Background:Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has a poor prognosis, and novel therapies are needed. The FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibitorsrepresents a promising target in pediatric AML.
Objectives:This study was done to estimate the frequency of FLT3- ITD mutation in childhood acute myeloid leukemia using conventional PCR & correlate this mutation with the clinical presentation and response to induction therapy.
Patients, Materials &Methods: Twenty children with AML, and 16 children with reactive bone marrow as negative control were enrolled in this study. Those patients were attending Child Welfare Teaching Hospital in Baghdad from March 2010 to July 2011 .For each patient hematological investigations including complete blood picture, and bone marrow aspiration were done.FLT3-ITD mutation was detected by conventional PCR technology using specific primers. Complete hematological remission achievement after induction chemotherapy was assessed by clinical examinations and full laboratory investigations.
Results: Out of 20 AML children who participated in this study, 2 (10%) had FLT3-ITD mutation. The mean age of patients who had the mutation was higher than those without the mutation; and the mutated patientswere males, (P> 0.05).The FLT3-ITD mutation showed no correlation to clinical presentation.The peripheral blood & bone marrow blast cell percent werenon significantly higherin mutated patients as compared to non mutated patients. Regardingits relation to FAB classification, the FLT3-ITD mutation was only detected in M3(1/20) and M3v(1/20), and no mutation was found in other subtypes(M1,M2,M5). Furthermore, mutated patients showed lower response to inductiontherapy as compared to non mutated patients.
Conclusions: This is a noval study in one Iraqi teaching hospital to detect FLT3-ITD mutation by using conventional PCR in children with AML. This mutation was detected in 10% of thosechildren , and since they were male,older age group,and presented with higher peripheral blood &bone marrow blast cell percent thus we may propose that it may be used as a marker for the aggressiveness of the disease and can be used to modulate the treatment strategy for those patients.
The rapid increase in the number of older people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other forms of dementia represents one of the major challenges to the health and social care systems because of a large number of people affected. Early detection of AD makes it possible for patients to access appropriate services and to benefit from new treatments and therapies, as and when they become available, and to plan for the future. The onset of AD starts many years before the clinical symptoms become clear. A biomarker that can measure the brain changes in this period would be useful for early diagnosis of AD. Potentially, the electroencephalogram (EEG) can play a valuable role in early detection of AD. Damage caused to the brain due to AD leads t
... Show MoreAlgae are photosynthetic microorganisms that play important role in aquatic ecosystems as they are the primary producers in aquatic food webs. Several groups of algae are capable of producing toxins that impact aquatic ecosystems, especially managed systems. Cyanobacteria are the most important algae in freshwaters, and many species produce cyanotoxins including hepatotoxins and neurotoxins. The potent cyano-neurotoxins β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), 2, 4-diaminobutyric acid dihydrochloride (DABA), and anatoxin-a are especially critical with regards to public and animal health problems.
This work aims to optimize surface roughness, wall angle deviation, and average wall thickness as output responses of ALuminium-1050 alloy cone formed by the single point incremental sheet metal forming process. The experiments are accomplished based on the use of a mixed level Taguchi experimental design with an L18 orthogonal array. Six levels of step depth, three levels of tool diameter, feed rate, and tool rotational speed have been considered as input process parameters. The analyses of variance (ANOVA) have been used to investigate the significance of parameters and the effect of their levels for minimum surface roughness, minimum wall angle deviation, and maximum average wall thickness. The results indicate that step depth and tool r
... Show MoreAbstract Background Infections with helminths are associated with deficient sanitary facilities, unsafe human waste disposal, inadequate and lack of safe drinking water, and low socioeconomic status. Objective To determine the prevalence of some gastrointestinal helminths among Iraqi people, and association of infections with age, sex, and region in Iraq. Method This study is retrospective, including reported cases of infections using an available surveillance database from January 2013 to December 2013 of all provinces of Iraq by the Ministry of Health. Result The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthiasis was 1.39%. Enterobius vermicularis found to be the predominant helminth parasite. No significant (P < 0.05) rel
... Show MoreCorrosion behavior of aluminum alloy 7025 was investigated in hydrochloric acid (pH=1) containing 0.6 mol.dm-3 NaCl in the existence and absence of diverse concentrations of sulphamethoxazole as environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor over the temperature range (298-313)K. Electrochemical polarization method using potentiostatic technique was employed. The inhibition efficiency has been raised with increased sulphamethoxazole concentration but lessened at temperature increases. The highest efficiency value was 96.5 at 298 K and 2 x10-4 mol.dm-3 concentration of sulphamethoxazole. The sulphamethoxazole adsorption was agreed with Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Some thermodynamic parameter (△Gads) and activation energy (Ea) were determin
... Show MoreIn the absence of environmental regulation, food stays to be contaminated with heavy metals, which is becoming a big worry for human health. The present research focusses on the environmental and health effects of irrigating a number of crops grown in the soils surrounding the Al-Rustamia old plant using treated wastewater generated by the plant. The physicochemical properties, alkalinity, and electrical conductivity of the samples were evaluated, and vegetable samples were tested for Cd, Pb, Ni, and Zn, levels, and even the transfer factor (TF) from soils to crops and crop and multi-targeted risk, daily intake (DIM) of metals, and health risk index (HRI) was calculated. The findings found that the average contents of Zn, Pb, Ni, and Cd in
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