Is awareness of climate change a predictor of eco-anxiety? Research within the scope of nursing students.

BACKGROUND: Understanding nursing students' awareness of climate change and its impact on their anxiety levels is crucial in representing a significant research area for the sustainability of healthcare services and the development of strategies to address climate change. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine nursing students' awareness of global climate change and eco-anxiety levels. Additionally, it seeks to uncover the relationship between these two factors. DESIGN: During the academic year 2022-2023, this research was conducted with nursing students at a university in Istanbul, utilizing a cross-sectional and exploratory correlational design. The study involved 390 nursing students at the same university, aiming to reach the entire population without using any sampling method. Valid data were obtained from 374 students. The Student Information Form, University Students' Climate Change Awareness Scale and the Eco-anxiety Scale used as instruments for data collection. Subsequently, the data underwent analysis in a computational environment utilizing descriptive statistical methods and Pearson correlation analysis. RESULTS: Most of the participants were female and single. The mean "total global climate change awareness" of the students was 75.072 ± 15.094, and the mean "general eco-anxiety" of the students was 1.158 ± 0.629. A weak positive relationship was found between the total global climate change awareness and general environmental concerns of the students participating in the study at r = 0.233 (p = 0.000 < 0.05). The level of awareness of climate change explains 5 % of nursing students' eco-anxiety levels. CONCLUSION: This study emphasizes a significant relationship between climate change awareness and increased ecological anxiety. Filling a gap in the field due to the lack of specific research focusing on nursing students highlights the importance of maintaining awareness to prevent ecological anxiety from reaching undesirable levels. This approach is crucial in actively encouraging nurses to contribute to developing educational curricula and environmentally friendly health policies.

A Comparison of Different Strength Measurement in Taekwondo: Herman Trainer, Manual Tester, and Standing Long Jump.

Background and Objective: The accurate prediction of strength development relies on identifying the most appropriate measurement methods. This study compared diverse strength measurement techniques to assess their effectiveness in predicting strength development. Participants were taekwondo athletes competing at the red-black belt level or above. Methods: Technical striking forces (palding, dollyeo chagi, dwit chagi, and yeop chagi) were measured using a Herman Digital Trainer fixed to a striking stand. Quadriceps and hamstring strength were assessed with a Lafayette force measuring device. Explosive leg strength was evaluated through a standing long jump test, normalized for leg length. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to examine relationships between measurement methods. Results: The standing long jump test showed no significant correlation with other strength assessments. A moderate positive correlation was found between Herman digital trainer measurements and Lafayette digital hand-held dynamometer results. A high positive correlation (r = 0.736, p < 0.001) emerged between hamstring strength and palding chagi technical strike force results. Technical strike kicks showed a significant positive correlation with each other and, also, a right foot-left foot correlation was observed. Conclusions: It was concluded that the standing long jump test, which was shown as one of the explosive leg strength measurement methods in field studies as an alternative to laboratory tests, did not correlate with other strength tests; therefore, this test is weak and insufficient to predict strength skills in taekwondo. In addition, this study showed that the hamstring muscle was more predictive in the measurement of technical strength. In future studies, it might be more useful to measure hamstring muscle strength or technical kick strength instead of a standing long jump field test.

Assessment of the oxidative damage and apoptotic pathway related to furan cytotoxicity in cultured mouse Leydig cells.

Research on heat-induced food contamination is being given more attention as a result of the health risks that have been publicly revealed in recent years. Furan is known as a colorless, combustible, heterocyclic aromatic organic molecule and is formed when food products are processed and stored. It has been established that furan, which is inevitably ingested, has a deleterious impact on human health and causes toxicity. Furan is known to have adverse effects on the immune system, neurological system, skin, liver, kidney, and fat tissue. Infertility caused by furan is a result of its damaging effects on several tissues and organs as well as the reproductive system. Although studies on the adverse effects of furan on the male reproductive system have been performed, there is no study revealing apoptosis in Leydig cells at the gene level. In this study, TM3 mouse Leydig cells were exposed to 250- and 2,500-µM concentrations of furan for 24 h. The findings demonstrated that furan decreased cell viability and antioxidant enzyme activity while increasing lipid peroxidation, reactive oxygen species, and apoptotic cell rates. Furan also increased the expression of the important apoptotic genes Casp3 and Trp53 while decreasing the expression of another pro-apoptotic gene, Bcl2, and antioxidant genes Sod1, Gpx1, and Cat. In conclusion, these results imply that furan may cause loss of cell function in mouse Leydig cells responsible for testosterone biosynthesis by impairing the efficiency of the antioxidant system, possibly by inducing cytotoxicity, oxidative stress, and apoptosis.

Furan promotes cytotoxic effects through DNA damage and cell apoptosis in Leydig cells.

Furan is an organic chemical that can cause adverse effects on human health and is formed as a result of the thermal decomposition of many food components during cooking, storage, and processing techniques. Studies have shown that exposure to furan causes nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, immunotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity. According to our current knowledge of the literature, the genotoxic mode of action of furan is highly controversial. The genotoxic effects of furan on the male reproductive system, however, have not been studied. In this study, the TM3 Leydig cell line was treated with 750, 1500, and 3000 µM concentrations of furan for 24 h. Following the completion of the exposure period, the cytotoxicity of furan in TM3 Leydig cells was assessed using a cell viability assay and a spectrophotometric measurement of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme levels. The double fluorescence staining method was used to demonstrate furan-induced apoptosis, and DNA damage was shown using the micronucleus, comet, and chromosomal aberration assays. The result indicated that furan administration of Leydig cells resulted in an increase in structural chromosomal aberration, comet, and micronucleus formation, reduced cell viability, increased LDH activity, and a higher incidence of apoptotic cells. These findings revealed that furan induces DNA damage in TM3 Leydig cells, causing genotoxicity and DNA damage-induced cytotoxicity.