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 current study investigates the impact of virtual reality technology on industrial product design. The focus of this study is on the development of industrial products that utilize virtual reality technology, specifically examining the effects of this technology on the visual and design aspects of these products. The aim is to continuously improve the functionality of industrial products and enhance the user experience through virtual reality integration.
The first chapter of the study addresses the research problem, which centers around exploring the technological influence of virtual reality used in industrial products and understanding the functionalities it brings to the design process. Virtual reality technology facilitates th
The Internet makes the world like a small village. It has the ability to make groups of the same ideas, thoughts, and identity close to each other by gathering them in one place. It is a way to communicate and share information and opinion; shaping and sharing of comprising individuals with common interests and the participation of individuals in a fruitful dialogue results in achieving a set of goals promote ideas and mobilizing people about issues and events of common interests.
To address the relationship of the internet via interactive communication and its ability to achieve social capital and discuss issues and various social events, the study sees that the problem of the study could be formulated as follows:
Consid
... Show MoreBack ground: Chronic total occlusion (CTO) of coronary arteries remains one of the most challenging lesion subsets in interventional cardiology even with the development of medical devices and operator expertise. Successful revascularization results in improved in angina status ,increased exercise capacity and reduces the need for lat CABG surgery .
Objectives: This study sought to determine the overall procedural success rate of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for CTOs and to examine the relation between variables such as; patients’ characteristics, risk factors, lesion characteristics and procedural success rate.
Methods: In this study ,clinical and coronary angiography data of (80) patients with CTO who underwent PCI
The aim of this paper is to determine the significant levels of some heavy metals such: lead, chromium, nickel and cadmium, were determined. Sources of pollution and their distribution according to presence of elements in the soils over the whole zone of the province of Maysan in southern of Iraq were investigated 36 soil samples from different zones: residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural and main roads, were collected from the soil surface and a depth of 30 cm and analyzed measuring of concentrations for heavy metals by a device ICP-MS technique. The results were compared with global standard levels of these elements in the soil.
Breast cancer is the commonest cause of cancer related death in women worldwide. Amplification or over-expression of the ERBB2 (HER/neu) gene occurs in approximately 15-30% of breast cancer cases and it is strongly associated with an increased disease recurrence and a poor prognosis. Determination of HER2/neu status is crucial in the treatment plan as that positive cases will respond to trastuzumab therapy. It has been used to test for HER2/neu by immunohistochemistry as a first step and then to study only the equivocal positive cases (score 2+) by in situ hybridization technique. The aim of our study is to compare between immunohistochemistry and silver in situ hybridization (SISH) in assessment of human epidermal growth factor (HER2/neu)
... Show MoreThe research section tagged (Aesthetics of Abstract Expressionism and its Representations in the Artistic Products of Students of the Department of Art Education) into four chapters and it included in..
The first chapter: (the methodological framework) for the research, and the research problem is summarized through the question (what are the aesthetics of abstract expressionism and its representations in the artistic productions of the students of the Department of Art Education). In the products of students of the Department of Art Education).
The aim of the research was (discovering the aesthetics of abstract expressionism and its representations in the artistic products of the students of the Department of Art Education). As we
A systematic approach is presented to achieve the stable grasping of objects through a two-finger robotic hand, in which each finger cavity was filled with granular media. The compaction of the latter, controlled by vacuum pressure, was used to adjust the structural and contact stiffness of the finger. The grasping stability was studied under the concurrent effect of an external torque and applied vacuum pressure. Stable grasping was defined as the no slippage condition between the grasped object and the two fingers. Three control schemes were adopted and applied experimentally to ensure the effectiveness of the grasping process. The results showed that stable and unstable grasping regions exist for each combination of applied torqu
... Show MoreThis study was established to investigate the correlation between the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1) and the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). Blood samples were collected from 55 female patients with inflammatory OA and controls for estimation of serum (MMP-1) levels. In the current study, there is significant increase (p<0.001) in the mean of serum MMP-1 levels in osteoarthritis females (4027.73 ± 1345.28 pg/ml) than that in control females (798.76 ± 136.79 pg/ml). It was concluded that MMP-1 may be associated with the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis.
Objective Thalassemic patients present with multiple immune abnormalities that may predispose them to oral Candida, however this has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to assess oral candidal colonization in a group of patients with β-thalassemia major both qualitatively and quantitatively. Study design The oral mycologic flora of 50 β-thalassemia major patients and 50 age- and sex-matched control subjects was assessed using the concentrated oral rinse technique. Candida species were identified using the germ tube test and the Vitek yeast identification system. Results Oral Candida was isolated from 37 patients (74%) and 28 healthy subjects (56%; P = .04). The mean candidal count was significantly higher in thalassemic patie
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