201 research outputs found
Remission as an Emerging Therapeutic Target in Type 2 Diabetes in the Era of New Glucose-Lowering Agents: Benefits, Challenges, and Treatment Approaches
No full textType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a progressive disease with a growing prevalence, associated with an increased risk of complications. The introduction of new classes of antidiabetic drugs into clinical practice has dramatically changed the landscape of diabetes therapy. However, despite the progress made in the pharmacotherapy of T2DM, mitigating the burden of the disease on individuals, societies and health care systems remains a challenge. Remission has recently emerged as a therapeutic target in T2DM, achievable through a wide range of interventions. Recent studies have shown that extensive lifestyle changes, such as weight reduction, bariatric surgery, and intensive glucose lowering therapy, can prompt the remission of diabetes, but some unanswered questions remain regarding its long-term effects on diabetic complications. Metabolic surgery and novel classes of glucose-lowering medications are currently the most effective interventions to induce weight loss and by extension remission in patients with diabetes; however, the ideal strategy to achieve the long-term maintenance of remission remains doubtful. In this narrative review, we discuss the available therapeutic approaches to target the remission of diabetes through personalized multimodal care, based on the latest evidence
Supplementary_File - Flaws in Anticoagulation Strategies in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation at Hospital Discharge
No full textSupplementary_File for Flaws in Anticoagulation Strategies in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation at Hospital Discharge by Anastasios Kartas, Athanasios Samaras, Dimitra Vasdeki, George Dividis, George Fotos, Eleni Paschou, Evropi Forozidou, Paraskevi Tsoukra, Eleni Kotsi, Ioannis Goulas, George Efthimiadis, Haralambos Karvounis, Apostolos Tzikas, and George Giannakoulas in Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics</p
Above the Clouds with Diabetes: From Pathophysiological Considerations to Practical Recommendations for Safe Flights
No full textVasdeki, Dimitra, Georgios Tsamos, Kleoniki I. Athanasiadou, Vasiliki Michou, Evangelos Botsarakos, Michael Doumas, Kalliopi Kotsa, and Theocharis Koufakis. Above the clouds with diabetes: from pathophysiological considerations to practical recommendations for safe flights. High Alt Med Biol. 26:87-98, 2025. Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus has been following an increasing trend in the last decades, leading to a growing number of travelers with diabetes seeking pretravel advice from medical professionals. Methods: This narrative review summarizes the existing evidence on the intriguing association between diabetes and air travel, analyzes safety and certification protocols, and provides practical recommendations for the management of diabetes during flights. Results: During air travel, individuals with diabetes face challenges arising from inappropriate dietary options, restricted access to medications and healthcare services, disruption of medication dosing intervals, and exposure to hypobaric conditions in the airplane cabin. In addition, people with diabetes, especially those treated with insulin, have traditionally been considered ineligible to become professional pilots. However, this approach gradually changes and numerous countries are now implementing strict protocols to determine the eligibility of pilots with diabetes to operate flights. Conclusions: Given the increasing use of technology and new drugs in daily clinical practice, there is a need for further research in the field to shed light on existing knowledge gaps and ensure safe flights for people with diabetes. Copyright 2025, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers
Incidence, Prevention, and Management of Periprocedural Complications of Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion.
No full textMajor procedural complications related to left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) are relatively infrequent but may be associated with major morbidity and mortality. LAAO operators should be knowledgeable about these potential complications. Prompt recognition and treatment are necessary to avoid rapid deterioration and dire consequences. With stringent guidelines on operator training, competency requirements, and procedural-technical refinements, LAAO can be performed safely with low complication rates. This article focuses on commonly used devices, as well as prevention, treatment, and management of complications of LAOO
Structural and dynamic properties of translocase motor SecA:
No full textSecA is a large, 204 kDa, homodimeric, helicase-like protein that is a key component of the bacteria protein secretion machinery. SecA, being a motor protein, couples the translocation of polypeptide segments across or into biological membranes with the expenditure of metabolic energy extracted from ATP hydrolysis. SecA adopts a compact conformation in the cytoplasm but switches to a relaxed one when is engaged to translocation at the membrane. Specific interaction of SecA with SecYEG induces large conformational changes to both partners that result in the stimulation of SecA’s ATPase activity and trigger the opening of the channel.
We use a combination of NMR spectroscopy, Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) and biochemical techniques to characterize E. coli SecA along the protein secretion pathway. Recent advances in isotope labeling and NMR methodology (methyl-TROSY) enabled the NMR study of SecA.
