Introduction: Although it is discouraged, community pharmacy customers can obtain oral corticosteroids (OCSs) without prescriptions from some community pharmacies in Iraq. Medication abuse is defined as the use of medication for non-medical reasons. Objectives: The study aimed to determine demographics, beliefs, and perceptions associated with the abuse of oral corticosteroids for non-illness reasons among community pharmacy customers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in fall 2018 in four provinces in Iraq. Customers of 19 community pharmacies asking for OCSs for themselves without a prescription were administered a paper survey. This study used the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to measure the relation

Background: Oral mucositis is regarded as one of the major complications of radiation therapy especially in patients with head and neck cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of glutamine in preventing or minimizing the development of mucositis of the oral cavity. Subjects and methods: Forty-six participants were randomly selected amongst those who were planned to receive radiation therapy for head and neck region cancers. They were randomly divided into two groups of 23 subjects, one group received glutamine and the second group received a placebo. Results: Glutamine had a statistically significant effect in reducing the occurrence and/or severity of oral mucositis in the treated patients compared to patients in the con

In this work an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique has been used for detection of some inflammatory markers in serum of acute coronary syndrome (ACS)-Patients Admitted to the cardiac care unit (CCU) of Iraqi Centre For Heart Diseases and Ibn AlNafees Teaching Hospital. The present method includes quantitative measurement of interleukine-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP), as their increase during symptoms may be responsible for identifying the mechanism of myocardial damag, in addition to their best performance than other quantitative tests perhaps due to their association with atherosclerotic process that belongs to the endothelial dysfunction. Aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence and correlation of IL-6 w

This study uses the optical emission spectroscopy (OES) technique to find the lead(Pb) and sulfur (S) plasma parameters employing a pulse of Nd: YAG laser (Q-switched 1064nm wavelength) and different laser energies of (400,500,600 and 700 mJ). The electron temperature T_e (eV) is calculated using the Boltzmann-Plot method, and the electron density n_e (cm^-3)is determined by the Stark broadened way. Moreover, Debye length λ_D (cm) and plasma frequency ω_p (Hz) are studied as a function of laser energy. An apparent increase was noted in the electron temperature of lead plasma and a decrease in sulfur plasma. The results also showed that each increase in the laser intensity causes an incr

   Nonlinear regression models are important tools for solving optimization problems. As traditional techniques would fail to reach satisfactory solutions for the parameter estimation problem.  Hence, in this paper, the BAT algorithm  to estimate the parameters of  Nonlinear Regression models is used . The simulation study is considered to investigate the performance of the proposed algorithm with the maximum likelihood (MLE) and Least square (LS) methods. The results show that the Bat algorithm provides accurate estimation and it is satisfactory for the parameter estimation of the nonlinear regression models than MLE and LS methods depend on Mean Square error.

In this paper, Bayes estimators for the shape and scale parameters of Gamma distribution under the Entropy loss function have been obtained, assuming Gamma and Exponential priors for the shape and scale parameters respectively. Moment, Maximum likelihood estimators and Lindley’s approximation have been used effectively in Bayesian estimation. Based on Monte Carlo simulation method, those estimators are compared depending on the mean squared errors (MSE’s). The results show that, the performance of the Bayes estimator under Entropy loss function is better than other estimates in all cases.   

The characterization of ZnO and ZnO:In thin films were confirmed by spray pyrolysis technique. The films were deposited onto glass substrate at a temperature of 450°C. Optical absorption measurements were also studied by UV-VIS technique in the wavelength range 300-900 nm which was used to calculate the optical constants. The changes in dispersion and Urbach parameters were investigated as a function of In content. The optical energy gap was decreased and the wide band tails were increased in width from 616 to 844 eV as the In content increased from 0wt.% to 3wt.%. The single–oscillator parameters were determined also the change in dispersion was investigated before and after doping.

      In this work, the effect of laser energy on the properties of a calcium plasma generated by a Q-switched Nd: YAG laser at the fundamental wavelength was studied using spectroscopy. The Boltzmann plot and Stark broadening method were used to measure the main plasma parameters (electron temperature and electron density). The electron temperature ranged ( 0.169 -0.172 ) eV, the electron density ranged ( 2.10 – 2.63 ) for laser energy range of ( 400 – 700) mJ. Other basic plasma properties were also measured, including the Debye length, the number of particles in the Debye sphere, and the plasma frequency. Laser energy affects all plasma parameters, according to our results.

      This study aims to classify the critical points of functions with 4 variables and 8 parameters, we found the caustic for the certain function with the spreading of the critical points. Finally, as an application, we found the bifurcation solutions for the equation of sixth order with boundary conditions using the Lyapunov-Schmidt method in the variational case.