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Objective: The present study aims to evaluate the symptoms of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, in Greek primary healthcare workers, correlating them with their individual characteristics., Materials and Methods: The research is based on a self-report questionnaire distributed to primary HCWs of Thessaloniki's public health care units. A sample of 143 respondents was gathered. The questionnaire consists of 21 items: 6 demographic questions, 9 on personal distress, 5 on work-related distress and 1 on one dominant feeling of the participants. These items were based on existing validated measures, such as the "Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21", the "Kessler Psychological Distress Scale-10", "General Health Questionnaire- 28" and "Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale". The associations between participants' gender, education, specialty and parenthood were determined with Pearson's chi-squared (χ2) test., Results: Overall, 70.4% of HCWs were generally affected by the pandemic. The personal distress factors revealed that the majority (67%) experienced distress due to routine changes. The effects on health behavior (sleep, eating behavior and substance use) were not high. Psychological/psychiatric needs were relatively low, while negative emotions and need of social support were high. 31.4% displayed intense emotional instability. All work-related distress factors were rated high. Worry about contracting COVID-19 in the workplace scored the highest (82.6%). Almost half of the participants felt exposed to COVID-19 infection (47.0%). Anxiety (47.2%) and burn-out (78.4%) symptoms were also revealed. Female participants appeared to be more anxious (P<0.01) and upset (P=0.013)., Conclusion: The exposure to a constant risk could potentially lead to an increase in HCWs' psychological distress. Designing the right tools and organizing the right plans are of paramount importance to prevent the deterioration of their wellness and quality of life., (Copyright © 2021 by Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.)

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the carbon footprint (CF) of two research projects. These projects were initiated prior to the onset of the pandemic and subsequently concluded afterward, serving as the Base Case (BC) for analysis. Furthermore, the study seeks to explore the potential applicability of measures implemented during the period of lockdown for future mitigation of CF. The applied methodology, which adheres to the guidelines provided by the GHG Protocol and the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) emission factors, is utilized to examine the CF of the projects under two different scenarios. The first scenario assumes that the projects were implemented without the pandemic, while the second scenario considers that the projects were conducted entirely during the pandemic. Among the two projects under review, one emphasizes innovation and entails a collaboration between academia and business. This project is supported by a limited number of employees, exclusively from domestic partners. The other project is more oriented toward policy-making and involves a larger group of partners from Greece and Italy. Its main priority is dissemination. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with project activities mainly stem from electricity use, material consumption, project-hosted events, project participation in events, employees commuting, and equipment. Results show that in the first scenario, the projects exhibit a more than 40% increase in CO2 emissions compared to the BC, while in the second scenario, the implementation of measures such as teleworking, virtual participation in events, and digitization of bureaucratic processes lead to a reduction in emissions by at least 20%. The study suggests that adopting such measures after the COVID-19 pandemic could significantly decrease greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]