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 widespread use of the Internet of things (IoT) in different aspects of an individual’s life like banking, wireless intelligent devices and smartphones has led to new security and performance challenges under restricted resources. The Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) is the most suitable choice for the environments due to the smaller size of the encryption key and changeable security related parameters. However, major performance metrics such as area, power, latency and throughput are still customisable and based on the design requirements of the device.
The present paper puts forward an enhancement for the throughput performance metric by p
... Show MoreTransition metal complexes of Y(III), La(III) and Rh(III) with azo dye 2,4-dimethyl-6- (4-nitro-phenylazo)-phenol derived from 4-nitroaniline and 2,4-dimethylphenol were synthesized. Characterization of these compounds has been done on the basis of elemental analysis, electronic data, FT-IR,UV-Vis and 1HNMR, as well as conductivity measurements. The nature of the complexes formed were studies following the mole ratio and continuous variation methods, Beer's law obeyed over a concentration range (1x10-4- 3x10-4). High molar absorbtivity of the complex solutions were observed. From the analytical data, the stoichiomerty of the complexes has been found to be 1:3 (Metal:ligand). On the basis of Physicochemical data octahedral geometries were as
... Show MoreNew chelating ligand derived from triazole and its complexes with metal ions Rhodium, Platinum and Gold were synthesized. Through a copper (I)-catalyzed click reaction, the ligand produced 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between 2,6-bis((prop-2-yn-1-yloxy) methyl) pyridine and 1-azidododecane. All structures of these new compounds were rigorously characterized in the solid state using spectroscopic techniques like: 1HNMR, 13CNMR, Uv-Vis, FTIR, metal and elemental analyses, magnetic susceptibility and conductivity measurements at room temperature, it was found that the ligand acts as a penta and tetradentate chelate through N3O2, N2O2, and the geometry of the new complexes are identified as octahedral for (Rh & Pt) complexes a
... Show Morea laser ablation Q-switched Nd: YAG laser with a wave-length of 355 nm at a variety of laser pulse energies (E) and deposited on porous silicon (PS). Optical emission spectrometer was used to diagnosed medium air to study gold plasma characteristics and prepared Au nanoparticles. The laser pulse energy influence has been studied on the plasma characteristics in air. The data showed the emergence of the ionic (Au II) spectral emission lines in the gold plasma emission spectrum. XRD has been utilized to examine structural characteristics. Moreover, AFM results 37.2 nm as the mean value of the diameter that is coordinated in a shape similar to the rod that appears for Au NPs, in addition to that, TEM has been an indication of the fact that syn
... Show MoreNew chelating ligand derived from triazole and its complexes with metal ions Rhodium, Platinum and Gold were synthesized. Through a copper (I)-catalyzed click reaction, the ligand produced 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between 2,6-bis((prop-2-yn-1-yloxy) methyl) pyridine and 1-azidododecane. All structures of these new compounds were rigorously characterized in the solid state using spectroscopic techniques like: 1HNMR, 13CNMR, Uv-Vis, FTIR, metal and elemental analyses, magnetic susceptibility and conductivity measurements at room temperature, it was found that the ligand acts as a penta and tetradentate chelate through N3O2, N2O2, and the geometry of the new complex
... Show MoreAbstract: Microfluidic devices present unique advantages for the development of efficient drug assay and screening. The microfluidic platforms might offer a more rapid and cost-effective alternative. Fluids are confined in devices that have a significant dimension on the micrometer scale. Due to this extreme confinement, the volumes used for drug assays are tiny (milliliters to femtoliters).
In this research, a microfluidic chip consists of micro-channels carved on substrate materials built by using Acrylic (Polymethyl Methacrylate, PMMA) chip was designed using a Carbon Dioxide (CO2) laser machine. The CO2 parameters have influence on the width, depth, roughness of the chip. In order to have regular
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