by Yassamine Bentata

Received: 24 January 2024;  Published: 25 July 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.2403221

Completely unknown before the 90s and exceptional up to the 2000s, BK virus nephropathy (BKvN), usually known as polyomavirus-associated nephropathy, has emerged as a significant and severe viral complication in kidney transplantation (KT). More than twenty years after Gardner's discovery of BKv in 1971, Purighalla described, in 1995, the first case of BKvN. Four years later in 1999, Nickeleit et al. published a first series of five cases of BKvN and made very precious and pertinent contributions to understanding t [...]

by Niklas Gudowsky  , Ulrike Bechtold  , Leo Capari  and Mahshid Sotoudeh

Received: 31 January 2019;  Published: 27 June 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1902058

Background: Quality or healthy aging refers to well-being in an older age. In the light of recent changes in the discourse on approaches on positive aging, we aimed to study the way “quality aging” is understood, expressed, and dealt with as a part of contemporary technology assessment (TA), since the nexus between demographic and technological changes has remained a staple topic in TA for at least three decades. Methods: A bottom-up qualitative content analysis was performed to identify the concepts of [...]

by Abdullah S. Binsaeedu  , Moustafa Khalifa  and Jocelyn Tan-Shalaby

Received: 30 December 2021;  Published: 19 April 2023;  doi: 10.21926/rpn.2302007

The ketogenic diet (KD) is currently well known in the lay media as a quick way to lose weight. However, the KD is not a new medical concept. The KD was used in the early 1900s to control seizures. However, as we developed more effective pharmacological agents, we used the KD less until it became practically obscure by the 1980s. Similar to the effects of fasting, the KD leads to the production of ketones as an alternative energy source to glucose. Therefore, the KD has many beneficial metabolic effects, such as an [...]

by Dayu Lv  , Jose Garcia-Tirado  and Chiara Fabris

Received: 17 May 2018;  Published: 11 September 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.transplant.1803019

Background: Human pancreatic islet transplantation is a minimally-invasive procedure that is gaining recognition for the treatment of type 1 diabetes (T1D). Selected patients with unstable T1D, hypoglycemia unawareness, history of severe hypoglycemia, and glycemic lability, not successfully stabilized with intensive insulin treatment, can be offered this alternative therapy that has been shown to provide long-term glycemic control with near-normalization of hemoglobin A1c in the absence of severe hypoglycemia. Toda [...]

by James S. Powers  , Barbara Clinton  , Kayse Martin  , Margaret A. Genendlis  and Grace S. Smith

Received: 26 October 2018;  Published: 13 December 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1804024

Background: The majority of long-term care provided to older adults and persons with disabilities is provided by unpaid family caregivers and friends. Employers have a stake in long-term care services as well since 60% of caregivers are employed outside the home, 49% have gone in late, left early, or taken time off during the day to deal with caregiving issues, and 15% have taken a prolonged leave of absence. Additionally, 87% of employed caregivers make telephone calls for caregiving from work. Presenteeism, the s [...]

by Omar Alkhalil

Received: 23 May 2022;  Published: 11 August 2022;  doi: 10.21926/aeer.2203029

Multi-rotor and fixed-wing drones are extensively used to collect the data needed for producing large-scale topographic maps and plans. Several types of drone products are available, and the most important one for surveyors is an orthophoto. Flight planning, the quality of the control data, the assessment of drone products, and the image processing software need to be considered when using thes e drones. In this study, we explained these concepts and discussed their theoretical and practical importance in providing [...]

by Sveva Pepe  , Simone Tedeschi  , Nicolo' Brandizzi  , Samuele Russo  , Luca Iocchi  and Christian Napoli

Received: 27 May 2022;  Published: 04 October 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.2204139

Human–robot interactions require the ability of the system to determine if the user is paying attention. However, to train such systems, massive amounts of data are required. In this study, we addressed the issue of data scarcity by constructing a large dataset (containing ~120,000 photographs) for the attention detection task. Then, by using this dataset, we established a powerful baseline system. In addition, we extended the proposed system by adding an auxiliary face detection module and introducing a unique GAN [...]

by Mario F. Tecce  , Walter Milano  and Anna Capasso

Received: 26 June 2020;  Published: 31 August 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2003038

Adipocytes play a central role in maintaining lipid homeostasis and energy balance by storing triacylglycerols (TAGs) or releasing free fatty acids in response to changes in energy requirements. Obesity is a major risk factor for many diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Besides, morbidity and mortality associated with being overweight and obese are on the rise. The development of obesity is characterized by an increase in lipid cells due to mitogenesis and differentiation, which [...]

by Kesiena Owebor  , Smith Orode Otuagoma  , Ogheneakpobo Jonathan Eyenubo  , Arthur Gogo Uranta  , Friday Erhimudia Ukrakpor  , Kesiena Ezewu  and Ebimene Ezekiel Ebisine

Received: 01 August 2023;  Published: 08 November 2023;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2304033

The proper management of sawdust is critical to socioeconomic development. In this research, waste-to-energy has been proposed to utilize sawdust in selected timber markets in Port Harcourt, namely, Illoabuchi Timber Market, Marine Base Timber Market, and Mile 3 Timber Market. A quantitative approach has been taken to estimate the sawdust generation, energy potential, power generation capacities, and pollutant reduction of indiscriminate combustion of sawdust. The findings suggest that, annually, 171 ktons, 42 kton [...]

by Kazushige Kimura  , James F. Reichert  , Omid Ranjbar Pouya  , Ahmad Byagowi  , Xikui Wang  , Debbie M. Kelly  and Zahra Moussavi

Received: 25 May 2018;  Published: 09 August 2018;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.1803007

Background: In this paper, we describe the design of a virtual environment (VE) using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) to scan and replicate a real environment (RE) in a virtual domain. Compared to using a CAD software, SLAM allows for the replication of an RE quite easily and quickly. Methods: To test the user’s performance in a SLAM-based VE, we developed an immersive virtual reality setup using a specialized wheelchair (VRNChair) and a head mounted display (Oculus Rift DK2), and employed a knowledge [...]