Introduction: Although it is discouraged, community pharmacy customers can obtain oral corticosteroids (OCSs) without prescriptions from some community pharmacies in Iraq. Medication abuse is defined as the use of medication for non-medical reasons. Objectives: The study aimed to determine demographics, beliefs, and perceptions associated with the abuse of oral corticosteroids for non-illness reasons among community pharmacy customers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in fall 2018 in four provinces in Iraq. Customers of 19 community pharmacies asking for OCSs for themselves without a prescription were administered a paper survey. This study used the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to measure the relationship between the motivational factors and the abuse of OCSs. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationships between the use of OCSs for non-illness and six TRA factors: Normative belief, behavioral belief, evaluation of the behavior, motivation to comply, subjective norms and attitude toward behavior. Results: The study enrolled 141 participants (98 women and 43 men) taking asking for OCSs without prescription. Dexamethasone was the most commonly used OCSs (59.6%). Friends were the primary recommenders for corticosteroids abuse (28.4%). The main reasons for using OCSs were to increase appetite and gain weight (53.9 %). Approximately one-third (36.2 %) of the participants gained weight after using OCSs. The regression analysis of the TRA variables showed two factors were significantly related to the abuse of OCSs. Age had a significant inverse relationship with the abuse of OCSs and the "good appearance" belief had a significant positive association with OCS abuse. Conclusion: Some Iraqi community pharmacy customers use non-prescribed oral corticosteroids to increase appetite and gain weight. Improve body appearance represents the dominant incentive that urges people to use OCSs without prescription. Health officials and healthcare practitioners need to promote people's awareness about the risks of misusing OCSs through education programs and advertisements in public health settings, media, and social media. Article Type: Original Research
This research deals with the use of a number of statistical methods, such as the kernel method, watershed, histogram and cubic spline, to improve the contrast of digital images. The results obtained according to the RSME and NCC standards have proven that the spline method is the most accurate in the results compared to other statistical methods
This research deals with the use of a number of statistical methods, such as the kernel method, watershed, histogram, and cubic spline, to improve the contrast of digital images. The results obtained according to the RSME and NCC standards have proven that the spline method is the most accurate in the results compared to other statistical methods.
Background: University dental students perceived a higher level of stress prior to the final exam associated with raised salivary cortisol levels which could be considered as a useful noninvasive biomarker for measuring acute stress. Using a Helkimo anamnestic and clinical dysfunction scoring for temporomandibular disorders can give a better insight about the association of this marker and temporomandibular joint disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluation level of salivary cortisol in stressor students with temporomandibular disorder and the relation between this marker in relation to temporomandibular disorder severity. This might give a better understanding to the role of psychological stress as an etiological factor for developin
... Show MoreAbstract:
The aim of the present research is to evaluate the child’s nutritional
method (2-5 years old) which is based on his resistance of the food highly rich
with nutritional elements and his acceptance of the food of a low nutritional
value in addition to his having forbidden food with other mates and making
use of all mates when having food, in establishing the sound social values and
affection since child hood. The required statistical equation have been used
by the researcher namely (Z test).
The sample of the present study consists of (26) children who were selected
intentionally and randomly from the kindergartens of Al-Bayaa region and the
college of Education for women. The questionnaires were d
Most pathological effects of lead on the body are due to ability of lead to bind with important cellular molecules of various tissues and organs leading to formation abnormal molecules and thus to emergence of pathological conditions. To evaluation the risk to the health status of Iraqi workers who work in the batteries industry, expression of three types of calmodulin related genes were examined. Blood samples were collected from worker working in Iraqi industry of batteries (located in Al-Waziriya), then RNAs extraction were done thereby gene expression for Calcium/Calmodulin- dependent protein kinase2 (CaMKK2), C-X-C Chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and mitogen activated protein kinase kinase 6 (MAP2K6) was done for each sample by using RT-q
... Show MoreCloud computing represents the most important shift in computing and information technology (IT). However, security and privacy remain the main obstacles to its widespread adoption. In this research we will review the security and privacy challenges that affect critical data in cloud computing and identify solutions that are used to address these challenges. Some questions that need answers are: (a) User access management, (b) Protect privacy of sensitive data, (c) Identity anonymity to protect the Identity of user and data file. To answer these questions, a systematic literature review was conducted and structured interview with several security experts working on cloud computing security to investigate the main objectives of propo
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