Mindful eating and eating behaviours in Greece: exploring the validity and reliability of two mindful eating scales and other eating behaviours for Greek-speaking populations

Background Mindful eating has seen an increase in clinical and non-clinical practices of changing health outcomes. Meanwhile, the restriction of not having validated scales in other languages proposes a barrier to exploring the impact of mindful eating cross-culturally, and specific to the present project, across Greek-speaking populations, limiting the potential of exploring the association with Mediterranean dieting. Methods In the present research, volunteers (n = 706) completed online the Mindful Eating Behaviour Scale and the Mindful Eating Scale. A forward–backwards translation, leading to face validity, and was assessed for internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha) and followed up by an assessment of the factorial structure of the scales. Divergent and convergent validity was explored using motivations to eat palatable foods, grazing, craving, Dusseldorf orthorexia, Salzburg emotional eating, and the Salzburg stress eating scales. Results Results indicated that both scales displayed good internal consistency, and the assessment of the factorial structure of the scales was equally good and semi-consistent with the English versions, with parallel analyses and item loadings proposing problems that have been shown in critical review literature. Associations of mindful eating scales to other eating behaviours were replicated to previously established findings with English-speaking populations. Conclusions Findings that deviated from the expected outcomes are central to the discussion on the measurement of mindful eating, and further direction highlights the way forward for researchers and clinicians

A Case of Infectious Laryngotracheitis in an Organic Broiler Chicken Farm in Greece

Infectious laryngotracheitis is an economically significant viral disease of chickens, that mainly affects the upper respiratory tract, and is present worldwide. This case reports the first outbreak of infectious laryngotracheitis in a four-week-old organic broiler farm and surrounding flocks in Greece, with typical clinical symptoms and lesions, allegedly provoked by a wild strain of infectious laryngotracheitis virus. Our findings contradict the general perception indicating that the disease appears mainly in older birds and that vaccine strains are the primary cause of infectious laryngotracheitis outbreaks in most continents. A recombinant vectored vaccine was administered, supplementary to biosecurity measures, containing the viral spread. The responsible strain was potentially circulating in the area; therefore, an industry-wide holistic approach was applied, including the vaccination of neighboring broilers and breeders with the same vaccine, the rapid molecular diagnosis of the disease, and strict biosecurity protocols. The results of this holistic effort were effective because, following the application of vaccine and management protocols, manifestations of the disease in regional flocks dropped significantly, and there was no recurrence to date. These findings suggest that vaccination protocols should be modified, especially for organic broilers, to include vaccination against infectious laryngotracheitis

Avian Mycobacteriosis and Molecular Identification of <em>Mycobacterium avium</em> Subsp. <em>avium</em> in Racing Pigeons (<em>Columba livia domestica</em>) in Greece

In this report, cases of avian mycobacteriosis in two lofts of racing pigeons are described. Three racing pigeons of 2-year old from the first loft (A) and four racing pigeons of 4–5 years old from the second loft (B) were submitted to the Unit of Avian Medicine for clinical examination and necropsy. In the case history chronic and debilitating disease was reported. The clinical signs included emaciation, depression, lameness, periorbital swelling and diarrhea, although the appetite was normal. Post mortem lesions involved an enlarged spleen with multiple different sized yellow nodules. Similar lesions were also observed in the liver, conjunctiva of the inferior eyelids and in the femoral bone marrow. The suspicion of avian mycobacteriosis was based on history, clinical signs and typical lesions. In order to confirm the diagnosis, histopathology was performed on tissue sections and revealed the presence of multiple granulomas with central necrosis. In addition, Ziehl-Neelsen positive bacilli were observed in histological sections and smears from the granulomas of the affected tissues. Molecular analysis identified the causative agent as Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium. This is the first case report of avian mycobacteriosis in Greece, which describes the presence of granulomatous conjunctivitis and the molecular identification of M. avium subsp. avium as the causative agent in racing pigeons

Effects of Weather Parameters on Endurance Running Performance:Discipline-specific Analysis of 1258 Races

INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated how single or combinations of weather parameters (temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar load) affect peak performance during endurance running events and identified which events are most vulnerable to varying weather conditions. METHODS: Results for the marathon, 50-km racewalking, 20-km racewalking, and 10,000-, 5000-, and 3000-m steeplechase were obtained from the official Web sites of large competitions. We identified meteorological data from nearby (8.9 ± 9.3 km) weather stations for 1258 races held between 1936 and 2019 across 42 countries, enabling analysis of 7867 athletes. RESULTS: The wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) across races ranged from −7°C to 33°C, with 27% of races taking place in cold/cool, 47% in neutral, 18% in moderate heat, 7% in high heat, and 1% in extreme heat conditions, according to the World Athletics classification. Machine learning decision trees (R(2) = 0.21–0.58) showed that air temperature (importance score = 40%) was the most important weather parameter. However, when used alone, air temperature had lower predictive power (R(2) = 0.04–0.34) than WBGT (R(2) = 0.11–0.47). Conditions of 7.5°C–15°C WBGT (or 10°C–17.5°C air temperature) increased the likelihood for peak performance. For every degree WBGT outside these optimum conditions, performance declined by 0.3%–0.4%. CONCLUSION: More than one-quarter of endurance running events were held in moderate, high, or extreme heat, and this number reached one-half when marathons were excluded. All four weather parameters should be evaluated when aiming to mitigate the health and performance implications of exercising at high intensities in a hot environment with athletes adopting heat mitigation strategies when possible

Nutraceutical Supplementation Based on Colostrum as Osteoporosis Treatment: A Pilot Study

Introduction: Naturally based treatments for osteoporosis are currently limited. The purpose of this investigation was to ascertain whether bovine colostrum supplementation can improve bone health in humans. Methods: In total 63 individuals volunteered in a 4-month supplementation project. They were stratified into three groups: 1) healthy post-menopausal women (n = 24); 2) individuals with osteopenia (n = 25); 3) people with osteoporosis (n = 14). Participants of each group were randomly assigned into two experimental sub-groups: a) the bovine colostrum (BC) supplementation (200 mL/day; 5 days/week); b) the placebo sub-group. Before and after the 4-month supplementation, blood samples were obtained and bone mineral density (BMD) was measured. Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) was performed on three different anatomical sites: lumbar spine (LS), left femur neck (FN), and left forearm (Arm). Bone health markers (bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), osteocalcin, C-terminal telopeptide (CTX-I), deoxypyridinoline (DPD)) as well as immunological markers (interleukin 6 (IL6) and immunoglobulin E (IgE)), were assessed in blood serum with enzyme immunoassays, at baseline and 4-months after BC supplementation. Results: No significant changes were found in bone densitometry factors (p > 0.05), for all studied blood parameters and their calculated effect sizes. Conclusions: It is concluded that, as studied herein, BC does not seem to affect human bone health. This pilot study though warrant the need for further research into the efficacy of BC in patients with osteoporosis