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
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to clarify the basic dimensions, which seeks to indestructible scenarios practices within the organization, as a final result from the use of this philosophy.
Methodology: The methodology that focuses adoption researchers to study survey of major literature that dealt with this subject in order to provide a conceptual theoretical conception of scenarios theory .
The most prominent findings: The only successful formulation of scenarios, when you reach the decision-maker's mind wa takes aim to form a correct mental models, which appear in the expansion of Perception managers, and adopted as the basis of the decisions taken. The strength l
... Show MorePredicting weather by numerical models have been used extensively in research works for Middle East, mostly for dust storms, rain showers, and flash floods with a less deal of interest on snow precipitation. In this study, the Global/Regional Integrated Model System (GRIMs) that was developed in South Korea was used to predict a rare snowfall event occurred in three countries in Middle East (Syria, Jordan and Iraq) located between (25-65 oE; 12-42 oN) in year 2008. The main aim of this study was to test GRIMs efficiency, which would be used for the first time in Middle East, to make predictions of weather parameters such as pressure, temperature, and relative humidity especially in the selected ar
... Show MoreImplementing smart community engagement should consider careful planning and collaboration with numerous stakeholders, including the community. The technology and program must be designed to frame its purpose and should link back to specific goals of implementing smart community engagement. Digital services do not guarantee a smart engagement between the community and the local government. This is the case for the Kubang Pasu local government where several online services have been provided in their attempt to implement the smart community concept. However, understanding on the preferences of features and requirements of existing web-based systems and the impact of these systems is lacking. Therefore, a perception study needs to be condu
... Show MoreFlow-production systems whose pieces are connected in a row may not have maintenance scheduling procedures fixed because problems occur at different times (electricity plants, cement plants, water desalination plants). Contemporary software and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are used to fulfill the research objectives by developing a predictive maintenance program. The data of the fifth thermal unit of the power station for the electricity of Al Dora/Baghdad are used in this study. Three stages of research were conducted. First, missing data without temporal sequences were processed. The data were filled using time series hour after hour and the times were filled as system working hours, making the volume of the data relativel
... Show MoreThis research involves the application of spectral indices and GIS techniques coupled with the Analytic Hierarchy Process, to assess Baglia site, eastern Missan, as a water harvesting potential site. The AHP and pairwise comparison have been used through select four criteria including TWI, TRI, MNDWI, and NDSI, which were deemed as impact factors for this study. All these criteria have been weighted according to their significance in the water harvesting system. The findings of the AHP analysis method explained that the WH potential zones in Baglia site were divided into three zones, namely, high, medium, and low suitability. The findings demonstrate that Bglia site, where the highly appropriate zone is located in the deep v
... Show MoreRaising children occupies a prominent place in Islam as a step paving the way for the success of reform projects on the level of diverse human life, and for this reason the recommendation for education was mentioned in the mission entrusted to the Prophet (PBUH), the Almighty said:
(( هُوَ الَّذِي بَعَثَ فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا مِن قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ)) Jumaa verse /38
The topic of the research that is in your hands deals with the
... Show MoreGovernment spending is the tool that the state uses to achieve its various goals. The research aims to identify the most important determinants of government spending in Iraq and to indicate the type and nature of the relationship between government spending and its determinants, which will contribute to understanding the movement of government spending. The results of the co-integration test using the border test methodology showed that the variables of population growth and oil prices have a long-term effect on government spending while inflation is not significant in the long run, and that 47% of the equilibrium imbalance (short-term imbalance) in government spending in the previous period (t-) can be corrected in the current period (t)
... Show MoreIn the spreading of the Internet, mobile smart devices, and interactive websites such as YouTube, the educational video becomes more widespread and deliberative among users. The reasons for its spread are the prevalence of technologies, cheap cost, and easy to use. However, these products often lack to the distinction in video production. By following videos of an educational channel on YouTube, some comments found to discuss the lack of the content presented to motivate the learners, which lead to reduce the viewers of the videos. Therefore, there is an important decision to find general standards for the design and production of educational videos. A list of standards has been drawn up to help those interested in producing educational
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