Objective To highlight the main demographic characteristics and clinical profiles of female patients registered with breast cancer in Iraq; focusing on the impact of age.Methods This retrospective study enrolled 1172 female patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer at the Main Center for Early Detection of Breast Cancer/Medical City Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. Data were extracted from an established information system, developed by the principal author under supervision of WHO, that was based on valid clinical records of Iraqi patients affected by breast cancer. The recorded information regarding clinical examination comprised positive palpable lumps, bloody nipple discharge, skin changes, bilateral breast involvement, tumor size, lymph node status, and the stage of the disease.Results The mean age at the presentation was 51 years; patients under the age of 50 constituted 46.8%. Overall 9.8% were not married, 22.4% were illiterate whereas 19.2% graduated from universities. About 72% of the patients had more than two children, merely 7.5% delivered their first child after the age of 35 years and only 11% were nulliparous. History of lactation and hormonal therapy was recorded in 57.6% and 19.4% respectively. Family history of cancer was positive in 28.8% and breast cancer specifically in 18.7%. Clinically, the most common presenting symptom was breast lumps (95%) followed by skin changes/ulcerations (6.7%) and bloody nipple discharge (4.3%).Bilateral breast involvement was encountered in 4.7%. More than two-thirds of the patients (68.2%) had palpable axillary lymph nodes; classifying 40.5% into advanced stages III and IV. In general stages I–IV comprised 12%, 47.5%, 31.9%, and 8.6% respectively. Upon stratifying the studied sample with respect to age at diagnosis, it was observed that the frequency of unmarried patients was significantly higher among younger women under the age of 50 years, whereas illiteracy and nulliparity features were statistically lower (p < 0.05).Conclusion A considerable proportion of breast cancer patients in Iraq still present with locally advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. That justifies the necessity to promote public awareness educational campaigns to strengthen our national early detection program. Excluding the marital status, level of education and number of parity, there was no statistical difference regarding the impact of age on the demographic and clinical profiles of breast cancer among premenopausal versus postmenopausal Iraqi patients.
In the framework of this study, the phenomenon of transfer is probed pragma-linguistically and socio-linguistically concerning marriage situations among Iraqi EFL learners. The study also strives to look at the refusal strategies most commonly employed by Iraqi female English as a foreign Language (EFL) learners compared to their counterparts, American native speakers of English. The study involved 70 female participants who answered a Discourse Completion Task (DCT), which contained ten marriage proposals to be refused. Each situation entailed refusal of a person from a higher, an equal, and lower status. The researchers adapted Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss Weltz’s (1990) taxonomy of refusal for analyzing the data comprehensively. The
... Show MoreIntroduction and Aim: Diabetes mellitus patients almost always struggle with a metabolic condition known as chronic hyperglycemia. According to the World Health Organization, osteoporosis is a progressive systemic skeletal disorder that is characterized by decreasing bone mass and microstructural breakdown of bone tissue that increases susceptibility to fracture and increased risk of breaking a bone. Here, we aimed to compare the levels of CatK and total oxidative state in patients with diabetes and osteoporosis among the female Iraqi population and study the possible relationship between them. Materials and Methods: This study included 40 females with diabetes (Group G1), 40 with diabetes and osteoporosis (Group G2) and 40 normal healthy f
... Show Moreatrogenic atrial septal defect (IASD), post Catheter ablation during electrophysiological study simply can be assess with Echocardiography nowadays ablation consider the main line in the managements of patients with various type of arrhythmia. This study aims to de-termine the outcomes of Iatrogenic Atrial Septal Defect (IASD) six months post radiofrequency ablation (RF) procedure of left atrial arrhythmia using non-invasive Transtho-racic Echocardiography (TTE) parameters (LVEF, E/e` and ASD size) with sheath size as predictors of atrial septal defect closure. Patients and methods: A prospective study was con-ducted in Iraqi Centre for Heart Diseases included 47 patients post Electrophysiology procedure and ablation of left atrial SVT were
... Show MoreThere is a great risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and vascular thrombosis in patients with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). These patients exhibit numerous abnormalities in coagulation, fibrinolytic, inhibitory protein abnormalities in multiple levels. The study aimed to assess hypercoagulable changes by measuring the levels of antithrombin, plasma fibrinogen and FXII activity in patients with ESRD, and to find their correlation with Hemoglobin (Hb) level, WBC count, reticulocyte percentage and platelet count. This study was conducted at Al-Hayat center, Al Karama Teaching Hospital on 50 ESRD patients aged < 60 years of both genders. In addition, 20 apparently healthy individuals were included as a control group. The mean Hb level, total
... Show MoreThe molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) is a dermatotropic poxvirus. The causative agent of molluscum contagiosum (MC) is nonlethal, common and worldwide. Additionally, little inflammation is associated with MC papules. The present study aims to evaluate the immune status of MC patients by measuring the level of immunoglobulins IgG and IgM by using the radial immune diffusion assay (RIA) and the level of interleukin 18 receptor 1 (IL-18R1) by the Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The study is conducted during November 2013 to April, 2014 in outpatient clinic of Baquba Teaching Hospital. There are 75 patients, diagnosed with clinical lesions of MCV on different areas of the body, whose age is ranged between 2-50 years including 40(53.
... Show MoreThe emergence of staphylococci, either coagulase negative (CNS) or coagulase positive (CPS), as important human pathogens has implied that reliable methods for their identification are of large significance in understanding the diseases caused by them. The identification and characterization of staphylococci from biopsies taken from human breast tumors is reported here. Out of 32 tissue biopsies, a total of 12 suspected staphylococci grew on mannitol salt agar (MSA) medium, including 7 fermenters and 5 non-fermenter staphylococci based on traditional laboratory methods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) successfully identified seven isolates at the genus level as methicillin resistant St
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The effect of physical and mental health on the feelings of personal welfare are known as health-related quality of life. Infection with hepatitis B virus is a major global health problem. Health-related quality of life was emerged as an important consideration in the care of patients with chronic hepatitis B infection. The aim of the current study was to measure health-related quality of life among a sample of chronic hepatitis B patients in AL-Najaf city/Iraq. The current study was cross-sectional study carried out on (104) already diagnosed chronic viral hepatitis B patients who attended the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Center/Al-Sader Medical City/Najaf during November 2018 to May
... Show MoreChitinase-3-like 1 protein (YKL-40) is a glycoprotein primarily produced in the arthritic joint and plays a crucial role in inflammatory processes. The aim of the study is to establish the role of YKL-40 as a biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to proinflammatory biomarkers and disease activity. The study included 58 patients and 18 control. Diseases activity score (DAS-28) and clinical disease activity index (CDAI) were measured. Serum level of YKL-40, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1B (IL-1β), erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) were assessed. The results showed that the median serum YKL-40 level which was 5.42
... Show MoreBackground: The transcriptional control of various cell types, especially in the development or functioning of immune system cells involved in either promoting or inhibiting the immune response against cancer, is significantly influenced by DNA or RNA methylation. Multifaceted interconnections exist between immunological or cancer cell populations in the tumor's microenvironment (TME). TME alters the fluctuating DNA (as well as RNA) methylation sequences in these immunological cells to change their development into pro- or anti-cancer cell categories (such as T cells, which are regulatory, for instance). Objective: This review highlights the impact of DNA and RNA methylation on myeloid and lymphoid cells, unraveling their intricate
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