Medicinal plants of Mt. Pelion,Greece

This study focuses on plants used for medicinal purposes in the Mt. Pelion area of Greece; however other plant uses were noted when discovered. A total of 225 taxa representing 77 families are presented along with habitat data and ethnobotanical information when relevant. Some notes on related species are also included. In addition to ethnobotanical field research which included collection of voucher specimens, ancient literature pertaining to plant usage was also consulted. Local markets that sold wild plants or their products were investigated as well. Some plants not known to be ethnobotanically significant were also collected in order to learn more about species distribution on Mt. Pelion. It is possible that ancient plant usage information that was lost due to the destruction of classical literary works has survived in the oral tradition in the Mt. Pelion area and elsewhere in Greece. A number of little known psychoactive and narcotic plant uses (including ivy as an additive to wine) are reported in this publication.     

Cystic echinococcosis in Greece. Past and present

Cystic echinococcosis is a zoonotic disease with a wide geographical distribution, Greece included, and is considered to be a serious problem for the public health and the livestock economy. Although the disease was widespread in Greece since ancient times, cystic echinococcosis was identified as a serious problem around 1970, and since then national surveillance programmes are running, based on meat inspection and stray dogs management. Ever since, there are official records of the parasite's prevalence in humans and livestock which show a continuous decline. More precisely, human hydatidosis, according to the official records, declines from an annual incidence of 14.8 per 100,000 inhabitants during 1967-1971 to 0.3 in 2008. Late surveys reveal that in Greece the prevalence of echinococcosis was 23-39.2% for sheep, 7.6-14.7% for goats, 0% in cattle and 0.6% in pigs, while further molecular analyses in Southern Greece showed the existence of the genotypes G1 and G3 in sheep and G7 in goats in that area. All data presented demonstrate that the parasite is still present in Greece. Surveillance is nowadays being performed under EU regulations but it is highly important to improve and adopt corrective and preventive measures to avoid animal and human infection.     

Geranium thessalum sp. nov. from northern Greece Materials for the Mountain Flora of Greece, 13

Geranium thessalum is described from Mt Siniatsikon (Askion) in N Greece. It is closely related to G. subcaulescens ĽHer. ex DC. and G. cinereum Cav. It grows in alpine habitats between 1700 and 2100 m. The taxonomic position of the species is discussed.     

Petrorhagia grandiflora sp. nov. (Caryophyllaceae) from Greece

Petrorhagia grandiflora Iatroú sp. nov. is described from limestone rocks on the eastern side of Mt. Parnon, in the province of Arkadhia, Peloponesos, Greece. This species, belonging to sect. Petrorhagia subsect. Thessalae Ball & Heywood, is related to the P. thessala (Boiss.) Ball & Heywood and P. dianthoides (Smith) Ball & Heywood with which it is compared. Chromosome numbers (2n = 30) and karyotypes are presented; seeds are examined by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM); and their distribution in Greece are presented.     

Isatis vermia sp.nov. from north central Greece Materials for the Mountain Flora of Greece, 14

Isatis vermia Papanicolaou sp. nov. is described from Mt Vermion in north central Greece. It is an autumn–flowering species related to J. tinctoria L. The chromosome number is 2n = 28.     

The paleoanthropology of Greece

European paleoanthropology and paleolithic archeology were already well‐established by the early twentieth century. The human fossil record from this continent is the longest known and perhaps most intensively studied. Nonetheless, important gaps remain to this day in the map of Pleistocene Europe; perhaps the most glaring of these is located in the southeastern corner of the continent. This region's record is critical for addressing questions about the course of human evolution in Europe because its geographic position lends it a dual role: on one hand, it encompasses a frequently hypothesized dispersal corridor from Africa into Europe for both archaic and early modern humans; on the other, as one of the three Mediterranean peninsulas, it acted as a refugium for plant, animal, and, most likely, human populations during glacial conditions. This article is a review of the paleoanthopological record of Greece, one of the least known in Europe.     

Haemoglobin Bart's hydrops syndrome in Greece.

A case of haemoglobin Bart''s hydrops syndrome was characterised in a Greek family with a history of three other fetuses with hydrops. Family studies showed that both the mother and father carried alpha-thalassaemia genes, and globin-chain synthesis analysis of the present fetus showed a total absence of alpha-chain production. The haemoglobin composition of the fetus was similar to that seen in cases in south-east Asia, and analysis of DNA from the Greek case confirmed the total deletion of the alpha-chain genes. The extent of the deletion, however, differed from that seen in south-east Asian cases and included the loss of one of the embryonic zeta-chain genes. Thus the severe form of alpha-thalassaemia occurs in Greece but has arisen independently from the similar condition in south-east Asia. The condition must be considered in any woman of this racial background who gives a history of unexplained stillbirths.     

Occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields. The situation in Greece

PurposeThe management of the occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF), an Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issue of great scientific, social and economic significance, was under intense negotiations at European level over the last twenty years; the Directive 2013/35/EU is the new legislative tool. The presented study deals with the practical aspects of the Directive’s implementation.MethodsThe appropriate, extensive measurements and the overall EMF exposure assessments (i.e. exposure mapping, identification of hot spots, proposition of solutions) were conducted in specific workplaces, including power production, railway, broadcasting, clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems, industrial and research sites, as well as common office workplaces.ResultsThe vast majority of the performed EMF assessments did not reveal occupational overexposures; moreover in most of the cases, even the general public exposure limits (in the above occupational areas) were not exceeded. The very few localized overexposures detected, were manageable on the basis of the technical and organizational OHS principles.On the contrary, the maintenance procedures of the EMF emitting equipment, as recorded in this survey, presented overexposures revealing a challenging field.ConclusionsThis study lays a firm basis for the clarification of the occupational EMF environment, where potential exposures might be high. The proper risk assessment demands precise exposure identification and deep understanding of the EMF nature and hazards. Misconceptions range from the common exposure overestimation to the rarer case of the maintenance hazards underestimation, while attention is needed concerning the proper application of the complex limiting system of the Directive.     

9. Flambouro,Pieria Mountains (northern Greece)

For the prevention of hay fever (H.F.) we must know each year, which are our allergenic plants, and where and when they pollinate. For that purpose we combine: clinical history and skin tests, information collected by a team of skilled botanists (who go out in the field once in two weeks, and determine according to the flower's developmental stage, when its pollination is to be expected) and data (both clinical and aerobiological) collected in previous years. This way we are able to start the administration of preventive medication in time, before the relevant season has started, and till its end. With our preventive treatment schedule, we got the following results in a group of 221 children from the area served by our clinic: in order to be kept H.F. symptoms free, out of the 221: 36, needed only antihistamines, 108, needed in addition cromolyn, and 72, topical steroids, in the remaining 15, medication was not satisfactory, and immunotherapy was applied successfully. We conclude that each H.F. patient should get his own individual preventive treatment schedule, established on the grounds of his personal, and the aerobiological data.     

Contribution to the Cladonia mycota of Greece, including Cladonia graeca sp. nov.

From mid-elevation pine forest on the Aegean Sea island of Thasos 8 additional Cladonia species for the lichen mycota of Greece are reported.Most have a wide distribution in Europe and reach their southern limit in Greece.From schistose rock in the same area and on Evvia a new species is described,Cladonia graeca,which is probably related to C.macrophylla and C.decorticata but contains fumarprotocetraric acid instead of psoromic or perlatolic acid.     

Olive-Growing in Greece

This industry, which may be 3,000 years old, today is first in world production of preserved olives, harvested horn over 50,000,000 trees.     

Cardamine calliphaea sp. nov. (Brassicaceae) from southwestern Greece

Cardamine calliphaea Kit Tan, G. Vold & Giannopoulos sp. nov. (Brassicaceae) is illustrated and described as a new species endemic to Greece. It occurs in the prefectures of Ilia in western Peloponnese and Etolias‐Akarnanias in western Sterea Ellas and bears some resemblance to C. graeca, differing by its dense greyish–white indumentum and by the absence of leaf auricles. Affinities lie with C. glauca and C. plumieri from which it differs conspicuously, among other characters, by its imparipinnate leaves with the terminal leaflet smaller or equal in size to the lateral pairs.     

Grandmaternal childcare and kinship laterality. Is rural Greece exceptional?

Grandmothers provide more childcare for their daughters' children than for those of their sons, almost everywhere. Exceptions occur where virilocal (patrilocal) postmarital residence makes the children of sons more accessible, but even under virilocality, preferential care of daughters' children, net of the effects of proximity, is often demonstrable. A unique counter-example has been reported by Pashos (2000, Evolution & Human Behavior, 21, 97–109) who found that rural Greek grandmothers cared more for their sons' children even when effects of proximity were controlled; however, this result was based on an analysis in which everything from living in the same household to living in nearby villages was treated as equally close.Here, we present new analyses that replicate Pashos's result, based on a large European survey with a finer differentiation of residential proximity. In interviews conducted in 2004–2007, rural, but not urban, Greek women indeed reported more care of sons' than of daughters' children, net of the effects of proximity and other variables, This rural reversal of the usual uterine (matrilateral) bias was not observed elsewhere in Europe. Greeks were not surveyed again until 2015, whereupon the pattern had disappeared, with rural women now exhibiting a strong uterine bias in grandchild childcare. It seems likely that the financial crisis of 2008–2009, which hit Greece especially hard, played some role in this dramatic change, but it cannot readily be traced to increases in either unemployment or multigenerational households.     

The rediscovery of Biebersteinia orphanidis Boiss. (Geraniaceae) in Greece

Biebersteinia orphanidis was considered extinct from Greece and Europe as it had not been collected since Orphanides' type collection of 1851. Its rediscovery is reported here from a mountain close to the classical locality. The species serves as a distinct phytogeographical link between the floras of Greece and Anatolia. In Greece, at least, it grows in a critically low number of individuals. Data on the species habitat and population status are given, and potential threats to its survival are discussed.     

Chaetopterygopsis siveci sp.n. from Greece (Trichoptera,Limnephilidae)

Chaetopterygopsis siveci from near the Katara pass, Greece, is described and illustrated.