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
The research included the preparation of cyclic compounds from thiazoles, imidazoles and oxazepines from the reaction of cyclization starting material that acts Schiff bases, which is a raw material in the formation of cyclic compounds from Schiff's(B1) by reaction of 4- aminobenzenesulfonylamide with 4-hydroxyacetophenone which can used to synthesized two lines. The first introducing the preparation of pyrazoles [B4, B5] from ester [B2], which derived to acid hydrazide[B3] with hydrazine hydrate and final pyrazoles obtained by the reaction with diethylmalonate and acetylacetone. The second including prepared the new 1,3-oxazepine1,5-dione derivatives[B6,B7,B8] from adding different anhydrides to the base[B1] as a seven membered ring ; te
... Show MoreA fracture is a damage to bone tissue that causes damage to the tissue surrounding the bone and may penetrate the skin. Subjects and methods: the present study included (80) fractured Iraqi patients (and 40) patients with DM2 and (40) without DM2 and compared them with (40) healthy control. Patients and control are matched in age. This study showed a significant increase in retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) and a considerable decrease in Vit .A GPT and GOT in fracture patients with and without DM2. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between RBP4 with (GPT and GOT) in fracture patients with DM2 and a significant positive correlation between RBP4 with (GPT and GOT) in fracture patients without DM2.
... Show MoreGeneration of new clones of multidrug resistant infectious foci of environmental, zoonotic and reverse zoonotic Enterococcus faecalis & faecium strains from cases of mastitis in cows privileged in Baghdad ecosystem reveal unsafe tricks. Medically important plants Blackcurrant, London Plane and Pine Buds are widely used for resolving these public health threats and hazards as powerful antimicrobial preparations. Totally sixty pooled milk samples were collected from apparently healthy (30 units) and infected (30 units) Cows from different regions of Abu-Ghraib during March until July (2019). Integrated units were checked by California mastitis test and a designed scheme was dependent for recovery of pathogenic Enterococci. Gram staining and c
... Show MoreNewly 4-amino-1,2,4-triazole-3-thione ring 2 was formed at position six of 2-methylphenol from the reaction of 6-(5-thio1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)-2-methylphenol 1 with hydrazine hydrochloride in the presence of anhydrase sodium acetate. Seven newly fused heterocyclic compounds were synthesized from compound 2. First fused heterocyclic was 6-(6-(3,5-di-tertbutyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)-[1,2,4]triazolo[3,4-b][1,3,4]thiadiazol-3-yl)-2-methylphenol 3 synthesized from reaction compound 2 with 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid in POCl3. Reaction compound 2 with bromophencylbromide afford 6-(6-(4-bromophenyl)-5H-[1,2,4]triazolo[3,4-b][1,3,4]-thiadiazin-3-yl)-2-methylphenol 4. 6-(6-thio-1,7a-dihydro-[1,2,4] triazolo[3,4-b][1,3,4]-thiadiazol-3-yl)-2
... Show MoreBackground: Early detection of subclinical left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction is crucial and could influence patients' prognosis by aiding the clinician to candidate patients for better management.
Objective: To detect early LV systolic dysfunction in asymptomatic patient with chronic aortic regurgitation by two dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.
Methods: Sixty one asymptomatic patients with chronic aortic regurgitation, with no ischemic heart diseases (by coronary angiography) or conductive heart diseases, no diabetes mellitus, no hypertension, and no other valvular heart diseases (group 1) and fifty age and sex-matched healthy subjects (
... Show MoreBackground: Fruits and their by-products are the primary sources of bioactive chemicals in plants. Because of its phytochemical richness, Annona squamosa fruits have gained the alertness of people willing in health-promoting diets. The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the cytocompatibility effect of ethanolic crude extract of Annona squamosa pulp against a human normal cell line as a mouthwash for children. Material and method: The ethanolic extract of Annona squamosa pulp was extracted using the ultrasonic method and then lyophilized to make it powder. The MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide) test was performed to investigate the cytotoxic activity of the pulp extract on a human normal cell l
... Show MoreThe study conducted on the compositions of epiphytic diatoms on three taxa of aquatic plants were selected (Phragmites australis Trin ex stand , Ceratophyllum demersum L. and Typha domengensis Pers) in three sites within Al-Auda Marsh, from autumn 2013 to summer 2014 . The study was measured physical and chemical factors of all the study sites, such as: air temperature, power of hydrogen (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), salinity (S‰), total hardness(TH), dissolved oxygen (DO), and plant nutrient. The results showed that water of marsh was oxygenated and it was very hard. A total of 111 taxa of phytoplankton were identified, which belonged to 13 families and 26 genus (one family and two genus of centric diatoms, 12 families and 26 ge
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