducted to determine the geomorphological and sedimentological characteristics of the shallow sea bottom (water depth <25 m) of Chania Bay. A detailed bathymetric survey was held from the coastline to the isobath of 25 m. Also was held an overview scanning of the sea bottom by the Side Scan Sonar to record the landforms and the structures of it. Sampling was carried out both to surface sediments and to rocky bottom, in order to study the grain size and the mineralogical composition of loose deposits, and the petrographic features of the hard substrates.The study area is the Chania Bay, which is located in the western and northern part of Crete Island and extents from the area of Kato Stalos, to the east, to the village of Kolimbari, in the west.For the integrated approach and interpretation of the results of this work, we study the effect of topography, geology and hydrology of the basin to the coastal system of Chania Bay. In addition, we investigate the wind and wave status in the region which forms the morphodynamics characteristics of the coastal zone.The ultimate purpose of this work is to link the gained knowledge with the European Union Guidelines on Integrated Coastal Zone Management and the Marine Strategy as well as the implementation of the rules on Maritime Spatial Planning. Based on this integrated maritime policy, the EU aims at the economic and social development of areas related to the marine environment in the context of its friendly use. But especially through marine spatial planning and in combination with increased knowledge of the marine environment, we are able to secure financial investment and improve the way we manage the marine and terrestrial space, while preserving the ecosystem of the area in sustainable conditions

Greece has the ambiguous privilege of forming the intersection of two unstable Sub-systems of the Mediterranean Geopolitical Complex, i.e.: i. the Sub-system of the Balkans and ii. the Sub-system of Turkey and the Near East. We shall demonstrate that these two Sub-systems feature an intense joint function of instability in the present juncture and we shall also emphasize the main Geopolitical Factor that causes the aforementioned instability, i.e. energy security. Furthermore, we shall lay emphasis on the new Cold War-style antagonism between the two fundamental Poles of International Power, i.e. Moscow and Washington, an  antagonism  affecting  in  a  destabilizing  manner  the  Geopolitical  Complex  of  the  Mediterranean and in the Western Balkans regions as a main focal point. The term new Cold War-style is used so as to highlight the fact that there exists a considerable ideological distance between these two Poles (the same applies albeit in a different manner for the relations between Washington and Beijing), as was the case during the Cold War. The ideological difference in this case consists of the contrast between the neoliberal Western approach and the identitarian conservative approach of the East spearheaded by Moscow. Our analysis is based on the classic Anglo-Saxon geopolitical school and especially on N.J. Spykman’s «containment model», as the latter has been modified by Z. Brzesinsky. Our methodological approach is based on Systemic Geopolitical Analysis.

Knowledge of the geopolitical reality has been, is and shall be a challenge for political and spiritual leadership. The dominant actors in the globe are equipped with notable centers of research and study concerning the geopolitical reality. In this manner and taking into account the geopolitical models that derive from research they are able to plan their relative hegemonic or dominant international strategies. The current reality, though, is characterized by a tendency of revision concerning those traditional hermeneutic models of the Cold War period, a period during which known and ‘safe’ answers were provided for all social, political, economic and philosophical matters. These traditional ‘holistic’ models, which were applied on specifi c state actors and groups of state actors, were two: i) the socialist model and its dialectic opposite, ii) the liberal model. These two philosophical and ideological axes were complemented by the geopolitical model created by Nicholas J. Spykman (1893-1943), according to which there occurs a worldwide antagonism between Land Powers (Warsaw Pact, Soviet Union and satellite states) and Sea Powers (US, Great Britain, Japan, NATO and satellite states). This division led to the geopolitical, ideological, defensive, economic and therefore geostrategic alignment of the participating states into two clashing worlds, i.e. the Eastern and the Western world. This dominant division was adopted by the relevant elites of the various state actors that were part of the international structures of the International Power Poles. This phenomenon was prevalent throughout the 20th century and was manifested also in the relevant political cultures, dominant ideologies, as well as in the geostrategic approaches of the aforementioned International Power Poles and their respective satellites.

Giant condyloma acuminata are associated with malignant transformation in up to 50% of cases, high recurrence rate, and poor prognosis. Treatment strategies have included wide local excision, abdominopelvic resection, and addition of radiotherapy and adjuvant and/or neoadjuvant systemic chemotherapy.

