Book review: Yakinthou, C. 2009, Political Settlements in Divided Societies: Consociationalism and Cyprus

‘Political Settlements in Divided Societies’, one of the latest contributions to the literature on Cyprus, attempts to analyse the failure of the Annan Plan through the prism of consociational approaches to negotiated settlements

The Healthiest Diet for You: Scientific Aspects

The Healthiest Diet for You: Scientific Aspects is unique in a sense because it focuses on the most recent advances in Nutrition, Metabolism, and Genetics that are the basic components of Personalized Nutrition. The book also emphasizes the importance of evolutionary aspects of diet and exercise and the need to select foods that are consistent with the evolutionary aspects of diet because these are the foods that contain the nutrients that our genes are programmed to respond. This book is the antidote to ultra-processed foods and imitation foods that are proinflammatory and contribute to increases in chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease. It is a book for Health! The aim of the book is to provide readers with the basic factual information necessary to comprehend the enormity and potential effects of nutrients and foods on overall health and well-being. This book should be of interest to the educated public, teachers, health professionals, physicians, medical students, nutritionists, dietitians, historians and policy makers

Teaching L2 for students with a refugee/migrant background in Greece: Teachers’ perceptions about reception, integration and multicultural identities

Refugee education has been an important challenge for the Greek educational system and for the teaching community. New supporting structures (i.e., Reception Facilities for Refugee Education [RFRE]), operating after the end of the regular school day, have been created to enable newcomers living in Refugee Accommodation Centers to learn (mainly) Greek as a second language before accessing the mainstream school program. On the other hand, refugee students living in urban locations are enrolled in mainstream classes with or without the support of parallel Reception Classes (RC). Most of the educators teaching refugee children, and particularly these working on RFREs, did not have any relevant previous experience or specialization and, at the same time, they received minimum support in training or professional development.  This paper is based on a qualitative research focusing on perceptions, attitudes and practices of primary and secondary school teachers in relation to refugee students’ second language learning and integration into Greek public schools. Interviews were conducted with 60 teachers in RFREs, RCs, and mainstream classes, including Intercultural Schools. Despite the difficulties they faced, many teachers seemed to move towards a positive understanding of their students’ multiple identities, focusing not only on L2 acquisition and competency building, but also on empowerment and the development of a mutual intercultural understanding. Students’ resilience and efforts helped their teachers deal with stereotypes about identity and otherness and reformulate their assumptions about effective teaching practices. These experiences seemed to lead some of the educators to a deeper critical reflection; they also lead to the development of teachers’ intercultural competence and facilitated a “crossing borders” transformative process.

Sensitivity analysis of the probabilistic damage stability regulations for RoPax vessels

In the light of the newly developed harmonised probabilistic damage stability regulations, set to come into force in 2009, this article presents a systematic and thorough analysis of the sensitivity of the Attained Subdivision Index with reference to a wide range of related design parameters. The sensitivity of the probabilistic regulations was investigated for a typical large RoPax vessel, with variation of parameters, such as the number, positioning and local optimisation of transverse bulkheads; the presence and position of longitudinal bulkheads below the main vehicle deck; the presence of side casings; and the height of the main deck and double bottom. The effects of water on deck and of operational parameters (draught, centre of gravity and trim) were also investigated. The results of the study, presented in graphical form, can provide valuable assistance to the designer when determining subdivision characteristics at the very early stage of the design process, resulting in optimal, efficient and safe ships

The Healthiest Diet for You: Scientific Aspects

The Healthiest Diet for You: Scientific Aspects is unique in a sense because it focuses on the most recent advances in Nutrition, Metabolism, and Genetics that are the basic components of Personalized Nutrition. The book also emphasizes the importance of evolutionary aspects of diet and exercise and the need to select foods that are consistent with the evolutionary aspects of diet because these are the foods that contain the nutrients that our genes are programmed to respond. This book is the antidote to ultra-processed foods and imitation foods that are proinflammatory and contribute to increases in chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease. It is a book for Health! The aim of the book is to provide readers with the basic factual information necessary to comprehend the enormity and potential effects of nutrients and foods on overall health and well-being. This book should be of interest to the educated public, teachers, health professionals, physicians, medical students, nutritionists, dietitians, historians and policy makers

