The use of antibiotics without prescription (self-medication) is growing globally and is associated with increased bacterial resistance, ineffective treatment and adverse reactions. This study aimed at assessing the practice of antibiotic self-medication in the Iraqi population. A cross-sectional study design was adopted in this work. The sample was comprised of 303 staff members from the non-medical colleges in Iraq. An online questionnaire was distributed between the 29th of June to the 14th of September 2021 to collect data including socio-demographic characteristics and questions about antibiotic self-medication. Most of the participants had a university degree and a moderate monthly income. The majority (88%) have practiced self-medication at least once before. A “simple” condition and convenience were the main motivators behind self-medication, which was mainly used for sore throat, fever and cough. Own experience was the most reported determining factor for selecting an antibiotic, and community pharmacies were the main source for obtaining the antibiotics. About 40% of the participants admitted to switching the antibiotic or changing its dose during the treatment course. Self-medication with antibiotics is a major issue in our community and measures have to be taken to reduce its impact on public health through the development of bacterial resistance.
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the effect of Na2[Fe(CN)5.NO].2H2O impurity (0.1 M) concentration on the dielectrical properties of poly (P-Aminobenzaldehyde) terminated by pheneylenediamine in the frequency and temperature ranges (1-100)KHz and (283-348) K respectively.These properties include dissipation factor, series and parallel resistance, series and parallel capacitance, real and imaginary part of the dielectric constant, a.c conductivity and impedance (real and imaginary) part, that have been deduced from equivalent circuit. The investigation shows that adding Na2[Fe(CN)5.NO].2H2O as additive to the polymer lead to increase of the dielectric constant with increasing temperature and it is decreasing with increasing the freq
... Show MoreThis work aims to detect the associations of C-peptide and the homeostasis model assessment of beta-cells function (HOMA2-B%) with inflammatory biomarkers in pregnant-women in comparison with non-pregnant women. Sera of 28 normal pregnant women at late pregnancy versus 27 matched age non-pregnant women (control), were used to estimate C-peptide, triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxin (T4) by Enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA), fasting blood sugar (FBS) by automatic analyzer Biolis 24i, hematology-tests by hematology analyzer and the calculation of HOMA2-B% and homeostasis model assessment of insulin sensitivity (HOMA2-S%) by using C-peptide values instead of insulin. The comparisons, correlations, regression analysis tests were perfo
... Show MoreThe emergent bacterial resistance to antibiotics, most especially Carbapenems, has become a common phenomenon. The aim of the recent study was the observation and evaluation of the antibacterial susceptibility of Klebsiella pneumoniae in clinical specimens to different Carbapenems. One hundred isolates of K. pneumoniae isolated from different clinical sites, such as leg, caesarean section (CS), head, buttock, breast, thigh, and arm were tested. Using disc diffusion method, the isolates were tested for susceptibility to different antibiotics including Tobramycin, Ciprofloxacin, Aztreonam, Colistin sulphate, Ceftriaxone, Cefepime, Cefoxitin, Ceftazidime, Ertapenem, Meropenem, and Imipenem. The results were interpreted acc
... Show MoreThe sintering behavior of Alumina was investigated by adding TiO2. The addition of TiO2 lowered the sintering temperature of the Alumina compared with those of pure Alumina. The result suggests that TiO2 acts as an activator for sintering of Alumina. Water absorption, apparent porosity and density were examined for both pure and TiO2 added to Alumina samples. The variations of sintering behavior were discussed in terms of shrinkage, porosity, water absorption and density. Thermal shock resistance was also examined. In term of this work, the way of improving the thermal shock resistance in oxide- based materials by adding reactive Titania powder to the Alumina samples. The laboratory results showed an improvement in thermal shock resistance
... Show MoreBackground: In recent years, the multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli has increased in urinary tract infections (UTIs). One of the highly distributed chromosomally encoded traits of resistance is efflux pump. The current study aimed to investigate the most common members of 5 classes of efflux pumps among uropathogenic E. coil isolates.
Methodology: E. coli isolates were isolated using conventional bacteriology tests and confirmed by the uidA gene. An antibiotic susceptibility test has been done against 25 antibiotics using disc diffusion method. Efflux pump genes have been examined via polymerase chain reaction. Biofilm formation was investigated by a
... Show MoreThe influence and hazard of fire flame are one of the most important parameters that affecting the durability and strength of structural members. This research studied the influence of fire flame on the behavior of reinforced concrete beams affected by repeated load. Nine self- compacted reinforced concrete beams were castellated, all have the same geometric layout (0.15x0.15x1.00) m, reinforcement details and compressive strength (50 Mpa). To estimate the effect of fire flame disaster, four temperatures were adopted (200, 300, 400 and 500) oC and two method of cooling were used (graduated and sudden). In the first cooling method, graduated, the tested beams were leaved to cool in air while in the second method, sudden, water splash was use
... Show MoreIn this study, titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles incorporated with cement were synthesis by a simple casting method as a function concentration of TiO2 (0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1, and 2 wt%). The prepared samples were characterized using the technique of Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and UV-Visible spectrophotometer, which was used to measure the adsorption spectra. The observed photocatalytic efficiency of TiO2 nanoparticles (NP) incorporated with cement was investigated by decomposing the dye methyl blue (MB) solution under sunlight irradiation. According to the slope, the value of the k constant at the best sample is 0.8wt%, k=0.8265 min-1. FESEM image of the TiO2
... Show MoreThe study hypothesize that the majority of Arab countries show a poor agricultural economic efficiency which resulted in a weak productive capacity of wheat in the face of the demand, which in turn led to the fluctuation of the rate of self-sufficiency and thus increase the size of the food gap. The study aims at estimating and analyzing the food security indicators for their importance in shaping the Arabic agricultural policy, which aims to achieve food security through domestic production and reduce the import of food to less possible extent. Some of the most important results reached by the study were that the increase in the amount of consumption of wheat in the countries of t
... Show MoreThe effect of the concentration of the colloidal nanomaterial on their optical limiting behavior is reported in this paper. The colloids of sliver nanoparticles in deionized water were chemically prepared for the two concentrations (31 ppm and 11ppm). Two cw lasers (473 nm Blue DPSS laser and 532 nm Nd:YAG laser) are used to compare the optical limiting performance for the samples. UV–visible spectrophotometer, transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) were used to obtain the characteristics of the sample. The nonlinear refractive index was calculated to be in the order of 10-9 cm2/W. The results demonstrate that the observed limiting response is significant for 532nm. In addition, t
... Show MoreExperimental research was carried out to investigate the effect of fire flame (high temperature) on specimens of short columns manufactured using SCC (Self compacted concrete). To simulate the real practical fire disasters, the specimens were exposed to high
temperature flame, using furnace manufactured for this purpose. The column specimens were cooled in two ways. In the first the specimens were left in the air and suddenly cooled using water, after that the specimens were loaded to study the effect of degree of
temperature, steel reinforcement ratio and cooling rate, on the load carrying capacity of the reinforced concrete column specimens. The results will be compared with behaviour of columns without burning (control specime