by Mrudula Munagala  and Anita Phancao

Received: 31 August 2017;  Published: 11 January 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1801007

Heart transplant remains the gold standard therapy for patients with end stage heart disease and offers improved survival and quality of life. Significant progress has been achieved in improving one-year mortality after heart transplantation. Nonetheless, long-term graft survival has not changed significantly over the past few decades. Long term survival of heart transplant recipients is limited by chronic rejection, cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV), and malignancy. CAV is a major contributor for graft failure [...]

by Meir Djaldetti

Received: 21 March 2023;  Published: 13 July 2023;  doi: 10.21926/rpn.2303011

Ellagic acid (EA) the principal polyphenol of pomegranate (Punicca granatum) is renowned for its beneficial therapeutic activity in several diseases including cancer. Studies have shown that EA exerts a carcinopreventive effect on many cancer cells, inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and limiting neovascularization and cell migration. In animal models, EA could reduce tumor development, number and size. Research detected that EA exerts its activity on cancer cells through several signaling pathways, without [...]

by Masaaki Takamura  and Shuji Terai

Received: 04 February 2019;  Published: 25 April 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.hg.1902018

In cirrhosis, portal hypertension and hypoalbuminemia due to decreased albumin synthetic capacity and hormonal imbalance due to increased renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and vasopressin systems cause fluid retention and electrolyte abnormalities. Diuretics are indispensable for the control of body fluid volume in liver cirrhosis, and aldosterone antagonists and loop diuretics have been widely used until now. In Japan, tolvaptan, a vasopressin V2 receptor antagonists, became available in September 2013, expanding trea [...]

by Elio Rossi  , Marco Picchi  , Marialessandra Panozzo  and Linda Nurra

Received: 01 November 2018;  Published: 20 June 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.1902038

Aim: To study the effect of homeopathic treatment on adult patients with atopic diseases visited at the Homeopathic Clinic of Lucca (Italy) and long-term evolution of the disease over approximately an 8-year period. Materials and Methods: Data derive from an observational longitudinal study carried out on 563 atopic adult patients who were consecutively visited from 1998 to 2017; 202 (35.9%) suffered from atopic dermatitis, 204 (36.2%) from allergic rhinitis, and 157 (27.9%) from asthma. Moreover, a long-term study [...]

by Gopalakrishnan Loganathan  , Michael G. Hughes  , Gregory L. Szot  , Kate E. Smith  , Abid Hussain  , Daniel R. Collins  , Michael L. Green  , Francis E. Dwulet  , Stuart K. Williams  , Klearchos K. Papas  , Robert C. McCarthy  and Appakalai N. Balamurugan

Received: 29 March 2019;  Published: 24 May 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1902064

Background: Purified bacterial collagenase and protease enzymes are commonly used to recover human islets from clinical grade pancreata for subsequent clinical islet transplantation. The high cost of purified enzymes can be prohibitive for recovering human islets from research pancreata used for translational research or pre-clinical studies. In this study, we successfully isolated islets from human research pancreata using enriched collagenase products supplemented with BP Protease (DE Collagenase 800 or Collagena [...]

by Babkir Ali

Received: 23 May 2019;  Published: 23 July 2019;  doi: 10.21926/jept.1903001

This paper is intended to evaluate the economic viability of producing solar photovoltaic modules in Sudan. The simple payback period and the net present value were used as economic indicators to study comparatively different annual production capacities. Initial and operating costs were developed and analyzed for the product lifecycle. The number of working shifts in the base case is doubled to achieve a production rate of 20 MW/year and double shift with double quantity of machines is executed to reach a producti [...]

by Niccolò Castellani Nicolini  , Jacopo Belfiore  and Giandomenico Biancofiore

Received: 14 May 2023;  Published: 13 October 2023;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.2304198

Liver transplantation (LT) is a life-saving treatment representing the only viable option for patients suffering from end-stage liver disease (ESLD) or acute liver failure. Patients who undergo LT require a multidisciplinary approach to postoperative pain management. However, pain management in this context is often inadequately explored. Limited options exist for proper pain control in patients with hepatic failure, mainly due to the increased risk of kidney and multi-organ failure. In LT candidates, specific anal [...]

by Holly Hazlett-Stevens

Received: 20 April 2018;  Published: 29 September 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.1804023

Background: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an evidence-based intervention developed to teach mindfulness meditation to a wide range of patients. Although the efficacy of MBSR has been established for a variety of medical and psychiatric conditions, measured outcomes rarely include physical symptoms related to anxiety, depression, and/or stress. The current study presents a secondary analysis of data obtained from patients seeking MBSR for symptoms of anxiety, depression, and/or other stress-related co [...]

by Kristy Lui  , Darlene Yee-Melichar  and Emiko Takagi

Received: 31 October 2018;  Published: 08 April 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1902046

This research review sought to examine the patterns of engagement in advance care planning (ACP) and utilization of end-of-life (EoL) care treatment services including, but not limited to hospice care, in distinct older Asian American ethnic groups. The review of existing research suggested evidence that empirical studies about different older subpopulations of Asian Americans remains scarce. This research analysed 30 small-scale studies on older Asian Americans’ attitudes and engagement in EoL care planning. The r [...]

by Laura S. Kabiri  , Amanda M. Perkins-Ball  , Cassandra S. Diep  , Uma Kelavkar  and Augusto X. Rodriguez

Received: 17 December 2021;  Published: 15 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/rpn.2201009

Most children do not meet physical activity guidelines, and school-based programs often fail to increase physical activity levels. However, there has been no intervention pairing college mentors with elementary students to date. The purpose of this paper is to report the feasibility and acceptability, both quantitative and qualitative, of an undergraduate-mentored running program designed to increase physical activity in elementary students. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used to evaluate the feasib [...]