The Cyprus Institute

About: The Cyprus Institute is a other organization based out in Nicosia, Cyprus. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Aerosol & Environmental science. The organization has 418 authors who have published 1252 publications receiving 32586 citations.

Polyunsaturated fatty acid status at birth, childhood growth, and cardiometabolic risk: a pooled analysis of the MEFAB and RHEA cohorts.

Abstract: Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) status during pregnancy has been suggested to influence offspring obesity and cardiometabolic health. We assessed whether prenatal PUFA exposure is associated with rapid infant growth, childhood BMI, and cardiometabolic profile. In the Dutch MEFAB (n = 266) and Greek RHEA (n = 263) cohorts, we measured n-3 and n-6 PUFA concentrations in cord blood phospholipids, which reflect fetal exposure in late pregnancy. We defined rapid infant growth from birth to 6 months of age as an increase in weight z-score >0.67. We analyzed body mass index (BMI) as continuous and in categories of overweight/obesity at 4 and 6 years. We computed a cardiometabolic risk score at 6–7 years as the sum of waist circumference, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood pressure z-scores. Associations of PUFAs with child health outcomes were assessed using generalized linear models for binary outcomes and linear regression models for continuous ones after adjusting for important covariates, and for the pooled estimates, a cohort indicator. In pooled analyses, we found no association of PUFA levels with rapid infant growth, childhood BMI (β per SD increase in the total n-3:n-6 PUFA ratio = −0.04 SD; 99% CI: −0.15, 0.06; P = 0.65 at 4 years, and −0.05 SD; 99% CI: −0.18, 0.08; P = 0.78 at 6 years), and overweight/obesity. We also found no associations for clustered cardiometabolic risk and its individual components. The results were similar across cohorts. Our findings suggest that PUFA concentrations at birth are not associated with later obesity development and cardiometabolic risk in childhood.

Epidemiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in the Republic of Cyprus: A 25-Year Retrospective Study

Abstract: Introduction: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare, rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease Despite wide variability in the incidence and prevalence of ALS, there is evidence of positive temporal trends and an increase in incidence with age The aim of this study was to conduct a detailed epidemiological investigation of ALS in Cyprus Methods: All registered Cypriot ALS patients in the Republic of Cyprus from January 1985 until December 2014 were included Socio-demographic information was extracted from patient files Results: The study identified 179 ALS patients, of whom 7 had a positive family history The mean age at onset was 586 years and a slight male predominance was observed Average annual crude incidence was 126 cases/100,000 person-years and at the beginning of 2015, prevalence of ALS was 79 cases/100,000 population Both incidence and prevalence displayed an increasing trend, even after age-standardization of incidence rates Conclusions: Incidence, prevalence and main socio-demographic characteristics of ALS in Cyprus were similar to those of other European countries, without any geographic clustering of the disease Additionally, an increased incidence through the years was confirmed However, observations such as a higher male prevalence and a younger mean age of onset compared to published literature require further investigation

Occurrence and distribution of the coral Dendrophyllia ramea in Cyprus insular shelf: Environmental setting and anthropogenic impacts

Abstract: Occurrence and abundance of deep-water corals in the Levantine Mediterranean Sea is still largely unknown. This is the first attempt to quantitatively describe a Dendrophyllia ramea population discovered in June 2015 during the CYCLAMEN expedition on board the Research Vessel Aegaeo. This population is the deepest ever described until now in the Mediterranean and was found on the outer insular shelf off eastern Cyprus (Protaras, 35°02′N; 34°05′E). Video transects conducted by means of a remotely operated vehicle revealed a well-developed population of D. ramea located on a sandy seabed at 125–170 m depth. The highest density was 6 colonies m−2 and on average 1.6 ± 1.4 (SD) colonies m−2. The population consists of isolated or piled up branches of various sizes and large colonies, some ∼50 cm max width. The corals thrive on soft bottoms, representing a rather novel aspect of the research on D. ramea, since the species is still considered to be mostly associated with rocky substrates. The occurrence of the species in sedimentary grounds makes it especially vulnerable to bottom contact fishing gears as bottom trawling. Spatial distribution of the coral population, as well as a first attempt to characterize its habitat, are explored as an approach to describe the habitat's suitability and the vulnerability for the species in the area.

Experimental evaluation of a multiple-effect distillation unit in low seawater flow conditions

Abstract: In this work, we evaluate experimentally the performance of a multiple-effect distillation (MED) unit in low seawater flow conditions and the potential of its integration with a concentrated solar power system. The innovation of this MED unit is the introduction of a flow distributor within the parallel plates of the falling film heat exchanger, designed to improve the system performance and efficiency under low seawater flow conditions. The main parameters examined were the thermal input power and the flow rate of the inlet seawater to each effect and the inlet seawater temperature of the single unit. Furthermore, the experimental results were compared with a control volume energy conservation model. The results showed that lower heat input load results to a higher value of the performance ratio (PR) of the unit and also under constant heat load, a higher temperature of the seawater lead to higher distillate product for the single effect unit. As the number of effects is increased the PR of the u...

Design, construction and monitoring of a near-zero energy laboratory building in Cyprus

Abstract: The paper presents the architectural, engineering and energy design of a laboratory building located in Cyprus. The building is designed to meet near-zero energy consumption criteria using advanced energy conservation measures, smart energy management and solar thermal and photovoltaic systems to cover the remaining energy load. The energy conservation techniques used result in reduced energy consumption of the building by almost 70% compared with a conventional building, while almost 27% of the remaining heating-, cooling- and lighting load is covered by photovoltaics. A concentrating solar thermal system for cooling and heating is being installed to cover the remainder of the load.