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.
Abstract:
The current research aims to demonstrate the relationship of correlation and influence between the independent variable strategic control through its dimensions represented by (organizational structure, human resources management, commitment to specialization, defining powers and responsibilities, values and integrity) and the dependent variable the performance of the insurance company, and the degree of arrangement of these dimensions according to their importance, as well as Detection of significant differences in the sample's response to the questionnaire paragraphs in the researched company, and the research problem
... Show MoreThe objectives of this research are to determine and find out the reality of crops structure of greenhouses in association of Al-Watan in order to stand on the optimal use of economic resources available for the purpose of reaching a crop structure optimization of the farm that achieves maximize profit and gross and net farm incomes , using the method of linear programming to choose the farm optimal plan with the highest net income , as well as identifying production plans farm efficient with (income - deviation) optimal (E-A) of the Association and derived, which takes into account the margin risk wich derived from each plan using the model( MOTAD), as a model of models of linear programming alternative programming m
... Show MoreBackground: Chronic cigarette smoking is one of the major risk factors for coronary artery disease. However, it has additional cardiac adverse effects independent of coronary atherosclerosis. Patient and Methods: After informed consent and perm- ission from the review board of the hospital, 80 healthy subjects who were classified as smokers or non-smokers were included in the study. They were examined by standard echocardiography protocol which was followed by two-dimensional speckle tracking to assess the functions of the right ventricle. Results: The tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) was significantly reduced in smokers as compared to non-smokers (P < 0.05). The tricuspid flow peak late diastolic velocity (A wave) was sig
... Show MoreComparative Study Between Glimepiride and Glibenclamide in the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetic Patients in Al-Yarmouk Hospital
Despite all the possibilities held by Iraq for the production of poultry , but there is low and clear in the level of production and a rise in costs and a decline in per capita consumption is due to a number of reasons, including poor investment , stop government subsides , dumping policies , market Bolmottagat imported , the contribution of the merchant squandering of national capacity , weak base material for the growth of this sector , the security situation and the crisis of energy and others .
Despite all this research has shown that there are great investment opportunities in this very sector of the market size and absorptive capacity of his and the growth of per capita income and level of cul
... Show MoreThe game of volleyball requires the formation of new motor responses, which in turn requires special physical characteristics in the performance of that skill, and the correct and accurate performance during the performance of the skills of passing from the top and smash serve in volleyball cannot be developed or improved without a good level of accuracy and what is required to perform the movements in terms of responses to the defense and attack movements. Therefore, the researchers decided to identify the type of relationship between the motor response speed with the performance accuracy of the skills of passing from the top and the smash serve in volleyball. The research aims to: 1. Identifying the motor response speed of fourth-stage s
... Show MoreThe research aims to study strategic training and its impact on improving the performance of the inspectors general offices in Iraqi ministries, through two variables strategic training Which include Four Dimensions ( Strategic analysis , Formulation of Training Strategy , Implement the Training Strategy , Evaluation ) and Performance included Three dimensions ( Efficiency , Effectiveness , Added-Value).
This research problem is that the Offices of Inspectors rely on pre-made training Programs received from training centers without designing the training programs that provide the employees with the skills and abilities that lead to the implementation of the current and future goals of the orga
... Show MoreThe study tagged: (The aesthetics of balance and its relationship to the design of the body of the industrial product) discussed the role of balance in the design of industrial products of different shapes, colors and sizes, as well as their function. Based on the research problem that was determined by the following question: What is the relationship between balance and the design of the body of the industrial product? The aim of the research is to: reveal the statement of the effectiveness of the balance in the design of the industrial product body.
The study was defined in four chapters: in the first chapter, a problem, the importance, and the aim of the research were presented. The second chapter contained the theoretical framewor
This paper investigates the performance evaluation of two state feedback controllers, Pole Placement (PP) and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR). The two controllers are designed for a Mass-Spring-Damper (MSD) system found in numerous applications to stabilize the MSD system performance and minimize the position tracking error of the system output. The state space model of the MSD system is first developed. Then, two meta-heuristic optimizations, Simulated Annealing (SA) optimization and Ant Colony (AC) optimization are utilized to optimize feedback gains matrix K of the PP and the weighting matrices Q and R of the LQR to make the MSD system reach stabilization and reduce the oscillation of the response. The Matlab softwar
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