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 relationship between the motivational factors and the abuse of OCSs. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationships between the use of OCSs for non-illness and six TRA factors: Normative belief, behavioral belief, evaluation of the behavior, motivation to comply, subjective norms and attitude toward behavior. Results: The study enrolled 141 participants (98 women and 43 men) taking asking for OCSs without prescription. Dexamethasone was the most commonly used OCSs (59.6%). Friends were the primary recommenders for corticosteroids abuse (28.4%). The main reasons for using OCSs were to increase appetite and gain weight (53.9 %). Approximately one-third (36.2 %) of the participants gained weight after using OCSs. The regression analysis of the TRA variables showed two factors were significantly related to the abuse of OCSs. Age had a significant inverse relationship with the abuse of OCSs and the "good appearance" belief had a significant positive association with OCS abuse. Conclusion: Some Iraqi community pharmacy customers use non-prescribed oral corticosteroids to increase appetite and gain weight. Improve body appearance represents the dominant incentive that urges people to use OCSs without prescription. Health officials and healthcare practitioners need to promote people's awareness about the risks of misusing OCSs through education programs and advertisements in public health settings, media, and social media. Article Type: Original Research
The Quality function deployment (QFD) tool is an important tool of total quality management because its a link between two important parts customer and production process of the product, using advanced House of quality, which contributed to provide more details about improving the product before it had a vision for the future of the product be improved. Also the identification of the two competitors (Alwazeer , Altouri) bases on the survey of retailers which they identified five competitors products (Alwazeer , Altouri , Ferry , Jif , Dina)for the product (Zahi). Then House of quality to product (Zahi) has been developed By using a Kano Model to classify of customer's requirements for the
... Show MoreSince there is no market for bond issuance by companies in the Iraqi market and the difficulty of borrowing, companies must resort to proprietary financing to finance their investments. However, in the framework of the literature of financial management, the type of financing used by the company sends signals to investors and therefore reflected on the market value. Therefore, the problem of the study revolves around the variables of the study (Equity financing within the framework the signal theory, price of common stock in the Iraqi market).
The study aims to verify the impact of the capital increase through the issuance of new stock on the price of
... Show MoreThe present study aim at preparing frusemide in liquid form suitable for oral use. This is achieved through preparing different liquid forms of frusemide. The frusemide liquid is prepared in the following forms: oral solution, syrup and elixir with intensity of 1, 0.4 and 0.8% weight /volume respectively and in combination with potassium carbonate, polysorbate 80, alcohol and phosphate buffer solution of pH8 to dissolve the frusemide in the above mentioned forms. The different forms of the prepared medicine have been stored in glass bottles that can provide protection against light and at 40, 50, 600C for four months. Besides the pH has been checked to decide the period of validity. The results show that the expiration date of
... Show MoreThe study aims to identify the degree of appreciation for the level of digital citizenship of a sample of Palestinian university students in the governorates of Gaza, and its relationship to the level of health awareness about the emerging coronavirus (covid-19). To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher followed a descriptive approach by applying two questionnaires; the first, which consists of 30 items, was used to measure the level of digital citizenship. The second, which consists of 19 items, was used to measure the level of health awareness. Both questionnaires were applied on a sample of 367 students who were electronically selected using the manner simple randomness. Results have shown that the degr
... Show MoreOne of the most important problems in tablet process is to control the flow of the catalyst through the hopper; Controlling the flow can be done either by changing the size of particles or added the different lubricant (stearic acid, starch, graphite) or blending of different lubricants. The study showed that we can control (increase or decrease) on the flow of the catalyst through the hopper by blending different lubricants for the constant percentage. The flow increasing when particles size (0.6 mm) and then decrease with or without lubricants, no effect on flow when particles size lower than (0.2 mm) with use that lubricants, and good flow on (0.4 mm) when use stearic acid and starch.
Objective(s): To assess the effect of removable partial dentures on the abutment teeth in comparison with that of the
remaining dentition, and to investigate the effect of regular check up on periodontal health for patients using this
type of prosthesis.
Methodology: One hundred patients wearing removable partial dentures for at least three years included in the
study. Teeth used as direct or in direct retainers for the removable partial denture were considered as the study
group, while the remaining dentition in the same jaw was considered as the control group. The following periodontal
parameters were registered for each tooth, plaque and gingival indices, clinical attachment level and tooth mobility.
Patients were
The rheological behavior among factors that are present in Stokes law can be used to control the stability of the colloidal dispersion system. The felodipine lipid polymer hybrid nanocarriers (LPHNs) is an interesting colloidal dispersion system that is used for rheological characteristic analysis. The LPHNs compose of polymeric components and lipids. This research aims to prepare oral felodipine LPHNs to investigate the effect of independent variables on the rheological behavior of the nanosystem. The microwave-based technique was used to prepare felodipine LPHNs (H1-H9) successfully. All the formulations enter the characterization process for particle size and PDI to ascertain the colloidal properties of the prepared nanosystem t
... Show MoreAbstract Inflammation of periodontal tissues is the consequence of interaction between periodontal pathogens and immune system. This is associated with increased expression of inflammatory cytokines, which may exert destructive effect to the periodontal tissues when released over long period. The aim of this study was to chronologically track the homeostasis of oral keratinocytes following removal of periodontal pathogens. This was done by investigating expression of selected inflammatory markers and integrity of epithelial monolayers in vitro. Rat oral keratinocytes were stimulated with heat-killed Fusobacterium nucleatum and Porphyromonas gingivalis over 7-days then bacteria were washed away and epithelial cells re-cultured for 3-
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