The aim of this longitudinal study is to determine how stressful life events, psychological distress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety change in a cohort of students from one nursing faculty during the education process and to document the factors related to psychological distress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety during the fourth year of education. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were applied to students within the faculty of nursing within the first week of the 2018–2019 academic year. All students were asked to answer a questionnaire measuring their possible stressful life events (first timepoint). The process was repeated for the same students again in the fourth year (second timepoint). The changes between the two timepoints were examined. Nursing students’ GHQ-12 and STAI scores and averages increased significantly from first timepoint to second timepoint (p < 0.05). There was a significant increase in the prevalence of depressive symptoms for the ≥21 cut-off point of BDI in the fourth year of the study cohort. A significant increase in perceived stress levels between the two timepoints was also found for numerous stressful life events. As a result of linear regression, “dissatisfaction with major” was found as a determinant on all scale scores. The psychological indicators increased significantly in nursing students during their education. Interventions to reduce stress, anxiety, and psychological distress are needed to improve the mental health status of nursing students.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of knowledge of pre-school teachers working in the province center of Isparta related with basic first-aid practices and some factors which affected these levels of knowledge. In this cross-sectional, analytic study, 110 pre-school teachers working in the province center of Isparta constituted the population. A questionnaire questioning sociodemographic properties and the level of knowledge related with first-aid practices was applied under supervision. The level of knowledge was evaluated on a 20-point scale. In the analyses, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests and Spearman's rank correlation were used. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee for Clinical Studies of Süleyman Demirel University School of Medicine (registration number: 105). The mean score of first-aid knowledge of the pre-school teachers was found to be 11.9±2.9. The least known issues included washing the wound by soap and water after a dog bite, information related with the necessity of immobilization of a child who has fallen from a high level and the phone number of National Poison Information Center (16.4%, 20.9% and 22.7%, respectively). The scores of the subjects whose knowledge of first-aid was evaluated to be well were higher compared to the subjects whose knowledge of first-aid was evaluated to be moderate (p=0.009) and poor (p=0.001). It was found that first-aid scores did not show significant difference in terms of age, working period, having received first-aid training and having faced with a condition requiring first-aid previously (p>0.05, for all comparisons). It was found that pre-school teachers had insufficient first-aid knowledge. Since the first-aid knowledge scores of the subjects who reported that they received first-aid training before did not show significant difference, it was thought that the quality of training was as important as receiving training.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women and the most frequent cause of death due to cancer among women. The lack of standard biomarkers in the early diagnosis of breast cancer, microRNAs (miRNA) have been of interest recently. Although, miRNAs are 19-24 nucleotide-long non-coding RNA species, they have crucial roles in many areas from organogenesis to carcinogenesis. This study has been conducted to investigate miR 21, miR 27b, miR 125a, miR 155, miR 200c, miR 335 miR373 as biomarkers in the early diagnosis of breast cancer; a selection based on the literature. Two miRNAs, miR 181 and miR 192 were selected as the endogenous control. MiRNAs were obtained from 5 cc blood samples taken from 20 breast cancer patients and 20 healthy people. 10 microRNAs were studied using Real Time PCR method. As a result, the quantities of miR 21, miR155 and miR125 ​​were significantly higher in the breast cancer group than in healthy controls. We suggest that performing validation studies in wider populations can help the use of miRNAs as biomarkers in the early diagnosis of breast cancer.