BACKGROUND: The rapidly growing knowledge regarding factors controlling tumour growth, with the new modalities of therapy acting on the biological activity of the tumours draw the attention of most cancer researches nowadays and represent a major focus for clinical oncology practice. For the detection of HER2/neu protein overexpression and gene amplification, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and in-situ hybridisation (ISH) is the recommended techniques, respectively, with high concordance between the two techniques. The current United Kingdom recommendations for HER2/neu testing are either for a two-tier system using IHC with reflex ISH testing in equivocal positive cases, or a one-tier ISH strategy. AIM: To compare the results of HER2/neu gene status in patients with breast carcinoma obtained by chromogenic in situ hybridisation with those obtained by immunohistochemistry, and to compare these results with hormonal receptors expression by immunohistochemistry and with age of patients.METHODS: Immunohistochemistry technique was used for evaluation of status of estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) and HER2/neu protein expression in 448 Iraqi patients with invasive breast carcinoma with different grades and histological types and then chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) technique was applied for all scores of HER2/neu to detect the gene status and compare the results in all negative, equivocal and positive cases by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The cases were referred from different centres, and IHC and CISH techniques were done in central public health laboratory in Baghdad over 28 months, from July 2013 to November 2015. A comparison of the results was made to find the relationship between HER2/neu and hormone receptors status and other clinical parameters like patients age. RESULTS: The mean age of the study cases was 49.08 years, ranging from 24 to 83 years. Of the 448 cases of breast carcinoma, 44 (9.8%) cases were of score 0 by IHC, none of them (0%) showed HER2/neu gene amplification by CISH. 71(15.8%) cases were of score 1 by IHC, 15 (21.12%) of them showed HER2/neu gene amplification by CISH, all were of low amplification. There were 306 (68.3%) cases of score 2 by IHC, of which 102 (33.33%) cases showed HER2/neu gene amplification by CISH, with 79 (25.81%) of them with low amplification and 23 (7.51%) cases with high amplification, while only one case (0.32%) remained in equivocal category. In score 3, all the 27 (6.0%) cases showed gene amplification with 12 (44.44%) cases with low amplification and 15 (55.55) cases with high amplification with overall percentage of gene amplification in score 3 of 100%. There was a significant inverse relationship between hormone receptors (ER and PR) status and HER2/neu gene amplification. No significant relationship was found between the patient’s age and HER2/neu gene amplification.CONCLUSION: Although immunohistochemistry is a widely used, less expensive and reliable test, we strongly advice performance of chromogenic in situ hybridization in assessment of HER2/neu gene status in all cases diagnosed with breast carcinoma as significant number of cases that were reported as negative by immunohistochemistry showed positive amplification by chromogenic in situ hybridization and can get benefit from anti-HER2 targeted treatments.
Objectives: To assess nurses-midwives knowledge and performance regarding immediate newborn care in delivery rooms, and to identify the relationship between nurses-midwives knowledge and performance and their socio-demographic and professional variables regarding immediate newborn care.
Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted from 1st of October, 2019 to 20TH of October, 2020 at three maternity teaching hospitals in Baghdad city/Al-Russafa Health Directorate: Al-Elwiya Maternity Teaching Hospital, Fatema Al- Zahra Maternity and Pediatric Hospital, Al- Za'faraniyah General Hospital. Non-probability (purposive sample) include
... Show MoreBackground: Lymphomas are a group of diseases caused by malignant lymphocytes that accumulate in lymph nodes and cause the characteristic clinical features of lymphadenopathy. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) (CD54) is a transmembrane glycoprotein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily of adhesion molecules. Cortactin was first identified as one of the major substrates for src kinase. because it localized to Cortical actin structures, The aims of this study was to evaluate and compare the immunohistochemical of ICAM-1 expression as cell adhesion molecule marker and Cortactin expression as invasive marker. Material and Methods: This study was performed on (68) formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks, histopathologically diagn
... Show MoreBackground: Anemia of chronic disease (ACD) occurs in the presence of chronic infection, inflammatory conditions or neoplastic conditions despite of adequate iron and vitamins storage. Gingivitis is the inflammation of the gingiva, periodontitis is the inflammation in the periodontium that extend deeper with loss of connective tissue attachment and supporting bone. The main pathogenesis of periodontal diseases and ACD is immune activation. Aims of study: Determine and compare the clinical periodontal parameters (plaque index (PLI), gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BOP), probing pocket depth (PPD) and clinical attachment level (CAL)). Evaluate the hematocrit (Hct) level, red blood cells (RBCs) count and white blood cells (WBCs) c
... Show MoreBackground: The skin functions as a barrier to the external environment, damage to this barrier following a burn disrupts the innate immune system and increases susceptibility to bacterial infection. Objective: This study was carried out to determine the bacterial isolates and study their antimicrobial susceptibility in burned wound infections at one burn's hospital in Baghdad.Type of study:Cross-sectional study.Methods: The bacteria were identified at species level by using Analytic Profile Index (API) system and The antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed according to Kirby-Bauer (disk diffusion) technique.Results: Over a period of one year (from October 2014 to October 2015). Out of 848 patients with different degrees of burns
... Show MoreHigh-performance liquid chromatographic methods are used for the determination of water-soluble vitamins with UV-Vis. Detector. A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic has been developed for determination of water-soluble vitamins. Identification of compounds was achieved by comparing their retention times and UV spectra with those of standards solution. Separation was performed on a C18 column, using an isocratic 30% (v/v) acetonitril in dionozed water as mobile phase at pH 3.5 and flow rate 1.0m/min. The method provides low detection and quantification limits, good linearity in a large concentration interval and good precision. The detection limits ranged from 0.01 to 0.025µg/ml. The accuracy of the method was
... Show MoreBackground: Neural tube defects (NTDs) are said to be inherited in a multifactorial fashion, i.e. genetic-environmental interaction. Maternal nutritional deficiencies had long been reported to cause NTDs, especially folate deficiency during early pregnancy. More attention had been paid to the exact mechanism by which this deficiency state causes these defects in the developing embryo. The most significant of all researches was that connecting reduced folate and increased homocysteine level in maternal serum on one hand and the risk of developing a NTD baby on the other hand. Objectives : to determine the significance of homocysteine level in Iraqi mothers who gave birth to babies with NTDs as compared to normal controls. Patients, Materials
... Show MoreUniversity campuses in Iraq are substantial energy consumers, with consumption increasing significantly during periods of high temperatures, underscoring the necessity to enhance their energy performance. Energy simulation tools offer valuable insights into evaluating and improving the energy efficiency of buildings. This study focuses on simulating passive architectural design for three selected buildings at Al-Khwarizmi College of Engineering (AKCOE) to examine the effectiveness of their cooling systems. DesignBuilder software was employed, and climatic data for a year in Baghdad was collected to assess the influence of passive architectural strategies on the thermal performance of the targeted buildings. The simulations revealed that the
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