Kurdistan Journal of Applied Research (KJAR)
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Assessment of Medication Use by Publics in Sulaimani Province
Get PDFDrug uses is a multi-step process starting from consulting doctor, prescribing, ordering and using via individual either public or healthcare staff for therapeutic reasons. This process can be problematic for several reasons, especially in developing countries due to easily access to medications, self-diagnosis and people recommendation for certain cases. The aims of the present study were to assess the practice and attitude of medication uses and the knowledge about medication advantage and their risks by publics in Sulaymaniyah province. Then to build correlations between demographic characteristics and medication uses, in order to show the main impact of widely used medication on public health status. Finally, to provide community with statistical data about the level of knowledge, attitude and practice KAP in this region. The overall six hundred participant from the average of ten locations between governmental and privates hospitals and pharmacies as well as clinics were selected from central city and towns for data collection. The majority of participants were public from different background. The present study concluded that the 60 percentage of the participant were lack of adequate knowledge about the ability for differentiation between analgesic and antibiotic medications. The results of the current study showed inappropriate practices and attitudes that contribute to increasing health risks. It is also found that 72 percentage of participant who use prescription only drugs such as antibiotics can be possibly stopped after situation disappeared. This study also investigated several reasons for inappropriate practice, such as wrong believes with irregular consumption of medications, illiteracy, poor health services in terms of pharmacies and healthcare staff as well as easy access to most of the types of medications. Therefore, effort by governmental authorities is urgent toward reducing the risk of the situation, and negative consequences regarding inappropriate practice toward patient care in the region
Climate Analysis to Predict Potential Spread and Seasonality for Global (COVID-19) in Iraqi Kurdistan Region
Get PDFThe present study is about the relationship of the climate to the possibility of turning (COVID-19) into a seasonal epidemic in Iraqi Kurdistan region. The study area is located in the northern Iraq, within subtropical zone in northern hemisphere, it lies between two latitudes (32° 38' – 37° 22') N and longitudes (41° 18' – 46° 21') E. It surrounded by Turkey from north, the Islamic Republic of Iran from east, Syria from northwest and with other parts of Iraq from south and west. To achieve the aim of this study, these topics were analyzed (climatic analysis to spatial variation of (COVID-19) outbreak through the world, climatic characteristics of the study area, and seasonal and spatial danger degree analysis to (COVID-19) in the study area). The evidences indicated that cold and dry conditions may facilitate the spread of the virus. According to the study area the lower the temperature is the greater relative humidity will be and vice versa. Therefore, the study assumed that seasonal differences of temperature and humidity in different regions of the study area might contribute to the balanced risk of infection with the virus
Effects of School Closure on Transmission of COVID-19. A Rapid Systematic Review
Get PDFGlobally school closure is one of the social distancing strategies used to mitigate transmission of pandemic novel corona virus (COVID-19) among school populations. However, there are uncertainties around when, how and for how long schools need to be closed. There is limited evidence for the impact of school closure on the number of cases and spread of COVID-19 to inform management of future outbreaks. Several databases were searched using an adapted search strategy to obtain studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A large number of studies were found and they were quality appraised. Eight good quality studies were identified and these were reviewed. The studies that contained the desired outcomes were three epidemiological studies, and five modeling studies using actual data that making assumptions about changes in transmission dynamics after school closure is applied. The results show that schools were closed for different timings related to the peak epidemics. School closure almost reduced the transmission of the COVID-19. Delay in closing schools and combinations with other control and management measures may affect the likelihood of drawing consistent conclusions about the effectiveness of school closure on COVID-19.  
