Objectives: This survey aimed to investigate the attitudes of the first-and fifth-year Turkish dental school students towards tobacco and to determine the prevalence of those using various tobacco products. Materials & Methods: The survey was conducted between May 1 and June 30, 2018 and the first-and fifth-year students were from eleven dental schools located in different regions of Turkey. Data were tested statistically using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) program. Results: A total of 1228 students participated and 1096 completed the online survey. The majority of the participants were females (n=691, 63.05%). Mean age of the participants was 21.8 ± 2.9 years (age range 18-54 years). Although the overall rate of current smokers was 37.96%, 62.04% of the participants had inhaled tobacco smoke at least once. More than half (55.19%) of the current smokers stated that they wish to quit and 29.26% of these students have attempted to quit within the last six months. Only 19.49% of all participants defined themselves as highly addicted to cigarette smoking. The rate of waterpipe smokers was 41.2%, of which 83.7% declared that they had no intention to quit. Conclusion: This study shows that the rate of tobacco smokers is rather high among dental school students in Turkey and this finding points out the need for novel and more effective precautions against tobacco.

The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of prospective physical education teachers on the concepts of “physical education teacher” and “physical education course” through the metaphors. In this study which was structured with the approach of qualitative research, the model of phenomenology, which defines the common meaning of the experience of individuals related to a concept was used. 167 prospective physical education teachers who were enrolled at the department of Physical Education and Sports Education at the Sports Sciences Faculty of Ankara University were included in the study. The content analysis method was used to analyze the data of this study which were collected via the method of semi-structured forms. Within this context, the metaphors formed by the prospective teachers were divided into categories based on their common properties in MS Excel, and a frequency calculation was made. As a result of the analysis, the metaphors that were formed in relation to both the concepts were collected under four categories. It was concluded that the prospective teachers perceived the physical education course as a course that provides children with fun and pleasing moments, relaxes them and is needed for the healthy continuation of their lives, while they perceived a physical education teacher as a person who is found familiar by students, helps them, guides them and is a multi-dimensional person who does everything.

The aim of this study was to identify probable intermediate biomarkers of disturbed pathways and their link between smoking. Methods Un-stimulated whole saliva and serum samples were collected from a total of 30 systemically healthy participants with periodontally healthy smokers (S) (n=15) and nonsmokers (n=15). Periodontal indices (plaque index, gingival index, probing depth, bleeding on probing, clinical attachment level) were recorded to confirm periodontal health. Saliva was purified, and a total of 28 amino acids and metabolites were analyzed by liquid chromatographymass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Smoking status was validated measuring serum cotinine levels. Intergroup comparisons were assessed using the Mann Whitney U test. Results When 28 amino acids were evaluated, smokers had statistically significantly higher cystathionine levels than non-smokers (p <0.05). Conclusions Saliva cystathionine is associated with smoking in periodontally healthy individuals, and is possibly related to altered sulfuration pathway.