by Terence Seedsman

Received: 01 August 2021;  Published: 15 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2201195

While increases in life expectancy along with extended longevity can be seen as a success story, there remains the central issue surrounding the health and quality of life for increasing numbers of older people. As populations live longer the idea that older people should be empowered to remain active and productive citizens will be paramount. Questions concerning the meaningfulness, purpose and desirability of living longer present an existential challenge for all and sundry. It is clear, that the speed of populat [...]

by Thibaut Triquet  , Claire Tendero  , Laure Latapie  , Romain Richard  and Caroline Andriantsiferana

Received: 20 January 2022;  Published: 15 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2201007

This work reports the performance of a sequential adsorption/photocatalysis process using activated carbon fibers with deposited TiO2 for the elimination of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP) in water. A commercial activated carbon fiber (ACF10) was selected as the support, and a TiO2 coating was synthesized using Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). Experiments were carried out using a photocatalytic reactor irradiated with monochromatic LEDs (365nm). Two different processes have been studied: adsorpti [...]

by Syuma Ichida  , Daisuke Mori  , Sou Taminato  , Tao Zhang  , Yasuo Takeda  , Osamu Yamamoto  and Nobuyuki Imanishi

Received: 17 February 2022;  Published: 15 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2201009

Acidic aqueous lithium-air batteries are attractive candidates for use as energy sources in electric vehicles because of their high energy and power densities and ability to operate under ambient conditions. An aqueous lithium-air battery with an acetic acid catholyte has a high theoretical energy density of 1,478 Wh kg-1, and the reaction product is soluble in the catholyte. In this study, we have studied the cell performance of a Li/interlayer electrolyte/NASICON-type solid lithium-ion conductor/acetic acid catho [...]

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 [...]

by Meir Djaldetti

Received: 10 January 2022;  Published: 14 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/rpn.2201008

Broccoli has long been reported to exert a positive impact on human health. It contains high levels of isocyanates, the most important of which is sulforaphane (SFN). Numerous studies have demonstrated that SFN can be used as an effective supplement for treating a variety of diseases. In addition, it is known to possess anti-cancer properties such as chemopreventive properties against gastrointestinal, breast, lung, bladder, prostate, and other cancers. The reported data indicates that broccoli could be a potent in [...]

by Heather Mary Kempton

Received: 23 November 2021;  Published: 11 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2201011

Mindfulness practices have exploded in popularity in public awareness and in therapeutic applications. While mindfulness in a therapeutic context is presented as a secular practice, its primarily Buddhist heritage may make some Christian clients wary of engaging. Research indicates that both reflection (co-creation) on poetry and creation of poetry can be therapeutic, and that both Buddhist and secular/therapeutic mindfulness texts use poetry to convey meaning through key themes of nature, change/impermanence, stag [...]

by Tom DeWeerdt  , Paul Dargusch  and Genia Hill

Received: 10 January 2022;  Published: 10 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/aeer.2201010

Awareness of the challenges of sustainable development, and in particular the risks of climate change, is leading to inevitable restrictions on Greenhouse gas emissions. True carbon risk management must be introduced into the strategy of companies that will increasingly operate in a global low-carbon economy. Indeed, companies are now called upon to be accountable and transparent about the environmental consequences of their business activities. Carbon risk is one of several new emerging risks for companies associa [...]

by Salvador Vargas-Molina  , Jorge L. Petro  , Diego A. Bonilla  , Eneko Baz-Valle  , Leandro Carbone  , Roberto Cannataro  and Javier Benítez-Porres

Received: 25 November 2021;  Published: 09 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2201010

Cluster-set resistance training is focused on performance improvements of sports by increasing the repetition maximum, jump height, and efficiency in the sprint. In this commentary, we present relevant aspects to optimize the use of cluster training under the context of muscle hypertrophy. Therefore, we address intra-sets pauses, the number of repetitions per block, and strategies that benefit this methodology. During a cluster set resistance training program, not only the total number of repetitions could be highe [...]

by Lotte Gerholt  , Casper N. Bang  , Eva Gerdts  , Anne Cecilie Larstorp  , Sverre E. Kjeldsen  , Stevo Julius  , Kristian Wachtell  , Peter M. Okin  and Richard B. Devereux

Received: 20 December 2021;  Published: 09 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2201194

It remains unknown whether left atrial systolic force (LASF), a measure of left atrial function, can be used as a predictor of new-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF). Furthermore, the effect of the treatment with atenolol and losartan on LASF is unclear. A total of 758 patients without atrial fibrillation at baseline were enrolled from the Losartan Intervention For Endpoint (LIFE) reduction in hypertension echocardiography sub-study. Participants of the LIFE study were randomized to either atenolol-or losartan-based [...]

