Evaluation of operational programme “competitiveness” in the frames of the 3rd Community Support Framework (CSF) : action 2.11.2

This study is aiming to outline the entrepreneurs’ opinions regarding to the effect of the Intermediary Management Agencies (IMAs) and the subsidy Operational Programmes (OPs) in the concretisation of their investments. More specific, the study aims into the acquisition of knowledge and information about important subjects of the Operational Programme “Competitiveness” - Action 2.11.2 that concern the modernisation and development of enterprises that belong to the Tertiary Sector of the Central Macedonia Region, such as: Programme’s contribution in the development of enterprises and the Greek economy, the entrepreneurs’ opinion about the Intermediary Management Agencies in the process of their investments’ completion and finally, the exploration of other interesting elements that had significantly contributed in the investments’ completion. This research constitutes a first effort to evaluate Operational Programmes of the 3rd Community Support Framework (CSF) that its results will be published, in opposition of the forecasted ex-ante or ex-post evaluations that are produced in the frames of each Intermediary Management Agency’s obligations on behalf of the empowered National and Community Committee. In other words, the results of this research will contribute in the activation of an essential dialogue and most important will contribute in the pursued more effective exploitation of the available resources. Taking into consideration the occasional reports of the empowered Community Authorities about Greek Intermediary Management Agencies’ weaknesses, among other countries, in the field of rational management and exploitation of the Community resources, we mainly consider particularly useful and topical the discoveries of this research facing the imminent launch of the 4th CSF Operational Programmes.peer-reviewe

Preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in microchannels : development of catalysts for the low temperature regime and kinetic study

The aim of this work was to optimize the synthesis of Au/MeOx and Zeolite-based catalysts for the preferential oxidation reaction of carbon monoxide for low temperature fuel cells and to evaluate whether the high activity and selectivity observed in idealized methanol-reformate (CO, O2 and H2) are also maintained under more realistic conditions (CO, O2, H2, up to 20 Vol.% CO2, and 10 — 20 Vol.% H2O). Among the catalysts tested, the Au/Co3O4 catalyst was the most active and sensitive in the presence of carbon dioxide, while Pt-Rh/g-Al2O3 and Pt0.5Al1Mn7Co91.5Ox were found to oxidize carbon monoxide effectively in the presence of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Another novel aspect of this work are the experiments for the kinetic study of the preferential oxidation reaction of carbon monoxide, which were performed applying catalyst coating in micro reactors. A recycle reactor was constructed to study the kinetics of the reaction. The predictions of the residence time distribution (RTD) for a CSTR simulated by a microreactor with a recycle stream, has been shown to give an adequate approximation of the experimental measurements. Linear regression analysis was used to develop a kinetic model and to validate all the required parameters. The kinetics of the preferential carbon monoxide oxidation and hydrogen oxidation on Pt-Rh/g-Al2O3 catalyst in simulated reformer gas in the microreactors was well described by a simple power-law expression.Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, die Herstellung von Au/MeOx und Zeolite basierten Katalysatoren für die selektive Kohlenmonoxidoxidation für Niedertemperatur-Brennstoffzellen zu optimieren und zu bewerten, ob die hohe Aktivität und die Selektivität, die bei idealen Methanol-Reformaten (CO, O2 und H2) beobachtet werden, auch unter realistischen Bedingungen (CO, O2, H2, bis 20 Vol.% CO2 und 10 — 20 Vol.% H2O) erhalten bleiben. Insgesamt wurde eine Reihe von Katalysatoren getestet. Während sich der Au/Co3O4 Katalysator am aktivsten und empfindlichsten in der Anwesenheit von Kohlendioxid verhielt, haben die Pt-Rh/g-Al2O3 und Pt0.5Al1Mn7Co91.5Ox Katalysatoren das Kohlenmonoxid in der Anwesenheit des Wasserstoffes und des Kohlendioxides effektiv oxidiert. Ein besonderer und neuartiger Aspekt in dieser Arbeit sind die Experimente, die für die Untersuchung der Kinetik der selektiven Kohlenmonoxidoxidation in beschichteten Mikroreaktoren durchgeführt wurden. Mittels eines eigens konstruierten Kreislaufreaktors wurde die Kinetik der Reaktion bestimmt. Die Ergebnisse der Verweilzeitverteilung (RTD) für ein CSTR, der durch einen Mikroreaktor mit rückführbarem Strom simuliert wird, weisen einen guten Näherungswert zu den experimentellen Messungen auf. Durch lineare Regressionsanalyse wurde ein kinetisches Modell entwickelt und dessen Validität überprüft. Die Kinetik der selektiven Kohlenmonoxidoxidation und der Wasserstoffoxidation auf Pt-Rh/g-Al2O3 Katalysator in simuliertem Reformergas in den Mikroreaktoren wurde mit einem Potenz-Ansatz beschrieben

