Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting the Iraqi population and the leading cause of cancer related mortality among Iraqi women. It has been well documented that prognosis of patients depends largely upon the hormone receptor contents and HER-2 over expression of their neoplasm. Recent studies suggest that Triple Positive (TP) tumors, bearing the three markers, tend to exhibit a relatively favorable clinical behavior in which overtreatment is not recommended. Aim: To document the different frequencies of ER/PR/HER2 breast cancer molecular subtypes focusing on the Triple Positive pattern; correlating those with the corresponding clinico-pathological characteristics among a sample of Iraqi patients diagnosed with the disease. Patients and Methods: This retrospective study involved 570 female patients diagnosed with breast cancer who visited the Main Referral Center for Early Detection of Breast Cancer and the National Cancer Research Center. The requested data was mainly extracted from an established information system database, developed by the principal author over a 4-years period from 2012 to 2016. The registered information comprised data related to clinical presentation, diagnostic and pathologic findings. ER, PR and HER2 status were analyzed immunohistochemically and the detected profiles were correlated with the corresponding clinico-pathological characteristics. Results: The rates of ER (+), PR (+) and HER-2 (+) tumors were 66.8%, 64% and 29.3% respectively. The tumor marker expression status was documented in eight subtypes; 83 cases (14.6%) of the examined breast carcinomas were categorized as ER+/PR+/HER2+ (Triple Positive/Luminal B), 89 cases (15.6%) were ER-/PR-/HER2- (Triple Negative), 241 (42.2%) were ER+/PR-/HER2- (Luminal A) while 67 (11.8%) showed ER-/PR-/HER2+ expression (HER-2 variant). No significant variations were noted when comparing age, menopausal status and tumor grade of Luminal B pattern to Luminal A and the rest of the studied subtypes. Although our data revealed a statistical difference with respect to the distribution of tumor types; where infiltrative ductal carcinoma constituted the major histology among patients with Triple Positive/Luminal B subtype (86.7% as compared to 67.6% in Luminal A), nevertheless, more than two third of those patients (67.4%) were diagnosed at earlier stages (I and II) compared to 55.2% of those in the remaining groups. Conclusions and Recommendations: Our findings support the hypothesis that the Triple Positive subtype might be driven primarily by the hormone receptor status. Further comprehensive surveys are recommended to focus on the intrinsic interactions and tumor cell heterogeneity of that pattern to avoid overtreatment and predict accurate response to therapy.
In the present investigation two different types of fiber reinforced polymer composites were prepared by hand lay-up method using three different parameters (curing temperature, pressing load and fiber volume fraction). These composites were prepared from the polyester resin as the matrix material reinforced with glass fibers as first group of samples and mat Kevlar fibers as the second group, both with different volume fractions (4%, 8%, and 12%) of fibers. They were then tested by tensile strength and impact strength. The main objective in this study is to use Taguchi method for predicting the better parameters that give the better tensile and impact strength to the composites, and then preparing composites at
... Show MoreThe global oil market is one of the most important markets in the world and occupies especially for countries consuming and producing countries, and the status of understanding of the mechanism for determining prices in the market help to stand on many factors affecting oil demand and supply of oil and geopolitical factors, climate and alternative sources of energy .. etc. factors, and that the main objective of the research is to study the causes and results left behind by the oil price shocks in the world market, and the movement of these factors be through a cycle of energy that explain the strength of competition between these factors and their effects on prices, when demand increases evolution Large image leads to significan
... Show MoreThe purpose of this study is to elucidate the microfacies and the biozones present in the studied rocks as well as to determine their environments or deposition. The study depends mainly on the benthonic foraminiferal assemblages identified from (27) rock thin sections made available from an outcrop at Wadi Banat Al-Hassan area in the Upper Euphrates Valley. X-Ray diffraction was also used to determine the type of carbonate minerals present in the studied rocks.