by Pietro Gareri  , Antonino Maria Cotroneo  , Giuseppe Orsitto  , Nicola Veronese  and Salvatore Putignano

Received: 12 September 2021;  Published: 08 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2201193

Certain previous studies have demonstrated the benefits of the addition of citicoline, a cholinergic precursor, to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AchEIs) or memantine in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The present study showed the effectiveness of oral citicoline plus AchEIs plus memantine in outpatients with AD. This was a retrospective case-control study involving 169 patients aged 65 years old or older having AD (mean age: 78.7 ±4.9 years). In addition, 84 patients were treated with AchEIs plus [...]

by Haruka Sawamura  , Kurumi Taniguchi  , Yuka Ikeda  , Ai Tsuji  , Yasuko Kitagishi  and Satoru Matsuda

Received: 16 November 2021;  Published: 08 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/rpn.2201007

Immune checkpoints have been aggressively investigated for anti-cancer immunotherapy. The power of microbiota on the outcome of this immunotherapy has attracted much attention. For example, intestinal microorganisms play a key role in the effectiveness of programmed cell death 1 (PD1) and cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA4) blockade. Additionally, short-chain fatty acids produced in the gut may modulate anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD1 stimulated immune responses and their anti-tumor efficacy. Enhancing the [...]

by Daming Zhang

Received: 21 January 2022;  Published: 07 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/jept.2201008

In this paper, a method for operating AC microgrids in both off-grid or standalone and grid-connected modes is proposed to minimize the use of energy storage by increasing the number of PV panels and curtailing their output power. When the intensity of daylight decreases, power is imported from the main grid through an AC/DC/AC converter or solid-state transformers in parallel to compensate for the shortage. By using a three-phase transformer in Δ-Y connection with Y’s neutral connected to its local grounding syste [...]

by Fabio Robusto  , Giovanni Colucci  , Maria Zamparella  , Enrico Maria Pellegrini  , Brigida Martucci  , Pasquale Iacovazzo  , Enza Colucci  , Martino Minardi  , Cristina Giliberti  , Vito Bossone  , Vito Lepore  and Stefano Ivis

Received: 08 September 2021;  Published: 04 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2201192

Frailty is a chronic condition that increases the vulnerability to stressogenic factors and prevents the patient from returning to the preceding condition of homeostasis. This increases the risk of negative outcomes and progressively brings the patient toward disability, leading to higher use of healthcare resources. Clinical risk stratification systems can generally be useful for identifying frail patients from the standpoint of a healthcare system, though General Practitioners (GPs) assume a key and irreplaceable [...]

by Maria Victoria Tejada-Simon  and Sara Lodhi

Received: 14 November 2021;  Published: 04 March 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2201009

Mindfulness is a form of meditation that can be defined as one’s ability to be present to the surroundings and environment, and not overreact to what is happening around us. With the recent pandemic still affecting the world, more studies have recently become known describing the suitability of mindfulness to prevent and manage mental health. This fact alone offers grounds for mindfulness practices to be added to any stressful environment, including Institutions of higher education and the workforce. Even more, min [...]

by Tatsuya Nogami  , Makoto Arai  and Koh Iwasaki

Received: 12 January 2022;  Published: 28 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2201191

Several countries have entered the super-aging era. In Japan, the recently reported average life expectancy is approximately 90 years. Kampo medicine (a form of traditional Japanese medicine) is a part of the official medical service in Japan and is widely used for treating various illnesses of older people. However, although general physicians often prescribe Kampo preparations, most Japanese general physicians do not have an intimate understanding of the iatrology of Kampo. Kampo is based on traditional Chinese m [...]

by Yaser Banadaki  , Nariman Razaviarab  , Hadi Fekrmandi  , Guoqiang Li  , Patrick Mensah  , Shuju Bai  and Safura Sharifi

Received: 24 November 2021;  Published: 28 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/rpm.2201005

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a crucial component of the smart manufacturing industry. In this paper, we propose an automated quality grading system for the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process as one of the major AM processes using a developed real-time deep convolutional neural network (CNN) model. The CNN model is trained offline using the images of the internal and surface defects in the layer-by-layer deposition of materials and tested online by studying the performance of detecting and grading the failure [...]

by Suman Mishra  , Kerry Bentley-Hewitt  , Alex Lubransky  , Bernard Venn  , Duncan Hedderley  , Hannah Dinnan  , Sheridan Martell  , Jillian Haszard  and John Monro

