The effects of synbiotics supplementation on reducing chemotherapy-induced side effects in women with breast cancer: a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial

Abstract Background The prevalence of breast cancer and its mortality rate are increasing rapidly among women worldwide. On other hand, the courses of chemotherapy as the main treatment for these patients are too much exhaustive and annoying. This study was designed to evaluate the use of synbiotics (probiotics + prebiotics) supplementation as a safe and inexpensive adjuvant treatment in reducing common chemotherapy side effects in women with breast cancer. Methods The current study was conducted on 67 women with definitive diagnosis of breast cancer who were hospitalized to receive one-day chemotherapy sessions, and met the inclusion criteria. The patients were randomly allocated to the intervention or control group to receive synbiotics or placebo, respectively. They received oral consumption of synbiotics supplements twice a day for 8 weeks. The primary outcome was the changes in severity or experience of chemotherapy complication, analyzed by intention to treat (ITT). The instruments included 7 validated questionnaires which were used to assess chemotherapy complications in the initiation, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after intervention. Dietary intake was measured by 24-h dietary recall at the beginning, week 4 and week 8. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 24. P-value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results 67 breast cancer patients participated in the study. 8 weeks after intervention and adjusting the confounders, the severity of chemotherapy complications including unnormal defecation (P = 0.005) and fatigue (P < 0/001) decreased significantly in the synbiotics group compared to the placebo group. Furthermore, nausea/vomiting (P = 0.015), and anorexia (P < 0.001) were decreased at the end of the study compared to the first visit, but it was not statistically significant compared to the placebo group. Conclusions Synbiotics supplementation during chemotherapy can potentially reduce the severity of fatigue and abnormal defecation. It can help reduce anorexia and nausea/vomiting. Trial Registration This study was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) (registered code: IRCT20091114002709N56) (date of registration: 5/5/2021). Direct link to the trial page: https://www.irct.ir/trial/54559

Experimental Characterization and Methodology for Full-Wave Modeling of ESD to Displays

An electrostatic discharge (ESD) to the touchscreen display of a cellphone or other handheld device can result in device failures through sparkless discharge. A test model has been designed and a test board built to investigate sparkless discharge to glass displays, based on the discharge path in a typical product. The current waveform at the touchscreen circuit load was captured during an air discharge using an oscilloscope for 40 test cases with different glass thicknesses, load resistances, and patch-to-ground capacitances. Full wave and circuit models of the discharge event have also been developed. Using the circuit model and a genetic algorithm approach, methods were developed for estimating the input current waveform associated with the discharge event. Using this current waveform, it is possible to predict the magnitude, rise time, total charge, and energy of a typical surface discharges to displays during the early stages of product design to prevent device failures

Trend Analysis of Dissipated Electrostatic Discharge Energy in Touchscreen Displays

Touchscreen displays can be susceptible to sparkless electrostatic discharge events. The energy observed by sensitive touchscreen circuitry can vary significantly with design parameters like the glass thickness, the capacitance between the sensor pad and the ground structure, and the resistance of the traces and sensor terminations connected to the pad. The energy dissipated in resistive structures within the display can lead to damage. Methods are presented to estimate the maximum energy dissipated in the touchscreen circuitry during a spark-less discharge to the display. The trends in the energy with variations in design parameters are analyzed using traditional curve-fitting techniques. The analysis was performed using measured data obtained for 20 touchscreen configurations when the ESD gun was charged to 9 kV and 15 kV. The analysis helps the designer to understand the trends and to predict how future design decisions may impact ESD susceptibility. Results suggest that immunity can be maximized by increasing the glass thickness, reducing the load resistance, and reducing the distance between the sensor pad and the PCB return plane