Οι διαγλωσσικές επιδράσεις και η αξιοποίησή τους κατά τη διδασκαλία των Ελληνικών σε αγγλόφωνους: Πρόταση για ένα διαδικτυακό λεξικό

Please note: this article is in Greek. Interlingual influences and their exploitation in the teaching of Modern Greek to English speakers: Proposal for an online dictionary: English and Greek share a large number of common words with significant similarities both in the written form and in pronunciation. This paper begins with proposing a complete terminology, which covers the various categories of those words. It continues reviewing the related literature, which suggests that the similarities can be particularly helpful in the teaching of Modern Greek to English speakers. Since course books available today do not exploit this benefit systematically and considering the teachers’ difficulties in sourcing the common words, we propose an online dictionary. The dictionary includes words that demonstrate a strong degree of similarity. Entries are selected with students from 5 to 18 years of age in mind, are divided into thematic categories and graded levels of difficulty. The option of finding entries using a variety of criteria is also provided

Phenotypic evolution as a response to thermal ecology in the ferocious waterbug Abedus herberti (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae)

Over 150 years ago, C. Bergmann observed a within-species pattern of increasing body size as elevation and latitude increased. Bergmann’s data came from numerous endothermic taxa, but the pattern has since been documented among numerous poikilotherms and invertebrates. The ferocious waterbug Abedus herberti Hidalgo (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) lives in isolated populations distributed across gradients of latitude and altitude, and as such is an excellent model organism to examine the application of Bergmann’s Rule to a large aquatic insect. This study documents the variance in adult length and width of fifteen disparate populations of Abedus herberti in southeastern Arizona, USA and northern Sonora, Mexico. It also examines the life-history traits of two cadres of populations: those living in mountain runoff creeks, the typical habitat for this species; and those living in spring-fed desert ponds and marshes, called ciénagas. During 2004-2006 my colleagues and I collected and measured 611 individual adult A. herberti from fifteen populations in the Madrean Sky Islands. I took live insects from six populations back to Oregon and raised their offspring in a common-garden experiment, to measure length, width, and time between molts. Temperature probes were placed in the pools from which these six populations were taken, to provide a record of annual thermal fluctuation. I used these data to examine several hypotheses concerning body size and growth in insects: Are there significant size differences between mountain-stream bugs and those living in ciénagas? Do these insects obey Bergmann’s Rule, i.e. does body size increase as local mean temperature decreases, as predicted by altitude and latitude? Does a larger final body size correlate with a longer development time? Are the size differences between bugs from different habitat types resulting from phenotypic plasticity or are the traits heritable? How does Dyar’s Rule apply to this organism? Does body size provide any evidence of isolation or speciation within these populations? I also used these data to create a rearing and care program for Abedus herberti that will serve future researchers working with this organism. This program, as well as an investigation of the latter two hypotheses, is relegated to the appendix of this work. I found the mean sizes of individuals within Abedus herberti populations to be consistent with Bergmann’s Rule. Adult length and width increased with the altitude of the population. Even omitting the ciénaga populations from the analysis produced significant results. As the populations were distributed over a minor gradient in latitude, I tested for significant correlation but found only a weak relationship between latitude and length, and no significant relationship between altitude and width. The thermal regimes between mountain and ciénaga habitats differed in the following ways: higher annual mean temperature and greater thermal stability in ciénagas, lower annual mean temperature and greater fluctuations in mountain streams. These differences may contribute to selective pressures that result in size disparities between conspecifics living in the two habitats. The mean adult length and width varied significantly between mountain-type populations and ciénaga-type populations. These differences were perpetuated by offspring raised under identical conditions, suggesting the traits in question are inherited, rather than resulting from phenotypic plasticity. Larger-sized nymphs took significantly longer to develop than smaller nymphs. Intermolt time between hatching and first molt, and between first and second molt, was longer for the mountain-type populations. Further intermolt times were not included in the analysis because high mortality interfered with design balance. This animal undergoes five nymph instars before attaining adulthood. There was a 1.29x increase in length and 1.27x increase in width between molts (±1.2% depending on population), lower than the maximum allowed by Dyar’s Rule, which posits a maximal 1.4x increase in size between instars. I hypothesize that the differences in body size between populations living under different thermal regimes could be due to three main factors: 1. A physiological response to colder environments and selection for a particular optimal body size for a given mean annual temperature. 2. Selection for smaller size and faster development in warmer environments to optimize the number of generations possible during the growth season, balanced by the stored-resource requirements of overwintering adults. 3. Selection for larger egg-size and first-instar nymph size in colder habitats to favor increased energy content of early offspring, as a hedge against fluctuating conditions; this is balanced in the warmer habitats by selection for small egg-size that allows females to fit more eggs onto the males’ hemelytra, the surface area of which limits the fecundity of this species. The results of this study suggest all these factors may be in play to some degree, but the strongest evidence supports a physiological and life-history response in body size based strictly on local thermal regime

