Background: Occupational exposure to hazardous drugs occurs in all aspects of anticancer drug handling. Proper recommendations and guidelines should be applied to control and reduce exposure. Objective: To assess pharmacists' knowledge and practice regarding the safe handling of anticancer drugs. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at seven major hospitals in Baghdad City, Iraq, from December 2023 to February 2024. A pre-designed questionnaire was given to pharmacists who handled anticancer drugs in chemotherapy units. The questionnaire comprises sociodemographic data, knowledge of the safe handling of cytotoxic drugs and thoughts about exposure and risk, practices for safely handling cytotoxic drugs, and challenges for safely handling cytotoxic drugs. Results: A total of 126 pharmacists were enrolled in the study. Less than half of the participants (46%) received training on anticancer drugs. While more than a third (42.9%) of the pharmacists were handling more than 100 cytotoxic preparations weekly, the total knowledge score was 7.14, while the total practice score was 73.36, with less than half of the pharmacists having good knowledge (44.44%) or practice (48.41%). Pharmacists who received training had significantly higher total practice scores than those who did not. Pharmacists with more than 100 weekly preparations were more knowledgeable than those with 50–99 preparations. Conclusions: The majority of participating pharmacists had fair to excellent knowledge and practice regarding the safe handling of cytotoxic medications. However, there were some gaps regarding important knowledge and practice issues. To improve knowledge and practices regarding anticancer handling, training is necessary.
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a proinflammatory cytokine implicated in the immunopathogenesis of tuberculosis (TB). TB is recognized worldwide as an important public health issue. To study the relationship between the age of patients with pulmonary TB and serum IL-6 levels, from the other hand, the severity of this disease with IL-6 levels. This study included 30 patients (16 female and 14 male) with pulmonary TB and 10 healthy persons (5 female and 5 male) as control group for comparison. An ELISA assay was used to quantify IL-6 in the sera. The results showed a significant increase of IL-6 levels with increase of age of patients, in (23-38) year old patients the IL-6 levels (median= 17.9 pg/ml, range 12.3-29.1), while in (50-70) year old patien
... Show MoreConducting polyaniline / ZnO nano composites are synthesized
using a simplified cheap method with one step in –situ chemical
polymerization, and AC conductivity (σac) of the prepared samples is
studied in the range of frequency from 50 Hz to 15MHz.). The
presence of polarons in the conjugated polymer chain are responsible
for the ac conductivity is reliance on the frequency in these
composites. The effect of increasing the ZnO nano particle
concentration irradiation and gamma radiation on the electric
conductivity was analyzed. The result showed that the
nanocomposite prepared has the highest conductivity, from pure
polyaniline and the exponential factor S was found increasing with
ZnO content it was 0
Effect of the thermal annealing at 400oC for 2 hours and Argon laser radiation for half hour on the optical properties of AgAlS2 thin films, prepared on glass slides by chemical spray pyrolysis at 360oC with (0.18±0.05) μm thickness .The optical characteristics of the prepared thin films have been investigated by UV/Vis spectrophotometer in the wavelength range (300 – 1100)nm .The films have a direct allow electronic transition with optical energy (Eg) values decreased from (2.25) eV for untreated thin films to (2.10) eV for the annealed films and to (2.00) eV for the radiated films. The maximum value of the refractive index (n) for all thin films are given about (2.6). Also the extinction coefficient (K) and the real and imaginary d
... Show MoreThe structural, optical properties of cupper indium gallium selenite (CuIn1-xGaxSe) have been studied. CuIn1-xGaxSe thin films for x=0.6 have been prepared by thermal evaporation technique, of 2000±20 nm thickness, with rate of deposition 2±0.1 nm/sec, on glass substrate at room temperature. Heat treatment has been carried out in the range (373-773) K for 1 hour. It demonstrated from the XRD method that all the as-deposited and annealed films have polycrystalline structure of multiphase. The optical measurement of the CIGS thin films conformed that they have, direct allowed energy gap equal to 1.7 eV. The values of some important optical parameters of the studied films such as (absorption coefficient, refractive index, extinction coeffici
... Show MorePiroxicam is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used in the treatment of musculo-skeletal and joint disorders. The problem with this drug is its poor solubility in water and hence poor bioavailability after oral administration. In order to improve its solubility and dissolution behavior, hydrophilic additives such as starch, lactose, superdisintegrants including crospovidone (C.P), cross carmellose sodium (CCS), and sodium starch glycolate (SSG) were physically dry mixed with the drug by simple trituration. The improvement in the solubility in 0.1 N HCl was obtained as the amount of starch or lactose increased in the physical mixture, while for superdisintegrants, they further improve the solubility when they are present in s
... Show MoreObjectives: The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the effect of adding a poloxamer surfactant to the irrigant solutions on its cleaning efficiency. Design: In this study the roots of extracted permanent premolar teeth were used and evaluated by using Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM). Materials and Method: 72 human single tooth of permanent premolar (8 for each group) were used in this in vitro study. Roots after sectioning at cervical area to get 15 mm were embedded in a plastic container filled with impression silicon, then instrumented with ProTaper rotary instruments till size F4. Each group (8 root) were irrigated with one of the nine solutions used in study: three concentrations of NaOH [5% (A1), 2.5%(A2), 0.5%(A3)], th
... Show MoreIn the present research, the electrical properties which included the ac-conductivity (σac), loss tangent of dielectric (tan δ) and real dielectric constant (ε’) are studied for nano polycarbonate in different pressures and frequencies as a function of temperature these properties were studied at selective temperature gradients which are (RT-50-100-150-250)°C. The results of the study showed that the values of dielectric constant and dissipation factor increase with increasing pressure and temperature and decreases by increasing frequency. And the results of electrical conductivity showed that it increases with increasing temperature, pressure and frequency.
An experimental investigation of the variation of argon discharge current with a glow and afterglow time intervals of a square discharge voltage was carried out at low pressure (6-11 mbar). The discharge was created between two circular metal electrodes of diameter (7.5 cm), separated horizontally by a distance (10 cm) at the two ends of a Pyrex cylindrical tube. A composite of two Gaussian functions has been suggested to fit and explain the variation graphs clearly. It is shown that the necessary times of glow and afterglow needed to attain a maximum discharge current are (70 us) and (60 us), respectively. The discharge current is observed to drop to the lowest value when the two times are serially longer than (85 us) and (72 u
... Show MoreThe present study aimed to explain the dose-dependent possible deleterious effects of 30 day administration of Tramadol on some hematological and biochemical parameters of laboratory male rats (Rattus norvegicus), the study consisted of eighteen adult male rats randomly divided into three equal groups (each of six). Group 1 (control) were treated by intraperitoneal injection of normal saline solution (0.2 ml), group two (low dose) was treated by intraperitonealy (i.p) injection of Tramadol at a dose of 50 mg/kg/day, group three (high dose) was treated by intraperitonealy injection of Tramadol at a dose of 100 mg/kg/day for 30 days. At the end of experimental period, rats were sacrificed. Blood were collected by cardiac puncture to inv
... Show MoreBackground: Polishing technique for acrylic resin material have great effect on properties of acrylic material and bacterial colonization such as staphylococcus aurous, which are responsible for many acrylic prosthetic infections such as the commonly ocular infections. Ineffective polishing technique could affect roughness and subsequently porosity of acrylic materials.So, a new effective method for polishing acrylic was used depending on the use of optiglaze coating material. So, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of optiglaze polishing on porosity of acrylic resin material and staphylococcus aurous activity in comparison to conventional polishing technique.
Materials and methods: Specimen(n=120) were prepared :20 spe
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