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: The excess mortality associated with
rheumatoid arthritis is largely due to
cardiovascular disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is of
primary importance in atherogenesis. The intimamedia thickness of extracranial carotid arteries is a
measurable index of the presence of
atherosclerosis.
Objective: To assess carotid intima-media
thickness in rheumatoid arthritis by Doppler
ultrasound.
Methods: Fifty two Iraqi patients with rheumatoid
arthritis were studied and compared with another
fifty two, healthy individuals matched for age and
sex as a control group. Full history was taken and
complete clinical examination was done for all
individuals in both groups. Rheumatoid arthritis
diagnosis was
The theory of Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) was introduced in the second half of the twentieth century and aids the decision maker to resolve problems when interacting criteria are involved and need to be evaluated. In this paper, we apply MCDM on the problem of the best drug for rheumatoid arthritis disease. Then, we solve the MCDM problem via -Sugeno measure and the Choquet integral to provide realistic values in the process of selecting the most appropriate drug. The approach confirms the proper interpretation of multi-criteria decision making in the drug ranking for rheumatoid arthritis.
Background: Osteoarthritis is a complicated, chronic disorder of cartilage and bone, associated with homeostasis of bio-elements. The current study aims to assess the role of serum progranulin levels among Iraqi patients with knee osteoarthritis. Patients and Methods: The study encompassed 50 patients aged 52.50 ± 3.12 years (25 males and 25 females), admitted to the at the Baghdad Medical City through the period from November 2021 to March 2022. All individuals were identified by physicians in a Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic and the clinical data was collected along with the assess¬ment of biochemical parameters. Fasting serum glucose, lipid profile, calcium, magnesium, alkaline phosphatase, vitamin D3, and p
... Show MoreBackground: Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that mostly involves the spine and sacroiliac joints. It is associated with a decreased quality of life. Biological medicines such as infliximab and its biosimilar are the mainstay treatments for active ankylosing spondylitis.
Objective: The study objective was to conduct a pharmacoeconomic study comparing the cost-effectiveness of the reference infliximab with its biosimilar in ankylosing spondylitis patients visiting public hospitals.
Subjects and Method: This is a two-center pharmacoeconomic study performed at two large teaching governmental hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq, which s
... Show MoreABSTRACT Background: chronic periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis are widely prevalent diseases and are characterized by tissue destruction due to chronic inflammation. Recently, there is growing evidence that the two diseases share many pathological features the aims of the study To determine the periodontal health status in patient have chronic periodontitis with rheumatoid arthritis and compare it with those having chronic periodontitis without Rheumatoid arthritis and determine the serum levels of interleukin -17(IL-17), tumor necrosis factor- alpha (TNF-α ) in both groups and compare with the control group (subject samples neither have periodontitis nor arthritis ) and correlate these immunological markers with the periodontal p
... Show MoreCoronavirus: (COVID-19) is a recently discovered viral disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus.
The majority of patients with corona-virus infections will have a mild-moderate respiratory disease that recovers without special care. Most often, the elderly, and others with chronic medical conditions such as asthma, coronary disease, respiratory illness, and malignancy are seriously ill.
COVID-19 is spread mostly by salivary droplets or nasal secretions when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
COVID-19 causes severe acute respiratory illness (SARS-COV-2). The first incidence was recorded in Wuhan, China, in 2019. Since then it spreads leading to a pandemic.
... Show MoreMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuro-inflammatory disorder in which the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is proposed to have a pathogenic role. Therefore, a case-control study was performed (93 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 113 healthy controls (HC) to analyze the prevalence and viral load of EBV infection using real time-polymerase chain reaction. Prevalence of EBV infection was lower in patients compared to HC but the difference was not significant (12.9 vs. 21.2%; probability [p] = 0.187). EBV-positive MS cases were more common in females than in males (83.3 vs. 16.7%), while an opposite distribution was observed in HC (37.5 vs. 62.5%), and the difference was significant (p = 0.041). Blood group O frequency was higher in EBV-p
... Show MoreThis paper aims at studying the illocutionary speech acts: direct and indirect to show the most dominant ones in a presidential speech delivered by the USA president. The speech is about the most critical health issue in the world, COVID-19 outbreak. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted by observing the first speech delivered by president Trump concerning coronavirus outbreak and surveying the illocutionary acts: directive, declarative, commissive, expressive, and representative. Searle's (1985) classification of illocutionary speech acts is adopted in the analysis.
What are the main types of the illocutionary speech acts performed by Trump in his speech?; Why does
... Show MoreObjective(s): To assess Baghdad University students’ knowledge and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS, and to find out
the relationship of Baghdad University students’ knowledge and attitudes with certain variables (gender,
socioeconomic status, field of study).
Methodology: A descriptive analytic study was used to assess the knowledge and attitudes of Baghdad University
Students’ toward HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted (November 1st 2012 to July 15th 2013). A non-probability
(purposive sample) of 400 students (males-138 and females-262) were selected from four colleges and they were
in the fourth class, a probability (stratified random) method was used to select four colleges at University of
Baghdad as a study settin
The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which represents a global public health crisis. Based on recent published studies, this review discusses current evidence related to the transmission, clinical characteristics, diagnosis, management and prevention of COVID-19. It is hoped that this review article will provide a benefit for the public to well understand and deal with this new virus, and give a reference for future researches.