Objective To highlight the main demographic characteristics and clinical profiles of female patients registered with breast cancer in Iraq; focusing on the impact of age.Methods This retrospective study enrolled 1172 female patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer at the Main Center for Early Detection of Breast Cancer/Medical City Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. Data were extracted from an established information system, developed by the principal author under supervision of WHO, that was based on valid clinical records of Iraqi patients affected by breast cancer. The recorded information regarding clinical examination comprised positive palpable lumps, bloody nipple discharge, skin changes, bilateral breast involvement, tumor size, lymph node status, and the stage of the disease.Results The mean age at the presentation was 51 years; patients under the age of 50 constituted 46.8%. Overall 9.8% were not married, 22.4% were illiterate whereas 19.2% graduated from universities. About 72% of the patients had more than two children, merely 7.5% delivered their first child after the age of 35 years and only 11% were nulliparous. History of lactation and hormonal therapy was recorded in 57.6% and 19.4% respectively. Family history of cancer was positive in 28.8% and breast cancer specifically in 18.7%. Clinically, the most common presenting symptom was breast lumps (95%) followed by skin changes/ulcerations (6.7%) and bloody nipple discharge (4.3%).Bilateral breast involvement was encountered in 4.7%. More than two-thirds of the patients (68.2%) had palpable axillary lymph nodes; classifying 40.5% into advanced stages III and IV. In general stages I–IV comprised 12%, 47.5%, 31.9%, and 8.6% respectively. Upon stratifying the studied sample with respect to age at diagnosis, it was observed that the frequency of unmarried patients was significantly higher among younger women under the age of 50 years, whereas illiteracy and nulliparity features were statistically lower (p < 0.05).Conclusion A considerable proportion of breast cancer patients in Iraq still present with locally advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. That justifies the necessity to promote public awareness educational campaigns to strengthen our national early detection program. Excluding the marital status, level of education and number of parity, there was no statistical difference regarding the impact of age on the demographic and clinical profiles of breast cancer among premenopausal versus postmenopausal Iraqi patients.
Background: Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is the result of aninitial episode of acute otitis media and is characterized by a persistent discharge from the middle ear through a tympanic perforation for at least 2 weeks duration. It is an important cause of preventable hearing loss, particularly in the developing world.Methods. 1. To get an overview on the bacterial ear infection profile in general 2. To assess the antibiotic resistance of Pseudomonal infection (PS) particularly since it is usually the commonest infection to cause otitis media and the most difficult to treat due to the problem of multi drug resistance... A cross sectional study was done which included 405 patient of CSOM patients196 (48%) case were males ,209 (52
... Show MoreThe expression of the Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 gene (PCSK9) is inextricably related to lipid levels and a risk of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (ASCAD). The present study aims to measure the quantity of PCSK9 gene expression and the effect of methylation on its expression level taking part in the pathogenesis of acute coronary artery disorder.
A current study included 150 subjects from the Iraqi population, 100 ASCAD patients and 50 healthy controls. The concentration of PCSK9 in each serum sample was determined by the ELISA technique, the expression levels of the PCSK9 gene in whole blood were estimated by RT-qPCR – Quantitative Reverse Transcription PCR method, and DNA
... Show MoreFemale infection with HPV (human papilla virus) has been established as an essential cause of CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia). The danger of transformation from CIN to frank malignancy should be considered. Objective: The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of CO2 laser vaporization of ectocervical lesion high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HGSIL). Patients and Methods: Four Female out of 150 affected with HGSIL lesions were submitted to CO2 laser vaporization and followed up in 4 months later, and 10 women with HGSIL lesion submitted to electrocautery diathermy for the comparison. Results: Among women treated by CO2 laser vaporization, 3 women had negative results (clear cervix), at 4 months follow up; o