This book examines the letters, diaries, and published accounts of English and Scottish travelers to Greece in the seventeenth century, a time of growing interest in ancient texts and the Ottoman Empire. Through these early encounters, this book analyzes the travelers’ construction of Greece in the early modern Mediterranean world and shows how travel became a means of collecting and disseminating knowledge about ancient sites. Focusing on the mobility and exchange of people, artifacts, texts, and opinions between the two countries, it argues that the presence of Britons in Greece and of Greeks in England aroused interest not only in Hellenic antiquity, but also in Greece’s contemporary geopolitical role. Exploring myth, perception, and trope with clarity and precision, this book offers new insight into the connections between Greece, the Ottoman Empire, and the West.

Bing Neel syndrome is a rare disease manifestation of Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia that results from infiltration of the central nervous system by malignant lymphoplasmacytic cells. In this guideline we describe the clinical symptoms, as well as the appropriate laboratory and radiological studies, that can aid in the diagnosis. The presentation of Bing Neel syndrome may be very diverse, and includes headaches, cognitive deficits, paresis, and psychiatric symptoms. The syndrome can present in patients with known Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, even in the absence of systemic progression, but also in previously undiagnosed patients. Diagnostic work-up should include cerebral spinal fluid analysis with multiparameter flow cytometry to establish B-cell clonality, protein electrophoresis and immunofixation for the detection and classification of a monoclonal protein as well as molecular diagnostic testing for immunoglobulin gene rearrangement and mutated MYD88. MRI of the brain and spinal cord is also essential. The second challenge is to expand our knowledge of prognosis and treatment outcome. Prospective clinical trials on Bing Neel syndrome patients that employ uniform treatment along with appropriate laboratory cerebral spinal fluid assessments and standardized MRI protocols will be invaluable, constituting a significant step forward in delineating treatment outcome for this intriguing disease manifestation. © 2017 Ferrata Storti Foundation.

Bing Neel syndrome is a rare disease manifestation of Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia that results from infiltration of the central nervous system by malignant lymphoplasmacytic cells. In this guideline we describe the clinical symptoms, as well as the appropriate laboratory and radiological studies, that can aid in the diagnosis. The presentation of Bing Neel syndrome may be very diverse, and includes headaches, cognitive deficits, paresis, and psychiatric symptoms. The syndrome can present in patients with known Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, even in the absence of systemic progression, but also in previously undiagnosed patients. Diagnostic work-up should include cerebral spinal fluid analysis with multiparameter flow cytometry to establish B-cell clonality, protein electrophoresis and immunofixation for the detection and classification of a monoclonal protein as well as molecular diagnostic testing for immunoglobulin gene rearrangement and mutated MYD88. MRI of the brain and spinal cord is also essential. The second challenge is to expand our knowledge of prognosis and treatment outcome. Prospective clinical trials on Bing Neel syndrome patients that employ uniform treatment along with appropriate laboratory cerebral spinal fluid assessments and standardized MRI protocols will be invaluable, constituting a significant step forward in delineating treatment outcome for this intriguing disease manifestation. © 2017 Ferrata Storti Foundation.

The flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 279 is a known γ-ray variable source that has recently exhibited minute-scale variability at energies >100 MeV. One-zone leptonic models for blazar emission are severely constrained by the short time-scale variability that implies a very compact emission region at a distance of hundreds of Schwarzschild radii from the central black hole. Here, we investigate a hadronic scenario where GeV γ-rays are produced via proton synchrotron radiation. We also take into account the effects of the hadronically initiated electromagnetic cascades (EMC). For a γ-ray emitting region in rough equipartition between particles and kG magnetic fields, located within the broad-line region (BLR), the development of EMC redistributes the γ-ray luminosity to softer energy bands and eventually leads to broad-band spectra that differ from the observed ones. Suppression of EMC and energy equipartition are still possible, if the γ-ray emitting region is located beyond the BLR, is fast moving with Doppler factor (>70) and contains strong magnetic fields (>100 G). Yet, these conditions cannot be easily met in parsec-scale jets, thus disfavouring a proton synchrotron origin of the Fermi-LAT flare.

The flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 279 is a known γ-ray variable source that has recently exhibited minute-scale variability at energies >100 MeV. One-zone leptonic models for blazar emission are severely constrained by the short time-scale variability that implies a very compact emission region at a distance of hundreds of Schwarzschild radii from the central black hole. Here, we investigate a hadronic scenario where GeV γ-rays are produced via proton synchrotron radiation. We also take into account the effects of the hadronically initiated electromagnetic cascades (EMC). For a γ-ray emitting region in rough equipartition between particles and kG magnetic fields, located within the broad-line region (BLR), the development of EMC redistributes the γ-ray luminosity to softer energy bands and eventually leads to broad-band spectra that differ from the observed ones. Suppression of EMC and energy equipartition are still possible, if the γ-ray emitting region is located beyond the BLR, is fast moving with Doppler factor (>70) and contains strong magnetic fields (>100 G). Yet, these conditions cannot be easily met in parsec-scale jets, thus disfavouring a proton synchrotron origin of the Fermi-LAT flare.

Preclinical psychopharmacology research needs novel behavioral indices and improved animal models for both sexes. The forced swim test (FST) is the most popular test for screening antidepressant potential. Sex differences in FST behaviors, such as immobility and swimming, are not consistent among laboratories. Reliable indices, sensitive to sex differences, are required. We identified a robust sex difference in the frequency of headshakes during the standard two session FST, with male rats exhibiting higher number of head shakes than females. Furthermore, we explored whether strain, ageing, sex- and stress-hormone levels influence this sex difference. Experiments in middle-aged and senescent Wistar rats, as well as in gonadectomized and adrenalectomized with corticosterone replacement young adult males and females, revealed that sex differences in headshakes during FST are not influenced by age or corticosterone, but are abolished following castration of male rats. Interestingly, headshake frequency correlated positively with testosterone, but not corticosterone levels. Finally, testing of Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats in a single 5min FST session revealed that headshake frequency is sensitive to antidepressant treatment with female rats exhibiting opposite responses to treatment than male FSL rats. Mirtazapine, a 5-HT2 antagonist, enhanced headshakes in females and decreased them in male FSL rats. Based on current data and the available literature, sex differences in headshake frequency should be linked to analogous sex differences in serotonin receptors. Headshake frequency during the FST is an additional valuable behavioral index, sensitive to sex differences, gonadal hormones and antidepressants modulating serotonin receptors.

Preclinical psychopharmacology research needs novel behavioral indices and improved animal models for both sexes. The forced swim test (FST) is the most popular test for screening antidepressant potential. Sex differences in FST behaviors, such as immobility and swimming, are not consistent among laboratories. Reliable indices, sensitive to sex differences, are required. We identified a robust sex difference in the frequency of headshakes during the standard two session FST, with male rats exhibiting higher number of head shakes than females. Furthermore, we explored whether strain, ageing, sex- and stress-hormone levels influence this sex difference. Experiments in middle-aged and senescent Wistar rats, as well as in gonadectomized and adrenalectomized with corticosterone replacement young adult males and females, revealed that sex differences in headshakes during FST are not influenced by age or corticosterone, but are abolished following castration of male rats. Interestingly, headshake frequency correlated positively with testosterone, but not corticosterone levels. Finally, testing of Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats in a single 5min FST session revealed that headshake frequency is sensitive to antidepressant treatment with female rats exhibiting opposite responses to treatment than male FSL rats. Mirtazapine, a 5-HT2 antagonist, enhanced headshakes in females and decreased them in male FSL rats. Based on current data and the available literature, sex differences in headshake frequency should be linked to analogous sex differences in serotonin receptors. Headshake frequency during the FST is an additional valuable behavioral index, sensitive to sex differences, gonadal hormones and antidepressants modulating serotonin receptors.

The aim of this paper is to present the perceptions of the Health Informatics Scientists about the Big Data Technology in Healthcare. An empirical study was conducted among 46 scientists to assess their knowledge about the Big Data Technology and their perceptions about using this technology in healthcare. Based on the study findings, 86.7% of the scientists had knowledge of Big data Technology. Furthermore, 59.1% of the scientists believed that Big Data Technology refers to structured data. Additionally, 100% of the population believed that Big Data Technology can be implemented in Healthcare. Finally, the majority does not know any cases of use of Big Data Technology in Greece while 57,8% of the them mentioned that they knew use cases of the Big Data Technology abroad.

Osteochondral defects or injuries represent the most challenging entities to treat, especially when occur to young and active patients. For centuries, it has been recognized that such defects are almost impossible to treat. However, surgeons have never stopped the effort to develop reliable methods to restore articular cartilage and salvage the endangered joint function. Osteochondral allograft transplantation in human was first introduced by Eric Lexer in 1908. Since that era, several pioneers have been worked in the field of osteochondral allotransplantation, presenting and developing the basic research, the methodology and the surgical techniques. Herein we present in brief, the history and the early clinical results of osteochondral allograft transplantation in human.

