Background: Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has enormously affected various healthcare services including the one of community pharmacy. The ramifications of these effects on Iraqi community pharmacies and the measures they have taken to tackle the spread of COVID-19  is yet to be explored. In this cross sectional survey, infection control measures by community pharmacies in Sulaimani city/Iraq has been investigated.        

Methods: Community pharmacists were randomly allocated  to participate in a cross-sectional survey via visiting their pharmacies and filling up the questionnaire form.

Results and discussion:

The design, synthesis, and characterization of a star shaped 2,4,6-tris-(4`-carboxyphenoxy)-1,3,5-triazine liquid crystalline with columnar discotic mesophase properties establish H-bond interactions with 3,5-dialkoxypyidine were reported. The structures of the synthesized compounds were actually determined by elementary analysis, and FT-IR, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR, and mass spectroscopy. The mesomorphic properties of these mesogens were examined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical polarizing microscopy (OPM). The synthesized molecules exhibited enantiotropic hexagonal columnar liquid crystal, which depends for the H- bond complex in a 1:3 ratio.

Fabrication of porous clay refractory insulating specimens from Iraqi kaolin with different percentage of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) waste crumbs additions were investigated. After mixing and forming by hand molding, the specimens was dried and fired at 1300 oC. The structural, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the refractory insulating products were measured. Maximum addition of EPS (1.25 wt%) lead to reduce the linear shrinkage to less than 1.7% and increased apparent porosity up to 50 %. As well as, the density, Modulus of rupture and thermal conductivity were reduced to 1.39 g/cm3, 4.1 MPa and 0.21 W/m.K, respectively. The final outcome, addition of EPS showed good results in the formation of pores without distorting the

Ketoprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drug with analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic effects. It is widely used in the treatment of inflammation and pain associated with rheumatic disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and in soft tissue injury. The purpose of this study was to prepare an  oral disintegrating tablets of ketoprofen by simple method. The tablets were prepared by direct compression method and different ratios of various subliming agents or superdisintegrants were incorporated. Then these tablets were evaluated for hardness, friability, weight variation, water absorption ratio, disintegrating time and dissolution time. The results showed that Formula F11 batch had short disint

Due to the deliberate disposal of industrial waste, a great amount of petroleum hydrocarbons pollute the soil and aquatic environments. Bioremediation that depends on the microorganisms in the removal of pollutants is more efficient and cost-effective technology. In this study, five rhizobacteria were isolated from Phragmites australis roots and exposed to real wastewater from Al-Daura refinery with 70 mg/L total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) concentration. The five selected rhizobacteria were examined in a biodegradation test for seven days to remove TPH. The results showed that 80% TPH degradation as the maximum value by Sphingomonas Paucimobilis as identified with Vitek® 2 Compact (France).

The present study aims to evaluate the biosorption of reactive orange dye by using garden grass. Experiments were carried out in a batch reactor to obtain equilibrium and thermodynamic data. Experimental parameters affecting the biosorption process such as pH, shaking time, initial dye concentrations, and temperature were thoroughly examined. The optimum pH for removal was found to be 4. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis indicated that the electronegative groups on the surface of garden grass were the major groups responsible for the biosorption process. Four sorption isotherm models were employed to analyze the experimental data of which Temkin and Pyzhey model was found to be most suitable one. The maxim

Indium oxide In2O3 thin films fabricated using thermal evaporation of indium metal in vacuum on a glass substrate at 25oC using array mask, after deposition the indium films have been subjected to thermal oxidation at temperature 400 °C for 1h. The results of prepared Indium oxide reveal the oxidation method as a strong effect on the morphology and optical properties of the samples as fabricated. The band gap (Eg) of In2O3 films at 400 °C is 2.7 eV. Then, SEM and XRD measurements are also used to investigate the morphology and structure of the indium oxide In2O3 thin films. The antimicrobial activity of indium oxide In2O3 thin films was assessed against gram-negative bacterium using inhibition zone of bacteria which improved higher ina

In this work, the copper metal was treated using Nd:YAG laser with energy 1Joul to enhance corrosion resistance and improve surface properties. The copper metal has many applications in industry as well as water, oil and gas pipes. The same conditions, (laser power density, scan speed, distance between paths, medium gas-air) were applied in the laser surface treatment, After laser treatment, the samples microstructures were investigated using optical microscope (OM) to examine micro structural changes due to laser irradiation. Specimen surfaces were investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), macro hardness, and corrosion test before and after laser treatment to

Ultrasound has been used as a diagnostic modality for many intraocular diseases, due its safety, low cost, real time and wide availability. Unfortunately, ultrasound images suffer from speckle artifact that are tissue dependent. In this work, we will offer a method to reduce speckle noise and improve ultrasound image to raise the human diagnostic performance. This method combined undecimated wavelet transform with a wavelet coefficient mapping function: where UDWT used to eliminate the noise and a wavelet coefficient mapping function used to enhance the contrast of denoised images obtained from the first component. This methods can be used not only as a means for improving visual quality of medical images but also as a preprocessing