Κοσμολογικαὶ καὶ κοσμογονικαὶ ἀντιλήψεις εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κατὰ τὴν Β΄ χιλιετηρίδα π.Χ.

Ποιός δὲν γοητεύθηκε μικρὸς ἀπὸ τὴν ἑλληνικὴ μυθολογία καὶ δὲν ἀναρωτήθηκε κατά πόσον οἱ μῦθοι της εἶναι παραμύθια; Κατὰ τὸ λεξικὸ Σουΐδα, «Μῦθος λόγος ψευδής, εἰκονίζων τὴν ἀλήθεια.» Ὅμως, θεωρῶ προτιμώτερο νὰ λέγω ὅτι «Μῦθος εἶναι ἕνα φιλοσοφικὸ παραμῦθι ποὺ ἐγκλείει ἐνορατικῶς τὴν ἀλήθεια!» Μὲ τὴν παροῦσα μελέτη μου προσπαθῶ νὰ ἀνασύρω τὸν πέπλο τοῦ μυστηρίου, ὁ ὁποῖος καλύπτει τὴν ἑλληνικὴ μυθολογία καὶ νὰ ἀποκαλύψω τὶς πρώιμες ἀντιλήψεις τῆς φυσικῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ ἰδιαιτέρως τῆς ἀστρονομίας, οἱ ὁποῖες κρύβονται μέσα στοὺς κοσμογονικοὺς μύθους τῶν Ὀρφικῶν φιλοσόφων.Who has not been fascinated in his childhood by Greek mythology and who has not wondered whether its myths were false stories? According to Suida’s lexicon, “Myth is an untrue statement that expresses figuratively the truth.” But I feel more comfortable if I say that “A myth is a philosophical fairy tale which intuitively includes the truth!” My endeavor in this study of mine is to try to raise the veil of mystery that envelops Greek mythology and discloses thus the early ideas of natural philosophy, especially those ideas that deal with astronomy which are hidden in the cosmogonic myths of the Orphic philosophers

Current Options for Second-Line Systemic Therapy in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

Standard systemic therapy of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) involves targeting angiogenesis, mainly through tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) against the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) pathway and targeting the immune checkpoints, namely, programmed death-1 (PD-1) or its ligand (PD-L1), and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA4). With current strategies of combining these two approaches in the front-line setting, less is known about optimal selection of therapy upon development of resistance in the second and later lines of treatment for progressive disease. This review discusses currently available therapeutic options in patients who have progressive RCC after prior treatment with double immune check-point inhibitors (ICIs) or ICI-TKI combinations

Part of the Family:Children’s Experiences with Their Companion Animals in the Context of Domestic Violence and Abuse

Purpose: Children who experience Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) draw on a range of strategies to manage the complex dynamics of family life. This article explored children’s experiences of their relationships with pets and other animals, considering how children understood these relationships.Methods: This qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews and visual methods-based research with 22 children (aged 9–17), drawn from a larger study on how children cope with DVA. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.Findings: Five themes are discussed: Part of the family explores how children positioned animals as relational beings who occupied an important place in their lives; caring for animals considers the reciprocal caring relationship children described; listening and support details how children interacted with animals to allow themselves to feel more heard and supported; in the theme control and abuse, we consider children’s experiences of perpetrators’ use of companion animals as part of a pattern of abuse and control; and in disruption, uncertainty and loss, we discuss how children feel and relate to their animals when leaving situations of domestic abuse.Conclusions: The implications of our analysis are considered in relation to providing support for children impacted by domestic abuse, and the importance of ensuring companion animals are provided for in housing policy and planning for domestic abuse survivors

Adenosine for Unmasking Latent Pre-Excitation: an Unpleasant Surprise

A 33-year-old kickboxing athlete presented to the emergency room (ER) with an intermittent chest pain, which had started an hour earlier. ECG on arrival revealed q wave in the inferior leads, minimal ST elevation in the same leads, without depolarization abnormalities. The patient was able to recall having been kicked in the chest a few months back during training. While being in the ER the pain recurred. The second ECG had no repolarization changes, but revealed a positive QRS (R>S) in lead V1... (excerpt

