Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive airflow limitation that is preventable but not curable. It is associated with persistent symptoms that cause a considerable burden on individual productivity at work, and daily activities, and reduced quality of life, also burdening the healthcare system and society. Objectives: The study aims to measure the burden of COPD on patients in terms of daily activities and work productivity. It also seeks to investigate some inflammatory biomarkers' levels and their correlation with selected outcomes. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study on 120 stable COPD patients who were diagnosed and treated according to the GOLD guidelines at Kirkuk General Hospital's chest and Internal Medicine consultation clinics, and in private internist clinics in Kirkuk City, Iraq between January and April 2023. The Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire (WPAI-COPD) measured the Burden of COPD. The symptom burden was assessed by the COPD assessment test (CAT). The level of IL-6 monoclonal antibodies was measured via a Roche Cobas 6000 analyzer and TNF-α using the ELISA sandwich technique. All these devices and machines were authorized by the Ministry of Health, Iraq. Results: The mean age was (54.1 ± 8.12) years, 62.5% being males and 37.5% being females; 41.7% were public sector employees, and 39.2% were self-employed. Due to COPD, the overall work loss was (45.9±18.91) days, the mean percentage of absenteeism was (10.9% ± 12.31%), activity impairment was (47.5% ±17.79%) among all patients, presenteeism was (40.8 ± 15.05%,) and COPD-related retirees were 14.2% of the study group. The mean CAT score (19.3±5.63) was high and the most troubling symptom among patients was chest tightness. WPAI-COPD scores were higher in older age and longer disease duration. The levels of biomarkers were above the reference ranges, the mean IL-6 level was (69.4 ± 35.29) pg/ml, and the mean TNF-α was (72.3 ± 22.45) pg/ ml. Conclusions: COPD patients exhibit a disease burden in terms of productivity loss at work and activity impairment that increases with aging and disease duration. COPD patients with low BMI are more prone to a decline in lung functions and to worse symptoms.
The psychological scientific studies suggest that basic human situations stem from human emotional abilities and those with a lack of emotional intelligence are unable to cope with life, which might lead to anxiety and psychological depression. The current study aimed to investigate this problem by identifying the level of emotional intelligence and psychological depression among the students of the University of Anbar. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researchers created two questionnaires: 1) to measure emotional intelligence. 2) to measure psychological depression and applied these questionnaires on (300) students. The results revealed that the participants showed a high level of emotional intelligence with a low level of p
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The research aims to measure family negligence and its relationship with internet addiction among university students. The researcher has developed a scale of (20) items to measure the negligence of family, which was applied to (308) male and female university students in the first and fourth stages. The research concluded that University students suffer from family negligence. The research sample has an addiction to the Internet. There is a relationship between family neglect and addiction to the Internet among university students. The researcher came out with a number of suggestions and recommendations.
The study was conducted out at the Ministry of Agriculture's Poultry Research Station/Animal ResourcesDepartment/Agricultural Research Center. To see how body weight (BW) and leptin hormone (LEP) levels inbreeder blood affect fertility and hatchability. 140 Iraqi local laying chickens (120 females + 20 males) aged 28weeks were used in the study. Following the numbering of The experiment was divided into three periods,each lasting 28 days, during which the breeder's live body weight was recorded and divided into two categories(greater than 1.5 kg and less than 1.5 kg), and blood samples were collected at the end of each period todetermine the concentration of leptin hormone in the breeders' blood. For comparison between mothers'performance,
... Show MoreThis research was conducted in order to monitor and measure the dimensions of media policy in satellite channels directed from the point of view of the communicator, and this research is classified among the descriptive studies, as the researcher used the survey method to answer the questions that were formulated in light of the research problem represented by the main question: What are the dimensions of media policy in Directed satellite channels? .
To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher used the following tools:
The questionnaire, in order to survey the attitudes of communicators about the extent to which the media policy during crises reflects on their professional standards. The research community is represente
We can understand interior design as a series of interconnected human principles and goals formed by science and knowledge to build a human product that reveals or gives meaning to things، and this can be presented through ecology as a system concerned with environmental aspects and as part of interior design، seeking to achieve aesthetic and functional values، in an interactive form between spaces The interior and its occupants are within an environmental balance full of life، and the ecological interior design attaches great importance to the embodiment of spiritual aspects in the internal environment، in addition to emphasizing the importance of protecting the environment and preserving resources through saving in its use and usi
... Show MoreIn this paper, we present a study of examples of writings that are known in the science of Semitic research compared to the texts (Jewish-Arab, Samaritan-Arabic) written in Hebrew script and texts from the Bible. We try to explain the role of these literary works in Islamic history and civilization, as one of the most important documents are the writings (Gniza), which contributed to provide a full presentation on life in the Islamic community in all aspects of life, especially religious activity and showed the sincere relationship in dealing with the other under tolerance The University of Cambridge has prepared Islamic documents and kept them in separate boxes and presented them to researchers to convey the Islamic heritage written by
... Show Morehas experienced a step-change since the inception of ambient mass spectrometry removed the requirement for samples to be investigated under vacuum conditions. Approaches based on surface– plasma interactions are especially promising, including PADI. Whilst the mechanisms involved in generating PADI spectra still need to be unravelled, PADI shows significant promise to become a valuable and versatile tool in the instrumental arsenal available to the surface analyst
Abstract:
The paper aims to measure an aggregated banking stability index reflecting the degree of stability of the banking system to help policy makers to take the necessary actions to avoid financial crises facing banks and to achieve a banking system with high efficiency in terms of banking risk.
Therefore, the problem of paper is that the Central Bank of Iraq did not seek until 2016 to build a aggregated index for the purpose of identifying the stability of the banking situation in Iraq, but rather on the adoption of scattered indicators, which depend on the mechanism of relative changes in those indicators for the purpose of identifying the situation of b
... Show MoreOxidative stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of peripheral artery disease (PAD). This study aimed to investigate the effect of clopidogrel on oxidative stress in PAD patients. Seventy subjects were divided into three groups: PAD patients before treatment (B-PAD), PAD patients after treatment with clopidogrel (A-PAD), and healthy controls. Serum levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and oxidized protein were measured. SOD activities were also determined. The results showed that SOD activities, and SOD specific activities were significantly decreased in PAD patients compared to healthy individuals. After treatment with clopidogrel, SOD activities, and SOD specific activities were continuous
... Show MoreChronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) patients display a highly variable clinical course, with progressive acquisition of drug resistance. We sought to identify aberrant epigenetic traits that are enriched following exposure to treatment that could impact patient response to therapy.
Epigenome-wide analysis of DNA methylation was performed for 20 patients at two timepoints during treatment. The prognostic significance of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) was assessed in independent cohorts of 139 and 1