Neuropsychology in Greece: Results from a survey of practicing professionals.

Neuropsychology is a fast-growing specialty in Greece. This study surveyed the status of neuropsychologists in Greece investigating several aspects of the profession. An online-based questionnaire collected data from December 2019 to February 2020.

Driving Behavior That Limits Concentration: A Nationwide Survey in Greece.

Human behavior is implicated in most road accidents. The current study examined drivers' behavior that interferes with decision making and reaction time to an incidence. Adults (≥17 years-old) participated in a questionnaire-based survey for driver's behavior.

Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on perinatal mental health (Riseup-PPD-COVID-19): protocol for an international prospective cohort study.

Background: Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19) is a new pandemic, declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization, which could have negative consequences for pregnant and postpartum women. The scarce evidence published to date suggests that perinatal mental health has deteriorated since the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the few studies published so far have some limitations, such as a cross-sectional design and the omission of important factors for the understanding of perinatal mental health, including governmental restriction measures and healthcare practices implemented at the maternity hospitals.

Crowdsourcing neuroscience: Inter-brain coupling during face-to-face interactions outside the laboratory.

When we feel connected or engaged during social behavior, are our brains in fact "in sync" in a formal, quantifiable sense? Most studies addressing this question use highly controlled tasks with homogenous subject pools. In an effort to take a more naturalistic approach, we collaborated with art institutions to crowdsource neuroscience data: Over the course of 5 years, we collected electroencephalogram (EEG) data from thousands of museum and festival visitors who volunteered to engage in a 10-min face-to-face interaction. Pairs of participants with various levels of familiarity sat inside the Mutual Wave Machine-an artistic neurofeedback installation that translates real-time correlations of each pair's EEG activity into light patterns.

Brain computer interface based applications for training and rehabilitation of students with neurodevelopmental disorders. A literature review.

The aim of this article is to explore a paradigm shift on Brain Computer Interface (BCI) research, as well as on intervention best practices for training and rehabilitation of students with neurodevelopmental disorders. Recent studies indicate that BCI devices have positive impact on students' attention skills and working memory as well as on other skills, such as visuospatial, social, imaginative and emotional abilities. BCI applications aim to emulate humans' brain and address the appropriate understanding for each student's neurodevelopmental disorders.

Social media mining for smart cities and smart villages research.

The imperative of well-being and improved quality of life in smart cities context can only be attained if the smart services, so central to the concept of smart cities, correspond with the needs, expectations and skills of cities' inhabitants. Considering that social media generate and/or open real-time entry points to vast amounts of data pertinent to well-being and quality of life, such as citizens' expectations, opinions, as well as to recent developments related to regulatory frameworks, debates, political decisions and policymaking, the big question is how to exploit the potential inherent in social media and use it to enhance the value added smart cities generate. Social mining is traditionally understood as the process of representing, analyzing, and extracting actionable patterns and trends from raw social media data.

Tobacco dependence treatment for special populations: challenges and opportunities.

Although smoking rates have declined in most of the countries in the world, there are population groups within these countries whose smoking rates remain significantly higher than the general population. These "forgotten groups" who have not been receiving the needed attention in tobacco control policies and tobacco cessation efforts include people with serious mental illness, substance use disorders, tuberculosis, people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer people, and pregnant women. A number of steps are needed at the national level in countries where these disparities exist, including modifications to national smoking cessation treatment guidelines that address the special needs of these populations, as well as targeted smoking cessation research, since these populations are often not included in clinical trials.

An Educational Scenario for the Learning of the Conic Section: Studying the Ellipse with the Use of Digital Tools and Elements of Differentiated Instruction and Cognitive Neurosciences.

This study presents an educational scenario for the learning of the conic section, the ellipse. The scenario was designed based on the results of neuroeducation research and upon the principles of differentiated instruction. The proposition includes utilization of multiple representational tools as well as several tangible tools, the use of which can support the context of differentiated instruction according to the principles of cognitive neurosciences.

Lung function changes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma exposed to secondhand smoke in outdoor areas.

