Publications by Year: 2019

Expedition 381 scientists Donna J. Shillington Co-Chief Scientist Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Columbia University USA Lisa C. McNeill Co-Chief Scientist Ocean and Earth Science University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre Southampton UK Gareth D.O. CarterExpedition Project Manager British Geological Survey The Lyell Centre UKJeremy (Jez) Everest Expedition Project Manager British Geological Survey The Lyell Centre UKErwan Le BerPetrophysics Staff Scientist School of Geography, Geology and the Environment University of Leicester UK Richard Collier Sedimentologist Basin Structure Group School of Earth and Environment University of Leeds UK Aleksandra Cvetkoska Micropaleontologist (diatoms) Department of Animal Ecology and Systematics Justus Liebig University Germany Gino De Gelder Structural Geologist Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris Sorbonne Paris Cité Université Paris Diderot France Paula Diz FerreiroMicropaleontologist (foraminifers) Departamento Geociencias Marinas y Ordenación del Territorio Facultad de Ciencias del Mar Universidad de Vigo Spain Mai-Linh Doan Petrophysicist (physical properties) Université Grenoble Alpes Université Savoie Mont Blanc CNRS, IRD, IFSTTAR, and ISTerre France Mary Ford Structural Geologist/Sedimentologist CRPG UMR 7358 France Also at Université de Lorraine ENSG INP France Robert GawthorpeSedimentologist Department of Earth Science University of Bergen Norway Maria Geraga Micropaleontologist (foraminifers) Department of Geology University of Patras Greece Jack Gillespie Structural Geologist/Sedimentologist Center for Tectonics, Resources, and Exploration (TRaX) Department of Earth Sciences School of Physical Sciences University of Adelaide AustraliaRomain Hemelsdaël Sedimentologist Géosciences Montpellier Université de Montpellier France Emilio Herrero-Bervera Paleomagnetist University of Hawaii at Manoa Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology USAMohammad Ismaiel Petrophysicist (physical properties) University Centre for Earth and Space Sciences University of Hyderabad India Liliane Janikian Sedimentologist Departamento de Ciências do Mar Universidade Federal de São Paulo BrazilKaterina Kouli Micropaleontologist (palynology) Department of Geology and Geoenvironment National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Greece Shunli Li Sedimentologist School of Energy Resources China University of Geosciences (Beijing) China Malka Leah Machlus Petrophysicist (physical properties) Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Columbia University USA Also at Department of Physical Sciences Kingsborough Community College City University of New York USA Marco MaffionePaleomagnetist School of Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Birmingham UK Carol Mahoney Inorganic Geochemist School of Earth and Environment The University of Leeds UK Georgios Michas Petrophysicist (physical properties) Laboratory of Geophysics and Seismology Technological Educational Institute of Crete Greece Clint Miller Inorganic Geochemist Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Rice University USA Casey Nixon Structural Geologist Department of Earth Science University of Bergen NorwaySabire Asli Oflaz Micropaleontologist (foraminifers) Graduate School “Human Development in Landscapes” Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel Germany Abah Philip Omale Petrophysicist (physical properties) Department of Geology and Geophysics Louisiana State University USAKostas Panagiotopoulos Micropaleontologist (palynology) Institute of Geology and Mineralogy University of Cologne Germany Sofia Pechlivanidou Sedimentologist Department of Earth Science University of Bergen Norway Marcie Phillips Micropaleontologist (nannofossils/diatoms) Institute for Geophysics University of Texas at Austin USA Simone Sauer Inorganic Geochemist Ifremer Department of Marine Geosciences Centre Bretagne France Joana Seguin Organic Geochemist Institute for Ecosystem Research Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel GermanySpyros Sergiou Sedimentologist Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography Department of Geology University of Patras Greece Natalia Zakharova Core-Log-Seismic Integration Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Central Michigan University USA

Taking as a point of departure Lord Byron’s reflections on the meaning of the ruined Parthenon, this essay traverses the long legacy of ruin-thinking in the Anglo-American imagination, and argues for its relevance to the present day. Referencing earlier and recent strands in the rich scholarship on the trope of the ruin, the authors contextualize the essays of the volume; particular emphasis is laid on the volume’s especial focus on the ruin as metaphor and as a historical materiality, as these are probed in individual chapters that discuss ruin and ruination across British and American literature, continental theory and philosophy.

Introduction to vol. 23/1  NARRATIVES OF RELIGIOUS CONVERSION FROM THE ENLIGHTENMENT TO THE PRESENT, ed. by L. Kostova nad E. Mitsi

Inverse Compton-pair cascades are initiated when gamma-rays are absorbed on an ambient soft photon field to produce relativistic pairs, which in turn up-scatter the same soft photons to produce more gamma-rays. If the Compton scatterings take place in the deep Klein-Nishina regime, then triplet pair production (e{γ }b\to {{ee}}+{e}-) becomes relevant and may even regulate the development of the cascade. We investigate the properties of pair-Compton cascades with triplet pair production in accelerating gaps, i.e., regions with an unscreened electric field. Using the method of transport equations for the particle evolution, we compute the growth rate of the pair cascade as a function of the accelerating electric field in the presence of blackbody and power-law ambient photon fields. Informed by the numerical results, we derive simple analytical expressions for the peak growth rate and the corresponding electric field. We show that for certain parameters, which can be realized in the vicinity of accreting supermassive black holes at the centers of active galactic nuclei, the pair cascade may well be regulated by inverse Compton scattering in the deep Klein-Nishina regime and triplet pair production. We present indicative examples of the escaping gamma-ray radiation from the gap, and discuss our results in application to the TeV observations of radio galaxy M87.

Inverse Compton-pair cascades are initiated when gamma-rays are absorbed on an ambient soft photon field to produce relativistic pairs, which in turn up-scatter the same soft photons to produce more gamma-rays. If the Compton scatterings take place in the deep Klein-Nishina regime, then triplet pair production (e{γ }b\to {{ee}}+{e}-) becomes relevant and may even regulate the development of the cascade. We investigate the properties of pair-Compton cascades with triplet pair production in accelerating gaps, i.e., regions with an unscreened electric field. Using the method of transport equations for the particle evolution, we compute the growth rate of the pair cascade as a function of the accelerating electric field in the presence of blackbody and power-law ambient photon fields. Informed by the numerical results, we derive simple analytical expressions for the peak growth rate and the corresponding electric field. We show that for certain parameters, which can be realized in the vicinity of accreting supermassive black holes at the centers of active galactic nuclei, the pair cascade may well be regulated by inverse Compton scattering in the deep Klein-Nishina regime and triplet pair production. We present indicative examples of the escaping gamma-ray radiation from the gap, and discuss our results in application to the TeV observations of radio galaxy M87.

Aims: We investigate accretion models for the newly discovered pulsating ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 300 ULX1. Methods: We analyzed broadband XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of NGC 300 ULX1, performing phase-averaged and phase-resolved spectroscopy. Using the Bayesian framework, we compared two physically motivated models for the source spectrum: Non-thermal accretion column emission modeled by a power law with a high-energy exponential roll-off (AC model), and multicolor thermal emission from an optically thick accretion envelope plus a hard power-law tail (MCAE model). The AC model is an often used phenomenological model for the emission of X-ray pulsars, while the MCAE model has recently been proposed for the emission of the optically thick accretion envelope that is expected to form in ultraluminous (LX > 1039 erg s-1), highly magnetized accreting neutron stars. We combined the findings of our Bayesian analysis with qualitative physical considerations to evaluate the suitability of each model. Results: The low-energy part (< 2 keV) of the source spectrum is dominated by non-pulsating, multicolor thermal emission. The (pulsating) high-energy continuum is more ambiguous. If modeled with the AC model, a residual structure is detected that can be modeled using a broad Gaussian absorption line centered at ∼12 keV. However, the same residuals can be successfully modeled using the MCAE model, without the need for the absorption-like feature. Model comparison using the Bayesian approach strongly indicates that the MCAE model without the absorption line is the preferred model. Conclusions: The spectro-temporal characteristics of NGC 300 ULX1 are consistent with previously reported traits for X-ray pulsars and (pulsating) ULXs. All models considered strongly indicate the presence of an accretion disk that is truncated at a large distance from the central object, as has recently been suggested for a large portion of both pulsating and non-pulsating ULXs. The hard, pulsed emission is not described by a smooth spectral continuum. If modeled by a broad Gaussian absorption line, the fit residuals can be interpreted as a cyclotron scattering feature (CRSF) compatible with a ∼1012 G magnetic field. However, the MCAE model can successfully describe the spectral and temporal characteristics of the source emission, without the need for an additional absorption feature, and it yields physically meaningful parameter values. Therefore strong doubts are cast on the presence of a CRSF in NGC 300 ULX1.

“Jazz mapping" is a multi-layered analytical approach to jazz improvisation. It is based on hierarchical segmentation and categorization of segments, or constituents, according to their function in the overall improvisation. The approach aims at identifying higher-level semantics oftranscribed and recorded jazz solos. At these initial stages, analytical decisions are rather exploratory and rely on the input of one of the authors and experienced jazz performer. We apply the method to two well-known solos, by Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker, and discuss how improvisations resemble story-telling, employing a broad range of structural, expressive and technical tools, usually associated with linguistic production, experience, and meaning. We elucidate the implicit choices of experienced jazz improvisers, who have developed a strong command over the language and can communicate expressive intent, elicit emotional responses, and unfoldmusical “stories” that are memorable and enjoyable tofellow musicians and listeners. We also comment on potentialartificial intelligence applications of this work to music research and performance.

On July 20, 2017 22:31 UTC, a strong Mwþinspace}=þinspace}6.6 earthquake occurred at shallow depth between Kos Island (Greece) and Bodrum (Turkey). We derive a co-seismic fault model from joint inversion of geodetic data (GNSS and InSAR) assuming that the earthquake can be modelled by the slip of a rectangular fault buried in an elastic and homogeneous half-space. The GNSS observations constrain well most of the model parameters but do not permit to discriminate between south- and north-dipping planes. However, the interferograms, produced from C-band ESA Sentinel 1 data, give a clear preference to the north-dipping plane. We also map surface motion away from the satellite along the Turkish coast (from Bodrum towards the east) which reached about 17 cm onshore islet Karaada. The best-fit model is obtained with a 37° north-dipping, N283°E striking normal fault, in agreement with the published moment tensor solutions. The resolved slip vector is dominantly normal with a slight component of left-lateral motion (15°). The surface projection of the seismic fault outcrops in the Gökova ridge area, a well-developed bathymetric feature inside the western Gulf of Gökova. Our geodetic model fits the pattern of the shallow, north-dipping aftershocks obtained from rigorous relocation of all available recordings in the region (about 1120 events; relocated mainshock is at 36.955°N, 27.448°E; depth at 9.2 kmþinspace}±þinspace}0.5 km). The relocated aftershocks also indicate clustering at both ends of the rupture and seismicity triggering mainly towards the east and the north, within 2 weeks following the mainshock. We also analysed regional GPS data (interseismic velocities) and obtained an extension rate of 3.2 mm/yr across the Gökova rift, along a direction N165°E.

The objective of this study is to analyze the kinetic and kinematic changes of the osteoarthritic knee after a mobile bearing total knee arthroplasty. Kinematic and kinetic gait analysis of level walking was performed in 15 patients (eight female and seven male) with knee ostoarthritis. All patients were free of any neurological diseases that could affect their normal gait. Mean age was 68.6 ± 5.2 years, mean height 159.8 ± 6.9 cm, and mean weight was 78.5 ± 10.1 kg. Full body gait analysis was performed using the BioKin three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis system preoperatively and 9 months after total knee arthroplasty. A single-step ascending kinetic analysis and a plantar pressure distribution analysis were also performed in all patients. An increased average cadence (mean 99.39 step/min preoperatively and 104.64 step/min postoperatively;  = 0.152), step length (0.44 m preoperatively and 0.52 m postoperatively;  < 0.001), stride length (0.89 m preoperatively and 1.0 m postoperatively;  < 0.007), and walking velocity (0.73 m/sec preoperatively and 0.90 m/sec postoperatively;  = 0.005) were noted postoperatively and postoperatively. A decrease in the stance duration percentage and the knee adduction moment was also reported postoperatively. All patients showed a significant improvement of knee kinetics and kinematics after a mobile bearing total knee arthroplasty. Statistically significant differences were found in the step length, stride length, and walk velocity postoperatively. The knee adduction moment was also significantly reduced. Further research is warranted to determine the clinical relevance of these findings. This study is a prospective comparative one and reflects level II evidence.

El presente trabajo pretende demostrar que la prueba de disponibilidad léxica puede servir como herramienta de evaluación léxica de aprendices de LE. Partiendo del hecho de que la competencia léxica es multidimensional se puede entender que evaluarla es una tarea muy compleja. A pesar de que la prueba de la disponibilidad léxica no puede medir todos los aspectos que abarca la competencia léxica, pensamos que podría ser una herramienta útil de evaluación de algunos aspectos del conocimiento léxico que atiende a dos finalidades diferentes: la evaluación del desarrollo de estos aspectos del conocimiento léxico de los aprendices de LE y la localización de posibles lagunas léxicas en el área temática analizada. Para comprobarlo, sometemos a dos grupos de aprendices griegos de ELE de nivel B1 y C1 respectivamente a la realización de una prueba de disponibilidad léxica. Comparamos sus respuestas en el centro de interés “La casa” para observar cómo evolucionan diferentes aspectos de su conocimiento léxico. A continuación, cotejamos las respuestas de los dos grupos con el Capítulo 10 (“Vivienda”) de las “Nociones específicas” del PCIC. Los resultados muestran que la prueba de la disponibilidad léxica podría revelar las lagunas del conocimiento léxico en el área temática analizada a condición de que se haya utilizado un centro de interés que permita la producción de todas las categorías gramaticales de las palabras.

El presente trabajo pretende demostrar que las pruebas de disponibilidadléxica pueden servir como pruebas de diagnóstico, yque por ello son de gran ayuda a la hora de decidir qué palabrasenseñar e incluir en una clase de ELE. Diagnosticar el conocimientoléxico es una tarea muy compleja, dado que conocer unapalabra se compone de muchas dimensiones distintas. A pesar dela crítica que ha recibido la metodología de las pruebas de la disponibilidadléxica, pensamos que podría ser una herramienta útilpara identificar las posibles lagunas en el conocimiento de losaprendices de ELE. En este estudio en concreto sometemos a ungrupo de estudiantes griegos de ELE de nivel B1 a la realizaciónde una prueba de disponibilidad léxica. Analizamos aspectos cuantitativosy cualitativos de las respuestas en el centro de interés“Comidas y bebidas” y las comparamos con las “Nociones específicas”del Plan Curricular del Instituto Cervantes. Los resultadosindican que dicha comparación nos permite localizar las carenciasléxicas en el área temática analizada. En este sentido, las pruebasde disponibilidad léxica pueden servir como pruebas de diagnóstico,y podríamos basarnos en sus resultados para planificar nuestraclase antes de empezar a trabajar en el aula un área temáticaconcreta.

El presente trabajo pretende investigar la influencia del conocimiento de varias lenguas extranjeras en la evocación del léxico disponible de aprendices griegos de español. A pesar de que existe la creencia de la existencia de una relación positiva entre el conocimiento de lenguas extranjeras y la disponibilidad léxica, en la investigación encontramos resultados contradictorios. Por una parte, algunas investigaciones han dado prueba de los beneficios lingüísticos del multilingüismo, por otra, hay estudios en psicolingüística que han mostrado que los hablantes multilingües necesitan más tiempo para activar y recuperar las palabras que los monolingües. En este estudio en concreto, sometemos a tres grupos de estudiantes del mismo nivel en español (B2) pero que conocen diferentes lenguas extranjeras a una prueba de disponibilidad léxica. Específicamente, analizamos las respuestas de un grupo de aprendices griegos de español que conocen una lengua extranjera, aparte de la lengua materna y el español, otro que conoce dos lenguas extranjeras, y un grupo que conoce tres lenguas extranjeras y más. Analizamos aspectos cuantitativos y cualitativos de las respuestas en el centro de interés ¨Acciones diarias¨. Los resultados muestran por un lado la relación positiva entre el conocimiento de lenguas extranjeras y la cantidad de respuestas evocadas y por otro la influencia del número de lenguas extranjeras conocidas en el uso de las estrategias de evocación empleadas.   

© 2019, The International Urogynecological Association. Introduction and hypothesis: Fractional CO2 and vaginal erbium lasers have emerged as potential treatment options for genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) in breast cancer (BC) survivors. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature to ascertain whether available evidence supports the efficacy and safety of laser treatment for GSM in BC patients. MEDLINE, Scopus and Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched from inception until March 2019 for studies on laser treatment for GSM in BC patients. Results: We yielded six observational studies meeting the inclusion criteria. The studies were of moderate quality. Taken together, the studies suggest that laser treatment may significantly alleviate or resolve the GSM-related symptoms and improve sexual function. Furthermore, a significant increase of the vaginal health index was reported. Positive effect was maintained up to 12 months. The safety and tolerability profile is encouraging, given that no adverse effects were reported, while only few patients discontinued laser treatment, owing to reported discomfort. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that lasers appear to be effective and practical treatment options in BC survivors suffering from GSM. Evidence concerning long-term effects is lacking. The rationale for repeated treatment remains uncertain. Randomized controlled trials that collate different frequencies, intensities and durations are warranted to ascertain a dose-response relationship and adherence.

Different types of sea-level markers have been used in the Eastern Mediterranean in order to assess Late Quaternary coastal evolution and relative sea-level (RSL) changes. RSL reconstructions are useful for various researches, ranging from the investigation of crustal movements to the calibration of earth rheology models and ice sheet reconstructions. GIA models have often been employed to identify stableand unstable areas and deduce tectonic rates through comparisons with observational data. It is generally assumed that most Cycladic islands (Aegean Sea, Greece) are affected by a gradual subsidence, ascribed to the thinning of the local earth crust and to isostatic processes that accompanied the post-glacial rise in sea level. The absence of morphological coastal features indicative of uplift, such as marine terraces or benches, elevated beachrocks, marine notches, or raised Quaternary coastal deposits, are often interpreted as an absence of local uplift.Although Paros Island presents great interest in terms of geoarchaeology, the evolution of its shoreline and RSL changes have not been studied in detail. The Island lies in the center of the Aegean Sea, in central Cyclades. In order to elucidate the RSL changes in the area and place an improved chronological constrain for the Late Holocene, we present new RSL index points, derived from sediment cores fromParos Island in combination with published geomorphological and sedimentological data from Paros and Naxos Island. Our results are further compared with sea-level predictions from two different GIA models in an attempt to better quantify the tectonic regime of the wider study area.

A fully dynamic theoretical approach to layered optomagnonic structures, based on a time Floquet scattering-matrix method, is developed. Its applicability is demonstrated on a simple design of a dual photonic-magnonic cavity, formed by sandwiching a magnetic garnet thin film between two dielectric Bragg mirrors, subject to continuous excitation of a perpendicular standing spin wave. Some remarkable phenomena, including nonlinear photon-magnon interaction effects and enhanced inelastic light scattering in the strong-coupling regime, fulfilling a triple-resonance condition, are analyzed and the limitations of the quasistatic adiabatic approximation are established.

