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
Fumonisin B1 is toxic secondary metabolites compound produced by Fusarium spp. on maize and maize products causes health problems to human and animal. Therefore, this research is planned to study the effect of FB1 on the expression of TLR-2 & 4 in liver and kidney cells of mice. Four group of male mice were orally administrated with single dose of FB1 toxin as the following: 0 ppb, 800 ppb, 1200 ppb and 1600 ppb. After two weeks all animals were sacrificed, liver and kidney autopsies were taken and the level of TLR-2 & 4 detected in each four group by immunohistochemistry technique (IHC). According to the IHC examination of groups (1, 2, 3 and 4) strong expression of TLR2 in liver and kidney were (0%, 33.3%, 100%, 100%), respectively. This
... Show MoreMany pathophysiological processes can affect the pharmacokinetic properties of drugs in people with diabetes. The present study was deigned to evaluate the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the pharmacokinetic parameters of metronidazole administered as single oral dose. Twelve healthy volunteers and twelve diabetic patients were enrolled in the present study. On day 1, a single oral dose of metronidazole 500 mg was administered orally to all participants at 9:00 am after a 10-hour fasting. Over the following 48 hours, blood samples were taken at frequent intervals and serum metronidazole concentrations were measured by a high-performance liquid chromatography method for assessment of pharmacokinetics of metronid
... Show MoreObjectives To determine the prevalence of oral lesions by age and gender among the pediatric population in Iraq. Materials and methods A review of the archives of the oral pathology department of Baghdad University from, 1970 Materials and Methods: A review of the archives of the oral pathology department of Baghdad University from 1970 to 2013 for all biopsies from children aged 0–15 years old. Results A total of 1286 child specimens represented 11.98% of all biopsied lesions. The pyogenic granuloma was the most frequent lesion in children, and the periapical cyst was the most frequent lesion from an odontogenic origin. The incidence of malignant lesions was higher in the 0–3 age group than other groups. Conclusions The majority of les
... Show MoreMany pathophysiological processes can affect the pharmacokinetic properties of drugs in people with diabetes. The present study was deigned to evaluate the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM) on the pharmacokinetic parameters of metronidazole administered as single oral dose. Twelve healthy volunteers and twelve diabetic patients were enrolled in the present study. On day 1, a single oral dose of metronidazole 500 mg was administered orally to all participants at 9:00 am after a 10-hour fasting. Over the following 48 hours, blood samples were taken at frequent intervals and serum metronidazole concentrations were measured by a high-performance liquid chromatography method for assessment of pharmacokinetics of metronidazole. The data
... Show MoreBackground: Staphylococcus spp. are widely distributed in nature and can cause nosocomial, skin infections, and foodborne illness, and it may lead to severe financial losses in birds by causing systemic infection in numerous organs. Aim: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Staphylococcus spp. in humans and birds in Baghdad city. Methods: Seventy-six oral cavity swabs were collected, including 41 from birds and 35 from breeders. All samples were examined by bacteriological methods and identified by using the VITEK technique, the samples were then further studied to test the ability of biofilm formation, and MDR factors and MAR index were tested with the use of seven antibiotics. Results: Among the 76 oral swa
... Show MoreBackground:Periodontal diseases and dental caries are the most common oral diseases, but they can be adequately prevented by adopting a specific health behavior and plaque control.The study was carried out to determine and compare oral health status; it included both caries experience, gingival health and oral hygiene behavior betweenfirst and fifth yearsof Al-Mustansiriyahdental students. Materials and methods: Total sample of the study consisted of 50 students at first year (25 males, 25 females)and 60 students at fifth year (30 males, 30 females). Plaque andgingival indices,dental caries indices (DMFS and DMFT) wererecorded to evaluateoral health status for each student. Further questionnaires were given to evaluate different oral hyg
... Show MoreBlockchain represents a new promising technology with a huge economic impact resulting from its uses in various fields such as digital currency and banking; malware represents a serious threat to users, and there are many differences in the effectiveness of antivirus software used to deal with the problem of malware. This chapter has developed a coefficient for measuring the effectiveness of antivirus software. This chapter evaluates the effectiveness of antivirus software by conducting tests on a group of protection programs using a folder containing an amount of data. These programs are applied to combat viruses contained in this folder. The study revealed that the effectiveness of antivirus software is as follows: AVG scored 0%,
... Show MoreThe study aimed to identify the level of awareness of mental health among the students of the Universities of Palestine Technical and Jerusalem open in the city of Tulkarem from the perspective of the students and the population of the study ( 8091 ) students at the two universities , and selected intentional sample size was ( 445 ) students , and used the tool questionnaire to measure responses of subjects , and the results showed that there are differences depending on the variable sex and was in favor of females , and depending on the variable University , and was in favor of the Al-Quds Open / variable Study level for the benefit of students of second year , did not show statistical differences depending on the variables of c
... Show MoreThe present research aims at identifying the effect of the cognitive discrepancy strategy on the fourth-stage students’ achievement in literature and texts. The researcher adopted the null hypothesis: there is no statistically significant difference at the level (0.05) between the average grades of the experimental group who study literature and texts following the discrepancies strategy, and those who follow the traditional method. A post-achievement test of (60) paragraphs was administered to (6) students as the study sample. The results showed that the experimental group who studied literature and texts with the strategy of cognitive achieved better than the control group who followed the traditional method in the post-achievement t
... Show MoreThis study was carried out to determine the effects of some environmental variables on biodiversity index value of benthic invertebrates' community in samples that collected monthly from two adjacent sites nearby the confluence of Tigris and Diyala rivers within Baghdad city that’s from November 2007 - October 2008. Results showed differences in chemical and physical characteristics for each river. Where the annual averages of these characteristics in Rivers Tigris and Diyala respectively for: water temperature (20, 19) Cº, pH (8, 8), Dissolved oxygen DO(8,4 ) mg/l , EC(1152,2979)µc/cm , Turbidity (28,74) NTU, Total Hardness of CaCO3 (485,823)mg/l, and finally NO3 (4,6)mg/l. Concerning the biological groups, included types of Insect
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