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Seventy years after its first investigation, Karphi (Karfi) on Crete was the subject of a new pilot excavation in 2008. The main aim was to provide the first up-to-date detailed contextual records for the site across a representative area, thus filling in interpretative gaps left by the original extensive excavation. This paper presents and analyses these records with the aim of investigating the likely complexity of social systems at one of the largest new communities founded in Crete after the collapse of Bronze Age states c.1200 bc. Recent research has tended to focus on small villages, or on sites which later developed into poleis, meaning that crisis-period remains are poorly preserved. Occupied only between the crisis horizon of c.1200 bcand an important nucleation of Cretan communities at large ‘proto-polis’ settlements occurring in the early tenth century, the large Karphi site offers insight into the special challenges of creating large, potentially diverse new communities in crisis circumstances. It has one of the most dramatic of the new settlement locations, on steep-sided peaks 1100 m above sea level in an area which had never previously been settled. The social and economic adjustments needed here were particularly sharp and urgent, and the paper examines the structures which enabled them, using preliminary analyses of bioarchaeological data from the new project to assist reconstruction of the economy. The site has had other, highly specialised uses in its history, on which the new excavation has thrown light. The results highlight not only the resonance of this landscape in ancient consciousness, but also the ways in which such resonance could be exploited, both in the socially volatile post-collapse period and in the context of enhanced social and economic complexity as polis states started to come into being. Finally, a first set of radiocarbon dates from the new excavation is presented and assessed with regard to the dating of the Cretan Bronze to Iron Age transition and its wider ramifications.

AbstractBackground:Acute pancreatitis is a form of inflammation with clinical features ranging from pancreatic inflammation to fatal systemic manifestations. The aim of this study was to clarify changes in lymphocyte subsets and alterations in the functioning of natural killer (NK) cells. Patients and Methods:Forty-five patients were enrolled into the study; 35 with acute pancreatitis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and 10 healthy subjects. Blood was sampled early from all patients. Blood immune cells were studied on days 1 and 4 by flow cytometry. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) and interleukin (IL)-6 were estimated from supernatants of NK cells before/after stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Results:Apoptosis in patients was significantly different on days 1 and 4 compared with controls. Apoptosis of CD4(+) lymphocytes was significantly correlated with the days to resolution of SIRS (r = +0.586, p = 0.022). Significant differences were observed in TNFα and IL-6 on day 1 with/without LPS stimulation between patients and healthy individuals. Significantly increased levels of TNFα and IL-6 were found after LPS stimulation compared with unstimulated supernatants in day 1. Conclusion:NK cells altered their secretory status when stimulated with LPS. This finding could be explained by the cellular reprogramming of NK cells in the field of acute pancreatitis and SIRS.Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel and IAP

AbstractA general method based on an effective algorithm for construction of E(s2)-optimal, two-level supersaturated designs with the equal occurrence property, from supplementary difference sets is introduced. Supersaturated designs constructed in this way are E(s2)-optimal. Comparisons are made with previous works and it is shown that the proposed method gives promising results for the construction of supersaturated designs with good properties.

Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2(Lp-PLA2) is an independent cardiovascular risk factor. We investigated the plasma levels of Lp-PLA2activity and mass as a function of plasma lipid levels, LDL subclass profile, and oxidative stress in patients with β-thalassemia. Thirty-five patients with β-thalassemia major (β-TM) and 25 patients with β-thalassemia intermedia (β-TI) participated in the study. Lp-PLA2activity and mass were measured in total plasma, in apolipoprotein (apo)B-depleted plasma (HDL-Lp-PLA2), and in LDL subclasses. Lp-PLA2activity produced and secreted from peripheral blood monocytes in culture was also determined. Patients with β-thalassemia are characterized by a predominance of small-dense LDL particles, increased oxidative stress, and very high plasma levels of Lp-PLA2mass and activity, despite low LDL-cholesterol levels. A significant positive correlation between plasma Lp-PLA2activity or mass and 8-isoprostane (8-epiPGF2a) and ferritin levels as well as intima-media thickness (IMT) values was observed. An increase in secreted and cell-associated Lp-PLA2activity from monocytes in culture was observed in both patient groups. The HDL-Lp-PLA2activity and mass as well as the ratio of HDL-Lp-PLA2/plasma Lp-PLA2were significantly higher in both patient groups compared with the control group. In conclusion, patients with β-thalassemia exhibit high plasma Lp-PLA2levels, attributed to increased enzyme secretion from monocytes/macrophages and to the predominance of sdLDL particles in plasma. Plasma Lp-PLA2is correlated with carotid IMT, suggesting that this enzyme may be implicated in premature carotid atherosclerosis observed in β-thalassemia.