Real-time quantitative-PCR has been a priceless tool for gene expression analyses. The reaction, however, needs proper normalization with the use of housekeeping genes (HKGs), whose expression remains stable throughout the experimental conditions. Often, the combination of several genes is required for accurate normalization. Most importantly, there are no universal HKGs which can be used since their expression varies among different organisms, tissues or experimental conditions. In the present study, nine common HKGs (RPL19, tbp, ubx, GAPDH, α-TUB, β-TUB, 14-3-3zeta, RPE and actin3) are evaluated in thirteen different body parts, developmental stages and reproductive and olfactory tissues of two insects of agricultural importance, the medfly and the olive fly. Three software programs based on different algorithms were used (geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper) and gave different ranking of HKG stabilities. This confirms once again that the stability of common HKGs should not be taken for granted and demonstrates the caution that is needed in the choice of the appropriate HKGs. Finally, by estimating the average of a standard score of the stability values resulted by the three programs we were able to provide a useful consensus key for the choice of the best HKG combination in various tissues of the two insects.

The V-SVZ adult neurogenic niche is located in the wall of the lateral ventricles and contains neural stem cells, with self-renewing and differentiating ability and postmitotic multiciliated ependymal cells, an important structural and trophic component of the niche. The niche is established at postnatal stages from a subpopulation of radial glial cells, determined during embryogenesis. Radial glial cells constitute a heterogeneous population, which give rise, in addition to niche cellular components, to neurons and glial cells. The mechanisms that direct their fate commitment towards V-SVZ niche cells are largely unknown. In the present review, we discuss recent findings on the signaling networks governing fate commitment decisions of radial glial cells towards multiciliated ependymal cells. We highlight the role of two novel factors: McIdas and GemC1/Lynkeas and the molecular pathways which they activate in order to promote ependymal cell differentiation. Finally, we discuss a possible crosstalk of known signaling pathways, such as Notch, STAT3, and BMPs, for the specification of ependymal versus adult neural stem cells in the V-SVZ niche. GLIA 2017;65:1032-1042.

The Hubble Catalog of Variables (HCV) is a 3 year ESA funded project that aims to develop a set of algorithms to identify variables among the sources included in the Hubble Source Catalog (HSC) and produce the HCV. We will process all HSC sources with more than a predefined number of measurements in a single filter/instrument combination and compute a range of lightcurve features to determine the variability status of each source. At the end of the project, the first release of the Hubble Catalog of Variables will be made available at the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) and the ESA Science Archives. The variability detection pipeline will be implemented at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) so that updated versions of the HCV may be created following the future releases of the HSC.

We aim to construct an exceptionally deep (V ≲ 27) catalog of variable objects in selected Galactic and extragalactic fields visited multiple times by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). While HST observations of some of these fields were searched for specific types of variables before (most notably, the extragalactic Cepheids), we attempt a systematic study of the population of variable objects of all types at the magnitude range not easily accessible with ground-based telescopes. The variability timescales that can be probed range from hours to years depending on how often a particular field has been visited. For source extraction and cross-matching of sources between visits we rely on the Hubble Source Catalog which includes 107 objects detected with WFPC2, ACS, and WFC3 HST instruments. The lightcurves extracted from the HSC are corrected for systematic effects by applying local zero-point corrections and are screened for bad measurements. For each lightcurve we compute variability indices sensitive to a broad range of variability types. The indices characterize the overall lightcurve scatter and smoothness. Candidate variables are selected as having variability index values significantly higher than expected for objects of similar brightness in the given set of observations. The Hubble Catalog of Variables will be released in 2018.

Combination antiretroviral treatment (cART) has significantly improved the life expectancy of people living with HIV. The life-long nature of cART increases the risk of side effects, which in some cases may have been caused by specific genetic characteristics. Patients treated with atazanavir (ATV) boosted with ritonavir (rit), which is a protease inhibitor used for the treatment of HIV, present with elevated bilirubin levels, at high proportions. ATV/rit-related hyperbilirubinemia has been previously associated with genetic characteristics in uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) enzyme. The prevalence of the UGT1A1*28 variant, which is the most frequent polymorphism in the UGT1A1 superfamily, has been found to range between 9% and ~60% with the highest frequency in Africa. Pharmacokinetics for additional HIV drugs, such as the integrase inhibitors Raltegravir and Elvitegravir, has been also shown to be influenced by UGT1A1 polymorphisms. Pharmacogenetics/pharmacogenomics testing can be useful to identify a patient's susceptibility to drug toxicity and therefore to facilitate selection of the optimal long-term suppressive regimen.

