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
Pore pressure means the pressure of the fluid filling the pore space of formations. When pore pressure is higher than hydrostatic pressure, it is named abnormal pore pressure or overpressure. When abnormal pressure occurred leads to many severe problems such as well kick, blowout during the drilling, then, prediction of this pressure is crucially essential to reduce cost and to avoid drilling problems that happened during drilling when this pressure occurred. The purpose of this paper is the determination of pore pressure in all layers, including the three formations (Yamama, Suliay, and Gotnia) in a deep exploration oil well in West Qurna field specifically well no. WQ-15 in the south of Iraq. In this study, a new appro
... Show MoreThe primary aim of this study was to identify the effect of using the simultaneous electronic presentations strategy in teaching basic skills of basketball to second-grade intermediate students. The present study had a parallel group, pre-post experimental design. In the present study the students of the Salah al-Din Intermediate School for the academic year 2020-2021 constituted the research community. A total of 75 students were present in the research community. Out of 75 students 16 students were selected as the participants for the study. The students falling within the age group of 13-14 years were recruited as the study participants, making up a percentage of 21.33 of the total number. Based on the results of th
... Show MoreAim: To evaluation the effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus on Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) serotype O157:H7 with detection of some virulence factors. Methods: Two hundred and fifty specimens (stool) from children under five years for both sexes were collected from some hospitals. All isolates were diagnosed according to morphological characteristics, biochemical tests. Monoplex pattern of PCR was used also for detection different genes in (7) Escherichia coli )O157:H7 (isolates; include 16SrRNA, eae, lifA, Stx1,Stx2 that encoded for ribosomal RNA, intimin, lymphocyte inhibitory factor, shiga toxins. Three types of probiotics strains were obtained, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus acidophilus (A
... Show MoreThe performance of flexible pavements is significantly impacted by the permanent deformation (rutting) of asphalt pavements. Rutting shortens the pavement's useful service life and poses significant risks to those using the highway since it alters vehicle handling characteristics.. The aim of this research is to evaluate the permanent deformation of asphalt mixtures under different conditions,to achieve this aim 108 cylindrical specimens has been prepared and tested under repeated loading in uniaxial compression mode. Five factors were considered in this research, these factors represent the effect of environmental condition and traffic loading as well as mixture properties, they include testing temperature, loading condition (stress level
... Show MoreThe isolates of Staphylococcus aureus were isolated from patients with various infections in hospitals, the isolates were identified and accurately diagnosed by phenotypic examination and biochemical tests, as well Vitek-2, and then genetic detection and diagnosis of many of the pathogenic factors associated with Staphylococcus aureus using conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and testing for association by antibiotic resistance and production of some toxins by Staphylococcus aureus. After performing analysis of statistical, it was set up that the correlation coefficient of the PCR technique using virulence genes, sensitivity test to antibiotics and other virulence factors were significant at p < 0.05, but was insignificant with the
... Show MoreThis paper studies the investment project evaluation under the condition of uncertainty. Evaluation of investment project under risk and uncertainty is possible to be carried out through application of various methods and techniques. The best known methods are : Risk-adjusted discount rate , certainty equivalent method , Sensitivity analysis and Simulation method The objective of this study is using the sensitivity analysis in evaluation Glass Bottles project in Anbar province under the condition of risk and uncertainty.
After applying sensitivity analysis we found that the glass bottles project sensitive to the following factors (cash flow, the cost of investment, and the pro
... Show MoreHepatitis C virus (HCV) is a liver disease that affects14 million people. Feasible research was conducted for identifying the genotypes and allele frequency of some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the IL-28β genes and their predictive role in disease incidence in Iraqi patients. The SNPs (rs28416813, rs4803219, rs11881222, and rs8103142) of IL-28β have been associated with susceptibility to several diseases. Ninety eight (98) HCV patients were included in this research; with average age ± SE (42.28 ± 3.44) years. Also, 80 healthy people (with average age ± SE (29.40 ± 2.84) years) were included as a control group. The SNPs were detected by allele-specific PCR (polymerase chain reaction) using specific primers. The re
... Show MoreThe effect of mental and physical health on the feelings of subject welfare is known as health-related quality of life. The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a common respiratory diseases. Assessment of health-related quality of life is considered important in such chronic disease. The objective of the current study was to measure health-related quality of life in a sample of chronic obstructive pulmonary patients in AL- Diwanyia city/Iraq. This study was carried out on 150 already diagnosed COPD patients who attended to the Center of Respiratory Diseases/AL-Diwaniyah Teaching Hospital during September 2019 to January 2020. The Arabic version of St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire was used to asses
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