Received: 22 December 2021;  Published: 25 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/rpn.2201006

People with pre-diabetes may be reluctant to add fruit to their diets due to concerns around sugars. Our objective was to measure outcomes associated with potential adverse effects of ingesting fruit sugars while assessing metabolic benefits from eating nutrient-rich kiwifruit. Thirty-four people with pre-diabetes were randomized to receive two kiwifruit or 250 mL bottled water per day for 12-weeks; two people withdrew. The primary outcomes were between-group differences for glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and plasma [...]

by Carine Vassy  , Laurence Brunet  and Christine Noiville

Received: 02 September 2021;  Published: 25 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2201149

This article examines the regulation of the screening of fetal abnormalities in France before and after the implementation of the new technique of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) in 2013. In addition, this article evaluates the effectiveness of the regulatory framework in addressing the ethical and social issues raised by this technique from a legal and sociological perspective. The analysis reveals that the regulations, consistent with that applied to other prenatal screening techniques, fail to take proper a [...]

by Darcy A Hille  , Sverre E Kjeldsen  , Stevo Julius  , Kristian Wachtell  , Peter M Okin  and Richard B Devereux

Received: 30 December 2021;  Published: 24 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2201189

We aimed to assess some readily available patient characteristics such as urinary albumin excretion as predictors of a primary composite event of myocardial infarction, cerebral stroke, and cardiovascular death among patients with hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy, and develop risk algorithms for the outcomes. A “Cox proportional hazards” model identified the baseline variables that significantly affected the occurrence of the composite endpoint in 9193 elderly hypertensive patients with lef [...]

by Takeshi Hatta  , Taketoshi Hatta  , Junko Hatta  , Akihiko Iwahara  , Kazumi Fujiwara  , Kimiko Kato  and Yukiharu Hasegawa

Received: 15 October 2021;  Published: 24 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2201190

In the present study, we identified the factors of cognitive and physical performances predicting self-rated health perception (SRH) using an SRH questionnaire in 660 (298 men and 362 women) upper-middle-aged community dwellers. In addition, neuropsychological test battery and physical ability tests were applied. A multiple regression analysis was conducted using the forced entry method; digit cancellation test (D-CAT1), logical memory test, verbal fluency test, back strength, timed-up and-go (TUG), balancing test, [...]

by Kathy Carter  , John Campbell  , Peyton Shoemaker  , Elisabeth Dichiara  , Neel Patel  and John Caruso

Received: 09 December 2021;  Published: 23 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/rpn.2201005

Space flight imposes a myriad of adverse effects upon the human body. Improved in-flight nutritional strategies help mitigate those adverse effects. This review examines how space flight changes human physiology, and how improved in-flight nutritional strategies may address the unique dietary needs created by microgravity exposure. Dietary approaches and recommendations to address those needs are discussed. This review also describes food sustainability methods for long-term manned space flight, how precision nutri [...]

by Obinna Okolie  , Iwona Stachurek  , Balasubramanian Kandasubramanian  and James Njuguna

Received: 16 November 2021;  Published: 23 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/rpm.2201004

There is a current need for tissue and organ repairs, replacement, and regeneration for patients who suffer from diseased or damaged tissues or organs. This situation is continuously on the rise and the supply of this form of therapy does not meet the patients demand mostly due to lack of donors and biocompatibility issues which causes immune system rejection of the implants. To succeed through these limitations, researchers are currently investigating the use of scaffolds as another approach for implants. The conv [...]

by Kate M. Waldie  and Sriram Katipamula

Received: 31 December 2021;  Published: 22 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/cr.2201006

Fuel cells based on renewable synthetic fuels are promising alternatives to fossil fuel combustion for efficient electricity production. Much focus has been placed on hydrogen as a chemical fuel, but being a flammable gas, there are challenges with its safe handling. Formic acid is an attractive liquid fuel for use in direct formic acid or formate fuel cells, and it can in principle be produced from the thermal or electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. Over the past ten years, advances have been made in the d [...]

by Robert M. Sullivan  and John P. Hileman

Received: 15 November 2021;  Published: 22 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/aeer.2201009

Our study sought to identify a regional explanation for declining fertility in stocks of co-occurring salmonids in the upper Trinity River, northern California, USA. We focused on evaluating the relationship between thermal variance in river water and hatchery-measured estimates of female fertility as a function of highly managed annual flow regimes. We evaluated annual and seasonal variation in volume of flow and water temperature in response to managed flows associated with annual in-river restoration actions. We [...]

by OBM Genetics Editorial Office

Received: 17 February 2022;  Published: 22 February 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2201148