Self-care behaviors mediates the relationship between resilience and quality of life in breast cancer patients

Previous studies have shown that resilience could play an important role in enhancing the quality of life in women with breast cancer; however, the mediating role of self-care behaviors have not been studied. This study aims to explore the mediating role of self-care behaviors in the relationship between resilience and quality of life in breast cancer patients. A sample of 195 women with breast cancer (aged from 21 to 60 years; M = 45.32 ± 8.2) from three hospitals in Tehran, Iran completed online questionnaires measuring resilience, self-care and quality of life. The results of structural equation modeling showed that resilience (β = 0.546, p < .01) and self-care behaviors (β = 0.621, p < .01) positively predicted the quality of life in breast cancer patients. The bootstrapping analysis showed that self-care behaviors acted as a partial mediator between resilience and quality of life. The present study brings to light an underlying mechanism of the relationship between resilience and quality of life via the mediating variable of self-care behaviors for patients with breast cancer.

Exposure to ambient air pollution and osteoarthritis; an animal study

Exposure to air pollution has been associated with many adverse health effects. However, the evidence on the effects on osteoarthritis (OA) is scarce and the potential mechanism is unclear yet. Therefore, this study assessed the effect of exposure to air pollution (gaseous and particulate matter) and OA based on an animal model. We used four groups of female rats, including i) exposure to PMs and gaseous pollutants, ii) exposure only to gaseous pollutants, iii) exposure only to PMs, and iv) control (unexposed) group. The OA biomarkers, i.e., osteocalcin, cartilage oligomeric protein (COMP), and N-Telopeptides of Type I Collagen (NTX-I) and cytokines were measured in the plasma to detect the effect of exposure to ambient air pollution on OA in this animal model. The forced jogging exercises for 1 h and 5 days per week were used to record the physical activities. The median (interquartile range) concentrations of PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ were 35.9 (15.4) and 47.5 (22.5) μg/m³, respectively. The median (interquartile range (IQR)) of PM_2.5, PM₁₀, CO, NO₂, SO₂ and O₃ in the inlet ambient air were 36.9 (16.9), 51.7 (23.6) μg/m³, 16.1 (12.5) ppm, 413.7 (177.1), 334.2 (218.8) and 208.9 (113.1) ppb, respectively. The osteocalcin was significantly lower in PM as well as PM-gaseous exposure groups compared to control. Moreover, expressions of COMP were increased significantly in the PMs and exposure group compared to the control. For the PMs-gaseous exposure group, the COMP expressions were the highest compared to the control group. Similar results were observed for NTX-I. Exposure to PM and gaseous pollutants significantly increased plasma cytokine levels compared to control. Overall, our study showed a significant effect of exposure to PMs and PMs-gaseous exposure with OA in rats. Moreover, we observed a synergistic effect of mixed gaseous-PMs exposure compared to PMs and gaseous pollutants separately.