Attitudes and behaviours of Greeks concerning blood donation: recruitment and retention campaigns should be focused on need rather than altruism.

Background: Blood supplies in Greece are insufficient to meet the high transfusion needs arising from car accidents and treatment of thalassaemia. This study was designed to determine Greeks' opinions about blood donation, in order to identify the reasons for the lack of motivation to donate and allow experts to establish better recruitment campaigns for the enrichment of the donor pool, based on our findings.

Materials And Methods: The opinions of randomly selected Greek citizens (n=800) about volunteer blood donation were assessed by means of a standardised, anonymous questionnaire.

Knowledge about umbilical cord blood banking among Greek citizens.

Background: Umbilical cord blood supplies in Greece are not sufficient to meet the high transfusion needs. This study was designed to determine Greeks' opinion about umbilical cord blood, identify the reasons for the lack of motivation to donate umbilical cord blood and allow experts to establish better recruitment campaigns to enrich the donor pool.

Materials And Methods: The attitudes and knowledge about umbilical cord blood of randomly selected Greek citizens (n=1,019) were assessed by means of a standardised anonymous questionnaire.

Milestones in the history of research on cardiac energy metabolism.

The present study summarizes the history of research on cardiac metabolism from antiquity till the 21st century. It describes important landmarks regarding the discovery of oxygen and of the 3 steps of cellular respiration, as well as major research on cardiac energy metabolism. For this purpose, we conducted a thorough search of original manuscripts, books, and contemporary reviews published in PubMed.

A brief chronicle of cytology: from Janssen to Papanicolaou and beyond.

The aim of our study was to outline and present the major hallmarks in the history of clinical cytology. For this purpose, an extensive research in modern literature and the PubMed database was undertaken. Furthermore, we studied original papers and books of the pioneers in cytopathology.