In this work, the gamma-ray shielding parameters of red clay and boron-doped red clay with different sample thicknesses are theoretically and experimentally reported. These shielding parameters are considered at a photon energy of 0.662 MeV emitted from 137Cs. The theoretical calculations are demonstrated using the XCom software program, while a scintillation detector, NaI(TI), with an efficiency of 98% is used to attain the experimental results of the mass attenuation coefficient of the prepared samples. The acquired results show that the boron-doped clay delivers a higher mass attenuation coefficient as compared to those of pure clay. Additionally, the mass attenuation coefficient exhibits an increasing behavior w
... Show MoreThis work studied the electrical and thermal surface conductivity enhancement of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) clouded by double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) by using pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Variable input factors are considered as the laser energy (or the relevant power), pulse duration and pulse repetition rate. Results indicated that the DWCNTs increased the PMMA’s surface electrical conductivity from 10-15 S/m to 0.813×103 S/m while the MWCNTs raised it to 0.14×103 S/m. Hence, the DWCNTs achieved an increase of almost 6 times than that for the MWCNTs. Moreover, the former increased the thermal conductivity of the surface by 8 times and the later by 5 times.
This study discusses risk management strategies caused by pandemic-related (Covid-19) suspensions in thirty-six engineering projects of different types and sizes selected from countries in the middle east and especially Iraq. The primary data collection method was a survey and questionnaire completed by selected project crew and laborers. Data were processed using Microsoft Excel to construct models to help decision-makers find solutions to the scheduling problems that may be expected to occur during a pandemic. A theoretical and practical concept for project risk management that addresses a range of global and local issues that affect schedule and cost is presented and results indicate that the most significant delays are due to a
... Show MoreThis study discusses risk management strategies caused by pandemic-related (Covid-19) suspensions in thirty-six engineering projects of different types and sizes selected from countries in the middle east and especially Iraq. The primary data collection method was a survey and questionnaire completed by selected project crew and laborers. Data were processed using Microsoft Excel to construct models to help decision-makers find solutions to the scheduling problems that may be expected to occur during a pandemic. A theoretical and practical concept for project risk management that addresses a range of global and local issues that affect schedule and cost is presented and results indicate that the most significant delays are due to a
... Show MoreQuantum mechanical computations is conducted using DFT (Density Functional Theory) and PM3 (Parameterized Model 3), also, using DFT of (B3LYP) with a 6-311++G (d, p) with G09 application. These molecular three components include structure, electronic charge density and energetic characteristics of chosen phytomedicine compounds. The impact of functional groups on physical characteristics were studied using myricetin, linebacker, and flavone because of their chemical structures. For phytomedicine compounds, we utilized quantum mechanical simulations to estimate bond length, energy, vibration(vib.) modes, charge density and mechanical properties (cruelty, strength, stiffness, for the measurements of the lengths and energy of the
... Show MoreReducing costs and protecting the environment surrounding economic unity has become the concern of many economic units and shifting their ideas towards preserving resources and protecting the environment by adopting strategies and techniques that take into account when applied reducing production costs and protecting the environment, including these strategies and techniques, the technical costs of the product life cycle and the strategy of cleaner production, as the application of the two concepts in local economic units helps to try to keep up with the countries that work to keep up with the success of their economic units by following the concepts that have been successful in Developed countries by maintaining the sustainabilit
... Show MoreIn this study, experimental mortar combinations with 1% micro steel fibers, were examined to create geopolymer mortars. To test the effect of the fibers on the mortar's resistance, the geopolymer mortar was designed with various proportions of more environmentally friendly materials fly ash and slag. The percentage of fly ash by weight was 50, 60, and 70% of the slag. The best results were obtained when a 50:50 ratio of fly ash and slag were mixed with 1% micro steel fibers. The results showed that the mixtures containing fibers performed better in the considered tests (toughness index, ductility index, and resilience index). In the impact resistance test, the mixture contained 50% fly ash by weight of the slag with a temperature of
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