Abstract: In this paper, we propose the application of group screening methods for analyzing data using -optimal mixed-level supersaturated designs possessing the equal occurrence property. Supersaturated designs are a large class of factorial designs which can be used for screening out the important factors from a large set of potentially active variables. The huge advantage of these designs is that they reduce the experimental cost drastically, but their critical disadvantage is the high degree of confounding among factorial effects. Based on the idea of the group screening methods, the factors are sub-divided into “group-factors”. The “group-factors” are then studied using the penalized likelihood statistical analysis methods at a factorial design with orthogonal or near-orthogonal columns. All factors in groups found to have a large effect are then studied in a second stage of experiments. A comparison of the Type I and Type II error rates of various estimation methods via simulation experiments is performed. The results are presented in tables and discussion follows. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes after duct-to-duct anastomoses with or without biliary T-tube in orthotopic liver transplantation.

AbstractThe aim of this study is the application of the longitudinal data analysis in real medical data which are referred to the predicted death rate of patients who were hospitalized above four days in an Intensive Care Unit using four different scoring systems. Specifically, these systems estimate the acute disorders in the various organs of patients in combination with their age and history The random effects logistic regression model for binary outcomes was fitted and many useful conclusions were arisen concerning which variables are statistically significant. Also, missing values were replaced with five different ways. The results of both descriptive statistics and multilevel analysis reveal the statistically significant factors which are useful in their practical and clinical application.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the nutrient intake of a non-institutionalized Greek elderly population. Dietary intake and anthropometric data were investigated in 100 elderly subjects from Grevena, Greece, all belonging to the race of “Hasiotes.” According to BMI classification, 48% of the subjects are considered overweight and 20% obese. WHR for women and men was 0.91 and 0.98, respectively. Both genders presented insufficient energy intake (7.27 ± 3.49MJ/d) in 3 ± 0.9 feeding sessions daily. Mean protein and fiber intake was 0.82 ± 0.43 and 0.29 ± 0.2g/kg BW, respectively. The diet presented insufficient amounts of vitamins A, B6, D, E, K, Biotin, Pantothenic acid, Cu, I, Mg, Mn and Zn. Female subjects exhibited low dietary intake of vitamins B2, B3 and Ca. The diet had many characteristics of the traditional Mediterranean diet and comprised of a high intake of goat-milk yoghurt, olive oil, goat cheese, traditional alcohol drinks, pies, legumes, fruits and meat. The majority of the sample (70%), reported fasting on Orthodox celebrations. Further research should assess adherence to the Mediterranean diet with the use of scores and compare diet characteristics to other regions in Greece, in order to present regional differences in Greek diet variations.

AbstractWe apply the distance distribution from Coding Theory to search for normalized Hadamard matrices of order nembedded into normalized Hadamard matrices of order m, when 2n≤m.

Our aim was to study the expression pattern of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-3 protein in invasive breast carcinoma, and its clinicopathological and prognostic value as well as its relation to markers indicative of the tumor phenotype. Immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from 173 invasive breast carcinomas to detect the proteins TIMP-3, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor, p53, c-erbB-2, topoisomerase IIα and Bcl-2. TIMP-3 protein was immunodetected in the cytoplasm of the malignant cells and the peritumoral stroma, as well as in in situcarcinoma and normal epithelium. Reduced expression of TIMP-3 protein within cancer cells was correlated with carcinomas of high nuclear and histological grade (p= 0.032 and p= 0.015, respectively), and low ER expression (p= 0.053). Moreover, TIMP-3 immunopositivity was inversely correlated with the expression of p53 and topoIIα proteins (p= 0.002 and p= 0.008, respectively), whereas it was positively associated with Bcl-2 expression (p= 0.020). Reduced expression of TIMP-3 protein within cancer cells was found to have an unfavorable impact on disease-free survival (p= 0.052) in the entirety of the patient population, as well as in both subgroups of lymph-node-positive and mutant-p53-negative patients (p= 0.007 and p= 0.037, respectively). Stromal localization of TIMP-3 protein was found to have no clinicopathological or prognostic value. This is the first immunohistochemical study to show that TIMP-3 protein within cancer cells is associated with tumor phenotype. Reduced expression of TIMP-3 protein within cancer cells was found to correlate with an aggressive tumor phenotype, negatively affecting the disease-free survival of both subgroups of lymph node-positive and mutant-p53-negative patients.