The joint detection of gravitational waves (GWs) and γ-rays from a binary neutron star (NS) merger provided a unique view of off-axis gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and an independent measurement of the NS merger rate. Comparing the observations of GRB170817 with those of the regular population of short GRBs (sGRBs), we show that an order unity fraction of NS mergers result in sGRB jets that breakout of the surrounding ejecta. We argue that the luminosity function of sGRBs, peaking at {≈ } 2× 10^{52} erg s^{-1}, is likely an intrinsic property of the sGRB central engine and that sGRB jets are typically narrow with opening angles θ0 ≈ 0.1. We perform Monte Carlo simulations to examine models for the structure and efficiency of the prompt emission in off-axis sGRBs. We find that only a small fraction (∼0.01-0.1) of NS mergers detectable by LIGO/VIRGO in GWs is expected to be also detected in prompt γ-rays and that GW170817-like events are very rare. For an NS merger rate of ∼1500 Gpc-3 yr-1, as inferred from GW170817, we expect within the next decade up to ∼12 joint detections with off-axis GRBs for structured-jet models and just ∼1 for quasi-spherical cocoon models where γ-rays are the result of shock breakout. Given several joint detections and the rates of their discoveries, the different structure models can be distinguished. In addition the existence of a cocoon with a reservoir of thermal energy may be observed directly in the ultraviolet, given a sufficiently rapid localization of the GW source.

We analyze the finite lifetimes of the topologically protected electrons in the surface state of Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 due to elastic scattering off surface vacancies and as a function of energy. The scattering rates are decomposed into surface-to-surface and surface-to-bulk contributions, giving us new fundamental insights into the scattering properties of the topological surface states (TSS). If the number of possible final bulk states is much larger than the number of final surface states, then the surface-to-bulk contribution is of importance, otherwise the surface-to-surface contribution dominates. Additionally, we find defect resonances that have a significant impact on the scattering properties of the TSS. They can strongly change the lifetime of the surface state to vary between tens of fs to ps at surface defect concentrations of 1 at%. We also see that the effective scattering angle shows a strong dependence on the Fermi surface warping. Our results compare fairly well with available experiments.

We report on the effect of lithium doping of zinc oxide used as electron-transport layer in organic solar cells based on both fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors. The experimental and theoretical results indicate that lithium ions intercalated within the ZnO lattice as dopants replace interstitial zinc defects that act as trap states and give rise to a higher electron conductivity without significantly altering work function and valence band edge. The enhanced electron carrier extraction/collection efficiency, the suppressed bimolecular and interface trap-assisted recombination losses and the higher electron mobility of the photoactive blend synergistically contribute to the superior performance of PTB7-Th:PC71BM-based fullerene devices utilizing doped ZnO layers with an optimized lithium concentration of 5 wt %. Such devices increased their maximum PCE from 8.59% (average 8.05%) to 10.05% (average 9.53%) while, simultaneously, boosting their long-term stability. Moreover, non-fullerene solar cells based on the PTB7-Th:IT-4F blend exhibited PCEs up to 8.96% and maintained more than 80% of their initial efficiency after 1000 h storage in the dark upon using the lithium modified ZnO electron transport layer. © 2019 American Chemical Society.

In Act 2 Scene 2 of Richard II, Bushy advises the Queen against ‘looking awry’ upon the King’s departure, comparing her gaze first to a perspective glass and then to a perspective picture that appears distorted unless viewed at an angle. I rely on this metaphor of anamorphosis to examine two recent productions of Richard II in Athens, both of which ‘distort’ the text and situate it in a bleak context. Viewed from the angle of the current political discontent, the 2014 and 2016 adaptations, directed by Elli Papakonstantinou and Efi Birba respectively, assume distinct meaning for the Athenian audience.

Systematic monitoring of specific targets in the optical regime was historically applied on a very narrow sample of known variable stars. The discovery of blazars in the 20th century brought to the foreground the need for new global sky surveys, covering the entire sky and fainter sources. Full-sky surveys are conducted more easily from space observatories, while radio telescopes perform follow up observations from the ground. Blazars are detected in a wide range of energies, while they exhibit strong variability in various wavelengths from γ-rays and X-rays to the optical and radio domain. This results in a detailed classification, according to their emission properties in each region. The rapid variability in optical domain makes blazars interesting targets for optical sky surveys, offering a new opportunity to study their variability in the time domain. Digital sky surveys in optical and near-IR found a fertile ground with the aid of sensitive sensors. Only a few dedicated programs are focusing on blazar variability, a trend which evolved rapidly in the last decade. Modern techniques, in combination with dedicated sky survey programs lead towards a new era of long-term monitoring of blazars, aiming towards the search or variability on various time scales. In this work, an overview of blazar optical surveys and monitoring projects is given, addressing the major points of each one, and highlighting the constraints that the long-term study of blazars will bring through future international campaigns.

This paper offers a comparative study of land use and demographic development in northern and southern Greece from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. Results from summed probability densities (SPD) of archaeological radiocarbon dates and settlement numbers derived from archaeological site surveys are combined with results from cluster-based analysis of published pollen core assemblages to offer an integrated view of human pressure on the Greek landscape through time. We demonstrate that SPDs offer a useful approach to outline differences between regions and a useful complement to archaeological site surveys, evaluated here especially for the onset of the Neolithic and for the Final Neolithic (FN)/Early Bronze Age (EBA) transition. Pollen analysis highlight differences in vegetation between the two sub-regions, but also several parallel changes. The comparison of land cover dynamics between two sub-regions of Greece further demonstrates the significance of the bioclimatic conditions of core locations and that apparent oppositions between regions may in fact be two sides of the same coin in terms of socio-ecological trajectories. We also assess the balance between anthropogenic and climate-related impacts on vegetation and suggest that climatic variability was as an important factor for vegetation regrowth. Finally, our evidence suggests that the impact of humans on land cover is amplified from the Late Bronze Age (LBA) onwards as more extensive herding and agricultural practices are introduced.

Context. The tenuous nitrogen (N2) atmosphere on Pluto undergoes strong seasonal effects due to high obliquity and orbital eccentricity, and has recently (July 2015) been observed by the New Horizons spacecraft. Aims: The main goals of this study are (i) to construct a well calibrated record of the seasonal evolution of surface pressure on Pluto and (ii) to constrain the structure of the lower atmosphere using a central flash observed in 2015. Methods: Eleven stellar occultations by Pluto observed between 2002 and 2016 are used to retrieve atmospheric profiles (density, pressure, temperature) between altitude levels of ~5 and ~380 km (i.e. pressures from ~ 10 μbar to 10 nbar). Results: (i) Pressure has suffered a monotonic increase from 1988 to 2016, that is compared to a seasonal volatile transport model, from which tight constraints on a combination of albedo and emissivity of N2 ice are derived. (ii) A central flash observed on 2015 June 29 is consistent with New Horizons REX profiles, provided that (a) large diurnal temperature variations (not expected by current models) occur over Sputnik Planitia; and/or (b) hazes with tangential optical depth of ~0.3 are present at 4-7 km altitude levels; and/or (c) the nominal REX density values are overestimated by an implausibly large factor of ~20%; and/or (d) higher terrains block part of the flash in the Charon facing hemisphere.

Genome-wide studies in tumor cells have indicated that chromatin-modifying proteins are commonly mutated in human cancers. The lysine-specific methyltransferase 2C (KMT2C/MLL3) is a putative tumor suppressor in several epithelia and in myeloid cells. Here, we show that downregulation of KMT2C in bladder cancer cells leads to extensive changes in the epigenetic status and the expression of DNA damage response and DNA repair genes. More specifically, cells with low KMT2C activity are deficient in homologous recombination-mediated double-strand break DNA repair. Consequently, these cells suffer from substantially higher endogenous DNA damage and genomic instability. Finally, these cells seem to rely heavily on PARP1/2 for DNA repair, and treatment with the PARP1/2 inhibitor olaparib leads to synthetic lethality, suggesting that cancer cells with low KMT2C expression are attractive targets for therapies with PARP1/2 inhibitors.

El presente trabajo pretende demostrar que el nivel lingüístico en la lengua extranjera (LE) es un factor que afecta al proceso de evocación del léxico disponible en esta lenguade una manera tanto cuantitativa como cualitativa. Concretamente, este trabajo tiene como objetivo probar que en un mayor nivel lingüístico en la lengua extranjera seproducirán más respuestas, más variadas y más organizadas en el lexicón mental. En este estudio en concreto sometemos a dos grupos de participantes de diferente nivel enLE a la realización de una prueba de disponibilidad léxica. Específicamente, analizamos las respuestas de un grupo de alumnos griegos de ELE de nivel B1 y otro de nivel C1, yestudiamos aspectos cuantitativos y cualitativos de las respuestas en el centro de interés “Comidas y bebidas”. Los resultados indican que hay una relación positiva entre elnivel lingüístico y la cantidad y la variedad de respuestas evocadas. Además, estos muestran que el mayor nivel lingüístico en español favorece la creación de agrupaciones y larealización de saltos en las respuestas arrojadas por los estudiantes griegos, lo cual es una señal de una organización mejor delimitada en el lexicón mental de estos estudiantes.

The current study aims to clarify the hydrogeological regime of the deltaic valley of Pinios river (Thessaly, Greece). Its purpose is to map the existing aquifers below the deltaic plain, but also to assess the quality of their water (detect possible seawater intrusion), through the combined application of VES and TEM soundings. The results of the geophysical data processing revealed that the shallow (phreatic) aquifer is not detected throughout the entire deltaic plain, but only in the central and northern parts of the region, with thickness of 5–10 meters. Additionally, a deeper aquifer has been detected, with a maximum thickness equal to 100 meters. The interpretation of the geophysical soundings indicated that great part of the deeper aquifer has been affected by a saline intrusion that has also been noticed by hydrochemical data. Based on the fact that Pinios deltaic plain is a highly productive agricultural area, the irrigation system has to be reevaluated in order to constrain the extension of the seawater intrusion.

 

Past research has shown that, while psychological control increases the risk for adolescents’ antisocial behavior, maternal knowledge of adolescents’ activities decreases this risk. Yet, research is somewhat inconclusive about the role of psychologically controlling parenting in parental knowledge. Also, the role of both predictors in prosocial behavior remains largely unknown. In this 1-year, multi-informant, prospective study, we investigated these issues by recruiting a sample of Turkish early adolescents (N = 229, Mage = 11.89 years, SD = 0.32, 47.0% boys) and their mothers. After controlling for baseline adolescent-reported maternal knowledge, we found mother-reported psychological control to negatively predict adolescent-reported maternal knowledge 1 year later. In turn, maternal knowledge related negatively to antisocial behavior and positively to altruistic prosocial behavior (but not to instrumental prosocial behavior). These findings highlight the key role that maternal psychological control and knowledge can have in adolescents’ social functioning.

The present study is concerned with the outcomes from a training programme on addiction counselling addressed to medical students in Greece. The programme is the result of a collaborative curriculum development between KETHEA, a drug treatment organisation for heroin addicts, and HeLMSIC, a human rights organisation of medical students in Greece. The programme was developed as a response to the absence of relevant courses within the medical schools in this country. The study presents the local context in relation to heroin use, access to treatment and training curricula. The study also presents a small-scale research conducted on medical students’ beliefs and attitudes about their understanding about drug use. Research findings suggest that actions towards developing a holistic learning framework comprising core elements about drug use treatment and recovery are important for a better response to the needs of drug users and heroin addicts in Greece.

Mediterranean climates are characterized by strong seasonal contrasts between dry summers and wet winters. Changes in winter rainfall are critical for regional socioeconomic development, but are difficult to simulate accurately and reconstruct on Quaternary timescales. This is partly because regional hydroclimate records that cover multiple glacial–interglacial cycles, with different orbital geometries, global ice volume and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are scarce. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms of change and their persistence remain unexplored. Here we show that, over the past 1.36 million years, wet winters in the northcentral Mediterranean tend to occur with high contrasts in local, seasonal insolation and a vigorous African summer monsoon. Our proxy time series from Lake Ohrid on the Balkan Peninsula, together with a 784,000-year transient climate model hindcast, suggest that increased sea surface temperatures amplify local cyclone development and refuel North Atlantic low-pressure systems that enter the Mediterranean during phases of low continental ice volume and high concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases. A comparison with modern reanalysis data shows that current drivers of the amount of rainfall in the Mediterranean share some similarities to those that drive the reconstructed increases in precipitation. Our data cover multiple insolation maxima and are therefore an important benchmark for testing climate model performance.

Beachrocks are consolidated sedimentary formations and are composed of coastal sediments, which are cemented through the precipitation of carbonates. The lithification takes place in the intertidal zone and can include various sediments, such as sands and gravels of clastic and biogenic origin. This study deals with the cements’ mineralogical and geochemical features of a beachrock outcrop and its aim is the contribution for further understanding on the cementation process of beachrocks. (e.g. Vieira and Ros, 2007; Vousdoukas et al., 2007; Karkani et al., 2017).

Mitochondrial selective autophagy (mitophagy) is a critical cellular process for mitochondrial homeostasis and survival both under basal and stress conditions. Distinct cell types display different requirements for mitochondrial turnover depending on their metabolic status, differentiation state, and environmental cues. This points to the necessity of developing novel tools for real-time, tissue-specific assessment of mitophagy. Caenorhabditis elegans is an invaluable model organism for this kind of analysis providing a platform for simultaneous monitoring of mitophagy in vivo in different tissues and cell types, during development, stress conditions, and/or throughout life span. In this chapter we describe three versatile, noninvasive methods, developed for monitoring in vivo early and late mitophagic events in body wall muscles and neuronal cells of C. elegans. These procedures can be readily used and/or provide insights into the generation of novel imaging methods to investigate further the role of mitophagy at the organismal level under normal and pathological conditions.

Accumulation of damaged mitochondria is a hallmark of aging and age-related neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). The molecular mechanisms of impaired mitochondrial homeostasis in AD are being investigated. Here we provide evidence that mitophagy is impaired in the hippocampus of AD patients, in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived human AD neurons, and in animal AD models. In both amyloid-beta (Abeta) and tau Caenorhabditis elegans models of AD, mitophagy stimulation (through NAD(+) supplementation, urolithin A, and actinonin) reverses memory impairment through PINK-1 (PTEN-induced kinase-1)-, PDR-1 (Parkinson's disease-related-1; parkin)-, or DCT-1 (DAF-16/FOXO-controlled germline-tumor affecting-1)-dependent pathways. Mitophagy diminishes insoluble Abeta1-42 and Abeta1-40 and prevents cognitive impairment in an APP/PS1 mouse model through microglial phagocytosis of extracellular Abeta plaques and suppression of neuroinflammation. Mitophagy enhancement abolishes AD-related tau hyperphosphorylation in human neuronal cells and reverses memory impairment in transgenic tau nematodes and mice. Our findings suggest that impaired removal of defective mitochondria is a pivotal event in AD pathogenesis and that mitophagy represents a potential therapeutic intervention.

Cfz decreases left ventricular function in mice through increased PP2A activity and inhibition of AMPK$\alpha$/autophagy regulatory axes. Met preserves left ventricular function in mice by restoring AMPK$\alpha$ activation; thus, it emerges as a prophylactic therapy.

In the presented case study, we combined re-mote sensing techniques and lidar technology by using a handheld laser scanner in order to generate a complete 3D model of the Koutouki Cave, at Peania, Greece. Using open – source software we made a quantification anal- ysis of the terrain and generate morphological features of the speleothems with high accuracy and detail in order to estimate the speleogenesis and monitor the evolution of the cave.

The generation of rock cavities and especially of those created under karstic procedures is a matter of research for the last decades. A high-resolution subsurface morphology could be produced after scanning the entire cave with state-of-the-art equipment based on Light Detection And Range technology. A handheld laser scanner was used for acquiring points with projected coordinate information (X,Y,Z) covering the entire show cave of Koutouki (Athens, Greece), including its hidden passages and dark corners. The point cloud covers the floor, the walls and the roof of the cave, as well as the stalactites, stalagmites and the connected columns that constitute the decoration of the cave. The absolute and exact placement of the point cloud within a geographic reference frame gives us the opportunity for three-dimensional measurements and detailed visualization of the subsurface structures.

The aim of this paper is to present and suggest the Most Significant Change as aneffective evaluation methodology of Theatre in Education (TiE) programmes. It is agiven that TiE, as other forms of performative and participatory educational projects,is hard to be assessed and evaluated. It becomes harder due to the lack of adequateresearch in the field and thus the lack of initiatives, data and experience. This paperpresents the “Most Significant Change” (Davies & Dart, 2005) evaluation method asadjusted by the researchers, which was implemented after the TiE programme “StonKosmo tou” (In his world) funded by the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation. This isthe first presentation and analysis of a wider study that took place during the schoolyear 2017-2018, where 38 schools, 2185 students and 58 teachers were researchedafter the application of the programme. This paper argues that narratives and storiesmay well serve as an internal process of evaluation of TiE and other educationalparticipatory programmes. It attempts to suggest specific steps of using a well-knownevaluation tool and launch a new approach on the evaluation and assessment of such educational interventions.

RESUMEN: En la novela Cajambre Armando Romero retrata el ambiente socio-cultural del territorio selvático del río Cajambre y reflexiona sobre el modo de vida de sus habitantes. Los personajes femeninos de su obra son complejos e interesantes. La difunta Ruperta, una pobre trabajadora afrocolombiana, es un personaje lleno de misterio, cuya vida amorosa y acción revolucionaria se revela durante el desarrollo de la trama. Por otro lado, otros personajes femeninos como Mar, la joven estudiante de ingeniería forestal, se interesa por las costumbres de la región y el medio ambiente, y Elodia, mujer dinámica y fuerte, se caracteriza por su labor social. El presente trabajo enfoca en el papel determinante del entorno físico y social en la vida de estos personajes para subrayar tanto la explotación de la mujer afrocolombiana como la de la naturaleza. Palabras clave: novela, naturaleza, explotación, personajes, mujer

A multidisciplinary analysis comprising neotectonic mapping, morphotectonic indices, applied geophysics and remote sensing techniques was applied in the area affected by the 2008 NW Peloponnese (Western Greece) in order to map the recently-recognized E-W striking Pineios River normal fault zone with a high degree of accuracy, and to better understand its contribution to the evolution of the ancient region of Elis during Holocene time. Quantitative constraints on deformation caused by the faulting were applied through the application of morphometric and morphotectonic indices including drainage network asymmetry, longitudinal river profiles and valley floor slope changes, the river sinuosity index (SI) of modern channels as well as mountain front indices including mountain front sinuosity (Smf) and percentage of faceting along mountain front (F%). All of the aforementioned indicated that the Pineios fault zone is a highly active structure.

