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      <p begin="00:00:53.610" end="00:01:00.850"><![CDATA[Wow! I see big changes on the set today! I’m serious!!!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:00.870" end="00:01:02.830"><![CDATA[It is with great pleasure that I see the masses of admirers who came here to cheer for me!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:02.850" end="00:01:07.600"><![CDATA[booing]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:07.620" end="00:01:13.150"><![CDATA[To cheer for me, I said… not to boo! It would do you no harm to show some]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:13.170" end="00:01:17.400"><![CDATA[respect for the presenter! So, then… where did you all come from?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:17.420" end="00:01:23.790"><![CDATA[(School chant)Come rain and shine we march like the kamikazes.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:23.810" end="00:01:32.810"><![CDATA[We are from Pallouriotissa, the high school that fazes! Pallouriotissa! Ole!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:32.830" end="00:01:39.040"><![CDATA[So far then… Pallouriotissa! I protest! This is an outrageous injustice!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:39.060" end="00:01:44.270"><![CDATA[They are so many because you brought them from next door! Are there no rural schools to invite?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:44.290" end="00:01:45.180"><![CDATA[See what kind of a guy can come out of a rural school!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:45.200" end="00:01:46.070"><![CDATA[Where were we?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:46.090" end="00:01:48.560"><![CDATA[We were plugging in!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:48.580" end="00:01:52.770"><![CDATA[Stalo is the one we will be plugging in! Live link! Let’s go!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:52.790" end="00:01:56.240"><![CDATA[Why don’t we all look like each other?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:01:56.260" end="00:02:06.470"><![CDATA[-Is it because God didn’t use carbon paper along the production line?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:02:06.490" end="00:02:10.900"><![CDATA[In today’s programme we will learn letter-perfectly… or is it inside-out? Upside-down perhaps? Oh well…!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:02:10.920" end="00:02:17.730"><![CDATA[I feel sick already! What are we going to watch today?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:02:17.750" end="00:02:21.150"><![CDATA[	Much ado about nothing!, 	The first to use a computer in medicine, in 1969!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:02:21.170" end="00:03:16.580"><![CDATA[Disgraceful heredity, you!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:03:16.600" end="00:03:20.880"><![CDATA[Can you tell me the time, please?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:03:20.900" end="00:03:24.430"><![CDATA[This watch does not show the time. It gives us our heartbeats per minute.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:03:24.450" end="00:03:30.570"><![CDATA[We measure our heartbeat and stand along the x-axis.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:03:30.590" end="00:03:34.600"><![CDATA[On the left those with the lowest heartbeats per minute and gradually increase to the right.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:03:34.620" end="00:03:59.320"><![CDATA[We arranged ourselves in increasing groups for every 5 heartbeats.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:03:59.340" end="00:04:07.370"><![CDATA[Ok… we know by now that you know what we are trying to do. Until we all get …measured here…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:07.390" end="00:04:16.100"><![CDATA[Stalo, have you changed clothes? It’s time for her to exhibit her alter ego to us. Her other self, that is…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:16.120" end="00:04:25.560"><![CDATA[C-A-R-B-O-N-6-0… Carbon 60!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:25.580" end="00:04:35.730"><![CDATA[-It’s not what you think! I’m just trying to help her make a decent introduction.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:35.750" end="00:04:39.030"><![CDATA[My mission is to deliver this ball to Mr. Nikos Chronakis.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:39.050" end="00:04:49.380"><![CDATA[I have been warned not to disturb him before he has had his morning coffee.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:49.400" end="00:04:50.360"><![CDATA[It’s past midday so I assume he’s already had it. -Are you Mr. Nikos Chronakis?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:50.380" end="00:04:51.340"><![CDATA[I am.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:51.360" end="00:04:52.500"><![CDATA[Pleasure, I am Stalo Mitidou.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:52.520" end="00:04:54.520"><![CDATA[My pleasure]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:54.540" end="00:04:55.480"><![CDATA[You teach at the University of Cyprus in the Department of Chemistry…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:55.500" end="00:04:57.320"><![CDATA[Right]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:57.340" end="00:04:58.460"><![CDATA[Can I play a trick on you?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:04:58.480" end="00:05:05.410"><![CDATA[Sure!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:05:05.430" end="00:05:09.740"><![CDATA[Since everything in our lives has two sides, am I right to assume that this ball here is not just a football?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:05:09.760" end="00:05:15.250"><![CDATA[This here is a ball, of course, but what you don’t know is that there is another very]]></p>
