No abstract

Background: Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses from the Coronaviridae family. Not only do the coronaviruses disrupt patients' lives, but they also affect caregivers. This study aimed to assess the burden of family caregivers of COVID-19 patients discharged from a hospital in eastern Iran. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 210 family caregivers of COVID-19 inpatients and outpatients. A total of 210 COVID-19 patients referred to 22nd-Bahman Hospital of Khaf from March 2020 to June 2020 were selected via simple randomization. Data were collected using the Zarit caregiver burden scale and a demographics form. Results: The care burden scores were 83.2% and 80.9% in the family caregivers of inpatients and outpatients, respectively, indicating the severity of care burden for COVID-19 patients. The mean scores of objective, subjective, and subjective-objective caregiver burden were significantly higher in male family caregivers and caregivers of inpatients than in female caregivers and caregivers of outpatients [p <0.01]. Conclusion: The high objective, subjective, and subjective-objective caregiver burden in family caregivers is an alarm for mental health policy-makers. Therefore, healthcare managers need to consider plans and measures to reduce the care burden of family caregivers of COVID-19 patients.

Bladder cancer (BC) is the 11th most common diagnosed cancer, and a number of factors including environmental and genetic ones participate in BC development. Metastasis of BC cells into neighboring and distant tissues significantly reduces overall survival of patients with this life-threatening disorder. Recently, studies have focused on revealing molecular pathways involved in metastasis of BC cells, and in this review, we focus on microRNAs (miRNAs) and their regulatory effect on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) mechanisms that can regulate metastasis. EMT is a vital process for migration of BC cells, and inhibition of this mechanism restricts invasion of BC cells. MiRNAs are endogenous non-coding RNAs with 19–24 nucleotides capable of regulating different cellular events, and EMT is one of them. In BC cells, miRNAs are able to both induce and/or inhibit EMT. For regulation of EMT, miRNAs affect different molecular pathways such as transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), Snail, Slug, ZEB1/2, CD44, NSBP1, which are, discussed in detail this review. Besides, miRNA/EMT axis can also be regulated by upstream mediators such as lncRNAs, circRNAs and targeted by diverse anti-tumor agents. These topics are also discussed here to reveal diverse molecular pathways involved in migration of BC cells and strategies to target them to develop effective therapeutics.

BackgroundOccupational accidents are unplanned events that cause damage. The socio-economic impacts and human costs of accidents are tremendous around the world. Many fatalities happen every year in workplaces such as electricity distribution companies. Some electrical injuries are electrocution, electric shock, and burns. This study was conducted in an electricity distribution company (with rotational 12-hour shift work) in Iran during an 8-year period to survey descriptive factors of injuries.MethodsVariables collected included accident time, age of injured worker, employment type, work experience, injury cause, educational background, and other information about accidents.ResultsResults indicated that most of the accidents occurred in summer, and 51.3% were during shift work. Worker negligence (malpractice) was the cause of 75% of deaths. Type of employment had a significant relationship with type of injuries (p < 0.05). Most injuries were electrical burns.ConclusionHigh rate of accidents in summer may be due to the warm weather or insufficient professional skills in seasonal workers. Shift workers are at risk of sleep complaints leading to a high rate of work injuries. Acquiring knowledge about safety was related to job experiences. Temporary workers have no chance to work all year like permanent workers, therefore impressive experiences may be less in them. Because the lack of protective equipment and negligence are main causes of accidents, periodical inspections in workshops are necessary.

Chemotherapy using natural compounds, such as resveratrol, curcumin, paclitaxel, docetaxel, etoposide, doxorubicin, and camptothecin, is of importance in cancer therapy because of the outstanding therapeutic activity and multitargeting capability of these compounds. However, poor solubility and bioavailability of natural compounds have limited their efficacy in cancer therapy. To circumvent this hurdle, nanocarriers have been designed to improve the antitumor activity of the aforementioned compounds. Nevertheless, cancer treatment is still a challenge, demanding novel strategies. It is well-known that a combination of natural products and gene therapy is advantageous over monotherapy. Delivery of multiple therapeutic agents/small interfering RNA (siRNA) as a potent gene-editing tool in cancer therapy can maximize the synergistic effects against tumor cells. In the present review, codelivery of natural compounds/siRNA using nanovehicles are highlighted to provide a backdrop for future research.