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 formula of Ijarah and Ijarah ending with ownership is one of the investment formulas in Islamic banks, so this research has shed light on it in order to benefit from the experiences of the research sample banks, This research aims to find a reliable way for Iraqi Islamic banks, namely (leasing and leasing ending with ownership) in order to invest their money without usurious interests, The problem of the research emerges through the lack of awareness of the Iraqi Islamic banks to work with different Islamic financing formulas and their inability to invest their money through the adoption of their administrations for different formulas, including the leasing, and this is reflected in the decrease and fluctuation of its profits, Theref
... Show MoreThe study aimed to assess the level of ANG‑2 in MM patients at diagnosis and in remission state and elaborate on its correlation with interleukin‑6 (IL‑6) and beta‑2 microglobulin (B2M) levels. Sixty MM patients; 20 newly diagnosed (ND), and 40 patients in remission were included. Twenty healthy individuals were included as a control group. Plasma levels of ANG‑2, B2M, and IL‑6 were tested by enzyme‑lin ked immunosorbent assay. There are significant statistical differences between ND patients and those in remission in hemoglobin, neutrophil count, blood urea, serum creatinine, glomerular filtration rate, B2M, IL6, and ANG‑2 (P = 0.001, 0.033, 0.005, 0.001, 0.001, 0.001, 0.004, and 0.001, respectively). ANG‑2 showed signifi
... Show MoreThe health care industry is witnessing an increasing trend in the use of generic medicines because of their presumed low cost compared with innovator medicines. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the performance of the copy drug Osveral®and its innovator drug deferasirox (Exjade®).
A prospective observational study including 223 patients receiving the branded medicine Exjade®and 101 patients receiving the copy Osveral®was carried out. Data were assessed for a 1-year period and included clinical symptoms, serum ferrit
This study was aimed to monitor oral zinc sulfate role on local cervical proinflammatory cytokines in HPV-infected women comparing with these cytokines before treatment application. A cervical secretion got from 28 infected women before and after treatment with zinc sulfate, these samples assessed various markers of inflammation including interleukin-1β, IL-8, and IL-12. Results manifested that improve and clear the cervical HPV infections after three months of zinc treatment 46.43% and 21.43%, respectively. Viral infections with single and multiple HPV high-risk types are raising of studied cytokines after 3-month compared with single HPV low-risk type. Moreover, this increasing was statistically significant only in IL-12 and IL-1. Women
... Show MoreThe research dealt with the effectiveness of prediction and foresight in design as a phenomenon that plays a role in the recipient's engagement with the design, as it shows the interaction between the recipient and the interior space. The designer is keen to diversify his formal vocabulary in a way that secures visual values that call for aesthetic integration, as well as securing mental and kinetic behavioral understanding in the interior space.
As the designer deals with a three-dimensional space that carries many visual scenes, the designer should not leave anything from it without standing on it with study and investigation, and puts the user as a basic goal as he provides interpretive data through prediction and foresight that le
Different Arabic and Islamic societies are free of evil instincts. Therefore, certain provisions of legitimacy came to stress the importance of the intentions of sharia to achieve the interests of all people that involve several aspects, including the five fundamental things: religion, oneself, offspring, mind and money. Almighty Allah has specified certain punishments on those who violate these things by imposing punishments on the part of the criminal to preserve souls. He imposes the penalty of theft to preserve property, the Hadd punishment for adultery to preserve the symptoms, the punishment on the drunk to preserve the mind, and the Hadd punishment for the apostate to preserve the religion. By the adherence to these punishments li
... Show MoreMotivated by the vital role played by transition metal nitride (TMN) composites in various industrial applications, the current study reports electronic properties, thermodynamic stability phase diagram, and vacancy formation energies of the plausible surfaces of NiAs and WC-type structures of δ3-MoN and δ-WN hexagonal phases, respectively. Low miller indices of various surface terminations of δ3-MoN and δ-WN namely, (100), (110), (111), and (001) have been considered. Initial cleaving of δ3-MoN bulk unit cell offers separate Mo and N terminations signified as δ3-MoN (100): Mo, δ3-MoN(100):N, δ3-MoN(111):Mo, δ3-MoN(111):Mo, and δ3-MoN(001):Mo. However, the (110) plane reveals mix-truncated with both molybdenum and nitrogen atoms i
... Show MoreThe splicing design of the existing road and the new road in the expansion project is an important part of the design work. Based on the analysis of the characteristics and the load effect of pavement structure on splicing, this paper points out that tensile crack or shear failure may occur at the splicing under the repeated action of the traffic load on the new/old pavement. According to the current structure design code of asphalt pavement in China, it is proposed that the horizontal tensile stress at the bottom of the splicing layer and the vertical shear stress at other layers of the splicing line should be controlled by adjusting the position and size of the excavated steps in addition to the conventional design ind
... Show MoreCapillary pressure is a significant parameter in characterizing and modeling petroleum reservoirs. However, costly laboratory measurements may not be sufficiently available in some cases. The problem amplifies for carbonate reservoirs because relatively enormous capillary pressure curves are required for reservoir study due to heterogeneity. In this work, the laboratory measurements of capillary pressure and formation resistivity index were correlated as both parameters are functions of saturation. Forty-one core samples from an Iraqi carbonate reservoir were used to develop the correlation according to the hydraulic flow units concept. Flow zone indicator (FZI) and Pore Geometry and Structure (PGS) approaches were used to identify
... Show MoreCapillary pressure is a significant parameter in characterizing and modeling petroleum reservoirs. However, costly laboratory measurements may not be sufficiently available in some cases. The problem amplifies for carbonate reservoirs because relatively enormous capillary pressure curves are required for reservoir study due to heterogeneity. In this work, the laboratory measurements of capillary pressure and formation resistivity index were correlated as both parameters are functions of saturation. Forty-one core samples from an Iraqi carbonate reservoir were used to develop the correlation according to the hydraulic flow units concept. Flow zone indicator (FZI) and Pore Geometry and Structure (PGS) approaches were used to identify
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