by Elaine Beaumont  , Chris Irons  and Sue McAndrew

Received: 25 May 2022;  Published: 26 September 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2203045

Self-guided, smartphone apps may be helpful in reducing symptoms associated with psychological distress and may boost wellbeing, and levels of compassion. To our knowledge this is the first study to examine the impact a 28-day app based on Compassion Focused Therapy and Compassionate Mind Training has on participant’s levels of compassion, wellbeing, and self-criticism. The Self-Compassion App includes exercises, meditations, quotes, a daily wisdom, and audios, all of which aim to help individuals develop com [...]

by Andrea P. Cuevas-Gómez  , Izlia J. Arroyo-Maya  and Humberto Hernández-Sánchez

Received: 26 April 2021;  Published: 22 June 2021;  doi: 10.21926/rpm.2102027

Whey protein is a byproduct of cheese, casein, and Greek yogurt produced in Europe, North America, and Australasia. It is a substantial source of functional proteins and peptides for the worldwide food industry. α-Lactalbumin (α-La) is a globular protein that can be isolated from WPI (whey protein isolates) using techniques such as chromatography/gel filtration, membrane separation, etc. α-La is used in the elaboration of functional foods and is a very good source of peptides with anticancer, antimicrobial, antivir [...]

by Dmitriy Melkonian

Received: 17 July 2020;  Published: 27 January 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.2101084

The probabilistic formalism of quantum mechanics is used to quantitatively link the electroencephalogram (EEG) with the underlying microscale activity of cortical neurons. Previous approaches applied methods of classic physics to reconstruct the EEG in terms of explicit physical models of cortical neurons and the volume conductor. However, the multiplicity of cellular processes with extremely intricate mixtures of deterministic and random factors prevented the creation of consistent biophysical parameter sets. To a [...]

by Alberto Dionigi

Received: 16 February 2018;  Published: 31 May 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.1802009

Clowning has a varied tradition and a long history. Recently, clowns have been adopted in the medical setting with the aim of decreasing the negative emotions that can be experienced during hospitalization and medical procedures, as well as inducing positive feelings in patients, their relatives, and the hospital staff. Due to an increase in the number of clowns working in hospitals and the large amount of interest shown in utilizing this approach, an increasing number of studies have focused on testing the efficac [...]

by Elisa Martinelli  , Angelo Di Stefano  , Pietro Gareri  , Pasqualina Sapone  , Rosaria Carlucci  , Massimo Brandino  , Ettore Maina  , Sara Piscioneri  , Giada Cagnoli  and Antonino Maria Cotroneo

Received: 05 March 2023;  Published: 19 September 2023;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2303250

As the older population increases, there is an increase in age-related chronic diseases, especially heart failure. It affects 25% of over 75-year-old outpatients and represents the leading cause of hospitalization and death in older people. This review aimed to point out the main characteristics concerning heart failure in older people, taking into account clinical symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. An extensive search on heart failure was made on PubMed and Google, using the keywords older people, heart failure, [...]

by Yoko Moriyama  , Timothy Bolt  , Marilyn Luptak  and Nanako Tamiya

Received: 19 February 2019;  Published: 09 July 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1903061

Background: Many informal caregivers providing at-home care to older family members want to continue serving as the primary caregiver if they get sufficient support. A key service enabling continued at-home care is access to unplanned respite care facilities for temporary institutional care on short notice and in emergencies. Methods: This study used city government survey results on service user satisfaction with the Japanese Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) system for a mid-sized, Japanese city. From this a range [...]

by Cynthia M.A. Geppert  and Ronald W. Pies

Received: 17 March 2020;  Published: 23 March 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2001016

Cultural and religious competence is an essential component of palliative and end-of-life care. Because religious, ethnic and racial groups often differ in their values and preferences, including their attitudes toward palliative and end-of-life care, clinicians must maintain an open and respectful attitude toward these differences. Cultural and religious competence can improve palliative and end-of-life care, and strengthen the therapeutic alliance with patients and their families.

by Arpitha Shankar Bandi  and Prashant Kaushik

Received: 22 March 2022;  Published: 23 May 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2202154

India is home to several medicinal herbs including turmeric. Turmeric is one of the major produces of India, primarily due to its unique and valuable medicinal and therapeutic properties. However, the growth and yield of turmeric are greatly affected by salt stress in certain parts of the country, especially those near water bodies where significant yield losses have been reported. To mitigate these losses caused by salt stress, certain plant breeding methods, transgenic approaches, and candidate genes along with i [...]

by Preeti Chhabra  and Kenneth L. Brayman

Received: 20 September 2020;  Published: 16 November 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.2004125

Clinical islet allotransplantation represents a minimally invasive, efficacious alternative to pancreas transplantation for restoring glycemic control and insulin independence in select patients with type 1 diabetes that is complicated by intractable impaired hypoglycemia awareness and/or severe hypoglycemic events refractory to stabilization by other means. Over the last decade, islet transplantation outcomes have steadily improved in part due to refinements in the selection of optimal donors, islet isolation tech [...]

by Maryanna D. Klatt  , Emaline Wise  , Olivia Gabram  , Megan Huber  , Lai Wei  and Mira Katz

Received: 02 April 2019;  Published: 11 December 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.1904047

Background: The global principles of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) have led to the creation of Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs), which are interventions that retrain the mind to modify its usual stress response to increase coping and resilience. Mindfulness in Motion (MIM) is an MBI that has shown significant biologic and positive psychosocial outcomes with adult working populations, but had not previously been tested in oncology populations and their caregivers. Utilizing MIM to improve sleep qua [...]