We found that the nucleotide binding cleft of SecA exists in a metastable state that undergoes a disorder-order transition upon nucleotide binding. Our data show that SecA uses a novel mechanism wherein conserved regions lining the cleft undergo cycles of disorder-order transitions while switching among functional catalytic states. The structural relation of SecA to helicases suggests that these proteins may utilize similar mechanisms to convert the ATP binding/hydrolysis energy to mechanical work.
Our data reveal that C domain undergoes cycles of detachment and rebinding to the motor that are linked with the ATPase activation of SecA. When the contacts with the C domain are loosened, SecA becomes activated and this process is probably facilitated by the membrane. Moreover, allosteric communication between the preprotein binding and the motor domain of SecA is regulated by nucleotide and signal peptide binding. Finally, we found that the extreme C terminus of SecY (C6 loop) contacts both the motor and the C domain of SecA and we identified important residues from the loop C6 that mediate this interaction.
In summary, our studies revealed the intimate relation between flexibility and catalytic efficiency in SecA as well the allosteric communication among the domains.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-144)by Dimitra Keramisano
Geolinguistic spaces and the geopolitics of organization studies: movements across centers and peripheries: European group for organisational studies colloquium
No full textAcademic knowledge production and evaluation has been studied as a phenomenon situated across global and (semi)peripheral contexts (Lillis and Curry, 2010; Bennett, 2014). The metaphor of scales draws attention to the study of academic discourses as practices that develop across vertical, hierarchically organized layers (Blommaert, 2010). In this paper, we draw on 3 sub-corpora of organization studies journal articles, with each journal occupying a different position in the impact factor continuum. Building on the work of Lillis and Curry (2010), we study networked activities as social capital in the global academic economy. In our analysis we first examine the epistemological profile of organisation studies, as reflected in differentially ranked journals located in European contexts. We then explore the complex configuration of spaces/localities within and around which the production of knowledge takes place, by examining networks of author affiliations in relation to the identified sites in the empirical papers included in the corpus. Finally, we examine how constructions of the ‘local’ and the ‘global’ relate to the themes foregrounded in the aims and scope of each journal and we explore how discourses of the ‘local’ and the ‘global’ relate to key concepts in the field of organization studies, including institutions, alternatives and resistance, as well as power and gender
The right to childhoods : critical perspectives on rights, difference and knowledge in a transient world
No full textThis book offers an engaging study that analyses contemporary childhood by examining new lines of argument about diversity, disability and difference. The author critiques the key issues that affect both adults' and children's quality of life, including market-driven values, poverty and civic disengagement.In this fascinating study, Dimitra Hartas analyses contemporary childhood. She discusses the plurality inherent in childhood and the cultural, ideological, social and biological forces that shape children's experience of growing up in the 21st century. She engages with new lines of argument about diversity, disability and difference, and critiques the big issues that affect both adults' and children's quality of life such as market-driven values, poverty and civic disengagement.Hartas uncovers evidence of how the right to childhood is being violated in both the developed and developing world and how our consumerist culture is shaping children's lives in ways that are not always understood, and advocates the right to childhoods. She concludes by discussing the implications of her findings for both policy and practice in early childhood education, and examines pedagogies that are responsive to ethics, diversity and difference
SPECIAL ISSUE | Digital Role-Playing Games and Theatre: Retooling and Repurposing Entertainment, Art, Learning (Part 2)
No full textAuthors: Aikaterini Delikonstantinidou National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Dimitra Nikolaidou Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Download PDF version THEATRE AND/AS DIGITAL GAME As Lori M. Shyba has proposed, central among the benefits to be reaped by MMORPGs via the incorporation of theatre tools are enhanced gameplay experiences, games’ development as “a unique art form,” and their emergence as “an experiential way to rehearse social change” (2007, 779). The latter insof..
SPECIAL ISSUE | Digital Role-Playing Games and Theatre: Retooling and Repurposing Entertainment, Art, Learning (Part 1)
No full textAuthors: Aikaterini Delikonstantinidou National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Dimitra Nikolaidou Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Download PDF version INTRODUCTION What do Shakespeare’s The Tempest and modern gaming have in common? According to Gina Bloom’s Gaming the Stage (2018), the answer is a set of strategies of playing, such as withholding, divulging, speculating, and wagering on knowledge. These, on the one hand, allowed one to act upon their knowledge of gaming in ..
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