A fluorescence study of N1-(β-D-glucopyranosyl)-N4-[2-acridin-9(10H)-onyl]-cytosine (GLAC), the first fluorescent potent inhibitor of Glycogen Phosphorylase (GP), in neutral aqueous solution, is presented herein. Quantum chemistry (TD-DFT) calculations show the existence of several conformers both in the ground and first excited state. They result from rotation of the acridone and cytosine moieties around an NH bridge which may lead to the formation of non-emitting charge transfer states. The fingerprint of various conformers have been detected by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy (fluorescence upconversion and time-correlated single photon counting) and identified using as criteria their energy, polarization and relative population resulting from computations. Such an analysis should contribute to the design of new GP inhibitors with better fluorescence properties, suitable for imaging applications.

The results of Structure-from-Motion techniques in order to quantify the ground surface deformation due to the massive landslide that occurred at the lignite open pit in Amyntaio, Greece on June 10th 2017, are presented in this paper. This unexpected slide damaged the entire westernmost marginal area of the pit, significant number of buildings and infrastructures (incl. road network, powerlines, biological treatment, houses etc.) of the nearby village of Anargiri, as well as agricultural land at the head of the landslide. We generated a very high-resolution surface topography and corresponding co-registered ortho-rectified images covering a total area of 2 km2 by analyzing images acquired from Remotely Piloted Airborne Systems (RPASs). A high resolution (0.13 m) Digital Surface Model (DSM) was produced after photogrammetric processing, serving as a reference dataset for comparison with other surveys realized in December 2017 and September 2018. We compared the centimeter-resolution DSMs acquired during the post landslide periods, quantified the overall ground deformation and finally delineated regions of potential risk.

The development of nanostructured semiconductors with tailored morphology and electronic properties for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has been attracting significant attention as a promising alternative to conventional coinage metal SERS substrates. In this work, functionalized TiO2 photonic crystals by graphene oxide nanocolloids (nanoGO) are demonstrated as highly sensitive, recyclable, plasmon-free SERS substrates that combine slow-photon amplification effects with the high adsorption capacity and surface reactivity of GO nanosheets. Comparative evaluation of photonic band gap engineered nanoGO–TiO2 inverse opal films was performed on methylene blue SERS detection under different laser excitations in combination with rigorous theoretical simulations of the photonic band structure. A very low detection limit of 6 × 10−7 M and an enhancement factor of 5 × 104 along with excellent self-cleaning performance and reusability could be achieved by the interplay of slow-photon effects assisted by interfacial charge transfer between the analyte and the nanoGO–TiO2 semiconducting substrate. Slow-photon management in combination with judicious engineering of chemical enhancement in photonic nanostructures is accordingly proposed as an advanced approach for the design of efficient dielectric SERS substrates.

The development of nanostructured semiconductors with tailored morphology and electronic properties for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has been attracting significant attention as a promising alternative to conventional coinage metal SERS substrates. In this work, functionalized TiO2 photonic crystals by graphene oxide nanocolloids (nanoGO) are demonstrated as highly sensitive, recyclable, plasmon-free SERS substrates that combine slow-photon amplification effects with the high adsorption capacity and surface reactivity of GO nanosheets. Comparative evaluation of photonic band gap engineered nanoGO-TiO2 inverse opal films was performed on methylene blue SERS detection under different laser excitations in combination with rigorous theoretical simulations of the photonic band structure. A very low detection limit of 6 × 10-7 M and an enhancement factor of 5 × 104 along with excellent self-cleaning performance and reusability could be achieved by the interplay of slow-photon effects assisted by interfacial charge transfer between the analyte and the nanoGO-TiO2 semiconducting substrate. Slow-photon management in combination with judicious engineering of chemical enhancement in photonic nanostructures is accordingly proposed as an advanced approach for the design of efficient dielectric SERS substrates. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

The utility of periodic sonographic assessment and monitoring for early diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICUs) was investigated. Of 314 patients hospitalized in an ICU over a 24-mo period, 248 were examined. The first examination of the patients was carried out within the first 48 h of ICU admission, and weekly examination followed until discharge. Peripheral veins were examined according to the general principles of the ultrasound study using the compression test in B-mode imaging (image to gray scale). The criterion for the absence or presence of a clot within the lumen was the presence or absence of full compressibility of the venous lumen, respectively. Intermittent compression was applied to multiple cross sections along the entire extent of the limbs. Three patients (1.2%) were diagnosed with sub-clinical DVT. The diagnoses were made on the third (sapheno-femoral junction), fourth (right internal jugular) and fifth (left gastrocnemius) weeks of hospitalization, respectively, although patients received full anticoagulation prophylaxis. DVT in a general-population ICU patient on anticoagulation prophylaxis did not seem to occur very frequently, and hence, regular ultrasound monitoring is not recommended. However, it may have value after the third week or in a selected population of ICU patients with very severe and/or multiple predisposing factors or who are not undergoing anticoagulant treatment because of contraindications.

Individuals with recent/acute HIV-infection have an increased likelihood of disease transmission. To evaluate effectiveness of identifying recent infections, we compared networks of recently and long-term HIV-infected individuals. The Transmission Reduction Intervention Project included two separate arms of recruitment, networks of recently HIV-infected individuals and networks of long-term HIV-infected individuals. Networks of each were recruited and tested for HIV and syphilis infection. The per-seed yield ratios of recruitment were compared between arms. Overall, 84 (41.6%) of 202 participants were identified as HIV-positive. HIV prevalence was higher (p < 0.001) among networks of recent seeds (33/96, 34.4%) compared to long-term seeds (6/31, 19.4%). More individuals were identified with active syphilis infection (p = 0.007) among networks of recent seeds (15/96, 15.6%), compared to networks of long-term seeds (3/31, 9.7%). Network-based recruitment of recently HIV-infected individuals was more effective at identifying HIV and syphilis infection. Allocation of public health resources may be improved by targeting interventions toward networks of recently HIV-infected individuals.

Environmental enrichment (EE), comprising positive physical (exercise) and cognitive stimuli, influences neuronal structure and usually improves brain function. The promise of EE as a preventative strategy against neuropsychiatric disease is especially high during early postnatal development when the brain is still amenable to reorganization. Despite the fact that male and female brains differ in terms of connectivity and function that may reflect early life experiences, knowledge of the neural substrates and mechanisms by which such changes arise remains limited. This study compared the impact of EE combined with physical activity on neuroplasticity and its functional consequences in adult male and female rats; EE was provided during the first 3 months of life and our analysis focused on the hippocampus, an area implicated in cognitive behavior as well as the neuroendocrine response to stress. Both male and female rats reared in EE displayed better object recognition memory than their control counterparts. Interestingly, sex differences were revealed in the effects of EE on time spent exploring the objects during this test. Independently of sex, EE increased hippocampal turnover rates of dopamine and serotonin and reduced expression of 5-HT receptors; in addition, EE upregulated expression of synaptophysin, a presynaptic protein, in the hippocampus. As compared to their respective controls, EE-exposed males exhibited parallel increases in phosphorylated Tau and the GluN2B receptor, whereas females responded to EE with reduced hippocampal levels of glutamate and GluN2B. Together, these observations provide further evidence on the differential effects of EE on markers of hippocampal neuroplasticity in males and females.

Environmental enrichment (EE), comprising positive physical (exercise) and cognitive stimuli, influences neuronal structure and usually improves brain function. The promise of EE as a preventative strategy against neuropsychiatric disease is especially high during early postnatal development when the brain is still amenable to reorganization. Despite the fact that male and female brains differ in terms of connectivity and function that may reflect early life experiences, knowledge of the neural substrates and mechanisms by which such changes arise remains limited. This study compared the impact of EE combined with physical activity on neuroplasticity and its functional consequences in adult male and female rats; EE was provided during the first 3 months of life and our analysis focused on the hippocampus, an area implicated in cognitive behavior as well as the neuroendocrine response to stress. Both male and female rats reared in EE displayed better object recognition memory than their control counterparts. Interestingly, sex differences were revealed in the effects of EE on time spent exploring the objects during this test. Independently of sex, EE increased hippocampal turnover rates of dopamine and serotonin and reduced expression of 5-HT(1A) receptors; in addition, EE upregulated expression of synaptophysin, a presynaptic protein, in the hippocampus. As compared to their respective controls, EE-exposed males exhibited parallel increases in phosphorylated Tau and the GluN2B receptor, whereas females responded to EE with reduced hippocampal levels of glutamate and GluN2B. Together, these observations provide further evidence on the differential effects of EE on markers of hippocampal neuroplasticity in males and females.

We present a source catalog from the first deep hard X-ray (E > 10 keV) survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Legacy Survey of the SMC. We observed three fields, for a total exposure time of 1 Ms, along the bar of this nearby star-forming galaxy. Fields were chosen for their young stellar and accreting binary populations. We detected 10 sources above a 3σ significance level (4-25 keV) and obtained upper limits on an additional 40 sources. We reached a 3σ limiting luminosity in the 4-25 keV band of ∼1035 erg s-1, allowing us to probe fainter X-ray binary (XRB) populations than has been possible with other extragalactic NuSTAR surveys. We used hard X-ray colors and luminosities to constrain the compact-object type, exploiting the spectral differences between accreting black holes and neutron stars at E > 10 keV. Several of our sources demonstrate variability consistent with previously observed behavior. We confirmed pulsations for seven pulsars in our 3σ sample. We present the first detection of pulsations from a Be-XRB, SXP 305 (CXO J005215.4-73191), with an X-ray pulse period of 305.69 ± 0.16 s and a likely orbital period of ∼1160-1180 days. Bright sources (≳5 × 1036 erg s-1) in our sample have compact-object classifications consistent with their previously reported types in the literature. Lower-luminosity sources (≲5 × 1036 erg s-1) have X-ray colors and luminosities consistent with multiple classifications. We raise questions about possible spectral differences at low luminosity between SMC pulsars and the Galactic pulsars used to create the diagnostic diagrams.

The gravity method has been applied, with a total of 1.122 gravity measurements for the subsurface investigation of the geotectonic structure beneath the urban and sub-urban areas of Athens basin. The aim was to either verify previously mapped concealed fault zones or even discover new concealed faults that may affect the city in the future by generating disastrous earthquakes. Three different methods have been used to determine the densities of the existing geological formations in the best possible way: laboratory measurements, Nettleton profiles and the seismic velocity conversion. In the context of the qualitative interpretation, we took advantage of the derivatives methods in order to enhance the structural edges of density sources that may reflect fault zones. Thereby, several structural maps have been produced by applying most of the enhancement techniques, such as the Total Horizontal Derivative (THDR), the First Vertical Derivative (VDR), the Second Vertical Derivative (SVDR), the Analytical Signal (AS), Tilt (Tilt) and the Theta (cos Tilt). Their results were extremely helpful, providing severe indications for the delineation of the fault pattern of the area. These results were combined with interpretive geological 2.75-D density models in order to verify or modify fault regime of the area. Important data regarding the geological and tectonic structure beneath the Quaternary formations were retrieved. More specifically, we were able to verify and modify the locations and lengths of already proposed as concealed faults zones from older geological researches or even better to identify and propose new locations of concealed faults that have not been identified so far.

NGC 300 ULX1 is the fourth to be discovered in the class of the ultra-luminous X-ray pulsars. Pulsations from NGC 300 ULX1 were discovered during simultaneous XMM-Newton / NuSTAR observations in Dec. 2016. The period decreased from 31.71 s to 31.54 s within a few days, with a spin-up rate of -5.56×10-7 s s-1, likely one of the largest ever observed from an accreting neutron star. Archival Swift and NICER observations revealed that the period decreased exponentially from 45 s to 17.5 s over 2.3 years. The pulses are highly modulated with a pulsed fraction strongly increasing with energy and reaching nearly 80% at energies above 10 keV. The X-ray spectrum is described by a power-law and a disk black-body model, leading to a 0.3-30 keV unabsorbed luminosity of 4.7×1039 erg s-1. The spectrum from an archival XMM-Newton observation of 2010 can be explained by the same model, however, with much higher absorption. This suggests, that the intrinsic luminosity did not change much since that epoch. NGC 300 ULX1 shares many properties with supergiant high mass X-ray binaries, however, at an extreme accretion rate.

NGC 300 ULX1 is an ultraluminous X-ray pulsar, showing an unprecedented spin evolution, from about 126 s to less than 20 s in only 4 yr, consistent with steady mass accretion rate. Following its discovery we have been monitoring the system with Swift and NICER to further study its properties. We found that even though the observed flux of the system dropped by a factor of ≳20, the spin-up rate remained almost constant. A possible explanation is that the decrease in the observed flux is a result of increased absorption of obscuring material due to outflows or a precessing accretion disc.

Ultra luminous X-ray Pulsars (ULXPs) are bright binary systems that host a Neutron Star (NS) and emit radiation in excess of the Eddington Limit expected for isotropic accretion. We have studies the spectral and spin properties of the ULXP NGC300 ULX1 through archival data, and have shown that its spin evolution from ~126 s down to 16 s is consistent with almost constant accretion between 2014 and 2018. Moreover, based on the 2018 Swift/XRT and NICER monitoring campaigns of the system we have concluded that even during an 100 d period where the observed flux drops by a factor of 20, the spin-up rate and thus the mass accretion rate remained almost constant. This can be explained only by invoking extreme X-ray absorption or obscuration due to extreme outflows from the accretion disk, or disk precession. Finally, an intriguing consequence is that assuming constant spin-up rate a NS spin reversal should have occurred around 2012.

MAXI J0206-749 is a hard X-ray transient detected by MAXI/GSC (ATel #13300) in the direction of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) wing. Follow-up Swift/XRT observations (ATel #13303) identified MAXI J0206-749 with the HMXB RX J0209.6-7427.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a haematological malignancy being characterized by clonal plasma cell proliferation in the bone marrow. Targeting the proteasome with specific inhibitors (PIs) has been proven a promising therapeutic strategy and PIs have been approved for the treatment of MM and mantle-cell lymphoma; yet, while outcome has improved, most patients inevitably relapse. As relapse refers to MM cells that survive therapy, we sought to identify the molecular responses induced in MM cells after non-lethal proteasome inhibition. By using bortezomib (BTZ), epoxomicin (EPOX; a carfilzomib-like PI) and three PIs, namely Rub999, PR671A and Rub1024 that target each of the three proteasome peptidases, we found that only BTZ and EPOX are toxic in MM cells at low concentrations. Phosphoproteomic profiling after treatment of MM cells with non-lethal (IC10) doses of the PIs revealed inhibitor- and cell type-specific readouts, being marked by the activation of tumorigenic STAT3 and STAT6. Consistently, cytokine/chemokine profiling revealed the increased secretion of immunosuppressive pro-tumorigenic cytokines (IL6 and IL8), along with the inhibition of potent T cell chemoattractant chemokines (CXCL10). These findings indicate that MM cells that survive treatment with therapeutic PIs shape a pro-tumorigenic immunosuppressive cellular and secretory bone marrow microenvironment that enables malignancy to relapse.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) macromolecules, apart from structural role for the surrounding tissue, have also been defined as crucial mediators in several cell mechanisms. The proteolytic and cross-linking cascades of ECM have fundamental importance in health and disease, which is increasingly becoming acknowledged. However, formidable challenges remain to identify the diverse and novel role of ECM molecules, especially with regard to their distinct biophysical, biochemical, and structural properties. Considering the heterogeneous, dynamic, and hierarchical nature of ECM, the characterization of 3D functional molecular view of ECM in atomic detail will be very useful for further ECM-related studies. Nowadays, the creation of a pioneer ECM multidisciplinary integrated platform in order to decipher ECM homeostasis is more possible than ever. The access to cutting-edge technologies, such as optical imaging and electron and atomic force microscopies, along with diffraction and X-ray-based spectroscopic methods can integrate spanning wide ranges of spatial and time resolutions. Subsequently, ECM image-guided site-directed proteomics can reveal molecular compositions in defined native and reconstituted ECM microenvironments. In addition, the use of highly selective ECM enzyme inhibitors enables the comparative molecular analyses within pre-classified remodeled ECM microenvironments. Mechanistic information which will be derived can be used to develop novel protein-based inhibitors for effective diagnostic and/or therapeutic modalities targeting ECM reactions within tissue microenvironment.

Aging is a complex phenomenon caused by the time-dependent loss of cellular homeodynamics and consequently of physiological organismal functions. This process is affected by both genetic and environmental (e.g., diet) factors, as well as by their constant interaction. Consistently, deregulation of nutrient sensing and signaling pathways is considered a hallmark of aging. Nutrigenomics is an emerging scientific discipline that studies changes induced by diet on the genome and thus it considers the intersection of three topics, namely health, diet, and genomics. Model organisms, such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, have been successfully used for in vivo modeling of higher metazoans aging and for nutrigenomic studies. Drosophila is a well-studied organism with sophisticated genetics and a fully annotated sequenced genome, in which {\~{}} 75{%} of human disease-related genes have functional orthologs. Also, flies have organs/tissues that perform the equivalent functions of most mammalian organs, while discrete clusters of cells maintain insect carbohydrate homeostasis in a way similar to pancreatic cells. Herein, we discuss the mechanistic connections between nutrition and aging in Drosophila, and how this model organism can be used to study the effect of different diets (including natural products and/or their derivatives) on higher metazoans longevity.

A variety of remote sensing tools have been extensively used in the past years for landslide detection and mapping purposes. In addition, detection and mapping of landslide and rockfall events using remote sensing products has been proved to be an effective approach to provide landslide inventories (Scaioni et al., 2014). However, most of the studies are lacking valuable semantic information about landslide elements and how they react with the surrounding environment; natural and man-made primitives. In addition, post classification object-based approaches have been proved to result in better accuracies compared with the pixel-based (Martha et al., 2011). Lately, innovative close-range remote sensing technology such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) are widely applied in the field of geoscience due to their efficiency in collecting data about terrain morphology rapidly. Their main advantage stands on the fact that conventional methods are mainly collecting point measurements such as compass measurements of bedding and fracture orientation only from areas that were accessible. Aerial platforms are capable to overcome technical issues such as potential occlusions and unfavorable incidence angles due to their ability to capture imagery from multiple positions and with different angles. Nowadays, UAVs tend to be more flexible and powerful tools for landslide and rockfall investigations compared to TLS, due to their low-cost and ease of transportability in harsh environments but also with technology advances such as maintaining of Real Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning. An important factor of their usefulness is their capability to offer unprecedented spatial resolution over wide inaccessible areas, maintain a variability of different sensors (optical, laser, thermal, multispectral) and great ability to reach remote areas and acquire data as close as the user defines. UAVs applications are widely used in post-disaster situations for emergency support, in infrastructure monitoring, in natural resources management, in geohazard monitoring etc. (Corominas et al., 2016; Vassilakis et al., 2019). The latter proves that UAV market has been rapidly growing over the last decade and in future more applications will be introduced in the public. Thus, rapidness and efficiency of Structure-from-Motion (SfM) technology in landslide management provides numerous advantages such as creating landslide inventory maps providing 3D information of large areas.

