Breast cancer constitutes about one fourth of the registered cancer cases among the Iraqi population (1)
and it is the leading cause of death among Iraqi women (2)
. Each year more women are exposed to the vicious
ramifications of this disease which include death if left unmanaged or the negative sequels that they would
experience, cosmetically and psychologically, after exposure to radical mastectomy.
The World Health Organization (WHO) documented that early detection and screening, when coped
with adequate therapy, could offer a reduction in breast cancer mortality; displaying that the low survival rates
in less developed countries, including Iraq, is mainly attributed to the lack of early detection programs coupled
with inadequate diagnostic and treatment facilities (3)
. Although mammography machines, as main screening
tools for breast cancer, are available in the major hospitals in each province in Iraq, yet those are mainly used
for diagnostic purposes in patients who present with palpable breast lumps. Obviously, due to cost effective
measures, lack of resources and the economical challenges that Iraq is facing, it is not expected that the
authorities could provide mammography devices across every health care centre in the country to be used for
screening of all Iraqi women.
Accordingly, promoting other feasible tools could support in solving that dilemma. Clinical Breast
Examination (CBE) for women, by highly trained health care providers in Primary Health Care Centers, along
with diagnostic mammography in the major hospitals for referred cases, could offer cost effective approaches
for early detection of breast cancer in Iraq. The resources required to provide these services are within the
reach of all countries with limited resources
(4)
.
The issue of raising awareness on breast cancer and its early detection measures needs to be addressed.
Observations reported in Iraqi studies obviously reflect the the limited knowledge of the general population
about the disease, its preventive measures and their ignorance regarding the significance of CBE and early
medical consultation (5, 6)
. Public health awareness campaigns should be endorsed by policy makers to encourage every Iraqi women to look for abnormal signs and symptoms in their breasts and to seek medical
advice promptly.
Background: COVID-19 is an ongoing disease that caused, and still causes, many challenges for humanity. In fact, COVID-19 death cases reached more than 4.5 million by the end of August 2021, although an improvement in the medical treatments and pharmaceutical protocols was obtained, and many vaccines were released. Objective: To, statistically, analyze the data of COVID-19 patients at Alshifaa Healthcare Center (Baghdad, Iraq). Methods: In this work, a statistical analysis was conducted on data included the total number, positive cases, and negative cases of people tested for COVID-19 at the Alshifaa Healthcare Center/Baghdad for the period 1 September – 31 December 2020. The number of people who got the test was 1080, where 424 w
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... Show MoreSome studies indicated a relationship between increased serum levels of osteoprotegerin with arterial calcification and as a result, it leads to the risk of cardiovascular disease. In our study group we selected patients with osteoporosis, with similar age and body mass index for the assessment of the relationship between cardiovascular disease and osteoprotegerin serum level. We took into account the analysis of correlation and association between the presence of distinct patterns of atherosclerosis and associated diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, low HDL cholesterol, increased LDL cholesterol, increased triglycerides and was the case of presence of any type of dyslipidemia,
... Show MoreTo follow up the response of acute lymphoblastic leukemic
(ALL) patients to chemotherapy treatment and for prognosis, diagnosis, the total Sialic acid (TSA) levels was studied as a tumor marker. The study included 40 patients (male = 22, female =18) with (ALL) were tested for the serum and leukocytes homogenate concentrations of total sialic acid (TSA) before and after treatment with six different chemotherapy protocols. &n
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After the defeat of the military terrorist organization "ISIS" and the fall of the throne of its alleged state in the Iraqi city of Nineveh, in Syrian Baghouz, and the end of its control over the land, the Syrian camps, especially "Al-Hol" camp, emerge as an incubator for the ideology of the terrorist organization "ISIS" and a vital base for its consolidation and dissemination, which includes (68,000- 73,000) people. During the years following the military defeat of (ISIS), the camp witnesses the spread of extremist ideas widely at the hands of its residents, including the families of the organizations dead's, extremist detainees, and those who deal with it, taking advantage of the deterioration of the environmental, se
... Show MoreObjective: To evaluate the therapeutic activity of probiotics mixture of Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus acidophilus towards Cryptosporidium infection in experimentally infected mice. Oocysts of Cryptosporidium were separated from the stool of humans to infect mice. Methods: Forty male albino mice were split equally into four groups, every group contained 10 mice, the group I (early treated group), were treated from the 1st day from infection to the 11th post-infection, group II (late treated group), were treated from the 4th day from infection to the 15th post-infection, and group (III) (untreated group), were mice considered as a positive control group. Results: It was showed that daily application of a mixture of L. plantarum w
... Show MoreSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with polymorphic expression. B cells have an essential contribution in immune system activation via the production of different cytokines and functioning as potent antigen-presenting cells. Therefore, a drug that particularly targets B cells may represent an ideal therapeutic approach for SLE. Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody causing transient B-cell depletion, has been used to manage SLE. This study aims to assess Rituximab effects on lupus nephritis (LN) patients when added to conventional immunosuppressants. Twenty four patients, 15-32 years old, with class III/IV/V LN were involved in this study. All were on steroids before lupus nephritis occurrence. They were
... Show MoreSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with polymorphic expression. B cells have an essential contribution in immune system activation via the production of different cytokines and functioning as potent antigen-presenting cells. Therefore, a drug that particularly targets B cells may represent an ideal therapeutic approach for SLE. Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody causing transient B-cell depletion, has been used to manage SLE. This study aims to assess Rituximab effects on lupus nephritis (LN) patients when added to conventional immunosuppressants. Twenty four patients, 15-32 years old, with class III/IV/V LN were involved in this study. All were on steroids before lupus nephritis occurrence. They were
... Show MoreThe present study tackles the complex issue of the urgent need for Environmental Auditing (EA) in Iraq in the absence of laws that support environmental management and in the light of the high rates of cancerous diseases in Iraq, which coincided significantly with the increase in oil production, according to the numbers indicated in the Iraqi Ministry of Health. The study aimed to investigate the mediating role of Management Systems (MS) related to the role of EA supporting sustainability reports concerning the reduction of the negative effects of gas emissions from oil companies. We adopted the descriptive approach which relies on studying relationships through a questionnaire that was distributed to a group of workers at Doura Refinery in
... Show MorePvcABCD are cluster of genes found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The research was designed to examine the relationship between the pvc genes expression and cupB gene, which plays a crucial role in the development of biofilm, and rhlR, which regulates the expression of biofilm-related genes, and to investigate whether the pvc genes form one or two operons. The aims were achieved by employing qRT-PCR technique to measure the gene expression of genes of interest. It was found that out of 25 clinical isolates, 21 isolates were qualified as P.aeruginosa. Amongst, 18(85.7%) were evaluated as biofilm producers, 10 (47.6%), 5 (23.8%), and 3 (14.2%) were evaluated as strong, moderate and weak producers respectively, while, 3 (14.2%) were considered
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