Aims and Objectives: Performance- and Image-Enhancing Drugs (PIEDs) refer to all known forms of substances, that can enhance either the morphology or the physiological performance or both simultaneously. The exponential rise of electronic commerce (e-commerce) for PIEDs is a major public issue, for which control protocols are to be deployed.Materials and Methods: It would be a waste of time and resources to track and/or shut down all PIED-promoting websites one by one. Cyberspace is vast; the PIED “product managers” will always adapt to surveillance-control policies over their illegitimate online businesses. A more rational approach would be to track, challenge, and tackle the same resources upon which PIED electronic commerce is based: the infrastructure of the World Wide Web (the Internet).Results: Concerning PIED e-commerce, the main resources are Google and AOL (search engines); YouTube, Wikipedia, and Facebook (social media sites); and Alibaba, Amazon, and eBay (major e-commerce websites).Conclusion: Illegal PIED e-commerce became a major public problem. The major drivers are the Internet search engines, social media sites, and major e-commerce websites. Effective protocols toward these resources would hinder any future progress of this illegitimate worldwide phenomenon.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.7(4) 2016 88-93
Aims and Objectives:To evaluate the relevance of high-sensitivity assays for C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), as a sensitive marker of inflammation in asthmatic Iraqi patients. Additionally, correlations of serum levels of hs-CRP with patients' clinical characteristics and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) will be studied in a cross-sectional design. Materials and Methods: A random sample of 58 individuals were divided into a healthy (control) group (n=12) and two groups of adult patients with chronic stable asthma; (n=22) patients had been receiving inhaled corticosteroids (inhaled corticosteroid-positive, or ICS+VE group) for the past 2-3 months, and (n=24) steroid-naive patients (inhaled corticosteroidnegative, or ICS-VE, group). The selected individuals were subjected to hs-CRP measurement and PFTs. Results: The forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1 )/forced vital capacity (FVC) was measured in all subjects. In the ICS+VE and the ICS-VE groups, there was a significant correlation between the level of hs-CRP and FEV 1 /FVC with r: −0.891 and a p-value of<0.0005 for both groups. In the ICS-VE group, 78.5% had significant clinical symptoms, whereas only 22.7% of the ICS+VE group had significant clinical symptoms. This difference (for the prevalence of clinical symptoms) was significant with a chi-square value of 19.59, degree of freedom (df) =1, and p<0.0005. Conclusion: In the ICS-VE group, the level of hs-CRP was significantly higher than in both the ICS+VE group and the control group. The values of the PFTs were significantly lower in the ICS-VE group. The prevalence of clinical features was significantly higher in the ICS-VE group.
Delusional Parasitosis (DP) is a Psychocutaneous disorder that was 1st described in the late 17th century in France. The etiology is neuro-chemical. The classic “matchbox” and “specimen” signs are characteristic. Management is via a multidisciplinary approach. This review paper is based on detailed systematic review of literature via an up-to-date evidence based approach. This paper reviews: Historical facts, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, subtypes, associated diseases, psychosocial impact, economic considerations and management. An exhaustive search strategy was utilized across five medical literature databases led by 62 pre-specified keywords, followed by database-specific filters’ application to scrutinize the hierarchy of literature, from systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials to medical papers with weak evidence. Forty references were utilized to extract the most relevant data. This review article is level II-3 (level of evidence); it will enable the researcher to obtain a perspective of DP, upon which an original research can be developed.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol. 7(3) 2016 1-8
Aims and Objectives: To collect up-to-date knowledge using a systematic review of the literature and to get evidence-based data concerning Fenethylline, and its illegal commerce in the region of the Middle East after 2003.Materials and Methods: Four main medicalliterature databases were scrutinized using a list of pre-specified keywords. Additionally, social networks, and other resources were utilized to retrieve relevant data. The total number of references that were used in this paper is twenty-two.Results: The literature search was conducted from the 3rd of December to the 29th of December 2015. The search was done from Baghdad, Iraq via the Earth link-Telenet Internet Service Provider (ISP). The Total Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) were 463137. The highest SERPs were for the keywords “Amphetamine” and “Fitton.” Google Scholar and PubMed were the databases that scored the highest SERPs. Captagon is a dangerous psychoactive substance. Its production was officially stopped in the 1980s. Currently, Captagon, and counterfeit Captagonare being illegally produced in South-East Europe and trafficked to the region of the Middle East.Conclusion: In the post-Saddam era of the Middle East, this substance has been traded and distributed at an exponential rate. The main explanation is that the rise of this illegal commerce is related to the chaos and the lack of order in the regions of conflict and civil war in Syria and Iraq in particular.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.7(4) 2016 116-119
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