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Cardiovascular disease is the most prevalent cause of death both in Greece and worldwide. In this paper, the fatal cardiovascular events which are described in the Bible, Old and New Testament, are presented and interpreted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dementia, commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease, is a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder that is directly linked to aging. Although the etiology of dementia is not fully understood, it is widely recognized as a multifactorial disease. Dementia is a disease with terrible consequences for patients, the most notable being deprivation of their autonomy and degradation of their quality of life (QoL). Given the grim impact that it has, not only on the lives of individual patients, but also on the whole society, it is necessary to take measures to prevent and, if possible, treat dementia. Various scientific studies show that the Mediterranean diet could contribute to the prevention of dementia. Specifically, this type of diet includes olive oil, fruits, legumes, vegetables and fish. This is a review of the currently available studies documenting the contribution of dietary vitamins and antioxidants to the prevention of dementia. Search was made for recent bibliographic data and scientific papers, mainly from the last five years in medical research databases. Review of the literature showed that through a suitable diet, the intake of vitamins and antioxidants could shield the body against dementia. Unfortunately, a definitive, effective treatment for dementia has not yet been found, and for this reason the intake of vitamins and antioxidants were investigated as a preventive measure against degenerative brain diseases. It is of note that, among all their other responsibilities, health professionals are also responsible for promoting public health, educating their patients on the importance of prevention and motivating them to adopt healthy habits and a quality way of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE Medical education (ME), as a specific field of knowledge related to the processes of medical teaching and learning, is gradually gaining ground in Greece. It does not need to start from scratch, as relevant papers have been already published in the Greek medical literature. The aim of this paper was to list all the articles that refer to ME, published in the journals of the Athens Medical Society: Archives of Hellenic Medicine (AHM) and Archives of Medical Societies (AMS). METHOD Every single published issue was indexed. After the 4th issue of the 16th volume of ??? (July--August 1999) all articles are available on the web (http://www.mednet.gr/archives/). The earlier issues were found either in the Library of Health Sciences of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens or in the Library of the Athens Medical Society. In both cases, the table of contents was first checked, either electronically since July- August 1999 or manually for all previous issues. The abstracts of all articles that initially considered relevant were read and the irrelevant ones were excluded. RESULTS The first issue of AMS was published in the first trimester of the year 1975. The first issue of AHM, the sequel to AMS, was published in February 1984. Having indexed 36 volumes, 47 articles on ME were found (1.28 per year). The first such article was in the 2nd issue of the 5th volume of AMS (1979) and the last in the 3rd issue of the 27th volume of AHM (2010). During its 9-year period of publication, AMS hosted 16 ME articles (1.8 per year), while A?M journal has hosted 31 ME articles in its 26 years of publication (1.2 per year). All papers relevant to ME are listed here, including the 6 that have been recently accepted (2010) but not yet published. CONCLUSIONS Although AMS and AHM are medical and not medical-education journals, ME has found its way into their pages. The listing of ME articles could be helpful to those who intend to work in the field of education of medical students and doctors. The expansion of this indexing to include all other medical journals would contribute to the whole picture of the relevant to Greek bibliography on ME, which should not be ignored by those interested in ME in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrorism constitutes a contemporary complex social and political phenomenon, due to both the mass, globalized dimensions it has assumed in recent years and the technological sophistication which makes possible maximization of the scale and power of terrorist acts. Fear, a fundamental element of any terrorist act, can become the object of psychiatric attention because of both its individual effects and its broader social impact. The direct and indirect effects of terrorist acts on the mental health of the victims, and the effects of terrorism as a phenomenon contributing to the shaping of social conditions are emphasized in this paper. The immediate victims of a terrorist act are at increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, panic disorder, phobias, generalized anxiety disorder and substance abuse. Despite the fact that terrorist attacks, along with natural or technological disasters, do