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 purposes of study are to measure the perceived competence and the locus of control among sixth-grade students, to identify the statistical differences between the perceived competence and the locus of control among sixth-grade students regarding the variable of gender, achievement, and economical status, and lastly, explore the correlation relationship between perceived competence and locus of control among sixth-grade students, To do this, the researchers have constructed two scales: one to measure the perceived competence based on bandura's theory (social-cognitive theory) which consisted of (26) items and the other to measure the locus of control based on Rotter's theory (social-learning theory) which included (25) items. The samp
... Show MoreIn the current Windows version (Vista), as in all previous versions, creating a user account without setting a password is possible. For a personal PC this might be without too much risk, although it is not recommended, even by Microsoft itself. However, for business computers it is necessary to restrict access to the computers, starting with defining a different password for every user account. For the earlier versions of Windows, a lot of resources can be found giving advice how to construct passwords of user accounts. In some extent they contain remarks concerning the suitability of their solution for Windows Vista. But all these resources are not very precise about what kind of passwords the user must use. To assess the protection of pa
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify the level of extension of the sense of self and the cognitive style (complexity - simplification) among university students, as well as the significance of the difference according to gender (males - females), as well as the correlation between the two variables, and in order to verify this, the researcher has constructed The measure of the extension of the sense of self based on the theory of Alport 1961, as the number of its final paragraphs reached (28) paragraphs, and the cognitive style scale (complexity - simplification) prepared by (Abdullah 2017) was adopted, as the scale consisted of (32) paragraphs in its final form. To verify their psychometric properties, and the two tools were applied to
... Show MoreBackground: Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral
cavity (OSCC) is a highly invasive neoplasm. Many
MMPs play role in human cancer invasion and
metastases.
Aim: Estimating The MMp-7 expression level in
HPV-16 positive and HPV-16 negative OSCC
paraffin embedded sections.
Method: Biopsies from thirty three patients with oral
squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) were obtained and
investigated for the presence of HPV-16 RNA with
the application of ISH and the MMP-7 expression
level using IHC .
Results: Expression level of MMP-7 found to be high
in OSCC sections 29 (87.8%) cases with no
significant difference in its expression level between
HPV-16 positive and HPV-16 negative OSCC cases
p= 1.00.
Conc
Isradipine related to dihydropyridine (DHP) class of calcium channel blockers (CCBs). It is used to treat hypertension, angina pectoris, as well as Parkinson disease. It goes under the BCS class II drug (low solubility-high permeability). The drug will experience extensive first-pass metabolism in liver, thus, oral bio-availability will be approximately15 to 24 %.
The aim of the study is preparing stable oral oil in water (o/w) nanoemulsion of isradipine to promote the colloidial dispersion of isradipine in the nano range, so that it may be absorded by intestinal lymphatic transport in order to avoid hepatic first-pass metabolism (israpidi
... Show MoreThe study included studying some of the optimum environmental conditions(temperature ,light intensity ) on the production of several green algae Scendesmus quadricauda and Chlorella vulgaris in a selected culture and municipal wastewater . The study also included the recording of growth rate ,doubling time and removal of phosphate and nitrate , maximum rate was recorded to the growth with minimum in doubling time and maximum removal rate of nitrogen-nitrate and phosor- phosphate in each selected culture and municipal wastewater in each species of green algae at 25 C? and a light intensity 380 µ E / m2 / s.
Purpose:To evaluate knowledge, practice and attitude of community pharmacists in Basra regarding modified release dosage forms which are widely used for many therapeutic purposes in pharmacy practice.
Methods:The current study was conducted among certified pharmacists in Basra governorate- south of Iraq. Data collection was carried out by a questionnaire.
Results:A total number of 175 community pharmacists responded to the questionnaire. The majority worked in OTC based dispensing pharmacies located in the center of the city. Most respondents missed K1 and were unable to state the difference between different types of modified products. There was a major positive agreemen
... Show MoreEmergency contraceptives (ECs) are indicated for preventing the chance of unintended pregnancy that follows unprotected sexual intercourse in cases of incorrectly used regular contraceptives and in sexual assault. It is considered a safe choice to prevent pregnancy than abortion which is considered life threating. The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of community pharmacists towards emergency contraceptives and their association with sociodemographic variables. This study was a cross sectional study conducted between August and September 2021 on a convenient sample of community pharmacists from Iraq. The survey tool was an online, self-administered questionnaire, in English language and a paper-bas
... Show MoreIn the field of implantology, peri-implantitis is still a common complication of implant failure. Similar to periodontal disease, this kind of pathological condition is characterized by inflammation of the tissues surrounding dental implants or fillings. The sources of infection have been shown to be chronic periodontitis and poor maintenance of the communion. A thorough examination of the intricate components of peri-implantitis was sought in this review in order to identify common characteristics of the disease with regard to bacteria, biofilm formation, host immunological responses, diagnostic tools, and therapeutic treatments. The aim of this study was to provide a detailed overview of the different bacterial species associated
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