University of Ioannina

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are considered advanced class materials due to their exotic structural and optical properties. The abundance of starting monomers with variable linkage motifs may give rise to multiple conformations in either 2D or 3D fashion. Tailoring of the abovementioned properties has facilitated the application of COFs in a wide range of applications, which are strongly correlated with energy conversion schemes. Having a crystalline porous character and a large set of donor‐acceptor combinations, COFs are expected to make huge impact in photocatalytic processes. In this Review, we present the recent advances in the development of semiconducting COF‐based systems towards the photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide evolution. An overview is given about the effect of various parameters on the photocatalytic performance, such as charge transfer tuning, wettability by chemical functionalization, topology, porosity and crystallinity. Various challenges are discussed, and constructive insights are given for the development of highly functional COF‐based photocatalysts for H2O2 evolution.

This research uses a self-report questionnaire to examine how humour styles based on Martin’s taxonomy (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating) may moderate the relationship between Dark Triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and bullying behaviors among 662 university students. Significant positive correlations between Dark Triad traits and bullying emerged, as well as gender, with males scoring higher in all variables. Moderation analyses showed that affiliative humour reduced the impact of narcissism on bullying, while aggressive enhanced it. Additionally, self-enhancing and aggressive humour increased the impact of psychopathy on bullying behaviors. These results suggest that humour styles play a crucial role in the dynamics of bullying in relation to Dark Triad personality traits, offering new insights for intervention strategies.

Background The Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) multimodal lifestyle intervention yielded cognitive and other health benefits in older adults at risk of cognitive decline. The two‐year multinational randomized controlled LETHE trial evaluates the feasibility of a digitally supported, adapted FINGER intervention among at‐risk older adults. Technology is used to complement in‐person activities, for the intervention delivery, personalize recommendations, and collect digital biomarkers. Method Trial includes older adults (60‐77 years) with digital readiness and increased dementia risk but without substantial cognitive impairment. Participants are enrolled at four sites (Austria, Finland, Italy, Sweden). At baseline, participants were randomized 1:1 ratio to 1) intervention i.e., structured multimodal lifestyle program (including diet, exercise, cognitive training, vascular/metabolic risk management, social stimulation, sleep/stress management) where in‐person activities led by professionals are supported with an Android mobile phone application developed by the consortium (the LETHE App); or 2) control i.e., self‐guided program (regular health advice, simplified App with no personalized/interactive content). All participants wear smartwatches to gather passive data (e.g., physical activity, sleep). Primary outcomes are retention, adherence, and change in validated dementia risk scores. Secondary outcomes include changes in lifestyle, cognition, stress, sleep, health‐related quality of life, health literacy. Additional outcomes (exploratory) include e.g., participant experiences and dementia‐related biomarkers (Alzheimer’s disease blood markers, neuroimaging). A sub‐study explores the feasibility of novel interactive technology (audio glasses, social robot). Results Recruitment began in September 2022, and the last participant was randomized in June 2023. In total, 156 individuals were randomized (mean age 69 years, 65% women; balanced recruitment across the four sites). Vascular and lifestyle risk factors were common (e.g., 65% with hypertension, 69% with hypercholesterolemia, 39% physically inactive), indicating successful recruitment of a population with risk reduction potential. Trial will be completed by summer 2025. Retention until the first post‐baseline visit at 6 months is high (n = 2 discontinued, retention 98.7%). Latest progress of the trial will be presented. Conclusion LETHE provides crucial information about the feasibility of technology and a digitally supported FINGER program to promote brain health. Digital tools specifically designed for older adults could offer potential for large‐scale, cost‐effective prevention programs.

Naegleria fowleri, the causative agent of Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), is commonly found in warm freshwater environments and can enter the brain through nasal passages during activities like swimming or ablution. PAM has a high fatality rate, raising concerns about its global health impact. In Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, a significant number of cases have been reported, often with no history of recreational water exposure, but with regular ablution using tap water. This study analyzed the physicochemical parameters, abundance of total and fecal coliforms, and detected N. fowleri and other Naegleria species in tap water samples from Karachi using PCR with ITS- and Naegl-primers. Almost all samples exhibited high temperatures, low chlorine levels, and a high presence of coliforms. N. fowleri and other Naegleria species were detected in 11 out of 39 samples. Sequence analysis identified N. fowleri in tap water from the Golimar and Lyari areas of Karachi, while the other nine samples revealed different Naegleria species. This study suggests that the combination of high temperatures, insufficient chlorination, and the presence of coliforms may create favorable conditions for N. fowleri growth. However, these factors are not exclusive to the Golimar and Lyari areas, indicating that other environmental or infrastructural factors, not detailed in this study, may have contributed to the presence of N. fowleri in that specific location. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12920-024-02068-2.

