Abstract Asthma is a complex disease defined by chronic airway inflammation and airflow limitation causing variable respiratory symptoms which include shortness of breath (SOB), wheezing, chest tightness and cough. Asthma guidelines advocate adding a second long acting bronchodilator to medium doses of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) rather using high doses of ICS alone to control moderate to severe persistent asthma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of three medication regimens indicated for Iraqi patients suffering from persistent asthma. This study was interventional randomized clinical study conducted on a sample of adult Iraqi asthmatic patients in Baghdad City. The study composed of three visits distributed over eight weeks; baseline visit followed by first follow up and second follow up visits after four and eight weeks respectively. The study enrolled 78 adult patients with moderate to severe persistent asthma as diagnosed by specialist physician according to patient history and baseline pulmonary function test (PFT) and allocated them randomly to three groups (each group included 26 patients) to receive equivalent medium doses of budesonide inhaler in addition to either formoterol inhaler, oral modified release aminophylline tablets or tiotropium inhaler (first, second and third group respectively). Sixty four patients completed this study. The mean ages of patients were above 35 years with slightly more male predominance. The study groups developed significant increase of peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and forced vital capacity (FVC) values at the first follow up visit compared to baseline values (p<0.001). Thereafter, the first and third groups achieved significant higher values at the second follow up visit compared to first follow up visit (p<0.001), while second group produced no change. All the groups developed significant improvement of Mini asthma quality of life questionnaire (MiniAQLQ) scores and percentage of symptom free days (SFD) at first follow up visit and continued further significant improvement at the second follow up visit (p<0.001). Generally, between groups comparison according to extent of change of study parameters revealed that third group produced the greatest improvement over the entire study period followed by the first group, whereas the second group was associated with the least extent of improvement. This study concluded that all groups caused significant improvement in study parameters compared to baseline values and also concluded that the third group of inhaled [tiotropium/budesonide] was associated with the highest extent of improvement followed by first group, while the second group was the least.
Background: Pain is one of the most reported side effects of orthodontic treatment despite the advanced technology in orthodontics. Many analgesics have been introduced to control orthodontic pain including acetaminophen and selective and nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The great concern about these drugs is their adverse effect on rate of teeth movement. Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of acetaminophen, ibuprofen and etoricoxib on pain perception and their influence on the rate of teeth movement during leveling and alignment stage. Methods: Forty patients were evenly and randomly distributed in a blinded way to one of four groups: placebo (starch capsules), acetaminophen 500mg th
... Show MoreType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic disorder that is a serious health concern all over the globe, it is linked to Interleukin-10 (IL-10) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the promoter region. On the other hand, diabetes influences the cellular and humoral immunity predisposing the patient to a variety of opportunistic parasites one of them is Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), which may infect any nucleated cell, including pancreatic cells. The purpose of this research was to explore the association of IL-10 genetic polymorphisms with T2DM and latent toxoplasmosis among Iraqi patients with T2DM. Fifty-five and fifty-eight venous blood samples were taken from T2DM patients and age-matched non-diabetic person
... Show MoreThe bodies responsible for the organization of accounting in the world seek to keep abreast of repaid development, by provide the information required by users, which they need to make efficient decision that return them to the desired benefits, and avoid the risks they could face if they made their decision based on misleading information, or insufficient, or not accurate, Hence, the IASB has undertaken to review the standards, and make the necessary adjustment and clarifications to remove the ambiguities that some of the paragraphs may have in IFRS issued.
And the Iraqi Central Bank obliges banks to convert from local accounting standards to apply IFRS only a step towards keeping pace with developments
... Show MoreUropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) is problematic and still the leading cause of urinary tract infections worldwide. It is developed resistance against most antibiotics. The investigation, surveillance system, and efficient strategy will facilitate selecting an appropriate treatment that could control the bacterial distribution. The present study aims to investigate the epidemiology and associated risk factors of uropathogenic E. coli and to study their antibiotic resistance patterns. 1585 midstream urine specimens were collected from symptomatic urinary tract infections (UTI) patients (225 males and 1360 females) admitted to Zakho emergency hospital, Zakho, Kurdistan Region, Iraq from January 2016 until the end of December 2
... Show MoreBackground: Sialosis described as a specific consequence of diabetes. In diabetic sialosis, the increased volume of the glands is due to the infiltration of adipose in the parenchyma. The B-scan ultrasonography is a generally accepted tool for determining parotid gland enlargement. Oral health is, to a greater extent, dependent on quality and quantity of saliva, both of which may be altered in diabetics. This study was established to detect the enlargement of parotid gland in diabetic patient and study the changes in physical properties of saliva and its relation with the salivary gland enlargement. Subjects, Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study with highly specified criteria with ages ranged (20-65) years, male and female subject
... Show MoreBackground: One of the most prevalent procedures in oral surgery is the removal of impacted mandibular third molars, typically accompanied by trismus, edema, and pain. Several methods and biomaterials were implemented to mitigate or avoid these surgical problems. Objectives: To evaluate the efficiency of chlorhexidine gel (WISDOM®) in minimizing postoperative sequelae associated with the impacted mandibular third molar that will be surgically extracted and its role in promoting early soft tissue closure of the surgical site. Methods: The study design was a double-masked and randomized, controlled clinical study that included healthy patients needing the removal of a mandibular third molar through surgery. The participants were rand
... Show MoreBuried pipeline systems are commonly used to transport water, sewage, natural oil/gas and other materials. The beneficial of using geogrid reinforcement is to increase the bearing capacity of the soil and decrease the load transfer to the underground structures.
This paper deals with simulation of the buried pipe problem numerically by finite elements method using the newest version of PLAXIS-3D software. Rajkumar and Ilamaruthi's study, 2008 has been selected to be reanalyzed as 3D problem because it is containing all the properties needed by the program such as the modulus of elasticity, Poisson's ratio, angle of internal friction. It was found that the results
... Show MoreBackground: COVID-19 is an ongoing disease that caused, and still causes, many challenges for humanity. In fact, COVID-19 death cases reached more than 4.5 million by the end of August 2021, although an improvement in the medical treatments and pharmaceutical protocols was obtained, and many vaccines were released. Objective: To, statistically, analyze the data of COVID-19 patients at Alshifaa Healthcare Center (Baghdad, Iraq). Methods: In this work, a statistical analysis was conducted on data included the total number, positive cases, and negative cases of people tested for COVID-19 at the Alshifaa Healthcare Center/Baghdad for the period 1 September – 31 December 2020. The number of people who got the test was 1080, where 424 w
... Show More