Volume 2 (2018): Issue 3 (July 2018)

Economic activity that takes environmental protection into account and uses the environmental benefits of an area or country may continuously combine growth with sustainability thereby providing prosperity and societal quality. This paper aims to complement European research on Bioeconomy by reviewing current situation and future trends in Greece. Current data testify that there are significant opportunities for Greece to progress towards a lucrative economy based on renewable resources. The effective growth of such Bioeconomy in Greece depends on the successful cooperation of all stakeholders (state, business, citizens). This is the first study that provides a numerical analysis of the Bio-economy opportunities for Greece and may constitute the foundation for future research, suggestions for policy measures and strategic planning

Biomedical Nanotechnology (BNT) has rapidly become a revolutionary force that is driving innovation in the medical field. BNT is a subclass of nanotechnology (NT), and often operates in cohort with other subclasses, such as mechanical or electrical NT for the development of diagnostic assays, therapeutic implants, nano-scale imaging systems, and medical machinery. BNT is generating solutions to many conventional challenges through the development of enhanced therapeutic delivery systems, diagnostic techniques, and theranostic therapies. Therapeutically, BNT has generated many novel nanocarriers (NCs) that each express specifically designed physiochemical properties that optimize their desired pharmacokinetic profile. NCs are also being integrated into nanoscale platforms that further enhance their delivery by controlling and prolonging their release profile. Nano-platforms are also proving to be highly efficient in tissue regeneration when combined with the appropriate growth factors. Regarding diagnostics, NCs are being designed to perform targeted delivery of luminescent tags and contrast agents that enhance the NC -aided imaging capabilities and resulting diagnostic accuracy of the presence of diseased cells. This technology has also been advancing the ability for surgeons to practice true precision surgical techniques. Incorporating therapeutic and diagnostic NC-components within a single NC can facilitate both functions, referred to as theranostics, which facilitates real-time in vivo tracking and observation of drug release events via enhanced imaging. Additionally, stimuli-responsive theranostic NCs are quickly developing as vectors for tumor ablation therapies by providing a model that facilitates the location of cancer cells for the application of an external stimulus. Overall, BNT is an interdisciplinary approach towards health care, and has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for humanity by significantly decreasing the treatment burden for patients, and by providing non-invasive therapeutics that confer enhanced therapeutic efficiency and safety

Chiari-like malformation represents a congenital anomaly that affects the bony cranial base and the hindbrain, leading to fluid filled cavities formation in the spinal cord, condition named Syringomyelia. This paper aims to assess the variety of the clinical signs and to evaluate the magnetic resonance imaging findings in thirty- seven Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dogs. The study was performed over a four-year period, from 2013 to 2017, all cases underwent neurological examination, full diagnostic work-up, including magnetic resonance imaging scans of the brain, cervical and upper thoracic spinal cord. Thirty-seven dogs were included in this study, 23 females and 14 males, with a mean age of 3.6±2.1years. The commonest clinical findings encountered were neuropathic pain and vocalization, seen in all 37 cases, followed by scratching, facial rubbing, paw licking, air licking, tail chasing, seizures and unilateral facial paralysis. Different grades of cerebellar herniation and cervical syrinxes were noted in all cases, other magnetic resonance imaging findings encountered were medullary kinking, presyrinx and ventriculomegaly. In establishing the diagnosis of the Chiari-like malformation and Syringomyelia, the breed, clinical history and the symptomatology are very important, but only magnetic resonance imaging technique can provide quantitative assessment of the nervous system lesions.

The best practice for filtration optimization process is to control biological and non biological particles at every stage of beer chain production. There are several processes that can be used to control beer filtration process, such as settlement of non-biological and biological particles through sedimentation, centrifugation, extended stabilization periods, addition of flocculants and clarifiers to reduce both, yeast and haze loadings etc. Filtration process is controlled by yeast, proteins and carbohydrates. Cell yeast number in suspension determines which is going to dominate filtration process. If yeast cell number is less than a million, filterability is dependent mainly from physico-chemical beer characteristics, otherwise biological phase control filtration process. In this paper we have proposed some enzymatic and yeast management techniques to improve filtration process. Experiments were carried out in laboratory and industrial scale. There were used free and immobilized enzymes and yeast. It was noticed a good correlation between laboratory and industrial application findings. Immobilized yeast in batch processes not only make easier yeast management but also increase beer filterability, excluding some energy consuming processes like centrifugation and long conditioning time

Computer-aided detection is an integral part of medical image evaluation process because examination of each image takes a long time and generally experts’ do not have enough time for the elimination of images with motion artifact (blurred images). Computer-aided detection is required for both increasing accuracy rate and saving experts’ time. Large intestine does not have straight structure thus camera of the colonoscopy should be moved continuously to examine inside of the large intestine and this movement causes motion artifact on colonoscopy images. In this study, images were selected from open-source colonoscopy videos and obtained at Kayseri Training and Research Hospital. Totally 100 images were analyzed half of which were clear. Firstly, a modified version of histogram equalization was applied in the pre-processing step to all images in our dataset, and then, used Laplacian, wavelet transform (WT), and discrete cosine transform-based (DCT) approaches to extract features for the discrimination of images with no artifact (clear) and images with motion artifact. The Laplacian-based feature extraction method was used for the first time in the literature on colonoscopy images. The comparison between Laplacian-based features and previously used methods such as WT and DCT has been performed. In the classification phase of our study, support vector machines (SVM), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and k nearest neighbors (k-NN) were used as the classifiers. The results showed that Laplacian-based features were more successful in the detection of images with motion artifact when compared to popular methods used in the literature. As a result, a combination of features extracted using already existing approaches (WT and DCT) and the Laplacian-based methods reached 85% accuracy levels with SVM classification approach