Background Heart failure (HF) presents a significant global health challenge due to its rising prevalence and impact on disability. Aims This study aims to comprehensively analyze the global burden of HF and its underlying causes. Methods Using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021, we analyzed the prevalence and Years Lived with Disability (YLD) of HF, examining its implications across diverse demographics and geographic regions. Results In 2021, approximately 55.5 million (95% UI 49.0–63.8) people worldwide were affected by HF, a significant increase from 25.4 million (95% UI 22.3–29.2) in 1990. The age-standardized prevalence rate per 100 000 people was 676.7 (95% UI 598.7–776.8) overall, with males experiencing a higher rate at 760.8 (95% UI 673.2–874.7) compared to females at 604.0 (95% UI 535.0–692.3). The age-standardized prevalence YLD rates increased by 5.5% (95% CI 2.7–8.5) and 5.9% (95% CI 2.9–9.0) during this period. Ischemic heart disease emerged as the primary cause of HF, with an age-standardized prevalence rate of 228.3 (95% UI 118.2–279.6), followed by hypertensive heart disease at 148.3 (95% UI 117.3–186.3), and cardiomyopathy/myocarditis at 62.0 (95% UI 51.2–73.2). Noteworthy, countries in the high Socio-Demographic Index (SDI) quintile exhibited higher HF prevalence rates but maintained stable trends. In contrast, countries in lower SDI quintiles, while initially experiencing lower prevalence rates, showed increased age-standardized HF prevalence and YLD rates over the same period. Conclusions HF emerges as a significant and growing public health challenge globally, influenced by distinct socioeconomic gradients.

The rapid growth of graphite market is highly coupled with the increasing demand for Li‐ion grade graphite, the production of which results in significant losses of the graphitic material in the form of graphite fines. Herein, for the first time, we report an effective strategy to utilize industrial waste graphite fines through the development of graphene oxide‐based nanohybrids as non‐toxic and efficient antibacterial agents. To achieve this, graphene oxide (GO) was initially synthesized using industrial waste graphite fines as a graphitic precursor. Subsequently, hyperbranched polyethyleneimine (PEI), or either of its guanidinylated (GPEI) and N‐sulfopropylated (SPEI) derivatives were successfully and homogenously attached onto GO, as confirmed by various characterization techniques, yielding GO‐PEI, and novel GO‐GPEI and GO‐SPEI nanohybrids. The antibacterial activity of these nanohybrids was assessed against Gram (−) Escherichia coli and Gram (+) Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria. Both GO‐GPEI and GO‐SPEI were found to exhibit higher antibacterial activity, specifically against E. coli bacteria, compared to the pristine GO and GO‐PEI nanohybrid, with GO‐SPEI being more active than GO‐GPEI. Finally, GO‐GPEI and GO‐SPEI were found to exhibit low cytotoxicity against mammalian cells, signifying that they can be used as potential antibacterial agents in various applications, including those in the disinfection industry.

Buruli ulcer (BU) a neglected disease induced by the bacterium Mycobacterium ulcerans, predominantly impacts tropical and subtropical areas with its pathophysiology ascribed to the Mycolactone protein. Current antibiotics frequently prove insufficient to manage advanced or chronic ulcers and the rise of drug resistance presents a considerable challenge. This work aims to address these challenges by employing computational methods to identify therapeutic candidates from organic compounds, which may be developed into more effective therapies for Buruli ulcer. The Gas-Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) analysis of the Thymus Vulgaris identified the 29 bioactive compounds as potential drug candidates having different medicinal properties. Out of the 29 compounds against the mycolactone protein, 14 compounds demonstrated a binding affinity higher than − 6 kcal/mol predicted through PyRx. Among all compounds, gamma sitosterol and borneol showed the highest binding affinity − 7.7 kcal/mol. The ADMET analysis predicted that the compound borneol crosses the PGP + through the Blood Brain Barrier and gastrointestinal tract without violating Lipinski's rule of 5 having high water solubility, and log p-value of 2.29. The molecular dynamic simulation was performed and showed the Eigenvalue of 1.332692e-04. The leads identified in the study have demonstrated encouraging outcomes with regard to their efficacy, toxicity, pharmacokinetics, and safety. Further experimental investigations can be conducted to evaluate their anti-bacterial activity, and their molecular frameworks could be utilized as a valuable foundation for designing new drugs for the treatment of Buruli ulcer.

