Publications by authors named "Pantazis N"

Background: Individuals who have recently acquired HIV represent a unique population because the time frame since HIV acquisition is relatively short and identification of missed HIV prevention opportunities is, therefore, closer to real time and less subject to recall bias. Identifying prevention measures used and missed opportunities for using them, can help stop further HIV transmission.

Objectives: This systematic review aims to synthesise current global evidence on uptake of HIV prevention methods among people with recently acquired HIV from 2007, the year that the concept of ART as a prevention method was first introduced.

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BackgroundLate HIV diagnosis (CD4+ T-cell count < 350 cells/μL, or with an AIDS-defining event) remains a persistent challenge in Greece, indicating potential missed opportunities (MOs) for earlier testing.AimTo determine the frequency of HIV indicator conditions (ICs) preceding diagnosis and to quantify MOs for earlier testing at a nationwide level in Greece.MethodsThis multicentre retrospective study analysed data on 823 antiretroviral therapy-naive adults (≥ 18 years) diagnosed with HIV during 2019-21.

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Joint modeling of longitudinal and time-to-event data, particularly through shared parameter models (SPMs), is a common approach for handling longitudinal marker data with an informative terminal event. A critical but often neglected assumption in this context is that the visiting/observation process is noninformative, depending solely on past marker values and visit times. When this assumption fails, the visiting process becomes informative, resulting potentially to biased SPM estimates.

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Background: Understanding the reasons for and consequences of bodyweight change in people living with HIV initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) is crucial to optimising long-term health and wellbeing. We aimed to examine bodyweight trends and associated factors among individuals with well estimated dates of HIV-1 seroconversion.

Methods: In this cohort study, we pooled retrospective data from clinical records of participants in CASCADE aged 16 years and older recruited from clinics in France, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and Canada.

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Despite technical advances in recent decades and a decrease in hospital mortality (<5%), pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is still associated with major postoperative complications, even in high-volume centers. The present study aimed to assess the effect of a modified reconstruction technique on postoperative morbidity and mortality. A cohort study of all patients (n=218) undergoing PD between January 2010 and December 2019 was performed at Attikon University Hospital (Athens, Greece).

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  • The study aimed to evaluate how well the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) Index 2.0 predicts specific causes of death in people with HIV (PWH) receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), which could improve targeted healthcare interventions.
  • It involved analyzing data from over 59,000 PWH who started ART between 2000 and 2018, calculating their VACS scores and examining the relationship between these scores and causes of death through various statistical models.
  • Findings revealed that the VACS Index 2.0 was particularly effective at predicting deaths from AIDS-related causes and other measurable health issues, but less reliable for predicting suicides or accidental deaths.
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Background: Men and women with a migration background comprise an increasing proportion of incident human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases across Western Europe.

Methods: To characterize sources of transmission in local transmission chains, we used partial HIV consensus sequences with linked demographic and clinical data from the opt-out AIDS Therapy Evaluation in the Netherlands (ATHENA) cohort of people with HIV in the Netherlands and identified phylogenetically and epidemiologically possible HIV transmission pairs in Amsterdam. We interpreted these in the context of estimated infection dates, and quantified population-level sources of transmission to foreign-born and Dutch-born Amsterdam men who have sex with men (MSM) within Amsterdam transmission chains.

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: The right-sided aortic arch (RAA) is an uncommon variation of the aortic arch (AA), characterized by the aorta crossing over the right main bronchus. In the RAA, the descending aorta can be found on either the right or left side of the spine. The current study comprises a comprehensive retrospective computed tomography angiography (CTA) investigation into the prevalence of the RAA within the Greek population.

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  • Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, prompting a study to evaluate traditional cardiovascular risk factors in SLE patients worldwide between 2015 and 2020.
  • The study included 3,401 SLE patients from 24 countries, predominantly women, revealing high rates of hypertension (35.6%), obesity (23.7%), and hyperlipidaemia (19.8%), with poor control of these risk factors across the board.
  • Notably, patients with antiphospholipid syndrome had higher prevalence of cardiovascular risks but showed better control of blood pressure and lipid levels compared to those without, highlighting international discrepancies in risk factor management.
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Telepsychiatry is an effective tool to support and provide mental health services to prison inmates. In Greece, telepsychiatry was formally applied in two correctional facilities in 2018. The objective of this study was to compare inmates' perceptions and satisfaction with telepsychiatry versus face-to-face consultation.

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Background: Prisoners are often associated with mental health and substance use disorders. Coercive measures are widely used in prison settings. The objective of this study was to compare inmates' perceptions and satisfaction with telepsychiatry versus face-to-face consultation and the effects of telepsychiatry on the use of coercive measures.

