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 electrical resistivity method is one of the geophysical methods for detecting weak subsurface zone. The 2D resistivity data were used to compare three electrode configurations, Wenner, Dipole-dipole, and Schlumberger, to detect weak subsurface zones along a profile south of Baghdad near the Bismayah pumping station. The results show many zones of low resistivity that may be weak zones. A dipole-dipole array is a large number of measurements and is more sensitive than others. The Wenner-Schlumberger array has a depth also higher than other arrays. Wenner array has higher signal strength than other arrays. Because it is more sensitive to horizontal and vertical structures, the dipole-dipole array is the optimum for mapping sub
... Show MoreThe effects of T-shaped fins on the improvement of phase change materials (PCM) melting are numerically investigated in vertical triple-tube storage containment. The PCM is held in the middle pipe of a triple-pipe heat exchanger while the heat transfer fluid flows through the internal and external pipes. The dimension effects of the T-shaped fins on the melting process of the PCM are investigated to determine the optimum case. Results indicate that while using T-shaped fins improves the melting performance of the PCM, the improvement potential is mainly governed by the fin’s body rather than the head. Hence, the proposed T-shaped fin did not noticeably improve melting at the bottom of the PCM domain; additionally, a flat fin is ad
... Show MoreThe intelligent buildings provided various incentives to get highly inefficient energy-saving caused by the non-stationary building environments. In the presence of such dynamic excitation with higher levels of nonlinearity and coupling effect of temperature and humidity, the HVAC system transitions from underdamped to overdamped indoor conditions. This led to the promotion of highly inefficient energy use and fluctuating indoor thermal comfort. To address these concerns, this study develops a novel framework based on deep clustering of lagrangian trajectories for multi-task learning (DCLTML) and adding a pre-cooling coil in the air handling unit (AHU) to alleviate a coupling issue. The proposed DCLTML exhibits great overall control and is
... Show MoreThis study was done to evaluate a new technique to determine the presence of methamphetamine in the hair using nano bentonite-based adsorbent as the filler of extraction column. The state of the art of this study was based on the presence of silica in the nano bentonite that was assumed can interact with methamphetamine. The hair used was treated using methanol to extract the presence of methamphetamine, then it was continued by sonicating the hair sample. Qualitative analysis using Marquish reagent was performed to confirm the presence of methamphetamine in the isolate.The hair sample that has been taken in a different period confirmed that this current developing method can be used to analyzed methamphetamine. This m
... Show MoreThe degree of contamination in the sediments of the Euphrates River (Shatt Al-
Hindiya), for the metals As, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sc Se, Sr, V and Zn has
been evaluated using the index of geo-accumulation (I-geo), Enrichment factor (EF),
Contamination factor (CF) and pollution load index (PLI), whereat the I-geo has
been widely utilized as a measure of pollution in freshwater sediment. Enrichment
factor (EF) is one widely used as approach to characterize the degree of
anthropogenic pollution to establish enrichment ratios, while the pollution load
index (PLI) represents the number of times by which the heavy metal concentrations
in the sediment exceeds the background concentration, and gives a summative
i
Background:Amino acid disorders are a major group of inborn error metabolism (IEM) with variable clinical presentation; its diagnosis constitutes a real challenge in a community with high consanguinity rate and no systematic newborn screening.
Objectives: to provide data about amino acid disorders detected in high-risk Iraqi children by using quantitative amino acid fluorescent high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis.
Type of the study: Cross-sectional study.
Methods: a descriptive cross sectional study from 1st February to 1st December 2014, at Neurological ward and clinic of the Children Welfare teaching Hospital, in Baghdad - Ira
... Show MoreExperiments research is done to determine how saturated stiff clayey soil responds to a single impulsive load. Models made of saturated, stiff clay were investigated. To supply the single pulse energy, various falling weights from various heights were tested using the falling weight deflectometer (FWD). Dynamic effects can range from the major failure of a sensitive sensor or system to the apparent destruction of structures. This study examines the response of saturated stiff clay soil to a single impulsive load (vertical displacement at the soil surface below and beside the bearing plates). Such reactions consist of displacements, velocities, and accelerations caused by the impact occurring at the surface depth induced by the impact loads
... Show MoreThis research includes the synthesis of some new N-Aroyl-N \ -Aryl thiourea derivatives namely: N-benzoyl-N \ -(p-aminophenyl) thiourea (STU1), N-benzoyl-N \ -(thiazole) thiourea (STU2), N-acetyl-N ` -(dibenzyl) thiourea (STU3). The series substituted thiourea derivatives were prepared from reaction of acids with thionyl chloride then treating the resulted with potassium thiocyanate to affored the corresponding N-Aroyl isothiocyanates which direct reaction with primary and secondary aryl amines, The purity of the synthesized compounds were checked by measuring the melting point and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and their structure, were identified by spectral methods [FTIR,1H-NMR and 13C-NMR].These compounds were investigated as a
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