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.
All major organs may be impacted by the connective disease systemic lupus erythematosus, a separate risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). Adhesion molecules like intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAM) and vascular cell adhesion molecules (VCAM) can detect endothelial damage and dysfunction, which appear to play a crucial role. This study investigated whether people with SLE had elevated subclinical and clinical atherosclerosis risk factors. Traditional CAD risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia cannot entirely explain this elevation. It is thought that immunological dysfunction also increases CAD risk in SLE patients. The study aimed to assess early endothelial changes in SLE Iraqi female patients w
... Show MoreKE Sharquie, AA Noaimi, HA Al-Mudaris, Journal of Drugs in Dermatology: JDD, 2013 - Cited by 22
The Specific activity of extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD) was measured in healthy persons and in patients with benign and malignant brain tumors. The results show decrease of the EC-SOD specific activity in sera of patients with benign and malignant brain tumors in comparison to that of control group.This study concentrated on studying the changes that occur in sera EC-SOD activity of patients with benign and malignant brain tumors, in comparison to that of normal individuals. The result also revealed that this isoenzyme is present in many different molecular weights forms (as judged by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis), some of these with no enzymatic activity. Conversion among these forms occurs in the malignant sera
The Qur'an is an inexhaustible source for researchers, and all of them find a rich material for its research, and no wonder in it is the book of the greatest Arabic. Quranic research has been an attempt to extract the secret in the miracle of the Koran, and not the Quranic miracle is limited to the word and its meaning, but that the miracle extends to include every sound in motion or silent; the sound performance of the Quranic text increases the meaning of beauty and earns the word heartbeat, Souls; and this may be due to the beauty of voice in the performance and harmony between sounds and words, and harmony between the exits and descriptions, or the tides of the tides,
Based on the above and to show the miraculous aspects of the Qu
That the structural changes in the environment, business and finance and the spread of business and the diversity of transactions between economic organizations and breadth of a commercial scale in the world have left their clear on the need to keep up with the accounting for these variables as one of the social sciences affect and are affected by the surrounding environment because of the various economic and social factors, technical, legal and others.
As a result of these variables emerged a new field of accounting called Forensic Accounting, which involves the use of expertise of multiple pour in the end to the accounting profession, where the Forensic Accounting cover a large area of disciplines including strengthening
... Show MoreThe skill of management educational activities gradually grow with the experience, but they differ from personal skill educator to another, because each style nanny personally and the way to work. There educator and active movement and vitality that look like happiness and clear during the implementation of the activity, and the other runs educational activities quietly, efficiently and without emotion and clear (dry, 2001: p. 274). And the stage of childhood is one of the most important stages that are based upon the future life as a whole because the man also confirmed by the School of analysis psychological is the son of his childhood and the best example to us what the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): (Every child i
... Show MoreAbstract: The study of the place is hardly a concern for most researchers in the art generally. It is hardly devoid of any movie of some configuration elements that are essential to him about and place one of them, and we find an echo location consists ago to begin screenwriter put Sightseeing begins features emerge there will be functioning simple scenario what would soon receive a growing Cummings final picture film. Metaphoric place begins to emerge in the form of linguistic scenario is soon to be translated in another language, the language of the image. Which in turn complement the creative process of this art and have a significant impact in terms of content and curriculum and installation in and it even to seek the true meaning fu
... Show MoreThe internal observing system is considered a cornerstone for the high management in all the systems. It aims at defending the things for waste and increasing efficient and application the rules and regulations and constrictions. To easier for the high management activity in the internal observing system which in presented and practiced and to what extent can depend on it. Thus it goes to evaluate the internal observing system periodically to check the weak points in that system so as the find out the mistake, in the construction of the system or mistake, by indication of the workers. The importance of this study is represented in the need of increasing the coactivity in the internal observing system so as to be in touch with the new tre
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