Objective: The study aimed to 1) measure the prevalence of depression and anxiety among Iraqi pharmacy and medical students at a number of universities in Baghdad using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and 2) investigate the association between various sociodemographic factors and students’ HADS scores. Methods: This study was based on a cross-sectional descriptive design in four universities in Baghdad, Iraq. Depression and anxiety were screened using an Arabic version of the HADS. An online survey was administered via Qualtrics to convenience samples of students at four colleges of pharmacy and a college of medicine between March and June 2018. Multiple linear regression was used to identify factors associated with depression and anxiety symptoms among the participants. Results: The researchers received 750 usable surveys. The participating students spent more time browsing social media (6.64 hours/day) than studying (1.92 hours/day) and exercising (2.83 hours/week). Approximately forty-six percent (45.9%) of the participants had scores that indicated depression symptoms and one-quarter (24.8%) had scores that indicated depression borderline symptoms. More than one-half (52.1%) of the participants had scores that indicated anxiety symptoms, while 20.1% had scores that indicated anxiety borderline symptoms. According to the multiple linear regression analysis, more depression and anxiety symptoms were significantly (p-value <0.05) associated with higher study hours weekly and lower sleep hours at night, academic achievement, and colleagues and family social support during exams. Conclusions: Pharmacy and medical students may be vulnerable to depression and anxiety because of long study hours.. To reduce their levels of anxiety and depression, they may need more social support, more exercise, more sleep, less social media use and a lower academic workload.
Background: Ear infections can manifest in many forms depending on site of infection whether external, middle or internal ear and the culprit pathogen whether viral, bacterial or fungal. Acute middle ear infections are usually accompanied by aural discharge. Objective: 1. To get an overview on the bacterial pathogens involved in ear infections. 2. To assess the antibiotic resistance of bacterial pathogens. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted in Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital / Baghdad /Iraq. Swabs taken from 225 patients suffering from aural discharge were tested for culture and sensitivity for the duration of two years 2018-2019. Aural discharge is cultured by inoculating it into blood, MacConkey agar, chocolate agars and Sabou
... Show MoreObjectives: This study aims to determine the disease’s patterns and outcomes of admission among neonates hospitalized at the neonatal care unit in Erbil City, and using the findings as a baseline for neonate’s morbidity and mortality assessment in the future. Methodology: A retrospective study carried out at neonatal care unit of Raparin pediatric teaching hospital. An instrument for data collection developed by researcher included (age, gender, cause of admission, diagnosis and outcome upon discharge and causes of death). Content validity of the instrument was determined through the use of panel ex
A total of 54 out of 67 (80.59%) of burn wound swab showed growth of one, or two, or three bacterial pathogens. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the commonest pathogen, isolated in 48.14% of swab samples, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (31.48%), Staphylococcus aureus (27.77%), Acinetobacter baumanii (14.81%), Escherichia coli (7.40%), and Citrobacter freundii, Providencia stuartii, Enterobacter cloacae, with 1.85% isolation percentage for each. All bacterial isolates were tested against 19 antibiotics, and showed multi-drug resistance to 10 antibiotics, or more. The most effective antibiotics were the fifth-generation cephalosporin, ceftobiprole, and and antibiotic combinations, as Ceftazidime / clavulanic acid, and Cefoperazone /sulbactam, an
... Show MoreBackground; Neonatal period is a very vulnerable period of life due to many problems, In spite of advances in perinatal and neonatal care still, the mortality rate of neonate high especially in developing country The World Health Organization estimates that globally four million neonatal deaths per year, Developing countries account for around 99% of the neonatal mortality in the world, In Iraq. Neonatal mortality rate about 19 per 1000 live births which represent 56% of child death below 5 years age in 2012. .
Objectives The aims of the study were to determine the institutional new-born case fatality rate and the cause of admission and death in the neonatal care unit.
Method; Across-section study was carried out of the Neonatal Ca
Awsaj (Lycium barbarum) is a plant belong to family Solanaceae serves as a good source of bioactive compounds like phytosterols which have many important biological activity. Literature survey available so far revealed that there was no studies about Iraqi wild Awsaj phytosterols especially B-sitosterol, there for the objective of this study was to examine the efficiency of ultrasound assisted extraction (probe and bath) as compared to the conventional (Soxhlet) extraction method for extraction of phytosterols especially B-sitosterol from fruits, leaves, stems and roots of Iraqi wild Awsaj plant. This goal was achieved by comparing the extraction mass yield, also by a quick and easy approach for identification and quantification of bioac
... Show MoreBackground: Diabetes mellitus type 2 has been known for many years as the most common endocrine metabolic disorder that affect the oral cavity and cause many oral diseases including candidiasis. In this study, the incidence of Candida spp. in the saliva of controlled and uncontrolled diabetic patients were determined and compared with non diabetic group. Material and method: The sample consists of 200 subjects: 100 diabetic patients [57 (28.5%) uncontrolled diabetes, 43 (21.5%) controlled diabetes] and 100 (50%) non diabetic groups. Saliva samples was obtained from the subjects and cultured on selective media using appropriate microbiological method to observe the presence of Candida spp. Results: The results revealed a significant associat
... Show MoreBackground: Beta thalassemia major (β-TM) is an inheritable condition with many complications, especially in children. The blood-borne viral infection was proposed as a risk factor due to the recurrent blood transfusion regimen (hemotherapy) as human parvovirus B19 (B19V). Objective: This study investigated the B19V seroprevalence, DNA presence, B19V viral load, and B19V genotypes in β-TM patients and blood donors. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study incorporating 180 subjects, segregated into three distinct groups each of 60 patients, namely control, β-TM, and β-TM infected with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). For the B19V prevalence in the studied group, the ELISA technique and real-time PCR were used. The genotyping was follo
... Show MoreHepatitis B virus (HBV) remains one of the most pervasive viral threats worldwide, posing a significant risk to millions. Due to the absence of proofreading activity during reverse transcription, HBV exhibits a high genetic variability. To date, ten distinct HBV genotypes have been identified globally, associated with varying disease outcomes, including progression to cirrhosis and carcinoma, as well as responses to antivirals. Consequently, genotypic analysis and molecular characterization of HBV are critical for optimizing therapeutic strategies. This study aimed to investigate the distribution of HBV genotypes among Iraqi patients and to characterize their molecular profiles. Therefore, a modified protocol was used to improve seq
... Show MoreThe study aims to identify the degree of appreciation for the level of digital citizenship of a sample of Palestinian university students in the governorates of Gaza, and its relationship to the level of health awareness about the emerging coronavirus (covid-19). To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher followed a descriptive approach by applying two questionnaires; the first, which consists of 30 items, was used to measure the level of digital citizenship. The second, which consists of 19 items, was used to measure the level of health awareness. Both questionnaires were applied on a sample of 367 students who were electronically selected using the manner simple randomness. Results have shown that the degr
... Show More