Previous studies in Euro-American countries have shown that patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection have increased levels of neuropsychiatric symptoms. While chronic hepatitis C virus infection has been reported in Arab countries such as Iraq, there is little studies about the neuropsychological burden associated with chronic hepatitis C among patients in the Arab region. The aim of the current study was to measure the prevalence and level of severity of depression, anxiety and stress among a sample of chronic hepatitis C patients in AL-Najaf province /Iraq. The current study was cross-sectional study carried out on (110) already diagnosed chronic viral hepatitis C patients who attended the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Center/Al-Sader Medical City/Najaf/Iraq during November 2018 to May 2019. In addition, (100) apparently healthy subjects were included as a control group. The Arabic version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to assess mental health. Both the prevalence rates and severity levels of depression, anxiety and stress were significantly higher in chronic hepatitis C patients compared to the control group (P<0.001). Stress level is negatively correlated with age and is significantly more in single. Anxiety level is less with a higher level of education. Depression was significantly higher in those having children. The study indicates that the presence of chronic hepatitis C infection is associated with a higher risk of psychological burden. Accordingly, meeting the psychological needs of such patients would need to be addressed.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, progressive, inflammatory autoimmune disease of unidentified etiology, associated with articular, extra-articular and systemic manifestation that require long-standing treatment. Taking patient’s beliefs about the prescribed medication in consideration had been shown to be an essential factor that affects adherence of the patient in whom having positive beliefs is an essential for better adherence. The purpose of the current study was to measure beliefs about medicines among a sample of Iraqi patients with Rheumatoid arthritis and to determine possible association between this belief and some patient-certain factors. This study is a cross-sectional study carried out on 250 already diagnosed rheumatoid
... Show MoreLiterature reviews of reports concerning the parasitic fauna of fishes of Al-Diwaniyah province, Iraq till the end of December 2018 showed that a total of 43 parasite species are so far known from 13 valid fish species investigated for parasitic infections. The parasitic fauna included one euglenozoan, two myzozoans, six ciliophorans, three myxozoans, three trematodes, nine monogeneans, four cestodes, six nematodes, three acanthocephalans and six crustaceans. The infection with the trematodes, one monogenean, two cestodes and one nematode occurred with larval stages, while the remaining infections were either with trophozoites or adult parasites. Among the inspected fishes, Carasobarbus luteus was infected wit
... Show MorePhytoplankton assemblage in relation to physical and chemical characteristics of water in Al-Auda marsh of Maysan province southern Iraq was assessed from November 2012 to July 2013. Six sampling sites were chosen to examine all phytoplankton species in the study area. A total of 246 species and seventy-five genera have been recognized belonging to twelve phytoplankton classes as follows: Bacillariophyceae (106 taxa), Chlorophyceae (34 taxa), Euglenophyceae (29 taxa), Cyanophyceae (29 taxa), Conjugatophyceae (19 taxa), Mediophyceae (10 taxa), Cryptophyceas (5 taxa), Coscinodiscophyceae (4 taxa), Chrysophyceae (4 taxa), Dinophyceae (3 taxa), Trebouxiophyceae (2 taxa) whereas Compsopogonophyceae record
Enterobius vermicularis infection is considered as one of the important causes of anaemia and malnutrition among children. This topic has recently received an increased amount of attention. The objective of this study is to evaluate the demographical, anthropometrical, nutritional, and haematological status of E. vermicularis infection among children. This study was conducted in Al Diwaniyah province, south of Iraq, for the period of October 2020 to the end of January 2021. The study included 122 children from both genders (males, n= 61, and females, n=61) and their ages ranged between 1 and 14 years. Nutritional status, body mass index (BMI), BMI percentile, and weight- for- age Z score were evaluated for some particip
... Show MoreTo determine the relationship between hepatitis C virus infection and Diabetic mellitus type 2 , twenty patient's with diabetic mellitus type 2 aged (30-61) years old have been investigated from 01/11/2014 to 01/02/2015 and compared with fifteen parentally healthy individuals. All the studies groups were carried out to measure anti-HCV Abs by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), There was significant elevation (P≤0.05) in the HCV Abs compared with control groups .The percentage of HCV Abs was 15% and there was highly significant (P≤0.01) differences between studied group, while there was non-significant differences (P≥0.05) between patients groups according to age and gender compared with control groups. These results indicated
... Show MoreBackground: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel syndrome with discomfort and changed bowel habits in the absence of obvious structural abnormalities. It is more common among adolescents and young age groups. Aim: Aims of the study is to identify the prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among medical students of AL- Kindy College of medicine, and to Exploring the effect on IBS prevalence of general demographic form to observe the association between anxiety and IBS. Data were collected on a sample of University of Baghdad, Al-Kindy College of Medicine students in Baghdad, Iraq. The study was conducted over a period for 6 months From December 2020 to June 2021. This study enrolled 250 students who were selected rand
... Show MoreOne eighth of the bird species in the world is considered globally threatened; the avifauna of Iraq comprises 409 species and is considered as the major indicator of the health of Iraq’s biological resources. The Iraqi geography falls into five main regions among which is the desert and semi-desert areas which cover much of the country area. Al-Najaf desert is still one of the poorly known regions from the biodiversity point of view. Birds of conservation concern are detected in Al-Najaf desert during 31 field trips to 20 sites conducted from August 2018 to April 2020, (citing literature records, and personal interviews with locals).The factors caused the bird numbers to decline in Al-Najaf desert include hunting and trapping, logging,
... Show MoreBackground: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is
one of the updated challenges facing the whole world.
Objective: To identify the characteristics risk factors that
present in humans to be more liable to get an infection
than others.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted for
positively confirmed 35 patients with polymerase chain
reaction in Wasit province at AL-Zahraa Teaching
Hospital from the period of March 13th till April 20th. All
of them full a questionnaire regarded by risk factors and
other comorbidities. Data were analyzed by SPSS version
23 using frequency tables and percentage. For numerical
data, the median, and interquartile range (IQR) were used.
Differences between categoric
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) antagonists’ therapy are expensive and has a non-responsive rate between 30% to 40% in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Genetic variation plays a vital role in the responsiveness to this type of therapy.The aim of this study is to investigate if the presence of genetic polymorphism in the TNF-α gene promoter region at locations -376 G/A (rs1800750), -806 C/T (rs4248158), and -1031 T/C (rs1799964) affects rheumatoid arthritis patient's tendency to be a non-responder to etanercept.
Eighty RA patients on etanercept (ETN) for at least six months were recruited from the Rheumatology Unit at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Based on The European League Against Rheumatism response (EULAR) criteria, patient
... Show MoreThis study was conducted to determine the relationship between test anxiety and cognitive representation among university students. To this end, 152 student (male, female) were chosen randomly from scientific and social departments to fill out the questionnaires of test anxiety and cognitive representation. The researcher utilized Independent Samples T-Test, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, Cronbach's alpha and T-Test in his study. The result revealed that there were negative and a weak correlation between test anxiety and cognitive representation among university students.