DNA methylation-assisted diagnosis of lung cancer in bronchial washings

Lung cancer is the most lethal malignancy worldwide and late diagnosis is a significant factor contributing this. The Liverpool Lung Project (LLP) aims to reduce lung cancer mortality through the development of a molecular-epidemiological risk assessment model which will facilitate early detection of lung cancer and thus early intervention. LLP encompasses retrospective and prospective sub-studies. DNA methvlation is an epigenetic modification with key role in gene transcriptional control, embryonic development, imprinting and cancer. A large number of studies in lung cancer have revealed abnormal DNA methylation patterns involving a variety of genes. The aim of this study was to construct and evaluate a panel of DNA-methylation biomarkers which can be applied to bronchial washings (BWs) material and assist in diagnosis of lung cancer. The discovery and validation process followed the guidelines set by the NCI- Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) and the CR-UK diagnostic biomarker roadmap. Specific objectives included (a) the discovery of promoter targets with high frequency of hypermethylation in primary lung cancer, (b) the development of a highly sensitive and specific DNA methylation assay fitting to clinical standards and (c) the validation of these targets in BWs utilising a longitudinal retrospective case-control design. Targets from previous high throughput approaches were validated in an independent set of 48 non-small cell lung cancer samples and paired normal tissues using Pyrosequencing methylation analysis (PMA). PMA confirmed significant hypermethylation in the primary NSCLC tissue for the following promoters: RASSF1, p16, WT1, CYGB, RARB, CDH13, DAPK, p73, TMEFF2, and TERT. In addition, immunohistochemical staining for p16 and WT1 was performed in a 20 non-small cell lung cancer samples. Quantitative methylation-specific PCR (qMSP) assays were subsequently developed and tested for reliability and robustness for these ten candidates. These assays were used to screen 655 BWs from the Liverpool Lung Project (LLP) subjects divided into a training (194 cases and 214 Controls) and validation (139 cases and 109 controls) sets. Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction (MDR) was used to select the best subset of the markers with good discrimination. Analysis in the training BWs set demonstrated significant differences in the detected hypermethylation frequency in cases over controls for RASSF1 p16, WT1, CYGB, RARB and TERT. The diagnostic efficiency of this panel was evaluated in the independent validation set. A logit method was used to obtain the sensitivity and specificity of the six markers. LogicF analysis demonstrated that the top five predictors were WT1, cytology, RASSF1, TERT and p16. The overall performance the latter panel demonstrated no diagnostic bias in different groups of gender, age or smoking status. While cytology alone provides a 49.5% sensitivity, 99.5% specificity, the addition of the four methylation markers provided 76.2% sensitivity, 92.3% specificity (AUC=0.89). Although the diagnostic efficiency of this panel must be improved by incorporating additional promoters, our findings clearly demonstrate the impact of DNA methylation- based assays in the diagnosis of cytologically occult lung neoplasms

Έκβαση βαρέως πασχόντων με COVID-19

Στην διπλωματκή μου εργασία θα αναπτυχθεί το θέμα του ρόλου των βιοδεικτών στην πρόγνωση και την έκβαση της νόσου COVID-19. Αναλύονται οι επιμέρους βιοδείκτες και ο ρόλος των φλεγμονωδών παραγόντων στην εκτίμηση της βαρύτητας και της έκβασης της νόσου. Επίσης αναφέρεται ο ρόλος της αξονικής θώρακος, της τεχνητής νοημοσύνης αλλά και της θρομβοπενίας στη νόσο COVID-19. Στο τελευταίο μέρος της εργασίας γίνεται αναφορά στη μελέτη ESCAPE και στα συμπεράσματα που βγάλαμε από αυτήν για την στοχευμένη ανοσοθεραπεία στον βαρέως πάσχοντα ασθενή από COVID-19..To my bachelor’s thesis, I develop the theme of the role that the biomarkers have in the prognosis and the outcome of COVID-19 disease. The individual biomarkers and the role of the inflammatory factors assessment in the outcome of the severity of the disease are analysed. It is also referred the role of the thoracic computed tomography, the role of the artificial intelligence and the role of thrombocytopenia. The last part of my bachelor’s theme is referred on the ESCAPE study and the conclusions that we made on the importance of the targeted immunotherapy for the critical ill patient from COVID-19

Optimal structural design of glass curtain-wall systems

Glass curtain-wall systems are extensively used in modern construction. They can be manufactured as building facades with high-efficiency properties prescribed by the designer; among these properties, the most important are high strength-to-self-weight ratio, serviceability requirements, recyclability of the constituent parts, as well as transparency and overall aesthetic characteristics. The structural performance of curtain-wall systems has to be meticulously analysed and designed to fulfil structural Eurocodes requirements because facades are, in most cases, subjected to strong environmental actions. In addition, as a second design step, by applying advanced finite-element analysis schemes and taking into account structural design criteria, an optimal structural design of the glass curtain-wall system has to be carried out to achieve cost minimisation once structural integrity and serviceability requirements have been fulfilled. The optimal structural design approach proposed in this paper leads to significant conclusions that can be used for the selection of mullions, transoms, anchoring details and glass panels with reference to the predominant environmental actions of wind and earthquake. The proposed methodology is illustrated by means of a numerical application to a typical building facade case study. </jats:p

The impact of cultural and religious beliefs on the phenomenology of mental illness in light of the involuntary psychiatric commitment of an East Asian and a West African woman

Religious and cultural issues have become increasingly important in the field of psychiatry. We present two cases which demonstrate the impact of diverse religious beliefs and cultural background on the presentation of mental illness. Clinicians must remain vigilant for the early detection of culturally sanctioned idioms of mental disorders