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Assessment of COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare workers in Iraq; adverse effects and hesitancy
Get PDFSeveral messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and inactivated COVID-19 vaccines are available to the global population as of 2022. The acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine will play a key role in combating the worldwide pandemic. Public confidence in this vaccine is largely based on its safety and effectiveness. This study was designed to provide independent evidence of the adverse effects associated with COVID-19 vaccines among healthcare workers in Iraq and to identify the attitudes of healthcare workers who rejected the vaccination. We conducted a cross-sectional study to collect data on the adverse effects of the Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm vaccines. Data were collected between October 2021 and February 2022. A total of 2,202 participants were enrolled in the study: (89.97%) received injections of the COVID-19 vaccines and (10.03%) were hesitant to receive the vaccination. Participants received either the Pfizer vaccine (62.9%), AstraZeneca vaccine (23.5%) or Sinopharm vaccine (13.6%). Most adverse effects were significantly less prevalent in the second dose than in the first dose. Notably, the adverse effects associated with the Pfizer vaccine were significantly more prevalent in females than in males. Following the first dose, the participants experienced more adverse effects with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Following the second dose, more adverse effects were associated with the Pfizer vaccine. Interestingly, the prevalence of COVID-19 infection in participants who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine was significantly reduced compared to those who received two doses of either the AstraZeneca or Sinopharm vaccines. According to vaccine-hesitated participants, insufficient knowledge (29.9%), expeditious development (27.6%) and lack of trust in the vaccines (27.1%) were the three major reasons for refusing the vaccines. The results of our study indicated that these adverse effects do not present a significant problem and should not prevent successful control of the COVID-19 pandemic
People with diabetes adherence to drug, dietary, and lifestyle changes in Erbil city, Iraq
Get PDFBackground
Since diabetes has serious complications that might result in life-long handicaps or even death, it is vital to ensure that people have reasonable control of the disease, which is eventually by good adherence to drugs, diet, and a good lifestyle. People non-adherence to any part of the therapy program for diabetes might result in worsening the condition. This study aimed to evaluate the compliance of people with diabetes to drug, diet, and lifestyle changes in Erbil city, Iraq.
Patients and methods
A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample of 288 people with diabetes visiting Layla Qasim Health Center for people with diabetes in Erbil city, Iraq. Data were collected by interviewing the participants and filling out a questionnaire. The survey demonstrated the socio-demographic status, history, information about the participant's condition, frequency of self-monitoring, medication use, the impact of the surroundings and people's concerns, diet, and lifestyle of the participants.
Results
Of 202 participants responded to the questionnaire, 56.9% were female. The mean age was 52.53 ± 13.882 years. 85.6% of the participants were taking the medication regularly, and 78.8% of the participants followed a recommended diet by their doctors. Only 56.4% were exercising, with a majority being male, 70.1%.A strong association was found between gender and doing exercise, educational level and taking the medication regularly, duration of the disease, and following the recommended diet.
Conclusions
The adherence to taking the medication regularly is high, in which single most important cause is following up with their doctors. In contrast, adherence to lifestyle recommendations was suboptimal and essential in managing diabetes. Another reason is that educational level plays a role in understanding the importance of following the recommended lifestyle by the doctor
Homogenisation of Biocultural Diversity: Plant Ethnomedicine and Its Diachronic Change in Setomaa and Võromaa, Estonia, in the Last Century
Get PDFWhen studying the evolution of the use of medicinal plants, it is important to identify what role, and to what extent, external factors and local biocultural diversities play in shaping cultural changes. We chose as a case study, which forms part of a larger project, a religiously and linguistically distinct group, the Seto, and compared their current and past plant use with that of the surrounding Võro. Ethnobotanical fieldwork was conducted in the summers of 2018 and 2019. Current uses of plants constituted 34% of the total registered use reports and 41% of those were used to treat general diseases or used as prophylactics. In total, the medicinal use of 86 taxa was recorded, and of these 48 were prevalent. Strong erosion (the abandonment of 43, mainly wild taxa used historically) and valorisation of the uses shared with neighboring as well as distant regions once part of the Soviet Union, were evident, signalling the potential influence of the centralised distribution of knowledge. The results clearly show that the plant medicine-related biocultural diversities of the two groups have been considerably homogenised, eroded and influenced by the knowledge spread through various means during the Soviet era and over the last 30 years
Effect of Static Magnetic Field on Bone Marrow Cellular Density
Get PDFThis study was undertaken to investigate the influence of static magnetic field (SMF) on bone marrow cellular density (BMCD) variation proportionally to bone trabeculae. Female albino Wistar rats exposed with 2.4 ± 0.2 millitesla for 1–4weeks duration continuously versus 1h, 2h, 6h, and 8h/day. Trephine biopsy of femurs bone was examined under optical microscope. Data analyzed with ImageJ software. Results showed that short time exposure per day did not enhance the BMCD compare to high exposure period/day. Six hours/day exposure during 1week increased the marrow cellular density (hypercellularity) significantly (P ≤ 0.05) compares to bone trabeculae. Contrarily, 8h/day exposure reduced the BMCD slightly and significantly (hypocellularity, about 50% reduction) due to 1week and 4weeks exposure duration, respectively. The SMF has associated bone marrow cellularity tendency of rat’s femur
CONTEMPORARY TRENDS TOWARD ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN THE KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ
Get PDFEnvironmental problems can be the public’s concern, and they also feel the ratio of dangerousness.
