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
Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy and the second leading cause of mortality among women in Iraq forming 23% of cancer related deaths. The low survival from the disease is a direct consequence to the advanced stages at diagnoses. Aim: To document the composite stage of breast cancer among Iraqi patients at the time of diagnosis; correlating the observed findings with other clinical and pathological parameters at presentation. Patients and Methods: A retrospective study enrolling the clinical and pathological characteristics of 603 Iraqi female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The composite stage of breast cancer was determined according to UICC TNM Classification System of Breast Cancer and the Ameri
... Show MoreBackground: Depression, a state of low mood and aversion to activity, can affect people's thoughts, behavior, tendencies, feelings, and sense of well-being. It can either be short-term or long-term, depending on the severity of the person's condition. Risk factors include personal or family history of depression, major life changes, trauma, stress, certain physical illnesses, and medications.
Objective: This study investigates the prevalence of depression among medical students at the University of Baghdad, college of medicine in Iraq, and the association between some variables and depression.
Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study design with a convenience sampling method was conducted.
... Show MoreThe research included five sections containing the first section on the introduction of the research and its importance and was addressed to the importance of the game of gymnastic and skilled parallel effectiveness and the importance of learning, but the problem of research that there is a difference in learning this skill and difficulty in learning may be one of the most important reasons are fear and fear of falling and injury, And a lack of sense of the movement of the movement is one of the obstacles in the completion of the skill and the goal of research to design a device that helps in learning the skill of descending Almtor facing with half a cycle according to the typical locomotor track on the parallel device of the technical men'
... Show MoreThe problem of Multicollinearity is one of the most common problems, which deal to a large extent with the internal correlation between explanatory variables. This problem is especially Appear in economics and applied research, The problem of Multicollinearity has a negative effect on the regression model, such as oversized variance degree and estimation of parameters that are unstable when we use the Least Square Method ( OLS), Therefore, other methods were used to estimate the parameters of the negative binomial model, including the estimated Ridge Regression Method and the Liu type estimator, The negative binomial regression model is a nonline
... Show MoreThe research aims to determine the factors affecting the woman’s use of electronic marketing in social networking sites, and to know the extent of the sample’s use of social networking sites for electronic shopping purposes. The research tool used the questionnaire form that was designed in its final form after presenting it to the arbitrators and it included a set of questions and a five-Likert scale, and used the spss statistical program to perform the statistical operations that were laid out in tables showing the frequencies, percentages and percentages Salary, mean, standard deviation, and correlation using the Spearman correlation coefficient, the Ka2 square test, the F test, the Alpha Cronbach test, and arrived at Searching to
... Show MoreThis study was set out to investigate factors affecting labor productivity on construction in the north of Iraq (Kurdistan) and to rank all the factors based on engineers, contractors, and designer’s opinions. 76 factors were analyzed based on previous literature and a pilot study. Next, by using online Google Form, a questionnaire form was created and sent to people who have experience in the construction industry. Afterward, the questionnaire form was sent to targeted people by email and social media apps. Factors were divided into nine groups “Management, Technical and Technology, Human and Workforce, Leadership, Motivation, Safety, Time, Material and Equipment, and External”. However, 202 respondents participated in this study,
... Show MoreThe ground-state properties of exotic 18N and 20F nuclei, including the neutron, proton and matter densities and related radii are investigated using the two-body model of within Gaussian (GS) and Woods Saxon (WS) wave functions. The long tail is evident in the computed neutron and matter densities of these nuclei. The plane wave Born approximation (PWBA) is calculate the elastic form factors of these exotic nuclei. The variation in the proton density distributions due to the presence of the extra neutrons in 18N and 20F leads to a major difference between the elastic form factors of these exotic nuclei and their stable isotopes 14N and 19F. The reaction c
... Show MoreGiardiasis is an infection caused by the protozoan flagellate parasite Giardia spp. in the intestine. G duodenalis, a species complex of diverse genotypes that tend to demonstrate host specificity, is responsible for most veterinary health related infections; production animals, companion animals, and wildlife can all be infected. Abdominal pain and diarrhea, typically accompanied by steatorrhea, are the most common symptoms of Giardiasis. Cysts or antigens in feces are commonly used to diagnose the disease. Treatment regimens vary and are dependent on the indication. Control methods must include hygiene measures. Despite direct evidence of Giardia sp transmission to humans via polluted water supplies, our analysis will focus on some r
... Show MoreInelastic longitudinal electron scattering form factors to 2+ and 4+ states in 65Cu nucleus has been calculated in the (2p3/2 1f 5/2 2p1/2) shell model space with the F5PVH effective interaction. The harmonic oscillator potential has been applied to calculate the wave functions of radial single-particle matrix elements. Two shell model codes, CP and NUSHELL are used to obtain results. The form factor of inelastic electron scattering to 1/21−, 1/22−, 3/22−, 3/23−, 5/21−, 5/22− and 7/2- states and finding the transition probabilities B (C2) (in units of e2 fm4) for these transitions and B (C4) (in units of e2 fm8) for the transition 7/2-, and comparing them with experimental data. Both the form factors and reduced transition pr
... Show MoreBiological samples of mother's milk were collected from Iraqi southern provinces(Basrah,Messan,al-Muthana,Thikar)and Baghdad province to measure uranium concentration of the samples by using track technique of fission fragments as a result from uranium atom fission with thermal neutrons from neutrons source 24 I Am-Be with activity 16Ci and neutron flux of 5000 n/cm2.s on using nuclear track detector CR-39 It was found that the high percentage of depleted uranium concentration on the samples from Muthana province , which accounted as 4.183ppm therefore the samples was taken from the provinces (Thikar,Basrah,Baghdad),which was accounted the depleted uranium concentration as following (1.243,2.172,2.875) ppm respectively, with appear a small
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