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 paper reports an experimental study of welding of dissimilar materials between transparent Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and stainless steel 304 sheets using a pulsed mode Nd:YAG laser. The process was carried out for two cases; laser transmission joining (LTJ) and conduction joining (CJ). The former is achieved when the joint is irradiated from the polymer side and the latter when the joint is irradiated from the opposite side (metal side). The light and process parameters represented by the peak power (Pp), pulse duration (τ), pulse repetition rate (PRR), scanning speed (ν) and pulse shape have a significant effect on the joint strength (Fb), joint bead width (b), joint quality and appearance. The optimum parameters were determined
... Show MoreIn this paper, we build a fuzzy classification system for classifying the nutritional status of children under 5 years old in Iraq using the Mamdani method based on input variables such as weight and height to determine the nutritional status of the child. Also, Classifying the nutritional status faces a difficult challenge in the medical field due to uncertainty and ambiguity in the variables and attributes that determine the categories of nutritional status for children, which are relied upon in medical diagnosis to determine the types of malnutrition problems and identify the categories or groups suffering from malnutrition to determine the risks faced by each group or category of children. Malnutrition in children is one of the most
... Show MoreOften phenomena suffer from disturbances in their data as well as the difficulty of formulation, especially with a lack of clarity in the response, or the large number of essential differences plaguing the experimental units that have been taking this data from them. Thus emerged the need to include an estimation method implicit rating of these experimental units using the method of discrimination or create blocks for each item of these experimental units in the hope of controlling their responses and make it more homogeneous. Because of the development in the field of computers and taking the principle of the integration of sciences it has been found that modern algorithms used in the field of Computer Science genetic algorithm or ant colo
... Show MoreThe purpose of this paper to discriminate between the poetic poems of each poet depending on the characteristics and attribute of the Arabic letters. Four categories used for the Arabic letters, letters frequency have been included in a multidimensional contingency table and each dimension has two or more levels, then contingency coefficient calculated.
The paper sample consists of six poets from different historical ages, and each poet has five poems. The method was programmed using the MATLAB program, the efficiency of the proposed method is 53% for the whole sample, and between 90% and 95% for each poet's poems.
Enhanced oil recovery is used in many mature oil reservoirs to increase the oil recovery factor. Surfactant flooding has recently gained interest again. To create micro emulsions at the interface between crude oil and water, surfactant flooding is the injection of surfactants (and co-surfactants) into the reservoir, thus achieving very low interfacial tension, which consequently assists mobilize the trapped oil.
In this study a flooding system, which has been manufactured and described at high pressure. The flooding processes included oil, water and surfactants. 15 core holders has been prepared at first stage of the experiment and filled with washed sand grains 80-500 mm and then packing the sand to obtain sand packs
... Show MoreVocational stresses and their relation with the level of ambition among the lecturers of the university In general , vocational stresses affect the attention and the process of focusing making individual busy with solving of his daily problems instead of his job. The vocational stresses , anxiety and tension are factors effecting the physical and psychological ability of the individual. This study aims to measure the vocational stresses among the lecturers of the university , to measure the level of ambition among them, to identify the statistical differences significant among them according to sex variable, to identify the differences significant in level of ambition among them according to sex variable and to identify the correlation r
... Show Moreهدف البحث إلى التعرف على مستوى الثقافة الغذائية الرياضية لدى عدائي مسافات ركض (400 و800) و(400) متر حواجز الشباب، والتعرف على العلاقة وإسهام وأثر الثقافة الغذائية الرياضية ببعض المؤشرات البيوكيميائية لدى عدائي مسافات ركض (400 و800) و(400) متر حواجز الشباب، أعتمد المنهج الوصفي بأسلوب العلاقات الإرتباطية، و تمثلت حدود مجتمع البحث بالعدائين الشباب لفعاليات ركض (400 و800) و(400) متر حواجز، يمثلون لاعبي الأندية العراقية الب
... Show MoreIt is clear that correct application of antibiotic prophylaxis can reduce the incidence of infection resulting from the bacterial inoculation in a variety of clinical situations; it cannot prevent all infections any more than it can eliminate all established infections. Optimum antibiotic prophylaxis depends on: rational selection of the drug(s), adequate concentrations of the drug in the tissues that are at risk, and attention to timing of administration. Moreover, the risk of
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