      <p begin="00:05:15.270" end="00:05:17.240"><![CDATA[much smaller ball which we can see neither with a naked eye nor with the microscope. This is called carbon-60.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:05:17.260" end="00:05:26.010"><![CDATA[So, let’s play ball!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:05:26.030" end="00:05:36.430"><![CDATA[The subject of my research is a molecule that was discovered in 1985 and it looks like this ball we all]]></p>
      <p begin="00:05:36.450" end="00:05:46.590"><![CDATA[know since we were kids, only much smaller. It is called carbon-60. In short, C-60.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:05:46.610" end="00:05:55.620"><![CDATA[Nobody could have ever imagined of course that this molecule would be isolated.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:05:55.640" end="00:06:03.330"><![CDATA[It is, perhaps the first molecule that engaged the attention of all sciences-Physics, chemistry]]></p>
      <p begin="00:06:03.350" end="00:06:13.210"><![CDATA[biology and material engineering.  Even philosophy dealt with the molecule of carbon]]></p>
      <p begin="00:06:13.230" end="00:06:20.970"><![CDATA[The first thing we notice about this football-like molecule is its symmetry]]></p>
      <p begin="00:06:20.990" end="00:06:29.840"><![CDATA[This symmetry is based on the eicosahedron resulting in a very symmetric molecule.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:06:29.860" end="00:06:35.490"><![CDATA[The way ancient Greeks perceived this symmetry is very interesting]]></p>
      <p begin="00:06:35.510" end="00:06:41.850"><![CDATA[For them eicosahedral symmetry symbolised the universe. So, when a molecule with this kind of]]></p>
      <p begin="00:06:41.870" end="00:06:53.660"><![CDATA[symmetry was discovered, it was realised that they had to deal with something wiser.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:06:53.680" end="00:07:03.960"><![CDATA[It is one of the so called platonic shapes which symbolised the elements of nature.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:07:03.980" end="00:07:13.420"><![CDATA[. For example the cube symbolised water etc. This might be the way Plato’s chemistry began.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:07:13.440" end="00:07:21.340"><![CDATA[One of these five platonic shapes was the eicosahedron and it looked just like this ball.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:07:21.360" end="00:07:27.360"><![CDATA[The kind of symmetry we see in the football, with the array of pentagons and]]></p>
      <p begin="00:07:27.380" end="00:07:31.440"><![CDATA[hexagons was first seen in the solid structures of Archimedes, thirteen in all.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:07:31.460" end="00:07:40.320"><![CDATA[This is, in short, the history of the eicosahedron and what it symbolized.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:07:40.340" end="00:07:44.340"><![CDATA[Some chemists found a way to use this molecule and this links chemistry with philosophy, which in itself is science]]></p>
      <p begin="00:07:44.360" end="00:07:49.790"><![CDATA[Science is not a remote discipline, it also comprises the element of philosophy.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:07:49.810" end="00:07:55.310"><![CDATA[The discovery of this molecule signalled a revolution in chemistry. All branches of science]]></p>
      <p begin="00:07:55.330" end="00:08:10.730"><![CDATA[began studying the molecule and all its probable applications in the future.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:08:10.750" end="00:08:15.970"><![CDATA[The molecule of carbon-60 belongs to a group of closed-shape molecules known as fullerenia.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:08:15.990" end="00:08:21.780"><![CDATA[On each corner here we have one atom of carbon. This is the third allotrope]]></p>
      <p begin="00:08:21.800" end="00:08:35.350"><![CDATA[of carbon, along with graphite – the common writing pencil – and diamond.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:08:35.370" end="00:08:39.940"><![CDATA[This is a molecule that cannot be dissolved in water. In order for chemists to]]></p>
      <p begin="00:08:39.960" end="00:08:46.450"><![CDATA[be able to study it, they have to make it soluble in water.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:08:46.470" end="00:08:53.320"><![CDATA[The difference between this fullerenium molecule and graphite or diamond is that one can do]]></p>
