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.
Solid dispersion (SD) formulation has attracted much attention due to its potential in enhancing dissolution performances of poorly soluble active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). Recently, a review on dissolution performances of SDs classifies the improvement into 3 categories, where 82 % of the studies showed improved bioavailability, 8 % showed reduced bioavailability and 10 % revealed similar bioavailability as compared to pure APIs. This indicates the inconsistent degrees of dissolution improvement of poorly soluble APIs in SD. Although a few factors related to the choice of carriers have been suggested to contribute to the dissolution improvement, however, the underlying factor determining the discrepancy in the degree of dissolution
... Show MoreNumerous drilling additives and materials are used continuously because they are necessary to support and give the required properties of the drilling fluid so that to ensure the stability of the borehole. This paper aspires to evaluate the rheological properties of bentonite (montmorillonite) Trefawey as an alternative to using commercial bentonite. Monitoring and evaluating of the rheological and filtration properties were prepared. This exertion aims to focus on the effect of hematite, and barite on the rheological properties of the three aforementioned bentonite types. An improvement in the rheological properties of bentonite (montmorillonite). Trefawey was observed after adding the previous heavy materials. Hematite has by some
... Show MoreThe most common nosocomial fungal infection in hospitals is urinary tract candidiasis. Candida albicans is the most prevalent cause of nosocomial fungal urinary tract infections, however Candida species distribution is changing rapidly. At the same time, the rise in urinary tract candidiasis has resulted in the emergence of antifungal-resistant Candida species. This study aimed to diagnose Candida Spp. In women with UTI and reveal the nucleotides sequences of CA-INT-L Gene to look for mutation within the gene. This study included 100 women patients suffering from urinary tract infections and vaginal swabs samples from those individuals were taken to identify the presence of Candida. They were between the ages of 22 and 67. Candida i
... Show MoreBackground/Aim: The timing of a tooth's eruption can be affected by a variety of factors. The nutritional status has an impact on the development of a child's body. The purpose of the study was to analyse the number of children aged 6 to 9 in an Iraqi Arab population who had erupted permanent first molars and to examine how nutritional status affected the timing and level of emergence. Methods: A total of 330 boys and girls, in first grade elementary school, made up the sample. First molars that had erupted were noted, along with the level of the eruption. Each child's nutritional status was evaluated by recording their height and weight and body mass index (BMI) value was compared to the 2007 WHO reference. Results: Girls had highe
... Show MoreSuccess in selecting the best among the sources of supply is one of the most important factors in the efficiency of the procurement activity in the company, because the proper selection of the source of the supply significantly affect the achievement of what is desired by the factors of quality, quantity, price and service, and the ability of the competent supplier to meet everything associated with this Factors of commitments, hereby supporting the procurement function's efforts to fully discharge its responsibilities, and in view of adopting of Al-Furat company quality management system by applying the standards of ISO (9001: 2015) and purpose of getting the on-demand benefits from the application of international standards reg
... Show MoreThe Central Marshes are one of southern Iraq's most important wetlands and ecosystems. A study on evaluating soil quality and water quality in terms of chemical properties at certain sites in the southern Iraqi Central Marshes has been conducted to investigate their types and suitability for enhancing the agricultural reality of most field crops. Soil and water samples were collected from 15 sites and transferred to the laboratory. In the lab, the following parameters were determined: electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved salts (TDS), organic materials (OM), pH, gypsum, and total sulfate content (SO3). The tests conducted on the samples indicated that it could be said that the soil of the Central Marshes
... Show MoreThis paper presents a new azo dye 3-[2-(1H-indol-2-yl)ethyldiazenyl]quinolin-2-ol] from the reaction of the diazonium salt derived from tryptamine and 2-hydroxyquinoline. Azo dye was used to prepare a series of complexes with the chlorides of Ni(II), Pt(IV), Pd(II), Cd(II), and Zn(II). Compounds were analyzed and characterized using elemental analysis, magnetic measurement, UV-vis, IR, MS, NMR, and conductivity. The findings demonstrated that the ligand acts as ionic in complex form, O-bidentate, supporting the proposed formula. The complexes generally exhibited tetrahedral and octahedral geometries, except the palladium complex, which adopted a square planar geometry. TGA was used to investigate the thermal characteristics of compo
... Show MoreObjective: To identify barriers to healthcare access, to assess the health literacy levels of the foreign-born Arabic speaking population in Iowa, USA and to measure their prevalence of seeking preventive healthcare services. Methods: A cross-sectional study of native Arabic speaking adults involved a focus group and an anonymous paper-based survey. The focus group and the Andersen Model were used to develop the survey questionnaire. The survey participants were customers at Arabic grocery stores, worshippers at the city mosque and patients at free University Clinic. Chi-square test was used to measure the relationship between the characteristics of survey participants and preventive healthcare services. Thematic analysis was
... Show More