Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Iraq and the United Kingdom. While the disease is frequently diagnosed among middleaged Iraqi women at advanced stages accounting for the second cause of cancer-related deaths, breast cancer often affects elderly British women yielding the highest survival of all registered malignancies in the UK. Objective: To compare the clinical and pathological profiles of breast cancer among Iraqi and British women; correlating age at diagnosis with the tumor characteristics, receptor-defined biomarkers and phenotype patterns. Methods: This comparative retrospective study included the clinical and pathological characteristics of (1,940) consecutive female patients who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer from 2014 to 2016 in Iraq (Medical City Teaching Hospital, Baghdad: 635 cases) and UK (John Radcliffe, Oxford and Queen's, BHR University Hospitals: 1,305 cases). The studied parameters in both groups comprised the age of the patient at the time of diagnosis, breast cancer histologic type, grade, tumor size, lymph node status, clinical stage at presentation, Estrogen Receptor (ER), Progesterone Receptor (PR) and HER2 positive tumor contents and the receptor defined breast cancer surrogate subtypes. Results: The Iraqi patients were significantly younger than their British counterparts and exhibited higher trend to present at advanced stages; reflected by larger size tumors and frequent lymph node involvement compared to the British (p<0.00001). They also had worse receptor-defined breast cancer subtypes manifested by higher rates of hormone receptor (ER/PR) negative, HER2 positive tumor contents, Triple Positive and Triple Negative phenotypes (p<0.00001). Excluding HER2 status, the significant differences in the clinical and tumor characteristics between the two populations persisted after adjusting for age among patients younger than 50 years. Conclusion: The remarkable differences in the clinical and tumor characteristics of breast cancer between the Iraqi and British patients suggest heterogeneity in the underlying biology of the tumor which is exacerbated in Iraq by the dilemma of delayed diagnosis. The significant ethnic disparities in breast cancer profiles recommend the prompt strengthening of the national cancer control plan in Iraq as a principal approach to the management of the disease.
Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite; it spreads via the circulatory system during infection and causes chronic infection in various organs. Toxoplasmosis affects nearly one third of people worldwide, especially immunocompromised people. This study aimed to determine the effect of toxoplasmosis on renal function in hemodialysis patients. Overall 300 patients referred to the Medical City, Al-Karama General Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq were enrolled from 2021 to 2022. All serum samples were tested for T. gondii immunoglobulins (IgG and IgM) antibodies, urea and creatinine levels. In patients undergoing hemodialysis, the results revealed a high positivity percentage for anti-Toxoplasma IgG. In hemodialysis patients infe
... Show MoreBackground: Propolis has received great interest because of its wide range antimicrobial activity. Propolis also called (bee glue) due to its collection by (Apismellifera) honeybees from various plants resinous substance. The aim of this study was to determine the antibacterial effect of propolis extracts (aqueous and alcoholic) on anaerobic periodontal pathogen namely Aggregatibacteractinomycetemcomitans. Materials and Methods: Strains of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans wasisolated from pockets of systemically healthy patients aged between 35-55 years old suffering from chronic periodontitis with pocket depths of 5-6 mm, the bacteria cultured on special blood Agar plates solid media. Propolis was extracted by using water and alcohol.
... Show MoreThis study was carried out to describe the gene expression of the micro RNA 122a gene with the development of diabetes in Iraq. The difference in gene expression between patients and healthy controls was properly considered. In this study, blood was isolated from 121 individuals divided into two groups as follows: 80 samples of diabetic patients and 41 samples from a healthy control. miRNA was isolated and transformed into cDNA, and the expression of mi122a was measured by qRT-PCR. The researchers looked at the relationship between age and gender and the occurrence of diabetes, as well as how they compared to controls. When comparing the mean gene expression level (Ct) of patient groups to the corresponding Ct means in the control group, th
... Show MoreSJ Mohammed, AA Noaimi, KE Sharquie, JM Karhoot, MS Jebur, JR Abood, A Al-Hamadani, Al-Qadisiyah Medical Journal, 2015 - Cited by 20
Background: Chronic myelogenous leukemia is a malignant hematological disease of hematopoietic stem cells. It is difficult to adapt treatment to each patient's risk level because there are currently few clinical tests and no molecular diagnostics that may predict a patient's clock for the advancement of CML at the time of chronic phase diagnosis. Biomarkers that can differentiate people based on the outcome at diagnosis are needed for blast crisis prevention and response improvement. Objective: This study is an effort to exploit the SLC25A3 gene as a potential biomarker for CML. Methods: RT-qPCR was applied to assess the expression levels of the SLC25A3 gene. Results: In comparison to the mean ΔCt of the control group, which was found to b
... Show MoreAsthma is chronic inflammatory disease affecting 5% of world population. Characterized by eosinophilic type2 inflammation. FKBP51 immunophilin, important modular protein of glucocorticoid receptor (GR). We aimed to evaluate immunocytochemical localization of GR and FKBP51 in induced sputum cells by using immunocytochemical method and immunofluorescent ant-FKBP51 and anti –GR antibody and estimation of IgE and Type 2 inflammatory cytokine IL-5,IL-13 by ELISA technique.GR in the sputum show non-significant decrease of cytoplasmic distribution of the patient groups and highly significant increase in steroid treated patients and non-significant increase in nuclear distribution in non-steroid, FKBP51 nuclear localization show non-significant i
... Show MoreChronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorders characterized by formation of Philadelphia chromosome. After disease development, several events may associate with the reduction of anti-tumor immunity. The present study was designed to investigate the immunological profile of innate and adaptive immune response in Iraqi patients with CML. Patients were grouped into untreated (UT), treated (T) with chemotherapy, while another apparently healthy individuals were recruited to represent the control (C) group. Methods: ELISA technique was used to estimate serum levels of GM-CSF, IL-1a, IL-8, IL2, INF-?, IL-4, and IL-10 while SRID was used to estimate serum levels of C4, IgM, IgA, and IgG. Results: Regarding to innate immune resp
... Show MoreObjective: The evaluation of serum osteocalcin (OSN) for Iraqi infertile patients to see the effect of osteocalcin insufficiency, which may lead to a decreased level of testosterone production in males that may cause infertility. Methods: Forty two newly diagnosed infertile males age range (24–47) years and thirty two apparently healthy males as controls age range (25–58) years. Serum levels of testosterone (TEST), stimulating follicle hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin (PROL), osteocalcin OSN, and fasting blood sugar (FBS) were performed in both patients and controls. Estimation of serum OSN by Immulite1000 auto-analyzer, TEST, FSH, LH, PROL, and FBS by Immulite2000 auto-analyzer. Results: Infertile patients
... Show MoreOne of the most opportunistic mycosis globally is the Candida ssp., which is considered as the most agent that cause nosocomial urinary tract infections (UTIs), oral candidiasis and genitourinary candidiasis. This study included 100 samples of Iraqi subjects suffering from urinary tract infections. Identification of Candida have been done by different methods such as; characteristic of colony on culture, gram stain, and microscopically. This study aimed to isolation and identification of Candida spp from urine sample of UTI patients and find the relevance of ages and blood group of patients with the infections rate, also determine the effect of age on ESR and CRP levels in the patients. The results showed the higher frequency of
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