Area Of Crete Research Articles

User Friendliness Aspects of Home Care Telematics

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease with a high number of admissions and emergency room visits in pediatric hospitals. Treatment of asthmatic patients is best done by asthma specialists and requires the chronic use of prophylactic medications, additional treatment for acute exacerbations and regular check-ups. In Crete, a Greek island, there are many children with asthma who are not receiving care by an asthma specialist. The only specialty clinic for asthmatic children in Crete is in Heraklion, a city in the center of the island. We attempted to use telemedicine in order to reach and follow children with asthma who live in distant areas in Crete. We set up a pilot telemedicine program with 10 asthmatic children already followed at the Specialty Clinic. Using teleconferencing techniques, we were able to obtain the medical history, examine the patients, educate them about the disease and adjust the treatment. The parents of patients accepted the telemedicine service with a percentage of 90% and showed a special interest in this new service. We conclude that telemedicine for asthmatic children performed by their specialist is feasible and accepted by the majority of patients.

Urinary Incontinence, the Hidden Health Problem of Cretan Women: Report from a Primary Care Survey in Greece

ABSTRACT Objective: The prevalence of urine leakage and care-seeking rates of women 35–75 years of age who visited GPs in two rural areas of Crete were investigated Participants: All the women who visited their family physician in two primary care units during the period of August to November 1997 (N = 251) were asked if they had experienced symptoms of involuntary urine leakage. A set of questions was addressed to the women who replied positively. Results: Sixty-nine of the 251 women (27.5%) reported symptoms of involuntary urine leakage, and among the incontinent women 11 (15.9%) had previously contacted the health services about their problem. Only six out of thirty (20%) of the incontinent women who report effects on household activities, social and sexual life had contacted a physician about urinary incontinence (UI). The most common reason reported for not consulting the physicians was that the symptoms were not considered serious (35 women out of 58, 60.3%). Conclusion: This study points out the need for further awareness programs for both women and healthcare professionals to be set up in countries like Greece, in which a low care-seeking rate of incontinent women has been reported.

Lay Perceptions of Mental Disorder in Agricultural Greece: A Qualitative Approach

This exploratory survey aimed to investigate and to explore, using the vignette methodology, community perceptions of mental disorder in a rural area in Greece. The influence of the nature of the problematic behaviour depicted in the vignettes, the gender of the vignette actor and the demographic characteristics of respondents were also examined.A series of vignettes in combination with an open‐ended response format were used. Fifty face‐to‐face interviews were carried out with residents in a rural community area in Crete. A thematic analysis was employed.It was found that the type of symptomatology influenced respondents' reactions. Social environmental factors, childhood experiences and personality characteristics were more likely to be offered as ætiological factors for depression, anxiety and schizophrenia with negative symptoms. In contrast, the positive symptoms of schizophrenia and paranoia were more likely to be attributed to biological factors. The respondents expressed a remarkably reserved attitude towards psychiatrists and use of psychotropic drugs. Psychological assistance and social support were more likely to be recommended as treatment methods. The gender of the vignette actor influenced respondents' reactions in relation to schizophrenia with positive symptoms and schizophrenia with negative symptoms. Respondents' gender and age were found to have no influence.Vignette methodology was proved to be a valuable tool to demonstrate the complexity of lay perceptions concerning mental disorder. Respondents clearly expressed a need for mental health education indicating future implications for interventions in this area.

Temporal and spatial variability of snow accumulation in central Greenland

Snow accumulation records from central Greenland are explored to improve the understanding of the accumulation signal in Greenland ice core records. Results from a “forest” of 100 bamboo poles and automated accumulation monitors in the vicinity of Summit as well as shallow cores collected in the Summit and Crete areas are presented. Based on these accumulation data, a regression has been calculated to quantify the signal‐to‐noise variance ratio of ice core accumulation signals on a variety of temporal (1 week to 2 years) and spatial (20 m to 200 km) scales. Results are consistent with data obtained from year‐round automated accumulation measurements deployed at Summit which suggest that it is impossible to obtain regional snow accumulation data with seasonal resolution using four accumulation monitors positioned over a length scale of ∼30 km. Given this understanding of the temporal and spatial dependence of noise in the ice core accumulation signal, the accumulation records from 17 shallow cores are revisited. Each core spans the time period from 1964 to 1983. By combining the accumulation records, the regional snow accumulation record has been obtained for this period. The results show that 9 of the 20 years can be identified as having an accumulation different from the 20 year mean with 99% confidence. The signal‐to‐noise variance ratio for the average accumulation signal sampled at annual intervals is 5.8±0.5. The averaged accumulation time series may be useful to climate modelers attempting to validate their models with accurate regional hydrologic data sets.