not appear to cause specific mental health difficulties in the general population, the unquestionable power that the contemporary threat of terrorism exerts is likely to perpetuate fear throughout society as a whole. In this climate of fear, the ineluctable development of suspicion, intolerance and estrangement encumbers social cohesion, threatening to disrupt social bonds and give rise to alienation. On this basis, the likelihood of long-term adverse effects of terrorism on the mental health of the members of society constitutes a reasonable ground for reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rho kinases are a family of small signaling GTPases, belonging to the superfamily of Ras proteins. Their main function is in the regulation of the cytoskeleton in such a way that critical cellular processes, such as morphogenesis, growth of neurons, cell division, cell adhesion and cellular migration take place correctly. Their deregulation has been associated with several types of cancer. In a few types of cancers mutations of these proteins have been identified, but in most types the regulatory proteins (GEFs, GAPs and GDIs) are deregulated, resulting in either overexpression or reduced expression. In addition, Rho have been shown to act as both oncogenes and tumor suppressor molecules, which induce and inhibit tumor growth, respectively. In the majority of cancer tissues increased activation of Rho GTPases has been observed compared with the corresponding normal tissue. This paper emphasizes the expression of Rho GTPases in different types of lung cancer. Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer, accounting for approximately 12.5% of newly diagnosed cancers worldwide, and it is divided into two main subtypes, the small cell carcinoma (SCLC) and the non-small cell carcinoma (NSCLC). For this reason, and because a specific type, lung cancer subscale (LCS) presents a very rapid progression, this review highlights the correlation between the activity of Rho kinases (which includes their possible oncogenic or oncosuppressor roles) with both progression and metastasis of these tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for approximately 13% of all newly diagnosed cases of lung cancer. It is characterized by rapid growth, early distant metastases and good response to chemotherapy. This is a topical review of the literature on the role of soluble tumor markers in the diagnosis and treatment of SCLC. PubMed was searched for relevant papers, using the key words "soluble tumor markers in SCLC". Most of the references found concerned pro-gastrin releasing peptide (pro-GRP) and neuron specific enolase (NSE) which are the markers most specific for the diagnosis of SCLC. The sensitivity and specificity of pro-GRP for the diagnosis of SCLC are 72% and 93%, respectively, slightly higher than those of NSE. Pro-GRP distinguishes with a higher accuracy between complete and partial response to treatment and diagnoses earlier relapse of the disease. On the other hand, NSE is a better predictor of survival, a role that is also provided by other tumor markers that are less specific to SCLC, such as carcinoembryonic antigen and chromogranin A. A few studies have demonstrated that measurement of tumor markers in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and pleural fluid, in combination with traditional diagnostic methods such as bronchoscopy, may be useful for the diagnosis of SCLC. In conclusion, although soluble tumor markers appear to play an important role in the management of patients with SCLC after administration of chemotherapy, the sole use of tumor markers cannot establish the diagnosis with a high degree of confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The various mechanisms of payment for health services aim to create incentives which affect the health provider behavior, economic efficiency and productivity of a health system, and ultimately its quality. This paper describes and analyzes the current methods of funding used in hospital systems worldwide, from the "diagnosis related groups" (DRGs) method to the recent development of hospital-based "pay for performance" (P4P) of the US Medicare system and the "payment by results" of the UK. Emphasis is placed on studies measuring hospital efficiency before and after adoption of the new methods of payment. The necessary institutional reforms are described which enhance competition between the health care funding schemes, such as social security funds and insurance companies, and the health care providers, such as hospitals. The Greek case is evaluated from the beginning of the economic crisis in 2009 until the present, with the establishment of a single health insurance fund, EOPXY, the creation of the database esy.net for the collection of complete, reliable data on the costing and operation of the state hospitals (ESY) in order to monitor their financial and administrative functioning, and the adoption of the payment method of KENDRGs, where classification was made in 760 groups based on the initial diagnosis and treatment process. Finally, several changes are proposed which would lead towards a more sophisticated payment system based on performance criteria, including quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]