Background: Despite the importance of vaccines in preventing COVID-19, the willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines is lower among RA patients than in the general population. Objective: To determine the extent of COVID-19 knowledge among RA patients and their attitudes and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: A qualitative study with a phenomenology approach was performed through face-to-face, individual-based, semi-structured interviews in the Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, rheumatology unit. A convenient sample of RA patients using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs was included until the point of saturation. A thematic content analysis approach was used to analyze the obtained data. Results: Twenty-five RA pa
... Show MoreThe present study was performed on 80 female subjects between (30-60) years, who attended the Specialized Center for Endocrinology and Diabetes during the period from April to July; 2011. The subjects were divided into 3 groups : controls , non diabetic autoimmune thyroid patients , and non diabetic autoimmune thyroid patient with renal diseases as complication The results showed a significant increase in serum T 3 T4 levels in hyperthyroidism patients, and significant decrease in serum T3,T4 levels in hypothyroidism patients ,while a significant difference in serum TSH levels in hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism patients when compared to control group The results show also a significant increase in serum antibodies to thyroid peroxidas
... Show MoreBreast cancer is the most common cancer among women over the world. To reducing reoccurrence and mortality rates, adjuvant hormonal therapy (AHT) is used for a long period. The major barrier to the effectiveness of the treatment is adherence. Adherence to medicines among patients is challenging. Patient beliefs in medications can be positively or negatively correlated to adherence. Objectives: To investigate the extent of adherence and factors affecting adherence, as well as to investigate the association between beliefs and adherence in women with breast cancer taking AHT. Method: A cross-sectional study included 124 Iraqi women with breast cancer recruited from Middle Euphrates
... Show MoreThis is the first record of a new species of cyanobacteria Westiellopsis akinetica in the Iraqi environment, Samples were collected on June 2013 and the existence of it was not documented before. We isolated and purified this species ten years ago in Iraq, but we couldn't identify accurately based on all taxonomic handbooks. This is due to the species features being different from the other documented species in the available taxonomic lectures. It resembled many species by morphological characteristics such as Fischerella muscicola, Fischerella thermalis, Westiellopsis biateralis SA16. Westiellopsis interrupta, Westiellopsis persica SA33, Westiellopsis prolifica and Symphyonema bifilamentata. Describing a new species of the Westiellops
... Show MoreIntroduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death among type 2 diabetic patients. Higher levels of plasminogen activator urokinase receptor have been found to predict morbidity and mortality across acute and chronic diseases in the common populace. This study aims to explore the role of serum plasminogen activator urokinase receptor levels as a cardiometabolic risk factor among type 2 diabetic Iraqi patients. Methods: Seventy type 2 diabetic patients (40 male and 30 female) (mean age: 46.20±7.56 years) participated in this study; 35 patients were with cardiovascular disease and 35 were without cardiovascular disease; their ages range was 40-55 years. In addition, 30 individuals who apparently healthy were selected a
... Show MoreThis research deals with the study of top soil electrical conductive regions located within Baghdad City. The research included measuring the dissolved soil material extraction Electrical Conductivity (EC) with an aqueous solution for the top (0-30 cm) soil layer of the study area. As the electrical conductivity values increase by increasing the amount of dissolved salts in principle, we can consider that the aim of this research is to predict the amount and distribution of (soil contamination with salts) which is represented by the (Salt Index), this factor calculated for each soil representative sample taken from the region with a depth of (30 cm). Laboratory (EC) test values measured by the use of solutions (EC) digital meter for the ex
... Show MoreA three-stage learning algorithm for deep multilayer perceptron (DMLP) with effective weight initialisation based on sparse auto-encoder is proposed in this paper, which aims to overcome difficulties in training deep neural networks with limited training data in high-dimensional feature space. At the first stage, unsupervised learning is adopted using sparse auto-encoder to obtain the initial weights of the feature extraction layers of the DMLP. At the second stage, error back-propagation is used to train the DMLP by fixing the weights obtained at the first stage for its feature extraction layers. At the third stage, all the weights of the DMLP obtained at the second stage are refined by error back-propagation. Network structures an
... Show MoreAn attempt was made to evaluate the PV performance of one-axis daily tracking and fixed system for Baghdad, Iraq. Two experimental simulations were conducted on a PV module for that purpose. Measurements included incident solar radiation, load voltage and load current. The first experiment was carried out for six months of winter half of year to simulate the one-axis daily tracking. The azimuth angle was due south while the tilt angle was being set to optimum according to each day of simulation. The second experiment was done at one day to simulate the PV module of fixed angles. It is found that there is a significant power gain of 29.6% for the tracking system in respect to the fixed one. The one-axis daily tracking was much more effect
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