The large earthquake of 8 August 1303 in Crete: seismic scenario and tsunami in the Mediterranean area

By conducting a historical review of this large seismic event in the Mediterranean, it has been possible to identify both the epicentral area and the area in which its effects were principally felt. Ever since the nineteenth century, the seismological tradition has offered a variety of partial interpretations of the earthquake, depending on whether the main sources used were Arabic, Greek or Latin texts. Our systematic research has involved the analysis not only of Arab, Byzantine and Italian chronicle sources, but also and in particular of a large number of never previously used official and public authority documents, preserved in Venice in the State Archive, in the Marciana National Library and in the Library of the Museo Civico Correr. As a result, it has been possible to establish not only chronological parameters for the earthquake (they were previously uncertain) but also its overall effects (epicentral area in Crete, Imax XI MCS). Sources containing information in 41 affected localities and areas were identified. The earthquake also gave rise to a large tsunami, which scholars have seen as having certain interesting elements in common with that of 21 July 365, whose epicentre was also in Crete. As regards methodology, this research made it clear that knowledge of large historical earthquakes in the Mediterranean is dependent upon developing specialised research and going beyond the territorial limits of current national catalogues.

Prevalence of hepatitis A, B, and C markers in school children of a rural area of Crete, Greece.

To determine the prevalence of hepatitis A, B, and C markers in children who were attending junior and senior high schools in a high risk area in rural Crete, Greece. Three-hundred and thirty-four children who attended the three junior schools and one senior high school in the Agios Vassilios province of Southern Crete were invited to participate in the study. Three hundred and four of them were tested for hepatitis A, B, and C markers. Hepatitis B (HBV) markers (HBsAg and anti-HBc) as well as hepatitis A (anti-HAV) and hepatitis (anti-HCV) antibodies were tested with commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Six of the 304 children (1.97%) were found to be positive for anti-HAV, 1 (0.33%) to HBsAg, 7 (2.30%) to anti-HBc and none were found positive for anti-HCV. No significant differences were seen between the prevalence of anti-HAV antibodies in males (2%) and females (1.95%), and of anti-HBc antibodies in males (3.33%) and females (1.30%). The very low prevalence of anti-HAV is obviously due to the improved conditions of hygiene and it raises the question of the possible emergence of this disease at an older age and therefore appropriate preventative strategies should be considered. The low endemicity of hepatitis B in Crete in contrast to other areas of Greece also calls for a vaccination policy probably during adolescence. The absence of hepatitis C markers in the children in contrast to the observed higher prevalence of HCV-infected people in the adult population in the same rural area raises questions regarding possible sources of transmission of hepatitis C during the preceding years.

Current prevalence of hepatitis A, B and C in a well-defined area in rural Crete, Greece.