Background: Further evidence is needed on the effects that short- and long-term exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) have on the respiratory health of patients with lung disease. Within the TackSHS project we aimed to assess the acute respiratory effects in lung function that result from short-term SHS exposure among patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: The study design was an intervention trial with measurements before/after exposure to SHS in legal outdoor smoking areas.

Who Smokes in Europe? Data From 12 European Countries in the TackSHS Survey (2017-2018).

Background: Population data on tobacco use and its determinants require continuous monitoring and careful inter-country comparison. We aimed to provide the most up-to-date estimates on tobacco smoking from a large cross-sectional survey, conducted in selected European countries.

Methods: Within the TackSHS Project, a face-to-face survey on smoking was conducted in 2017-2018 in 12 countries: Bulgaria, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Spain, representing around 80% of the 432 million European Union (EU) adult population.

A Systematic Literature Review of E-Cigarette-Related Illness and Injury: Not Just for the Respirologist.

Following the recent electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) illness outbreak, the current review aimed to collect all related clinical cases for study and analysis and provide a critical synopsis of the proposed injury mechanism. Adhering to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis) guidelines, e-cigarette-related clinical cases were identified via Google Scholar and PubMed databases. Additionally, references of published case reports and previous review papers were manually searched, revealing 159 publications presenting e-cigarette-related case reports and 19 reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Generic Design of Driver Drowsiness and Stress Recognition Using MOGA Optimized Deep MKL-SVM.

Driver drowsiness and stress are major causes of traffic deaths and injuries, which ultimately wreak havoc on world economic loss. Researchers are in full swing to develop various algorithms for both drowsiness and stress recognition. In contrast to existing works, this paper proposes a generic model using multiple-objective genetic algorithm optimized deep multiple kernel learning support vector machine that is capable to recognize both driver drowsiness and stress.

Passive exposure of non-smokers to E-Cigarette aerosols: Sensory irritation, timing and association with volatile organic compounds.

Aim: The current study examined symptoms of irritation reported by non-smokers passively exposed to e-cigarette aerosols and their timing and association with the concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced.

Methods: 40 healthy non-smoking adults were exposed to e-cigarette aerosols for 30 min in a 35 m room. Second-hand e-cigarette aerosol (SHA) was produced by an experienced e-cigarette user using a standardized topography and two resistance settings (exposure 0.

A cross-cultural perspective on impact of health and nutrition claims, country-of-origin and eco-label on consumer choice of new aquaculture products.

Over the last decade, an increasing number of new value-added aquaculture products made their way onto the European market, as a response to growing demand for healthier diet, and more sustainable and locally produced protein sources. The importance of these drivers of consumer choice for aquaculture products' acceptance paves the way for a relevant reorientation of the European aquaculture industry towards a more consumer-centred approach. This research uses discrete choice experiments to examine the effect of health and nutrition claims, country-of-origin (COO), and eco-labels on consumer choice of new aquaculture products in a cross-cultural context.

Using a systemic approach to address the requirement for Integrated Water Resource Management within the Water Framework Directive.

Sustainable management of water resources calls for integration of ideas and approaches and revolves around assessment of causal-effect relationships as tools towards defining informed mitigation options and planning. The current paper presents a new holistic approach developed within the Globaqua Coordination Project that combines indicator-based well-established and tested concepts towards developing informed Programmes of Measures and River basin management plans: a. The DPSIR framework that has been engaged as central instrument to address the Water Framework Directive requirements and the concepts embedded in the Integrated Water Resource Management; b.

The role of family and personality traits in Internet gaming disorder: A mediation model combining cognitive and attachment perspectives.

Background And Aims: Gaming disorder was recently recognized as a mental health disorder by the World Health Organization and included in the International Classification of Diseases. Extensive research has been conducted with regard to psychosocial correlates and comorbidity, less so for the developmental mechanisms and the processes leading to the disorder. The association between family factors, personality traits, and gaming has been studied independently but not in combination.

WHO FCTC Article 14 enforcement in Albania: An urgent issue to tackle.

Tobacco use is a major preventable risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer etc. Smoking prevalence in Albania is high. The country ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2006 and has passed different bills and adopted strict tobacco control laws during the years.

