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 added value of internal audit greatly contributes to adding value to the institution, but most departments of economic units in Iraq neglected the role of internal audit and the added value that can be achieved by those institutions, since the term added value of internal audit is a relatively vague term from the premise that what cannot be measured is difficult Determine it, and perhaps descriptive standards for it is the extent of compliance with international auditing standards (IIA).
The research aims to study the procedures and results of auditing to verify that they have given an added value to the audit with a positive impact, develop its aspects and research, identify deficiencies for the audi
... Show MoreInterleukins (IL-2 and IL-4) are increased in asthmatics and were reported to induce resistance to steroid therapy in some patients who fail to get benefit from glucocorticoids when used in full dose and for long period of time. In this context, the present study was conducted on Iraqi patients to provide additional laboratory mean, beside the clinical diagnosis, for the decision whether the asthma is steroid sensitive or resistant by monitoring the level of immunoglobulins, complement proteins and interleukins among asthmatic patients (steroid sensitive or resistant) and the possible contribution of other factors like age, sex and environments in the development of steroid resistance. A total number of 55 asthmatics and 28 normal subjec
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تتناول هذه الورقة مخططات وسياسات الاستيطان في الضفة الغربية والقدس الشرقية منذ العام 1967، عبر سياسات قادها حزب العمل وأكملها حزب الليكود وكاديما وبقية الأحزاب الإسرائيلية، تلك السياسات التي استهدفت فرض السيطرة السياسية الكاملة على الأرض، وما نتج عن ذلك من سيطرة حصرية على الأرضوتقييد استخداماتها، ومحاصرة الوجود الفلسطيني والتضييق عليه، وتحويل مراكز ال
... Show MoreThis study was carried out in Artificial Insemination Center of Iraq to revealed FMD disease effect on some seminal attributer parameters of 14 imported Holstein bulls divided to three groups according to different reproductive efficiency (four High, five medium and five weak). Results showed that FMD disease had significant (P < 0.05) adverse effect on most seminal attributer parameters, mass, individual motility and sperm concentration / ml during post disease in first of two, four, all months of high, medium and weak semen quality bulls respectively .but semen volume didn’t influenced significantly with this disease. So semen collection should be suspended until resume normal fertility of sperm, after two, four month of high and
... Show MoreIn this study two types of extraction solvents were used to extract the undesirable polyaromatics, the first solvent was furfural which was used today in the Iraqi refineries and the second was NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone).
The studied effecting variables of extraction are extraction temperature ranged from 70 to 110°C and solvent to oil ratio in the range from 1:1 to 4:1.
The results of this investigation show that the viscosity index of mixed-medium lubricating oil fraction increases with increasing extraction temperature and reaches 107.82 for NMP extraction at extraction temperature 110°C and solvent to oil ratio 4:1, while the viscosity index reaches to 101 for furfural extraction at the same extraction temperature and same
Diabetic Nephropathy(DN) is a complex disease manifested by persistence microalbuminuria occurring due to the interaction between hemodynamic and metabolic pathway that activates the local renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system resulting in a decline in renal functions.
This study aimed to quantify the associations between serum aldosterone concentration and fetuin- A as a marker of calcification in type 2 diabetic patients with and without microalbuminuria from one side, and study the possible relationship between aldosterone and fetuin-A with glycemic indices, serum electrolyte, renal function and microalbuminuria and body mass index from the other side.
A case-control study involved eighty-six adult subjects
... Show MoreThe place in which the person lives and his geographical and social environment have a great impact on building his personality, belief and culture, Islam has alerted the importance of the Muslim to make sure to choose the appropriate place in which he resides and dwells in that it is compatible with his religion and belief in order to ensure communication with Islamic knowledge in a way that enhances his belief Arabization occurs when a person makes himself an Arab by living the life of the Bedouins, and creates the morals of the Bedouins from the inhabitants of the Badia with its harshness, cruelty, ignorance and lack of understanding in religion and far from the sources of knowledge of Islamic knowledge. Blasphemy and polytheism, and
... Show MoreObjective(s): To assess parents' attitude toward immunization and its relation with their compliance and to find out the relationship between parents' attitude and their socio-demographic characteristics.
Methodology: A descriptive design is conducted from the period of 19th September 2020 to the 6th of March 2021. A non-probability (convenient) sample of (292) parents was selected from (5) primary health care centers in Karbala city. These centers are distributed throughout (2) primary health care sectors selected randomly as (20%) from each sectors. The questionnaire is developed and composed of three parts: First part: parent's socio-demographic characteristics, Second part: parents' attitude domain, which involves (13 items), and
The diagnoses system of varicose disease has a good level of performance due to the complexity and uniqueness in patterns of vein of the leg. In addition, the patterns of vein are internal of the body, and its features are hard to duplicate, this reason make this method not easy to fake, and thus make it contains of a good features for varicose disease diagnoses. The proposed system used more than one type of algorithms to produce diagnoses system of varicose disease with high accuracy, in addition, this multi-algorithm technique based on veins as a factor to recognize varicose infection. The obtained results indicate that the design of varicose diagnoses system by applying multi- algorithms (Naïve Bayes and Back-Propagation) produced new
... Show MorePracticing physical activity is a very necessary requirement for all segments of society. . Many individuals, regardless of environment, age and gender, are exposed to joint diseases and injuries and pain in the neck for many and varied reasons. Treatment methods and techniques vary according to the severity of the injury, as therapeutic exercises, including stretching exercises, specifically fixed ones, are one of the ways to eliminate cases of muscle and joint dysfunction. Many individuals, regardless of environment, age and gender, are exposed to joint diseases and injuries and pain in the neck for many and varied reasons. Treatment methods and techniques differ according to the severity of the injury, as therapeutic exercises, including
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