Objectives: The study aim was to explore the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of Iraqi physicians regarding generic and locally manufactured medicines. Methods: A total of 124 physicians were involved in this cross -sectional study. The convenience sample was collected from five public hospitals in Baghdad. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed and collected in-person. Fisher's Exact Test was used to measure the association between physician years of experience, gender and categorical (perception and knowledge) variables. Results: Most respondent answers regarding the knowledge of generic medicines were incorrect. Only up to one-third of the participants knew that generic medicines are therapeutically equivalent to brand name medicines (26.6%), as safe as brand name medicines (34.7%) and required to meet similar safety standards as brand name medicines (12.1%). With respect to perception, many physicians had negative perceptions about generic medicines such as viewing generic medicines as lower quality (57.3%) and cause more side effects (41.1%) compared to brand name medicines. Regarding physician attitudes toward generic medicines, about two-thirds (64.5%) of the physicians were willing to prescribe low cost medicines; however, only about half (51.6%) of the physicians reported they offer generic medicines to their patients. Finally, 64.5% of the participants were not comfortable with pharmacist replacing prescribed brand with generic medicines. Conclusions: In general, Iraqi physicians have negative perceptions and attitudes about generic and locally manufactured medicines. Significant gaps were identified in the knowledge and perceptions among physicians regarding generic medicines especially in relation to efficacy and safety of generic medicines. Article Type: Original Research
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a significant global health problem. Populations of different ethnicities show great heterogeneity in HBV genotype frequency distributions. A cross-sectional study was conducted during June–October 2018 to determine frequency of HBV genotypes among chronic HBV patients from Baghdad, Iraq. The method of detection was nested polymerase chain reaction system. Further, the study assessed the impact of HBV genotypes on serum level of liver-function tests: total serum bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. Eighty chronic HBV patients were enrolled in the study. Six HBV genotypes were identified (A, B, C, D, E and F). The most frequently encountered genotypes
... Show MoreBackground: The COVID-19 virus outbreak had a massive effect on many parts of people's lives, as they were advised to quarantine and lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading, which had a big impact on people's mental health, anxiety, and stress. Many internal and external factors lead to stress. This negatively influences the body's homeostasis. As a result, stress may affect the body's capacity to use energy to defend against pathogens. Many recent investigations have found substantial links between human mental stress and the production of hormones, prohormones, and/or immunological chemicals. some of these researches have verified the link between stress and salivary cortisol levels. The aim of this study is to measure salivary corti
... Show MoreThe objective of the present study is to determine the nature and direction of the correlation between mathematical excellence and learning styles as defined by the Entwistle, model in fifth-grade scientific female students. The descriptive correlational approach was implemented by the two researchers to accomplish the research objectives. A scale was developed to assess the learning styles of female students in the sample in accordance with the Entwistle, model. : (Knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, systematic thinking, creativity), and the research community was determined by the female students of the scientific fifth grade in the morning preparatory and secondary schools of the General Direct
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to compare the effects of three methods: problem-based learning (PBL), PBL with lecture method, and conventional teaching on the understanding of thermodynamics, group work and self-directed learning skills among physics undergraduates. The actual sample size comprises of 122 students, who were selected randomly from the Physics Department, College of Education in Iraq, for academic year 2011-2012. In this study, the pre and posttest were done and the instruments were administered to the students for data collection. Inferential statistics were employed to analyze data. The independent variables were the PBL, the PBL with lecture method, and the conventional teaching. Dependent variables of statistical analysis were
... Show MoreBackground: The autism spectrum disorder (ASD) describes a wide range of symptoms, including difficulty with social interaction and communication skills. Controversial thinking about oral health of children with ASD, in general may have a lower hygiene level than healthy individuals, low caries rate and high body weight in comparison to healthy children. This study was conducted to assess the oral health status in relation to nutritional status among institutionalized autistic children and adolescents. Materials and methods: From 12 institutes in Baghdad, the study group contained 364 child and adolescent with ASD (Male= 294, Female=70), while control group included 441 normal child and adolescent (Male=357, Female=84) from primary and seco
... Show MoreBackground: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel syndrome with discomfort and changed bowel habits in the absence of obvious structural abnormalities. It is more common among adolescents and young age groups. Aim: Aims of the study is to identify the prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among medical students of AL- Kindy College of medicine, and to Exploring the effect on IBS prevalence of general demographic form to observe the association between anxiety and IBS. Data were collected on a sample of University of Baghdad, Al-Kindy College of Medicine students in Baghdad, Iraq. The study was conducted over a period for 6 months From December 2020 to June 2021. This study enrolled 250 students who were selected rand
... Show MoreBackground: Obesity is a serious public health concern that has reached epidemic proportions; the prevalence, as well as the severity of obesity in adolescents is increasing at an alarming rate. A close relationship was found between weight status and dental caries. Thus this research aimed to assess the prevalence and severity of dental caries among overweight adolescent females in relation to physicochemical characteristics of stimulated whole saliva in comparison with normal weight adolescent females. Materials and methods: The total sample involved for nutritional status assessment is composed of 2678 females aged 13-15 years. This was performed using Body Mass Index specific for age and gender according to CDC growth chart (2000). The
... Show MoreIntroduction and Aims: Job burnout such as occupational hazards that have been considered in recent years. This research aimed to investigate the relationship between religious beliefs and job burnout among nurses working in hospitals in Gonabad city in 2017. Materials and Methods: This study is cross-sectional and correlational study. The sample consisted of 100 nurses in Gonabad city who were selected using stratified randomized method. Using the Maslach job burnout and Alport religious beliefs Inventories, data were collected and were analyzed with SPSS version 16 and Pearson, Spearman and independent sample T tests were analyzed. Significant level was considered less than 0.05. Results: Average job burnout in nurses working in hospit
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