A randomised wait-list controlled trial to evaluate Emotional Freedom Techniques for self-reported cancer-related cognitive impairment in cancer survivors (EMOTICON)

Background Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) is a prevalent source of comprised quality of life in cancer survivors. This study evaluated the efficacy of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) on self-reported CRCI (sr-CRCI). Methods In this prospective multicentre randomised wait-list controlled study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02771028), eligible cancer survivors had completed curative treatment, were 18 years or older and screened positive for sr-CRCI with ≥ 43 on the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ). Participants were randomised to the immediate treatment group (ITG) or wait-list control (WLC) group, based on age (< or ≥ 65 years), gender, treatment (chemotherapy or not), and centre. The ITG started to apply EFT after inclusion and performed this for 16 weeks. The WLC group could only start the application of EFT after 8 weeks of waiting. Evaluations took place at baseline (T0), 8 weeks (T1) and 16 weeks (T2). The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with sr-CRCI according to the CFQ score. Findings Between October 2016 and March 2020, 121 patients were recruited with CFQ ≥ 43 indicating sr-CRCI. At T1, the number of patients scoring positive on the CFQ was significantly reduced in the ITG compared to the WLC group (40.8% vs. 87.3% respectively; p<0.01). For the WLC group, a reduction in CFQ scores was observed at T2, comparable to the effect of the ITG at T1. Linear mixed model analyses indicated a statistically significant reduction in the CFQ score, distress, depressive symptoms, fatigue and also an improvement in quality of life. Interpretation This study provides evidence for the application of EFT for sr-CRCI in cancer survivors and suggests that EFT may be useful for other symptoms in cancer survivors

Early stage litter decomposition across biomes

Through litter decomposition enormous amounts of carbon is emitted to the atmosphere. Numerous large-scale decomposition experiments have been conducted focusing on this fundamental soil process in order to understand the controls on the terrestrial carbon transfer to the atmosphere. However, previous studies were mostly based on site-specific litter and methodologies, adding major uncertainty to syntheses, comparisons and meta-analyses across different experiments and sites. In the TeaComposition initiative, the potential litter decomposition is investigated by using standardized substrates (Rooibos and Green tea) for comparison of litter mass loss at 336 sites (ranging from −9 to +26 °C MAT and from 60 to 3113 mm MAP) across different ecosystems. In this study we tested the effect of climate (temperature and moisture), litter type and land-use on early stage decomposition (3 months) across nine biomes. We show that litter quality was the predominant controlling factor in early stage litter decomposition, which explained about 65% of the variability in litter decomposition at a global scale. The effect of climate, on the other hand, was not litter specific and explained <0.5% of the variation for Green tea and 5% for Rooibos tea, and was of significance only under unfavorable decomposition conditions (i.e. xeric versus mesic environments). When the data were aggregated at the biome scale, climate played a significant role on decomposition of both litter types (explaining 64% of the variation for Green tea and 72% for Rooibos tea). No significant effect of land-use on early stage litter decomposition was noted within the temperate biome. Our results indicate that multiple drivers are affecting early stage litter mass loss with litter quality being dominant. In order to be able to quantify the relative importance of the different drivers over time, long-term studies combined with experimental trials are needed.This work was performed within the TeaComposition initiative, carried out by 190 institutions worldwide. We thank Gabrielle Drozdowski for her help with the packaging and shipping of tea, Zora Wessely and Johannes Spiegel for the creative implementation of the acknowledgement card, Josip Dusper for creative implementation of the graphical abstract, Christine Brendle for the GIS editing, and Marianne Debue for her help with the data cleaning. Further acknowledgements go to Adriana Principe, Melanie Köbel, Pedro Pinho, Thomas Parker, Steve Unger, Jon Gewirtzman and Margot McKleeven for the implementation of the study at their respective sites. We are very grateful to UNILEVER for sponsoring the Lipton tea bags and to the COST action ClimMani for scientific discussions, adoption and support to the idea of TeaComposition as a common metric. The initiative was supported by the following grants: ILTER Initiative Grant, ClimMani Short-Term Scientific Missions Grant (COST action ES1308; COST-STSM-ES1308-36004; COST-STM-ES1308-39006; ES1308-231015-068365), INTERACT (EU H2020 Grant No. 730938), and Austrian Environment Agency (UBA). Franz Zehetner acknowledges the support granted by the Prometeo Project of Ecuador's Secretariat of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) as well as Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands (2190). Ana I. Sousa, Ana I. Lillebø and Marta Lopes thanks for the financial support to CESAM (UID/AMB/50017), to FCT/MEC through national funds (PIDDAC), and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. The research was also funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT, through SFRH/BPD/107823/2015 (A.I. Sousa), co-funded by POPH/FSE. Thomas Mozdzer thanks US National Science Foundation NSF DEB-1557009. Helena C. Serrano thanks Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (UID/BIA/00329/2013). Milan Barna acknowledges Scientific Grant Agency VEGA (2/0101/18). Anzar A Khuroo acknowledges financial support under HIMADRI project from SAC-ISRO, India

Early stage litter decomposition across biomes

[Departement_IRSTEA]Territoires [TR1_IRSTEA]SEDYVINInternational audienceThrough litter decomposition enormous amounts of carbon is emitted to the atmosphere. Numerous large-scale decomposition experiments have been conducted focusing on this fundamental soil process in order to understand the controls on the terrestrial carbon transfer to the atmosphere. However, previous studies were mostly based on site-specific litter and methodologies, adding major uncertainty to syntheses, comparisons and meta-analyses across different experiments and sites. In the TeaComposition initiative, the potential litter decomposition is investigated by using standardized substrates (Rooibos and Green tea) for comparison of litter mass loss at 336 sites (ranging fro