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) hosts a large number of high-mass X-ray binaries, and in particular of Be/X-ray Binaries (BeXRBs; neutron stars orbiting OBe-type stars), offering a unique laboratory to address the effect of metalicity. One key property of their optical companion is Hα in emission, which makes them bright sources when observed through a narrow-band Hα filter. We performed a survey of the SMC Bar and Wing regions using wide-field cameras (WFI@MPG/ESO and MOSAIC@CTIO/Blanco) in order to identify the counterparts of the sources detected in our XMM-Newton survey of the same area. We obtained broad-band R and narrow-band Hα photometry, and identified ~10000 Hα emission sources down to a sensitivity limit of 18.7 mag (equivalent to ~B8 type Main Sequence stars). We find the fraction of OBe/OB stars to be 13% down to this limit, and by investigating this fraction as a function of the brightness of the stars we deduce that Hα excess peaks at the O9-B2 spectral range. Using the most up-to-date numbers of SMC BeXRBs we find their fraction over their parent population to be ~0.002 - 0.025 BeXRBs/OBe, a direct measurement of their formation rate.

Background In the era of widespread rituximab use for Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia, new treatment options for patients with rituximab-refractory disease are an important clinical need. Ibrutinib has induced durable responses in previously treated patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia. We assessed the efficacy and safety of ibrutinib in a population with rituximab-refractory disease. Methods This multicentre, open-label substudy was done at 19 sites in seven countries in adults aged 18 years and older with confirmed Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia, refractory to rituximab and requiring treatment. Disease refractory to the last rituximab-containing therapy was defined as either relapse less than 12 months since last dose of rituximab or failure to achieve at least a minor response. Key exclusion criteria included: CNS involvement, a stroke or intracranial haemorrhage less than 12 months before enrolment, clinically significant cardiovascular disease, hepatitis B or hepatitis C viral infection, and a known bleeding disorder. Patients received oral ibrutinib 420 mg once daily until progression or unacceptable toxicity. The substudy was not prospectively powered for statistical comparisons, and as such, all the analyses are descriptive in nature. This study objectives were the proportion of patients with an overall response, progression-free survival, overall survival, haematological improvement measured by haemoglobin, time to next treatment, and patient-reported outcomes according to the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Anemia (FACT-An) and the Euro Qol 5 Dimension Questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L). All analyses were per protocol. The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02165397, and follow-up is ongoing but enrolment is complete. Findings Between Aug 18, 2014, and Feb 18, 2015, 31 patients were enrolled. Median age was 67 years (IQR 58–74); 13 (42%) of 31 patients had high-risk disease per the International Prognostic Scoring System Waldenström Macroglobulinaemia, median number of previous therapies was four (IQR 2–6), and all were rituximab-refractory. At a median follow-up of 18·1 months (IQR 17·5–18·9), the proportion of patients with an overall response was 28 [90%] of 31 (22 [71%] of patients had a major response), the estimated 18 month progression-free survival rate was 86% (95% CI 66–94), and the estimated 18 month overall survival rate was 97% (95% CI 79–100). Baseline median haemoglobin of 10·3 g/dL (IQR 9·3–11·7) increased to 11·4 g/dL (10·9–12·4) after 4 weeks of ibrutinib treatment and reached 12·7 g/dL (11·8–13·4) at week 49. A clinically meaningful improvement from baseline in FACT-An score, anaemia subscale score, and the EQ-5D-5L were reported at all post-baseline visits. Time to next treatment will be presented at a later date. Common grade 3 or worse adverse events included neutropenia in four patients (13%), hypertension in three patients (10%), and anaemia, thrombocytopenia, and diarrhoea in two patients each (6%). Serious adverse events occurred in ten patients (32%) and were most often infections. Five (16%) patients discontinued ibrutinib: three due to progression and two due to adverse events, while the remaining 26 [84%] of patients are continuing ibrutinib at the time of this report. Interpretation The sustained responses and median progression-free survival time, combined with a manageable toxicity profile observed with single-agent ibrutinib indicate that this chemotherapy-free approach is a potential new treatment choice for patients who had heavily