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
In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the change in water quality of the river in terms of turbidity during lockdown associated with COVID-19. Iraq announced the longest-ever lockdown on 25 March 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
In the absence of ground observations, remote sensing data was adopted, especially during this period. The change in the visible region's spectral reflectance of water in part of the river has been analyzed using the Landsat 8 OLI multispectral remote sensing data at Tigris River, Salah al-Din province (Bayji / near the refinery), Iraq. It was found that the green and red bands are most sensitive and can be used to estimate turbidity. Furthermore, the temporal variation in turbidity was a
... Show MoreThe research aims to identify the role of community participation in achieving organizational distinction in the Dhulia's municipality, which is one of the formations of the Ministry of Construction, Housing, Municipalities and Public Works in Salah al-Din Governorate, which is one of the service organizations that have a fundamental role in providing service to the community, which has faced many administrative challenges and many problems caused by the rapid and continuous changes in the environment, therefore modern management concepts must be adopted, such as community participation and the knowledge of its role To achieve its goals, which helps it in facing changes as well as achieving organizational excelle
... Show MoreAbstract Background The aim of this study was to identify differences in oral cancer incidence among sexes, age groups and oral sites over time in Iraqi population. Methods Data was obtained from Iraqi cancer registry, differences and trends were assessed with the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test and Regression test, respectively. Results In Iraq from 2000 to 2008, there were 1787 new cases of oral cancer registered, 1035 in men and 752 in women. Cancer at all oral sites affected men more than women. The Tongue other (ICD-02) is the most frequent site follow by lip (ICD-00). Conclusion The decrease in the percent of oral cancer incidence in Iraq not compatible with the high percent of exposure to the risk factors, Iraqi cancer regis
... Show MoreBackground: Water-pipe can be defined as a single or multi stemmed device that used to vaporize and smoke flavored tobacco whose smoke is passed via water vase before inhalation. Water-pipe smokers are at risk of exposure to many toxic chemicals that are not filtered by water, as well as risk of infectious diseases when the mouth piece of the water-pipe is shared. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of water pipe on the oral health. Materials and Methods: Sixty persons were included in this study aged between 22 and 23 years. Forty persons were coffee shop workers for at least five years, half of them were water-pipe smokers (active smokers) and the other weren’t smokers (passive smoker), the last group was the co
... Show MoreBackground: Although they are not life threatening, dental caries and periodontal disease are the most predominant and widely spread oral diseases throughout the world. Another most common dental problem seen in children is dental trauma. The aims of the study included the investigation of the prevalence and severity of dental caries, gingivitis and dental plaque in relation to gender, furthermore, the prevalence and severity of the traumatized anterior teeth were assessed. Materials and Methods: This oral health survey was conducted among primary school children aged 9 years old in Al-Diwaniyah city in Iraq. The total sample composed of 600 child (320 males and 280 females) selected randomly from different school in Al-Diwaniyah city. Dia
... Show MoreBackground: Orofacial cleft is the most common craniofacial birth defect and the fourth most common congenital malformation in humans that have an effect on oral health in addition to nutrient intake affected in those children. This research aims to investigate gingival condition, dental caries experience and nutritional status among children with orofacial cleft and compare them with normal children. Materials and methods: The study group included 36 children with an age ranged (4-9) years of orofacial cleft. The control group included 37 children matched the control group in age and gender. Gingival condition measured by Gingival Index (Löe and Silness, 1963), while dental caries status was measured by (D1-4MFs/d1-4mfs) index according
... Show MoreItem Difficulty and Item Discrimination Coefficient for School and College Ability Tests (SCAT) Advanced Form in Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) and the Correlation among Them Mohammad moqasqas Haifa T. Albokai Assistant Professor of Measurement and Evaluation Associate Professor of Measurement and Evaluation College of Education, Taibah University The aim of this study was to study the item difficulty and item discrimination of the SCAT (advance form) with CTT, and IRT, and to study the correlation among them. To do this, the researchers used the data of their previous study, which conducted in (2011). It consisted of (3943) subject. Then, they used two-statistical programs (TAP, Bilog-MG-3) to obtain the item
... Show More
The aim of this research is to determine the most important and main factors that lead to Preeclampsia. It is also about finding suitable solutions to eradicate these factors and avoid them in order to prevent getting Preeclampsia. To achieve this, a case study sample of (40) patients from Medical City - Oncology Teaching Hospital was used to collect data by a questionnaire which contained (17) reasons to be investigated. The statistical package (SPSS) was used to compare the results of the data analysis through two methods (Radial Bases Function Network) and (Factorial Analysis). Important results were obtained, the two methods determined the same factors that could represent the direct reason which causes Preecla
... Show MoreIn this work, we have used the QCD dynamic scenario of the quark gluon interaction to investigate and study photon emission theoretically based on quantum theory. The QCD theory is implemented by deriving the photon emission rate equation of the state of ideal QGP at a chemical potential. The photon rate of the quark-gluon interaction has to be calculated for the anti up-gluon interaction in the g → γ system at the temperature of system with critical temperature ( 132.38, , and 198.57) MeV and photon energy ( GeV. We investigated a significant effect of critical temperature, strength coupling, and photon energy on the photon rate contribution. Here, the increased photon emission rate and decreased streng
... Show MoreObjectives: To determine the contributing risk factors to adult nephrolithiasis patients.
Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted to determine the contributing risk factors to
Adults nephrolithiasis starting from December 2007 to September 2008. A purposive "nonprobability"
sample of (100) patients with nephrolithiasis was selected of those who were
admitted to the hospitals, attending the Urology Consultation Clinic and Extracorporeal Shock
Wave Lithotripsy Department. The study instrument consists of two parts. The first part is
related to the patients' demographic variables and the second part is constructed to serve the
purpose of the study. The total number of items in the questionnaire was (85) ones.