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.
Dental clinicians and professionals need an affordable, nontoxic, and effective disinfectant against infectious microorganisms when dealing with the contaminated dental impressions. This study evaluated the efficiency of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) as an antimicrobial disinfectant by spraying technique for the alginate impression materials, compared with sodium hypochlorite, and its effect on dimensional stability and reproduction of details. HOCl with a concentration of 200 ppm for 5 and 10 min was compared with the control group (no treatment) as a negative control and with sodium hypochlorite (% 0.5) as a positive control. Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were selected to assess the antimicrobi
... Show MoreElevated Interleukin-13 (IL-13) may play an important role in the pathophysiology of COVID-19, yet, the attenuated response did not notice across all severe cases. Susceptibility to asthma in specific populations is associated with several SNPs of multifunctional cytokines, such as IL-13, IL-31 and IL-33. This prospective case-control study is designed to investigate the extent of genetic susceptibility in subsets of Iraqi patients with COVID-19 by targeting the variants of interleukin IL-13rs20541 polymorphism in relation to disease susceptibility and severity of clinical presentation. One hundred samples were obtained from the throat, nasopharyngeal and nasal swabs enrolled in this study. Eighty samples of the throat, nasopharyngeal and
... Show MoreObjectives: With the advent of ongoing novel modalities toward the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/NEU - positive malignancies, the serious side effects of chemoradiotherapy have been minimized. Hence, this study was conducted to identify the patterns of immunohistochemical expression of the promising therapeutic target (HER2/NEU) among Iraqi patients with medulloblastoma in an attempt to provide basic histological information’s that would help in future clinical researches.Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, 42 formalin - fixed paraffin - embedded tissue blocks represent cases of surgically removed medulloblastomas were retrieved from the archived materials in a specialized surgical ho
... Show MoreBackground: Periodontal pathogens can induce free radicals over-formation and thus may cause collagen and periodontal destruction. Anti-oxidants are used as supplements to counteract the over production of free radicals in periodontal disease, that can reduce of collagen destruction. Coenzyme Q10 serves as an endogenous antioxidant, regenerates other antioxidants, stimulates cell growth, and inhibits cell death. Because it is an antioxidant, coenzyme Q10 has received much research attention associated with periodontal diseases. Perio Q gel may possibly be effective as a topical agent and as an adjunct to scaling& root planing in treatment of gingivitis and chronic periodontitis. Aim of study:Determine the periodontal health status in a foll
... Show MoreThe elbow joint is one of the important and mobile joints in a way that allows it to perform its functions. The injury occurs when the joint tendon and arm muscles are subjected to repeated partial ruptures as a result of excessive and repetitive work, as well as the patient not being subjected to correct rehabilitation programs, and only rest. From here, the researchers decided to study this problem by preparing rehabilitation exercises accompanying ultrasound and assessing their impact on the rehabilitation of the elbow joint. The sample included male patients aged 30-40 years, and the tests were determined, which included testing the range of motion of the elbow joint from the flexion position and the rotation outward position, the mu
... Show MoreShoulder immobilization is one of the injuries that lead to disability and loss of movement in the joint within a short time, which called the researchers to find appropriate therapeutic means to rehabilitate this injury. They prepared a rehabilitation program accompanying the reflexology technique to rehabilitate the injury of the immobilized shoulder of the small degree and improve the range of movement and muscle strength working on the shoulder joint The sample was selected from the male patients aged (40-50) years. The muscle strength test was used using the force sensor, the shoulder range test from the flexion and extension position and the visual analog test to measure the level of pain. The study concluded that the pre-rehabilitati
... Show MoreTwo-dimensional unsteady mixed convection in a porous cavity with heated bottom wall is numerically studied in the present paper. The forced flow conditions are imposed by providing a hydrostatic pressure head at the inlet port that is located at the bottom of one of the vertical side walls and an open vent at the top of the other vertical side wall. The Darcy model is adopted to model the fluid flow in the porous medium and the combination effects of hydrostatic pressure head and the heat flux quantity parameters are carefully investigated. These governing parameters are varied over wide ranges and their effect on the heat transfer characteristics is studied in detail. It is found that the time required to reach a desired temperature at th
... Show MoreBackground: University dental students perceived a higher level of stress prior to the final exam associated with raised salivary cortisol levels which could be considered as a useful noninvasive biomarker for measuring acute stress. Using a Helkimo anamnestic and clinical dysfunction scoring for temporomandibular disorders can give a better insight about the association of this marker and temporomandibular joint disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluation level of salivary cortisol in stressor students with temporomandibular disorder and the relation between this marker in relation to temporomandibular disorder severity. This might give a better understanding to the role of psychological stress as an etiological factor for developin
... Show MoreBackground: During pregnancy many physiological, anatomical and biochemical changes take place that affect almost all body systems. In the oral pregnant women have serious changes such as more sever dental caries. This study was conducted to measure dental caries severity and selected salivary variables (salivary flow rate, PH and viscosity)and to find the relation of dental caries with these salivary variables. Subjects, materials and methods: The study group consisted of 60 pregnant women that were divided into three equal groups according to trimester (20 pregnant women in each trimester).They were selected randomly from the Maternal and Child Health Care Centers in Baghdad city, the age range was 20-25 years. In addition to 20 unmarried
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