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Copyright of Archives of Hellenic Medicine / Arheia Ellenikes Iatrikes is the property of Athens Medical Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Stress is a fundamental physiological response of an organism to changes in its internal or external environment that are threatening, or perceived as threatening, for its homeostasis. Depending on its duration, stress is distinguished into acute and chronic, and its symptoms can manifest themselves in every aspect of human function: feeling, cognition/thinking, behaviour and bodily functions. Chronic stress is a significant aggravating factor for human health, as it is associated with many serious chronic diseases, such as depression, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. Although the term “stress” was introduced by the scientific discipline of psychology in the 20th century, realistic descriptions of stress symptoms were depicted in the Old Testament, centuries earlier. This paper presents the main symptoms of acute and chronic stress/depression from which Psalmist suffered because of various events and sinful acts in his life, as these are recorded in the Book of Psalms of the Old Testament, also known as the “Psalter”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, it has become recognized worldwide that the threats and consequences of climate change for public health and, thus, for the quality of human life, are very serious. The need to protect the planet from climate change is high on the international agenda of social problems. Climate change is currently the most serious environmental hazard, with negative effects on the entire ecosystem. The British Meteorological Office defines climate change as a large-scale, long-term shift in the planet's weather patterns and average temperatures. Climate change can impact the essentials for human survival and health, such as air quality, water quality, and housing, and is often responsible for food insecurity and civil war. The incidence of communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including mental illness, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, cancer and diabetes mellitus, are on the rise. Ángel Guría, the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) underlined "the need for swift global action on climate change", adding that "climate change is a public health issue that is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable, as well as those least responsible for climate change anthropogenic warming". According to the World Health Organization (WHO), climate change is expected to cause around 250,000 additional deaths annually between 2030 and 2050; 38,000 of these will be due to exposure of the elderly to extremely high temperatures, 48,000 will be caused by diarrhea and 60,000 by malaria, while 95,000 children will die of malnutrition. Unfortunately, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which came into force on November 4, 2016, has hardly been activated. Conversely, in November 2019, US President Donald Trump announced that the US will denounce and withdraw completely from the Paris Agreement in November 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archives of Hellenic Medicine / Arheia Ellenikes Iatrikes is the property of Athens Medical Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

OBJECTIVE To examine the factors which affect the cardiovascular function of overweight/obese pre-pubertal children and adolescents. METHOD A total of 1,397 healthy children aged 9-14 years participated in the study. The subjects were divided according to their gender (boys: n=728, girls: n=699), age (9-10 years: n=499, 11-12 years: n=408, 13-14 years: n=490), arterial blood pressure (BP) (normotensive: n=1,169, pre-hypertensive: n=101, level I hypertension: n=96, level II hypertension: n=31) and weight (normal-weight: n=984, overweigh: n=280, obese: n=133). Measurements were made of the anthropometric characteristics (height, body mass), arterial BP (systolic, diastolic) and resting heart rate (Hr) in order to determine the pulse pressure, mean arterial BP, double product, stroke volume, cardiac output, peripheral resistance and cardiac index. RESULTS In this sample, 70.4% were of normal weight and the prevalence of overweight and obesity was 20.1% and 9.5%, respectively. The prevalence of elevated BP was 11.5% in the overweight/obese boys and 9.1% in the overweight/obese girls. The odds ratio (OR) and the relative risk (RR) of both obesity and hypertension were OR=7.36 (95% CI: 4.82-11.24) and RR=4.91 (95% CI: 3.49-6.91) for boys and OR=4.29 (95% CI: 2.79-6.61) and RR=3.27 (95% CI: 2.31-4.63) for girls. The normotensive normal-weight children, irrespective of gender, presented more favourable values of heart rate, double product and cardiac index than the hypertensive overweight/obese children (p<0.001). Stepwise multiple regression using the cardiac index as the dependent variable (y=5.312-0.049×W+0.053×Hr-0.076×DP+0.036×SP-0.175×age), showed that 92.5% of the total variance was explained by body mass (W: 53%), Hr (Hr: 14.3%), diastolic BP (DP: 14.1%), systolic BP (SP: 8.5%) and age (age: 2.6%). In addition, negative correlation was demonstrated between the body mass index (BMI) and the cardiac index (r=-0.646, p<0.001) and positive correlation between BMI and the other hemodynamic parameters (r=0.211 to 0.517, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Increased body mass and age affect the cardiac function of overweight/obese prepubertal children and adolescents, irrespective of gender, and are associated with an increased risk of development of hypertension, in comparison with normal weight peers. In clinical practice, it is necessary to implement prognostic indicators in childhood and adolescence aimed at the early detection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE Cardiovascular diseases are presently the prime cause of mortality. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), aided by the use of intravascular prostheses, such as drug-eluting stents (DES) and bare metal stents (BMS), is a significant innovation in the treatment of coronary disease. The goal of this study was comparison between these two types of stent, DES and BMS, regarding the rates of stent restenosis and its correlation with factors predisposing to atheromatous lesions and vascular stenosis. METHOD The study sample was recruited from the population of patients suffering from coronary disease who underwent DES and BMS stent angioplasty in the First Cardiology Clinic of the Hellenic Naval Hospital of Athens during the period between June 2005 and June 2010. The patients who suffered restenosis within the first 3-6 months post-angioplasty were selected from the total pool of patients. RESULTS In total, 57 patients presented restenosis (51 males and 6 females), of whom 37 had DES and 20 BMS. Patients with BMS (8 of 20, 40%) presented a higher restenosis incidence at 3 months than those with DES (11/37, 29.7%), but this difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05, p=0.432). Obese persons with BMS had a greater rate of restenosis (9/20, 45%) while persons with DES and a family history of coronary disease presented lower restenosis rates at 3 months than at 6 months. Average blood levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, C-reactive protein (CRP) and LDL at the time of restenosis were higher in persons with DES with restenosis at 3 months than those with restenosis at 6 months. The circumflex artery was found to be significantly more frequently affected by restenosis at 6 months than at 3 months. The stent was also significantly more frequently subject to distal restenosis at 3 months than at 6 months, and such restenosis occurred more frequently in DES than in BMS. CONCLUSIONS According to this study BMS presented earlier restenosis, at 3 months, compared with DES. Among predisposing factors, obesity played a significant role in BMS restenosis as opposed to DES, while family history appeared to be a more frequent predisposing factor in persons with DES for with restenosis at 6 months. Lipid factors, such as LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides were increased in patients with DES who developed restenosis at 3 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]