Objective: This study goal was to screen participants from different settings in Baghdad for depression using Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scale and identify factors influencing the levels of depression. Methods: This cross-sectional study included a convenience sample of 313 people from four settings (teaching hospital, college of medicine, college of pharmacy, and high school) in Baghdad, Iraq. The participants were screened using paper survey relying on the BDI scale during spring 2018. Using multiple linear regression analysis, we measured the association between depression scores and six participant factors. Results: The overall prevalence of depression in our sample was 57.2%. Female participants had higher BDI scores (depression symptoms) than male participants. Among those with depression, the majority (73.7%) had mild or moderate degree of depression. In terms of the cut-off scores, 42.8 % scored in the normal range, 20.4 % in the mild range, 7.0 % in the borderline range, 14.7 % in the moderate range, 10.5 % in the severe range and 4.5 % in the very severe range depression. Approximately 63% of the participants had sort of suicidal thoughts. The regression analysis showed significant (P-value < 0.05) association between having higher scores of depression symptoms and the presence of chronic disease(s), recent family loss, young age and female gender. Conclusions: In our findings, depression was quite prevalent among people in Iraq. The study demonstrates the importance of broad screening and social/psychiatric counseling of young population. Iraqi healthcare professionals should structure specific actions for patients with chronic diseases to minimize their depression symptoms. Article Type: Orignal Research
In this paper, we designed a new efficient stream cipher cryptosystem that depend on a chaotic map to encrypt (decrypt) different types of digital images. The designed encryption system passed all basic efficiency criteria (like Randomness, MSE, PSNR, Histogram Analysis, and Key Space) that were applied to the key extracted from the random generator as well as to the digital images after completing the encryption process.
Many strains of lactic bacteria produce antimicrobial peptides of bacteriocins that are antibiotics used against pathogenic strains. The present work aimed to use a banana peels medium in the fermentation process to replace the commercial MRS medium for decreasing the cost of bacteriocins LAB production. Based on the result, banana peel was a cost-effective and viable alternative carbon source for the production and development of bacteriocin-producing Lactobacilli. The growth of lactobacilli in commercial MRS medium and Banana Peel medium showed no differences, therefore banana peel waste can be used to produce Lactobacilli bacteriocins. Lactobacillus strains grew exceptionally well at 37 C and pH 6.0.
In this paper, An application of non-additive measures for re-evaluating the degree of importance of some student failure reasons has been discussed. We apply non-additive fuzzy integral model (Sugeno, Shilkret and Choquet) integrals for some expected factors which effect student examination performance for different students' cases.
Gypseous soils represented one of the most complex salty soils that faced the geotechnical engineers. Structures that built on gypsum soil will undergo unexpected distortions that will eventually contribute to catastrophic failure. The purpose of this article is to understand the durability of gypsum soil against wetting drying cycles after improvement with polyurethane polymer especially investigate the effect of the wetting-drying cycle on collapsibility. The soil was brought from Sawa lake in AL-Muthanna Governorate in Iraq, with gypsum content 65.5%, A set of Odometer tests were performed to determine the collapsibility potential (CP) for treated and untreated gypsum soil. The result shows that adding a different per
... Show MoreThe development of analytical techniques is required for the accurate and comprehensive detection and measurement of antibiotic contamination in the environment. Metronidazole is a common antibacterial, antiprotozoal, and antibiotic drug. Thiamine is a vital biological and medicinal ingredient that is involved in the metabolism of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates that produce energy. The study aims to identify the drugs in a mixture without separation to provide more information to confirm if a drug is present in a combination. Metronidazole and thiamine are two examples of pharmaceutical and environmental samples that can be identified using spectrophotometric techniques because of their low cost and simplicity of use. The operati
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