... Show MoreBackground: The study of human leukocytes (HLA) alleles, and haplotype frequencies within populations provide an important source of information for anthropological investigation, organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as well as disease association, certain diseases showed association with specific alleles specially those of known or suspected hereditary origin or immunological basis, whether simple renal cyst is congenital or acquired is still unclear and need to be investigated.Objectives: To study the genetic aspect of simple renal cysts by detecting the gene frequency and the haplotype of HLA class I of patients with simple renal cysts, and to find the presence of these cysts in other family members.Method: Thirty patient
... Show MoreDiabetic nephropathy is characterized by persistent microalbuminuria and metabolic changes that decline renal functions. Researchers have been prompted to explore new biomarkers such as KIM-1 and nephrin that may enhance the identification of disease. Objective: To Evaluate biomarker levels of kidney injury molculre-1 (KIM-1) concentration and nephrin as early and sensitive markers of nephropathy in type 2 diabetic patients. Method: One hundred T2DM patients were included in a cross-sectional study at the specialized center for endocrinology and diabetes, Baghdad. The first group includes 50 diabetic nephropathy (DN) patients, and the second group includes 50 T2DM patients without DN. Biochemical and clinical parameters were reported for pa
... Show MoreBackground: EOS (encoded by the IKZF4 gene) is a member of the zinc finger transcription factor IKaros family, and plays a critical role in Treg suppressor functions, and maintaining Treg stability. IL-6 is a soluble mediator with a pleiotropic effect on inflammation, immune response, and hematopoiesis. Aim: To estimate serum IL-6 level and EOS gene expression in Iraqi patients with psoriasis. Method: Twenty-two patients with psoriasis (8 females, 14 males) with age ranged 18-72 years, were recruited from Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Dermatology Clinic, Baghdad, and 24 healthy donors. The serum levels of IL-6 by ELISA and the gene expression of IKZF4 (EOS gene) by RT-qPCR technique. Results: The results showed a non-significant diffe
... Show MoreIn this study, 158 clinical samples were collected from hospitalized burn patients during the period from December 2012 to June 2013 in Karbala province\ Iraq. Bacterial isolates were identified using conventional biochemical tests and then identification was confirmed by using Vitek-2 compact system. Pseudomonas aeruginosa recovery was 60 isolates in this study. These isolates were analyzed for antibiotic susceptibility by the disk diffusion test (DDT) according to Kirby Bauer's method using seven clinically important antipseudomonal agents: carbapenems (Imipenem and Meropenem), pencillins (Piperacillin), cephalosporins (Ceftazidim), monobactam (Aztreonam), quinolones (Ciprofloxacin) and aminoglycosides (Gentamicin). The results of resista
... Show MoreAbstract
Antibiotic treatment of S.typhi is difficult as compared to treatment of acute infection. Antibiotic resistance carried against S.typhi by using 6 kinds of antibiotics from different classes, their results showed that all isolates were high resistance to Ampicillin (99%), Gentamicin (98%), Amikacin (79%) and less resistances Trimethoprim (55%) , Imipenem (60%) and Ceftriaxone(66%) .
The present study focused on the molecular detection of Wzx flippase, Wzy polymerase genes in some Salmonella typhi isolates, Samples were collected from typhoid patients by classical lab work. Antibiotics susceptibilit
... Show MoreGhrelin and leptin are hunger hormones related to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and the pathogenesis of T2DM is the abnormality in insulin secretion and insulin resistance (IR). The aim of this study is to evaluate ghrelin and leptin concentrations in blood and to specify the relationship of these hormones as dependent variables with some biochemical and clinical measurements in T2DM patients. In this study, forty one T2DM and forty three non-diabetes mellitus (non-DM) subjects, aged between 40-60 years and with normal weight, were enrolled. Fasting serum ghrelin and leptin were estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In our results ghrelin was significantly increased, and leptin was significantly decreased, in T2DM pa
... Show MoreMutations in genes encoding proteins necessary for detoxifying oxidative stress products have been predicted to increase susceptibility to lung cancer (LC). Despite this, the association between waterpipe tobacco smoking (WP), genetic polymorphisms, and LC risk remains poorly understood. This is the first study to explore the relationship between WP tobacco smoking and these genetic factors. Previously, we investigated the association of GSTP1 SNPs (rs1695-A/G and rs1138272-C/T) with LC in Iraqi males who smoke WP. Here, we expanded our analysis to include GSTM1 (active/null) and GSTT1 (active/null) genotypes, both individually and in combination with GSTP1 SNPs. Multiplex PCR and RFLP-PCR assays were utilized to determine the genotypes of
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