Fieldworkers are exposed to deeper identity changes that are the result of the management of different cultural references and stimuli. A double aspect of de-familiarisation unfolds when researchers return from the field; this can be paralleled to the fifth stage of culture shock, as well as to a “disengagement” process in psychotherapy. As an inner process, it has a purely cognitive function and is built throughout the construction of an intermediate identity that the researcher has developed with and under the influence of their research participants. This “oscillation” between several worlds is stabilised when the anthropologist realises that they stand in between several positionalities, performing an intermediate identity, similarly to the actor being in between the stage and their dressing room, whilst being aware of their performative presence and the social role that this entails.

Stepping into an unfamiliar environment to perceive, observe, and record collective practices and behaviours increases the likelihood of the ethnographer experiencing a culture shock. To successfully manage it, the researcher needs good language skills, regular contact with members of the host community, and long stays. These are equally basic principles of long ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation, as originally conceived by Bronislaw Malinowski. The gradual acquaintance with the cultural otherness implied by this condition is both the vehicle for conducting fieldwork and its very purpose as a cognitive process. In other words, implementing participant observation as a method in ethnographic fieldwork also requires the researcher to perform a social role—a social role that will ideally result in the shelter of an “intermediate identity”.

The advent of the ethnographer in the “field” marks the beginning of an experience that cuts the researcher off from everyday life in various ways; the introducing framework is crucial for what happens next. Whilst summarising the integration parameters in the fieldwork process, it is easy to assume that (ethnographic) data-producing events rarely occur by chance. From the very first moment of choosing where to conduct fieldwork, the ethnographer is oriented towards an inner journey, and a sequence of choices, that may consequently be admittedly expressed or simply not. From the working hypothesis to the social role through which the ethnographer will conduct fieldwork research, the results are somehow predetermined since initial choices or just inherent conditions also determine the lens through which we perceive reality and thus “our” ethnography.

The multitude of criteria inspiring fieldwork as a way of life can prove to be as inexhaustible as our choices in (real) life. Ethnographic fieldwork can emerge as a parallel reality, usually of critical importance for the researcher, while reflexivity for anthropology is a part of the method. By shifting the burden of fieldwork research from the field to the researcher and their behaviour, with the aim of a tangible and comprehensible “method” for conducting fieldwork, largely based on participant observation, we shift the content of “performative behaviours” from everyday culture and its performances to ethnography and the researcher. If anything, the researcher presents and directs themselves as if on another “stage”, “building a character” through which they connect with the “host” culture and society. It is this, intermediate, identity that the researcher performs for the duration of their fieldwork research and perhaps even after its conclusion. Through the lens of anthropological theory and methodology and a retrospective of monumental contributions in the history of fieldwork as a fundamental qualitative research practice, we will investigate the route towards the formation of personalised methodological tools. We consider this a journey with clear characteristics of initiation, a condition of passage for the fieldworker who eventually, and for as long as necessary, undresses their “normal” self in order to dress the character of an intermediate field identity, an option that will finally guarantee the researcher’s wellbeing.

This is an intensively reflexive text, which is meant to complement the theoretical and methodological input of this book. In the author’s view it cannot stand separately from the rest. Through an intensely personal tone, the author purposely attempts to highlight the fact that ethnographic fieldwork can turn out to be a painful and mentally demanding process with possible future implications for the fieldworker. Two major questions arise: (1) To what extent does the researcher’s identification with the research topic allow its completion? (2) Is the ontological involvement of the fieldworker a prerequisite for perceiving the phenomena observed? The writing style in this account functions as a measure and an indicator of exposure of the anthropologist’s “self”, long before they begin to write about the lives of “others”.

This chapter presents a theoretical synthesis of the previous chapters, having unfolded ethnographic fieldwork through its multiple aspects (primarily as a human experience of life) and from an interdisciplinary lens. Ultimately, a new definition of “performative ethnography” is provided, citing and reviewing previous uses of the terms and highlighting: (a) the potential of liminality for the researcher when conducting their research in the field, (b) the refuge that psychotherapeutic practices, such as journaling, can offer, and (c) the vehicle of the social role that the researcher can attire to manage their intruding presence in the lives of “others”, protecting their privacy and identity as much as they wish.

Four basic guidelines initially determine the exit to the field, while practical criteria also define the scope and very possibilities of carrying out on-site research. The decision and the choice of the field result from a combination of factors dictated by a “scientific way of life”; there is both an empirical and an experiential dimension to such a decision, whose implementation, however, depends on several external factors. The researcher’s adjustment to the course of local events implies that it is not them who are in full control of their research. It is argued, through several examples, that in order to conduct ethnographic fieldwork the researcher accepts getting involved in a social experiment during which they use their own psyche as a main source of feedback. The key issue of an “intermediate identity” in the field is the direct product of deep psychological involvement for the researcher, inclusive of all the positives but also the associated challenges that come with it. This is an identity initially performed, like a social role or a part, that allows the researcher to manage the major challenge of participating while observing and balancing the contradictions and inner conflicts that usually arise during fieldwork stays. As a socially (consciously) performed role, an “intermediate identity” allows the researcher to manage their very own emotions and feelings along with their ethnographic data in the context of what they observe and participate in.

