Background: Despite the importance of vaccines in preventing COVID-19, the willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines is lower among RA patients than in the general population. Objective: To determine the extent of COVID-19 knowledge among RA patients and their attitudes and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: A qualitative study with a phenomenology approach was performed through face-to-face, individual-based, semi-structured interviews in the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, rheumatology unit. A convenient sample of RA patients using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs was included until the point of saturation. A thematic content analysis approach was used to analyze the obtained data. Results: Twenty-five RA patients participated in this study. Regarding knowledge about COVID-19, most participants were able to define COVID-19, realize its contagious nature, and see the need for masks to get protection from this infection, while only a minority knew COVID-19 symptoms. Most participants obtained information about COVID-19 from TV programs and the public. Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, about 1/4 of the participants knew vaccine side effects, and only 12% of them had positive attitudes toward the vaccine. Additionally, 19 participants were unwilling to take the vaccine. The most common reasons behind this reluctance to take the vaccine include fear of the vaccine's short- and long-term side effects and the worsening of RA. Conclusion: RA patients' knowledge about COVID-19 and its vaccines was poor, and their attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines were negative.
Background: As a multifactorial disorder, temporomandibular joint (TMD) is difficult to diagnose, and multiple factors affect the joint and cause the temporomandibular disorder. Standardization of clinical diagnosis of TMD should be used to reach a definite clinical diagnosis; the condylar bone may degenerate in accordance with these disorders. Aims: Evaluate the correlation between the clinical diagnosis and degenerative condylar change (flattening, sclerosis, erosion, and osteophyte). Materials and Methods: A prospective study with a study group of 97 TMD patients (total of 194 joints) aged 20 to 50. Patients were sent to cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) to assess the degenerative condylar change. Results: No association was found bet
... Show MoreIfosfamide (IFO), an alkylating chemotherapy agent, is known for its association with neurotoxicity and encephalopathy. This trial was designed to evaluate the protective action of daidzein (DZN) against IFO-induced neurotoxicity in male rats by determining the difference in certain inflammatory and apoptotic markers in the brain tissue of rats. Twenty-eight Wistar rats, weighing 120-150 g, were divided into four groups of seven rats: Group 1 (Control) received no treatment; Group 2 was orally administered DZN (100 mg/kg/day) for seven days; Group 3 received a single intraperitoneal (IP) dose of IFO (500 mg/kg); Group 4 received oral DZN (100 mg/kg/day) for one week prior to a single IP dose of IFO on the seventh day. Twenty-four hours post
... Show MoreThe present study investigates the characterization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesized using Fusarium solani and their impact on tomato seed germination, plant growth, and disease resistance. A visible color change from yellow to dark smoky indicated the formation of AgNPs, while UV-visible spectrophotometry revealed an absorbance peak at 437 nm, confirming their presence. Atomic force microscopy analysis showed that the AgNPs ranged from 0 to 39.27 nm in size, with an average height of 5.772 nm, while scanning electron microscopy highlighted their diverse surface morphology. The application of AgNPs and mycorrhizal fungi significantly improved tomato seed germination rates, plant height, and dry weight compared to untreate
... Show MoreDate stones were used as precursor for the preparation of activated carbons by chemical
activation with ferric chloride and zinc chloride. The effects of operating conditions represented
by the activation time, activation temperature, and impregnation ratio on the yield and adsorption
capacity towards methylene blue (MB) of prepared activated carbon by ferric chloride activation
(FAC) and zinc chloride activation (ZAC) were studied. For FAC, an optimum conditions of 1.25
h activation time, 700 °C activation temperature, and 1.5 impregnation ratio gave 185.15 mg/g
MB uptake and 47.08 % yield, while for ZAC, 240.77 mg/g MB uptake and 40.46 % yield were
obtained at the optimum conditions of 1.25 h activation time, 500
Remote sensing data are increasingly being used in digital archaeology for the potential non-invasive detection of archaeological remains. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the capability of standalone (LiDAR and aerial photogrammetry) and integration/fusion remote sensing approaches in improving the prospecting and interpretation of archaeological remains in Cahokia’s Grand Plaza. Cahokia Mounds is an ancient area; it was the largest settlement of the Mississippian culture located in southwestern Illinois, USA. There are a limited number of studies combining LiDAR and aerial photogrammetry to extract archaeological features. This article, therefore, combines LiDAR with photogrammetric data to create new datasets and inv
... Show MoreBackground: obesity is a major global health problem with more than 200 million obese men and almost 300 million obese women. Melatonin is a well-known molecule for its involvement in circadian rhythm regulation and has multiple pathological actions including control of appetite, sleep wake cycle and metabolic syndrome.
Aim: to estimate the effect of melatonin supplements on obese patients on a calorie restricted diet in comparison to patients on lifestyle measures only in the form of weight loss, waist circumference and sleep quality.
Subjects and Method: one hundred patients with body mass index > 24 were collected, fifty patients were starte
... Show MoreThe study of vegetative change of cities is one of the most important studies related to human life because of its direct correlation with the temporal conditions that occur. These include the economic problems that force people to move and look for job opportunities in the city, which leads to an increase in the population density of cities, especially for cities with an important economic and administrative location as in the capital city of Baghdad. In this study, the effect of the increasing in population density was analyzed on the urban planning of Baghdad city. The decreasing in vegetation was due to the increasing of urban areas on the outskirts of the city, which led to an increase in its area. Moreover, urban cities increased t
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