Managing stakeholders: A case study in Athens, Greece

Greek Construction Industry and Market have changed dramatically during the last decades, due to the general development of the country people need modern, safe and functional houses to cover their new needs. However, a new construction project may affect people directly or indirectly, positively or negatively that is why they either support or oppose the implementation of it. They represent the project stakeholders and their attitude is important to its completion. They need to be identified early and managed carefully, because they have a key role to the success or failure of the project. Stakeholder Management becomes a crucial issue to the whole construction process. Stakeholder Analysis represents the main procedure and a variety of different management approaches offers the project manager the opportunity to choose the best one. The report presents as a case study a live and ongoing project in the area of Athens, Greece, as well. Its external stakeholders, that is, the local residents-neighbours, of that new construction project opposed it and reacted severely. The developing company, 'B&I Constructions Ltd', faced and managed this problem. The researcher through the edition of a questionnaire, according to relevant theory, and the interview process, gathered the necessary data. Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analyses provided useful and important conclusions and recommendations were made on this important topic

Simulation for communication skills training in medical students: Protocol for a systematic scoping review

Empirical research has produced inconclusive, and occasionally contradictory, evidence relating to the extent to which improvements in medical communication skills taught through simulation can be measured. This is further limited by the wide range of designs and outcome collection methods that studies employ and does not allow for data comparability or meta-analysis. The proposed scoping review aims to systematically map and comprehensively explore the extent, range and nature of research activity on the use of simulation for communication skills training in medical education. Comprehensive literature searches in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus and Web of Science will be performed and data will be reported using quantitative (simple numeric counts) and qualitative (thematic synthesis) analyses

Cardiac Imaging and Management of Cardiac Disease in Asymptomatic Renal Transplant Candidates: A Current Update.

Given the high cardiovascular risk accompanying end-stage kidney disease, it would be of paramount importance for the clinical nephrologist to know which screening method(s) identify high-risk patients and whether screening asymptomatic transplant candidates effectively reduces cardiovascular risk in the perioperative setting as well as in the longer term. Within this review, key studies concerning the above questions are reported and critically analyzed. The lack of unified screening criteria and of a prognostically sufficient screening cardiovascular effect for renal transplant candidates sets the foundation for a personalized patient approach in the near future and highlights the need for well-designed studies to produce robust evidence which will address the above questions

The role of patient-oriented mHealth interventions in improving heart failure outcomes: A systematic review of the literature.

Heart failure (HF) is a debilitating disease with 26 million patients worldwide. Consistent and complex self-care is required on the part of patients to adequately adhere to medication and to the lifestyle changes that the disease necessitates. Mobile health (mHealth) is being increasingly incorporated in patient interventions in HF, as smartphones prove to be ideal platforms for patient education and self-help assistance. This systematic review aims to summarize and report on all studies that have tested the effect of mHealth on HF patient outcomes. Our search yielded 17 studies, namely 11 randomized controlled trials and six non-randomized prospective studies. In these, patients with the assistance of an mHealth intervention regularly measured their blood pressure and/or body weight and assessed their symptoms. The outcomes were mostly related to hospitalizations, clinical biomarkers, patients' knowledge about HF, quality of life (QoL) and quality of self-care. QoL consistently increased in patients who received mHealth interventions, while study results on all other outcomes were not as ubiquitously positive. The first mHealth interventions in HF were not universally successful in improving patient outcomes but provided valuable insights for patient-oriented application development. Future trials are expected to build on these insights and deploy applications that measurably assist HF patients

Postprandial lower limb pain: An unusual presentation of visceral arteries occlusion

This case report describes an atypical and unique presentation of mesenteric arteries occlusive disease. The patient presented with typical symptoms of chronic mesenteric ischemia, as well as with an atypical new symptom; postprandial buttock and lower limbs pain. Pain followed the time curve of the postprandial abdominal discomfort, starting 30 min after meals and gradually resolving within 2 h. The patient had been tolerating the signs of chronic mesenteric ischemia quite well by adjusting the quantity of food per meal to relieve symptoms. Angiography showed that the celiac artery, the superior mesenteric artery, and distal aorta were occluded, leaving the inferior mesenteric artery as the only feeding vessel of all abdominal viscera and both the lower limbs. Since an English medical literature search returned only one marginally similar case, we consider this case of iliac arteries’ “steal syndrome” from the inferior mesenteric artery unique. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.na

A Case of SARS-CoV-2 Clinical Relapse after 4 Negative RT-PCR Tests in Greece: Recurrence or Reinfection?

SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is the greatest public health concern of the year 2020. There are several worldwide reports of patients who have managed to recover from SARS-CoV-2 infection with negative PCR test results, that for unknown reasons convert back to positive PCR. We report a case of a patient in our hospital who developed positive PCR test results for SARS-CoV-2, after 4 consecutive results that were negative, along with a full-blown clinical syndrome of SARS-CoV-2 infection. © The Author(s) 2021

Physical Modeling of the Ancient Greek Wind Musical Instrument Aulos: A Double-Reed Exciter Linked to an Acoustic Resonator

We present a simulation method for the auralization of the ancient Greek double-reed wind instrument Aulos. The implementation is based on Digital Signal Processing and physical modeling techniques for the instrument's two parts: the excitation mechanism and the acoustic resonator with toneholes. Single-reeded instruments are in-depth studied firstly because their excitation mechanism is the one used in a great amount of modern wind-reed instruments and secondly because the physics governing the phenomena is less complicated than the double-reeded instruments. We here provide a detailed model of a system comprised of a double-reed linked to an acoustic resonator with toneholes to sonify Aulos. We validate our results by comparing our method's synthesized signal with recordings from a replica of Aulos of Poseidonia built in our lab. The comparison showed that the fundamental frequencies and the first three odd harmonics of the signals differ 6, 5, 3, and 2 cents on average, respectively, which is below the Just Noticeable Difference threshold. © 2013 IEEE

Safety and efficacy of synchronous panniculectomy and endometrial cancer surgery in obese patients: A systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis of postoperative complications

Panniculectomy combined with gynaecological surgery constitutes an alternative approach for endometrial cancer (EC) in obese patients. The present study aimed to assess the current knowledge concerning the safety and efficacy of combining panniculectomy in surgical management of EC. Four electronic databases were systematically searched for articles published up to May 2019. A total of five studies, of which two were noncomparative and three comparative, were included. Meta-analysis of complications among panniculectomy and conventional laparotomy group revealed no difference in either intra-or post-operative complication rates. Moreover, no difference was reported in surgical site complications (p=0.59), while wound breakdown rates were significantly elevated in the laparotomy group (p=0.02). Panniculectomy combined surgery for the management of EC appears to be a safe procedure and results in comparable outcomes compared with conventional laparotomy with regard to complications and improved wound breakdown rates. (J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc 2020; 21: 279-86). © 2020 by the Turkish-German Gynecological Education and Research Foundation