      <p begin="00:08:53.340" end="00:08:59.830"><![CDATA[chemical reactions on its surface as we are talking about an active molecule. One can “decorate”]]></p>
      <p begin="00:08:59.850" end="00:09:06.420"><![CDATA[the fullerenium atom with various groups of chemicals. During the first five years]]></p>
      <p begin="00:09:06.440" end="00:09:11.510"><![CDATA[of study thousands of articles were published which described ways to “decorate” this molecule with other chemicals.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:09:11.530" end="00:09:17.020"><![CDATA[Going back to the subject of my research, I deal with this “decoration” and I aim]]></p>
      <p begin="00:09:17.040" end="00:09:26.330"><![CDATA[to produce combinations with molecules which are considered to act as antioxidants.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:09:26.350" end="00:09:33.470"><![CDATA[One of the companies I work with has already begun studying the effect of such combinations in diseases like Alzheimer’s.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:09:33.490" end="00:09:44.220"><![CDATA[As an organic chemist, my job is to create a specific molecule.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:09:44.240" end="00:09:50.410"><![CDATA[This molecule has many important applications which have to do with serious diseases like HIV.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:09:50.430" end="00:09:57.430"><![CDATA[In 1992, it was discovered that a derivative of fullerenium can be adsorbed on the DNA molecule]]></p>
      <p begin="00:09:57.450" end="00:10:02.330"><![CDATA[After irradiating this derivative, it becomes able to break the DNA chain at a specific point.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:10:02.350" end="00:10:11.790"><![CDATA[Therefore, a lot of C-60 derivatives were tested in this reaction.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:10:11.810" end="00:10:18.500"><![CDATA[It is very important, as all biologists know, to be able to break the DNA chain at specific points.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:10:18.520" end="00:10:29.400"><![CDATA[The study still goes on in order to create derivatives which are water-soluble and]]></p>
      <p begin="00:10:29.420" end="00:10:34.450"><![CDATA[thus can be used in experiments that show its effect on DNA. This is more or less how I got interested in]]></p>
      <p begin="00:10:34.470" end="00:10:41.870"><![CDATA[working with fullerenium. This is a molecule on which a chemist can bind other]]></p>
      <p begin="00:10:41.890" end="00:10:51.440"><![CDATA[molecules in all three dimensions. It is difficult to find such molecules in chemistry.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:10:51.460" end="00:11:10.450"><![CDATA[My work deals with a particular kind of fullerenium called inherently chiral.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:11:10.470" end="00:11:14.710"><![CDATA[Let’s see what we mean when we call a molecule chiral. Two molecules are chiral when they]]></p>
      <p begin="00:11:14.730" end="00:11:20.100"><![CDATA[are related to each other in the same way our hands are related to each other.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:11:20.120" end="00:11:25.200"><![CDATA[One hand is not the same as the other. They cannot be superimposed, for example. If we place a]]></p>
      <p begin="00:11:25.220" end="00:11:30.330"><![CDATA[mirror in front of one hand, the image in the mirror will be the same as our other hand. So,]]></p>
      <p begin="00:11:30.350" end="00:11:39.710"><![CDATA[these two structures are chiral. Many chemicals in our body are chiral.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:11:39.730" end="00:11:48.960"><![CDATA[Nature always is more selective towards one of the two. These molecules]]></p>
      <p begin="00:11:48.980" end="00:11:55.690"><![CDATA[are called enantiomers and are distinguished as R- and S-. Enantiomerism is very important,]]></p>
      <p begin="00:11:55.710" end="00:12:01.190"><![CDATA[in pharmaceuticals for example. One enantiomer can be a medicine while the other can be poisonous.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:12:01.210" end="00:12:08.580"><![CDATA[So, we have to develop ways to produce one instead of the other, just like nature does]]></p>
      <p begin="00:12:08.600" end="00:12:17.950"><![CDATA[. This is not easy. We are trying to help on this process using the molecule of C-60 as mould.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:12:17.970" end="00:12:26.690"><![CDATA[Our day ends in the professor’s kitchen. Working so much, what do you do to rest and relax?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:12:26.710" end="00:12:37.260"><![CDATA[In the little spare time I have, at night when I come back from work, cooking is what relaxes me most.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:12:37.280" end="00:12:45.670"><![CDATA[I love Mediterranean cuisine and I cook very often. Today we will make one my favourite recipes]]></p>
