Relationship Between Achievement Motivation, Mental Health and Academic Success in University Students.

Students of medical sciences are under intense mental stress induced by medical training system and are more likely to develop psychological and mental disorders. These psychological disorders may influence their performance in different aspects of life including their study. The aim of the present study is to assess the possible relationships between mental health, achievement motivation, and academic achievement and to study the effect of background factors on mentioned variables. The sample group consists of students of Kurdistan University of medical sciences. 430 students at Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences were selected randomly to participate in the present cross-sectional study in 2016. We used General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Achievement motivation test (AMT) as the measures of our study. Our findings indicated that mental health is significantly correlated with achievement motivation (p < .001), but has no correlation with educational success (p = .37). Also, a significant relationship was observed between achievement motivation and academic achievement (p = .025). GHQ was not correlated with demographic factors, while academic achievement and achievement motivation are associated with the field of study and marital status respectively. Conclusively, students who are more motivated to achieve their educational and academic goals, will be more likely to be successful in their education and have stronger academic performance. Also, students with more appropriate mental health status will have higher level of motivation in their education and studies. These findings reflect the importance of maintaining the medical field students' motivation and its role in their academic success.

Relation between the circular and linear form of the Elongator Acetyltransferase Complex Subunit 3 in the progression of triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive type of breast cancer (BC) that hardly responds to common treatment. Recent studies show that circ-ELP3 (Elongator Acetyltransferase Complex Subunit 3 or hsa-circ-0001785) is involved in the pathogenesis of several malignancies. The present study aimed to evaluate the possible role of this circRNA in the progression of TNBC cells and the possible relation between the circular and linear forms of the ELP3. We evaluated the circ-ELP3 and its host gene expression level in clinical samples and breast cancer cell lines. Using an expression vector, hsa-circ-0001785 was upregulated to investigate its role on cancer cell progression. After a transient transfection, we evaluated possible alterations in the cell cycle progression, cell viability, and cell proliferation. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses verified that circ-ELP3 and its host gene were significantly upregulated in TNBC tissues and breast cancer cells. Overexpression of circ-ELP3 markedly increases the cell viability and proliferation and also the formation of colonies in transfected cells compared to the controls. Briefly, our results showed that Circ-ELP3 and its host gene were significantly upregulated in TNBC. Circ-ELP3 is involved in TNBC progression and may exert its effects by indirectly regulating of ELP3 expression.