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 association of olanzapine with hyperglycemia, an elevated lipid profile, and high blood pressure was early recognized after its approval and has become of increased concern. Objective: To determine the association of olanzapine use with blood sugar levels, lipid profiles, and blood pressure in hospitalized Iraqi patients with schizophrenia. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 50 hospitalized patients with schizophrenia who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-V diagnostic criteria and had taken olanzapine for at least two years was carried out between November 2022 and February 2023 at two facilities in Baghdad, Iraq (Ibn Rushd Psychiatric Teaching Hospital and Al Rashad Hospital
... Show MoreThe neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have the potential to be inflammatory markers that reflect the activity of many inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the NLR and PLR as potential markers of disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.
The study involved 132 patients with ankylosing spondylitis and 81 healthy controls matched in terms of age and gender. Their sociodemographic data, disease activity scores using the Bath Ankylosing
Abstract
The study aims to identify the common fears of preschool children and their relationship to the approaches to parental treatment in South Al Batinah Governorate from their mother’s point of view. Total of (466) mothers were selected as the study sample. The researcher used the scale of common fear and the scale of parental treatment approaches. The results of the study have shown that the most common fear among the study sample was (the fear of darkness) in the first level with a rate of 75.03%, and in the second level came the item (my child is afraid to sleep alone) by 72.74%, in the third level came to the item (fear of seeing insects) with a rate of 67.59%, and the last one was (the fear of rain) w
... Show MoreThe exchanges in various fields,like economics, science, culture, etc., have been enhanced unceasingly among different countries around the world in the twenty-first century, thus, the university graduate who masters one foreign language does not meet the need of the labor market in most countries.So, many universities began to develop new programs to cultivate students who can use more foreign languages to serve the intercultural communication. At the same time, there is more scientific research emerged which is related to the relationship between the second and third languages. This humble research seeks to explain the relevant concepts and analyze the real data collected from Shanghai International Studies University in China, to expl
... Show MoreThe debate on the methodology of media and communication research is no longer subject to the logic of the contradiction between the quantitative and the qualitative approach, nor the logic of the comparison between them. The nature of the topics presented for research, the problems they raise, the goals to be achieved from the research, and the epistemological positioning of researchers are among the critical factors that dictate the appropriate approach or methodological approaches to conduct their research. This positioning means the implicit philosophical principles upon which any researcher relies and which determine the path he/ she takes to produce scientifically approved knowledge. The method of the researcher's access to the phe
... Show MoreA case–control study (80 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus [HBV] infection and 96 controls) was performed to evaluate the association of an IL12A gene variant (rs582537 A/C/G) with HBV infection. Allele G showed a signifcantly lower frequency in patients compared to controls (31.2 vs. 46.9%; probability [p]=0.009; corrected p [pc]=0.027) and was associated with a lower risk of HBV infection (odds ratio [OR]=0.49; 95% confdence interval [CI]=0.29–0.83). A similar lower risk was associated with genotypes CG (17.5 vs. 29.2; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.08–0.81; p=0.02) and GG (10.0 vs. 16.7; OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.07–0.91; p=0.036), but the pc value was not signifcant (0.12 and 0.126, respec‑ tively). Serum IL35 levels showed signifcant difere
... Show MoreThe talk about the relationship between the media and industrialists can be the core of a bigger and deeper subject which is the role of these means in increasing sales : First, increasing the customer’s awareness of the importance of goods and the result of the promotion of products. Secondly, increasing investments which do require continuous studies and deep research in order to understand the constantly changing market conditions, and the public’s taste. In this research, we try to find out how industrialists see the role of media in the promotion of products in Iraq today, and how it develops in the future.
There was a reluctance of the industrialists to advertise in the local media, also industrialists see the role of t
... Show MoreThe aims of this study the infection with parasites Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia and prevalence rates and their relationship with gende , age group , the number of family members and source of drinking water among the patients at attending the Bint Al Huda and Al- Hussin Teaching hospital in Nassriyia city in Thi- Qar province , it was noticed that the percentage of parasitic infection at females was 38.55% and at males was 61.45% and the percentage of parasitic infection with Entamoeba histolytica 97% was higher than the percentage of parasitic infection with Giardia lamblia 3%,and the reduction of percentage of infection is associated with increasing of the number of family member ,the percentage of infection was 49% at the
... Show MoreBackground: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting the Iraqi population and the leading cause of cancer related mortality among Iraqi women. It has been well documented that prognosis of patients depends largely upon the hormone receptor contents and HER-2 over expression of their neoplasm. Recent studies suggest that Triple Positive (TP) tumors, bearing the three markers, tend to exhibit a relatively favorable clinical behavior in which overtreatment is not recommended. Aim: To document the different frequencies of ER/PR/HER2 breast cancer molecular subtypes focusing on the Triple Positive pattern; correlating those with the corresponding clinico-pathological characteristics among a sample of Iraqi patients diagnosed with th
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