Tailoring biomaterial surface properties to modulate host-implant interactions: implication in cardiovascular and bone therapy

Host body response to a foreign medical device plays a critical role in defining its fate post implantation. It is thus important to control host-material interactions by designing innovative implant surfaces. In the recent years, biochemical and topographical features have been explored as main target to produce this new type of bioinert or bioresponsive implants. The review discusses specific biofunctional materials and strategies to achieve a precise control over implant surface properties and presents possible solutions to develop next generation of implants, particularly in the fields of bone and cardiovascular therapy

The Greek VAT gap : the influence of individual economic sectors

PURPOSE: The size of the Greek VAT Gap has been consistently high throughout the last two decades in comparison with the European Union’s (EU) average. In order to better understand which specific productive sectors in the Greek economy play a more significant role in VAT revenue collection, VAT evasion and in measuring and limiting the Greek VAT Gap, an attempt to quantify and analyze the Gross Value Added/Gross Domestic Product (GVA/GDP) ratio of each productive sector was made.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Specifically, using the NACE Revision 2 standard used by Eurostat, the various Greek productive sectors were broken down into fifteen (15) categories and examined for a period of 21 years (between 1997 and 2018) using econometric models based on time series data. In addition, the VAT Revenue Ratio (VRR) was used as a proxy dependent variable in order to measure the Greek VAT Gap.FINDINGS: The analysis revealed that of the fifteen (15) economic sectors examined in this paper, four (4) were found to be statistically significant in regards with the Greek VAT gap. Specifically, the Catering and Accommodation services sector (I), the Public Administration sector (O) and the Agriculture sector (A), had a positive relationship, with the increase of their share in GDP being associated with an increase in the VAT gap. On the other hand, the Industrial sector’s (B, D, E) share of GDP is associated with a reduction in the VAT gap.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS/ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The results of this paper can shed light into the complexity of identifying the economic activities that influence the Greek VAT Gap, as well as produce more sector-specific countermeasures for limiting VAT non-compliance and evasion.peer-reviewe

The power of interdependence: Linking health systems, communities, and health professions educational programs to better meet the needs of patients and populations

Promoting optimal health outcomes for diverse patients and populations requires the acknowledgement and strengthening of interdependent relationships between health professions education programs, health systems, and the communities they serve. Educational programs must recognize their role as integral components of a larger system. Educators must strive to break down silos and synergize efforts to foster a health care workforce positioned for collaborative, equitable, community-oriented practice. Sharing interprofessional and interinstitutional strategies can foster wide propagation of educational innovation while accommodating local contexts. This paper outlines how member schools of the American Medical Association Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium leveraged interdependence to accomplish transformative innovations catalyzed by systems thinking and a community of innovation

Variation of leaf litter decomposition among rivers, lagoons and sea: an experiment from Corfu island (Greece)

