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: Pomegranate (punicagranatum L, Punicaceae), is an edible fruit consumed around the world. The edible part of pomegranate is rich in compounds that possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The aim of this study is to investigate the antioxidant; anti-inflammatory and gingival wound healing effects of Punicagrantum L. seed extract oral supplementation in rabbit. Methods and Methods: Forty five male rabbits were divided into 3 groups, base line (5 rabbits) left without buccal gingival wound as( group 1),study group, 20 rabbits (group2) with buccal gingival wound treated with ethanolic extract of Punicagranatum L. seed extract and control, 20 rabbits (group 3) with buccal gingival wound only. Buccal gingival wounds w
... Show MoreThe analysis of the orientations of Iraqi art commodification contributed to the discovery of deliberation, which was founded in the deliberative discourse in the trends towards commodification in the Iraqi art, since the important transformations in social structures and relations produced a dictionary with new vocabulary and tools that replaced the traditions and norms that have been in circulation for a century. Deliberation and commodification have become more prevalent in the mechanics and trends of the art where the pace of change is becoming increasingly frantic towards the market. The general market for art constitutes one of the most effective phenomena within contemporary art, that there has been a proliferation of sales auctio
... Show MoreIn this paper, there are two main objectives. The first objective is to study the relationship between the density property and some modules in detail, for instance; semisimple and divisible modules. The Addition complement has a good relationship with the density property of the modules as this importance is highlighted by any submodule N of M has an addition complement with Rad(M)=0. The second objective is to clarify the relationship between the density property and the essential submodules with some examples. As an example of this relationship, we studied the torsion-free module and its relationship with the essential submodules in module M.
This study aimed to know the attitudes and practice of pharmacists regarding the management of minor ailments in Iraqi community pharmacies. A cross-sectional study for 320 community pharmacists was conducted during February 2020 using a newly developed and validated questionnaire. Only 4.4% of pharmacists prefer not to deal with minor ailment cases. Minority (15.6%) of participated pharmacists refer more than half of minor ailment cases they face to the physician. Regarding the assessment of minor ailments using WWHAM technique, what are the symptoms are the most commonly asked questions by pharmacists. Only 49.1% mentioned that they ask all WWHAM questions. On the other hand, most pharmacists (90%) educate their patients about the dosi
... Show MoreLeft ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) caused by high blood pressure is linked to increased mortality and arrhythmia risk. This study aimed to evaluate arrhythmia in hypertensive patients due to left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). A cross-sectional study was performed, assessing participants' blood pressure, echocardiography and electrocardiography, and Holter monitoring in certain cases. There were 300 hypertensive patients >18 years attending the cardiology unit of Baghdad medical city. The study was conducted between January–June 2022. The electrocardiograms at rest for 300 adults with hypertension were investigated. 130 (43.5%) were females, and 170 (56.5%) were males. The mean age of participants was 58 years. Forty-nine (16.3
... Show MoreBackground: Patients with decompensated cirrhosis are often given therapeutic and prophylactic drugs. Polypharmacy raises both the likelihood of prescription errors and the complications associated with drugs. Clinical pharmacists are excellent at recognizing, addressing, and preventing clinically significant drug-related problems.
Objectives: Identification types of pharmacist interventions to address drug-related problems in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and assess the acceptance/implementation of these recommendations. And identify patient factors associated with accepting pharmacist recommend
... Show MoreBackground: The undergraduate students in pharmacy colleges represent a well-educated group of thecommunity according to the use of drugs and they are required to hold the appropriate knowledge of druguse and have positive attitudes toward health problems, this good knowledge about the diseases and theirtreatment will give good pharmacists in the future and this will reflect positively on patient knowledge, andtheir compliance with treatment, this due to direct contact of pharmacists with the patients.Aim: To know the knowledge, Awareness and Attitude of a sample of Iraqi pharmacy students towardsepilepsy.Method: Cross-sectional study used a structured questionnaire validated by previous studies to collectdata about knowledge, Aware
... Show MoreBackground: Metabolic syndrome (Mets) is partially heritable. High mobility group AT-hook1 (HMGA1), an architectural transcription factor, affects the homeostasis of glucose. The marked inter-individual differences between T
... Show MoreCost estimation is considered one of the important tasks in the construction projects management. The precise estimation of the construction cost affect on the success and quality of a construction project. Elemental estimation is considered a very important stage to the project team because it represents one of the key project elements. It helps in formulating the basis to strategies and execution plans for construction and engineering. Elemental estimation, which in the early stage, estimates the construction costs depending on . minimum details of the project so that it gives an indication for the initial design stage of a project. This paper studies the factors that affect the elemental cost estimation as well as the rela
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