In retrospect, we perceive ethnographic fieldwork as a life experience and ethnography as a performative and reflexive process. We focus on participant observation attempting to develop it as a behavioural practice and a potential psychotherapeutic act. The concept and function of “role” through an array of epistemological, interpretive, ethical, and applied parameters is fundamental in this methodological approach, where “selfhood” provides grounds for theoretical reflection. We present a methodological protocol for teaching and conducting ethnographic fieldwork by combining psychotechnical performance and cognitive outcomes. This is well beyond ethnography per se.

Purpose: Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is a common, but complex problem, with multiple therapeutic options and a lack of clear guidelines. Hence, there is considerable controversy and marked variation in the management of NOA. This survey evaluates contemporary global practices related to medical and surgical management for patients with NOA. Materials and methods: A 56-question online survey covering various aspects of the evaluation and management of NOA was sent to specialists around the globe. This paper analyzes the results of the second half of the survey dealing with the management of NOA. Results have been compared to current guidelines, and expert recommendations have been provided using a Delphi process. Results: Participants from 49 countries submitted 336 valid responses. Hormonal therapy for 3 to 6 months was suggested before surgical sperm retrieval (SSR) by 29.6% and 23.6% of participants for normogonadotropic hypogonadism and hypergonadotropic hypogonadism respectively. The SSR rate was reported as 50.0% by 26.0% to 50.0% of participants. Interestingly, 46.0% reported successful SSR in <10% of men with Klinefelter syndrome and 41.3% routinely recommended preimplantation genetic testing. Varicocele repair prior to SSR is recommended by 57.7%. Half of the respondents (57.4%) reported using ultrasound to identify the most vascularized areas in the testis for SSR. One-third proceed directly to microdissection testicular sperm extraction (mTESE) in every case of NOA while others use a staged approach. After a failed conventional TESE, 23.8% wait for 3 months, while 33.1% wait for 6 months before proceeding to mTESE. The cut-off of follicle-stimulating hormone for positive SSR was reported to be 12-19 IU/mL by 22.5% of participants and 20-40 IU/mL by 27.8%, while 31.8% reported no upper limit. Conclusions: This is the largest survey to date on the real-world medical and surgical management of NOA by reproductive experts. It demonstrates a diverse practice pattern and highlights the need for evidence-based international consensus guidelines.

Background: Remission of asthma can occur as part of the natural history of the disease; however, the use of biologics can result in disease remission in some patients. Objective: In this post hoc analysis of the RELIght study, we aimed to evaluate clinical remission in real life among patients treated with mepolizumab, to detect possible differences between “remitters” and “nonremitters,” and to evaluate possible predictors of remission. Methods: Clinical remission was defined as the absence of asthma exacerbations, discontinuation of oral corticosteroids (OCS), achievement of asthma control (Asthma Control Test [ACT] ≥ 20), and stable or improved lung function. Results: A total of 146 patients were evaluated; remission was achieved in 40 (27.4%) and 29 (22%) after 12 and 24 months, respectively. At 12 months, the patients in remission had a better baseline ACT score (17.0 [14.0‐19.0] versus 15.0 [12.0‐17.0]; p = 0.027), were more rarely using OCS (35% versus 62.2%; p = 0.004), and required a lower baseline dose of OCS (5.0 mg/day [5.0‐10.0 mg/day] versus 10.0 mg/day [5.0‐15.0 mg/day]; p = 0.042) at baseline, whereas, at 24 months, they less frequently carried a baseline diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (10.3% versus 32%; p = 0.031) and used lower doses of OCS at baseline (5.0 [1.0‐5.0] versus 10.0 [5.0‐15.0]; p = ≤0.001) versus nonremitters; 52.5% of patients had sustained remission, whereas 42.5% experienced relapse. These patients more frequently had GERD versus patients with sustained remission (52.9% versus 4.8%; p = 0.002). Finally, regression analysis has shown that GERD was the only predictor of relapse. Conclusion: Remitters had better asthma control and needed lower doses or no maintenance OCS at baseline, whereas GERD seems to be an important factor that affects remission and relapse.Clinical trial NCT04084613, www.clinical trials.gov</ext-link