pretreated, rituximab-refractory Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia. Funding Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Background In the era of widespread rituximab use for Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia, new treatment options for patients with rituximab-refractory disease are an important clinical need. Ibrutinib has induced durable responses in previously treated patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia. We assessed the efficacy and safety of ibrutinib in a population with rituximab-refractory disease. Methods This multicentre, open-label substudy was done at 19 sites in seven countries in adults aged 18 years and older with confirmed Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia, refractory to rituximab and requiring treatment. Disease refractory to the last rituximab-containing therapy was defined as either relapse less than 12 months since last dose of rituximab or failure to achieve at least a minor response. Key exclusion criteria included: CNS involvement, a stroke or intracranial haemorrhage less than 12 months before enrolment, clinically significant cardiovascular disease, hepatitis B or hepatitis C viral infection, and a known bleeding disorder. Patients received oral ibrutinib 420 mg once daily until progression or unacceptable toxicity. The substudy was not prospectively powered for statistical comparisons, and as such, all the analyses are descriptive in nature. This study objectives were the proportion of patients with an overall response, progression-free survival, overall survival, haematological improvement measured by haemoglobin, time to next treatment, and patient-reported outcomes according to the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Anemia (FACT-An) and the Euro Qol 5 Dimension Questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L). All analyses were per protocol. The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02165397, and follow-up is ongoing but enrolment is complete. Findings Between Aug 18, 2014, and Feb 18, 2015, 31 patients were enrolled. Median age was 67 years (IQR 58–74); 13 (42%) of 31 patients had high-risk disease per the International Prognostic Scoring System Waldenström Macroglobulinaemia, median number of previous therapies was four (IQR 2–6), and all were rituximab-refractory. At a median follow-up of 18·1 months (IQR 17·5–18·9), the proportion of patients with an overall response was 28 [90%] of 31 (22 [71%] of patients had a major response), the estimated 18 month progression-free survival rate was 86% (95% CI 66–94), and the estimated 18 month overall survival rate was 97% (95% CI 79–100). Baseline median haemoglobin of 10·3 g/dL (IQR 9·3–11·7) increased to 11·4 g/dL (10·9–12·4) after 4 weeks of ibrutinib treatment and reached 12·7 g/dL (11·8–13·4) at week 49. A clinically meaningful improvement from baseline in FACT-An score, anaemia subscale score, and the EQ-5D-5L were reported at all post-baseline visits. Time to next treatment will be presented at a later date. Common grade 3 or worse adverse events included neutropenia in four patients (13%), hypertension in three patients (10%), and anaemia, thrombocytopenia, and diarrhoea in two patients each (6%). Serious adverse events occurred in ten patients (32%) and were most often infections. Five (16%) patients discontinued ibrutinib: three due to progression and two due to adverse events, while the remaining 26 [84%] of patients are continuing ibrutinib at the time of this report. Interpretation The sustained responses and median progression-free survival time, combined with a manageable toxicity profile observed with single-agent ibrutinib indicate that this chemotherapy-free approach is a potential new treatment choice for patients who had heavily pretreated, rituximab-refractory Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia. Funding Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

The transient IGR J01217-7257 in the Small Magellanic Cloud was found to be in a new outburst during INTEGRAL observations. We triggered an XMM-Newton target of opportunity observation near outburst maximum, which lead to the discovery of X-ray pulsations with a period of 2.165 s. This period is very similar to that detected from XTE J0119-731, suggesting that both sources are identical. The pulse profile obtained from the EPIC-pn instrument is complex and highly energy dependent. Pulse-phase spectroscopy reveals variations in the spectral slope correlated with the changes in flux during the pulse, with the harder X-ray spectrum at pulse maximum and softer during minimum. Analysis of XMM-Newton reflection grating spectra reveals the presence of emission lines that suggest the presence of ionized material around the neutron star. By monitoring the system during its outburst with Swift/XRT we detected a possible transition from the accretor to the propeller stage.

