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
Five levels of Zn-EDTA fertilizer and foliar application of boron were used to study the local rice response through studying of some vegetative and reproductive growth characters, by conducting two field experiments at Kanipanka Agricultural Research Station during the summer season of 2004 by using RCBD with three replications. Significant differences were found in studied characters, there were increase in the number of days from seeding to 50% flowering (94.330-96.233) days, from 50% flowering to physiological maturity (37.50-38.28) days, plant height (82.50-91.423) cm and LAI (5.441-7.525). Reproductive characters such as number of grains panicle-1 (74.11-85.88), number of panicles m-2 (321.00-426.083), biological yield (8166.166-11082
... Show MoreThe purpose of this article is to improve and minimize noise from the signal by studying wavelet transforms and showing how to use the most effective ones for processing and analysis. As both the Discrete Wavelet Transformation method was used, we will outline some transformation techniques along with the methodology for applying them to remove noise from the signal. Proceeds based on the threshold value and the threshold functions Lifting Transformation, Wavelet Transformation, and Packet Discrete Wavelet Transformation. Using AMSE, A comparison was made between them , and the best was selected. When the aforementioned techniques were applied to actual data that was represented by each of the prices, it became evident that the lift
... Show MoreThis study was conducted in a lath house, Dept of Hort. and Landscape, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, Univ. During the 2021 growing season, Baghdad will investigate the influence of organic and Biological fertilizers on three Citrus rootstocks' growth and leaf mineral content. The first factor is the addition of liquid organic fertilizers Vit-Org (O) at three levels without addition (O0), soil addition at 10 ml.L-1 (O10) and soil addition at 20 ml.L-1 (O20). The second factor is the addition of nitrogen-fixing bacteria without addition (N1), add 30 ml.Transplant-1 of Azotobacter chroococcum (N2) and add 30 ml.Transplant-1 of Azospirillum brasilemse (N3). The third factor is three citrus rootstocks: sour orange (R1), R
... Show MoreAbstract Objective (s): To identify the prevalence of obesity and overweight in infants and children less than 2 years of age and its relationship with type of feeding in a sample of children attending Al- Kadhymia primary health care center. Methodology: This study was a descriptive survey carried out in, the primary health care centre of Al-Kadhymia town in Baghdad during the period from 5th of July 2009-1st of May 2010. Sample was chosen by non probability convenience sampling and it included 744 infant and children. Data were gathered by a combination of a structured questionnaire and measurements o
Risks are confronting the foundations of buildings and structures when exposed to earthquakes which leads to high displacements that may cause the failure of the structures. This research elaborates numerically the effect of the earthquake on the vertical and lateral displacement of footing resting on the soil. The thickness of the footing and depth of soil layer below the footing was taken as (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m) and (10, 20 and 40m), respectively. The stiffness ratio of soil to footing was also elaborated at 0.68, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.7. The results showed an increase in the verticle displacement of footing as the duration of the earthquake increases. The increase of soil layer thickness below the footing leads to a reduction in the vertical
... Show MoreThis Paper assesses the knowledge management system (KMS) requirements at Al-Ameed University concerning ISO 30401:2022. Specifically, the research aims to ascertain the degree to which international standards have been complied with and gaps that have been identified. A case study was conducted using field observations, interviews, and checklists to assess the institution's compliance with the KMS framework. The level of implementation and documentation of knowledge management processes was assessed using a seven-point scale. The findings reveal that Al-Ameed University has severe gaps in knowledge creation, sharing, and support for knowledge management in terms of strategic leadership. While certain elements like availability of r
... Show MoreThe field of structural optimization (optimal design) has grown rapidly over the past decades with many different optimization methods that could be used to produce a structure of minimum weight. This research deals with two aspects, in the first, a general numerical technique based on the finite element analysis and it suggests to investigate the preliminary behavior of metal stiffened plate under action of static load environment. The technique was included a finite element model of the structures using high- order isoparimetric plate elements to be used to create a certain models to obtain their optimum design. The models are characterized such that, each model is builded using different types of stiffener configuration. The second as
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