Mediterranean Sea Literacy: When Ocean Literacy becomes region-specific

Ocean Literacy (OL) has been defined as an understanding of the ocean’s influence on people and their influence on the ocean. The OL movement was born in the US and its framework consisted of seven essential principles and 45 fundamental concepts; it is now largely accepted worldwide for use in both formal (schools and universities) and non-formal (research institutes, aquaria, museums, etc.) education settings. Based on this framework, marine scientists and educators developed the “Mediterranean Sea Literacy” (MSL) guide adapted to the specificities of the Mediterranean region, presented here. The MSL principles (7) and concepts (43), serving as guidance for research, education, informed decision-making, and improved citizens’ lifestyles, aim to contribute to environmental protection, conservation, and restoration of the Mediterranean Sea as well as to help to achieve a blue innovative and sustainable economy

The frequency of NPM1 mutations in childhood acute myeloid leukemia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mutations in the nucleophosmin <it>(NPM1) </it>gene have been solely associated with childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We evaluated the frequency of <it>NPM1 </it>mutations in childhood AML, their relation to clinical and cytogenetic features and the presence of common <it>FLT3 </it>and <it>RAS </it>mutations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>NPM1 </it>mutations were found in 8% of cases. They involved the typical type 'A' mutation and one novel mutation characterized by two individual base pair substitutions, which resulted in 2 amino acid changes (W290) and (S293) in the NPM protein. <it>FLT3</it>/ITD mutations were observed in 12% of the cases and in one <it>NPM1-</it>mutated case bearing also t(8;21) (q22;q22). No common <it>RAS </it>mutations were identified.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A relatively consistent <it>NPM1 </it>mutation rate was observed, but with variations in types of mutations. The role of different types of <it>NPM1 </it>mutations, either individually or in the presence of other common gene mutations may be essential for childhood AML prognosis.</p

The Kolumbo submarine volcano of Santorini island is a large pool of bacterial strains with antimicrobial activity

Microbes in hydrothermal vents with their unique secondary metabolism may represent an untapped potential source of new natural products. In this study, samples were collected from the hydrothermal field of Kolumbo submarine volcano in the Aegean Sea, in order to isolate bacteria with antimicrobial activity. Eight hundred and thirty-two aerobic heterotrophic bacteria were isolated and then differentiated through BOX-PCR analysis at the strain level into 230 genomic fingerprints, which were screened against 13 different type strains (pathogenic and nonpathogenic) of Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. Forty-two out of 176 bioactive-producing genotypes (76 %) exhibited antimicrobial activity against at least four different type strains and were selected for 16S rDNA sequencing and screening for nonribosomal peptide (NRPS) and polyketide (PKS) synthases genes. The isolates were assigned to genus Bacillus and Proteobacteria, and 20 strains harbored either NRPS, PKS type I or both genes. This is the first report on the diversity of culturable mesophilic bacteria associated with antimicrobial activity from Kolumbo area; the extremely high proportion of antimicrobial-producing strains suggested that this unique environment may represent a potential reservoir of novel bioactive compounds

A MSFD complementary approach for the assessment of pressures, knowledge and data gaps in Southern European Seas : the PERSEUS experience

PERSEUS project aims to identify the most relevant pressures exerted on the ecosystems of the Southern European Seas (SES), highlighting knowledge and data gaps that endanger the achievement of SES Good Environmental Status (GES) as mandated by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). A complementary approach has been adopted, by a meta-analysis of existing literature on pressure/impact/knowledge gaps summarized in tables related to the MSFD descriptors, discriminating open waters from coastal areas. A comparative assessment of the Initial Assessments (IAs) for five SES countries has been also independently performed. The comparison between meta-analysis results and IAs shows similarities for coastal areas only. Major knowledge gaps have been detected for the biodiversity, marine food web, marine litter and underwater noise descriptors. The meta-analysis also allowed the identification of additional research themes targeting research topics that are requested to the achievement of GES. 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.peer-reviewe

Coherent scatterers detection: application over glacier terrain using TerraSAR-X time series data

This paper investigates the detection of Coherent Scatterers (CSs) in ice and glacier terrain by means of TerraSAR-X time series data in the test site of the Helheim Glacier in Greenland. CSs are evaluated with respect to detection and potential applications. Applying optimized detection scheme can be useful for retrieving information about the glacier movement using time series data. Finally, some conclusions about the temporal stability of natural CSs are obtained by analyzing the rocky area around the glacier

Coherent scatterers detection in glacier environments by means of TerraSAR-X images

This paper investigates the detection of Coherent Scatterers (CSs) in Ice and Glacier terrain by means of Ter-raSAR-X images in the test case of the Helheim Glacier in Greenland. CSs are evaluated with respect to detec-tion, properties and potential applications. The detection of CSs by means of TerraSAR-X data is discussed and optimised detection schemata for minimising false alarm rate are investigated. Properties and quality of the de-tected CSs are analysed