IGF-IR is highly associated with the behaviour of breast cancer cells. In ERalpha-positive breast cancer, IGF-IR is present at high levels. In clinical practice, prolonged treatment with anti-estrogen agents results in resistance to the therapy with activation of alternative signaling pathways. Receptor Tyrosine Kinases, and especially IGF-IR, have crucial roles in these processes. Here, we report a nodal role of IGF-IR in the regulation of ERalpha-positive breast cancer cell aggressiveness and the regulation of expression levels of several extracellular matrix molecules. In particular, activation of IGF-IR, but not EGFR, in MCF-7 breast cancer cells results in the reduction of specific matrix metalloproteinases and their inhibitors. In contrast, IGF-IR inhibition leads to the depletion by endocytosis of syndecan-4. Global important changes in cell adhesion receptors, which include integrins and syndecan-4 triggered by IGF-IR inhibition, regulate adhesion and invasion. Cell function assays that were performed in MCF-7 cells as well as their ERalpha-suppressed counterparts indicate that ER status is a major determinant of IGF-IR regulatory role on cell adhesion and invasion. The strong inhibitory role of IGF-IR on breast cancer cells aggressiveness for which E2-ERalpha signaling pathway seems to be essential, highlights IGF-IR as a major molecular target for novel therapeutic strategies.

The educational activities initiated by the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) have had global impacts and influenced national societies and local academic programs in the field of Biomedical and Health Informatics (BMHI). After the successful publication and dissemination of its educational recommendations, IMIA launched an accreditation procedure for educational programs in BMHI. The accreditation procedure was pilot tested by several BMHI academic programs in different countries and continents to obtain a global perspective. This paper presents an overview of IMIA quality assurance and accreditation procedures along with feedback on issues and problems which emerged during the pilot. It appears that IMIA quality assurance and procedures worked quite well in different countries of Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia. These first experiences provided adequate information for adapting, modifying, and optimizing the procedures and finally for the planning of future activities. IMIA accreditation framework comprises a single set of standards that apply at various levels to both academic and professional BMHI programs. The pilot phase confirmed the robustness and generalizability of quality assurance standards and associated procedures on which IMIA accreditation is based at an international level.

The updated version of the IMIA educational recommendations has given an adequate guidelines platform for developing educational programs in Biomedical and Health Informatics at all levels of education, vocational training, and distance learning. This chapter will provide a brief introduction of the recommendations pinpointing aspects for developing and assessing educational programs. We will provide a review of the existing feedback we have acquired during the IMIA site visits of accrediting educational programs at a worldwide level and discuss implementations issues. A brief overview of existing academic programs in Europe, North America and in other regions, especially for programs related to Nursing and to Nursing Informatics is provided. Finally, we will draw conclusions as how the IMIA recommendations may be required to be fitted into the specific needs of the Nursing Informatics and the needs of the Nursing professionals when they apply the recommendations to their academic and/or hospital/professional environments.

The randomized phase 3 ENDEAVOR study (N=929) compared carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) with bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd) in relapsed multiple myeloma (RMM). We performed a subgroup analysis from ENDEAVOR in patients categorized by number of prior lines of therapy or by prior treatment. Median progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with one prior line was 22.2 months for Kd vs 10.1 months for Vd, and median PFS for patients with ≥2 prior lines was 14.9 months for Kd vs 8.4 months for Vd. For patients with prior bortezomib exposure, the median PFS was 15.6 months for Kd vs 8.1 months for Vd, and for patients with prior lenalidomide exposure the median PFS was 12.9 months for Kd vs 7.3 months for Vd. Overall response rates (Kd vs Vd) were 81.9 vs 65.5% (one prior line), 72.0 vs 59.7% (≥2 prior lines), 71.2 vs 60.3% (prior bortezomib) and 70.1 vs 59.3% (prior lenalidomide). The safety profile in the prior lines subgroups was qualitatively similar to that in the broader ENDEAVOR population. In RMM, outcomes are improved when receiving treatment with carfilzomib compared with bortezomib, regardless of the number of prior therapy lines or prior exposure to bortezomib or lenalidomide. © 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature.

