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 research aims to know the method and strategy of rainstorming for students to open the door towards innovation and creativity in the field of teaching the subject of geography and the importance of brainstorming method and the studies that touched on it. The study also dealt with the steps of teaching the method of brainstorming and the most important (traditional and modern), and the difficulties of using the method of brainstorming in the teaching process, as well as explained the guidance to improve teaching using the method of brainstorming in the teaching p
... Show MoreThe current research dealt with the study of space compatibility and its role in enhancing the functional aspect of the design of the interior spaces of isolation hospitals by finding a system or format that is compatible with the nature of the changes occurring in the structure and function of the space system, as well as contributing to enhancing compatibility between the functional aspect and the interior space. Therefore, the designer must The interior is the study of the functional and spatial aspects as they are the basic aspects for achieving suitability, and through the interaction between the person and the place, the utilitarian performance characteristics are generated that the interior designer is interested in and tries to d
... Show MoreThe current research dealt with the symbolic significance and its effectiveness in the design of the industrial product, the aesthetic communicative discourse that embodies the imagination and human conscience. Whether according to what has been termed custom or what has been approved by traditions long ago, symbolism may be the main actor in linking the identifying components of the product. In addition, symbolism provides the user with the key to accessing a direct awareness of the product’s shape and function, as an identification of the product by stimulating the symbolic form of the consumer’s imagination and inviting him to To meditate in order to realize the implicit meaning behind these forms and thus achieve the symbolism of
... Show MoreThe article is devoted to the issue of word-formation motivation, which does not lose its relevance and plays a role not only in disclosing formal-semantic relations between words of one language and has not only theoretical, but also applied significance. The authors consider word-formation motivation consistently in its varieties in a comparative way on the materials of so different languages as Russian and Arabic and approach the mechanism of achieving semantic equivalence of translation. To the greatest extent, word-formation activity today, due to objective reasons, affects some special branch (technical, medical, etc.) vocabulary, which is increasing from year to year in national dictionaries. This extensive material, selected
... Show MoreDiabetes mellitus, or simply diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. This high blood sugar produces the classical symptoms of polyuria (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thirst), and polyphagia (increased hunger). The aim of the study is to measure several biochemical parameters in T2DM patients and the effect of these parameters in development the disease. Laboratory investigations including Ceruloplasmin , fasting blood glucose (FBG) , malondialdehyde (MDA), serum protein, uric acid, and protein electrophoresis have been measured in patients with type
... Show MoreAntiviral medications may be the best choices for COVID-19 treatment until particular therapeutic treatments become available. Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is a neuraminidase inhibitor licensed for the management and defense against influenza types A and B. Oseltamivir-based medication combinations are currently being used to treat COVID-19 patients who also have the new coronavirus 1 SARS-CoV-2. 1 Oseltamivir administration was related with a less time spent in the hospital, quicker recovery 1 and discharge, and a decreased mortality rate. Docking is a modern computational method for identifying a hit molecule by assessing the binding ability of molecular medicines within the binding target pocket. In this work, we chose 21 ligand compounds that
... Show MoreBackground: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, in which the myelin sheaths got injured. The prevalence of MS is on grow, as well as, it affects the young ages. Females are most common to have MS compared to males. Oxidative stress is the situation of imbalance between oxidants (free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS)) and antioxidants in a living system, in which either the oxidants are elevated or antioxidants are reduced, or sometimes both. ROS and oxidative stress have been implicated in the progression of many degenerative diseases, which is important in cracking the unrevealed mysteries of MS. In this review article, some of the proposed mechanisms that link oxidative stres
... Show MoreThe study includes collection of data about cholera disease from six health centers from nine locations with 2500km2 and a population of 750000individual. The average of infection for six centers during the 2000-2003 was recorded. There were 3007 cases of diarrhea diagnosed as cholera caused by Vibrio cholerae. The percentage of male infection was 14. 7% while for female were 13. 2%. The percentage of infection for children (less than one year) was 6.1%, it while for the age (1-5 years) was 6.9%and for the ages more than 5 years was 14.5%.The total percentage of the patients stayed in hospital was 7.7%(4.2%for male and 3.4%for female). The bacteria was isolated and identified from 7cases in the Central Laboratory for Health in Baghdad. In
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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 Moreeroticism formed a basic focus in contemporary studies and caused a problematic clash in terms of terminology, as some interpreted it by pornography and another interpreted it as aesthetic, so this research came to seek to decipher this terminological clash, and to be known as erotech in terms of cognitive significance, Accordingly, the research culminated in four chapters. The first chapter (Methodological Framework) talks about the research problem that came according to the following question: “How is the erotic act built in the theatrical text and what are the epistemic connotations that express its subjectivity? Then followed by the importance of research and the need for it, then the objective of the research, and the boun
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