Detection and mapping of landslide and rockfall events using remote sensing products has been proved to be an effective approach to provide landslide inventories. However, most of the studies are lacking valuable semantic information about landslide elements and how they react with the surrounding environment; natural and man-made primitives. In addition, post classification object-based approaches have been proved to result in better accuracy compared with the pixel-based. Lately, innovative close-range remote sensing technology such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) are widely applied in the field of geoscience due to their efficiency in collecting data about terrain morphology rapidly. This research aims to demonstrate the applicability of UAV technology for automated semantic labeling in managing landslide and rockfall hazard in mountainous environments during emergency situations. SfM photogrammetry in addition to high accuracy RTK-GNSS ground control point establishment, is used to provide detailed 3D point clouds describing the surface morphology of the landslide and rockfall elements. The proposed methodology was divided in five main working phases. The first phase includes designing and execution of an optimal UAV flight planning to collect accurate 3D data. During the second phase, the pre-processing and raw data preparation such as point cloud filtering and elimination of ambiguities is taking place, while at the next phase an image segmentation using the 3D point cloud RGB information is created. The main task was focused on identifying the specific landslide elements by using an object-based approach. Based on Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA), a sequence of image-based processes was applied, including multi-scale object segmentation, spectral, morphometric and contextual information extraction aiming to detect the landslide among other features. The next phase was set up for object classification in meaningful and homogeneous landslide classes (e.g. scarp, depletion zone, accumulation zone) which are spatially connected by introducing contextual information in the ruleset. The proposed methodology presents the effectiveness and efficiency of UAV platforms to acquire accurate photogrammetric datasets from intense relief environments and complex surface topographies by providing a holistic assessment and characterization of the failure site based on semantic classification of the landslide and rockfall objects. Results have demonstrated the capabilities of combining UAV platforms with computer-based methods for rapid and accurate identification of valuable semantic information subjectively and even from inaccessible areas of the landslide and rockfall body.

All resonant systems throughout science and engineering, independent of their physical implementation have a bandwidth that is inversely related to the decay time. A similar relation exists in all slow-light systems, where the group index (and therefore the delay for a given footprint) is inversely related to the bandwidth. Therefore, resonant or slow-light systems can either store a broad signal for a short time, or a narrow signal for a long time, but cannot achieve large delay for broad bandwidth signals.Here we discuss our recent work on non-reciprocal optical systems that are not constrained by the delay-bandwidth limit. We show that large, broadband optical delay is not a pipe dream and is achievable with current optical technology. We discuss the underlying physics of delay and bandwidth in non-reciprocal optical systems and present an experimental implementation, based on a figure-9 cavity. We demonstrate a delay-bandwidth product 30 times above the seemingly fundamental time-bandwidth limit of traditional systems. Furthermore, we show that the optical pulse can be released after an arbitrary number of round trips, providing the control and tunability lacking from conventional spiral waveguide or fibre loop delay lines. © 2019 IEEE.

The strain Streptomyces osmaniensis CA-244599 isolated from the Comoros islands was submitted to liquid-state fermentation coupled to in situ solid-phase extraction with amberlite XAD-16 resin. Elution of the trapped compounds on the resin beads by ethyl acetate afforded seven metabolites, osmanicin (1), streptazolin (2), streptazone C (3), streptazone B1 (4), streptenol C (5), nocardamine (6) and desmethylenylnocardamine (7). Osmanicin (1) is a newly reported unusual scaffold combining streptazolin (2) and streptazone C (3) through a Diels-Alder type reaction. Experimental evidence excluded the spontaneous formation of 1 from 2 and 3. The isolated compounds were evaluated for their ability to inhibit elastase using normal human diploid fibroblasts. Compound 1 exhibited the most potent activity with an IC50 of 3.7 $μ$M.

PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate the quantity and quality of current evidence concerning the outcomes of use of plastinated specimens in anatomy education. METHODS: We performed a narrative literature review, searching for papers dealing with the use of plastination in anatomy education. PubMed, Scopus, ERIC, Cochrane, Web of Science and CINAHL complete electronic databases were searched. The following data were extracted: author(s), year of publication, type of study (comparative or not), number of participants, evaluation of statistical significance, educational outcomes and their level according to Kirkpatrick hierarchy. RESULTS: Six studies were eligible for analysis. Five of them evaluated only students' reactions about plastination and one study also assessed their examinations results. There were four non-comparative and two comparative studies. Only a study evaluated statistical significance (p < 0.05) with higher score of perception in 2nd year undergraduate medical students, who were more familiar with plastination in comparison to 1st year students. Although the use of plastination was accompanied by positive outcomes in the majority of studies (five out of six), this method was not proved superior to traditional cadavers dissection. CONCLUSIONS: The existing evidence about the outcomes of the use of plastination in anatomy education is relatively limited and lacks comparative studies with statistical significant results. Positive students' reactions were generally noted, but further research is needed to clarify if plastination could be of benefit to students' attitude and anatomy knowledge.

We are so accustomed to the time-bandwidth limit that we often take it to be a fundamental relation that cannot be overcome. Contrary to this belief we here propose that the storage/delay time of a system can in fact be decoupled from the operating bandwidth, by breaking Lorentz reciprocity. We discuss two different mechanisms for breaking Lorentz reciprocity and show that - in the correct system layout - both can result in systems that exceed the conventional time bandwidth limit by orders of magnitude. © 2018 IEEE.

BACKGROUND: Oxidized zirconium (OxZi) is a relatively new type of material that combines the strength of a metal with the surface/wears properties of a ceramic. Our aim was to investigate whether OxZi femoral heads lead to lower polyethylene wear, higher survival rate, and better clinical outcomes than the other bearing types in patients treated with total hip arthroplasty (THA). METHODS: Two reviewers independently conducted a systematic search according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses using the MEDLINE/PubMed database and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. These databases were queried with the terms: a. "oxidized" AND "zirconium" AND "total" AND "hip" AND "arthroplasty"; b. "oxinium" AND "total" AND "hip" AND "arthroplasty". The primary outcome measures were the survival rate of the bearing surfaces as well as the polyethylene wear. RESULTS: The vast majority (85.7%) of the studies, which reported the mean polyethylene wear rate, showed that there was not any significant difference between OxZi and cobalt-chrome (CoCr) femoral heads (rate ratio: 0.836; 95% confidence interval: 0.362-1.928; P = .674). All studies comparing the survival rate of OxZi and CoCr femoral heads illustrated almost excellent survivorship with both implants. CONCLUSION: OxZi femoral heads did not lead to lower polyethylene wear rate or higher survival rate, when compared with CoCr femoral heads in patients treated with THA. On the basis of these results and taking into account the higher cost of these implants, we would not recommend the routine use of OxZi femoral heads in primary THAs. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Systematic review and meta-analysis of therapeutic studies I-III.

Ἡ παρούσα συναγωγὴ μελετῶν εἶναι τὸ ἀποτέ­λε­σμα πολυε­τοῦς ἀλίευσης ἐρωτημάτων καὶ ἀπο­ριῶν ἀναδυ­ο­­μένων μέσα ἀπὸ τὰ κρυστάλινα καὶ ζωογό­να ὕδατα τοῦ ὀρθό­δο­ξου Πατερικοῦ πνεύματος. Ἡ μεγαλύτερη πρόκληση γιὰ τὸν μελετητὴ τῶν Πατέρων εἶναι ὁ ὁρισμὸς τῶν ἐρωτημάτων. Γεννᾶται, ὅμως, τὸ ἀρχικὸ ἐρώτημα: Ἡ ἀναγκαιότητα  τῆς πρωτοτυπίας τοῦ ἐρω­τήματος μπορεῖ νὰ δικαιολογήσει τὴν πολυσχιδὴ πραγμά­τευ­ση; Μέχρι ποιοῦ σημείου φθάνει ἡ στερεὰ διεπιστημονικὴ προ­σέγγιση τοῦ γραμματολόγου καὶ ποῦ ἀρχίζει ἡ ὑδροβαρὴς πο­λυπραγμοσύνη του; Ἡ ἀπάντηση στὸν παραπάνω προβλημα­τισμὸ δίδεται μέσῳ τῆς ἐμβάθυνσης στὸ ζήτημα τῆς αὐτοσυ­νει­δησίας τῆς Ἐκκλησίας.Τὰ μέλη τῆς Ἐκκλησίας γεν­νῶν­ται, προέρχονται καὶ ἀνήκουν σὲ διάφορες καὶ ποικίλες «φυ­σι­κὲς κοινότητες» τοῦ κόσμου. Ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ ζωὴ δὲν καταργεῖ τὴ φυσική τους ταυτό­τη­τα, ἀλλὰ τὴν «ἐκκλησιοποιεῖ». Ἡ ἐγκόσμια διάσταση τῆς Ἐκκλη­σίας, ἐφαρμόζοντας τὸν «τρόπο» τοῦ Ἱδρυτῆ της σὲ κάθε πτυχὴ τοῦ βίου της, ἀλληλεπιδρᾶ μὲ τὴν κοσμικὴ πραγματικότητα καὶ ἐπενεργεῖ ἐξελικτικὰ στὸν πολιτισμό. Ἡ Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Γραμ­μα­τεία ἔχει οἰκουμενικὴ ἀξία. Ὡς μνημεῖο τῆς παγ­κό­σμιας πνευματικῆς κληρονομιᾶς μπορεῖ νὰ ἀξιο­ποιηθεῖ σὲ ἐρευνητικοὺς τομεῖς ποὺ δὲν σχετίζονται κατὰ προ­φανῆ τρόπο μὲ τὴ θεολογία. Ἡ διαπίστωση αὐτὴ διευρύνει τὸν ἐρευνητικὸ ὀρίζοντα τῆς γραμματολογικῆς ἐπιστήμης.

Akrotiri Salt Lake is located 5km west of the city of Lemesos, in the southern-most part of the island of Cyprus. The palaeogeographic evolution of the Akrotiri Salt Lake presents a great scientific interest, especially during the Holocene where the eustatic movements combined with local active tectonics and climate changes have developed a unique geomorphological environment. The Salt Lake, today a closed lagoon, which is depicted in Venetian maps (Bordon AD 1528) as being connected to the sea, can provide evidence of the geological settings and landscape evolution of the area. In this study, we investigate the development of Akrotiri Salt Lake through a series of cores which penetrated the Holocene sediment sequence. Sedimentological, micropaleontological (benthic foraminifera and ostracods) analyses and geochronological studies performed on deposited sediments, identifying the complexity of the evolution of the Salt Lake and the progressive change of the area from maritime space to an open bay and finally to a closed Salt Lake.

Akrotiri Salt Lake is located 5km west of the city of Lemesos, in the southern-most part of the island of Cyprus. The palaeogeographic evolution of the Akrotiri Salt Lake presents a great scientific interest, especially during the Holocene where the eustatic movements combined with local active tectonics and climate changes have developed a unique geomorphological environment. The Salt Lake, today a closed lagoon, which is depicted in Venetian maps (Bordon AD 1528) as being connected to the sea, can provide evidence of the geological settings and landscape evolution of the area. In this study, we investigate the development of Akrotiri Salt Lake through a series of cores which penetrated the Holocene sediment sequence. Sedimentological, micropaleontological (benthic foraminifera and ostracods) analyses and geochronological studies performed on deposited sediments, identifying the complexity of the evolution of the Salt Lake and the progressive change of the area from maritime space to an open bay and finally to a closed Salt Lake.

The Cypriot Greek koine displays structural innovations, arguably as a result of prolonged contact with Standard Greek (SG), the ‘H’ variety in the diglossic context of the Greek Cypriot speech community. Periphrastic perfect forms are among such innovations. As regards the Past Perfect, in Standard Greek it has the principal reading of past in the past, as well as a remote past use; in contrast, the Cypriot Greek Past Perfect is largely interchangeable with the Aorist (Simple Perfective Past) and it may be deployed for pragmatic purposes, e.g. to mark an important point in a narrative, possibly due to its relative formality. In recent work it was claimed that this innovation is specific to Cypriot Greek. This paper revisits this hypothesis on the basis of the observation that Standard Greek also seems to display partly similar patterns. Using naturalistic data and data from a grammaticality judgement task, we explore (a) whether such variation is sociolinguistically conditioned and (b) what the semantics and pragmatics of the innovative Past Perfect are in each variety.

The Cypriot Greek koine displays structural innovations, arguably as a result of prolonged contact with Standard Greek (SG), the ‘H’ variety in the diglossic context of the Greek Cypriot speech community. Periphrastic perfect forms are among such innovations. As regards the Past Perfect, in Standard Greek it has the principal reading of past in the past, as well as a remote past use; in contrast, the Cypriot Greek Past Perfect is largely interchangeable with the Aorist (Simple Perfective Past) and it may be deployed for pragmatic purposes, e.g. to mark an important point in a narrative, possibly due to its relative formality. In recent work it was claimed that this innovation is specific to Cypriot Greek. This paper revisits this hypothesis on the basis of the observation that Standard Greek also seems to display partly similar patterns. Using naturalistic data and data from a grammaticality judgement task, we explore (a) whether such variation is sociolinguistically conditioned and (b) what the semantics and pragmatics of the innovative Past Perfect are in each variety.

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in adolescence, a disorder of exclusion, has proved to be a timeless diagnostic challenge for the clinician. Since 1990, several attempts to provide clear diagnostic criteria have been published, most of the time leading to inconsistencies. We attempted to elucidate the controversies and convergences of this subject by conducting a systematic review of the literature concerning official guidelines or proposed criteria for the diagnosis of PCOS in adolescent girls. Based on a term search sequence via electronic databases such as Pubmed, Cochrane, Embase, Scopus and a hands-on review of references and learned societies, all available data were classified and analyzed. Single case reports, original studies with adult population or articles with incomplete diagnostic guidelines were excluded. Twelve reports dated from 2006 to 2018 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Seven of them were endorsed or published by learned societies. All suggested a stricter diagnosis than in adulthood. Polycystic ovarian morphology was used as a necessary criterion only in three guidelines, and there was a tendency for a more objective diagnosis of hyperandrogenism, defined either by clinical features or by biochemical hyperandrogenemia, although in one case both were required. Irregular menstrual cycles, allowing for an interval of at least 2 years postmenarche, and hyperandrogenism, usually reinforced by biochemical confirmation, are the main accepted features for PCOS diagnosis in adolescence. Discrepancies among endocrine and reproductive medicine societies still remain, although recent intensified attempts at reaching a consensus should allow for more universally accepted diagnostic criteria.

INTRODUCTION: Viral load is one of the most important determinants for HIV transmission. Identification of people with high viral load (PHVL) can be effective in limiting onward HIV transmission. In order to improve the identification of these individuals within risk networks, we determined a) the number of PHVL recruited through risk networks b) their socio-demographic, behavioural and clinical characteristics and c) the characteristics of individuals who referred these PHVL to the study. METHODOLOGY: From November 2013 to March 2016, in Odessa, Ukraine, Transmission Reduction Intervention Project (TRIP) was implemented to identify people recently infected with HIV within the risk networks of "seeds" and "venues" where they engaged in risk behaviour. RESULTS: TRIP identified 53 PHVL, of whom 32 (60%) injected drugs; 42 (79%) were unaware of their HIV status; 25 (47%) had more than one sex partner, and only 14 (26%) were using condoms. There were 164 people who referred individuals into the study; 33 of them (20%) referred PHVL. In terms of referrers, those with lower than secondary level of education, not living with a sex partner, and reporting regular condom use were significantly more likely (p < 0.05) to refer PHVL. Most PHVL (38, 72%) and their referrers (27, 82%) were found through venues. CONCLUSIONS: In Odessa city, PHVL are at high risk of transmitting HIV as the majority inject drugs, do not know their HIV status, and have unprotected sex and/or multiple partners. Targeting these individuals for HIV prevention, harm reduction and initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART) is urgent.

We study periodic, quasiperiodic (Thue-Morse, Fibonacci, period doubling, Rudin-Shapiro), fractal (Cantor, generalized Cantor), Kolakoski, and random binary sequences using a tight-binding wire model, where a site is a monomer (e.g., in DNA, a base pair). We use B-DNA as our prototype system. All sequences have purines, guanine (G) or adenine (A), on the same strand, i.e., our prototype binary alphabet is {G,A}. Our aim is to examine the influence of sequence intricacy and magnitude of parameters on energy structure, localization, and charge transport. We study quantities such as autocorrelation function, eigenspectra, density of states, Lyapunov exponents, transmission coefficients, and current-voltage curves. We show that the degree of sequence intricacy and the presence of correlations decisively affect the aforementioned physical properties. Periodic segments have enhanced transport properties. Specifically, in homogeneous sequences transport efficiency is maximum. There are several deterministic aperiodic sequences that can support significant currents, depending on the Fermi level of the leads. Random sequences is the less efficient category.

Although abundant research work has been published in the area of path recommendation and its applications on travel and routing topics, scarce work has been reported on context-aware route recommendation systems aimed to stimulate optimal cultural heritage experiences. This paper tries to address this issue, by proposing a personalized and content adaptive cultural heritage path recommendation system, where location is modeled using mean-shift clustering trained with actual user movement patters. Additionally, topic modeling is incorporated to formalize the implicit cultural heritage content, while first order Markov models address the movement as a temporal transition aspect of the problem. The overall architecture is applied on data collected from actual visits to the archaeological sites of Gournia and {\c{C}}atalhöyük and extensive analysis on visitor movement patterns follows, especially in comparison to the curated paths in the aforementioned sites. Finally, the offline evaluation results of the proposed recommendation scheme are encouraging, validating its efficiency and setting a positive paradigm for cultural heritage route recommendations.

The term "vulnerable plaque" is commonly used to refer to an atherosclerotic plaque that is prone to rupture and the formation of thrombosis, which can lead to several cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Coronary artery atherosclerosis has a wide variety of different phenotypes among patients who may have a substantially variable risk for plaque rupture and cardiovascular events. Mounting evidence has proposed three distinctive histopathological mechanisms: plaque rupture, plaque erosion and calcified nodules. Studies have demonstrated the characteristics of plaques with high vulnerability such as the presence of a thin fibrous cap, a necrotic lipid-rich core, abundant infiltrating macrophages and neovascularization. However, traditional coronary angiographic imaging fails to determine plaque vulnerability features, and its ability to individualize treatment strategies is limited. In recent decades, catheter-based intravascular ultrasound imaging (IVUS) modalities have been developed to identify vulnerable plaques and ultimately vulnerable patients. The aim is to individualize prediction, prevention and treatment of acute coronary events based on the identification of specific features of high-risk atherosclerotic plaques, and to identify the most appropriate interventional procedures for their treatment. In this context, the aim of this review is to discuss how personalized assessment of coronary atherosclerotic arteries can be achieved by intravascular ultrasound imaging focusing on vulnerable plaque detection.

