Relationship between Social Support and Mental Health of Novice Nurses during Coronavirus Epidemic

Abstract Background: Coronavirus has created a confusing and stressful situation around the world. In these circumstances, health care workers are most prone to vulnerability. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between social support and mental health of novice nurses during the outbreak of COVID-19 to provide basic information for intervention measures. Study design: cross-sectional study Methods: This study was performed in spring of 2020 in hospital affiliated with Ilam University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected using general information questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Phillip’s Social Support Questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software, as well as descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The total score of GHQ and social support was 24.58±12.063 and 70.77±9.761, respectively. There was a statistically significant inverse relationship between social support and mental health of participants. Among the demographic variables, there was a significant correlation between work experience, hospital, direct contact with COVID-19 patients and the number of working days in coronavirus ward with mental health and social support. Conclusion: The findings of the present study add to our knowledge obtained from previous studies by discovering the impact of social support on mental health of health care providers with special attention to novice nurses at the forefront. Ongoing monitoring of psychological consequences associated with COVID-19 outbreak and social support of them require further attention

Maternal COVID-19 infection and the fetus: Immunological and neurological perspectives

Immunoneuropsychiatry is an emerging field about the interaction between the immune and nervous systems. Infection and infection-related inflammation (in addition to genetics and environmental factors) can act as the etiopathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders (NPDs). Exposure to COVID-19 in utero may be a risk factor for developing NPDs in offspring in the future. Maternal immune activation (MIA) and subsequent inflammation can affect fetal brain development. Inflammatory mediators, cytokines, and autoantibodies can pass through the placenta and the compromised blood-brain barrier after MIA, leading to neuroinflammation. Neuroinflammation also affects multiple neurobiological pathways; for example, it decreases the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin.Fetal sex may affect the mother's immune response. Pregnant women with male fetuses have been reported to have decreased maternal and placental humoral responses. This suggests that in pregnancies with a male fetus, fewer antibodies may be transferred to the fetus and contribute to males' increased susceptibility/vulnerability to infectious diseases compared to female infants.Here, we want to discuss maternal COVID-19 infection and its consequences for the fetus, particularly the neurological outcomes and the interaction between fetal sex and possible changes in maternal immune responses

Comparison of visfatin levels in patients with breast cancer and endometrial cancer with healthy individuals: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract Background and aims Endometrial cancer (EC) and breast cancer (BC) are prevalent in women. Visfatin is an adipokine that, in addition to being involved in metabolism and inflammation, may also be interested in carcinogenesis. Visfatin measurement in cancer patients has shown that visfatin levels in cancer patients differed from those in healthy subjects. Various studies have shown that the level of visfatin is increased in people within EC and BC, and this difference has a significant relationship with prognosis. Methods A comprehensive search of related articles from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Google Scholar database was done by November 2021. Eligible articles measured visfatin levels in patients with breast cancer and EC. After selecting the eligible studies, the data were extracted and analyzed using the random effect method. Results Given the effect size and the confidence interval obtained, the total level of visfatin in cancer patients was different from that in healthy individuals, and this difference was statistically significant. However, the difference in visfatin levels in patients with breast cancer was much more significant than in patients with EC compared to the control group. Conclusions Due to the significant increase in visfatin levels in these patients, visfatin may be a potential prognostic factor in breast and ECs. Visfatin levels in cancer patients differed from those in healthy subjects, and this difference was also statistically significant (p‐values = 0.00). Visfatin levels also differed between breast cancer patients and healthy individuals, which was statistically significant (p‐values = 0.00). The difference in visfatin levels between patients with EC and healthy subjects was statistically significant (p‐values = 0.047)

microRNA-184 in the landscape of human malignancies: a review to roles and clinical significance

Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) with a short length of 19–22 nucleotides. miRNAs are posttranscriptional regulators of gene expression involved in various biological processes like cell growth, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. miR-184 is a well-studied miRNA, for which most studies report its downregulation in cancer cells and tissues and experiments support its role as a tumor suppressor inhibiting malignant biological behaviors of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. To exert its functions, miR-184 affects some signaling pathways involved in tumorigenesis like Wnt and β-catenin, and AKT/mTORC1 pathway, oncogenic factors (e.g., c-Myc) or apoptotic proteins, such as Bcl-2. Interestingly, clinical investigations have shown miR-184 with good performance as a prognostic/diagnostic biomarker for various cancers. Additionally, exogenous miR-184 in cell and xenograft animal studies suggest it as a therapeutic anticancer target. In this review, we outline the studies that evaluated the roles of miR-184 in tumorigenesis as well as its clinical significance