Background: Oral anticoagulation medication, warfarin and non-vitamin k antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOAC) may require long term use which may affect patients’ satisfaction with their treatment and their quality of life (QOL). Objective: To compare the quality of life and treatment satisfaction among groups of patients using different anticoagulant therapies (warfarin and NOAC). Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed at Ibn Al-Bitar Hospital for cardiac surgery in Baghdad in the period between December 2022 to May 2023. The study population included a convenient sample of patients receiving either warfarin or non-vitamin k antagonist oral anticoagulants treatment. The Arabic version of the short form 12 (SF-12) questionnaire and the Anti-Coagulant Treatment Satisfaction Scale (ACTS) questionnaire were used to assess the quality of life and satisfaction with treatment respectively. Results: The study included 181 patients in total. The mean physical and mental quality of life scores for study participants were 42.3±9.92 and 52.6±10.36 respectively. There was no significant difference in the QOL between patients taking warfarin and those on non-vitamin k antagonist oral anticoagulants treatment. The mean total satisfaction score was 65.4±6.73. Patients receiving non-vitamin k antagonist oral anticoagulants had significantly higher satisfaction compared to those receiving warfarin (P=0.000). The physical score correlated significantly with gender, educational level, employment status, number of chronic medications and number of chronic diseases. The total satisfaction score correlated significantly with gender, number of chronic medications, number of side effects and duration of anticoagulation. There was a significant correlation between the QOL and treatment satisfaction (P=0.000). Conclusion: Treatment with non-vitamin k antagonist oral anticoagulants showed comparable QOL and higher treatment satisfaction than that of warfarin. Better treatment satisfaction can improve patients’ QOL which may ultimately enhance their adherence to treatment.
Fifty one patients with serologically confirmed brucellosis and 70 healthy controls were phenotyped for HLA-A, -B, -DR and -DQ antigens by using standard microlympho-cytotoxicity method, and lymphocytes defined by their CD markers (CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD19). The results revealed a significant (Pc = 0.001) increased frequency of HLA-DR8 (41.18 vs. 10.0%) in the patients . A significant increased percentage of CD8+ lymphocytes was also increased in the patients (25.15 vs. 22.0%; P = 0.006), while CD3+ lymphocytes were significantly decreased (75.1 vs. 79.4%; P = 0.02).
Background: This study aimed to examine the efficacy of methylene blue (MB) and toluidine blue O (TBO) photodynamic therapy (PDT) as adjuncts to root surface debridement (RSD). Methods: This split-mouth, randomized, controlled clinical trial included eighteen patients, and a total of 332 sites (control = 102, MB = 124 and TBO = 106) were examined. Two sessions of PDT were completed at baseline and two weeks after RSD. Clinical parameters of bleeding on probing (BOP), plaque index (PI), probing pocket depth (PPD), and clinical attachment level (CAL) were measured pre- and post-treatment. Results: PPD and BOP reductions in sites treated by RSD with adjunctive photosensitizers (MB and TBO) were significantly higher than in control site
... Show MoreBackground: The skull base and the hard palate contain many anatomical features that make them rich in information which are useful in sex differentiation; in addition to that they have the ability to resist the hardest environmental conditions that support them in making sex differentiation. Three dimensional computed tomographic techniques has important role in differentiation between sex since it offers images with very accurate data and details of all anatomical structures with high resolution. This study was made to study sex variations among Iraqi sample by craniometric linear measurements of the hard palate and the skull base using 3D reconstructed Computed Tomographic scan. Materials and methods: This study composed of 100 Iraqi su
... Show MoreBackground: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a condition characterized by an elevation of oxidative stress, which has been implicated in diabetic progression and its vascular complications. Aim: Assessing the impact of gliclazide modified release (MR) versus glimepiride on oxidative stress markers, glycemic indices, lipid profile, and estimated glomerular filtration rate in uncontrolled type 2 diabetic patients on metformin monotherapy. Methods: This was an observational comparative study conducted in Thi-Qar specialized diabetic, endocrine, and metabolism center. Sixty-six patients were randomized into two groups based on the addition of the sulfonylureas (SUs). Group 1 (33 patients) was on gliclazide MR, whereas Group 2 (33 patients)
... Show MoreImage quality plays a vital role in improving and assessing image compression performance. Image compression represents big image data to a new image with a smaller size suitable for storage and transmission. This paper aims to evaluate the implementation of the hybrid techniques-based tensor product mixed transform. Compression and quality metrics such as compression-ratio (CR), rate-distortion (RD), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), and Structural Content (SC) are utilized for evaluating the hybrid techniques. Then, a comparison between techniques is achieved according to these metrics to estimate the best technique. The main contribution is to improve the hybrid techniques. The proposed hybrid techniques are consisting of discrete wavel
... Show MoreBackground: diabetes is a metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia that results in deficiency or absence of insulin production. The dental caries and gingivitis/periodontitis are widespread chronic diseases in diabetes. The aim of the present study was determined the salivary matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-8), Secretory Leukocyte Peptidase Inhibitor (SLPI) and oral health status among uncontrolled diabetic group in comparison with healthy control group. Materials and Methods: The total sample composed of 90 adults aged (18-35) years. Divided into 60 uncontrolled diabetic patients (HbA1c >7%) and 30 healthy control group. Unstimulated saliva was collected from each subject with type-I DM, BMI, duration of diabetes, HbA1c%, DMFT, gingi
... Show MoreThe study was conducted for the detection of Aflatoxin B1(AFB1) in the serum and urine of 42 early and middle childhood patients (26 male and 16 female ) with renal function disease, liver function disease, in additional to atrophy in the growth and other symptoms depending on the information within consent obtained from each patient, in addition to 8 children, apparently healthy, as the control. The technique of HPLC was used for the detection of AFB1 from all samples. The results showed that out of 42 patient children, 19 (45.2%) gave positive detection of AFB1 in the serum among all age groups patients with a mean of 0.88 ng/ml and a range of (0.12-3.04) ng/ml. This was compared with the cont
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