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Background: Inflammation may contribute to cognitive difficulties in patients with breast cancer. We tested 2 hypotheses: inflammation is elevated in patients with breast cancer vs noncancer control participants and inflammation in patients is associated with worse attention and processing speed over the course of chemotherapy., Methods: Serum cytokines (interleukin [IL]-4, 6, 8, 10; tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α) and soluble receptors [sTNFRI, II]) were measured in 519 females with breast cancer before and after chemotherapy and 338 females without cancer serving as control participants. Attention and processing speed were measured by Rapid Visual Processing (RVP), Backward Counting (BCT), and Trail Making-A (TMT-A) tests. Linear regression models examined patient vs control cytokines and receptor levels, adjusting for covariates. Linear regression models also examined relationships between patient cytokines and receptor levels and test performance, adjusting for age, body mass index, anxiety, depression, cognitive reserve, and chemotherapy duration. Statistical tests were 2-sided (α = .05)., Results: sTNFRI and sTNFRII increased over time in patients relative to controls, whereas IL-4, IL-6, and IL-10 decreased. Prechemotherapy, higher IL-8 associated with worse BCT (β = 0.610, SE = 0.241, P = .01); higher IL-4 (β = -1.098, SE = 0.516, P = .03) and IL-10 (β = -0.835, SE = 0.414, P = .04) associated with better TMT-A. Postchemotherapy, higher IL-8 (β = 0.841, SE = 0.260, P = .001), sTNFRI (β = 6.638, SE = 2.208, P = .003), and sTNFRII (β = 0.913, SE = 0.455, P = .045) associated with worse BCT; higher sTNFRII also associated with worse RVP (β = -1.316, SE = 0.587, P = .03). At prechemotherapy, higher IL-4 predicted RVP improvement over time (β = 0.820, SE = 0.336, P = .02); higher sTNFRI predicted worse BCT over time (β = 5.566, SE = 2.367, P = .02). Longitudinally, increases in IL-4 associated with BCT improvement (β = -0.564, SE = 0.253, P = .03)., Conclusions: Generally, worse attention and processing speed were associated with higher inflammatory cytokines and receptors and lower anti-inflammatory cytokines in patients; future confirmatory studies are needed., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effect of carvacrol, thymol and nisin against Staphylococcus aureus and the combined effect of carvacrol and thymol against Salmonella Enteritidis. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of carvacrol, thymol, and nisin for S. aureus were 200, 150 and 30 µg/mL, respectively. MIC of carvacrol and thymol for Salmonella Enteritidis was 200 µg/mL. A factorial method of independent variables was then used to study the combined effect of antimicrobials. Results showed that combinations of carvacrol-thymol-nisin (reduction of 1.2 log CFU/mL for MIC and 4.98 log CFU/mL for 2MIC), carvacrol-thymol (reduction of 1.33 log CFU/mL for 2MIC), nisin-thymol (reduction of 3.52 log CFU/mL for 2MIC) and nisin-carvacrol (reduction of 3.41 log CFU/mL for 2MIC) attained a significant inhibition of S. aureus. Similarly, there was significant reduction of Salmonella Enteritidis due to combined effect of thymol-carvacrol (reduction of 4.5 log CFU/mL for MIC and inhibition below detection limit for 2MIC). Therefore, the combinations of natural antimicrobials described in this work showed potential to be used as an additional barrier for food safety.

Background: This phase II RCT was conducted to determine the feasibility and acceptability of brief behavioral therapy for cancer-related insomnia (BBT-CI) in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. We also assessed the preliminary effects of BBT-CI on insomnia and circadian rhythm in comparison to a Healthy Eating Education Learning control condition (HEAL)., Methods: Of the 71 participants recruited, 34 were randomised to receive BBT-CI and 37 to receive HEAL. Oncology staff was trained to deliver the intervention in four community clinics affiliated with the NCI. Insomnia was assessed with the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and circadian rhythm was assessed using a wrist-worn actiwatch., Results: Community staff interveners delivered 72% of the intervention components, with a recruitment rate of 77% and an adherence rate of 73%, meeting acceptability and feasibility benchmarks. Those randomised to BBT-CI improved their ISI scores by 6.3 points compared to a 2.5-point improvement in those randomised to HEAL (P = 0.041). Actigraphy data indicated that circadian functioning improved in the BBT-CI arm as compared to the HEAL arm at post-intervention (all P-values <0.05)., Conclusions: BBT-CI is an acceptable and feasible intervention that can be delivered directly in the community oncology setting by trained staff. The BBT-CI arm experienced significant improvements in insomnia and circadian rhythm as compared to the control condition.