No abstract

No abstract

Background: Few studies have evaluated the effects of cognitive training and social support on cancer-related fatigue and quality of life. We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to examine the efficacy of cognitive training and social support in colorectal cancer patients and survivors. Methods: The PubMed, Ovid, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were searched from database establishment until August 2021 to identify suitable studies according to relevant key words, taking cancer-related fatigue and quality of life as the outcomes. The Jadad scale was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the studies. Stata 15.1 software was used for statistical analyses, and sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: Eleven studies (6 published in English and 5 published in Chinese) involving 980 patients and survivors were included in the meta-analysis. All studies had Jadad scores ≥3. Statistically significant effects of cognitive training and social support were detected for cancer-related fatigue within 14 weeks (SMD = −1.13, P < .001) and after 14 weeks (SMD = −0.56, P < .001), overall quality of life within 14 weeks (SMD = 0.73, P < .001) and after 14 weeks (SMD = 0.54, P = .003). However, no statistically significant effects of the combination intervention were detected on long-term QOL (SMD = 0.50, P = .435). Conclusions: Distinct cognitive interventions and a combination of cognitive and social support interventions can help to alleviate long-term and short-term CRF and short-term QOL. Further studies are needed to examine the mechanisms of cognitive training and social support for cancer-related fatigue and overall quality of life in patients and survivors with colorectal cancer.

Background Enriched environment is a paradigm where animals are introduced to novel, complex, and stimulating surroundings that can protect the intestinal mucosal barrier and regulate the expression of brain-gut peptides. Probiotics can effectively protect the intestinal mucosal barrier and regulate brain-gut axis activity in colorectal cancer patients. This study assessed the effects of probiotics, enriched environment, and joint intervention on the intestinal mucosal barrier and brain-gut axis in rats with colorectal cancer. Methods We used a rat model of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced colorectal cancer. Rats were housed in four different conditions for 2 weeks: enriched environment, probiotic,joint condition and normal condition. Each rat was weighed, and the intestinal mucosa and plasma levels of tumor TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, ghrelin, CRF, occludin, BT, SIgA and the morphology of the intestinal mucosa were measured. Results enriched environment was beneficial regarding bacteria translation, plasma and intestinal mucosa levels of cytokines, plasma CRF levels, villi length and width of intestinal mucosa and hypothalamus ghrelin compared to probiotic (P < 0.05). There were no statistical differences between the enriched environment and the other groups regarding occludin, SIgA, muscle thickness or intestinal mucosa ghrelin (P > 0.05). Conclusions The effect of enriched environment was better than probiotic, especially in the intestinal mucosal immune and biological barrier in rats with colorectal cancer. However, the combination of the two was not as effective as enriched environment. In future studies, we can investigate the role of environment and probiotics in SIgA, intestinal mucosal mechanical barrier and body weight by extending the intervention time and enlarging the sample size.