Purpose: To present the indications, technique, complications, and contraindications for CT-guided percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) as an alternative to standard fluoroscopy-guided puncture that involves no radiation exposure for the radiologist.Patients and Methods: Between June 2000 and July 2004, 258 percutaneous CT-guided nephrostomies were performed in 215 patients in our department. Most patients (201; 93%) underwent PCN for obstructive uropathy, while 14 (7%) required the procedure as treatment for nonobstructive bladder trauma. All patients had subsequent insertion of a nephrostomy tube under CT guidance.Results: Percutaneous access was achieved without major complications in all patients. The most common complication was pain at the puncture site. In 50 patients (23%), the nephrostomy catheter remained in place until full decompression of the obstruction. In the 14 patients with bladder trauma, the catheter was removed after trauma repair. In 151 patients (70%), the catheter’s placement was permanent.Conclusion: Percutaneous CT-guided nephrostomy is a reliable, safe, fast, and highly effective method associated with a low complication rate that involves no radiation for the interventional radiologist.

Objectives: To investigate an outbreak of glycopeptide-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (GREF) in the intensive care unit (ICU) of ‘G. Gennimatas’ General Hospital, Athens, Greece. Materials and methods: Between August 2000 and November 2001, 20 highly GREF isolates were recovered from severe infections of separate patients in the ICU. The isolates were tested by PCR, PFGE, mating experiments and plasmid analysis. Results: All isolates carried the vanA gene. Nineteen isolates fitted to one clone by macrorestriction analysis with four subclones being consecutively detected. Each subclone seemed to predominate for a specific time period. Additionally, four GREF isolates related to the ICU clone were recovered from other wards of the hospital. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that a monoclonal GREF outbreak persisted for more than 1 year in a large Greek hospital. The rate of GREF isolation declined after the application of infection control measures.

The primary root of Arabidopsis has a simple cellular organisation. The fixed radial cell pattern results from stereotypical cell divisions that occur in the meristem. Here we describe the characterisation of schizoriza (scz), a mutant with defective radial patterning. In scz mutants, the subepidermal layer (ground tissue) develops root hairs. Root hairs normally only form on epidermal cells of wild-type plants. Moreover, extra periclinal divisions (new wall parallel to surface of the root) occur in the scz root resulting in the formation of supernumerary layers in the ground tissue. Both scarecrow (scr) and short root (shr) suppress the extra periclinal divisions characteristic of scz mutant roots. This results in the formation of a single layered ground tissue in the double mutants. Cells of this layer develop root hairs, indicating that mis-specification of the ground tissue in scz mutants is uncoupled to the cell division defect. This suggests that during the development of the ground tissue SCZ has two distinct roles: (1) it acts as a suppressor of epidermal fate in the ground tissue, and (2) it is required to repress periclinal divisions in the meristem. It may act in the same pathway as SCR and SHR.

Modern experiments allow scientists to tackle scientific problems of increasing complexity. Often experiments are characterised by factors that have levels which are harder to set than others. A possible solution is the use of a split-plot design. Many solutions are available in the literature to find optimal designs that focus solely on optimising a single criterion. Multi-criteria approaches have been developed to overcome the limitations of the one-objective optimisation, however they mainly focus on estimating the precision of the fixed factor effects, ignoring the variance component estimation. The Multi-Stratum Two-Phase Local Search (MS-TPLS) algorithm for multi-objective optimisation of designs of experiments is extended, in order to ensure pure-error estimation of the variance components. The proposed solution is applied to two motivating problems and the final optimal Pareto front and related designs are compared with other designs from the relevant literature. Experimental results show that the designs from the obtained Pareto front represent good candidate solutions based on the different objectives.

The covid-19 pandemic has unleashed unprecedented shocks across all aspects of society. Especially, the energy sector is in no exception, with concerns being raised about how governments and private sector will recover from the economic recession but continue working towards clean energy transition. Firm commitments and targeted energy efficiency (EE) investments are required. This study's aim is twofold; firstly, a review on the energy sector crisis with the critical role of EE investments and the investigation of available Decision Support (DS) tools to boost such recovery. The methodology followed by a review on strategically selected countries to capture their energy recovery needs and strategies. Results showed that EE investments will assist in countering pandemic recession, therefore, innovative DS tools and standardisation methods are required. However, hardly any tool exists identifying sustainable investments with strong potential to meet their commitments. The Triple-A Horizon 2020 standardised tools are considered to play critical role enabling EE projects to get financed towards assessing the EE investments' risks.

Natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity (NCMC) has been shown to be attenuated during recovery from high-intensity or prolonged exercise. Two theories have been proposed to explain the transient suppression of NCMC: prostaglandin-induced inhibition of natural killer (NK) cell activity or a numerical redistribution of NK cells. This study was designed to examine the effects of oral indomethacin (a prostaglandin inhibitor) on NCMC before and after 1 h of high-intensity running (85% maximal oxygen uptake). A secondary purpose was to compare whole blood and isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cell assay procedures for assessing NCMC. Ten male distance runners completed two trials that were preceded by either 48 h of indomethacin (Indo; 150 mg/day) or no treatment (control). NK (CD3−/CD16+/CD56+) cell concentrations were significantly elevated postexercise but were not affected by Indo. NCMC was significantly suppressed at 1.5 h of recovery relative to preexercise only with the whole blood assay procedure. Indo was not found to influence NCMC, leukocyte, or lymphocyte subset concentrations. Mean cytotoxic response was significantly greater with the whole blood method.

In the present study the oxidation by chromic acid of some long-chain aliphatic aldehydes is investigated in a liquid-liquid interfacial system. For comparison the same oxidation was performed with the aldehydes dispersed in water. Higher yields were obtained in interfacial experiments as compared to the ones obtained when the aldehydes were dispersed in water. These results are rationalized by the fact that in the interfacial experiments reactants and products are exposed for short periods of time to the oxidative action of chromic acid, being in a way protected in the organic phase. Concerning the crucial problem of the reaction site i.e. where actually the oxidation occurs in interfacial experiments, it seems, based on kinetics and activation parameter determination as well as by modification of the interface with surfactants, that the oxidation occurs at the liquid-liquid interface and to a lesser extent in the aqueous phase. However, futher work is under way for the complete elucidation of the interfacial process.

Two cDNA clones of the soybean early nodulin GmENOD55 were characterized. These clones may represent two members of the soybean early nodulin gene family GmENOD55. GmENOD55 has an N-terminal signal peptide and it contains an internal domain consisting of proline and serine residues. Analyses of nodules lacking infection threads and intracellular bacteria suggest that the GmENOD55 gene is first expressed after release ofBradyrhizobium japonicum in plant cells. This conclusion is supported byin situ hybridization studies showing that the expression is restricted to the infected cell type.

Ketotifen was administered orally, for 3 months, to 40 children aged 3-14 years with chronic extrinsic asthma of moderate severity in a double-blind placebo-controlled study. A significant clinical improvement with concomitant reduction of antiasthmatic drugs was found in the group receiving the active drug compared with the placebo group (p < 0.05). The continued administration of ketotifen in an open study to a group of 21 children comprised of patients belonging to both groups (active-placebo) for a period of 15-18 months resulted in disappearance of symptoms in 10 children (47.6%) and moderate improvement in 7 (33.3%)

•New data on the use and the maintenance of the space in Area Pi at Malia, Crete.•Micromorphological analysis for the use of space in Room 16, 19 and Space 25, Area Pi.•Correlation of archaeological and micromorphological data on use of space in Area Pi.

ABSTRACTHereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a disease characterized by arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Brain abscess is a complication of HHT with AVMs. Literature provides evidence that Enterococcus faecaliscan cause endodontic infections. We present the case of an HHT patient who developed brain abscess due to E. faecalisafter a dental procedure.

Mammalian bone marrow (BM) regeneration after myeloablation requires orchestrated interplay between osteogenesis, angiogenesis and hematopoiesis. Specific subsets of endothelial cells (ECs) have been identified in mice, including sinusoidal ECs (Hooper et al., 2009) and H-endothelium (Kusumbe et al., 2014, 2016; Ramasamy et al., 2014), that drive and coordinate these processes. Their relevance to human biology, however, remains largely elusive.

Background: Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is defined by the presence of hematologic cancer associated mutations in the peripheral blood (PB) of at least 10% of elderly people without history of hematologic disorders (Genovese et al., NEJM, 2014; Jaiswal et al., NEJM, 2014). At present, caution is needed when predicting clinical consequences from CHIP in healthy people. An essential step towards a better understanding of CHIP requires identification of the cell of origin, clonal expansion patterns within the hematopoietic differentiation tree, and its dynamic behavior under stress scenarios (e.g.chemotherapy).

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

The built environment is a large contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions. The first step in tackling environmental impact and fuel cost reduction is the minimization of energy losses through introduction of new and more efficient energy conversion technologies. In this study, the potential application of fuel cell micro-CHP in a typical office building is investigated. A 1.5 k Welfuel cell micro-CHP has been installed in an office building at CIBSE headquarters (HQ). The unit converts natural gas to electricity, using Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) stack. The installation and data from the operation of the system is discussed. The data shows that the heat recovered from the SOFC stack covers most of the domestic hot water requirement of the office building, requiring minimal top-up from the immersion heater.