Maria Lazaridou

A Comparison between a Traditional and an Online Environmental Educational Program

The authors compared traditional and Web-based versions of an environmental education program in terms of their effectiveness in raising knowledge and promoting attitudes of environmental issues. They used a pretest—posttest nonequivalent control group quasi-experimental design. Results showed a statistically significant increase of knowledge scores for both groups. The junior high students who received computer-assisted instruction (CAI) significantly outscored their peers who were taught traditionally in posttest knowledge scores. In addition, the CAI group demonstrated a significant increase in attitudes scores. The authors found the correlation coefficient between knowledge and attitudes to be statistically significant but low.

Ecological quality of small mountainous Mediterranean streams (river type R-M4) and performance of the European intercalibration metrics

Ten small streams of high altitude were assigned to the R-M4 intercalibration river type (small/medium Mediterranean mountainous rivers) and examined to determine their benthic macroinvertebrate fauna, their physicochemical and hydromorphological parameters and their water quality, quarterly for two consecutive years. Physicochemical variables were consistent with the mountainous character of the streams and fluctuated within the European Community legislation limits for drinking water. Benthic macroinvertebrate fauna communities were diverse and sensitive to organic pollution, and samples were grouped by time more strongly than place. Site size and catchment area influenced the macroinvertebrate community more than the rest of the measured abiotic variables. The water quality was good or high, but at the smaller streams its interpretation was affected by summer drought. The water quality boundaries of the Hellenic Evaluation System were harmonised with the water quality boundaries of a European benchmark database, according to the methodology followed by the Mediterranean Intercalibration Group.

Basal cell carcinoma arising in association with a maxillary keratocyst in a patient with Gorlin–Goltz syndrome. Report of a case

IntroductionGorlin–Goltz syndrome, also known as nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome, is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder which is characterized by the presence of multiple basal cell carcinomas, maxillary keratocysts, and musculoskeletal anomalies.Case reportWe present a case of a patient suffering from Gorlin–Goltz syndrome who developed an intraosseous basal cell carcinoma associated with a recurrent maxillary keratocyst. To our knowledge, this is the first case of malignant transformation of a keratocyst into a basal cell carcinoma described in the literature.ConclusionThis case highlights the importance of careful histologic examination of keratocysts excised in patients suffering from Gorlin–Goltz syndrome.

Ecological Water Quality and Management at a River Basin Level: A Case Study from River Basin Kosynthos in June 2011

The European Parliament and Council decided a policy on the protection, an appropriate treatment and management of water field leading on the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD, European Commission, 2000) in October 2000. The WFD obliges Member States to achieve the objective of at least a good ecological quality status before 2015 and requires them to assess it by using biological elements, supported by hydromorphological and physico-chemical ones. The assessment must be done at a basin level and authorities are obliged to follow efficient monitoring programs in order to design integraded basin management plans. Efforts are being made to adapt national programmes for the WFD requirements (Birk & Hering, 2006). In most European countries, river monitoring programmes are based on benthic macroinvertebrate communities (SanchezMontoya et al., 2010).

Macroinvertebrate and fish communities in the watershed of a re-constructed Mediterranean water body: link to the ecological potential

The role of benthic macroinvertebrate and fish communities for assessing the ecological quality of an artificial re-constructed, after 50xa0years of dryness, Mediterranean water body (Karla Reservoir, Greece) is presented. Moreover, we provide knowledge on the structure of the biological communities and their functioning role, for inspiring feature actions that will contribute to biodiversity protection and ecosystem services. Water (physicochemical parameters), benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish were monitored during a 2-year survey (2013–2015) in Karla and Kalamaki reservoirs and the inflowing ditches. A clear temporal pattern was evident for all sampling stations studied, differentiating the low- and high-flow period samples as to their physicochemical parameters. Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed NO3-N, total nitrogen and total dissolved phosphorous as the most significant environmental parameters in explaining benthic invertebrate variance in ditches. Generally, tolerant to organic pollution macroinvertebrate taxa were abundant in ditches and reservoirs, while the fish fauna in Karla was composed almost exclusively of planktivorous and invertivorous species. Macroinvertebrate (GLBiI) and fish (GLFI) indices classified the ecological quality of Karla Reservoir as “poor” while ditches were classified as “bad” according to HESY-2. The anthropogenic pressures applied in the catchment and the benefits of improving water quality are discussed in the context of the implementation of Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC for introducing sustainable management plans, taking into account some ecological restoration principles.

Hogan’s modification of the Sanvenero-Rosselli velopharyngoplasty

PurposeA competent velopharyngeal mechanism is essential for the production of intelligible speech and the secondary procedure of the posterior pharyngeal flap may be necessary in some patients to achieve this goal. The purpose of this study was to examine short and long-term results between the Sanvenero-Rosselli and Hogan’s modification of the cranially based velopharyngoplasty.MethodsDuring a 20-year period, 17 patients underwent secondarily a posterior pharyngeal flap to treat velopharyngeal incompetence. All the patients were treated in the same institution and under the supervision of the same stuff surgeon. Nine patients were operated on according to the Sanvenero-Rosselli method and eight according to Hogan’s modification, which consists of the preparation of two mucosal flaps on the dorsal side of the soft palate. Both mucosal flaps are sutured at the base of the pharyngeal flap and cover its raw surface.ResultsComparing the post-operative condition of the patients in two groups to their pre-operative state, it was observed that speech and comprehensibility were significantly improved, but Hogan’s technique produced better speech results.ConclusionsAccording to our limited experience, additional surgical effort to create mucosal flaps on the nasal surface of the soft palate in Hogan’s technique is compensated for by the reliable and substantial advantages that this technique holds, compared to Sanvenero-Rosselli’s original proposition.