To face the acute problem of water contamination, intensive scientific activity focuses on advanced photocatalytic treatment based on titanium dioxide nanomaterials. Herein, we investigate the development of innovative photocatalysts consisting of copper-modified core-shell titania nanocomposites (m–TiO2/Cu), synthesized using a smoldering combustion sol–gel route. The structural and chemical analysis (XRD, Raman, UV/vis, EDS, TEM, porosimetry, FTIR, EPR and XPS) confirmed that the mixed m–TiO2/Cu nanostructures are formed by a TiO2 core, crystalized in the anatase phase, an external nitrogen rich carbonic shell, which acted as a sensitizer and well dispersed species consisting of copper oxide and possibly plasmonic nanoparticles depending on the Cu loading. The synthesized materials were successfully employed for the photocatalytic degradation of caffeine – CA, salicylic acid – SA and hexavalent chromium – Cr(VI) emerging contaminants frequently detected in wastewaters, under UVA and solar illumination. Copper addition contributes to the photooxidation process enhancing the final degradation efficiencies of CA and SA, while preserving the performance of the reference material for the Cr(VI) photoreduction. An optimum copper loading was determined for both illumination conditions and the results are compatible with a photocatalytic mechanism implying enhanced light absorption and more effective separation of the photogenerated charge carriers. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

The Planets In Your Hand project was granted by Europlanet in the frame of Public Engagement Funding Scheme in 2017. It consists of a portable interactive exhibition of planetary surface models, embedded in square frames. The project offers the visitors a chance to see, learn and understand the diversity of the planetary surfaces in our Solar System, including the different conditions such as temperature, wind and atmosphere. Since the beginning of the project, the planetary surfaces have been presented to a wide range of audience, including visually impaired people, preliminary school and high school students as well as university researchers.

A series of clinical trials focused on the use of ultrasound-guided platelet-rich plasma (PRP) infusions for the treatment of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) were published over the last few years. However, the role of PRP for CTS remains unclear. We performed a systematic review according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Two reviewers independently conducted the search using multiple databases: MEDLINE/PubMed, SCOPUS, Cochrane Database, and Web of Science. These databases were searched using terms "platelet" AND "rich" AND "plasma" AND "carpal" AND "tunnel". To maximize the search, backward chaining of references from retrieved papers was also undertaken. From the initial 19 studies, only five met our eligibility criteria. These articles included one randomized controlled double-blind study, one randomized controlled single-blind study, one randomized controlled non-blind study, one case-control study, and one case report. The vast majority of the included studies supported that PRP infusion improved the clinical condition of the patients and that PRP infusion was beneficial for patients with mild-to-moderate CTS. Therefore, PRP seems to be an interesting alternative for the treatment of mild-to-moderate CTS which, still, has not been thoroughly investigated. However, despite the promising results of the present studies, PRP has to be further tested before we reach to a definite conclusion regarding its therapeutic value.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of students of the School of Physical Education and Sports Science of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens towards homosexuality in relation to their political inclinations. The sample consisted of 557 undergraduate students. The Greek version of Herek’s (1994) Attitudes towards Lesbians and Gay Men (ATLG) scale is used in this study with two factors, one for male homosexuality and one for female. The independent variables surveyed were gender, age, sexual orientation, and political inclinations. A univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Scheffe test were used in order to determine significant statistical differences between the three levels of the political inclinations factor. The analysis of the results showed that political inclinations influence attitudes towards homosexuality: left-wing oriented students showing greater acceptance of homosexuality; right-wing students more negative attitudes; students oriented towards the center displaying more moderate attitudes, ranging between those of the right-wing and left-wing.KEYWORDS:   Homosexuality, Homophobia, Discrimination, Sports

{© 2019 Objective: To assess sleep disorders (SleD)in women with functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea (FHA)and to identify possible associations with known FHA predisposing factors. Study design: We conducted a prospective case-control study spanning the period January 2016 to April 2018. We recruited forty-one FHA women and 86 healthy controls. We assessed SleD and other FHA predisposing factors via self-reported questionnaires. The Spearman's correlation coefficient (rho)was used to examine possible correlations among the different variables. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify independent factors associated with SleD. Results: Women with FHA reported having higher SleD (p = 0.004), abnormal eating attitudes (p {\textless} 0.0001), higher anxiety levels (AL)(p {\textless} 0.0001), overweight preoccupation (P {\textless} 0.0001)and increased weekly physical activity (p = 0.004). There was a significant positive correlation between SleD and AL (rho = 0.88, p {\textless} 0.0001). Significant correlation was also found between AL and several Athens insomnia scale constituents, including sleep induction (rho = 0.53

We report on a NuSTAR observation of the Be X-ray binary 4U 1901+03 taken on 2019 April 11.95 (MJD 58584.95; ObsID 90502307004). It was performed during the decline of the source's current outburst, which began around 2019-02-08 (ATel #12498, GCN #23882).

Improved implementation of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) should be a valuable tool within communities experiencing high HIV incidence, such as black men who have sex with men (MSM). Using baseline data from the Chicago arm of the Transmission Reduction Intervention Project (TRIP), we examined awareness and use of PrEP within HIV potential transmission networks. Transmission Reduction Intervention Project recruited participants ages 18-69 (N = 218) during 2014-2016 from networks originating from recently and chronically HIV-infected MSM and transgender persons. In total, 53.2% of participants had heard of PrEP, while 8 (6.5%) HIV-negative participants reported ever using PrEP. In multivariable regression, PrEP awareness was associated with identifying as gay, attending some college or higher, having an HIV test in the previous 6 months, and experiencing HIV-related social support. PrEP awareness was not associated with experiencing or observing HIV-related stigma. PrEP use was associated with participants knowing two or more other PrEP-users. These findings demonstrate moderate awareness, but low uptake of PrEP within HIV potential transmission networks in Chicago. Future research should explore how to increase PrEP use in these networks and investigate the social dynamics behind our finding that PrEP users are more likely to know other PrEP users.

Bimodules over vN(G), harmonic operators and  the non-commutative Poisson boundary.

Starting with a left ideal J of L1(G) we consider its annihilator J ⊥ in L ∞ (G) and the generated VN(G)-bimodule in B(L 2 (G)), Bim(J ⊥ ). We prove that Bim(J ⊥ ) = (Ran J) ⊥ when G is weakly amenable discrete, compact or abelian, where Ran J is a suitable saturation of J in the trace class. We define jointly harmonic functions and jointly harmonic operators and show that, for these classes of groups, the space of jointly harmonic operators is the VN(G)-bimodule generated by the space of jointly harmonic functions. Using this, we give a proof of the following result of Izumi and Jaworski – Neufang: the non-commutative Poisson boundary is isomorphic to the crossed product of the space of harmonic functions by G.

Pathogenic mutations in the phospholamban (PLN) gene may give rise to inherited cardiomyopathies due to its role in calcium homeostasis. Several PLN mutations have been identified, with the R14del mutation being the most prevalent cardiomyopathy-related mutation in the Netherlands. It is present in patients diagnosed with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy as well as dilated cardiomyopathy. Awareness of the phenotype of this PLN mutation is of great importance, since many carriers remain to be identified. Patients with the R14del mutation are characterised by older age at onset, low-voltage electrocardiograms and a high frequency of ventricular arrhythmias. Additionally, these patients have a poor prognosis often with left ventricular dysfunction and early-onset heart failure. Therefore, when there is a suspicion of a PLN mutation, cardiac and genetic screening is strongly recommended.

Composite magnetoelectric compounds that combine ferroelectricity/piezoelectricity and ferromagnetism/magnetostriction are investigated intensively for room-temperature applications. Here, we studied bulk composites of a magnetostrictive constituent, ferromagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles, homogeneously embedded in a ferroelectric/piezoelectric matrix, Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48) O-3 (PZT). Specifically, we focused on PZT-5%Fe3O4 samples which are strongly insulating and thus sustain a relatively high out-of-plane external electric field, E-ex,E-z. The in-plane strain-electric field curve (S(E-ex,E-z)) was carefully recorded upon successive application and removal of an out-of-plane external magnetic field, H-ex,H-z. The obtained S(E-ex,E-z) data exhibited two main features. First, the respective in-plane piezoelectric coefficients, d(E-ex,E-z) = 200-250 pm/V, show a dramatic decrease, 50-60%, upon application of a relatively low H-ex,H-z = 1 kOe. Second, the process is completely reversible since the initial value of d(E-ex,E-z) is recovered upon removal of H-ex,H-z. Polarization data, P(E-ex,E-z), evidenced that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles introduced static structural disorder that made PZT harder. Taken together, these results prove that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles, except for static structural disorder, introduce reconfigurable magnetic disorder that modifies the in-plane S(E-ex,E-z) curve and the accompanying d(E-ex,E-z) of PZT when an external magnetic field is applied at will. The room-temperature feasibility of these findings renders the PZT-x%Fe3O4 system a solid basis for the development of magnetic-field-controlled PE devices.

The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) is central to proteostasis network (PN) functionality and proteome quality control. Yet, the functional implication of the UPP in tissue homeodynamics at the whole organism level and its potential cross-talk with other proteostatic or mitostatic modules are not well understood. We show here that knock down (KD) of proteasome subunits in Drosophila flies, induced, for most subunits, developmental lethality. Ubiquitous or tissue specific proteasome dysfunction triggered systemic proteome instability and activation of PN modules, including macroautophagy/autophagy, molecular chaperones and the antioxidant cncC (the fly ortholog of NFE2L2/Nrf2) pathway. Also, proteasome KD increased genomic instability, altered metabolic pathways and severely disrupted mitochondrial functionality, triggering a cncC-dependent upregulation of mitostatic genes and enhanced rates of mitophagy. Whereas, overexpression of key regulators of antioxidant responses (e.g., cncC or foxo) could not suppress the deleterious effects of proteasome dysfunction; these were alleviated in both larvae and adult flies by modulating mitochondrial dynamics towards increased fusion or by enhancing autophagy. Our findings reveal the extensive functional wiring of genomic, proteostatic and mitostatic modules in higher metazoans. Also, they support the notion that age-related increase of proteotoxic stress due to decreased UPP activity deregulates all aspects of cellular functionality being thus a driving force for most age-related diseases. Abbreviations: ALP: autophagy-lysosome pathway; ARE: antioxidant response element; Atg8a: autophagy-related 8a; ATPsyn$\beta$: ATP synthase, $\beta$ subunit; C-L: caspase-like proteasomal activity; cncC: cap-n-collar isoform-C; CT-L: chymotrypsin-like proteasomal activity; Drp1: dynamin related protein 1; ER: endoplasmic reticulum; foxo: forkhead box, sub-group O; GLU: glucose; GFP: green fluorescent protein; GLY: glycogen; Hsf: heat shock factor; Hsp: Heat shock protein; Keap1: kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1; Marf: mitochondrial assembly regulatory factor; NFE2L2/Nrf2: nuclear factor, erythroid 2 like 2; Opa1: optic atrophy 1; PN: proteostasis network; RNAi: RNA interference; ROS: reactive oxygen species; ref(2)P: refractory to sigma P; SQSTM1: sequestosome 1; SdhA: succinate dehydrogenase, subunit A; T-L: trypsin-like proteasomal activity; TREH: trehalose; UAS: upstream activation sequence; Ub: ubiquitin; UPR: unfolded protein response; UPP: ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.

A disastrous earthquake of the past (7th September 1999) was the reason for acquiring 1.122 urban gravity measurements in order to investigate and model the deeper subsurface of Athens city basin. The aim was to gather any additional quantitative subsurface information based on the gravity survey, such as the density distribution provided by the 3D density models and depths of potential anomaly sources. The standard corrections have been applied (drift, tide, latitude, free-air, Bouguer, terrain ones) along with an additional Building Correction that was calculated based on the urban characteristics. The isolation of the residual anomaly has been accomplished with the contribution of the Fourier filters and power spectrum analysis. The Euler deconvolution has been used in order to calculate the depth solutions of anomalous sources, based on the residual maps. These solutions seem to identify with several fault zones. Some of these zones have already been mapped or proposed (covered ones) but additionally some new zones have been revealed. The 3D density model of the area provides information about the geometry of the subsurface geological bodies that can also be related to the tectonic structures of Athens basin beneath the surface.

We study the energy structure and the coherent transfer of an extra electron or hole along aperiodic polymers made of N monomers, with fixed boundaries, using B-DNA as our prototype system. We use a Tight-Binding wire model, where a site is a monomer (e.g., in DNA, a base pair). We consider quasi-periodic (Fibonacci, Thue–Morse, Double-Period, Rudin–Shapiro) and fractal (Cantor Set, Asymmetric Cantor Set) polymers made of the same monomer (I polymers) or made of different monomers (D polymers). For all types of such polymers, we calculate the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) eigenspectrum and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) eigenspectrum, the HOMO–LUMO gap and the density of states. We examine the mean over time probability to find the carrier at each monomer, the frequency content of carrier transfer (Fourier spectra, weighted mean frequency of each monomer, total weighted mean frequency of the polymer), and the pure mean transfer rate k. Our results reveal that there is a correspondence between the degree of structural complexity and the transfer properties. I polymers are more favorable for charge transfer than D polymers. We compare k(N)">k(N) of quasi-periodic and fractal sequences with that of periodic sequences (including homopolymers) as well as with randomly shuffled sequences. Finally, we discuss aspects of experimental results on charge transfer rates in DNA with respect to our coherent pure mean transfer rates.

The multiwavelength spectral and temporal variability observed in blazars set tight constraints on current theoretical emission models. Here, we investigate the relativistic magnetic reconnection process as a source of blazar emission in which quasi-spherical plasmoids, containing relativistic particles and magnetic fields, are associated with the emission sites in blazar jets. By coupling recent two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of relativistic reconnection with a time-dependent radiative transfer code, we compute the non-thermal emission from a chain of plasmoids formed during a reconnection event. The derived photon spectra display characteristic features observed in both BL Lac sources and flat spectrum radio quasars, with the distinction made by varying the strength of the external photon fields, the jet magnetization, and the number of pairs per proton contained within. Light curves produced from reconnection events are composed of many fast and powerful flares that appear on excess of a slower evolving envelope produced by the cumulative emission of medium-sized plasmoids. The observed variability is highly dependent upon the orientation of the reconnection layer with respect to the blazar jet axis and to the observer. Our model provides a physically motivated framework for explaining the multitime-scale blazar variability across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

BACKGROUND: Doravirine is a novel HIV-1 NNRTI recently shown to be non-inferior to both darunavir/ritonavir and efavirenz in combination therapy with two NRTIs in treatment-naive patients. Doravirine has an in vitro resistance profile that is distinct from other NNRTIs and retains activity against viruses containing the most frequently transmitted NNRTI mutations. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of doravirine resistance-associated mutations in HIV-1-infected treatment-naive patients in Europe. METHODS: From 2010 to 2016, 9764 treatment-naive patients were tested for NNRTI antiretroviral drug resistance by bulk sequencing in Greece, Italy and France. We studied the prevalence of doravirine resistance-associated mutations previously identified in vitro: V106A/M, V108I, Y188L, V190S, H221Y, F227C/L/V, M230I/L, L234I, P236L, Y318F and K103N/Y181C. RESULTS: Among 9764 sequences, 53.0% and 47.0% of patients had B and non-B subtypes, respectively. Overall, the presence of at least one doravirine resistance-associated mutation (n = 137; 1.4%) or the K103N/Y181C mutations (n = 5; 0.05%) was very rare. The most prevalent mutations were V108I (n = 62; 0.6%), Y188L (n = 18; 0.2%), H221Y (n = 18; 0.2%) and Y318F (n = 23; 0.2%). The frequency of doravirine resistance-associated mutations was similar between B and non-B subtypes. In comparison, the prevalence of rilpivirine, etravirine, nevirapine and efavirenz resistance was higher whatever algorithm was used (ANRS: 8.5%, 8.1%, 8.3% and 3.9%, respectively; Stanford: 9.9%, 10.0%, 7.5% and 9.4%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of doravirine resistance-associated mutations is very low in antiretroviral-naive patients. These results are very reassuring for doravirine use in naive patients.

On 2017 and 2018 four strong/moderate earthquakes occurred at shallow focal depths in the East Mediterranean. They share a common characteristic, which is that a large part of the induced ground deformation is offshore, thus a part of the deformation footprint is missing. Assuming that the deformation source of an earthquake can be modelled by the slip on a rectangular fault buried in an elastic and homogenous halfspace and through inversion on GNSS and multitrack InSAR (with different weight in each case) we modelled the deformation sources and calculated their fault parameters. Seismological data as well as the geological context exploited to assist the initialization of some parameters in the inversion andvalidate the results. This study demonstrate the efficiency and the contribution of the space geodesy to the seismology, even in such adverse conditions.

Magnetic reconnection is often invoked to explain the nonthermal radiation of relativistic outflows, including jets of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Motivated by the largely unknown plasma composition of AGN jets, we study reconnection in the unexplored regime of electron-positron-proton (pair-proton) plasmas with large-scale two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We cover a wide range of pair multiplicities (lepton-to-proton number ratio κ = 1-199) for different values of the all-species plasma magnetization (σ = 1, 3, and 10) and electron temperature ({{{\Theta }}}e\equiv {{kT}}e/{m}e{c}2=0.1{--}100). We focus on the dependence of the post-reconnection energy partition and lepton energy spectra on the hot pair plasma magnetization {σ }e,h (i.e., the ratio of magnetic to pair enthalpy densities). We find that the post-reconnection energy is shared roughly equally between magnetic fields, pairs, and protons for {σ }e,h ≳ 3. We empirically find that the mean lepton Lorentz factor in the post-reconnection region depends on σ, Θ e , and {σ }e,h as < {γ }e-1> ≈ \sqrt{σ }(1+4{{{\Theta }}}e)≤ft(1+{σ }e,h/30\right), for σ ≥ 1. The high-energy part of the post-reconnection lepton energy distributions can be described by a power law, whose slope is mainly controlled by {σ }e,h for κ ≳ 3-6, with harder power laws obtained for higher magnetizations. We finally show that reconnection in pair-proton plasmas with multiplicities κ ∼ 1-20, magnetizations σ ∼ 1-10, and temperatures Θ e ∼ 1-10 results in particle power-law slopes and average electron Lorentz factors that are consistent with those inferred in leptonic models of AGN jet emission.