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Objective: Interruptions in care of people with HIV (PWH) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) are associated with adverse outcomes, but most studies have relied on composite outcomes. We investigated whether mortality risk following care interruptions differed from mortality risk after first starting ART.

Design: Collaboration of 18 European and North American HIV observational cohort studies of adults with HIV starting ART between 2004 and 2019.

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Introduction: Mortality rates for people living with HIV (PLHIV) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in high-income countries continue to decline. We compared mortality rates among PLHIV on ART in Europe for 2016-2020 with Spectrum's estimates.

Methods: The AIDS Impact Module in Spectrum is a compartmental HIV epidemic model coupled with a demographic population projection model.

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Objective: This cross-sectional study determines the impact of the pandemic lockdowns on physical activity, and evaluates the factors associated with physical activity cessation on students and personnel of eight Greek Higher Education Institutions.

Materials And Methods: A total of 6,380 volunteer participants completed a survey reporting their physical activity levels and perceptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was made available through an online platform.

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Remdesivir was the first antiviral approved for treating COVID-19. We investigated its patterns of use, effectiveness and safety in clinical practice in Greece. This is a retrospective observational study of hospitalized adults who received remdesivir for COVID-19 in September 2020-February 2021.

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Background: Omicron-1 COVID-19 is less invasive in the general population than previous viral variants. However, clinical course and outcome of hospitalised patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia during the shift of the predominance from Delta to Omicron variants are not fully explored.

Methods: During January 2022 consecutively hospitalised patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia were analysed.

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Background: HIV DNA mirrors the number of infected cells and the size of the HIV viral reservoir. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of pre-cART HIV DNA levels as a predictive marker of immune reconstitution and on the post-cART CD4 counts trends.

Methods: HIV DNA was isolated from PBMCs and quantified by real-time PCR.

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Background: Carbapenem-resistant (CRPA) is a life-threatening healthcare-associated infection affecting especially patients with immunosuppression and comorbidities. We investigated the association between the incidence of CRPA bacteremia, antibiotic consumption, and infection control measures in a hospital during 2013-2018.

Methods: We prospectively recorded the incidence of CRPA bacteremia, antibiotic consumption, use of hand-hygiene solutions, and isolation rates of multidrug-resistant (MDR) carrier patients.

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  • There is a growing effort to create cuffless blood pressure (BP) devices, but they vary in accuracy and lack standardized validation protocols for clinical use.
  • The European Society of Hypertension has proposed specific validation procedures for intermittent cuffless BP devices to ensure their accuracy in measuring blood pressure.
  • Validation involves various tests focusing on aspects like overall accuracy, robustness in different positions, and the stability of calibration, and the required tests will differ based on the device's features.
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Few studies in the literature have examined the effect of meteorological factors, especially temperature, on psychiatric hospitalization and even less on their association with involuntary admission. This study aimed to investigate the potential association of meteorological factors with the involuntary psychiatric hospitalization in the region of Attica, Greece. The research was conducted at the Psychiatric Hospital of Attica "Dafni".

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Background: Cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome (CHS) following bypass surgery is a major cause of neurological morbidity and mortality. However, data regarding its prevention have not been assorted until date.

Objective: The objective of this study was to review the literature and evaluate whether any conclusion can be drawn regarding the effectiveness of any measure on preventing bypass-related CHS.

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Introduction: Despite the availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapy (ART), 21 793 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in Europe in 2019. The Concerted action on seroconversion to AIDS and death in Europe study aims to understand current drivers of the HIV epidemic; factors associated with access to, and uptake of prevention methods and ART initiation; and the experiences, needs and outcomes of people with recently acquired HIV.

Methods And Analysis: This longitudinal observational study is recruiting participants aged ≥16 years with documented laboratory evidence of HIV seroconversion from clinics in Canada and six European countries.

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Likelihood-based methods ignoring missingness at random (MAR) produce consistent estimates provided that the whole likelihood model is correct. However, the expected information matrix (EIM) depends on the missingness mechanism. It has been shown that calculating the EIM by considering the missing data pattern as fixed (naive EIM) is incorrect under MAR, but the observed information matrix (OIM) is valid under any MAR missingness mechanism.

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Recovery of CD4-positive T lymphocyte count after initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been thoroughly examined among people with human immunodeficiency virus infection. However, immunological response after restart of ART following care interruption is less well studied. We compared CD4 cell-count trends before disengagement from care and after ART reinitiation.

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