      <p begin="00:12:45.690" end="00:12:50.870"><![CDATA[:cuttlefish with spinach. I also like to listen to music. When I am at home I always]]></p>
      <p begin="00:12:50.890" end="00:13:59.380"><![CDATA[listen to music. These are the few things which make me relax after a busy day. //]]></p>
      <p begin="00:13:59.400" end="00:14:05.980"><![CDATA[Stelios! Want some?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:14:06.000" end="00:14:07.220"><![CDATA[Any news, guys?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:14:07.240" end="00:14:08.280"><![CDATA[Are you not a Physics student?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:14:08.300" end="00:14:09.890"><![CDATA[So I was told…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:14:09.910" end="00:14:14.020"><![CDATA[How come you don’t understand our results then?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:14:14.040" end="00:14:18.130"><![CDATA[It hits me as very scientific. Is there a point to this or do we doing it just for fun?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:14:18.150" end="00:14:23.990"><![CDATA[Ok… I can accept not being able to see our discovery from where you stand…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:14:24.010" end="00:15:03.740"><![CDATA[All those who are plugged in right now will be able to see the curve, once you mark it…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:15:03.760" end="00:15:07.510"><![CDATA[Come with me you all! Wow! A Gaussian distribution curve! What’s this supposed to show us?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:15:07.530" end="00:15:13.390"><![CDATA[We will measure our height using exactly the same principle!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:15:13.410" end="00:15:17.020"><![CDATA[-Isn’t that what we’ve had Stalo do earlier on? And I thought we were pulling her leg!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:15:17.040" end="00:15:17.540"><![CDATA[Stalo has already made the Gaussian distribution curve?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:15:17.560" end="00:15:19.410"><![CDATA[Well, no]]></p>
      <p begin="00:15:19.430" end="00:15:37.120"><![CDATA[Be patient then]]></p>
      <p begin="00:15:37.140" end="00:16:34.640"><![CDATA[Grouping together students with the same height.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:16:34.660" end="00:16:38.810"><![CDATA[This system of grouping data together, taking into account various parameters, leads to the first]]></p>
      <p begin="00:16:38.830" end="00:16:56.800"><![CDATA[Cypriot to set foot on the moon! Completely irrelevant!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:16:56.820" end="00:17:01.470"><![CDATA[150 angiosurgeons of the world owe their career to professor Andreas Nicolaides]]></p>
      <p begin="00:17:01.490" end="00:17:06.220"><![CDATA[Twelve of them are actually teaching at various universities around the world.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:17:06.240" end="00:17:15.120"><![CDATA[So, professor Nicolaides, how did you make it up to this point?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:17:15.140" end="00:17:26.350"><![CDATA[Quite simply, when I finished high school in Nicosia I came to the UK to study Medicine.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:17:26.370" end="00:17:35.420"><![CDATA[I became a surgeon quite young, 23 years old, so I was in a competitive position with my]]></p>
      <p begin="00:17:35.440" end="00:17:48.300"><![CDATA[colleagues. So, I started doing surgery in various hospitals.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:17:48.320" end="00:17:59.740"><![CDATA[I was impressed to discover that a lot of patients after surgery suffered vascular thrombosis.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:17:59.760" end="00:18:08.570"><![CDATA[These blood clots occasionally ended up in the lungs and caused death. So, I decided to study]]></p>
      <p begin="00:18:08.590" end="00:18:11.420"><![CDATA[the percentage of patients who suffered vascular thrombosis and I started my research at King’s]]></p>
      <p begin="00:18:11.440" end="00:18:22.960"><![CDATA[King’s College Hospital in London.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:18:22.980" end="00:18:31.970"><![CDATA[I used radioactive fibrinogens which were given intravenously to all patients who underwent]]></p>
      <p begin="00:18:31.990" end="00:18:43.630"><![CDATA[surgery and then measured the amount of radioactivity in the legs with a Geiger meter.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:18:43.650" end="00:18:52.380"><![CDATA[Increased radioactivity would indicate vascular thrombosis. The calculations were complex]]></p>
      <p begin="00:18:52.400" end="00:19:01.630"><![CDATA[however, took very long and I ended up working 20 hours for every patient.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:19:01.650" end="00:19:09.370"><![CDATA[I realised then that the hospital used to own a computer – that was back in 1969. So, I talked to]]></p>
