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
Introduction: The association between acute stroke and
renal function is well known. The aim of this study is to
know which group of patients with acute stroke is more
likely to have undiagnosed Chronic Kidney Disease and
which risk factors are more likely to be associated with.
Methods:We studied 77 patients who were diagnosed to
have an acute stroke.Patients were selected between
April2011andJune 2011 using the " 4-variable
Modification of
Diet in Renal Disease Formula " which estimates
Glomerular Filtration Rate using four variables :serum
creatinine ,age ,race and gender.
Results :The study included 38 male and 39 females
patients ,aged (35-95) years. Glomerular Filtration Rate in
patients wi
Environmental Tax is deemed as one of the most important tools that can be used to eliminate the problem of oil –based environment pollution resulted out of oil products processes and this has been significantly approved by the experience in those leading countries in the field of protecting the environment against pollution whereas oil-producing countries which are rather awkward in maintaining the environment such as Iraq , suffer from notorious environmental effects pertaining to oil product processes.
The problem of the research is represented the increased and constant rise in the volume of the environmental pollutants resulted from the processes managed by the intern
... Show MoreThe current research studies the aesthetic framework for the dialectical development of the functions of the contemporary theater director in an aesthetic approach to the mechanisms of functional overlap between the dramaturgy and direction functions, and scenography and direction, the detection of the controversial structure of that overlap, and what can be summed up in the following question: (what are the aesthetic approaches of the dialectical development in the function of the contemporary theatre director?). The research is determined by a pivotal aim which is (knowing the aesthetic nature of the dialectical development in
The research problem has crystallized and in light of these capabilities, the level of performance depends on the application of modern training methods based on actual experimentation, and those methods aim to develop the components of achievement in this competition, including the quantities of exerting the distinctive strength with speed for the arms and feet, which reflects on good skillful performance because the skill of shooting by jumping forward and high forms A major role in achieving goals during the competition that qualifies the team to win, and through the follow-up of the researcher in the field and academic field, I noticed that there is a weakness in some physical abilities, which affects performance and skill level
... Show MoreAbstract
The current research aims to examine the effectiveness of a training program for children with autism and their mothers based on the Picture Exchange Communication System to confront some basic disorders in a sample of children with autism. The study sample was (16) children with autism and their mothers in the different centers in Taif city and Tabuk city. The researcher used the quasi-experimental approach, in which two groups were employed: an experimental group and a control group. Children aged ranged from (6-9) years old. In addition, it was used the following tools: a list of estimation of basic disorders for a child with autism between (6-9) years, and a training program for children with autism
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Statistical control charts are widely used in industry for process and measurement control . in this paper we study the use of markov chain approach in calculating the average run length (ARL) of cumulative sum (Cusum) control chart for defect the shifts in the mean of process , and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts for defect the shifts for process mean and , the standard deviation . Also ,we used the EWMA charts based on the logarithm of the sample variance for monitoring a process standard deviation when the observations (products are selected from al_mamun factory ) are identically and independently distributed (iid) from normal distribution in continuous manufacturing .
Free Space Optics (FSO) plays a vital role in modern wireless communications due to its advantages over fiber optics and RF techniques where a transmission of huge bandwidth and access to remote places become possible. The specific aim of this research is to analyze the Bit-Error Rate (BER) for FSO communication system when the signal is sent the over medium of turbulence channel, where the fading channel is described by the Gamma-Gamma model. The signal quality is improved by using Optical Space-Time Block- Code (OSTBC) and then the BER will be reduced. Optical 2×2 Alamouti scheme required 14 dB bit energy to noise ratio (Eb/N0) at 10-5 bit error rate (BER) which gives 3.5 dB gain as compared to no diversity scheme. Th
... Show MoreThis study investigates the effects of Al-Doura oil refinery effluent, in Baghdad city, on the water quality of the Tigris River using the Canadian Water Quality Index (CCME WQI) and Rivers Maintaining System (1967). Water samples were collected monthly from Tigris River at three stations, which are Al-Muthanna Bridge (upstream), Al-Doura Refinery (point source), and Al–Zafaraniya city (downstream) from October 2020 to April 2021. Fourteen water quality parameters were studied, namely pH (6.50-8.10), Water Temperature (WT) (5.00-27.00 °C), Electrical Conductivity (EC) (877.00-1192.00 μs/cm), Dissolved Oxygen (DO) (5.03-7.57 mg/L), Biological Oxygen demand (BOD) (0.53-2.23 mg/L), Total Dissolved S