Background: The overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics cause antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) plays a crucial role in improving prescribing antibiotics. Although the Iraqi Ministry of Health has issued ASP legislation, its full implementation in clinical practice remains incomplete. Objectives: To explore physicians' perspectives regarding the current and potential implementation of ASP in Al-Nasiriya hospitals. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in Al-Nasiriyah public hospitals from December 17, 2023, to January 21, 2024, using face-to-face interviews. Physicians who prescribe antibiotics, work in Al-Nasiriyah public hospitals, and consent to participate in the study were recruited using purposeful and snowball sampling, and the size of the sample was specified by saturation. The interviews' audio was transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically. Results: Nine public hospitals in Al-Nasiriyah were included in the study. One hospital was excluded because the ASP was activated after data collection began. Sixteen physicians in different specialties were recruited, 15 males and one female. Thematic analysis revealed two major themes: challenges in antibiotic prescribing practices (3 subthemes: antibiotic selection, review, and practice, antibiotic mismanagement, and antibiotic resistance) and antibiotic stewardship implementation (4 subthemes: ASP knowledge and components, perceived benefits and importance, implementation challenges and barriers, and ASP enablers). Conclusions: There were many challenges in antibiotic prescribing practice, including antibiotic mismanagement and AMR. The participants acknowledged the importance of the ASP, but they mentioned many barriers to its application.
This paper studied the behaviour of reinforced reactive powder concrete (RPC) two-way slabs under static load. The experimental program included testing three simply supported slabs of 1000 mm length, 1000 mm width, and 70 mm thickness. Tested specimens were of identical properties except their steel fibers volume ratio (0.5 %, 1 %, and 1.5 %). Static test results revealed that, increasing steel fibers volume ratio from 0.5% to 1% and from 1% to 1.5%, led to an increase in: first crack load by (32.2 % and 52.3 %), ultimate load by (36.1 % and 17.0 %), ultimate deflection by (33.6 % and 3.4 %), absorbed energy by (128 % and 20.2 %), and the ultimate strain by (1.1 % and 6.73 %). The stiffness and ductility of the specimens also increased. A
... Show MoreThe research aims to know the reverberation of the the electronica news bulletin of the ministry of higher education and scientific research in the newspapers of: (AL-Taakhi, AL-Zaman, ALAdala,AL-Sabah and Baghdad) for period from 2nd October 2011 to 1st November 2011 to explain its activity and advantage for the other newspapers and to show the importance which the newspapers showed for the study of the news subject in the bulletin, as well as,to show the proportional differences in which the newspapers interested in the subjects of the published news, and to reach to the results which lead us to good conclusions for the service of decision owner and open new horizons for the researchers to expanding in the s
... Show MoreThe construction industry in Iraq suffers from many problems, perhaps the most important of which is the delay in time and the increase in costs. Therefore, it was necessary to try to adopt a new methodology that would help in overcoming these problems. It was suggested to combine building information modeling with the agile management approach because this technique and methodology is modern and helps in reducing time and cost and improving quality. This paper aims to know the status of using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Agile Project management (APM) in Iraq and to shed light on the merging of this integration, explaining the benefits, difficulties, and workflow practices, finding the most influencing factors on the tim
... Show MoreChronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is one type of leukemia that arises from lymphocytes' progenitor cell in the Bone marrow, it affects individuals over the age of 50 years in both genders. In Iraq, leukemia affected 1532 (847 males and 683 females) according to the latest announced statistics of the Iraqi Cancer Registry Center in 2012. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia may occur due to several genetic causes, such as chromosomal aberrations and gene mutations, or exposure to carcinogens and mutagens (radiation, chemicals, and oncogenic viruses). The most famous virus is the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is a gamma herpesvirus that infects more than 90% of individuals. Its infection is mostly a latent infection, and EBV remains latent in memo
... Show MoreThe objective of this study was to investigate and compare among five different methods of contraception including combined oral contraceptive pills (COC), Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), copper Intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD), vaginal spermicides and male condom used in Hawler City through estimate of their effect, relative failure rate, percentage of use, adherence and compliance and adverse effects of each contraceptive method. In order to reach to these aims, a retrospective study was conducted in Hawler City in Azadi Health Care Center over a period of 6 months from 22th November, 2010 to 15th May, 2011 during which data collection and subjects follow up for 3 months had been achieved. A conv
... Show MoreThis study aimed to explore and separate the phytochemicals of the whole plant Conyza canadensis, a naturally growing plant in Iraq, since no phytochemical research was done previously in Iraq. The whole plant of C. canadensis was defatted by maceration in hexane for 24 hours. The defatted plant materials were extracted using Soxhlet apparatus, the aqueous ethanol 85% as a solvent extraction for 9 hours, and fractionated by petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. The petroleum ether, chloroform, and ethyl acetate fractions were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for their steroids, alkaloids, and polyphenolic (phenolic acids and flavonoids) contents. One alkaloid was isolated from chloroform fractio
... Show MoreThis research investigates the impact of varying concentrations of silver oxide on the structure and morphology of phosphate bioactive glass (PBG). PBGs are gaining popularity as a potential replacement for traditional silicate glasses in biomedical applications due to their adjustable chemical resistance and exceptional bioactivity. Upon examination of the scanning electron microscope of the composites without Ag2O, it was observed that the grains tended to merge together, and the surface particles appeared to be larger than those in composites with Ag2O at concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 wt%. The study found that the diffraction pattern of phosphate bioactive glass composites sintered without Ag2O showed the presence of Stro
... Show MoreThis paper presents an efficient methodology to design modified evaporative air-cooler for winter air-conditioning in Baghdad city as well as using it for summer air-conditioning by adding a heating process after the humidification process. laboratory tests were performed on a direct evaporative cooler (DEC) followed by passing the air on hot water through heat exchanger placed in the coolers air duct exit. The tests were conducted on the 2nd of December /2011 when the ambient temperature was 8.1°C and the relative humidity was (68%). The air flow rate is assumed to vary between 0.069 to 0.209 kg/s with constant water flow rate of 0.03 kg/s in the heat exchanger. The performance is reported in terms of effectiveness of DEC, satura
... Show MoreA numerical study has been carried out to investigate heat transfer by natural convection and radiation under the effect of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) for steady state axisymmetric twodimensional laminar flow in a vertical cylindrical channel filled with saturated porous media. Heat is generated uniformly along the center of the channel with its vertical surface remain with cooled constant wall temperature and insulated horizontal top and bottom surfaces. The governing equations which used are continuity, momentum and energy equations which are transformed to dimensionless equations. The finite difference approach is used to obtain all the computational results using the MATLAB-7 programming. The parameters affected on the system are Rayl
... Show MoreThis paper presents an experimental study between uniform pile and different types of under-reamed pile, single bulb. The under-reamed piles are piles with enlarged bases that are suitable to resist considerable movement of the ground, filed up ground, soft clay, and loose sand which have advantages to increase the soil strength, uplift capacity, and decrease the displacement. In the present study, there are experimental analyze to performance the suitable under-reamed type under sinusoidal load from vertical vibration (motor-oscillator was mounted directly on the pile cap. The main finding of this work is that the pile capacity increases with the ream and that all stress values of so