Background: Practicing self-medication is common and a worrisome issue because of irrational drug use. This study aimed to evaluate self-medication knowledge and views among the final year pharmacy students in Iraq. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from December 2018 to January 2019. A pre-validated and self-administered questionnaire was recruited to survey pharmacy students at the University of Baghdad and Al-Rafedain University College. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20 (SPSS v. 20) software used to save and analyze the data. Results expressed as numbers and percentages. Results: A total of 344 students (response rate: 94.24%) with a mean age of 22.10 years included in this study. Most of them were female (61.60%). Self-medication was high in the past year (84.88%), and most of them (86.04%) got their medications from pharmacies. About (62.79%) of students used antibiotics as self-medication for a few days, although a significant number were aware of bacterial resistance. The main reasons to self-medicate were quick relief desired, convenience, and avoiding waiting at clinics. The reasons against it were a misdiagnosis, adverse effects' risk, and wrong medication use. Doctor visits sought necessary in cases of worsening symptoms, severe pain, and serious problems. Headache, cough, and diarrhea were the most frequent indications. Conclusion: The self-medication prevalence is high; the knowledge is moderate, and the views about the self-medication concept are generally appropriate.
Weed control with chemicals is a challenging process that should be performed in a rational way to reduce their negative impact on the surrounding environment. The growth of artificial intelligence algorithms encourages researchers to develop smart spraying robots that detect and spray weeds and distinguish them from the main crop which leads to sustainable use of these chemicals and achieves some of the sustainable development goals. However, few studies are available to comprehensively compare different versions of YOLO algorithm to detect weed. In this research, seven versions of YOLO algorithms were evaluated for their performance to detect and spray four t
<p>The demand for internet applications has increased rapidly. Providing quality of service (QoS) requirements for varied internet application is a challenging task. One important factor that is significantly affected on the QoS service is the transport layer. The transport layer provides end-to-end data transmission across a network. Currently, the most common transport protocols used by internet application are TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol). Also, there are recent transport protocols such as DCCP (data congestion control protocol), SCTP (stream congestion transmission protocol), and TFRC (TCP-friendly rate control), which are in the standardization process of Internet Engineering Task
... Show MoreIn this research work, a simulator with time-domain visualizers and configurable parameters using a continuous time simulation approach with Matlab R2019a is presented for modeling and investigating the performance of optical fiber and free-space quantum channels as a part of a generic quantum key distribution system simulator. The modeled optical fiber quantum channel is characterized with a maximum allowable distance of 150 km with 0.2 dB/km at =1550nm. While, at =900nm and =830nm the attenuation values are 2 dB/km and 3 dB/km respectively. The modeled free space quantum channel is characterized at 0.1 dB/km at =860 nm with maximum allowable distance of 150 km also. The simulator was investigated in terms of the execution of the BB84 p
... Show MoreThermomechanical analysis (TMA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) are used to investigate the effect of molding and annealing of polyester on the behavior of thermal expansion and crystallization since these factors play role in the reprocessing or recycling of the polymer. The dynamic mode of the TMA provides enhanced characterization information about the polyester since it separates the transitions into reversible and irreversible signals, and also reveals the progress of the amorphous regions as the polyester loses strength with the increasing temperature approaching melting. Slow cooling after annealing brings crystallization that may be attributed to molecular chain straightening due to orientation.
Background: Bacteriocin is a peptidic toxin has many advantages to bacteria in their ecological niche and has strong antibacterial activity. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluation of bacteriocin using Streptococcus sanguinis isolated from human dental caries.
Subjects and Methods: Thirty five streptococcus isolates were diagnosed and tested for their production of bacteriocin, and then the optimal conditions for production of bacteriocin were determined. After that, the purification of bacteriocin was made partially by ammonium sulfate at 95% saturation levels, followed by and gel filtration chromatography
... Show MoreBackground: low back pain is one of the most common public health problems and of the most common musculoskeletal complaint. Many risk factors have been considered for developing low back pain include smoking, obesity and sedentary lifestyle.
Aim of study: To evaluate smoking, obesity, and sedentary lifestyle associations with low back pain in young adults aged (18 – 39 years).
Methods: a comparative cross sectional study for young adults aged 18 – 39 years, participants with low back pain as a symptom constitutes the first group, others free of this symptom considered as the control group. Age and gender matched in both groups. Smoking, obesity and sedentary life sty
... Show MorePolymeric microsphere devices occupy a wide range in the field of controlled drug delivery. Subcutaneous injectable preparations of Poly(Lactide-co-Glycolide) (PLGA) microsphere of Daptomycine were prepared by solvent extraction/evaporation technique using different copolymers ratio and molecular weights. Four formulations were prepared (F1-F4) and characterized in term of particle size, surface morphology, bulk density and porosity in addition to the drug content. The effects of the above parameters on the in-vitro release study were evaluated. These formulas were evaluated also for their in-vivo release profile using rat (as an animal model) and
... Show MoreThe study aims to reveal the degree of application of the alternative evaluation strategy in social studies in public education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also aims to identify the opinions of experts on how to implement this. The study adopted the mixed methodology, which represented in the descriptive-analytical method, and qualitative methods through the grounded theory. The study used two tools namely: a questionnaire for assessments of social studies teachers and semi-structured interview questions. The results of the study showed a medium degree of appreciation for the application of alternative evaluation strategies by social studies teachers in general education with an average of (2.28). The results also showed that ther
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