A pilot study of the Tobacco Treatment Guidelines for High-Risk Groups (TOB-G) for pregnant and postpartum women.

Introduction: Maternal smoking constitutes a significant risk to the fetus and is associated with multiple adverse pregnancy outcomes. Despite this, an estimated 6-19% of women in Europe smoke during pregnancy. We conducted a pilot study to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of the clinical practice recommendations of the 2017 Tobacco Cessation Guidelines for High-Risk Groups (TOB-G) for pregnant and postpartum women in an outpatient obstetrics setting.

Counselling for smoking cessation during pregnancy reduces tobacco-specific nitrosamine (NNAL) concentrations: A randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Smoking cessation during pregnancy is beneficial to both the mother and child. Our objective was to assess if an intensive smoking cessation intervention for pregnant women increases: a) rates of smoking cessation, and b) reduces exposure to tobacco-specific carcinogens during pregnancy.

Methods: A two-group single-blinded parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted involving 84 pregnant smokers in either a high intensity (n=42) or minimal contact control group (n=42).

Adaptation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Children's Knowledge of Abuse Questionnaire (CKAQ-RIII) in Greek Elementary School Children.

The purpose of the present study was to culturally adapt and validate the Children's Knowledge of Abuse Questionnaire-RIII (CKAQ-RIII), a tool that examines children's understanding of sexual abuse concepts, for use in Greek elementary schools. A sample of 467 Greek school children between the ages of 6-9 was recruited from a private school. The CKAQ-RIII was administrated three times, before and immediately after a Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) prevention intervention program, as well as during a one-year follow-up evaluation.

Short-term impact of the EuroPean Accredited Curriculum on Tobacco Treatment Training (EPACTT) program.

Introduction: The aim of this pilot study was to assess the short-term effectiveness of the EuroPean Accredited Curriculum on Tobacco Treatment Training intervention in improving health care providers' knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy related to tobacco dependence treatment.

Methods: A pre-post pilot study was conducted. The two-day training intervention took place in Brussels in April 2016.

The TOBg Tobacco Treatment Guidelines for Adolescents: A real-world pilot study.

Introduction: We conducted a pilot study to: 1) obtain feedback from prevention practitioners in terms of their satisfaction, knowledge, and self-efficacy following exposure to the Tobacco Treatment Guidelines for Adolescents (TOBg Guidelines); and 2) examine the effectiveness of a school-based intervention based on the TOBg Guidelines on quit rates among a sample of adolescent tobacco users.

Methods: Two parallel studies were conducted. In Study 1, prevention practitioners were exposed to a 1-day training in the TOBg Guidelines with assessment occurring before, immediately after, and at 6 months following the training.

Food addiction, orthorexia, and food-related stress among dietetics students.

Purpose: Health sciences, and in particular Nutrition and Dietetics students, have been shown to exhibit an increased prevalence of disordered eating. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to evaluate other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFEDs), including stress-related eating, food addiction, and orthorexia, in relation to the dietary intake, among nutrition/dietetics students.

Methods: A total of 176 undergraduate students from a Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, in Greece, participated in the study.

Passive exposure to e-cigarette emissions: Immediate respiratory effects.

Introduction: The present work examined the effect of passive exposure to electronic-cigarette (e-cigarette) emissions on respiratory mechanics and exhaled inflammatory biomarkers.

Methods: A cross-over experimental study was conducted with 40 healthy nonsmokers, 18-35 years old with normal physical examination and spirometry, with body mass index <30 kg/m, who were exposed to e-cigarette emissions produced by a smoker, according to a standardized protocol based on two resistance settings, 0.5 ohm and 1.

Impact of the Tobacco Treatment Guidelines for High Risk Groups (TOB.g): A pilot study among physicians specializing in CVD, Diabetes and COPD.

Introduction: The 2017 Tobacco Cessation Guidelines for High-risk Groups (TOB-G) is a comprehensive document on best practices for smoking cessation in clinical practice. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess physician satisfaction and changes in tobacco-related knowledge, self-efficacy and attitudes following exposure to training in the TOB-G guidelines for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or diabetes.

Methods: A pre-post pilot study was conducted.