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.
Review Article Immunomodulatory Role of Cytokines in Periodontal Disease Batool Hassan Al-Ghurabi*, Maha Adel Mahmood, Zainab A. Aldhaher, Sahar Hashim Al-Hindawi Adv. life sci., vol. 11,...
To assess the effect of Nigella sativa oil as a topical preparation for treatment of oro- genital ulceration of Behcet's disease. This is a double blinded therapeutic trial in which 40 patients with Behcet's disease manifested as recurrent episodes of oral and genital ulceration were enrolled into 2 groups; Nigella sativa oil was applied as 10% in glycerin topically 3 times / daily to the first 20 patients. The other 20 were given glycerin only. Assessment was done 4 days then 8 days after treatment.Results were recorded as they appeared in clinical examination and those records were arranged in tables for both groups concerning oral and genital ulceration cases.Nigella sativa oil is a new topical agent for promotion of healing of o
... Show MoreThe electrical activity of the heart and the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal are fundamentally related. In the study that has been published, the ECG signal has been examined and used for a number of applications. The monitoring of heart rate and the analysis of heart rhythm patterns, the detection and diagnosis of cardiac diseases, the identification of emotional states, and the use of biometric identification methods are a few examples of applications in the field. Several various phases may be involved in the analysis of electrocardiogram (ECG) data, depending on the type of study being done. Preprocessing, feature extraction, feature selection, feature modification, and classification are frequently included in these stages. Ever
... Show MoreThe aim of this novel native study was to determine the microbial contamination of broken and cracked imported commercial table egg in Baghdad markets and its economic effect. A total of 21510 commercial chicken table eggs were checked and surveyed from retail markets in different popular regions of Baghdad city during a year period from January 3rd to December 28th of 2018 and its microbial contamination were studied. Results revealed that significant differences (P<0.01) were appeared in the studied microbial counts during months of the study and significant differences (P<0.01) in the average counts between broken and cracked eggs and sound (not bro
... Show MoreBackground: Bell's palsy was defined as facial weakness of lower motor neuron type caused by idiopathic facial nerve involvement outside the central nervous system without evidence of aural or more widespread neurologic disease. The cause is unclear, but the disorder occurs more commonly in diabetics.Objectives: to differentiate cases of idiopathic Bell's palsy from diabetic mononeuropathy presented with Facial nerve palsy by assessing the taste, because they differ in etiology, management & prognosis.Patients &Methods: One hundred and fifteen consecutive patients were referred for the treatment of facial palsy, from May the 5th 2012 to April 12th 2013 in Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital and The Neurosciences Hospital, in Baghdad / Ira
... Show MoreBackground: Pregnancy is a stressful state of increased inflammatory activity, and pregnancy – associated hormone changes can influence periodontal tissues, these inflammatory activity lead to production of inflammatory mediators. Interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) is a potent pro-inflammatory cytokines that is consistently associated with periodontal diseases. This study was designed to determine the periodontal health status and detect the serum level of IL-1β in the healthy pregnant women at first, second and third trimester and compare it with healthy non pregnant women, and determine its correlation with different clinical periodontal parameters. M
... Show MoreThe current research aims to identify the fear of intimacy and post-traumatic stress disorder among Yazidi women and the correlation between them. To achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher adopted the Descutner, 1991 & (Thelen) scale, which consisted of (35) items. The researcher also adopted the post-traumatic stress disorder scale for (Davidson, 1995) translated by (Abdul Aziz Thabet), which consists of (17) items. These two scales were administered to a sample of (200) individuals. Then, the researcher analyzes the data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results showed that the research sample of Yazidi women has a fear of intimacy. The research sample of Yazidi women is characterized by
... Show MoreThe current research includes several axes, which determine the basic professional skills among kindergarten teachers and government civil Balraudhat and their relationship to educate kindergarten children with life skills teacher Albaiah.boattabar his career. And this profession imposes upon that possesses special skills, qualify him to do his roles. The teacher experimenter, researcher and owner of philosophy and organizer and director of the positions and educational director of the interactions of classroom and non-classroom. And educational systems that are responsible for the preparation of the emerging needs constant review in order to improve internal Kvaiadtha select the best input consistent with the reality of education, so as
... Show MorePraise be to God, Lord of the worlds, and the best of prayers. He has completed the delivery of our master Muhammad, his family, and all his companions. O God, bring us out from the darkness of illusion, honor us with the light of understanding, open us with knowledge of knowledge, facilitate our morals with dreams, and make us who listen to the saying and follow their best.
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Since ancient times, magic was mentioned in many books in the history of the civilizations of ancient peoples, where the first emergence of human civilizations, the oldest of which is the Mesopotamian civilization, the Chinese civilization, and the Pharaonic civilization in Egypt, where concepts prevailed based on the charlatans and sorcery an
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