      <p begin="00:19:09.390" end="00:19:20.370"><![CDATA[the people in that department and they told me that I could use it but I had to learn to program it myself.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:19:20.390" end="00:19:30.670"><![CDATA[And they gave me the manual. I managed to be in a position to program it in 3 weeks.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:19:30.690" end="00:19:38.570"><![CDATA[. One week’s calculations could then be done in two hours. So, I was able in the next two]]></p>
      <p begin="00:19:38.590" end="00:19:45.350"><![CDATA[two years to find the percentage of patients who suffered thrombosis after general or]]></p>
      <p begin="00:19:45.370" end="00:19:52.330"><![CDATA[gynaecological surgery, or in patients in the intensive care unit and so forth. I published about]]></p>
      <p begin="00:19:52.350" end="00:19:58.580"><![CDATA[25 papers with my research in various periodicals and became known in England as]]></p>
      <p begin="00:19:58.600" end="00:20:06.710"><![CDATA[“Nicolaides who deals with vascular thrombosis”. For this research I received the Jackson award.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:20:06.730" end="00:20:13.950"><![CDATA[This is the highest honour given by the Royal Society of Medicine to doctors under 36 years of age.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:20:13.970" end="00:20:22.500"><![CDATA[I received this award for my studies in finding ways to protect patients from thrombosis.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:20:22.520" end="00:20:28.960"><![CDATA[This area still interests me and I have been for the last 10 years the president of a team of]]></p>
      <p begin="00:20:28.980" end="00:20:36.310"><![CDATA[experts from around the world which is responsible for publishing guidelines for this kind]]></p>
      <p begin="00:20:36.330" end="00:20:43.100"><![CDATA[of protection. Thrombosis in veins can of course be treated and cured with]]></p>
      <p begin="00:20:43.120" end="00:20:49.460"><![CDATA[anticoagulants but this results in the destruction of the valves. Blood in the veins of]]></p>
      <p begin="00:20:49.480" end="00:20:55.630"><![CDATA[the lower limbs moves upwards. It cannot move backwards because in such case the valves]]></p>
      <p begin="00:20:55.650" end="00:21:01.950"><![CDATA[close. If the valves don’t work properly, when the muscles contract the blood moves]]></p>
      <p begin="00:21:01.970" end="00:21:19.990"><![CDATA[upwards and when they relax, it moves downwards making the legs swell.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:21:20.010" end="00:21:34.970"><![CDATA[This results in sores which are very difficult to treat. During the ‘80s we found ways to]]></p>
      <p begin="00:21:34.990" end="00:21:46.060"><![CDATA[mend valves in the veins and together with my colleague Mr. Christopoulos we did the first]]></p>
      <p begin="00:21:46.080" end="00:21:53.760"><![CDATA[surgery of the kind in Britain. In the 70s and 80s we tried to develop bloodless methods to locate]]></p>
      <p begin="00:21:53.780" end="00:22:00.950"><![CDATA[thrombosis to avoid the use of x-rays and inserting needles inside the veins.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:22:00.970" end="00:22:10.760"><![CDATA[In order to diagnose vascular thrombosis we developed a technique called liquid crystal]]></p>
      <p begin="00:22:10.780" end="00:22:20.700"><![CDATA[method - let me show you the device - which measures temperature.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:22:20.720" end="00:22:28.450"><![CDATA[Using this device one can compare the temperature in one leg with that of the other.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:22:28.470" end="00:22:38.470"><![CDATA[If this difference is more than 0.7 degrees then one can diagnose thrombosis.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:22:38.490" end="00:22:52.860"><![CDATA[Another method for measuring the flow of blood in the veins of the legs is the air plethysmograph.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:22:52.880" end="00:23:00.900"><![CDATA[This device is placed around the calf; it is filled with air and measures the change in]]></p>
      <p begin="00:23:00.920" end="00:23:09.950"><![CDATA[the volume of the leg which indicates the flow rate of blood in the leg.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:23:09.970" end="00:23:23.150"><![CDATA[Even now, 20 years later, it is still used in many hospitals in the United States.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:23:23.170" end="00:23:35.440"><![CDATA[Even NASA asked to us to modify the device and uses it in their space station.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:23:35.460" end="00:23:44.020"><![CDATA[With the results we got back from the astronauts, we were able to find what the astronauts]]></p>
      <p begin="00:23:44.040" end="00:23:55.190"><![CDATA[must do before returning to Earth in order to avoid swelling of their feet due to gravity.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:23:55.210" end="00:24:06.580"><![CDATA[From 2008 we use ultrasound to diagnose vascular thrombosis. This method was first]]></p>
