The aim of the study is to determine the attitude of the public towards the COVID-19 vaccine and the factors affecting the vaccination decision shortly before the start of the vaccination program in Turkey. The study was a descriptive study conducted with the participation of 1098 people aged ≥18 years living in Turkey in December 2020, when COVID-19 vaccination practices had not yet started in Turkey. The sociodemographic characteristics, chronic disease and vaccination history, COVID-19 disease history, COVID-19 vaccination decision, and fear of COVID-19 were assessed with an online questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the factors affecting the vaccination decision. 42.9% (n=471) of the participants were undecided the COVID-19 vaccine. The "concerns about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccine" had the most negative impact (42.6%, n=468), on vaccination decisions. The likelihood of vaccine hesitation/rejection reduced as the "COVID-19 Fear" scale score grew (OR=0.95, %95 CI:0.93-0.97; p<0.001). Vaccine hesitation/rejection was 1.6 times higher in women (OR=1.65, %95 CI:1.24-2.20; p=0.001), 1.7 times higher among those who had not gotten an H1N1 vaccine in 2009 (OR=1.76, %95 CI:1.17-2.64; p<0.05) and 1.4 times higher (OR=1.45, %95 CI:1.06-1.98; p<0.05) in those who had never received a seasonal influenza vaccine. This study showed that there is significant vaccine hesitancy before widespread vaccination. Immunization history is one of the factors determining attitude towards a vaccine in development. The key factors influencing vaccine decisions appeared to be concerns about vaccine efficacy and safety.

Background: MPOWER strategies are employed to combat tobacco use in Turkey. However, no decrease in the prevalence of use among university students has been achieved. In research conducted among university students, only smoking was generally questioned. The purpose of the present research is to evaluate the prevalence of tobacco product use and associated risk factors among university students in Trabzon, northeast of Turkey, following the restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 6445 students between December 2021 and June 2022. Data analysis was performed with chi-square test and logistic regression test backward method. Results: The prevalence of tobacco use is 26.9% in university students in Trabzon. The most frequently consumed tobacco product was cigarettes (25.0%), followed by hand-rolled cigarettes (6.5%), waterpipes (5.0%), and e-cigarettes (1.0%). Students’ tobacco use was statistically significantly associated with male gender, attending a vocational school, maternal tobacco use, paternal tobacco use, and romantic partner/close friend tobacco use. Conclusion: The prevalence found is higher than in many previous studies. Priority should be given to women as well as men in intervention programs to fight against tobacco. Programs should begin in vocational school and include students' close friends, romantic partners, or parents

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of new addictions in the literature emerging with technology and related factors in university students. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 6,223 participants in three universities. The technological addictions assessed were internet addiction (IA), social media addiction (SMA), and internet gaming disorder (IGD). Independent variables included personal characteristics and the purpose and duration of internet use. Prevalence ratios were calculated and logistic regression test was used in multivariate analyses. Results: The prevalence of IA, SMA, and IGD was 9.5%, 33.9%, and 2.4%, respectively. The risk of SMA was higher in women [odds ratio (OR) =0.85 95% confidence interval (CI) =0.75-0.98], IGD was higher in men (OR =2.00 95% CI =1.33-3.02). Spending more than four hours for per day on social media, playing games, watching movies or TV series, shopping, communicating-chatting on the internet was a risk factor for internet addiction. Using social media more than four hours per day was a risk factor for SMA, and playing games more than four hours per day was a risk factor for IGD. Staying in a dormitory was a risk factor for technological addictions. The risk of technological addictions differed between faculties. Conclusion: There is a need for studies investigating the reasons for the differences in addiction results between faculties and places of residence. Since students' duration and purpose of internet use are risk factors for technological addictions, students can be informed about the rational use of technology.

Background: Early risk assessment in acute pulmonary embolism (PE) remains challenging, particularly in normotensive patients. Lactate may offer incremental prognostic value beyond conventional tools. We investigated the association between arterial lactate and in-hospital mortality in acute PE. Methods: In this retrospective single-center study, 327 adult patients diagnosed with acute PE by computed tomography pulmonary angiography who underwent arterial blood gas analysis within the first six hours of emergency department presentation were included. Patients were categorized according to the occurrence of in-hospital mortality, including 103 (31.5%) non-survivors and 224 (68.5%) survivors, and their demographic, clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic characteristics were compared accordingly. Results: Arterial lactate levels were significantly higher in non-survivors than survivors [4.1 vs. 1.9 mmol/L; p < 0.001], with a stepwise increase in mortality across lactate categories (4 mmol/L; p < 0.001). In normotensive patients (n = 211), lactate ≥2 mmol/L was associated with higher mortality compared with <2 mmol/L (35.7% vs. 8.7%; OR 5.8, 95% CI 2.7–12.5; p < 0.001). In multivariable logistic regression analysis performed in normotensive patients, arterial lactate level, PESI score, and the presence of cerebrovascular disease were identified as independent predictors of in-hospital mortality, whereas troponin did not retain independent significance. In normotensive patients, lactate showed better discriminative ability than troponin I (AUC 0.718 vs. 0.553). Conclusions: Arterial lactate levels are independently associated with in-hospital mortality in acute PE. Elevated lactate may help identify high-risk patients even in the absence of hypotension and may provide incremental prognostic value beyond existing risk stratification tools. These findings suggest the use of arterial lactate in early risk assessment.