by Christine M. Bojanowski  , Ian Britton  and Kamyar Afshar

Received: 18 April 2018;  Published: 16 July 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1803015

Here we present a case of a lung transplant recipient with alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency as well as conducted a retrospective review of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database from 1990 – 2016 specifically grouping patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (A1ATD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

by Patricia Lynn Dobkin

Received: 23 April 2018;  Published: 02 July 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.1803013

Objectives: Living with any chronic pain condition is a challenge that can be met when one reduces reactivity to the sensory and evaluative aspects of it. The aim of this case study is to show how a clinical psychologist with expertise in chronic illness applied Buddhist principles to her own experience. Methods: When one realizes that suffering is the combination of pain plus resistance then one can learn how to accept rather than exacerbate it. Applying the Four Noble Truths from Buddhist psychology to understand [...]

by Peta Stapleton  and Hannah Chatwin

Received: 17 May 2018;  Published: 02 July 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.1803014

(1) Background: Because patients vary in their response to treatment, including adherence, the effect of treatment length in the use of EFT on food cravings was examined by comparing two studies in order to ascertain if shorter programs are as effective. This may then impact treatment adherence and completion. (2) Methods: In study one, 96 overweight and obese adults were randomly allocated to a 4-week treatment for their food craving or waitlist condition. In study two, an 8-week EFT program for 47 adults, the sam [...]

by Khawla F. Ali  , Vicente T. San Martin  , Tyler Stevens  , R. Matthew Walsh  , Rita Bottino  , Massimo Trucco  and Betul Hatipoglu

Received: 29 March 2018;  Published: 02 July 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1803014

Total pancreatectomy (TP) is increasingly being utilized for definitive treatment in patients with debilitating chronic pancreatitis (CP). In an effort to prevent surgical diabetes, the procedure can be performed in conjunction with transplantation of islets of Langerhans recovered from the patients’ own resected pancreas (autologous islet transplantation, AIT). Given that patients undergoing TP and AIT are traditionally assumed not to be at risk for the development of beta-cell autoimmunity, it is possible that th [...]

by Jonathan Manh Dang  , Luma Bashmi  , Stephen Meeneghan  , Janet White  , Rebecca Hedrick  , Jelena Djurovic  , Brigitte Vanle  , Dennis Nguyen  , Jonathan Almendarez  , Paula Ravets  , Yasmine Gohar  , Sophia Hanna  , Itai Danovitch  and Waguih William IsHak

Received: 28 March 2018;  Published: 25 June 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.1802011

Background: An increasing number of patients and practitioners are using mindfulness meditation programs despite uncertainty about the evidence supporting these programs’ health benefits. Aim: To review the current evidence on the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) on depressive symptoms and quality of life (QOL) among patients with depression comorbid medical conditions and those with major depressive disorder. Methods: A comprehensive search of PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and PsycINFO was performed [...]

by Im Quah-Smith

Received: 09 May 2018;  Published: 25 June 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.1802012

The Auricular approach to diagnostics and therapeutics has gained momentum over the last 15 years. Battlefield Acupuncture has taken on a life of its own and has been adopted into NATO and even been introduced into neonatal intensive care. It is time to take on the challenge of Auricular Medicine - the application of the neurophysiological phenomenon referred to as the Vascular Autonomic Signal or VAS to identify active ear sites in Auricular interventions. It is time to utilize the VAS in therapeutics, recognizing [...]

by Yoshitaro Shindo  and Mazhar A. Kanak

Received: 29 March 2018;  Published: 22 June 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1802013

Islet cell transplantation is a developing treatment for patients suffering from severe Type-1 diabetes. The long-term insulin independence after islet cell transplantation has been difficult to achieve, and this has been linked to several factors. One of the major cause of poor long-term outcome is inflammation surrounding the islets. Inflammation in islets is caused at several stages, donor induced, during organ preservation, islet isolation stress, peri-transplant inflammation or instant blood mediated inflammat [...]

by Victoria Gómez-Dos-Santos  , Vital Hevia-Palacios  , Edurne Ramos-Muñoz  , María Laura García-Bermejo  , Esperanza Macarena Rodríguez-Serrano  , Ana Saiz-González  , Jose Manuel Del Rey-Sánchez  and Francisco Javier Burgos-Revilla

Received: 22 March 2018;  Published: 21 June 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1802012

Background: Extended criteria donors and donation after cardiac death donors provide organs which tend to be more sensitive to the stress of preservation. There is a lack of evidence about the potential role of oxygen in preservation techniques, and literature comparing oxygenated and non-oxygenated techniques is very limited. The aim of the study was to compare HMP with oxygen versus HMP without oxygen in a pig model of kidney auto-transplantation (KT) reproducing conditions of DCD. We have also set up miRNAs expr [...]

by Diane B. Paul  and Ilana Löwy

Received: 16 April 2018;  Published: 12 June 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.1802022

We address an ongoing controversy over what health-care providers tell prospective parents about Down Syndrome (DS). Many parent, disability-rights, and anti-abortion activists believe that the messages that health-care professionals transmit to pregnant women and their partners are distorted. In their view, OB-GYNs, primary-care providers, clinical geneticists, midwives and other medical professionals generally assume that the quality of life for individuals with DS and their families is poor, whereas in fact, tho [...]

by Nicholas Lim  , Gregory Beilman  and Timothy Pruett

Received: 21 March 2018;  Published: 12 June 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1802011

Portal hypertension often occurs transiently with injection of islet cells into the portal system during total pancreatectomy-islet autotransplantation (TPIAT). We describe a TPIAT patient with non-cirrhotic portal hypertension (NCPH) two years after surgery initially identified with esophageal varices on upper endoscopy. The underlying mechanism for the development of NCPH after TPIAT is unclear but infectious and immune-related pathways have been proposed. Management of NCPH is primarily treatment of complication [...]