THE EFFECT OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON HEALTH TECHNICIAN STUDENTS’ USE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate health technician students’ behaviors regarding theuse of tobacco and tobacco products and levels of tobacco dependence and to reveal the effects ofsocioeconomic and environmental factors on the use of these products.Material and Methods: The study consisted of 1118 first- and second-year students from Dokuz EylülUniversity Vocational School of Health Services in the 2021-2022 academic year. These students wereapplied a questionnaire that was developed to determine their sociodemographic, individual, familycharacteristics, habits, and opinions on tobacco use and the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence(FTND).Results: It was determined that 34.5% of the students used tobacco products, 14.0% smoked water pipe(WTS), 3.0% used electronic cigarettes (EC), and that the average age of starting smoking was 15.6±2.4years. Of the students, 18.1% stated that they wanted to quit smoking and 1.9% had received professionalhelp to quit smoking. It was found that 64.5% did not want tobacco product advertisements to be bannedand that 61.9% did not want a smoking ban in public/indoor areas. According to 64.0% of the students,university education had no effect on tobacco use. The mean score of smokers on the FTND was3.43±2.20, and 3.9% of them had a high level of dependence. It was determined that a low level of tobaccoaddiction was more prevalent in students whose mothers had low education and who lived with theirparents (p&lt;0.05). However, a high level of tobacco addiction was found to be more prevalent in those whostarted smoking at the age of ≤16 (p&lt;0.01).Conclusion: Our research indicated the factors that affected the health technician students' behaviors oftobacco and tobacco product use, level of tobacco dependence, and desire to quit smoking. It was alsofound that the age of starting smoking, maternal education level, and family unity played a role in students'smoking behavior.&nbsp;</div

The Transcription Factor Elf3 Is Essential for a Successful Mesenchymal to Epithelial Transition

The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET) are two critical biological processes that are involved in both physiological events such as embryogenesis and development and also pathological events such as tumorigenesis. They present with dramatic changes in cellular morphology and gene expression exhibiting acute changes in E-cadherin expression. Despite the comprehensive understanding of EMT, the regulation of MET is far from being understood. To find novel regulators of MET, we hypothesized that such factors would correlate with Cdh1 expression. Bioinformatics examination of several expression profiles suggested Elf3 as a strong candidate. Depletion of Elf3 at the onset of MET severely impaired the progression to the epithelial state. This MET defect was explained, in part, by the absence of E-cadherin at the plasma membrane. Moreover, during MET, ELF3 interacts with the Grhl3 promoter and activates its expression. Our findings present novel insights into the regulation of MET and reveal ELF3 as an indispensable guardian of the epithelial state. A better understanding of MET will, eventually, lead to better management of metastatic cancers

The Transcription Factor Elf3 Is Essential for a Successful Mesenchymal to Epithelial Transition

The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET) are two critical biological processes that are involved in both physiological events such as embryogenesis and development and also pathological events such as tumorigenesis. They present with dramatic changes in cellular morphology and gene expression exhibiting acute changes in E-cadherin expression. Despite the comprehensive understanding of EMT, the regulation of MET is far from being understood. To find novel regulators of MET, we hypothesized that such factors would correlate with Cdh1 expression. Bioinformatics examination of several expression profiles suggested Elf3 as a strong candidate. Depletion of Elf3 at the onset of MET severely impaired the progression to the epithelial state. This MET defect was explained, in part, by the absence of E-cadherin at the plasma membrane. Moreover, during MET, ELF3 interacts with the Grhl3 promoter and activates its expression. Our findings present novel insights into the regulation of MET and reveal ELF3 as an indispensable guardian of the epithelial state. A better understanding of MET will, eventually, lead to better management of metastatic cancers