Kamberidou, Irene (2019).  Researcher-key findings: ‘The Way to the Top’ a global conversation across 6 Panels – 6 Cities (New York, London, Athens, Amman, Istanbul, Lahore), March 6, 2019.   Global Thinkers Forum, Athena40, in partnership with knowl Social Enterprise for Education & Lifelong Learning,  Greece. Location:  Press room Vodafon-Panafon SA, Athens.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ATHENA40, Fearless, Innovative, Diverse ( https://www.athena40.org/ ), recognizing originality and fearless thinking,  was announced at UNESCO as a Global Thinkers Forum initiative empowering women through entrepreneurial thinking, inspiration and access to opportunities for development.  ATHENA40 is a global movement to inspire and enable women to thrive.   The GLOBAL THINKERS FORUM (http://www.globalthinkersforum.org/) is the non-profit parent company of ATHENA40, incubated at Oxford’s Said Business School and launched in 2012._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  “Dear Prof. Kamberidou, We have the pleasure to invite you to research and identify the Key Findings from our panel/focus group titled “The Way to the Top”, a global conversation across 6 cities, on March 6th, in celebration of International Women’s Day 2019, that knowl Social Enterprise is leading in Greece. […]  What progress has been achieved in the past years with regards to the women's empowerment agenda in your country? • Where are the major challenges -and opportunities?  • Who are the real change makers, the ones who can actively promote women's empowerment?  • What can be done to promote the diversity, inclusivity and women's empowerment agenda?     The focus group/panel discussion will not exceed 60'. All 6 panels (London, New York, Istanbul, Amman, Lahore and Athens) will start simultaneously (GR 15:30 / Arrival: 14:30). The main points from each panel must be summarised in a brief paragraph and sent to London to BBC's Tim Willcox who is our global moderator. Tim, at the end of the 'global conversation', will read all SIX paragraphs, one from each city.    Kindly note that the findings will be incorporated into a whitepaper that will be shared across all networks. […] “ See attachment  

Urinary bladder cancer is a common malignancy, being characterized by substantial patient mortality and management cost. Its high somatic-mutation frequency and molecular heterogeneity usually renders tumors refractory to the applied regimens. Hitherto, methotrexate-vinblastine-adriamycin-cisplatin and gemcitabine-cisplatin represent the backbone of systemic chemotherapy. However, despite the initial chemosensitivity, the majority of treated patients will eventually develop chemoresistance, which severely reduces their survival expectancy. Since chromatin regulation genes are more frequently mutated in muscle-invasive bladder cancer, as compared to other epithelial tumors, targeted therapies against chromatin aberrations in chemoresistant clones may prove beneficial for the disease. "Acetyl-chromatin" homeostasis is regulated by the opposing functions of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). The HDAC/SIRT (super-)family contains 18 members, which are divided in five classes, with each family member being differentially expressed in normal urinary bladder tissues. Since a strong association between irregular HDAC expression/activity and tumorigenesis has been previously demonstrated, we herein attempt to review the accumulated published evidences that implicate HDACs/SIRTs as critical regulators in urothelial bladder cancer. Moreover, the most extensively investigated HDAC inhibitors (HDACis) are also analyzed, and the respective clinical trials are also described. Interestingly, it seems that HDACis should be preferably used in drug-combination therapeutic schemes, including radiation.

Identifying active galactic nuclei (AGNs) through their X-ray emission is efficient, but necessarily biased against X-ray-faint objects. We aim to characterize this bias by comparing X-ray-selected AGNs to the ones identified through optical variability and mid-infrared (mid-IR) colours. We present a catalogue of AGNs selected through optical variability using all publicly available z-band Hubble Space Telescope images in the GOODS-South field. For all objects in the catalogue, we compute X-ray upper limits or discuss detections in the deepest available ˜7 Ms Chandra Deep Field South images and present the Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) mid-IR colours. For the variability study, we consider only sources observed over at least five epochs and over a time baseline of up to 10 yr. We adopt the elevated median absolute deviation as a variability indicator robust against individual outlier measurements and identify 113 variability-selected AGN candidates. Among these, 26 have an X-ray counterpart and lie within the conventional AGN area in the FX/Fopt diagram. The candidates with X-ray upper limits are on average optically fainter, have higher redshifts compared to the X-ray-detected ones and are consistent with low-luminosity AGNs. Out of 41 variable optical sources with IR detections, 13 fulfill the IR AGN colour selection criteria. Our work emphasizes the importance of optical variability surveys for constructing complete samples of AGNs including the ones that remain undetected even by the deepest X-ray and IR surveys.

 BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible attenuating role of the intra-articular administration of Fetuin-A in post-traumatic secondary osteoarthritis in rats, and also its effect on the systematic levels of interleukins (ILs)-2,4,7, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) 2, 4, 7, C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and Fetuin-A. METHODS: Thirty male Sprague Dawley rats were separated in two groups where post-traumatic osteoarthritis was induced surgically by Anterior Cruciate Ligament Transection and the transection of the Medial Collateral Ligament of the right knee. In the Control Group, only the surgical intervention took place. In Fetuin Group, along with the induction of osteoarthritis, a single dose of bovine fetuin was administrated intra-articularly, intra-operatively. Both groups were examined for 8 weeks. The levels of interleukins, bone morphogenetic proteins, Fetuin-A and C-Reactive Protein were evaluated by ELISA of peripheral blood in three time periods: preoperatively, 5 and 8 weeks post-operatively. Osteoarthritic lesions of the knee were classified according to the Osteoarthritis Research Society International Grading System and the Modified Mankin Score, by histologic examination. RESULTS: IL-2 levels were significantly decreased in the Fetuin Group. No statistical difference was signed on the levels of IL-7, BMP-2,4,7 and Fetuin-A between the two groups. CRP levels were significantly increased in the Fetuin Group in 5 weeks of the experiment. Fetuin Group signed better scores according to the OARSI classification system and Modified Mankin Score, without any statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Intra-articular administration of Fetuin-A restrictively affected the progression of post-traumatic arthritis in rats, as only the levels of IL-2 were decreased as well as limited osteoarthritic lesions were observed on the Fetuin Group.

This book focuses on literal and metaphorical ruins, as they are appropriated and imagined in different forms of writing. Examining British and American literature and culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the book begins in the era of industrial modernity with studies of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Henry James and Daphne Du Maurier. It then moves on to the significance of ruins in the twentieth century, against the backdrop of conflict, waste and destruction, analyzing authors such as Beckett and Pinter, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton and Leonard Cohen. The collection concludes with current debates on ruins, through discussions of Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht, as well as reflections on the refugee crisis that take the ruin beyond the text, offering new perspectives on its diverse legacies and conceptual resources.

In this work we study the electromagnetic scattering by a magnetized cold plasma body, using a surface integral equation (SIE) formulation. To solve the problem, we express the fields inside the anisotropic region using appropriate discrete eigenvalue expansions and, applying the boundary conditions on body's surface, we obtain infinite sets of inhomogeneous algebraic equations from which, upon truncation, the expansion coefficients of the internal field are computed. Then, the expansion coefficients of the scattered field can be evaluated, as well as the bistatic scattering cross section. To conclude on the method's validity, we compute the cross sections, for different values of parameters, for prolate spheroidal bodies, and compare with the results obtained by the HFSS commercial software.

The increasing proportion of variance in human complex traits explained by polygenic scores, along with progress in preimplantation genetic diagnosis, suggests the possibility of screening embryos for traits such as height or cognitive ability. However, the expected outcomes of embryo screening are unclear, which undermines discussion of associated ethical concerns. Here, we use theory, simulations, and real data to evaluate the potential gain of embryo screening, defined as the difference in trait value between the top-scoring embryo and the average embryo. The gain increases very slowly with the number of embryos but more rapidly with the variance explained by the score. Given current technology, the average gain due to screening would be ≈2.5 cm for height and ≈2.5 IQ points for cognitive ability. These mean values are accompanied by wide prediction intervals, and indeed, in large nuclear families, the majority of children top-scoring for height are not the tallest.

In order to investigate the formation processes of the seafloor of Argostoli bay (Cephalonia Island, Ionian Sea), an extended geological survey was conducted to gather details about the near-surface geological framework. Methods used for the survey include high resolution subbottom seismic profiles (29.4 line kilometers; EdgetechCHIRP system at frequencies 2-16 kHz) side-scan sonar backscatter surveys of the seafloor (approximately 67 line-km, Starfish 450F), single-beam bathymetry (approx. 67 line-km, Lowrance LCX-15MT Sonar system), and bottom sampling including bottom sediment grab samples (van veen grab sampler) and short sediment cores. The survey was focused at both ends of Argostoli Bay (i.e., Argostoli and Livadi inlets). Preliminary analysis of the sub-bottom profiles in the upper 12-20 m reveals a clear pattern of sediment layers, in both ends of the bay. The uppermost layers been deposited horizontally with small differences in their orientation in the area of Argostoli inlet, while the presence of gas is more pronounced in Livadi inlet. Moreover, in Argostoli inlet a palaeo-surface is visible (probably the base of Holocene sedimentary cover) with minor channel features, likely indicating a shallow river valley. Side- scan mapping in combination with sediment samples and cores showed that the surface sediment consists mostly of finegained material, rich in organic matter over a gravel-lag deposit that may represent the transgressive surface in the area.

Understanding the evolution of soil systems on geological time scales has become fundamentally important to predict future landscape development in light of rapid global warming and intensifying anthropogenic impact. Here, we use an innovative uranium isotope-based technique combined with organic carbon isotopes and elemental ratios of sediments from Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania) to reconstruct soil system evolution in the lake's catchment during the last ~16,000 cal yr BP. Uranium isotopes are used to estimated the paleo-sediment residence time, defined as the time elapsed between formation of silt- and clay sized detrital matter and final deposition. The chronology is based on new cryptotephra layers identified in the sediment sequence. The isotope and elemental data are compared to sedimentary properties and pollen from the same sample material to provide a better understanding of past catchment erosion and landscape evolution in the light of climate forcing, vegetation development, and anthropogenic land use. During the Late Glacial and the Early Holocene, when wide parts of the catchment were covered by open vegetation, wetter climates promoted the mobilisation of detrital matter with a short paleo-sediment residence time. This is explained by erosion from deeper parts of the weathering horizon from thin soils. Detrital matter with a longer paleo-sediment residence time, illustrating shallow erosion of thicker soils is deposited in drier climates. The coupling between climatic variations and soil erosion terminates at the Early to Mid-Holocene transition as evidenced by a pronounced shift in uranium isotope ratios indicating that catchment erosion is dominated by shallow erosion of thick soils only. This shift suggests a threshold is crossed in hillslope erosion, possibly as a result of a major change in vegetation cover preventing deep erosion of thin soils at higher elevation. The threshold in catchment erosion is not mirrored by soil development over time, which gradually increases in response to Late Glacial to Holocene warming until human land use during the Late Holocene promotes reduced soil development and soil degradation. Overall, we observe that soil system evolution is progressively controlled by climatic, vegetation, and eventually by human land use over the last ~16,000 years.

This study focuses on the sedimentological and morphological features of Vravrona Beach, East Attica, in order to determine the seasonal changes in the textural group classification of the costal sediments, as well as, changes in coastline position (Fig. 1). Additionally, Vravrona Beach has been chosen for the assessment of a potential coastal erosion, using the Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) through GIS technology, since several incidents of erosion have been identified during the past decades in the broader area of East Attica (Dimou et al., 2010). For the composition of the beach profile in seasonal scale, cross sections were conducted along the beach from landward to seaward until approximately 10 m from the coastline. Beach width as well as the current coastline position for each season were measured with a differential GPS (DGPS). The land use at the landward upper limits of the study area were also measured. Along selected cross sections, sediment sampling was also conducted during January 2018 for the composition of the winter profile of the study area and during September 2018 for the composition of the summer profile of the study area. Sedimentological analyses were based on grain size distribution for the analysis of unconsolidated sediments by sieving and statistical parameters such as sorting, skewness, mean and kurtosis were calculating using GRADISTAT v. 0.4 software in order to determine the sedimentological features of the study area and the transport mechanism at the time of deposition. The textural group of the samples was also determined by Folk and Ward (1957) classification. The grain size analysis of the samples, collected between the upper limit of the beach and the coastline during summer period, show that the majority of grains is described as slightly gravelly sand and gravelly sand, but during the winter period the grains are between gravely sand and sand. The samples collected from the coastline until approximately 10 m seaward are mainly described as slightly gravelly sand and sandy gravel for both sampling seasons (Fig. 2). DGPS measurements of coastline position indicate changes that varies between 4.38 m to 7.41 m with a maximum value at 8.27 m. In agreement to field observations, DGPS measurements indicate an accumulation of sediments at the northern part of the beach during the winter period, while during summer period there is an accumulation of sediments at the southern part of the beach.

We investigate the seismotectonics of Western Greece using data recorded by a local network of 15 short-period seismic stations. They were installed in July 2016 in order to densify the permanent Hellenic Unified Seismological Network (HUSN), which is sparse in this region. The study area covers the islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia in addition to Western Peloponnese and Akarnania. The temporary network remained in operation until May 2017 and recorded roughly 4000 events that were analyzed using automatic P- and S-wave phase picking algorithms. The procedure yielded 1200 local earthquakes located using the Hypoinverse code and five 1D velocity models optimized by the Velest error minimization technique. The events were further relocated using the HypoDD package. We computed 100 focal mechanisms for magnitudes down to ML 2.3 using first motion polarities. The rose diagrams and stress axes imply transpressional tectonics. By combination of the focal mechanisms, historical earthquakes and the recorded patterns of (micro)seismic activity, seismogenic structures were detected and emphasized. The data allowed us to construct a conceptual and updated tectonic model of the Ionian Akarnania crustal Block (IAB) articulated around 4 major strike-slip structures : -The Cephalonia Transform Fault has been recognized as a large deformation zone that intersects with left-lateral NW-striking strike-slip faults and is the western margin of the IAB. -The Kyllini Cephalonia Fault highlighted by this study intersects with the Movri-Amiliada Fault Zone. These structures are proposed to be the south-western and south-eastern boundaries of the IAB. -The NW-striking sinistral Katouna-Stamna Fault zone and the Ambracian Gulf depict the north-eastern and north margin of the block. During the deployment we also recorded intense seismic activity southwest of the island of Zakynthos. These events most likely occurred on an activated structure of the upper plate that we link with the large 2018 Mw 6.7 megathrust earthquake that occurred 20 km towards the south.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction has long been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression, and HPA axis-based compounds have served as potential new therapeutic targets, but with no success. This review details sex differences from animal and human studies in the function of HPA axis elements (glucocorticoids, corticotropin releasing factor, and vasopressin) and related compounds tested as candidate antidepressants. We propose that sex differences contribute to the failure of novel HPA axis-based drugs in clinical trials. Compounds studied preclinically in males were tested in clinical trials that recruited more, if not exclusively, women, and did not control, but rather adjusted, for potential sex differences. Indeed, clinical trials of antidepressants are usually not stratified by sex or other important factors, although preclinical and epidemiological data support such stratification. In conclusion, we suggest that clinical testing of HPA axis-related compounds creates an opportunity for targeted, personalized antidepressant treatments based on sex. LINKED ARTICLES: This article is part of a themed section on The Importance of Sex Differences in Pharmacology Research. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v176.21/issuetoc.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction has long been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression, and HPA axis-based compounds have served as potential new therapeutic targets, but with no success. This review details sex differences from animal and human studies in the function of HPA axis elements (glucocorticoids, corticotropin releasing factor, and vasopressin) and related compounds tested as candidate antidepressants. We propose that sex differences contribute to the failure of novel HPA axis-based drugs in clinical trials. Compounds studied preclinically in males were tested in clinical trials that recruited more, if not exclusively, women, and did not control, but rather adjusted, for potential sex differences. Indeed, clinical trials of antidepressants are usually not stratified by sex or other important factors, although preclinical and epidemiological data support such stratification. In conclusion, we suggest that clinical testing of HPA axis-related compounds creates an opportunity for targeted, personalized antidepressant treatments based on sex. LINKED ARTICLES: This article is part of a themed section on The Importance of Sex Differences in Pharmacology Research. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v176.21/issuetoc.

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. Identification of silver-rich sulfide mineralization in the abandoned mines at northern Hymittos Mt (central Attica, Greece) district has made this region important due to its structural relation to the world-class Lavrion mining district (25 km SE of Hymittos Mt.). At Agios Ioannis Kynigos mine veins of oxidized Fe-Pb-Zn-Ag ore are hosted in mylonitic marbles that were predominantly affected by brittle-ductile deformation associated with the West Cycladic Detachment System. The major sulfides are galena and arsenian pyrite which develop as open-space filling (fractures and vugs), disseminations and veinlets. Galena contains abundant inclusions of Pb-As-Sb-Cu-Ag sulfosalts (tetrahedrite group minerals, bournonite, jalpaite). An unusual silver-rich galena ore i.e from 192 to 1500 ppm Ag, is recorded from the present study, with Ag hosted mainly in Ag-tetrahedrite, acanthite and jalpaite. Compositionally pyrite shows As enrichment and the highest As concentration i.e. up to 3.9 wt% is found in the core of the oscillatory zoned pyrites. Values of $δ$34S of galena are isotopically light (−11.2 to −12.2‰), which suggests a sedimentary component to the ore fluid, that is likely derived from leaching of the meta-sedimentary (calc-mica schists) wall rocks. Carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of ore-stage carbonates show values i.e $δ$13CV-PDB (‰) = −8.2 to −11.7‰ and $δ$18O = 24.3 to 25.9‰ and for the non-mineralized carbonates $δ$13CV-PDB (‰) = +0.33 to 2.52‰ and $δ$18O = 20.8 to 26.1‰. The C and O isotopic composition of the carbonate wall rock distal to the orebody is typical of marine carbonates, whereas hydrothermal carbonates (brown calcite and dolomite) are dominated by an external, light C source. The lowest $δ$13CV-PDB values are recorded from cerussite and correspond to the low temperature supergene alteration from meteoric waters. The homogenized values of $δ$18O in the mineralized carbonates indicate interaction of fluid with host carbonates under a low fluid/rock ratio. The Pb-Zn-Ag mineralization at Agios Ioannis Kynigos bears many similarities with the low-temperature carbonate replacement-style mineralization in Kamariza, Lavrion area. Ore deposition in the northern Hymittos detachment fault is focused in the structurally upper parts of the detachment fault where circulation of meteoric fluids is dominant in the hydrothermal system.

BACKGROUND: There are conflicting reports regarding the therapeutic effect of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) versus autologous whole-blood (platelet poor plasma, PPP) injections for plantar fasciitis. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of a single ultrasound (US)-guided PRP versus PPP injection in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 36 patients were recruited with clinical and sonographic evidence of chronic (>6 months) plantar fasciitis, refractory to analgesics and physical therapy in a double-blinded, randomized, prospective study. The patients were randomly allocated into two groups with a sealed envelope method. Group A included 18 patients who underwent a single US-guided PRP injection and group B included another 18 patients who underwent PPP injection with the same technique. Follow-up was set at 3 and 6 months; no patient was lost to follow-up. Pain, function and satisfaction were assessed using visual analogue scales, and occurrence of complications. RESULTS: All scores statistically significantly improved for both groups from baseline at the 3- and 6-month follow-up evaluation, without, however, any statistically significant differences between the two groups with respect to pain, function and satisfaction scores. Complications were not observed. CONCLUSIONS: A single US-guided PRP injection yields similar results with PPP injection in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis. Both treatments provide significant improvement at 3 and 6-month follow-up after the injection.

The article proposes a framework for integrating English as a lingua franca (ELF) research in English language teaching (ELT), predominantly pedagogy, but also teacher education, materials development and evaluation, policy design and planning, assessment and testing. The main concept here is ELF awareness, which orientates a set of principles that refer to the knowledge, attitudes, and skillset of ELT stakeholders and ELT products with regard to issues and concerns raised in the ELF (and, by extension, the English as an international language and the World Englishes) research literature, and the extent to which they have relevance for local ELT contexts. The article makes the case that ELF awareness does not characterize a unique instructional approach to teaching and learning, but integrates the learner- and learning-centred ‘ESP approach’ put forward by English for specific purposes scholars in the 1980s and widely accepted subsequently in ELT. Furthermore, ELF awareness is viewed as a continuum that depicts the gradual transformation of stakeholders’ attitudes, to the extent that local contexts and stakeholders’ needs and wants allow.