Modified AlexNet Convolution Neural Network For Covid-19 Detection Using Chest X-ray Images
Get PDFFirst outbreak of COVID-19 was in the city of Wuhan in China in Dec.2019 and then it becomes a pandemic disease all around the world. World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed more than 5.5 million cases and 341,155 deaths from the disease till the time of writing this paper. This new worldwide disease forced researchers to make more precise way to diagnose COVID-19. In the last decade, medical imaging techniques show its efficiency in helping radiologists to detect and diagnose the diseases. Deep learning and transfer learning algorithms are good techniques to detect disease from different image source types such as X-Ray and CT scan images. In this work we used a deep learning technique based on Convolution Neural Network (CNN) to detect and diagnose COVID-19 disease using Chest X-ray images. Moreover, the modified AlexNet architecture is proposed in different scenarios were differing from each other in terms of the type of the pooling layers and/or the number of the neurons that have used in the second fully connected layer. The used chest X-ray images are gathered from two COVID-19 X-ray image datasets and one dataset includes large number of normal and pneumonia X-ray images. With the proposed models we obtained the same or even better result than the original AlexNet with having a smaller number of neurons in the second fully connected layer
Effect of Using Building Maintenance Information Management System in Maintenance Process in Ministry of Education
Get PDFEducational buildings and Schools are one of the important facilities in community directly related to all families and any problems in the buildings affect the learning process, in Kurdistan according to the latest status about 60% of schools need maintenance and renovations and these data’s needs to manage properly. Information management involves the design of a system in which data is collected and processed into management information, Missing building information or outdated lead to ineffective project management. In this research a web-based model namely BMIMS (Building Maintenance Information Management System) is developed to record, kept, manage and share all information between technical staff in directories. The Model presented to the technical staffs in MOE (Ministry of Education), perform a survey using the special questionaries’ form. The results show that the system has an impact on maintenance process and information management in MOE, the system outcome effect on three themes which are information, communication and cost. The model lead to increase collaboration, communication and productivity, and reducing request for information, losing data, time, rework and administration cost. BMIMS also improves data gathering, information management, better design and construction decisions, knowledge transfer, and staffs technical skills. The research indicates the factors which lead to implement in MOE, training staff is the first one after that the hardware and IT issue after that adoption by top managers. This model is most suitable for other ministries carrying out maintenance
Community-Based Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Towards COVID-19: an Epidemiological Survey in Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Get PDFCovid-19 considered as a pandemic disease and spread very rapidly, the people are needed to respond to this danger situation without becoming complacent because still there is no vaccine for it. The sample of this cross - sectional descriptive study was consisted of 1250 Kurdish male and female, their ages ranged between 14- 76 years. The main objective of the study is conducted to assess the people’s knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP study) toward COVID-19. The data were collected during the period of April 4 up to June 2020. A self- constructed questionnaire was used for data collection and it was designed according guidelines, literatures, and articles concerning COVID-19; which consisted of 40 variables. The researchers made google form for the questionnaire and distributed by local residents of Kurdistan region. Relying on the authors’ networks, and sent by (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram). Therefore, the data analyzed through the using of the (SPSS, version 23). A p value of ? 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The findings of the current study concluded that the main way for obtaining knowledge of the participants was social media and it was much more than ministry of health, WHO and CDC together. Also, the study indicated that the age group of 21-30 years old has a high score of knowledge and attitude while the age group of 31-40 years old has a high score of practical issues regarding COVID-19. As well as, the female employer by Bachelor degree with barely sufficient financial status in urban area had a high score of KAP concerning COVID-19, lastly the present study observed a strong positive correlation between KAP toward coronavirus among the participants. The study recommended to ministry of health and health sectors to present much more scientific healthy issues to improve the knowledge, attitude, and practice of the Kurdish citizens concerning coronavirus because the health care workers are much more dependable scientifically than social media toward COVID-19 to prevent rapid transmission and control this serious situation
Outcomes of Type I Tympanoplasty using a Cartilage Shield Graft