      <p begin="00:24:06.600" end="00:24:15.500"><![CDATA[first studied in the 80s and it became widely known and was developed in the 90s. Today,]]></p>
      <p begin="00:24:15.520" end="00:24:21.330"><![CDATA[the electronic devices give very clear images and one can actually see the clot in the vein!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:24:21.350" end="00:24:29.570"><![CDATA[What does Andreas Nicolaides do when he is not working?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:24:29.590" end="00:24:38.170"><![CDATA[I have my family, of course. All my relatives live in Cyprus, so my life is split between Britain]]></p>
      <p begin="00:24:38.190" end="00:24:43.520"><![CDATA[and Cyprus. I have two sons living in London with their children. My children did not]]></p>
      <p begin="00:24:43.540" end="00:24:51.550"><![CDATA[follow in their father’s steps in Medicine because they knew how hard I had to work.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:24:51.570" end="00:25:00.840"><![CDATA[One day, when they were in high school, they brought their friends to watch me doing surgery.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:25:00.860" end="00:25:09.240"><![CDATA[All their friends became doctors, but not my sons.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:25:09.260" end="00:25:37.630"><![CDATA[I like photography very much, especially when it has to do with birds, animals; nature in general.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:25:37.650" end="00:26:00.370"><![CDATA[Back to our experiment with a degree of danger of 7.2 on the Richter scale]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:00.390" end="00:26:03.510"><![CDATA[Away with that curve too! Then what!?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:03.530" end="00:26:06.060"><![CDATA[We are now ready to deduce the results  of our measurements…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:06.080" end="00:26:09.250"><![CDATA[Stalo is heard calling:  Stelios! Stelios!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:09.270" end="00:26:12.430"><![CDATA[Disrupted again! Can’t you hear? Someone is calling you…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:12.450" end="00:26:14.570"><![CDATA[Indeed you are right! Let me go check it out…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:14.590" end="00:26:17.350"><![CDATA[Stelios…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:17.370" end="00:26:19.610"><![CDATA[Don’t make a move until I’m back!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:19.630" end="00:26:36.370"><![CDATA[Stelios! Stelios!!!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:36.390" end="00:26:38.640"><![CDATA[That’s done! Now that we disposed of our big problem, let’s see… What’s new here?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:38.660" end="00:26:42.250"><![CDATA[We drew two Gaussian curves…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:42.270" end="00:26:48.030"><![CDATA[By taking grouped measurements of our heartbeats and height.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:48.050" end="00:26:52.510"><![CDATA[So this is where you take all the scientific measurements! And my friend Stelios thought]]></p>
      <p begin="00:26:52.530" end="00:27:33.920"><![CDATA[that he was pulling my leg? Let’s see what he has to say now!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:27:33.940" end="00:27:39.620"><![CDATA[It is impossible to escape one’s family roots in Cyprus, that’s for sure!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:27:39.640" end="00:27:42.760"><![CDATA[This is good and bad at the same time. When I finished my studies in biology in Greece,]]></p>
      <p begin="00:27:42.780" end="00:27:46.730"><![CDATA[I never intended to return to my starting point.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:27:46.750" end="00:27:53.660"><![CDATA[Circumstances, however, brought me where I am now.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:27:53.680" end="00:27:59.440"><![CDATA[There was an opportunity for a PhD at the University of Cyprus in the department of]]></p>
      <p begin="00:27:59.460" end="00:28:06.430"><![CDATA[biological sciences  headed by professor Andreas Nicolaides who is a brilliant scientist in the]]></p>
      <p begin="00:28:06.450" end="00:28:17.210"><![CDATA[ultrasound area. The subject of our research is “The influence of biochemical and genetic]]></p>
      <p begin="00:28:17.230" end="00:28:24.140"><![CDATA[factors on arteriosclerosis”. We have randomly chosen two villages in Cyprus to do our studies]]></p>
      <p begin="00:28:24.160" end="00:28:31.200"><![CDATA[Pedoulas and Nissou. The response of the people was very satisfactory.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:28:31.220" end="00:28:37.070"><![CDATA[We check with ultrasound the two carotids and two femoral arteries and we take a blood sample]]></p>
      <p begin="00:28:37.090" end="00:28:41.390"><![CDATA[to correlate the results with the DNA. Our aim is to correlate the biochemical and genetic]]></p>
