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.
The study involved the removal of acidity from free fatty acid via the esterification reaction of oleic acid with ethanol. The reaction was done in a batch reactor using commercial 13X zeolite as a catalyst. The effects of temperatures (40 to 70 °C) and reaction time (up to 120 minutes) were studied using 6:1 mole ratio of pure ethanol to oleic acid and 5 wt. % of the catalyst. The results showed that acid removed increased with increasing temperature and reaction time. Also, the acidity removal rises sharply during the first reaction period and then changes slightly afterward. The highest acidity removal value was 67 % recorded at 110 minutes and 70 °C. An apparent homogeneous reversible reaction kinetic model has been proposed a
... Show MoreIn this work, ZnS thin films have been deposited by developed laser deposition technique on glass substrates at room temperature. After deposition process, the films were annealed at different temperatures (200ºC , 300 ºC and 400ºC ) using thermal furnace.The developed technique was used to obtain homogeneous thin films of ZnS depending on vaporization of this semiconductor material by continuous CO2 laser with a simple fan to ensure obtaining homogeneous films. ZnS thin films were annealed at temperature 200ºC, 300 ºC and 400ºC for (20) minute in vacuum environment. Optical properties of ZnS thin film such as absorbance, transmittance, reflectance, optical band gap, refractive index extinction coefficient and absorption coefficien
... Show MoreThe technical of Flame Thermal Spray had been used in producing a cermet
composite based on powders of stabilized zirconium oxide containing amount of
Yatteria oxide (ZrO2- 8Y2O3) reiforced by minerals powders of bonding material
(Ni-Cr- Al- Y) in different rates of additions (25, 35, 50) on stainless steel base type
(304) after preparing it by the way of Grit Blasting.
Before heat treatment, the coated cermet layers were characterized for porosity
and electric resistivity. All samples were heat treated in vacuum furnace at different
temperature and times. The physical tests had been operated after heat treatment
and gave best results especially porosity, which found to be reduced dramatically
and producing hig
The work was carried out in two stages. The first stage concerned
with study of silicon carbide (SiC) ratio (1.5, 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 wt%)
effect on the Thermal conductivity of polyvinyl chloride (PVC); and
the second stage concerned with the UV – weatherizing (25, 50, and
75 hr), thermal aging (40, 50, and 60 °C), and rain- weatherizing (1,
2.5, and 4 hr) effect on the samples involved. Thermal conductivity
results proved that there was slight increase in thermal conductivity
by (SiC) loading; it increased from 0.17 W/m.K for PVC to 0.19
W/m.K for 4.5% SiC/PVC; where as it was systematically decreased
by UV- weatherizing, thermal aging, and rain- weatherizing. This
property is in a good agreement with gene
Background: Alterations in the microhardness and roughness are commonly used to analyze the possible negative effects of bleaching products on restorative materials. This in vitro study evaluated the effect of in-office bleaching (SDI pola office +) on the surface roughness and micro-hardness of four newly developed composite materials (Z350XT –nano-filled, Z250XT-nano-hybrid, Z250-mico-hybrid and Silorane-silorane based). Materials and methods: Eighty circular samples with A3 shading were prepared by using Teflon mold 2mm thickness and 10mm in diameter. 20 samples for each material, 10 samples for base line measurement (surface roughness by using portable profillometer, and micro-hardness by usingDigital Micro Vickers Hardness Test
... Show MoreBackground: The roles of AI in the academic community continue to grow, especially in the enhancement of learning outcomes and the improvement of writing quality and efficiency. Objectives: To explore in depth the experience of senior pharmacy students in using artificial intelligence for academic purposes. Methods: This qualitative study included face-to-face individual interviews with senior pharmacy students from March to May 2023 using a pre-planned interview guide of open-ended questions. All interviews were audio-recorded. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: The results were obtained from 15 in-depth face-to-face interviews with senior pharmacy students (5th and 4th years). Eight participants were male, an
... Show MoreBackground: The roles of AI in the academic community continue to grow, especially in the enhancement of learning outcomes and the improvement of writing quality and efficiency. Objectives: To explore in depth the experience of senior pharmacy students in using artificial intelligence for academic purposes. Methods: This qualitative study included face-to-face individual interviews with senior pharmacy students from March to May 2023 using a pre-planned interview guide of open-ended questions. All interviews were audio-recorded. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: The results were obtained from 15 in-depth face-to-face interviews with senior pharmacy students (5th and 4th years). Eight participants were male, and seven
... Show MoreThis work targeted studying organogel as a potential floating system. Organgel has an excellent viscoelastic properties, floating system posses a depot property. Different formulations of 12-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid (HOA) in sesame oil were gelled and selecting F1, F3 and F5 HOA organogels for various examinations: tabletop rheology, optical microscopy, and oscillatory rheology studies. Also, the floating properties studies were conducted at in vitro and in-vivo levels. Lastly, the in-vitro release study using cinnarizine (CN) was to investigate the organogel depot property. Based on the results, the selected concentrations of HOA in sesame oil organogels showed temperature transitions fr
... Show MoreCrime is one of the most severe challenges facing States, and strives to find preventive measures, reduce its seriousness, and prevent them; due to developments, crimes have increased, and emerging new patterns of crimes, there is an urgent need to prevent crimes and reduce their effects. Modernizing its punitive system and diverting it to correctional rehabilitative justice to redress the prejudice caused by the crime and rehabilitate the convicted person by using alternative measures to short-term imprisonment. This research emphasizes alternative sanctions' value to minimizing short-term imprisonment penalties and their impact on societal security through several goals like, the negative consequences, justifications, and alternatives
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