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.
This study aims to identify the impact of social support on breast cancer patients’ psychological rigidity using a sample in Ramallah and al-Bireh. A descriptive correlative approach was adopted to fulfill the goals of the study and a questionnaire consisted of two criteria: social support and psychological rigidity, which was adopted as a tool for data collection for the study. In order to achieve the goals of the study, the researcher selected a convenient sample that consisted of 123 female breast cancer patients in Ramallah and al-Bireh. This sample represented 50% of the original patient population. The study showed that the average estimated percentage of social support and psychological rigidity for women with breast cancer, in
... Show MoreChronic kidney Failure, a progressive disease, includes both medical and biochemical features that damage kidneys and decrease their abilities to work effectively, this disease is characterized by a chronic disorders to both the innate and adaptive immune systems, generate a complex and not fully understood immune dysfunction. In the present study, (30) men suffering from chronic kidney failure with age in range (40-55) year and (30) healthy men within the same range of age were enrolled in this study. The aim of this study is to highlight the role of immunological aspect (IL-35), hormonal aspects (PTH), some functional proteins and immunological electrolytes in sera of chronic kidney failure (CKF) patients. Biochemical parameters were dete
... Show MoreThis study aimed to recognize the Abilities Musical level and its relation with the for positive thinking, The present study relied on the analytical correlational descriptive approach The study population consisted of 167 female students who participated in musical activities, among the students of Maysaloon Elementary School for Girls affiliated to the Directorate of Education for the Bani Ubaid Brigade in Irbid Governorate. While the sample of this study consisted of (65) female students; , from level: intermediate .
The correlative analytic descriptive method was used, Was applied to the study sample Seachor tests of musical capabilities (the abbreviated image), which was codified by the Arabic (Sadiq (2001), the scale of posi
... Show MoreThis article discusses some of the metaphorical use of language units. Here we will define the basic concepts and underline the causes of this phenomenon. Through research it is proven that through the application of names of some body parts achieves the variety of metaphorical meanings.
Background: left ventricular hypertrophy is independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The presence of diabetic complications such as autonomic neuropathy and retinopathy may predict cardiac structural changes in diabetic patients. Objective: To explore the chance of occurrence of left ventricular hypertrophy in diabetic patients and whether it is related to the presence of other diabetic complications. Methods: ninty seven (97) normotensive diabetic patients (57) type II with mean duration of diabetes of (12±6 y) and forty (40) type I with mean duration of (8±6 y) were studied by echocardiography and compared with 41 patients as control. Results: The LVMI was significantly higher in type II diabetics compared
... Show MoreCytokines are a group of immunomodulatory proteins leading to a variety of immune reactions in the human; these cytokines play a significant role in the development of appropriate immune responses against T. gondii. This study aims to reveal the association of toxoplasmosis with serum levels of IL-3, IL-17A, and IL-27 in aborted women. The blood samples of patients and controls were collected from Al-Alawiya Maternity Teaching Hospital/Baghdad/Iraq from 2019 to 2020 for detecting anti-T. gondii antibodies (IgG and IgM) and the level of interleukins by ELISA. The results of TORCH by rapid test for recurrent abortion recorded 25.3% seropositive for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies, and 31.5% seropositive for one or more cases of TORCH test (Cytomeg
... Show MoreThe solar eclipse occurs at short time before the crescent birth moment when the moon near any one of moon orbit nodes It is important to determine the synchronic month which is used to find Higree date. The 'rules' of eclipses are:
Y= ± 0.997 of Earth radius , the solar eclipse is central and 0.997 < |Y| < 1.026 the umbra cone touch the surface of the Earth, where Y is the least distance from the axis of the moon's shadow to the center of the Earth in units of the equatorial radius of the Earth.
A new model have been designed, depend on the horizontal coordinates of the sun, moon, the distances Earth-Moon (rm), Earth-sun (rs) and |Y| to determine the date and times of total solar eclipse and the geogra
... Show MoreThe means of communication in the accepted human contexts depend on several modes, beginning with the oldest of which in history, represented by the sign language, the sign and the symbol and ending with it, until countless of them became icons that are circulating between the societies themselves or with their neighbors. These icons are often implied in formations that represent a visual discourse which the sender uses as a means and as a message at the same time to express a certain phenomenon in society or in his human self, and thus the sender or performer or artist, in the end, adopted a visual intermediary in order to position his speech in its entirety and perhaps in a specific part of it, to carry the content of that speech and c
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