This chapter provides a state-of-the-art discussion of the ways in which transformative learning could be fostered in teacher education. It focuses on programmes which aim at raising English language teachers’ awareness of the implications of the current role of English as a lingua franca (ELF), namely as an international contact language. After presenting the challenges which the ELF phenomenon poses nowadays, the transformative model for ELF-aware teacher education put forward by Sifakis is discussed, with reference to its relevance for Mezirow’s transformation theory. The transformative experiences of Kordia during her participation in an ELF-aware teacher education programme are afterwards presented, illustrating the phases of transformation she went through in her attempt to integrate ELF in her teaching practices.

Στο κεφάλαιο αυτό παρουσιάζουμε τους συσχετισμούς ανάμεσα στη Θεωρία Μετασχηματισμού του Mezirow και την εποικοδομητική θεωρία του Robert Kegan. Με βάση την κριτική συζήτηση των επιχειρημάτων που ανέπτυξαν οι δύο θεωρητικοί σχετικά με τις διεργασίες μετασχηματισμού των ενηλίκων, υποστηρίζουμε ότι οι απόψεις τους για τη φύση της μετασχηματίζουσας μάθησης συμπίπτουν σε μεγάλο βαθμό και ότι οι θεωρίες τους, μολονότι διατυπώθηκαν μέσα σε διακριτά επιστημονικά πλαίσια, θα μπορούσαν πραγματικά να αλληλο-εμπλουτιστούν. Με την ολοκλήρωση αυτού του κεφαλαίου ο αναγνώστης θα έχει αποκτήσει μια πλήρη εικόνα όχι μόνο των βασικών αρχών που διέπουν τις θεωρίες του Mezirow και του Kegan, αλλά και, ιδιαιτέρως, του τρόπου με τον οποίο μπορούν να συνδυαστούν και δοκιμαστούν στην πράξη, ώστε να επιτευχθεί μεγαλύτερη αυτοδυναμία των εκπαιδευομένων. Για τον σκοπό αυτόν παρουσιάζουμε το περίγραμμα μιας πρότασης για την εκπαίδευση των εκπαιδευτικών αγγλικής γλώσσας, το οποίο αναφέρεται τους τρόπους ενσωμάτωσης της μετασχηματίζουσας μάθησης στις μεθοδολογικές πρακτικές της διδασκαλίας της Αγγλικής ως διεθνούς γλώσσας επικοινωνίας (lingua franca).

The present study compiles new and literature data in a GIS platform aiming to (a) evaluate the extent and magnitude of Cr contamination in a Mediterranean region (Assopos-Thiva and Central Evia (Euboea) Basins, Greece); (b) combine spatial distribution of Cr in soil and groundwater with land use maps; (c) determine geochemical constraints on contamination by Cr; and (d) provide information that will be useful for better management of land use in a Mediterranean type ecosystem in order to prevent further degradation of natural resources. The spatial diversity of Cr distribution in soils and groundwater throughout the C. Evia and Assopos-Thiva Basins is considered. It is attributed to both natural Cr sources (Cr-bearing peridotites, affecting primarily soil) and human (industrial) activities (the dominant source of groundwater contamination). A combination of the spatial distribution of metals in soil and land use maps was used to define the specific areas of agricultural land use with elevated heavy metal contents. Furthermore, the combination of the spatial distribution of Cr in groundwater and land use maps allows for definition of specific areas of industrial land use with elevated Cr concentrations (Inofita, south Assopos-Thiva Basin). Despite the good correlation (r = 0.75) between Cr(VI) and the strong oxidant NO3− in C. Evia, the lower standard potential (E0) values for NO3− compared to those for Cr2O72− (the latter is a stronger oxidant than the former) suggest that NO3− is not an oxidant of Cr. This detailed assessment and presentation of the available analytical data for soil and groundwater in Assopos-Thiva and C. Evia Basins on a land use map provides information for land management decision makers.

Background and Aim: The circulating recombinant form 02_AG (CRF02_AG) is the predominant clade among the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) non-Bs with a prevalence of 5.97% (95% Confidence Interval-CI: 5.41-6.57%) across Spain. Our aim was to estimate the levels of regional clustering for CRF02_AG and the spatiotemporal characteristics of the largest CRF02_AG subepidemic in Spain. Methods: We studied 396 CRF02_AG sequences obtained from HIV-1 diagnosed patients during 2000-2014 from 10 autonomous communities of Spain. Phylogenetic analysis was performed on the 391 CRF02_AG sequences along with all globally sampled CRF02_AG sequences (N = 3,302) as references. Phylodynamic and phylogeographic analysis was performed to the largest CRF02_AG monophyletic cluster by a Bayesian method in BEAST v1.8.0 and by reconstructing ancestral states using the criterion of parsimony in Mesquite v3.4, respectively. Results: The HIV-1 CRF02_AG prevalence differed across Spanish autonomous communities we sampled from (p < 0.001). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 52.7% of the CRF02_AG sequences formed 56 monophyletic clusters, with a range of 2-79 sequences. The CRF02_AG regional dispersal differed across Spain (p = 0.003), as suggested by monophyletic clustering. For the largest monophyletic cluster (subepidemic) (N = 79), 49.4% of the clustered sequences originated from Madrid, while most sequences (51.9%) had been obtained from men having sex with men (MSM). Molecular clock analysis suggested that the origin (t(MRCA)) of the CRF02_AG subepidemic was in 2002 (median estimate; 95% Highest Posterior Density-HPD interval: 1999-2004). Additionally, we found significant clustering within the CRF02_AG subepidemic according to the ethnic origin. Conclusion: CRF02_AG has been introduced as a result of multiple introductions in Spain, following regional dispersal in several cases. We showed that CRF02_AG transmissions were mostly due to regional dispersal in Spain. The hot-spot for the largest CRF02_AG regional subepidemic in Spain was in Madrid associated with MSM transmission risk group. The existence of subepidemics suggest that several spillovers occurred from Madrid to other areas. CRF02_AG sequences from Hispanics were clustered in a separate subclade suggesting no linkage between the local and Hispanic subepidemics.

Transporters are transmembrane proteins that mediate the selective translocation of solutes across biological membranes. Recently, we have shown that specific interactions with plasma membrane phospholipids are essential for formation and/or stability of functional dimers of the purine transporter, UapA, a prototypic eukaryotic member of the ubiquitous NAT family. Here, we provide strong evidence that distinct interactions of UapA with membrane lipids are essential for formation of functional dimers in the ER or ER-exit and further subcellular trafficking. Through genetic screens we identify mutations that restore defects in dimer formation and/or trafficking. Suppressors of defective dimerization restore formation of UapA dimers in the ER. Most of these suppressors are located in the movable core domain, but also in the core-dimerization interface and in residues of the dimerization domain exposed to lipids. Molecular Dynamics suggest the majority of suppressors stabilize interhelical interactions in the core domain and thus assist the formation of functional UapA dimers. Among suppressors restoring dimerization, a specific mutation, T401P, was also isolated independently as a suppressor restoring trafficking, suggesting that stabilization of the core domain restores function by sustaining structural defects caused by abolishment of essential interactions with specific lipids. Importantly, introduction of mutations topologically equivalent to T401P into a rat homologue of UapA, namely rSNBT1, permitted the functional expression of a mammalian NAT in Thus, our results provide a potential route for the functional expression and manipulation of mammalian transporters in the model Aspergillus system.

Spin caloric transport refers to the coupling of heat with spin transport. Its applications primarily concern the generation of spin currents and control of magnetisation by temperature gradients for information technology, known by the synonym spin caloritronics. Within the framework of ab initio theory, new tools are being developed to provide an additional understanding of these phenomena in realistic materials, accounting for the complexity of the electronic structure without adjustable parameters. Here, we review this progress, summarising the principles of the density-functional-based approaches in the field and presenting a number of application highlights. Our discussion includes the three most frequently employed approaches to the problem, namely the Kubo, Boltzmann, and Landauer-Buttiker methods. These are show cased in specific examples that span, on the one hand, a wide range of materials, such as bulk metallic alloys, nano-structured metallic and tunnel junctions, or magnetic overlayers on heavy metals, and, on the other hand, a wide range of effects, such as the spin-Seebeck, magneto-Seebeck, and spin-Nernst effects, spin disorder, and the thermal spin-transfer and thermal spin-orbit torques.

Can sport provide a platform for disability awareness as regards both social and biological dimensions? How can sport serve as a tool or means of social inclusion for persons or athletes with disabilities? To address these questions our qualitative study begins with a review of current research on the social dimensions of disability, namely  diverse forms of social exclusion experienced by "those of us with disabilities" (McCall, 2016), such as attitudinal, institutional and environmental barriers, subsequently followed by a case study in Greece. Initially, we discuss today’s shift to inclusion—which advocates a more inclusive and people-first perspective as well as a more empowering language—and distinguish between two concepts/approaches, integration and inclusion, mainly through educational schemes, so as to facilitate the analysis that follows on sport’s role in eliminating social and institutional barriers and promoting inclusion. Inclusive education is a central objective of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and other UN and UNESCO initiatives. In this context researchers have been examining sport and physical education as tools, instruments or means of social inclusion and/or integration. Accordingly, to determine whether—and to what extent—sport participation contributes to the inclusion and integration of people with physical disabilities, interviews were conducted with 20 athletes in Athens: semi-structured interviews with 14 male and 6 female Paralympic and World Champions. The findings confirm that both genders confront many forms of social exclusion (attitudinal, environmental and institutional), however their sport participation plays a significant and positive role in their lives. All 20 acknowledge or report sport gives them a social identity, a sport identity and a meaning in life, in addition to contributing to their social integration/inclusion. Conclusions: The lack of disability awareness, information and knowledge accounts for many of the barriers. Recognizing both the social and biological dimensions of disability is important. The disability community needs visibility, i.e. coverage in mainstream media to cultivate inclusion, promote and reproduce role models and mentors, along with a wider disability awareness campaign, in which sport could play a vital role in changing stereotypes and attitudes, in addition to eliminating the supercrip identity.   Keywords: integration, inclusion, inclusive education, physical disability, supercrip identity, sport identity, social exclusion, empowering language-terminology, mainstream media

INTRODUCTION: A specific clinically relevant staging model for schizophrenia has not yet been developed. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the factor structure of the PANSS and to develop such a staging method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-nine centers from 25 countries contributed 2358 patients aged 37.21±11.87 years with schizophrenia. Analysis of Covariance, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) and inspection of resultant plots were performed. RESULTS: EFA returned five factors explaining 59% of the variance (Positive-Po, Negative-Ne, Excitement/Hostility-EH, Depression/Anxiety-DA and Neurocognition-Ncog). The staging model included four main stages with substages that were predominantly characterized by a single domain of symptoms (stage 1: Po; stage 2a and 2b: EH; stage 3a and 3b: DA; stage 4a and 4b: Ncog). There were no differences between sexes. The DFA developed an algorithm which correctly classified >85% of patients. DISCUSSION: This study elaborates a five-factor solution and a clinical staging method for patients with schizophrenia. It is the largest study to address these issues among patients who are more likely to remain affiliated with mental health services for prolonged periods of time.

STROBE-X is a probe-class mission concept, selected for study by NASA, for X-ray spectral timing of compact objects across the mass scale. It combines huge collecting area, high throughput, broad energy coverage, and excellent spectral and temporal resolution in a single facility, enabling a broad portfolio of high-priority astrophysics.

We present the Spectroscopic Time-Resolving Observatory for Broadband Energy X-rays (STROBE-X), a probe-class mission concept selected for study by NASA. It combines huge collecting area, high throughput, broad energy coverage, and excellent spectral and temporal resolution in a single facility. STROBE-X offers an enormous increase in sensitivity for X-ray spectral timing, extending these techniques to extragalactic targets for the first time. It is also an agile mission capable of rapid response to transient events, making it an essential X-ray partner facility in the era of time-domain, multi-wavelength, and multi-messenger astronomy. Optimized for study of the most extreme conditions found in the Universe, its key science objectives include: (1) Robustly measuring mass and spin and mapping inner accretion flows across the black hole mass spectrum, from compact stars to intermediate-mass objects to active galactic nuclei. (2) Mapping out the full mass-radius relation of neutron stars using an ensemble of nearly two dozen rotation-powered pulsars and accreting neutron stars, and hence measuring the equation of state for ultradense matter over a much wider range of densities than explored by NICER. (3) Identifying and studying X-ray counterparts (in the post-Swift era) for multiwavelength and multi-messenger transients in the dynamic sky through cross-correlation with gravitational wave interferometers, neutrino observatories, and high-cadence time-domain surveys in other electromagnetic bands. (4) Continuously surveying the dynamic X-ray sky with a large duty cycle and high time resolution to characterize the behavior of X-ray sources over an unprecedentedly vast range of time scales. STROBE-X's formidable capabilities will also enable a broad portfolio of additional science.

Cytochrome c oxidase (complex IV, CIV) is known in mammals to exist independently or in association with other respiratory proteins to form supercomplexes (SCs). In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, CIV is found solely in an SC with cytochrome bc(1) (complex III, CIII). Here, we present the cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of S. cerevisiae CIV in a III(2)IV(2) SC at 3.3 A resolution. While overall similarity to mammalian homologs is high, we found notable differences in the supernumerary subunits Cox26 and Cox13; the latter exhibits a unique arrangement that precludes CIV dimerization as seen in bovine. A conformational shift in the matrix domain of Cox5A-involved in allosteric inhibition by ATP-may arise from its association with CIII. The CIII-CIV arrangement highlights a conserved interaction interface of CIII, albeit one occupied by complex I in mammalian respirasomes. We discuss our findings in the context of the potential impact of SC formation on CIV regulation.

This work constitutes a theoretically-informed empirical analysis of the spatial characteristics of the short-term rentals' market and explores their linkage with shifts in the wider housing market within the context of a south-eastern EU metropolis. The same research objective has been pursued for a variety of international paradigms; however, to the best of our knowledge, there has not been a thorough and systematic study for Athens and its neighborhoods. With a theoretical framework that draws insight from the political-economic views of Critical Geography, this work departs from an assessment of Airbnb listings, and proceeds inquiring the expansion of the phenomenon with respect to the rates of long-term rent levels in the neighborhoods of Central Athens, utilizing relevant data. The geographical framework covers the City of Athens as a whole, an area undergoing profound transformations in recent years, stemming from diverse factors that render the city one of the most dynamic destinations of urban tourism and speculative land investment. The analysis reveals a prominent expansion of the short-term rental phenomenon across the urban fabric, especially taking ground in hitherto underexploited areas. This expansion is multifactorial, asynchronous and exhibits signs of positive relation with the long-term rentals shifts; Airbnb not only affects already gentrifying neighborhoods, but contributes to a housing market disruption in non-dynamic residential areas.

We present an exceptionally deep catalog of supernovae, transients and high-amplitude variables included in the Hubble Catalog of Variables (HCV). The HCV contains all variable objects detected through a robust variability search of the light curves of all sources included in the Hubble Source Catalog version 3 (Whitmore et al. 2016). Taking this work one step further, we queried the HCV to detect all variable sources with an amplitude of variability > 1 mag, in more than one filter of observations. We cross-matched the sources with catalogs in CDS to check whether the highamplitude variable sources were previously reported. We proceeded to classify the newly identified high-amplitude variables based on their magnitude, light curve shape and position on the color magnitude diagram. The high-precision astrometry extracted from the HSC for all sources combined with the deep HST observations makes our catalog a powerful tool for further research on the environments and properties of high-amplitude variables observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. This work was supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) under the "Hubble Catalog of Variables" program, contract No. 4000112940.

The identification of the earthquake environmental effects by using various methods has become significant in recent years due to the fact that among others it serves as a valuable tool for revealing and highlighting sites of significant earthquake-related hazards. In the frame of the project entitled "Tilemachos - Innovative Operational Seismic Risk Management System of the Ionian Islands" included in the Priority Axis "Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development" of the Operational Programme “Ionian Islands 2014-2020”, the landslide, liquefaction and tsunami hazards in the Ionian Islands are analyzed and assessed by combining different methods. Landslide, liquefaction and tsunami inventories for all Ionian Islands were initially created. Along with the inventories, different thematic maps were used and combined in order to test the earthquake-induced landslide and liquefaction susceptibility and the tsunami hazard of the Ionian Islands. The main result is the identification of sites of significant earthquake-related hazards in the Ionian Islands. This study and its results could constitute a basic guide for the future urban design and planning and the sustainable local development since all scientists and agencies competent to the prevention and management of natural disasters can be informed and guided.

The reaction between 1-aminosugars and trimethylisocyanate (TMSNCO) was optimised as a one-step synthetic strategy for the synthesis of sugar biurets. This protocol was successfully applied to a number of 1-aminosugars, which exclusively provided the corresponding biurets in 67–99% yields. The new method- ology was applied in the de novo synthesis of N1-(2-deoxy-α/β-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl)biuret (dfBU) and N1-(2-deoxy-α/β-D-erythro-pentopyranosyl)biuret (dpBU), two known DNA lesions arising from the hydroxyl radical induced decomposition of 2’-deoxycytidine (dCyd).

The current paper aims to offer an analytical description of the legacy and the challenges that modern theory is inclined to face vis–à–vis systemic geopolitical approach and neo–positivism.3 Having different intellectual bases (i.e. geography and political science), systemic geopolitical analysis and structural realism follow parallel routes and struggle to manage common challenges in the light of the upmost epistemological aim; describing and analysing the international system without blinkers and any kind of ideological bias. What is the crux of the matter when analysing international politics? Has geography answered to the questions posed by political science considering the inclusion of human behaviour into the analysis of international system? Without any doubt, systemic geopolitical analysis and structural realism represent complementary theoretical proposals for decoding the causes and the effects of antagonism, balance of power, hegemonism, Great Powers‟ strategic behaviour, interdependence, the role of international institutions and cooperation. Therefore, they can co–exist for the sake of description and even prediction of certain trends of behaviour and correlation of power.

We report on judiciously designed stratified periodic structures of magnetic dielectric materials with a localized defect layer, which are able to concurrently confine light and spin waves in the same ultra-small defect region for a long time period, thus resulting in enhanced photon–magnon interaction and large dynamic optical frequency shift. Our results for a specific realization of such a one-dimensional, so-called photomagnonic, crystal magnetized at saturation perpendicular to the interfaces, obtained by means of rigorous calculations using scattering-matrix techniques, show that the inherently weak coupling between visible/near-infrared light and GHz-frequency spin waves can be greatly increased leading to strong modulation of the optical field through multi-magnon exchange mechanisms. Such novel multifunctional composite materials offer a promising platform for tailoring light–spin-wave coupling in view of fast and energy-efficient spin-optical information processing applications.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Fuchs' endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) is a hereditary, progressive, bilateral, and irreversible disorder of the corneal endothelium. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel, accurate and high-throughput real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and melting-curve analysis in order to genotype the rs613872 polymorphism in the transcription factor 4 (TCF4) gene and to implement it on a well-ascertained sample of 22 Greek FECD patients and 58 healthy individuals, age- and sex-matched. PATIENTS AND METHODS: DNA was extracted from blood samples, which were screened with the DNA sequencing method in order to detect the g.31753T>G/p.L450W (rs8035192) and g.31767C>A/p.Q455K (rs8035191) mutations in a COL8A2 genomic region. RESULTS: TCF4 risk G allele frequency increased to 48% in FECD patients compared to 17% in healthy-subjects [OR=4.82 (95% CI=1.98-11.73)]. No p.L450W and p.Q455K COL8A2 gene mutations were detected. CONCLUSION: We confirmed that rs613872 in the TCF4 gene is strongly and statistically associated with late-onset FECD in a Greek population

Information and Communication Technologies can have a positive impact on the learning environment by providing Physical Education teachers with a tool-kit for a complementary, alternative form of teaching knowledge objects in the Physical Education area. In volleyball teaching the system 5: 1 (5 hitters-1 setter) is difficult due to the complexity of the rotation rules. An interdisciplinary micro scenario, which includes monitoring of a multimedia application, practicing the team’s rotations by completing a relevant spreadsheet, applying a training protocol with evaluation of volleyball skills accompanied by quantification and visualization of positive, negative or neutral probability in a rally helps students both understand both the 5: 1 volleyball system and elements of Statistics.