The randomized phase 3 ENDEAVOR study (N=929) compared carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) with bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd) in relapsed multiple myeloma (RMM). We performed a subgroup analysis from ENDEAVOR in patients categorized by number of prior lines of therapy or by prior treatment. Median progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with one prior line was 22.2 months for Kd vs 10.1 months for Vd, and median PFS for patients with ≥2 prior lines was 14.9 months for Kd vs 8.4 months for Vd. For patients with prior bortezomib exposure, the median PFS was 15.6 months for Kd vs 8.1 months for Vd, and for patients with prior lenalidomide exposure the median PFS was 12.9 months for Kd vs 7.3 months for Vd. Overall response rates (Kd vs Vd) were 81.9 vs 65.5% (one prior line), 72.0 vs 59.7% (≥2 prior lines), 71.2 vs 60.3% (prior bortezomib) and 70.1 vs 59.3% (prior lenalidomide). The safety profile in the prior lines subgroups was qualitatively similar to that in the broader ENDEAVOR population. In RMM, outcomes are improved when receiving treatment with carfilzomib compared with bortezomib, regardless of the number of prior therapy lines or prior exposure to bortezomib or lenalidomide. © 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature.

Aims: The histidine-rich calcium-binding protein (HRC) Ser96Ala variant has previously been identified as a potential biomarker for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Herein, the role of this variant in cardiac pathophysiology is delineated through a novel mouse model, carrying the human mutation in the homologous mouse position. Methods and results: The mouse HRC serine 81, homologous to human HRC serine 96, was mutated to alanine, using knock-in gene targeting. The HRC-Ser81Ala mice presented increased mortality in the absence of structural or histological abnormalities, indicating that early death may be arrhythmia-related. Indeed, under stress-but not baseline-conditions, the HRC-Ser81Ala mice developed ventricular arrhythmias, whilst at the cardiomyocyte level they exhibited increased occurrence of triggered activity. Cardiac contraction was decreased in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro. Additionally, Ca2+ transients and SR Ca2+ load were both reduced suggesting that cytosolic Ca2+ overload is not the underlying proarrhythmic mechanism. Interestingly, total SR Ca2+ leak was increased in HRC-Ser81Ala cardiomyocytes, without an increase in Ca2+ spark and wave frequency. However, Ca2+ wave propagation was significantly slower and the duration of the associated Na/Ca exchange current was increased. Moreover, action potential duration was also increased. Notably, Ca2+/Calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII) phosphorylation of the ryanodine receptor was increased, whilst KN-93, an inhibitor of CaMKII, reduced the occurrence of arrhythmias. Conclusions: The homologous mutation Ser81Ala in HRC in mice, corresponding to Ser96Ala in humans, is associated with sudden death and depressed cardiac function. Ventricular arrhythmias are related to abnormal Ca2+ cycling across the SR. The data further support a role for CaMKII with the perspective to treat arrhythmias through CaMKII inhibition.

Purpose I will discuss the prospect of pharmaceutically enhancing human morality and decision making in such a way as to eliminate morally unjustifiable choices and promote desirable ones. Background Our species in the relatively short period since it has emerged has enormously advanced in knowledge, science, and technical progress. When it comes to moral development, the distance it has covered is almost negligible. What if we could medically accelerate our moral development? What if we could once and for all render our species totally immune to certain vices? Methodology I will examine whether pharmaceutically intervening in human morality would compromise the autonomy of moral agents. I will argue that the argument from the autonomy of the moral agent is neither stable nor convincing. Conclusions In the light of Kantian ethics we might consider moral enhancement by pharmaceutical means to be a perfect duty for moral agents.

Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells and produce cellular energy in the form of ATP. Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to biological aging and a wide variety of disorders including metabolic diseases, premature aging syndromes, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). Maintenance of mitochondrial health depends on mitochondrial biogenesis and the efficient clearance of dysfunctional mitochondria through mitophagy. Experimental methods to accurately detect autophagy/mitophagy, especially in animal models, have been challenging to develop. Recent progress towards the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of mitophagy has enabled the development of novel mitophagy detection techniques. Here, we introduce several versatile techniques to monitor mitophagy in human cells, Caenorhabditis elegans (e.g., Rosella and DCT-1/ LGG-1 strains), and mice (mt-Keima). A combination of these mitophagy detection techniques, including cross-species evaluation, will improve the accuracy of mitophagy measurements and lead to a better understanding of the role of mitophagy in health and disease.

Perturbation of mitochondrial function is a major hallmark of several pathological conditions and ageing, underlining the essential role of fine-tuned mitochondrial activity (Lopez-Otin et al., 2013). Mitochondrial selective autophagy, known as mitophagy, mediates the removal of dysfunctional and/or superfluous organelles, preserving cellular and organismal homeostasis (Palikaras and Tavernarakis, 2014; Pickrell and Youle, 2015; Scheibye-Knudsen et al., 2015). In this protocol, we describe a method for assessing mitophagy in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.