Introduction/Aim. Roughly six percent of all malignancies diagnosed in children are malignant bone tumors. They have a dramatic effect on psychological status of children and their families. The aim of the study was to analyze the clinico-pathological features of bone tumors in Iraqi children and to assess response to treatment, outcome, and survival. Patients and methods. Over an eleven-year period, a retrospective study was done for children with bone tumors conducted on patients data that included a battery of pre-treatment investigations including a complete blood count, serum electrolyte, hepatic, and renal profile, bone marrow aspirate and biopsy, fine-needle aspiration, and imaging studies. Results. Data of 41 children with bone tumor were collected. The most common site of involvement was lower limbs, found in 21 (51.2%) cases. At the time of diagnosis, 29 patients presented with localized disease (70.7%), while 12 (29.3%) patients presented with metastasis. From 41 patients included in the study, histopathology of 29 (70.7%) patients was Ewing's sarcoma, whereas 12 (29.3%) patients were diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma. The most common toxic effect of chemotherapy was febrile neutropenia which was recorded in 22 (59.5%) patients, followed by hemorrhagic cystitis in 3 (8.1%) patients; both febrile neutropenia and hemorrhagic cystitis were recorded in 5 (13.5%) patients, convulsion was found in 1 (2.7%) patient, and no complication were reported in 5 (13.5%) patients. Relapse was found in 8 (21.6%) patients. Conclusion. High rate of patients were lost to follow-up. Two-year event-free survival (EFS) was 53%, which is lower than that reported in other studies due to late diagnosis, late referral with the presentation in the locally advanced stage of disease.
The biomarker significance of three chemokines (CXCL8, CXCL10 and CXCL16) was evaluated in sera of 45 breast cancer (BC) and 28 benign breast lesion (BBL) patients, as well as 20 control women. Clinical stage and tumor expression of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PgR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) receptors were considered in this evaluation. The results demonstrated that CXCL8, CXCL10 and CXCL16 showed a significant increased median in BC and BBL patients compared to control (CXCL8: 47.3 and 25.7 vs. 15.0; CXCL10: 37.6 and 30.7 vs. 13.1; CXCL16; 27.9 and 25.2 vs. 19.2 pg/ml, respectively). The increased levels of CXCL8 and CXCL16 were more pronounced in triple-negative and HER-2 positive p
... Show MoreBackground: Congenital cardiac defects have a wide spectrum of severity in infants. About 30-40% of patients with congenital cardiac defects will be symptomatic in the 1st year of life, while the diagnosis was established in 60% of patients by the 1st month of age.
Objectives: To identify the occurrence of specific types of CHD among hospitalized patients and to evaluate of growth of patients by different congenital heart lesions.
Methods: A retrospective study, done on ninety-six patients (51 male and 45 female) with congenital heart disease (CHD) admitted to central teaching hospital of pediatrics, Baghdad from 1st September 2009 to 30
If we go beyond the technical aspects of the Web 2.0, and we focus specifically on its interactive characteristics, we may say it represents not only a fundamental shift in the structure of the press institutions and its practices but also a shift in the relationships that existed, previously, between the press and the audience. Web 2.0 has enabled the newspapers to renovate their representations and practices of the profession and opens to the new horizons either in terms of readership or advertising revenues. Parallel to that it also has empowered the user to transcend the passivity he has always been confined in and has become a more active participant in the creation and generation of media contents even though this practice is somew
... Show MoreBackground: Salivary gland neoplasms constitute a group of heterogeneous lesions with complex clinicopathologic characteristics and distinct biological behavior. Numerous studies have suggested geographical variation, therefore the aims of this study were to analyze the characteristics of salivary gland neoplasms in two Iraqi centers and to analyze the postoperative complications that are encountered after surgical treatment of these tumors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of the patients who were treated for major and minor epithelial salivary gland tumors was conducted. The analyzed data included; demographic information (age and gender), the site of the tumor, the clinical manifestations, the histological type of the tumo
... Show MoreThe emergence of COVID-19 has resulted in an unprecedented escalation in different aspects of human activities, including medical education. Students and educators across academic institutions have confronted various challenges in following the guidelines of protection against the disease on one hand and accomplishing learning curricula on the other hand. In this short view, we presented our experience in implementing e-learning to the undergraduate nursing students during the present COVID-19 pandemic emphasizing the learning content, barriers, and feedback of students and educators. We hope that this view will trigger the preparedness of nursing faculties in Iraq to deal with this new modality of learning and improve it should t
... Show MoreThe effect of smoking, age and exposure duration in pesticide risk groups were studied > Groups were all men and included farmers (25), pesticide sellers (25), pesticides manufacture workers (Al-Tark factory for agricultural pesticide production) (25), Control group (25) were from Baghdad university staff (living in Baghdad city) > The cytogenetic parameters studied were Chromosomal aberrations (CA), induction of micronuclei (Mn)formation .Results revealed that smoking synergized pesticides exposure in induction of structural CAs in all groups with significant differences (P<0.01) and the worst effect recorded in workers , the increment was more than folds the level of control group (0.68) for the non smokers and was 5.78 times (control gr
... Show MoreChoosing antimicrobials is a common dilemma when the expected rate of bacterial resistance is high. The observed resistance values in unequal groups of isolates tested for different antimicrobials can be misleading. This can affect the decision to recommend one antibiotic over the other. We analyzed recalled data with the statistical consideration of unequal sample groups. Data was collected concerning children suspected to have typhoid fever at Al Alwyia Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. The study period extended from September 2021 to September 2022. A novel algorithm was developed to compare the drug sensitivity among unequal numbers of Salmonella typhi (S. Typhi) isolates tested with different antibacterials.
... Show MoreBackground: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a chronic disease of childhood. Increased prevalence of periodontal disease and dental caries in juvenile idiopathic arthritis is due to difficulties in executing good oral hygiene. This study was conducted to assess oral health status in patients with Juvenile idiopathic arthritis according to age and duration of illness. Materials and methods: A research was conducted among Juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients attending Baghdad Teaching Hospital with different age and both gender, underwent a clinical evaluation of their dental and oral condition. Diagnosis of dental caries was done according to the criteria of WHO (1997). Dental plaque, gingival condition, calculus were assessed by PI/
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