Publications by authors named "Stavrou S"

Purpose: The maintenance of peri-implant health relies significantly on the integrity of the peri-implant seal, particularly vulnerable at the interface between implant abutment and soft tissue. Early healing stages around implants involve cellular exposure to oxidative stress. This study aimed to investigate whether vacuum ultraviolet (VUV)-treated titanium augments the growth and functionality of human gingival fibroblasts while mitigating cellular stress.

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Membrane-associated RING-CH (MARCH) 2 is a member of the MARCH protein family of RING-CH finger E3 ubiquitin ligases that play important roles in regulating the levels of proteins found on the cell surface. MARCH1, 2 and 8 inhibit HIV-1 infection by preventing the incorporation of the envelope glycoproteins into nascent virions. However, a better understanding of the mechanism utilized by MARCH proteins to restrict HIV-1 infection is needed.

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Cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important aspect in ensuring maritime data protection and operational continuity. Ships, ports, surveillance and navigation systems, industrial technology, cargo, and logistics systems all contribute to a complex maritime environment with a significant cyberattack surface. To that aim, a wide range of cyberattacks in the maritime domain are possible, with the potential to infect vulnerable information and communication systems, compromising safety and security.

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A feature of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants BF.5 and BF.7 that recently circulated mainly in China and Japan was the high prevalence of the ORF7a: H47Y mutation, in which the 47th residue of ORF7a has been mutated from a histidine (H) to a tyrosine (Y).

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Purpose: To examine the behavior and function of human gingival fibroblasts growing on healing abutments with or without laser-textured topography.

Materials And Methods: Human primary gingival connective tissue fibroblasts were cultured on healing abutments with machined or laser-textured (Laser-Lok, BioHorizons) surfaces. Cellular and molecular responses were evaluated by a variety of tests, including cell density assay (WST-1), fluorescence microscopy, real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and detachment tests.

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The development of healthy peri-implant soft tissues is critical to achieving the esthetic and biological success of implant restorations throughout all stages of healing and tissue maturation, starting with provisionalization. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of eight different implant provisional materials on human gingival fibroblasts at various stages of cell settlement by examining initial cell attachment, growth, and function. Eight different specimens-bis-acrylic 1 and 2, flowable and bulk-fill composites, self-curing acrylic 1 and 2, milled acrylic, and titanium (Ti) alloy as a control-were fabricated in rectangular plates ( = 3).

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Membrane-associated RING-CH (MARCH) 2 protein is a member of the MARCH protein family of RING-CH finger E3 ubiquitin ligases that have important functions in regulating the levels of proteins found on the cell surface. MARCH1, 2 and 8 inhibit HIV-1 infection by preventing the incorporation of the envelope glycoproteins in nascent virions. However, a better understanding on the mechanism utilized by MARCH proteins to restrict HIV-1 is needed.

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Objective: The purpose of the study was to assess the efficacy of local ultrasound-guided methotrexate injection in patients with caesarean section scar pregnancy, to chart the course of beta-human chorionic gonadotropin levels (HCG) after treatment, and to see if HCG levels are correlated with clinical presentation.

Methods: Between May 2018 and January 2021, data were collected retrospectively from the Early Pregnancy Unit of a tertiary hospital.

Results: Our clinic assessed 20 patients; one disputed terminating the pregnancy and was not included in the research.

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The discrimination of ovarian lesions presents a significant problem in everyday clinical practice with ultrasonography appearing to be the most effective diagnostic technique. The aim of our study was to externally evaluate the performance of different diagnostic models when applied by examiners with various levels of experience. This was a diagnostic accuracy study including women who were admitted for adnexal masses, between July 2018 and April 2021, to a Greek tertiary oncology center.

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Serine Incorporator 5 (SERINC5), a cellular multipass transmembrane protein that is involved in sphingolipid and phosphatydilserine biogenesis, potently restricts a number of retroviruses, including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). SERINC5 is incorporated in the budding virions leading to the inhibition of virus infectivity. In turn, retroviruses, including HIV, encode factors that counteract the antiviral effect of SERINC5.

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The likelihood of continued circulation of COVID-19 and its variants, and novel coronaviruses due to future zoonotic transmissions, combined with the current paucity of coronavirus antivirals, emphasize the need for improved screening in developing effective antivirals for the treatment of infection by SARS-CoV-2 (CoV2) and other coronaviruses. Here we report the development of a live-cell based assay for evaluating the intracellular function of the critical, highly-conserved CoV2 target, the Main 3C-like protease (Mpro). This assay is based on expression of native wild-type mature CoV2 Mpro, the function of which is quantitatively evaluated in living cells through cleavage of a biosensor leading to loss of fluorescence.

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The membrane-associated RING-CH (MARCH) proteins belong to a family of E3 ubiquitin ligases, whose main function is to remove transmembrane proteins from the plasma membrane. Recent work has shown that the human MARCH1, 2, and 8 are antiretroviral factors that target the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoproteins by reducing their incorporation in the budding virions. Nevertheless, the dearth of information regarding the antiviral mechanism of this family of proteins necessitates further examination.