Get PDFBackground: Type I tympanoplasty surgery is an effective routine technic that had been used for tympanic reconstruction to improve hearing. Objectives: The aim was to measure the effect of type I tympanoplasty surgery using the cartilage shield graft (CSG) in term of graft uptake (anatomical outcome) and hearing gains (functional outcomes) of patients with poor prognostic factors. Method and Materials: In this study, 20 patients with perforation exceeded 50%, but limited to the tympanic membrane were recruited for type I tympanoplasty surgery. The study was conducted in the Otolaryngology/Head and Neck surgery training center in Sulaimani Teaching Hospital in Sulaimani city for one year period. Bellucci classi?cation was used to evaluate otorrhea risks. Results: The majority of patients were female (90%), with a mean ± SD (standard deviation) of ages of 37.15 ± 14.01 years. Most of the patients (40%) were presented with a mild hearing loss of 26-40 decibels (dB). Type I tympanoplasty surgery using the cartilage shield graft (CSG) had significantly decreased the hearing loss and air-bone gap (p-value = 0.046 and 0.006, respectively). The mean differences in hearing loss and air-bone gap were 5.05 dB and 6.75 dB, respectively. Conclusions: CSG in type I tympanoplasty surgery is an effective solution in anatomical outcome (Graft uptake) and functional outcomes (hearing gains) which had been reflected in reducing hearing loss and air-bone gap (average hearing gain of 5dB) in patients presented with tympanic membrane perforations. No improvement in the functional outcomes was observed in patients presented with severe hearing loss pre-operatively
Skin Tumors Diagnosis Utilizing Case Based Reasoning and The Expert System
Get PDFSkin cancer is considered as the most type of cancer that happens in humans. Three basic types of cancer occur which are basal cell carcinoma (BCC), Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Skin cancer leads to death if it is not diagnosed in an early stage. Fortunately, early diagnosis of skin cancer raises the survival rate of victims. Computer-aided has a great role to detect skin cancer which leads to saving human life. Based on that, this study proposes a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system that detects skin cancer using digital images, techniques of image processing, by using the case-based reasoning and expert system. The main goal for designing this system is to create a cheap, easy-to-use, and relatively accurate system for detecting skin cancer in an early stage to save human life, raises the survival rate, and decreases the cost of the dermoscopy test
Effect of Impact Load on Concrete Containing Recycled Tire Rubber Aggregate With and Without Fire Exposure
Get PDFOver one billion tires are disposed into the environment each year and this has become a major environmental issue in the globe. Recycling of these waste tire rubbers in concrete has gained attention from researchers all around the world. In this study, the impact resistance of rubberized concrete exposed to fire is investigated experimentally in the laboratory. For that purpose, sixty specimens were made with five different mixes replacing their sand content partially with different percentages of tire rubber by weight ratios of 0% control, 6%, 12%, 18% and 24%. The water/cement ratio was kept constant at 0.393 in all the mixes. In each mix, fifteen concrete specimens with the size of (150 x 150 x 73) mm were prepared to expose to fire. Every three specimens were gradually exposed to fire for four various durations of (0, 15, 30, and 45) minutes. Each specimen was then tested in a drop-weight impact machine by dropping 2240-gr and 4500-gr hammers from heights of 280 mm and 450 mm. The average impact energy of three identical specimens required for the occurrence of the final fracture was calculated. The investigational results are compared with results of control samples. It is found that the impact energy considerably increased with an increase of the rubber replacement. It is, also, noted that any increase in the burning period of specimens results in a reduction of the impact energy and more early crushing of the rubberized concrete
Reservoir Productivity Analysis of Intercalated limestone and Anhydrite Beds in Zagros Folded Belt, Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Get PDFThe Early Jurassic rock of Alan Formation in Barda Rash field has been examined using petrophysical wireline log analysis, drilling stem test, mud logging reports, drilling cutting and core samples for evaluation of reservoir potentiality and fluid production throughout heterogeneous rocks intervals in three exploration and appraisal wells. The Alan Formation consists of intercalation of light, chalky and argillaceous limestone beds with shale layers in the upper part and dominantly anhydrite layers from the middle to the lower parts of the formation. Qualitatively, weak oil shows of light brown to dark brown and blackish heavy oil have been observed while drilling. Furthermore, light brown trace oil has been recorded in the fracture surfaces of the core samples. The wireline log analysis provided an overestimated result for the hydrocarbon bearing interval identification and fluid movability index as the anhydrite layers confused the fluid distribution detection in the drilled interval. However, the combined results achieved from the mud logging reports and drilling stem tests were operated within the drilled intervals shown a limited productivity levels from the limestone beds of the Early Jurassic Alan Formation. The oil production from the studied interval does not exceed 10% and the entire production rates were composed of formation water with a trace amount of gases. As a result, the Early Jurassic Alan Formation can be considered as a tight carbonate reservoir rocks in the Barda Rash field