Search

Aim: This work explores the effect of Cisplatin-a chemotherapeutic agent known to cause deterioration in cognitive function in cancer patients, and spatial memory in mice. It also investigates the potential neuroprotective effects of Piracetam, which is a nootropic drug recognized for improving cognitive ability., Materials and Methods: The study incorporates four groups of mice receiving varied medication regimens, with memory tested using the Novel Location Recognition (NLR) method., Results: The findings from our study revealed that memory decline and a suppression of cellular proliferation were observed in adult male mice subjected to Cisplatin treatment; furthermore, a decline in antioxidant efficacy within the hippocampal dentate gyrus was evident. Moreover, analysis of treatment effects on the animals' weight revealed that the Cisplatin and Piracetam group exhibited the most significant weight loss during drug administration. Despite the significant weight loss, the simultaneous use of Cisplatin and Piracetam demonstrated a notable improvement in memory and an augmentation of hippocampal proliferation and antioxidant effect., Limitations: It is important to note that our study was hampered by budget limits, a lack of additional animals, and mice's low tolerance for protracted treatment., Conclusions: Should the outcomes of Piracetam observed in this investigation be applicable to patients, it might offer a relatively straightforward approach to mitigate the cognitive impacts endured by cancer survivors following exposure to chemotherapy. Future research will be needed to study Piracetam's effect on mice with brain cancer after Cisplatin treatment in order to extrapolate the results onto cancer patients.

Objective: This meta-analysis aims to estimate the pooled prevalence of mental disorders among COVID-19 survivors., Methods: The databases Pubmed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and medRxiv have been searched up to 1 August 2021 using COVID-19, survivors, mental disorders, and their related MeSH terms. The included studies were either cross-sectional, cohort, or case-control in design. Those studies included COVID-19 survivors after 14 or more days from their COVID-19 recovery and used validated questionnaires to assess their mental health outcomes. The random-effects model was used to pool the data from the incorporated studies. The heterogeneity was assessed using Cochran's Q heterogeneity test and I 2 statistic., Results: Twenty-seven studies were included in the data synthesis with a total sample size of 9605 COVID-19 survivors. The prevalence rates for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, psychological distress, depression, and sleeping disorders were 20% (95% CI = 16-24%), 22% (95% CI = 18-27%), 36% (95% CI = 22-51%), 21% (95% CI = 16-28%), and 35% (95% CI = 29-41%), respectively., Conclusions: Although we found high heterogeneity across the included studies, our meta-analysis provides evidence that there are psychological sequelae in COVID-19 survivors that require medical assiduity as well as further research on the matter.KEY POINTSIncreased prevalence of psychological sequelae among COVID-19 survivors.The prevalence of PTSD was 20% (95% CI = 16-24%) and of anxiety was 22% (95% CI = 18-27%) among COVID-19 survivors.The prevalence of psychological distress was 36% (95% CI = 22-51%), of depression was 21% (95% CI = 16-28%), and of sleep disorders was 35% (95% CI = 29-41%) among COVID-19 survivors.Future researches are recommended to search for effective and safe methods to mitigate the psychological sequelae in COVID-19 patients.