by Maria Lúcia dos Santos  , Ana Cristina Monteiro  , Andréa Nascimento  , Sívia Barbosa  , Artur Delgado  and Patrícia Zamberlan

Received: 11 April 2024;  Published: 17 July 2024;  doi: 10.21926/rpn.2403010

Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by fragile skin that blisters and tears easily, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. Depending on the specific genetic mutations and the proteins involved, EB can be classified into several subtypes whose molecular complexity is compounded by the variability in mutation types (missense, nonsense, insertions, deletions), their locations within the genes, and the resultant effects on protein function. This systematic review aimed to identi [...]

by Michael Hales  and Robert Marx

Received: 10 January 2022;  Published: 19 April 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2202019

Service-user volunteers in a National Health Service (NHS) Mental Health Trust in the UK have made an unusual contribution to mindfulness teaching, training, research and governance as ‘advocates’ of mindfulness-based therapy interventions. We explore the nature of what has been named internally as the ‘wisdom’ of the ‘advocate’ group in this NHS Trust, and its impact on mental health provision. A clinician (clinical psychologist) and an advocate (anthropologist) conduct an investigative conversational journey usin [...]

by Damiana Scuteri  , Paolo Tonin  , Maria Tiziana Corasaniti  and Giacinto Bagetta

Received: 05 July 2022;  Published: 14 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.2203133

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) accounts for 50–70% of cases of dementia worldwide and is a social burden to the affected population. Although several pathogenetic hypotheses have been proposed, evidence favoring the role of aberrant neuroplasticity in the development of the neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with dementia is increasing. Specifically, agitation is resistant to treatment and affects the quality of life, also because of the lack of safe and effective treatment for AD. Alterations in pain processing due to [...]

by Stephan John  , Svenja Rink  , Leandra Weidemann  , Katrin Huesker  and Wilhelm Niedermeier

Received: 21 April 2022;  Published: 15 June 2022;  doi: 10.21926/rpm.2202012

Combining dental ceramics with other prosthetic metallic restorations might release metal ions, thus affecting the oral tissues of the patients. In this study, we evaluated the electrochemical solubility of various dental ceramics in a galvanic experimental setup in vitro. Smooth and rough feldspathic and zirconium dioxide ceramics (at pH 5.5 and pH 3.0) were exposed to an electric field. Calcium, barium, and zirconium were selected as parameters to determine the solubility of both types of ceramic materials. Among [...]

by Bhagyashree Deshmankar  , Craig E. Eckfeldt  , Graf Oliver  , Aleksandr Lazaryan  and Nelli Bejanyan

Received: 19 July 2020;  Published: 18 September 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.2003118

Severe hypercholesterolemia is an uncommon complication of allogenic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Treatment options for hypercholesterolemia due to liver graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) are limited because many antilipidemic medications are known to worsen hepatic functions. We report our experience on a case of a 38-year-old male with Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia presenting with steroid-refractory hepatic and lower gastrointestinal acute GVHD after matched sibling don [...]

by Gregor Reid  , Azza A. Gadir  , Scarlett Puebla Barragan  and Raja Dhir

Received: 11 December 2020;  Published: 01 February 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.hg.2101055

The human intestinal microbiota represents a complex microbial community that plays an essential role in the maintenance of host health. Over the last decade, metagenomic and metabolomic analyses have revealed the influence of intestinal microbial diversity and composition on a range of biological functions in the host. While overall taxonomic composition of the intestinal microbiome is informative, changes in spatial dynamics within the community also have profound biological significance as microbial functions ar [...]

by Amer Belal  , Shawna Lord  , Rohan V. Mehta  and Alfonso Santos

Received: 28 October 2022;  Published: 19 April 2023;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.2302182

Cryptococcosis is a common invasive fungal infection in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTR) that can be challenging to manage. We discuss a case of disseminated cryptococcosis in a transplant recipient. A 26-year-old woman with a history of ESRD from C1q nephropathy, living-related kidney transplant in early 2012, and allograft nephrectomy in 2015, received a deceased donor kidney transplant (DDKT). Induction after the first transplant was anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) and maintenance immunosuppression (IS) in [...]

by Natali Lioubashevski  , Netzer Daie  , Yoram Finkelstein  and Eliezer Witztum

Received: 25 May 2023;  Published: 20 October 2023;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2304043

A therapeutic intervention combines guided imagery and hypnotic techniques (including self-hypnosis), direct and indirect suggestions, medical treatments, and highly improving patient condition. A variety of hypnotic intervention techniques were introduced to treat a highly hypnotizable patient suffering from an advanced organic brain disorder due to an autoimmune disease and resistant to traditional medicine, showing no improvement despite being highly motivated and cooperating with conventional measures. Progress [...]

by Sally Rose  and David Sheffield

Received: 05 August 2022;  Published: 22 December 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2204055

This article examines the practice of combining explorations of regulated and dysregulated states through the Workable Ranges Model (WRM) with the skills and qualities taught in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). MBSR was designed to help participants to self-regulate stress. Didactic teaching about stress reactivity is part of the curriculum and may contribute to positive outcomes. A practice-based embodied methodology utilised mindful inquiry in research methods. Seven graduates of MBSR courses that inclu [...]

by Shih-Ang Hsu

Received: 13 December 2020;  Published: 06 July 2021;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2103031

In September 2020 Hurricane Sally affected the north central Gulf of Mexico. Making use of the anemometers data available at 4 oil rigs over the affected region, it is found that, when the atmospheric stability was near-neutral, the gust factor (G) decreases linearly with height from approximately 1.28 at 35m above the sea surface to 1.18 at 160 m. In other words, G decreases linearly at the rate around 8% per 100 m from the typical hub height to beyond common hub height. Based on the linear equation found in this [...]