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ABSTRACTNatural mineral water has been used for its healing properties since ancient times, with balneotherapy being a non-pharmacological method of treating and preventing various diseases. However, it is critical to conduct a comprehensive assessment of patients receiving balneotherapy to construct safe and effective intervention programmes and assess their effectiveness. The purpose of this systematic review was the investigation of the objective and subjective assessment tools used in balneotherapy. The current study was performed from January 2000 to July 2022 in 6 databases in accordance with PRISMA standards. According to the findings, all the included studies relied on objective assessments using tools and functional tests conducted on dry land. Patient-reported outcomes primarily related to general health and quality of life were used for subjective assessments. However, no specific assessment tools for balneotherapy were identified in the review, and no wearable sensors or smart technology were utilised for real-time monitoring to ensure patient safety. This review underlines the importance of a comprehensive assessment protocol in balneotherapy, environing both land and aquatic assessments and integrating smart technology. More research is needed to develop objective and subjective assessment tools to enhance treatment effectiveness and ensure patient safety.

ABSTRACTThis paper intends to approach the challenging issue of facilitating policy making towards balanced regional development policy by highlighting the structural problems of long-lasting and deteriorating regional inequalities in Greece. On the other hand, since the Regional Unity of Fthiotida enjoys a considerable capacity in terms of natural resources and a high number of thermal springs, the development of alternative tourism forms (e.g. wellness, thermal, ecotourism, religious, agricultural, etc.) seems to be one of the instruments with which those development problems can be gradually alleviated and lead the way towards the regional economic improvement. The paper portrays the recent legislative developments undertaken at a domestic level. It also takes into consideration the current trends linked to the economic impact induced by the wellness industry worldwide. Thus, it aspires to provide aspects that may trigger substantial interest in part of the region’s overarching development advantages. These include, first and foremost, its natural capital in thermal springs. The current paper has been based on the available secondary official data and information drawn from targeted international and domestic institutional bodies, organisations, stakeholders, and the literature using relevant search key words.

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) use increase tremendously among university students, creating at the same time second thoughts and opportunities for their use. This study explored, for the first time, the impact of Social Networking Sites and eLearning platform (eClass) on the education and academic life of Greek students. An online 35-statement questionnaire was administered to 330 undergraduate students of the Physiotherapy Department at the University of Thessaly. Demographic data, nature of SNSs, their application into education, and the use of e-Learning platform (eClass) were collected and analysed. The results revealed the high familiarity of university students with SNSs, the acknowledgment of the potential negative effects of their excessive use and their importance for communication and education purposes, proposing reforms that would embed the use of social media in teaching and learning pedagogies across academic disciplines.

AbstractObjectives:Examination of visual analog scale’s [VAS] validity for assessing psychological states in patients with chronic neck pain.Methods:Forty-five patients with chronic neck pain completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia, and Pain Catastrophizing Scale. Anxiety, depression, kinesiophobia, and catastrophizing were additionally assessed by using a VAS for each.Results:Only the anxiety VAS could correlate high enough with its corresponding questionnaire. This correlation was higher than any other of its correlations with the other psychological instruments.Conclusions:The VAS seems to be a valid scale for assessing anxiety in patients with chronic neck pain.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used 1) to describe the pattern of whole brain activity during motion of isolated joints of the lower limb, 2) to examine the somatotopic organization of lower limb joint representations in the primary sensorimotor cortex and the anterior lobe of the cerebellum and 3) to quantify the degree of overlap between these lower limb joint activations. Eighteen healthy, right leg dominant volunteers participated in a motor block-design study, performing repetitive knee, ankle and toes flexion/extension movements. In order to relate lower limb joints activation to the well-described patterns of finger movement, serial finger-to-thumb opposition was also assessed. All movements were auditory paced at 72 beats/min (1.2 Hz). Isolated lower limb joints movement activated a distributed sensorimotor network, including primary and non-primary sensorimotor areas. Although a large overlap was evident in primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) and cerebellum representations of the three lower limb joints, a somatotopic arrangement was recognizable with reference to center of mass coordinates of each individual joint in the above areas. Detection of active brain regions during movement of the lower limb joints is feasible with fMRI although a carefully optimized methodology protocol is required.