Immunosuppressive cytokines are the main components of the tumor microenvironment and perform a vital function in controlling the immune response to malignant neoplasms.The objective: to study the influence of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and transforming growth factor-β3 (TGF-β3) on the development of breast tumors in women.Materials and methods. The concentration of cytokines IL-4 and TGF-β3 in blood serum was determined in 40 women with benign breast tumors, 40 women with malignant breast tumors, and 40 healthy patients without breast pathology, who were included in the control group.Breast cancer (BC) patients were divided into two groups; the first group included patients with the II stage of BC, who were considered to have a low le

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is often characterized by hyperglycemia as a result of increased insulin resistance in hepatic/peripheral tissues and pancreactic B-cell dysfunction. Approximately 92% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus demonstrate insulin resistance, however hyperglycemia is always a consequence of insulin deficiency. This study was done on 120 patients newly diagnosed diabetes type 2 characterized by dyslipidemia that is increased triglycerides and decreased HDL. Hypoglycemia and weight gain are common problem with oral sulfonyl urea drugs. In this work three different oral hypoglycemic drugs repaglinide and glibenclamide (insulin secretagogues) and rosiglitazone (insulin sensitizer) were used for treatment of patients w

Background: Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that mostly involves the spine and sacroiliac joints. It is associated with a decreased quality of life. Biological medicines such as infliximab and its biosimilar are the mainstay treatments for active ankylosing spondylitis.

Objective: The study objective was to conduct a pharmacoeconomic study comparing the cost-effectiveness of the reference infliximab with its biosimilar in ankylosing spondylitis patients visiting public hospitals.

Subjects and Method: This is a two-center pharmacoeconomic study performed at two large teaching governmental hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq, which s

4 Blood Res 2018;53:314-319. Received on August 11, 2018 Revised on August 30, 2018 Accepted on August 30, 2018 Background Iron overload is a risk factor affecting all patients with thalassemia intermedia (TI). We aimed to determine whether there is a relationship of serum ferritin (SF) and alanine ami- notransferase (ALT) with liver iron concentration (LIC) determined by R2 magnetic reso- nance imaging (R2-MRI), to estimate the most relevant degree of iron overload and best time to chelate in patients with TI. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 119 patients with TI (mean age years) were randomly se- lected and compared with 120 patients who had a diagnosis of thalassemia major (TM). Correlations of LIC, as determined by R2-MRI, with SF

The typical test for diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique, but the chest CT scan might play a complementary role at the first detection of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Objectives: To determine the sensitivity of CT scan on patients with COVID-19 in Al-Najaf, Iraq, and to compare the accuracy of CT scan with that of RT-PCR technique. Material and Method: This is a prospective study. The patients suspicious of having COVID-19 infection and respiratory symptoms were registered. All patients were diagnosed by RT-PCR and chest CT. Diagnostic performance of CT was intended using RT-PCR as the reference sta

Pluripotent stem cells (PSC) possess unlimited proliferation, self-renewal, and a differentiation capacity spanning all germ layers. Appropriate culture conditions are important for the maintenance of self-renewal, pluripotency, proliferation, differentiation, and epigenetic states. Oxygen concentrations vary across different human tissues depending on precise cell location and proximity to vascularisation. The bulk of PSC culture-based research is performed in a physiologically hyperoxic, air oxygen (21% O2) environment, with numerous reports now detailing the impact of a physiologic normoxia (physoxia), low oxygen culture in the maintenance of stemness, survival, morphology, proliferation, differentiation potential, and epigenetic

Background: Both bladder cancer and schistosomiasis are endemic in Egypt. The former has a unique epidemiological pattern, which has been linked to bladder infestation by Schistosoma. The last decades have witnessed a great reduction in the infection rate of schistosomiasis and a decline in the incidence and changes in the patterns of bladder cancer. Whether these changes are linked to each other or a co-incidence is a subject of investigations.

Method: Literature on epidemiological data of bladder cancer and Schistosoma in Egypt was searched for in Medline, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Furthermore, a hand search for literature and reports released by the Egyptian government and involved agencies was perfo

Excess alcohol consumption is associated with numerous metabolic changes and homeostasis disturbances of many macro- and micro-elements in the body. It has been associated with multiple pathologies at all levels. In the digestive apparatus, alcohol has generally been related to its toxic effects upon the liver. Alpha-1 antitrypsin (α-1 AT or AAT) plays an important role in controlling inflammation, coagulation and repair mechanisms in the body and most α-1 AT in the body is produced by the liver; from the other hand, Intrinsic factor (IF), which is a glycoprotein produced by the parietal cells of the stomach is necessary for the absorption of vitamin B12 in the small intestine. This study was designed to assess serum levels of α-1 AT and

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 and Heparanase in salivary pleomorphic adenoma, and to correlate the two studied markers with each other and with clinicopathological parameters including: age, sex, tumor site and histopathological presentation. Methods: Sections of twenty five formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks specimens of salivary pleomorphic adenoma were immunostained using monoclonal antibodies (Fibroblast growth factor-2 and Heparanase) to assess their expression in this tumor. Results: The expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 and Heparanase were positive in all pleomorphic adenoma cases (100%). The positive expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 was signi