Medulloblastomas and ependymomas are the most common malignant brain tumors in children. However genetic abnormalities associated with their development and prognosis remain unclear. Recently two gene fusions, KIAA1549–BRAF and SRGAP3–RAF1 have been detected in a number of brain tumours. We report here our development and validation of RT-RQPCR assays to detect various isoforms of these two fusion genes in formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues of medulloblastoma and ependymoma. We examined these fusion genes in 44 paediatric brain tumours, 33 medulloblastomas and 11 ependymomas. We detected both fusion transcripts in 8/33, 5/33 SRGAP3 ex10/RAF1 ex10, and 3/33 KIAA1549 ex16/BRAF ex9, meduloblastomas but none in the 11 ep

Relationship between thyroid dysfunction and periodontal disease has been mediated through an immune response. Cytokines are implicated in the initiation, consequences of immune response and a crucial role in the pathogenesis of thyroid disease, directly target thyroid follicular cells; and in the development and progression of periodontitis. This study aimed to detect cytokines levels which known to be associated with periodontitis in serum and saliva, to test the hypothesis that hypothyroidism influences the levels of biomarkers of periodontitis. Samples were collected from sixty patients with hypothyroid age ranged (20-64) years, thirty of patients were without periodontitis (group I) and 30 with periodontal disease (II); moreover, 30 su

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic destructive inflammatory disease associated with destruction of joint connective tissues and bones, affecting 0.5%–1% of the population worldwide reporting higher prevalence of periodontitis among rheumatoid arthritis patients. The purpose of this study is to estimate level of salivary C-reactive protein in relation to the occurrence and severity of the periodontal disease and other oral parameters among group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis Material and methods: Fifty women patients with rheumatoid arthritis; twenty five on Methotrexate treatment and twenty five on combination treatment of Methotrexate and Etanercept selected as study groups with an age range (30-40) years old and

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease its etiology is unknown. The classical autoimmune diseases, have adaptive immune genetic associations with autoantibodies and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), diabetes mellitus type two (DM II). Serum of99 males suffering from RA without DMII as group (G1), 45 males suffering from RA with DM II as group (G2) and 40 healthy males as group (G3) were enrolled in this study to estimation of alkaline phosphates (ALP), C-reactive protein (CRP) and Pentraxin-3(PTX). Results showed a highly significant increase in PTX3 levels in G1 and G2 compared to G3 and a significant decrease in G1comparing to G2. Results also revealed a significa

The study aimed to evaluate the benefits of transferrin saturation percentage (TSAT) and serum ferritin in assessing body iron status, which can influence erythropoietin treatment in patients with ESRD. Forty end-stage renal disease patients on regular hemodialysis participated in this study. Clinical data were obtained. Serum iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation, ferritin, albumin, creatinine, and C-reactive protein were investigated. Thirty healthy people were enrolled as a control group. ESRD patients had a mean age of 45.1±13.9 years, with 60% being males. They exhibited significantly lower hematocrit (25.3±6.5%), and higher platelet (285.7±148.1x10^9/L) and WBC (9.4±3.1x10^9/L) counts compared to healthy contro

Background: Although mammography is a powerful screening tool in detection of early breast cancer, it is imperfect, particularly for women with dense breast, which have a higher risk to develop cancer and decrease the sensitivity of mammogram, Automated breast ultrasound is a recently introduced ultrasonography technique, developed with the purpose to standardize breast ultrasonography and overcome some limitations of handheld ultrasound, this study aims to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of Automated breast ultrasound and compare it with handheld ultrasound in the detection and characterization of breast lesions in women with dense breasts.

Objectives:<

Elevated Interleukin-13 (IL-13) may play an important role in the pathophysiology of COVID-19, yet, the attenuated response did not notice across all severe cases. Susceptibility to asthma in specific populations is associated with several SNPs of multifunctional cytokines, such as IL-13, IL-31 and IL-33. This prospective case-control study is designed to investigate the extent of genetic susceptibility in subsets of Iraqi patients with COVID-19 by targeting the variants of interleukin IL-13rs20541 polymorphism in relation to disease susceptibility and severity of clinical presentation. One hundred samples were obtained from the throat, nasopharyngeal and nasal swabs enrolled in this study. Eighty samples of the throat, nasopharyngeal and

Background: Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of using a hot material in the root canal and its potential for causing damage to the tooth supporting structure. Materials and methods: thirty permanent premolars were obturated with thermoplasticized Gutta-Percha using three different obturation techniques: soft core, Thermafil, and obtura to evaluate the rise in temperature on the root surface using a multipurpose digital thermometer. Results: temperature increases was significantly greater for Obtura versus Soft core (p<0.003), not significant for Thermafil versus Soft core (p<0.087), and Thermafil versus Obtura (p<0.125). Conclusions: temperatures rise on the root surface were below the critical level and, therefore, s

The study aimed to examine the phonological processing profile for students with and without reading disabilities in cycle 1 schools of basic education in the Governorate of Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. The study participants included 306 students, 165 students with reading disabilities and 141 students without reading disabilities. The Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP) and Working Memory Test (WMT) were administered to the participants. The results of the study showed that the mean score of students without reading disabilities was higher than that of students of reading disabilities in all measures of phonological processing, and that there are statistically significant differences on the  case of students in all

In a report by Transparency Organization in 2010, Iraq has 200 newspapers, magazines, sixty-seven radio stations and 45 satellite TV channels. The increase in these figures is measured in days or weeks and not months and years. This fact confirms the importance of studying content providers, especially youth sports content, for two reasons: the first is that young people constitute the highest percentage in Iraqi society, with all the potential involved in shaping the future aspects; the second reason is that for years sport has become an important pillar in people's lives not only in the entertainment aspect as it was seen in the past; Rather, sport has an influential presence in politi