Consequently, collecting their opinions and trying to get to know the way of their thinking regarding their envi�ronmental problem and solving them was an attractive case study for the authors of this article. In this research,
the authors found the public’s opinion and attitude regarding environmental situations and issues in Kurdistan
Region-Iraq throughout a public questionnaire/survey. Around 450 people randomly participated from various
geographical locations/cities of the region proportioned to the population rate regarding different demography,
gender, age, and academic background. The statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program was used
to analyze their opinion. Also, the cross-tabulation method was used to understand the relationship between two
or more variables. Gender, age, and educational background had effects on the participants’ attitudes toward
environmental issues. Females, aged from 20 to 30, and Ph.D. degree holders were paying more attention to
the environment. Geographically, the participation ratio for the Sulaimani, Erbil, Duhok, Halabja, and Kirkuk
Provinces was 28.48 %, 21.95 %, 17.61%, 16.69%, and 15.00 %, respectively. High and low participation levels
of the contributors are a reflection of the environmental awareness of the contributors, providing environmental facilities for the people, background, and culture of the community, and stability of political, economical, and
social issues of the areas. Furthermore, COVID-19 affected the environment, and commonly it had a positive
impact on the environment
Access to and Utilization of Information and Communication Technology by the Teaching Staff at Tishk International University
Get PDFThe objective of this study is to assess the usage of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) by TISHK International University (TIU) teaching staff. The data were obtained from
62 teaching staff from the Engineering, Information Technology (IT) and Education faculties. A
standardized questionnaire was utilized to obtain data from research participants. Descriptive statistics,
Confidence Interval, One-Sample t-test, Two-Sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA were all used to analyse
the data obtained. This facilitated the evaluation of differences in usage by various departments and
faculties at the university. The outcome of the study was that there were no differences in usage of ICT
regarding the participants’ educational status, ages, gender, educational level, and marital status.
However, a significant difference in the number of hours spent using ICT tools was found
Biophilic Design Patterns Implementation in Houses A Case Study of Residential Villages in Erbil City
Get PDFIn the last decade, rapid growth of Erbil city population needed more buildings to be built, due to which natural environment was faded away in order to expand built environment that led to an isolation of human beings from nature. In response to this separation, biophilic design qualities are considered as tools for reconnecting people with the benefits of nature in built environment (Kellert, 2008). This study investigated the application of biophilic design patterns practically in three residential projects located in Erbil city. The methodology was a mixed method approach through using a non-participant structured observation and an interview among residents that reside in 60 single houses to test research hypotheses. The results showed that averagely the presence strength of biophilic design patterns was low in studied houses, while more than half of respondents were aware about the benefits of biophilic design qualities. In conclusion, the factors that influence the presence strength of biophilic design qualities inside single houses are stated. Finally, the outcomes of this research provided recommendations that will help in more shifting single houses to be aligned with biophilic design strategy in Erbil city
The Function of Code-Switching in EFL Classroom at Tishk International University
Get PDFThe utilization of code-switching in EFL classrooms among instructors is quite common in the education field as a teaching tool. However, code-switching has been a critical issue for some teachers because they think it decreases students’ performance. In contrast, other teachers use code-switching as a teaching tool. Instructors and students of the English language in Kurdistan higher education institutions tend to use two or more languages alternately and fluently for a variety of reasons and functions in bilingual classes. The paper aims to examine the function of code-switching (CS) on EFL students. Moreover, it investigates the instructor’s view toward CS in ESL classrooms. The observation and interview were carried out to collect data among three different groups of twenty-five students. The result of the observation was compared to the interview result for better analysis. Finally, the finding of this paper proves that lectures code-switch for different purposes: explaining the topic, asking the question, checking students’ understanding, and classroom management. In addition, during the interview, two lecturers claimed that they do not employ code-switching in the classroom, but it was observed that they do when instructing
Hydrogen Production through Photocatalytic Reactions Using TiO2 Nanoparticles
Get PDFPhotocatalytic water splitting technology by depositing Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) will create a low cost and atmosphere sensitive natural reserve for dealing with the gas, such as planetary energy, that can provide long term energy demand. TiO2 NPs is very economical as a photocatalyst from a large area semiconductor material. Many of the disadvantages of using titanium dioxide as photocatalysts are tantamount to a decrease in the ability to absorb observable light and quick recombination of electrons photoexcited holes (e-/h+). Its movement is limited by ultraviolet illumination, actinic energy, and actinic light, which remains simply a solar spectrum. This review article sheds light on numerous issues and therefore recent research related to TiO2 nano photocatalysis to efficiently form stellar gas using cacophonic water photocatalytic technology
Challenges and Opportunities of E-Learning in Secondary School in Iraq
Get PDFE-Learning has become an integral part of educational settings because of the advancements in
information and communication technologies. Despite the fact that E-Learning has been implemented
successfully, many programs fail to meet their objectives. E-Learning scholars and practitioners have been
inspired to investigate the aspects that influence the success or failure of the program. Specifically, this study
aims to analyze the elements that impact the introduction and growth of E-Learning and the most suitable
framework for secondary schools in Iraq. E-effectiveness learning's in Iraqi and Arab education systems is
the focus of this study, since this field of research is lacking in both theoretical and empirical investigations.
A conceptual framework for integrating the important components and demographic data is proposed in the
study. Using the conceptual framework offered, educational institutions and governments may better design
and execute new E-Learning programs, as well as analyze the effectiveness of current ones