Objective: To identify barriers to healthcare access, to assess the health literacy levels of the foreign-born Arabic speaking population in Iowa, USA and to measure their prevalence of seeking preventive healthcare services. Methods: A cross-sectional study of native Arabic speaking adults involved a focus group and an anonymous paper-based survey. The focus group and the Andersen Model were used to develop the survey questionnaire. The survey participants were customers at Arabic grocery stores, worshippers at the city mosque and patients at free University Clinic. Chi-square test was used to measure the relationship between the characteristics of survey participants and preventive healthcare services. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the focus group transcript. Results: We received 196 completed surveys. Only half of the participants were considered to have good health literacy. More than one-third of the participants had no health insurance and less than half of them visit clinics regularly for preventive measures. Two participant enabling factors (health insurance and residency years) and one need factor (having chronic disease(s)) were found to significantly influence preventive physician visits. Conclusions: This theory-based study provides a tool that can be used in different Western countries where Arabic minority lives. Both the survey and the focus group agreed that lacking health insurance is the main barrier facing their access to healthcare services. The availability of an interpreter in the hospital is essential to help those with inadequate health literacy, particularly new arriving individuals. More free healthcare settings are needed in the county to take care of the increasing number of uninsured Arabic speaking patients.
Background: This study evaluate the immunohistochemical expression profile of transforming growth factor beta-1 in inflamed gingival tissue of patients with gingivitis and chronic periodontitis compared to healthy subjects and, determine the correlation between this cytokine and the clinical periodontal parameters, intensity of inflammation and chronic periodontitis severity. Materials and methods: Gingival tissue specimens were taken from 23 chronic periodontitis patients, 20 gingivitis patients and 20 periodontally healthy subjects. The periodontal status was evaluated by dichotomous measurements of the clinical periodontal parameters (PLI, GI, BOP, PPD, CAL). The gingival specimens were fixed immediately in 10% formalin and processed ro
... Show MoreWe have investigated twenty five patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus aged (35-60) years and fifteen healthy persons as control group to detect Anti-Helicobacter pylori IgG antibody. All studied groups were carried out to measure fasting blood sugar, anti- Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), anti-? islets cells antibody by IFAT, Anti-H. pylori IgG antibody by ELISA technique. There was significant elevation in the concentration of fasting blood sugar than in control group (P < 0.05), the patients had negative results for anti-GAD antibody and anti- ? islets cells antibody, there were significant differences (P < 0.05) of anti-H. pylori IgG antibody in 28 % of patients had type-2 diabetes than control group. This lead to suggestion that typ
... Show More<p><strong>Objective: </strong>The aim of our study was to compare between flavonoids and phenolic acids contents of leaves and fruits of <em>Melia azedarach</em> since no phytochemical investigation had done previously in Iraq.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The leaves and fruits of <em>Melia azedarach </em>were extracted by soxhlet using 80% ethanol then the dried extract was suspended in water and fractionated using petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. The n-butanol fraction was hydrolyzed by acid and partitioned with ethyl acetate. The different fractions containing flavonoids and phenolic acids were analyzed by HPLC and HPTLC.</p><
... Show MoreThe clinical spectrum of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), an intracellular parasitic pathogen, ranges from a single sore healing to chronic crusty lesions with a manifestation of treatment resistance. The complicated interaction between Leishmania bodies and the early immune response, including innate and adaptive mechanisms, determines the evolution of nodules. This study examined the levels of the chemoattractant interleukin 8 (IL-8), pro-inflammatory nitric oxide (NO), and immunoregulatory macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF) in the serum of subjects recently diagnosed with cutaneous leishmaniasis, in parallel with patients being monitored during consecutive sodium stibogluconate (Pentostam) treatment. A total of 161 serum samples of newly di
... Show MoreThis study tries to clear the correlation and association between asthma, obesity and leptin levels. Also it will work to indicate the main risk factors which play role in the elevation of leptin level within asthmatic patients. This is a case control study conducted on (38) asthmatic patients and (20) healthy control who were closely similar by age, gender and BMI. The main statistical tests used were student t test, linear regression test and correlation test. Significance was set at P < 0.05. Sampling method used for this study was convenience sampling method. The main results of this study show a significant association and positive correlation between age (old age ≥ 40 ye
... Show MoreThe goal of the current study was to investigate the effects of curcumin in both formulas (supplement and standard), zinc, and then use them together to show their effect on the levels of glucose, insulin, insulin resistance (IR), and anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) in the model of female rats with induced polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) using 1mg/kg/day of letrozole for 21 days followed by a treatment period of 14 days including different treatments of zinc 30 mg/kg, curcumin standard 200 mg/kg, curcumin supplement 200 mg/kg, (curcumin standard plus zinc), (curcumin Supplement plus zinc) and metformin as a standard treatment. After the treatment, all female rats were sacrificed, and blood samples were collected from the inferior vena cava
... Show MoreObjectives: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effect of plasma treatment versus conventional treatment on the micro shear bond strength (μSBS), surface roughness, and wettability of three different CAD/CAM materials. Materials and methods: Sixty cylindrical specimens (5 mm diameter ×3 mm height) were prepared from three different CAD/CAM materials: Group A: Zirconia, Group B: Lithium disilicate, and Group C: Resin nano-ceramic. Each group was subdivided into two subgroups according to surface treatment used: Subgroup I: Conventional treatment, zirconia was sandblasted with Al2O3, while lithium disilicate and resin nano-ceramic were etched with hydrofluoric acid. Subgroup II: Plasma treatment, the surface of each material was tr
... Show MoreThis study aims to identify the impact of using the infrastructure of the Information Technology (IT) on the performance of human resources in the public universities. This process is done by doing research in the size, quality, and efficiency of the performance, also speed of achievement and simplification of procedures. Diyala University was chosen for the diagnosis through the opinions and attitudes of its employees. Consequently, suggestions that contribute to improve the performance of the employees and thus its overall performance are obtained. Another objective of this study is identifying the human resources which are currently used in academic institutions and educational services systems because the significant role of th
... Show MoreThe research aims to know the impact of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education on both creative thinking and mathematical achievement. To achieve it, the two researchers followed the quasi-experimental approach with an experimental design for two groups, one experimental and the other a control. The research sample consisted of (32) female students from the fourth scientific grade in Al-Intisar Preparatory School for Girls/ AlRasafa, First Directorate. The sample was chosen intentionally and was divided into two groups: a control group studying by the traditional method, their number (16), and an experimental group that applied the STEM approach, their number also (16). There was parity between the two research groups i
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