A seroepidemiological study was carried out in a geographically well-defined area in rural Crete in order to determine the prevalence of A, B and C hepatitis markers in the local population. Serum samples were obtained from 257 subjects (94 males, 163 females), aged 15 years and over, who visited the primary health care services of the Spili Health Centre between July 1993 and March 1994, and from 164 subjects (83 males, 81 females) randomly selected from households in three neighbouring villages of the study area. In samples obtained from the Spili Health Centre, antibodies to hepatitis A virus (anti-HAV) were detected in 234/244 (95.9%) subjects, antibodies to hepatitis B virus core antigen (HBcAb) were detected in 63/257 (24.5%) subjects and antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) were detected in 28/257 (10.9%) subjects. The corresponding figures for those randomly selected from the villages were 135/154 (87.7%), 16/164 (9.8%) and 5/164 (3%) respectively. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was positive in three (1.2%) subjects from the first group, while none of those recruited from the villages were positive for HBsAg. Interestingly, hepatitis markers were closely associated with age. No subjects under the age of 15 years showed evidence of prior hepatitis A infection and approximately 20% of those between 15 and 44 years of age were also negative. By contrast, practically all subjects older than 44 years were anti-HAV positive. Similarly, the majority of all those who were anti-HCV positive were older subjects. Seroepidemiology of hepatitis in this well-defined population seems to be different from other parts of Greece, at least for hepatitis B and C viruses. There is a very low prevalence of HBsAg and a very high incidence of anti-HCV. Low exposure to HAV, as found in other parts of the country, was also found in the younger generation in this rural area of Crete.

A comparison of the Casagrande and fall cone penetrometer methods for liquid limit determination in marls from Crete, Greece

Marls from three areas in Crete (Chernissos, Agios Vlassis, Agia Varvara) were studied to determine their liquids limits by the Casagrande fall cone penetrometer methods and the results were compared. The first method is the classic one, the second a later proposal for measurements in clays. In addition to these tests, various aspects of the materials were studied, such as: their qualitative and quantitative mineralogy, the specific gravity of their solid particles, their particle size grading, their Atterberg limits (liquid and plastic limits), their plasticity index and their activity. The results were interpreted using statistical methods in order to identify the mathematical expressions and diagrams which represent the interrelationships existing between the above properties. According to the present investigation, the two methods of liquid limit determination give similar results. This similarity was greater in finer soils, especially in pure clays; a more shallow fall cone depth could give better results in soils with lower clay concentrations, expressed by the equation z=6C 0.14 .

The Sociophonetics of /l/ in the Greek of Sphakiá

In most varieties of modern Greek, the consonant /l/ is typically a “clear” [l] in most environments, as in /ala/ [ala] αλλ⋯ ‘but’; but with positional variation involving also palatalised and/or palatal variants, as in /skili/ [skiļi] σχυλ⋯ ‘dog’. In a number of areas of northern Greece, velarised [⃒]-type pronunciations may also be found, as they may also be in those areas of Attica and Biotia where Albanian/Greek bilingualism is or has been common (see Trudgill & Tzavaras 1975 – most varieties of Albanian have a phonemic contrast between /l/ and /l/). In his book The Generative Interpretation of Dialect (1972), however, Brian Newton also points out that ‘in the Sphakiá area of Crete /l/ has a retroflex pronunciation before back vowels’. This feature is also cited by Kondosopoulos (1959, 1969, 1974) and Pangalos (1955), who also mention some other areas of Crete where a similar phenomenon occurs. (Following Kondosopoulos and Pangalos, Newton also indicates that /l/ → Ø or /l/ → /w/ in certain Cretan villages.)

Resistance to benzimidazole fungicides in the gummy stem blight pathogen Didymelta bryoniae on cucurbits

Benzimidazoles were used successfully against gummy stem blight of cucurbits for only one growing season (1980). It was soon noticed in experiments in vivo that they were not effective against some isolates of the pathogen. In a survey during the 1981 crop season, 76 out of 102 isolates collected from 20 plastic greenhouses all over the main cucurbit‐growing areas of Crete were resistant to benomyl. The average benomyl concentrations that reduced mycelial growth rates of seven resistant and seven sensitive isolates by 50% were 716 ± 49 and 1.2 ± 0.34μg/ml respectively. The average growth rate of resistant isolates was lower than that of sensitive isolates but there were no differences in spore production and spore germination. The pathogenicity of resistant isolates on young cucumber plants was lower than that of sensitive isolates. The application of benomyl, carbendazim, cypendazole and thiophanate methyl to young cucumber plants at the rate of 300μg a.i./ml 1 day before inoculation with 500 000 spores/ml of the resistant isolates did not affect the infection rate of the disease after 4 days. Sensitive isolates caused no onslight symptoms on similarly treated plants.