Dietary supplementation with n-3 fatty acids (n-3 FA) for 4 weeks reduces post-exercise fatigue and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in trained male athletes

This article has been accepted for publication and will appear in a revised form, subsequent to peer review and/or editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in Proceedings of the Nutrition Society published by Cambridge University Press. Copyright The Authors 2015.High intensity exercise in the form of eccentric contractions can lead to the formation of free radicals, stimulating an inflammatory response( 1 , 2 ). Consumption of n-3 FA may help modify inflammation and immune reactions beneficial to health by decreasing interleukin-6, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and C-reactive protein( 3 ). For trained athletes to improve athletic performance, recovery from training is important and DOMS is frequently experienced following eccentric exercise, impacting negatively on strength( 4 ). The Western diet is however, characterised by a high n-6 FA consumption relative to n-3 FA, formulating ratios often in excess of 16:1( 5 ). The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the form of n-3 FA has been investigated by a number of clinical trials in untrained athletes, but whether this can be translated into attenuating exercise induced inflammation in trained athletes is still under investigation. A double-blind, randomised controlled trial was conducted in 22 trained male athletes who supplemented their diet with either 3000 mg/d of fish oil (gel capsules) consisting of 990 mg eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 660 mg docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (n = 11), or 3000 mg/d olive oil placebo (n = 11), for 28d. Participants underwent 3 sets of eccentric bicep curls in their dominant arm until failure and arm circumference, number of repetitions completed and DOMS/fatigue scores via visual analogue scale (VAS) were recorded at 0, 24 and 48 h after exercise, pre and post supplementation. No group performed better during the eccentric bicep test, pre and post supplementation, and at baseline, no differences were observed between groups for DOMS and fatigue. However, post supplementation, DOMS was significantly lower at 24 h (P = 0·005) and 48 h (P = 0·002) and fatigue was significantly lower at 24 h (P = 0·043) and 48 h post exercise (P < 0·001) in the n-3 FA group compared to the placebo group (Fig. 1). These findings indicate that n-3 FA supplementation has the potential to promote recovery and subsequently increase athletic performance in trained male athletes and may be a useful ergogenic aid. Possible anti-inflammatory mechanisms of n-3 FA should be further investigated using specific biomarkers of inflammation

Percutaneous Radiofrequency Lesioning of the Suprascapular Nerve for the Management of Chronic Shoulder Pain: A Case Series

Purpose: The objective of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the analgesic effects of continuous radiofrequency lesioning of the suprascapular nerve (SSN) for chronic shoulder pain. The authors sought to obtain insight into the time-sensitive analgesic success and complications of this therapy. Patients and methods: This study was a retrospective case series involving patients with unremitting shoulder pain that had lasted for at least 12 months. Patients were selected if they showed a reduction of at least 50% in pain intensity during the anesthetic phase after SSN block, no additional motor weakness of the shoulder, and pain relief lasting for less than 2 months after separate treatments of the SSN with depot corticosteroids and pulsed radiofrequency. Nine patients were referred to the Arnold Pain Management Center. Of these nine patients, six patients who had significant chronic shoulder pain unresponsive to oral medications and intra-articular injections and who were not considered surgical candidates were selected. These patients were treated with a single radiofrequency lesion of the SSN at 80$^\circ$C for 60 seconds. The primary outcome was a reduction in pain intensity by 50%, as determined by the numeric rating scale, and duration of this effect. The secondary outcome was improvement in either the passive or the active range of motion (ROM). Patients were also monitored for adverse effects such as weakness or increased pain. Results: The pooled mean numeric rating scale score before the procedure was 7.2 $\pm$ 1.2; this fell to 3.0 $\pm$ 0.9 at 5–7 weeks post procedure. The duration of pain relief ranged from 3 to 18 months, and all patients underwent at least one additional treatment. The change in baseline ROM improved from an average of 60$^\circ$ $\pm$ 28$^\circ$ (flexion) and 58$^\circ$ $\pm$ 28$^\circ$ (abduction) to 99$^\circ$ $\pm$ 46$^\circ$ (flexion) and 107$^\circ$ $\pm$ 39$^\circ$ (abduction). No adverse side effects were observed. Conclusion: Continuous radiofrequency lesioning of the SSN seems to be an effective treatment for chronic shoulder pain. There can be improved ROM of the shoulder following this treatment. More formal, controlled studies are required to confirm these observations