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
In this study, iron was coupled with copper to form a bimetallic compound through a biosynthetic method, which was then used as a catalyst in the Fenton-like processes for removing direct Blue 15 dye (DB15) from aqueous solution. Characterization techniques were applied on the resultant nanoparticles such as SEM, BET, EDAX, FT-IR, XRD, and zeta potential. Specifically, the rounded and shaped as spherical nanoparticles were found for green synthesized iron/copper nanoparticles (G-Fe/Cu NPs) with the size ranging from 32-59 nm, and the surface area was 4.452 m2/g. The effect of different experimental factors was studied in both batch and continuous experiments. These factors were H2O2 concentration, G-Fe/CuNPs amount, pH, initial DB15
... 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 MoreDue to its various resistance mechanisms, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most prevalent opportunistic infection that kills hospitalized patients. Thus, therapeutic options become limited. Objective: The study aimed to estimate the antibiofilm effectiveness of Conocarpus erectus leaf extracts against MDR P. aeruginosa isolates and examines pelA and algD gene expression. Subjects and Methods: One hundred-fifty clinical samples were collected from five Baghdad hospitals between September 2021 and January 2022. Samples were grown on different mediums. Despite cetrimide agar's ability to detect P. aeruginosa, only 83 isolates developed at 42°C. VITEK 2 compact system identification followed. This study examined 83 of P. aeruginosa isolates for r
... Show MoreObjective: To assess the functional outcome, time to union, shoulder pain, blood loss, operative time, iatrogenic radial nerve injury, hospitalization, and infection. Methodology: It is a prospective randomized study on 30 patients with mid-shaft humerus fracture according to AO classification (1.2A1, 2, 3 and 1,2B) with functioning radial nerve. They were randomly dividing into two groups. Group A were treated by a closed antegrade interlocking nail, and group B treated by open reduction and locked compression plate fixation. The follow-up was up to 6 months, including time to union, shoulder pain, intraoperative blood loss, operative time and iatrogenic radial nerve injury. Functional outcome was assessed by quick DASH score. Resu
... Show MoreDensity Functional Theory (DFT) method of the type (B3LYP) and a Gaussian basis set (6-311G) were applied for calculating the vibration frequencies and absorption intensities for normal coordinates (3N-6) at the equilibrium geometry of the Di and Tetra-rings layer (6, 0) zigzag single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by using Gaussian-09 program. Both were found to have the same symmetry of D6d point group with C--C bond alternation in all tube rings (for axial bonds, which are the vertical C--Ca bonds in rings layer and for circumferential bonds C—Cc in the outer and mid rings bonds). Assignments of the modes of vibration IR active and inactive vibration frequ
... Show MoreA mathematical model constructed to study the combined effects of the concentration and the thermodiffusion on the nanoparticles of a Jeffrey fluid with a magnetic field effect the process of containing waves in a three-dimensional rectangular porous medium canal. Using the HPM to solve the nonlinear and coupled partial differential equations. Numerical results were obtained for temperature distribution, nanoparticles concentration, velocity, pressure rise, pressure gradient, friction force and stream function. Through the graphs, it was found that the velocity of fluid rises with the increase of a mean rate of volume flow and a magnetic parameter, while the velocity goes down with the increasing a Darcy number and lateral walls. Also, t
... Show MoreThe photodynamic inactivation against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus using two different lasers, 532 nm diode pumped solid state laser (DPSS) in combination with safranin O and 650 nm diode laser in combination with methylene blue was investigated in the present work. A hundred swab samples were collected from patients with burn and wound infections admitted to two hospitals in Baghdad (Specialized Burns Hospital in Medical City and Al Imamein Al Jwadein Medical City Hospital) from December 2015 to February 2016 Antimicrobial susceptibility was performed by using Kirby- Bauer method. The irradiation experiments included four groups; a control group, a photosensitizer only group, a laser irradiation only group and a laser irr
... Show MoreOne of the most common public liver diseases over the world is fatty liver which contain alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver. One-fourth among general population are impact Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in the worldwide.Retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) is known as an adipokine, mainly synthesized and secreted from the liver and form adipose tissues. RBP4 acts as a transporter and specifically bound to retinol from liver to others tissues. Visfatin is an adipocytokine and mainly produced from visceral fat tissue, skeletal muscles as well as liver. Vitamin A absorbed, transported as retinyl esters to the liver then hydrolyzed to the retinol form and storage in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) after reesterified with rigly
... Show MoreA new poly chain derivative of polyacrolein has been synthesized from the two basic precursors, polyacrolein and aromatic amine/substituted amine in chloroform to prepare poly Schiff base compounds (A1-A4). The novel poly subs.β-lactam derivative is obtained via coupling of poly schiff base with chloroacetyl chloride and trimethylamine (B1-B4). Newly synthesized compound was identified via spectral methods; their [13C-NMR, 1H-NMR, and FTIR] also measurement of some of its physical properties. Furthermore the inhibition effect of synthesized compounds (B1-B4) on the corrosion of stainless steel in 1N HCl was studied by wight loss method. The results of weight loss measurements showed that corrosion inhibition efficiency by increasing the co
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