      <p begin="00:28:41.410" end="00:28:48.990"><![CDATA[elements with the measurements we take from the ultrasound scans.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:28:49.010" end="00:28:56.790"><![CDATA[The measurements give us the accumulation of fat on the walls of the arteries. It is these]]></p>
      <p begin="00:28:56.810" end="00:29:00.990"><![CDATA[atheromatic plates which cause future brain seizures and heart attacks, which result in many]]></p>
      <p begin="00:29:01.010" end="00:29:23.840"><![CDATA[fatalities nowadays.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:29:23.860" end="00:29:30.620"><![CDATA[The break-through of our study is that along with the four arteries we study, we can]]></p>
      <p begin="00:29:30.640" end="00:29:36.280"><![CDATA[detect what kind of plates we have to deal with through the ultrasound measurements.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:29:36.300" end="00:29:53.740"><![CDATA[An atheromatic plate can be less stable and may break down causing an infraction of the]]></p>
      <p begin="00:29:53.760" end="00:29:57.050"><![CDATA[heart or it can be stable causing no problems until you become 90 years old.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:29:57.070" end="00:30:23.530"><![CDATA[Thus, we can decide whether a person can undergo surgery or not.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:30:23.550" end="00:30:27.580"><![CDATA[We monitor our study group for three to five years and we also examine their relatives]]></p>
      <p begin="00:30:27.600" end="00:30:33.660"><![CDATA[ parents or children over the age of 40.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:30:33.680" end="00:30:38.370"><![CDATA[This shows that circumstance is important but also that you can never escape from family ties…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:30:38.390" end="00:30:48.250"><![CDATA[Now I get the twofold meaning!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:30:48.270" end="00:30:56.430"><![CDATA[What do you aim to provide the world with through your research?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:30:56.450" end="00:31:02.560"><![CDATA[We are trying to provide the ability to prevent disease, especially in younger persons.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:31:02.580" end="00:31:08.660"><![CDATA[Through the person’s genes, which never change from childhood to old age, we are]]></p>
      <p begin="00:31:08.680" end="00:31:21.170"><![CDATA[trying to predict whether he is liable to suffer some disease later in his life.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:31:21.190" end="00:31:25.980"><![CDATA[So, tell us… We measured your heartbeat and then your height. Then what?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:31:26.000" end="00:31:47.900"><![CDATA[Once we find the average of our measurements… It is time for our live link!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:31:47.920" end="00:31:51.340"><![CDATA[We find the standard deviation…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:31:51.360" end="00:31:57.980"><![CDATA[And all these show us… what?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:31:58.000" end="00:32:00.520"><![CDATA[We observe that 95 percent of us deviate plus or minus two of the average term.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:00.540" end="00:32:01.730"><![CDATA[Mediocrity wins then?]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:01.750" end="00:32:07.150"><![CDATA[Of course not!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:07.170" end="00:32:11.700"><![CDATA[It just shows that although we are all different from each other, most of us share common characteristics.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:11.720" end="00:32:15.250"><![CDATA[If we have something in common, however, like our height]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:15.270" end="00:32:20.790"><![CDATA[this does not mean that our heartbeat will be similar too.]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:20.810" end="00:32:27.420"><![CDATA[While growing up, it is common to feel that we are not as tall as we should be or that our body]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:27.440" end="00:32:34.970"><![CDATA[is not so nice. Gaussian distribution proves however that each one of us belongs to]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:34.990" end="00:32:38.760"><![CDATA[group where a certain characteristic is very common while some other characteristic is]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:38.780" end="00:32:42.200"><![CDATA[completely special.That’s why we never stop cheering…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:42.220" end="00:32:45.270"><![CDATA[Long live variety!!!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:45.290" end="00:32:49.310"><![CDATA[With all due respect to natural variation… See ya!]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:49.330" end="00:32:54.290"><![CDATA[To find out all details, get plugged in on the internet…]]></p>
      <p begin="00:32:54.310" end="00:44:41.980"><![CDATA[-www.xlab.tv.With just a click!]]></p>
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