PURPOSE: This study identified the relationship between dietary habits and health-related behaviors depending on the Big Five personality factors (extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism). METHODS: The NEO-II test was administered to 337 male and female college students in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, and their dietary habits and health-related behaviors were surveyed. RESULTS: The male participants showed higher scores for extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness compared to that of their female counterparts, while the female participants showed higher scores for neuroticism. As for the results of multivariate logistic regression analysis, in the case of men, higher scores for extraversion were related to a lower intake of instant/fast foods and a higher intake of vegetables; higher agreeableness scores were related to a lower intake of fruit; and higher neuroticism scores were related to a heavy intake of high-cholesterol foods. It was found that higher openness scores were associated with a higher intake of burnt fish/meat and a lower intake of animal fat, while higher agreeableness scores were related to a lower intake of burnt fish/meat in women. Also, those subjects with higher openness and agreeableness scores were found to better consider the nutritional balance when having a meal. In the case of the male participants, higher openness scores were related to increased physical activity, while higher neuroticism scores were related to increased smoking and a lack of sleep. As for the women, those with higher extraversion scores smoked more, while those who recorded higher agreeableness scores were involved in more physical activities. CONCLUSION Differences were observed in dietary habits and health-related behaviors between men and women depending on personality factors, and the analysis results of some dietary habits according to personality factors were inconsistent with those of the overseas studies. Therefore, to provide customized nutritional counseling when considering each individual's personality factors, more research results from domestic samples should be collected and accumulated.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of faculty-student interaction, psychological well-being, and the image of nurses with nursing professionalism in the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Methods: The participants of the study were 243 nursing college students located in Daegu, Kyungpook. Data collection was performed between August 11 and 20, 2021. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression using the IBM SPSS 21.0 program. Results: The multiple regression showed that nursing professionalism was associated with a positive image of nurses (β=.71, p<.001) and higher faculty-student interaction (β=.11, p=.023). Additionally, a negative impression about nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic was negatively associated with nursing professionalism (β=-.12, p=.003). The explanatory power of the factors was 67 percent of the total variances on nursing professionalism; however, psychological well-being was not an associated factor. Conclusion This study suggested that, to improve nursing student’s nursing professionalism in the COVID-19 pandemic situation, nursing colleges should systemize curricular and non-curricular programs to improve awareness of nurses’ efforts and faculty-student interaction.

A hypoxic microenvironment leads to cancer progression and increases the metastatic potential of cancer cells within tumors via epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stemness acquisition. The hypoxic response pathway can occur under oxygen tensions of < 40 mmHg through hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs), which are considered key mediators in the adaptation to hypoxia. Previous studies have shown that cellular responses to hypoxia are required for EMT and cancer stemness maintenance through HIF-1α and HIF-2α. The principal transcription factors of EMT include Twist, Snail, Slug, Sip1 (Smad interacting protein 1), and ZEB1 (zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1). HIFs bind to hypoxia response elements within the promoter region of these genes and also target cancer stem cell-associated genes and mediate transcriptional responses to hypoxia during stem cell differentiation. Acquisition of stemness characteristics in epithelial cells can be induced by activation of the EMT process. The mechanism of these phenotypic changes includes epigenetic alterations, such as DNA methylation, histone modification, chromatin remodeling, and microRNAs. Increased expression of EMT and pluripotent genes also play a role through demethylation of their promoters. In this review, we summarize the role of hypoxia on the acquisition of EMT and cancer stemness and the possible association with epigenetic regulation, as well as their therapeutic applications.
Anoxia* ; Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly ; DNA Methylation ; Epigenomics* ; Epithelial Cells ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition* ; Fingers ; Gastropoda ; Genes, Homeobox ; Histones ; MicroRNAs ; Oxygen ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Response Elements ; Snails ; Stem Cells ; Transcription Factors