The Cycladic Basement (CB) and the overlying Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU) are part of the Paleogene Cycladic subduction complex exposed in Miocene metamorphic core complexes in the distended back-arc of the retreating Hellenic subduction zone of the southern Aegean. While the Cenozoic tectono-metamorphic evolutions of the CB and the CBU have been the foci of numerous studies, this study presents new laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry bedrock and detrital zircon (DZ) U-Pb ages that place robust constraints on the presubduction tectonic, magmatic, and paleogeographic evolution of the CB. Zircon U-Pb ages of crystalline CB are $\sim$306-330 Ma, demonstrating local plutonism associated with regional voluminous, protracted Carboniferous magmatism related to Paleo-Tethys subduction. The plutons intruded the CB metasedimentary host-rock sequence, characterized by distinct Gondwanan DZ U-Pb provenance, Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic maximum depositional ages, and synmagmatic, contact metamorphic zircon rims ($\sim$300-330 Ma). DZ U-Pb dating revealed postmagmatic Permian metasedimentary rocks ($\sim$270-295 Ma) that unconformably overlie the CB and have unimodal DZ spectra that indicate exhumation of the CB prior to Permian deposition within extensional basins, as well as mark the onset of CBU deposition prior to formation of the Pindos rift domain. These U-Pb results clarify the late Paleozoic-early Mesozoic evolution of the CB as a peri-Gondwanan terrane composed of Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks, intruded by voluminous Carboniferous arc magmatism, and exhumed in the Permian, prior to Triassic rifting and CBU deposition. Additionally, these data provide a chronostratigraphic framework and illuminate subduction-related juxtaposition within the CB metasedimentary sequence.

©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. The Cycladic Basement (CB) and the overlying Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU) are part of the Paleogene Cycladic subduction complex exposed in Miocene metamorphic core complexes in the distended back-arc of the retreating Hellenic subduction zone of the southern Aegean. While the Cenozoic tectono-metamorphic evolutions of the CB and the CBU have been the foci of numerous studies, this study presents new laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry bedrock and detrital zircon (DZ) U-Pb ages that place robust constraints on the presubduction tectonic, magmatic, and paleogeographic evolution of the CB. Zircon U-Pb ages of crystalline CB are $\sim$306-330 Ma, demonstrating local plutonism associated with regional voluminous, protracted Carboniferous magmatism related to Paleo-Tethys subduction. The plutons intruded the CB metasedimentary host-rock sequence, characterized by distinct Gondwanan DZ U-Pb provenance, Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic maximum depositional ages, and synmagmatic, contact metamorphic zircon rims ($\sim$300-330 Ma). DZ U-Pb dating revealed postmagmatic Permian metasedimentary rocks ($\sim$270-295 Ma) that unconformably overlie the CB and have unimodal DZ spectra that indicate exhumation of the CB prior to Permian deposition within extensional basins, as well as mark the onset of CBU deposition prior to formation of the Pindos rift domain. These U-Pb results clarify the late Paleozoic-early Mesozoic evolution of the CB as a peri-Gondwanan terrane composed of Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks, intruded by voluminous Carboniferous arc magmatism, and exhumed in the Permian, prior to Triassic rifting and CBU deposition. Additionally, these data provide a chronostratigraphic framework and illuminate subduction-related juxtaposition within the CB metasedimentary sequence.

It is well known that terrestrial environments host an immense microbial biodiversity. Exposed to different types of stress, such as UV radiation, temperature fluctuations, water availability and the inter- / intra-specific competition for resources, terrestrial microorganisms have been evolved to produce a large spectrum of bioactive molecules. Bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi and algae have shown a high potential of producing biomolecules for pharmaceutical or other industrial purposes as they combine a sustainable, relatively low-cost and fast-production process. Herein, we provide an overview of the different bioactive molecules produced by terrestrial microorganisms with skin protecting applications. The high content in polyphenolic and carotenoid compounds produced by several strains, as well as the presence of exopolysaccharides, melanins, indole and pyrrole derivatives, mycosporines, carboxylic acids and other molecules, are discussed in the context of their antioxidant, photo-protective and skin-whitening activity. Relevant biotechnological tools developed for the enhanced production of high added value natural products, as well as the protecting effect of some antioxidant, hydrolytic and degrading enzymes are also discussed. Furthermore, we describe classes of microbial compounds that are used or have the potential to be used as antimicrobials, moisturizers, biosurfactants, pigments, flavorings and fragrances.

BACKGROUND: Th17 cytokines are associated with modulation of inflammation and may be beneficial in clearing influenza infection in experimental models. The Th17 cytokine profile was evaluated in a pilot study of respiratory virus infections. METHODS: Consecutive patients with symptoms of respiratory tract infection visiting the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital during the winter influenza season of 2014 to 2015 were evaluated. CLART PneumoVir kit, (GENOMICA, Madrid, Spain) was used for viral detection of all known respiratory viruses. Th17 cytokine profile was evaluated with the MILLIPLEX MAP Human TH17 Magnetic Bead Panel (Millipore Corp., Billerica, MA). Correlation of the TH17 profile with viral detection was performed with univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Seventy-six patients were evaluated (median age 56 years, 51.3% female); a respiratory virus was identified in 60 (78.9%) patients; 45% had confirmed influenza. Influenza A (H3N2) correlated with higher levels of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta), IL-17A, IL-17E, IL-17F, IL-21, IL-22, and IL-23 (P < 0.05 by analysis of variance [ANOVA]) compared with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Parainfluenza virus (PIV) similarly had higher levels of GM-CSF, IL-1b, IL-17A, IL-22 compared with those detected in RSV, influenza B and any other virus infection ( P < 0.05; ANOVA). Increasing age (beta-coefficient = 1.11, 95% CI, 1.04-1.2, P < 0.01) as well as IL-17A levels (beta-coefficient = 1.03, 95% CI, 1.001-1.05, P = 0.04) predicted hospital admission. CONCLUSION: Main Th17 cell effector cytokines were upregulated in laboratory-confirmed A(H3N2) influenza and PIV. Excessive amounts of Th17 cytokines may be implicated in the pathogenesis and immune control of acute influenza and PIV infection in humans and may predict the severity of disease

Forensic anthropologists are frequently faced with the challenge of individualizing and sorting commingled remains in a variety of scenarios. A number of protocols have been proposed to standardize the methodological approach to individuating commingled remains, some of which are focused on pair-matching. A recent study by Karell et al. (2016) proposed a virtual method for pair-matching humeri using a semi-automatic procedure that gave encouraging results. With regards to the phalanges, there are only a handful of studies focusing on identifying and siding phalanges, as well as exploring their directional and functional asymmetry. Yet, they are still as important as every other bone when sorting commingled human remains in various situations, such as archaeological common burials and mass graves, commingled decomposed remains resulting from atrocities, accidents or natural disasters. This study investigates a new method for pair-matching, a common individualization technique, using digital three-dimensional models of bone: mesh-to-mesh value comparison (MVC) as proposed by Karell et al. (2016). The MVC method digitally compares the entire three-dimensional geometry of two bones using an iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm to produce a single value as a proxy for their similarity. The method is automated with the use of Viewbox software 4.1 beta for a simultaneous comparison of all possible pairs. For this study, 515 phalanges from 24 individuals of mixed ancestry were digitized using CT scans and the 3D modeling program AMIRA 5.3.3. The models were also hollowed (internal information of compact and trabecular bone removed) to test the method with simulated surface scan models. The subsequent data-over 73,000 comparisons-were assessed using sensitivity and specificity rates via ROC analysis to indicate how well the automated version of MVC pair-matched phalanges. The best bone in terms of pair-matching was the proximal phalanx of Digit 3 with 87.5% sensitivity and 92.4% specificity rates at a threshold value of 0.488 for the unhollowed bones. The specificity drops slightly (91.1%) when the hollowed models are compared. To compare the performance of the method in all phalanges, the specificity was set to 95%-allowing for a 5% acceptable error-and the adjusted sensitivity was compared. The highest sensitivity, namely 68.8%, was noted for Digit 2 proximal phalanx for both unhollowed and hollowed models. Thus far, our preliminary results indicate that the MVC method performs well when pair-matching phalanges, though it is less accurate than pair-matching other types of bones. The introduction of 95% specificity threshold allows for rejecting pairs in great confidence, which could, for instance, significantly reduce the number of DNA comparisons required for the remaining possible matches. In addition, the similar results obtained from hollowed and unhollowed models indicate that the internal information included in the unhollowed models adds little to the identification of true pairs. This means that if a CT scan is not available, the method could be applied to surface models produced by light and laser scanners as well. While additional work needs to be done to verify these preliminary results, this research has the potential to expand the repertoire of individualization methods.

Which are the modern roots of the theories of Systemic Geopolitical Analysis and Structural Realism? Which are the epistemological and methodological bases that a conflict is profound? Being descriptive theories, both Systemic Geopolitical Analysis and Structural Realism have been constructed on the basis of axial hypotheses tested through historical practical case studies. They represent complementary approaches, based on the common Thucydidean legacy of description and analysis emphasizing ontology. In the modern framework of scientific debate, there are also common roots, while the commonalities are more between them in comparison with other theoretical approaches even included in the same scientific field. Under this lens, the current paper endeavors to decode all those reasons making the two theoretical approaches two – even not identical – twins of Thucydides.

This review is devoted to tight-binding (TB) modeling of nucleic acid sequences like DNA and RNA. It addresses how various types of order (periodic, quasiperiodic, fractal) or disorder (diagonal, non-diagonal, random, methylation et cetera) affect charge transport. We include an introduction to TB and a discussion of its various submodels [wire, ladder, extended ladder, fishbone (wire), fishbone ladder] and of the process of renormalization. We proceed to a discussion of aperiodicity, quasicrystals and the mathematics of aperiodic substitutional sequences: primitive substitutions, Perron–Frobenius eigenvalue, induced substitutions, and Pisot property. We discuss the energy structure of nucleic acid wires, the coupling to the leads, the transmission coefficients and the current–voltage curves. We also summarize efforts aiming to examine the potentiality to utilize the charge transport characteristics of nucleic acids as a tool to probe several diseases or disorders.

In October 2018, Swift announced the discovery of a new Galactic X-ray transient, Swift J1858. Just before Sun-angle constraints rendered the system unobservable, follow-up observations revealed extreme flaring activity, of a kind that has so far only been seen in the famous black hole X-ray binary (BHXRB) V404 Cyg during its 2015 eruption and in V4641 Sgr. The peculiar behaviour of these sources is thought to be a consequence of super-Eddington accretion regime. After several months of unusual strong and rapid flaring in its high-luminosity state, Swift J1858 is currently exhibiting impressive optical P-Cygni profiles, suggesting the pres- ence of a dense and cool wind from the outer accretion disk. The dominant spectroscopic signatures of such winds are actually expected to lie in the far-ultraviolet region, but they are usually inaccessible in black-hole X-ray binaries, due to interstellar reddening. Given its low extinction, Swift J1858 provides us with a rare chance to study the accretion disk wind in the crucial ultraviolet band - an opportunity that was missed in the other two systems. Building on an ongoing multi-wavelength campaign (X-rays: NICER; optical: GTC; radio: VLA & AMI), we therefore request far- and near-UV time-resolved spectroscopic observations of this system with HST/STIS+COS in order to (a) study its extreme accretion disk wind; (b) test proposed wind driving mechanisms; (c) characterize its UV variability properties and determine the origin of these variations; (d) construct the broad-band SED of the outer accretion disk that dominates the UV flux; and (e) determine the extinction towards the system in order to constrain the mass accretion rate.

Photonic crystal-assisted semiconductor photocatalysis has been attracting significant attention as an advanced photon management approach that combines light harvesting with the macro/mesoporous structured materials properties permitting enhanced mass transport and high adsorption. In this work, surface functionalization of well-ordered photonic band gap engineered TiO2 inverse opal films fabricated by the convective evaporation-induced co-assembly method was performed by graphene oxide nanocolloids (nanoGO). The loading of GO nanosheets was determined by the films’ macropore size, with minimal effects on their long range periodicity and photonic properties. While nanoGO deposition reduced mesoporosity of the nanocrystalline titania walls, their surface functionality was greatly improved by the abundant oxygen groups of the GO nanosheets leading to increased pollutant adsorption. Slow photon amplification in the aqueous phase methylene blue photodegradation was identified for the unmodified TiO2 photonic films under both UV–vis and Vis illumination upon spectral overlap of the low energy edge of the inverse opal stop band (in water) with the dye electronic absorption, due to (red) slow photons localized in the titania skeleton that distinctly accelerated dye photodegradation kinetics. The photocatalytic efficiency was further improved for the nanoGO functionalized TiO2 inverse opal films via the synergetic action of interfacial electron transfer from TiO2 to the GO nanosheets. Under UV–vis light, the functionalized photonic films outperformed benchmark mesoporous Aeroxide® P25 TiO2 films where nanoGO modification, despite the enhanced dye adsorption, resulted in adverse effects in photocatalytic degradation due to pore clogging. Combination of the exceptional structural and photonic properties of TiO2 inverse opals with the high adsorption capacity and charge separation afforded by GO nanocolloids is proposed as a promising modification route for the development of efficient photocatalytic films. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Photonic crystal-assisted semiconductor photocatalysis has been attracting significant attention as an advanced photon management approach that combines light harvesting with the macro/mesoporous structured materials properties permitting enhanced mass transport and high adsorption. In this work, surface functionalization of well-ordered photonic band gap engineered TiO2 inverse opal films fabricated by the convective evaporation-induced co-assembly method was performed by graphene oxide nanocolloids (nanoGO). The loading of GO nanosheets was determined by the films’ macropore size, with minimal effects on their long range periodicity and photonic properties. While nanoGO deposition reduced mesoporosity of the nanocrystalline titania walls, their surface functionality was greatly improved by the abundant oxygen groups of the GO nanosheets leading to increased pollutant adsorption. Slow photon amplification in the aqueous phase methylene blue photodegradation was identified for the unmodified TiO2 photonic films under both UV–vis and Vis illumination upon spectral overlap of the low energy edge of the inverse opal stop band (in water) with the dye electronic absorption, due to (red) slow photons localized in the titania skeleton that distinctly accelerated dye photodegradation kinetics. The photocatalytic efficiency was further improved for the nanoGO functionalized TiO2 inverse opal films via the synergetic action of interfacial electron transfer from TiO2 to the GO nanosheets. Under UV–vis light, the functionalized photonic films outperformed benchmark mesoporous Aeroxide® P25 TiO2 films where nanoGO modification, despite the enhanced dye adsorption, resulted in adverse effects in photocatalytic degradation due to pore clogging. Combination of the exceptional structural and photonic properties of TiO2 inverse opals with the high adsorption capacity and charge separation afforded by GO nanocolloids is proposed as a promising modification route for the development of efficient photocatalytic films. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Despite recent biomedical improvements in treating Multiple Myeloma (MM), the disease still remains incurable. Toll like receptors (TLRs) provide a link between innate and adaptive immune responses and hence potentially correlate inflammation to cancer. Although the regulatory role of TLRs in MM has been under investigation the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study we assayed the function of TLR4 in MM cell lines and in MM patients' samples. We found that lipopolysaccharide-mediated TLR4 activation increased MM cells proliferation and decreased endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, we observed that either the endogenous CHOP expression or the ER stress-mediated CHOP induction, were suppressed by TLR4 activation or its overexpression in MM cell lines; TLR4 induction also suppressed ER stress-induced apoptotic signals. In support, TLR4 gene expression silencing in MM cell lines significantly decreased cell proliferation and promoted CHOP and ATF4 upregulation. TLR4 activation was also able to partially abrogate the effect of bortezomib in MM cell lines by suppressing PERK, ATF4 and phospho-eIF2A. We suggest that TLR4-mediated disruption of ER stress responses contributes to MM cells proliferation and suppresses ER-dependent death signals.

This chapter reports on the work of Working Group 4 and focuses on the integration of digital resources into mathematics teaching and learning practices.There are five central sections, focusing on, instrumental genesis, instrumental orchestration, the documentational approach to didactics, digital resources andteacher education, and the design of learning environments with the use of digital resources. A range of constructs and theoretical approaches are covered in these five sections, and the opening section comments on construct validity and issues in “networking” theoretical frameworks. The chapter can be viewed as a literature review which surveys past and present (at the time of writing) scholarship with an eye to possible future research. The chapter is extensive in several dimensions: a large range of digital resources and applications are considered; the subjects using digital resources are not just teachers but also students, student teachers and student teacher educators. Issues raised in the sections include individual and collective use of resources, the adaptation of these resources for specific learning goals and to prepare (pre- and in-service) teachers for the use of digital resources.

Troilus and Cressida: A Critical Reader offers an accessible and thought-provoking guide to this complex problem play, surveying its key themes and evolving critical preoccupations. Considering its generic ambiguity and experimentalism, it also provides a uniquely detailed and up-to-date history of the play's stage performance from Dryden's rewriting up to Mark Ravenhill and Elizabeth LeCompte's controversial 2012 production for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Wooster Group.Moving through to four new critical essays, the guide opens up fresh perspectives on the play's iconoclastic nature and its key themes, ranging from issues of gender and sexuality to Elizabethan politics, from the uses of antiquity to questions of cultural translation, with particular attention paid on Troilus' “Greekness”.

The west coast of Naxos Isl. was hit in 1956 by the Amorgos tsunami. This study aims to: a) determine the impact of a potential tsunami similar to the one that occured in 1956, based on the island's contemporary residential and tourist development, and b) explore whether the natural geomorphs (sand dunes) in the 3 study areas (Glyfada, Agios Prokopios, Chora of Naxos) can reduce the tsunami risk. Risk assessment was based on processing field data (differential GPS) and satellite images with GIS software. Furthermore, the dunes potential risk reduction has been evaluated. Results show that taller sand dunes and vegetation provides better tsunami protection to the coast of Glyfada, than the one of Agios Prokopios. Uncontrolled tourism development without any sand dunes protection measures underline their development and, consequently, increases the tsunami risk.