In aquatic ecosystems, the decomposition of organic detritus represents one of the most important ecosystem functions, which support complex detritus-based food webs that determine the critical balance between carbon mineralization and sequestration. The performance of the decomposition process is usually expressed as rate of decomposition, being a synthetic measure that take into account both abiotic and biotic factors. Decomposition rates have been also applied to evaluate the ecological status in terms of ecological functionality. However, despite a growing number of studies have tested the rate of decomposition between leaves of different riparian tree species in different aquatic ecosystems including rivers, transitional waters and sea, no comparative study among ecosystems typology is available up to date. Here, we compare decomposition rates from rivers, lagoons and sea of Corfu island (Greece). Five sampling sites were fixed in each of the three of the most important rivers and lagoons; other five sampling sites were fixed in the sea around the island. Twelve leaf packs containing 3±0.005 g of oven-dried Phragmites australis leaves were submerged in April 2014 and retrieved in May 2014 (after 30 days). Abiotic parameters were recorded in both sampling times. The retrieved leaf packs were cleaned and the macroinvertebrates retained were removed, counted, identified at lower taxonomic level and weighted. Leaf pack decomposition rates were calculated, and their variability was compared within each aquatic ecosystem, within each ecosystem typology (river, lagoon, sea) and among ecosystem typology. The results are going to be presented on the poster

Carbon monoxide-releasing antibacterial molecules target respiration and global transcriptional regulators

Carbon monoxide, a classical respiratory inhibitor, also exerts vasodilatory, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic effects. CO-releasing molecules have therapeutic value, increasing phagocytosis and reducing sepsis-induced lethality. Here we identify for the first time the bacterial targets of Ru(CO)(3)Cl(glycinate) (CORM-3), a ruthenium-based carbonyl that liberates CO rapidly under physiological conditions. Contrary to the expectation that CO would be preferentially inhibitory at low oxygen tensions or anaerobically, Escherichia coli cultures were also sensitive to CORM-3 at concentrations equimolar with oxygen. CORM-3, assayed as ruthenium, was taken up by bacteria and rapidly delivered CO intracellularly to terminal oxidases. Microarray analysis of CORM-3-treated cells revealed extensively modified gene expression, notably down-regulation of genes encoding key aerobic respiratory complexes. Genes involved in metal metabolism, homeostasis, or transport were also differentially expressed, and free intracellular zinc levels were elevated. Probabilistic modeling of transcriptomic data identified the global transcription regulators ArcA, CRP, Fis, FNR, Fur, BaeR, CpxR, and IHF as targets and potential CO sensors. Our discovery that CORM-3 is an effective inhibitor and global regulator of gene expression, especially under aerobic conditions, has important implications for administration of CO-releasing agents in sepsis and inflammatio

Moral Distress Amongst American Physician Trainees Regarding Futile Treatments at the End of Life: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: Ethical challenges are common in end of life care; the uncertainty of prognosis and the ethically permissible boundaries of treatment create confusion and conflict about the balance between benefits and burdens experienced by patients. OBJECTIVE: We asked physician trainees in internal medicine how they reacted and responded to ethical challenges arising in the context of perceived futile treatments at the end of life and how these challenges contribute to moral distress. DESIGN: Semi-structured in-depth qualitative interviews. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-two internal medicine residents and fellows across three American academic medical centers. APPROACH: This study uses systematic qualitative methods of data gathering, analysis and interpretation. KEY RESULTS: Physician trainees experienced significant moral distress when they felt obligated to provide treatments at or near the end of life that they believed to be futile. Some trainees developed detached and dehumanizing attitudes towards patients as a coping mechanism, which may contribute to a loss of empathy. Successful coping strategies included formal and informal conversations with colleagues and superiors about the emotional and ethical challenges of providing care at the end of life. CONCLUSIONS: Moral distress amongst physician trainees may occur when they feel obligated to provide treatments at the end of life that they believe to be futile or harmful.This study was funded by the Health Resources and Service Administration T32 HP10025-20 Training Grant, the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Society of General Internal Medicine Founders Grant, and the Ho-Chiang Palliative Care Research Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11606-015-3505-