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In the near future, the fifth-generation wireless technology is expected to be rolled out, offering low latency, high bandwidth and multiple antennas deployed in a single access point. This ecosystem will help further enhance various location-based scenarios such as assets tracking in smart factories, precise smart management of hydroponic indoor vertical farms and indoor way-finding in smart hospitals. Such a system will also integrate existing technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), WiFi and other network infrastructures.

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The APOBEC3 family of antiviral DNA cytosine deaminases is implicated as the second largest source of mutation in cancer. This mutational process may be a causal driver or inconsequential passenger to the overall tumor phenotype. We show that human APOBEC3A expression in murine colon and liver tissues increases tumorigenesis.

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The ine orporator (SERINC) proteins are multipass transmembrane proteins that affect sphingolipid and phosphatidylserine synthesis. Human SERINC5 and SERINC3 were recently shown to possess antiretroviral activity for a number of retroviruses, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), murine leukemia virus (MLV), and equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV). In the case of MLV, the glycosylated Gag (glyco-Gag) protein was shown to counteract SERINC5-mediated restriction in experiments and the viral envelope was found to determine virion sensitivity or resistance to SERINC5.

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Influenza is associated with an increased risk for serious illness, hospitalization and/or death in pregnant women and young infants. We prospectively studied the effectiveness of a quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (QIV) in pregnant women and their infants during the 2018-2019 influenza season. A QIV was offered to pregnant women cared in a maternity hospital in Athens.

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This research work investigates how RSS information fusion from a single, multi-antenna access point (AP) can be used to perform device localization in indoor RSS based localization systems. The proposed approach demonstrates that different RSS values can be obtained by carefully modifying each AP antenna orientation and polarization, allowing the generation of unique, low correlation fingerprints, for the area of interest. Each AP antenna can be used to generate a set of fingerprint radiomaps for different antenna orientations and/or polarization.

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Planning and deploying a functional large scale Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) or a Network of Internet of Things (IoTs) is a challenging task, especially in complex urban environments. A main network design bottleneck is the existence and/or correct usage of appropriate cross layer simulators that can generate realistic results for the scenario of interest. Existing network simulators tend to overlook the complexity of the physical radio propagation layer and consequently do not realistically simulate the main radio propagation conditions that take place in urban or suburban environments, thus passing inaccurate results between Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers.

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Objective: to evaluate the effect of the addition of low dose human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) throughout the early follicular phase in controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) conducted with two difference regimens. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist and short GnRH-agonist protocol were applied in two in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics.

Methods: Clinical study conducted during the period 2014-2016 in two IVF clinics in a cohort of 240 women.

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Tripartite motif (TRIM) proteins belong to a large family with many roles in host biology, including restricting virus infection. Here, we found that TRIM2, which has been implicated in cases of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMTD) in humans, acts by blocking hemorrhagic fever New World arenavirus (NWA) entry into cells. We show that Trim2-knockout mice, as well as primary fibroblasts from a CMTD patient with mutations in TRIM2, are more highly infected by the NWAs Junín and Tacaribe virus than wild-type mice or cells are.

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Introduction: BRCA1 inherited mutation carriers face a lifetime risk of 72% to develop breast cancer and a percentage of 44% risk for ovarian cancer.

Presentation Of Case: We present a case of a 35-year old Caucasian woman who, after the excision of a possible malignant finding on the right breast, was diagnosed with ductal breast carcinoma. The patient treatment included first chemotherapy and radiotherapy and then prophylactic bilateral mastectomy with plastic reconstructive surgery.

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Host recognition of viral nucleic acids generated during infection leads to the activation of innate immune responses essential for early control of virus. Retrovirus reverse transcription creates numerous potential ligands for cytosolic host sensors that recognize foreign nucleic acids, including single-stranded RNA (ssRNA), RNA/DNA hybrids, and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). We and others recently showed that the sensors cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS), DEAD-box helicase 41 (DDX41), and members of the Aim2-like receptor (ALR) family participate in the recognition of retroviral reverse transcripts.

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Objectives: l-dopa decarboxylase (DDC) is responsible for the synthesis of dopamine. Dopamine, which binds to the D-dopamine receptor (D2R), plays an important role in the maintenance of pregnancy. Aim of our study was the analysis of DDC and D2R expression in placentas of spontaneous miscarriages (SMs) and recurrent miscarriages (RMs) in comparison to healthy controls.

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The apolipoprotein B editing complex 3 (APOBEC3) proteins are potent retroviral restriction factors that are under strong positive selection, both in terms of gene copy number and sequence diversity. A common feature of all the members of the APOBEC3 family is the presence of one or two cytidine deamination domains, essential for cytidine deamination of retroviral reverse transcripts as well as packaging into virions. Several studies have indicated that human and mouse APOBEC3 proteins restrict retrovirus infection via cytidine deaminase (CD)-dependent and -independent means.

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