Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive airflow limitation that is preventable but not curable. It is associated with persistent symptoms that cause a considerable burden on individual productivity at work, and daily activities, and reduced quality of life, also burdening the healthcare system and society. Objectives: The study aims to measure the burden of COPD on patients in terms of daily activities and work productivity. It also seeks to investigate some inflammatory biomarkers' levels and their correlation with selected outcomes. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study on 120 stable COPD patients who were diagnosed and treated according to the GOLD guidelines at Kirkuk General Hospital's chest and Internal Medicine consultation clinics, and in private internist clinics in Kirkuk City, Iraq between January and April 2023. The Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire (WPAI-COPD) measured the Burden of COPD. The symptom burden was assessed by the COPD assessment test (CAT). The level of IL-6 monoclonal antibodies was measured via a Roche Cobas 6000 analyzer and TNF-α using the ELISA sandwich technique. All these devices and machines were authorized by the Ministry of Health, Iraq. Results: The mean age was (54.1 ± 8.12) years, 62.5% being males and 37.5% being females; 41.7% were public sector employees, and 39.2% were self-employed. Due to COPD, the overall work loss was (45.9±18.91) days, the mean percentage of absenteeism was (10.9% ± 12.31%), activity impairment was (47.5% ±17.79%) among all patients, presenteeism was (40.8 ± 15.05%,) and COPD-related retirees were 14.2% of the study group. The mean CAT score (19.3±5.63) was high and the most troubling symptom among patients was chest tightness. WPAI-COPD scores were higher in older age and longer disease duration. The levels of biomarkers were above the reference ranges, the mean IL-6 level was (69.4 ± 35.29) pg/ml, and the mean TNF-α was (72.3 ± 22.45) pg/ ml. Conclusions: COPD patients exhibit a disease burden in terms of productivity loss at work and activity impairment that increases with aging and disease duration. COPD patients with low BMI are more prone to a decline in lung functions and to worse symptoms.
In Iraq 1.4 million of people have diabetes, the prevalence of T2DM was ranged (8.5%—13.9%), and the cluster of metabolic abnormalities has long been identified as the risk factors for type 2 diabetes and is now commonly described as metabolic syndrome/MetS. Insulin resistance takes a key role in the process of the MetS and has even been hypothesized as its underlying cause. Clinical and epidemiologic studies also indicate that obesity and life style habit might be correlated with IR. This study examined the relationship between IR and MetS in a sample of young, healthy university students in Iraq. It discovered that the severity of IR is positively correlated with the clustering of MetS risk factors in Iraqi students, suggesting
... Show MoreAbstract
The effect of physical and mental health on the feelings of personal welfare are known as health-related quality of life. Infection with hepatitis B virus is a major global health problem. Health-related quality of life was emerged as an important consideration in the care of patients with chronic hepatitis B infection. The aim of the current study was to measure health-related quality of life among a sample of chronic hepatitis B patients in AL-Najaf city/Iraq. The current study was cross-sectional study carried out on (104) already diagnosed chronic viral hepatitis B patients who attended the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Center/Al-Sader Medical City/Najaf during November 2018 to May
... Show MoreBreast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and remains one of the main reasons of cancer-related mortality in women worldwide. KRAS variant rs61764370 (T>G) is associated with an increased risk of occurrence of many cancers, Here The case-control study was accomplished on 135 women including 45 women with breast cancer patients, 45 women with benign breast lesions and 45 healthy women to analyze the association of KRAS variant rs (61764370 T>G) with breast cancer. LCS 6 variant in KRAS gene was amplified by using specific primers, then genotype was detected after sequencing the PCR products. The results showed that the genotype and allele frequency of TT and GT allele of KRAS
... Show MoreBackground: Pharmacists are essential in treating MS. Pharmacists' involvement and patient consultation may improve patient adherence and satisfaction. Aim: To evaluate the influence of pharmacist-led interventions (PLI) on medication adherence and satisfaction in patients with multiple sclerosis receiving disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). Methods: This study was conducted on patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis who were receiving DMTs and attended a neurological consultant clinic in the medical city of Baghdad. It was a pre-post-intervention study. Each patient underwent two educational sessions: the first session took place at the beginning of the study, after completing the Arabic version of the treatment satisfaction q
... Show MoreThis study is marked by: The ignorant poem and body language
Its main objective is to reveal the manifestations of this language in the text mentioned, and accordingly, the sieve poem has been read semantic (semantic) and hermeneutic, revealing the poet's ability to employ symbols and signals (body language) in the poem chosen for this purpose; The existence of such language in pre-Islamic poetry. After a long reflection and reading, the signs and symbols of the physical movement of the body, and its feminine and aesthetic manifestations were identified, and this was achieved through the use of modern critical methodologies that directly affect this language. The study consisted of an introduction and three topics, followed by t
Objective: Knee osteoarthritis is a common disabling chronic disease globally. Many pharmacological agents have been used efficiently in treatment of knee osteoarthritis. This study aims to evaluate metformin and serratiopeptidase together in treatment and stop of osteoarthritis progression by different mechanisms. Methods: Present study was a randomized clinical trial study conducted in Al-Kindi teaching hospital through the period from 1st January to 30th of May, 2017 on two groups of 80 osteoarthritis patients (group I; treated with metformin 850 mg oral tablets) and (group II; treated with metformin 850 mg oral tablets and serratiopeptidase 20 mg oral tablets). Parameters of two groups were compared with those of 40 normal healt
... Show MoreThe qualified subjects for this study included 33 patients with benign and malignant oral tumors aged 15-75 years and 31 matched age and gender healthy subjects used as control. Proteins measurements included total protein, albumin, globulines in sera and saliva samples, and immunoglobulins (IgG, IgM, IgA) in sera samples of control and patients. Meanwhile, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) was used to differentiate between protein patterns in both serum and saliva samples among the studied groups. The gel was also stained for glycoprotein to evaluate as well the changes in glycoprotein contents. For total protein, the results revealed a signifigant increase (P?0.01) in both samples (serum and saliva) of patient group. Albumin conce
... Show MoreJM Karhoot, AA Noaimi, WF Ahmad, The Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2012 - Cited by 7