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: Although the new treatment methods developed in recent years are aiming to minimize the need for cooperation of the patients; however, the latter still important factor the treatment. The aim of the study was to evaluate the cooperation level of Class III maloc-clusion patients with orthodontic treatment. Materials and methods: This study followed a cross-sectional style; the targeted population was patients with Class III malocclusion who were treated with three different types of orthopaedic appliances. Four questionnaires were delivered to the patient, patient’s parents, and orthodontists. Statistical analyses of the study were performed with SPSS 20.0 software. Descriptive analyses were presented using fre-quency, percenta
... Show MoreGram-positive enterococciare opportunistic and resistant to many antibiotics. This study aimed to investigate the presence of Enterococcus spp. in our community and whether these isolates are resistant to the macrolides class of antibiotics. Fifty isolates from 112 clinical samples were recognized as Enterococcus spp. and confirmed using Vitek-2 system. The current study found that 50/112 (44.6%) represented the total isolates, 38/50 (76%) of which were Enterococcus faecalis, while 12/50 (24%) were Enterococcus faecium, twenty (40%) isolates from root canals and 30 (60%) isolates from urine were isolated. The sensitivity of the enterococcal isolates to various macrolides (erythromycin, azithromycin and clarithromycin) antibiotics wa
... Show MoreBackground: Nanoparticles are clusters of atoms in a size range from (1-100) nm. Nano dentistry creates amazing useful structures from individual atoms or molecules (nanoparticles), which provides a new alternative and a possibly superior strategy in prevention and treatment of dental caries through management of dental plaque biofilms. The aim of the study was to test the sensitivity of Streptococcus mutans to different concentrations of hydroxyapatite and iron oxide nanoparticles suspension solutions, in comparison to chlorhexidine, and de-ionized water, in vitro. Materials and methods: Agar well technique was applied to test the sensitivity of Streptococcus mutans to different concentrations of hydroxyapatite and iron oxide nanoparticle
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This research aims to compare Bayesian Method and Full Maximum Likelihood to estimate hierarchical Poisson regression model.
The comparison was done by simulation using different sample sizes (n = 30, 60, 120) and different Frequencies (r = 1000, 5000) for the experiments as was the adoption of the Mean Square Error to compare the preference estimation methods and then choose the best way to appreciate model and concluded that hierarchical Poisson regression model that has been appreciated Full Maximum Likelihood Full Maximum Likelihood with sample size (n = 30) is the best to represent the maternal mortality data after it has been reliance value param
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Naproxen(NPX) imprinted liquid electrodes of polymers are built using polymerization precipitation. The molecularly imprinted (MIP) and non imprinted (NIP) polymers were synthesized using NPX as a template. In the polymerization precipitation involved, styrene(STY) was used as monomer, N,N-methylenediacrylamide (N,N-MDAM) as a cross-linker and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as an initiator. The molecularly imprinted membranes and the non-imprinted membranes were prepared using acetophenone(AOPH) and di octylphathalate(DOP)as plasticizers in PVC matrix. The slopes and detection limits of the liquid electrodes ranged from)-18.1,-17.72 (mV/decade and )4.0 x 10-
... Show MoreKE Sharquie, JR Al-Rawi, AA Noaimi, MM Jabir, Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2009
Background: The strategy for eliminating measles from Iraq includes conducting mass immunization campaign against measles, within the framework of the national strategic plan for the elimination of this disease. Awareness about this campaign is fundamental for their success.Objective: The study aims at finding out the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding vaccination against measles among two groups of students in two different colleges ( medical and engineering) .To report uptake of Measles vaccine and reasons for declining the vaccine among medical and non-medical students in the campaignMethod: Across sectional study has been conducted at Al-Kindy College of Medicine/ Baghdad University and University of Technology for the peri
... Show MoreKE Sharquie, AA Noaimi, AS Alaboudi, Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications, 2012 - Cited by 3
Pro-inflammatory cytokines play an important role in intercellular communications. In the last two decades, many cytokines have been identified in human milk. These cytokines are variable according to different conditions such as pathogenic infections which strongly stimulated the immune response. The present study aims to determine of IL1β and TNF-α in Toxoplasma gondii-free and infected women in an attempt to clarify the impacts of the infections on cytokines especially in mother's milk. The serum and milk sample were collected from 96 samples (48 for seropositive and 48 for seronegative). To confirm the Toxoplasma gondii infection; enzyme linked immunofluorescence assay (ELIFA) was used to detect anti-Toxoplasma Ig
... Show MoreIn the framework of this study, the phenomenon of transfer is probed pragma-linguistically and socio-linguistically concerning marriage situations among Iraqi EFL learners. The study also strives to look at the refusal strategies most commonly employed by Iraqi female English as a foreign Language (EFL) learners compared to their counterparts, American native speakers of English. The study involved 70 female participants who answered a Discourse Completion Task (DCT), which contained ten marriage proposals to be refused. Each situation entailed refusal of a person from a higher, an equal, and lower status. The researchers adapted Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss Weltz’s (1990) taxonomy of refusal for analyzing the data comprehensively. The
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