A Post-Opening Transport Infrastructure's Socio-Economic Evaluation: The Case of "Attiki Odos Motorway"

The purpose of this research is the post-opening evaluation of "Attiki Odos Motorway" (AOM) socio-economic impacts, during the period of its operation. The AOM is the peripheral ring-road of the metropolitan Athens-Attica area. To this end, the study estimates an ex post project's "Overall Returns Index" (ORI) based on Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA). Within this framework, selected factors-criteria specified by the interaction mechanism between the motorway's operation and its socio-economic environment are assessed. Then, at each criterion a number of sub-criteria that characterize it are assigned. These are evaluated not on the basis of subjective judgments - as in the case of the traditional MCA - but on the basis of performance indexes, supported by factual dataset. With regard to the empirical results, the socio-economic returns of the studied motorway, as they occurred from the formula, are high. This means that, on average, the selected sub-criteria and thus the criteria of the formula appear high compliance in our case study. However, the estimates are subject to the limitation of the methodology employed as well as other factors. Clearly, future research on the subject would be of great interest. Keywords: "Attiki Odos Motorway", socio-economic impacts, Multi-Criteria Analysis, Overall Returns Index

3D Printable Vascular Networks Generated by Accelerated Constrained Constructive Optimization for Tissue Engineering.

One of the greatest challenges in fabricating artificial tissues and organs is the incorporation of vascular networks to support the biological requirements of the embedded cells, encouraging tissue formation and maturation. With the advent of 3D printing technology, significant progress has been made with respect to generating vascularized artificial tissues. Current algorithms to generate arterial/venous trees are computationally expensive and offer limited freedom to optimize the resulting structures. Furthermore, there is no method for algorithmic generation of vascular networks that can recapitulate the complexity of the native vasculature for more than two trees, and export directly to a 3D printing format. Here, we report such a method, using an accelerated constructive constrained optimization approach, by decomposing the process into construction, optimization, and collision resolution stages. The new approach reduces computation time to minutes at problem sizes where previous implementations have reported days. With the optimality criterion of maximizing the volume of useful tissue which could be grown around such a network, an approach of alternating stages of construction and batch optimization of all node positions is introduced and shown to yield consistently more optimal networks. The approach does not place a limit on the number of interpenetrating networks that can be constructed in a given space; indeed we demonstrate a biomimetic, liver-like tissue model. Methods to account for the limitations of 3D printing are provided, notably the minimum feature size and infill at sharp angles, through padding and angle reduction, respectively.EPSRC Doctoral Training Partner-ship Award (EP/N509620/1) EPSRC (EP/R511675/1 & EP/N509620/1) Isaac Newton Trust Rosetrees Trust (M787). Cambridge Trust CONACyT (Mexico) EPSRC Cambridge & Cranfield Doctoral Training Centre in Ultra Precision (EP/K503241/1

Physical and biological characterization of ferromagnetic fiber networks: effect of fibrin deposition on short-term in vitro responses of human osteoblasts.

Ferromagnetic fiber networks have the potential to deform in vivo imparting therapeutic levels of strain on in-growing periprosthetic bone tissue. 444 Ferritic stainless steel provides a suitable material for this application due to its ability to support cultures of human osteoblasts (HObs) without eliciting undue inflammatory responses from monocytes in vitro. In the present article, a 444 fiber network, containing 17 vol% fibers, has been investigated. The network architecture was obtained by applying a skeletonization algorithm to three-dimensional tomographic reconstructions of the fiber networks. Elastic properties were measured using low-frequency vibration testing, providing globally averaged properties as opposed to mechanical methods that yield only local properties. The optimal region for transduction of strain to cells lies between the ferromagnetic fibers. However, cell attachment, at early time points, occurs primarily on fiber surfaces. Deposition of fibrin, a fibrous protein involved in acute inflammatory responses, can facilitate cell attachment within this optimal region at early time points. The current work compared physiological (3 and 5 g·L(-1)) and supraphysiological fibrinogen concentrations (10 g·L(-1)), using static in vitro seeding of HObs, to determine the effect of fibrin deposition on cell responses during the first week of cell culture. Early cell attachment within the interfiber spaces was observed in all fibrin-containing samples, supported by fibrin nanofibers. Fibrin deposition influenced the seeding, metabolic activity, and early stage differentiation of HObs cultured in the fibrin-containing fiber networks in a concentration-dependant manner. While initial cell attachment for networks with fibrin deposited from low physiological concentrations was similar to control samples without fibrin deposition, significantly higher HObs attached onto high physiological and supraphysiological concentrations. Despite higher cell numbers with supraphysiological concentrations, cell metabolic activities were similar for all fibrinogen concentrations. Further, cells cultured on supraphysiological concentrations exhibited lower cell differentiation as measured by alkaline phosphatase activity at early time points. Overall, the current study suggests that physiological fibrinogen concentrations would be more suitable than supraphysiological concentrations for supporting early cell activity in porous implant coatings.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Mary Ann Liebert at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ten.TEA.2014.0211?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed

Translating and validating a Training Needs Assessment tool into Greek

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The translation and cultural adaptation of widely accepted, psychometrically tested tools is regarded as an essential component of effective human resource management in the primary care arena. The Training Needs Assessment (TNA) is a widely used, valid instrument, designed to measure professional development needs of health care professionals, especially in primary health care. This study aims to describe the translation, adaptation and validation of the TNA questionnaire into Greek language and discuss possibilities of its use in primary care settings.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A modified version of the English self-administered questionnaire consisting of 30 items was used. Internationally recommended methodology, mandating forward translation, backward translation, reconciliation and pretesting steps, was followed. Tool validation included assessing item internal consistency, using the alpha coefficient of Cronbach. Reproducibility (test – retest reliability) was measured by the kappa correlation coefficient. Criterion validity was calculated for selected parts of the questionnaire by correlating respondents' research experience with relevant research item scores. An exploratory factor analysis highlighted how the items group together, using a Varimax (oblique) rotation and subsequent Cronbach's alpha assessment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The psychometric properties of the Greek version of the TNA questionnaire for nursing staff employed in primary care were good. Internal consistency of the instrument was very good, Cronbach's alpha was found to be 0.985 (p < 0.001) and Kappa coefficient for reproducibility was found to be 0.928 (p < 0.0001). Significant positive correlations were found between respondents' current performance levels on each of the research items and amount of research involvement, indicating good criterion validity in the areas tested. Factor analysis revealed seven factors with eigenvalues of > 1.0, KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) measure of sampling adequacy = 0.680 and Bartlett's test of sphericity, p < 0.001.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The translated and adapted Greek version is comparable with the original English instrument in terms of validity and reliability and it is suitable to assess professional development needs of nursing staff in Greek primary care settings.</p

RNA promotes the formation of spatial compartments in the nucleus

The nucleus is a highly organized arrangement of RNA, DNA, and protein molecules that are compartmentalized within three-dimensional (3D) structures involved in shared functional and regulatory processes. Although RNA has long been proposed to play a global role in organizing nuclear structure, exploring the role of RNA in shaping nuclear structure has remained a challenge because no existing methods can simultaneously measure RNA-RNA, RNA-DNA, and DNA-DNA contacts within 3D structures. To address this, we developed RNA & DNA SPRITE (RD-SPRITE) to comprehensively map the location of all RNAs relative to DNA and other RNAs. Using this approach, we identify many RNAs that are localized near their transcriptional loci (RNA-DNA) together with other diffusible ncRNAs (RNA-RNA) within higher-order DNA structures (DNA-DNA). These RNA-chromatin compartments span three major classes of nuclear functions: RNA processing (including ribosome biogenesis, mRNA splicing, snRNA biogenesis, and histone mRNA processing), heterochromatin assembly, and gene regulation. More generally, we identify hundreds of ncRNAs that form stable nuclear compartments in spatial proximity to their transcriptional loci. We find that dozens of nuclear compartments require RNA to guide protein regulators into these 3D structures, and focusing on several ncRNAs, we show that these ncRNAs specifically regulate heterochromatin assembly and the expression of genes contained within these compartments. Together, our results demonstrate a unique mechanism by which RNA acts to shape nuclear structure by forming high concentration territories immediately upon transcription, binding to diffusible regulators, and guiding them into spatial compartments to regulate a wide range of essential nuclear functions

Antimicrobial prescribing before and after the implementation of a carbapenem-focused antimicrobial stewardship program in a Greek tertiary hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Irrational use of antimicrobials poses a significant risk for public health by aggravating antimicrobial resistance. The aim of this repeated point prevalence survey (PPS) was to evaluate the impact of a carbapenem-focused antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) on overall antimicrobial use and quality of antimicrobial prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: All adult inpatients in the University Hospital of Heraklion in Greece were audited twice, before and after the implementation of the ASP, in October 2019 and October 2020, respectively. Patient characteristics, indications and diagnoses for antimicrobial administration, antimicrobials prescribed, and compliance with treatment guidelines were recorded. Results: Of 743 adult inpatients on the days of the two surveys, 398 (53.6%) were on antimicrobials for 437 diagnoses. Following implementation of the ASP, there was substantial decrease in the utilization of carbapenems (4.9% of all antibacterials prescribed in the second PPS compared to 10.3% in the first PPS). A significant improvement was observed for all indicators of the quality of antimicrobial prescribing. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated a positive impact of an ASP implementation during the first stages of the COVID-19 pandemic on reducing the use of last-line antimicrobials and improving overall quality of antimicrobial prescribing

Processes and coastal dynamics in the Ensenada de Marbella: recent morphosedimentary evolution

La Ensenada de Marbella ha experimentado en las últimas décadas cambios físicos y socio-económicos sustanciales debidos fundamentalmente a una transformación en el modelo económico y un desarrollo acusado del turismo residencial y todos los impactos en los usos del suelo relacionado con ello. Sin embargo, las causas de la alteración de la dinámica litoral también hay que buscarlas en cambios en la morfología del nearshore y en la dinámica sedimentaria. Para analizar la morfodinámica de la ensenada en varios escenarios temporales, simulaciones de oleaje sobre batimetrías del 1888 y actuales revelan cambios importantes en los patrones dispersión de la energía y el funcionamiento de la bahía a través de complejas células litorales de transporte. El análisis de los procesos dinámicos en la zona del nearshore y el estudio volumétrico a través de modelos de batimetrías secuenciales muestran como dichos cambios morfológicos de los fondos costeros pueden o no estar relacionados con cambios a largo plazo en la línea de costa, y por tanto ser co-responsables de los procesos de erosión y acreción acelerados evidentes a lo largo de la Ensenada