Background: While warfarin and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are used to manage thromboembolic events, they possess several features that impact adherence. Objective: To assess medication adherence and self-efficacy in patients receiving warfarin or DOAC treatment. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed at Ibn Al-Bitar Hospital in Baghdad from December 2022 to May 2023 on patients receiving either warfarin or DOACs. The Arabic version of the Adherence to Refills and Medications Scale (ARMS) questionnaire and the Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease 6-Item Scale (SES6C) questionnaire were used to assess adherence and self-efficacy. Results: 181 patients were enrolled in the study, of whom 56.9% received warfarin and 43.1% received DOACs. The mean ARMS score was 13.71, and 81.77% of the patients were adherent to anticoagulant therapy. There was a significant difference in adherence between the warfarin and DOAC groups. The mean SES6C score for the participants was 50.01. Patients in the DOAC group had significantly higher self-efficacy compared to those in the warfarin group. The adherence score correlated significantly with patients’ gender, education level, hospitalization and duration of anticoagulant use, while the SES6C score did not correlate with any of the independent variables. There was a significant negative correlation between self-efficacy scores and medication adherence scores. Conclusions: Patients receiving DOACs showed a higher self-efficacy to manage chronic diseases and lower medication adherence as compared to warfarin. Higher self-efficacy was associated with higher adherence to treatment.
The current work was designed to investigate serum angiopoietin like protein-8 and hyaluronic acid among Iraqi hemodialysis patients with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus, and to find relationship between them, as well as if these patients are at risk of kidney fibrosis. Subjects & Methods: in this study, serum samples were obtained from (60) Iraqis patients with end stage renal diseases (ESRD)on hemodialysis (HD) (30 patients with T2DM (G2) and 30 patients withoutT2DM (G3)) in addition to (30) healthy individuals as a control group (G1), their ages ranged from (35-65) years. The patients attended the Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, Baghdad. Results: the results in this study showed a highly a significant elevation inserum angiopoietin li
... Show MoreThe present study aimed to look for the differences in the oxidative stress status in sera and saliva samples of type 2 diabetic Iraqi patients with and without proliferative diabetic retinopathy. As well as to look for the possibility whether this status can be measured in saliva as an alternative sample to that of serum, hence to achieve that total oxidant status, total antioxidant status and oxidative stress index were measured in both sera and saliva samples of two groups of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and the healthy individuals. Upon the comparison between patients without proliferative diabetic retinopathy and the control sample the results showed presence of a significant increase (p < 0.05) of total oxidant st
... Show MoreThe relationship between blood group antigens and peptic ulcer disease has been widely evaluated in the past, but only one study relating H pylori seroprevalence to ABO blood groups among Iraqi patients with peptic ulcer disease is available. We aimed to evaluate the frequency of peptic ulcer disease among different ABO blood groups in Iraqi patients, and we thought it was worthwhile to try to determine whether these components take some part in disease etiology. One hundred and six patients with peptic ulcer disease (PUD) (43 male and 63 female; mean age: 48 ± 18 years) who attended Baghdad teaching hospital and Al- Yarmouk teaching hospital endoscopy centers were enrolled , and 238 control Subjects. Fing
... Show MorePurpose: To compare the antibacterial-enhancing efficacy of aloe vera and honey in salicylic acid topical formulations against acne. Method: Six formulations containing 5 % salicylic acid were developed as creams and gels as follows: Formulations S, V and H were creams containing salicylic acid alone (S), salicylic acid with 28 % aloe vera (V), and salicylic acid with 10 % honey (H). Formulations J, M, and B were gels containing salicylic acid alone (J), salicylic acid with aloe vera 20 % (M) and salicylic acid with 12 % honey (B). Each formula was evaluated for colour, odour, pH, viscosity, spreadability, and stability under different temperatures (25, 30, and 60oC) and times (1 hour, 1 day, and 1 week). Furthermore, antibacterial
... Show MoreBackground: One of the most important complications of fixed orthodontic treatment is formation of white spots, which are initial carious lesions. Addition of antimicrobial agents into orthodontic adhesive material might be wise solution for prevention of white spots formation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial properties of orthodontic adhesive primer against S. Mutans after adding the three different types of nanoparticles (Ag, ZnO, or TiO2). Materials and methods: Discs were prepared using empty insulin syringe approximately 2 mm×2 mm rounded in shape specimens (40 discs) were divided into four groups (ten discs for each group): The first group was the control (made from primer only), the second group (10 dis
... Show MoreBackground: Osteoarthritis OA is the most common joint disorder in the world. Injection of high molecular weight hyaluronic acid intra-articular with steroid is a one of the used therapeutic option for patients with (OA)knee.
Objectives: Objective of this study was the evaluation the efficacy, safety, pluse duration of action of viscosupplementation of the HMWHA( high molecular weight hyluranic acid ).
Type of the study: Cross-sectional study.
Methods: From 81 patients with sever knee pain due to OA (grades 3–4) were recruited from Al-Yarmouk teaching hospital & a private clinic during the period from January 2014 till July 2016.
... Show MoreBackground: Acute urinary tract infection is a common bacterial infection causing illness in infants and children. At age of seven, 8% of girls and 2% of boys will have at least one episode. Although drinking water and using home remedies are known to help to flush away bacteria and keeps them from sticking to the bladder wall, researches to test the efficacy and safety of hydrochlorothiazide's diuretic effect as adjuvant to the antibiotics in pediatric age groups are lacking, and so this research was to address this subject.
Objectives: To assess the effectiveness and the safety of hydrochlorothiazide as adjuvant therapy to the antibiotics in treating acute urinary tract infect
... Show MoreAs a result of the significance of image compression in reducing the volume of data, the requirement for this compression permanently necessary; therefore, will be transferred more quickly using the communication channels and kept in less space in memory. In this study, an efficient compression system is suggested; it depends on using transform coding (Discrete Cosine Transform or bi-orthogonal (tap-9/7) wavelet transform) and LZW compression technique. The suggested scheme was applied to color and gray models then the transform coding is applied to decompose each color and gray sub-band individually. The quantization process is performed followed by LZW coding to compress the images. The suggested system was applied on a set of seven stand
... Show MoreBackground: Oral pyogenic granuloma (PG) is a clinicopathological entity that could develop due to the reaction to a variety of stimuli, such as low-grade local irritation, traumatic damage, and hormonal stimulation. There are two histopathological types of pyogenic granuloma; lobular type -capillary hemangioma (LCH) and non-lobular type; with PG,LCH has highly vascular, diffuse capillary growth while non- lobular variant mimicking granulation tissue with heavily inflammated stroma. The study aims were to review the clinical and histopathological spectrum of an oral pyogenic granuloma from different intraoral sites in order to avoid diagnostic pitfalls associated with similar morphological lesions and to determine
... Show MoreAround fifty isolates of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi were isolated from blood specimens of patients referring to several hospitals in Kirkuk province, Iraq. The results revealed that all isolates developed resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and chloramphenicol. However, neither sul2 nor tem genes were detected. Moreover, only ten isolates were positive for catP. Our data suggested participation of other genes or mechanisms allow these multidrug isolates to resist the antibiotics in question.