Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy and the second leading cause of mortality among women in Iraq forming 23% of cancer related deaths. The low survival from the disease is a direct consequence to the advanced stages at diagnoses. Aim: To document the composite stage of breast cancer among Iraqi patients at the time of diagnosis; correlating the observed findings with other clinical and pathological parameters at presentation. Patients and Methods: A retrospective study enrolling the clinical and pathological characteristics of 603 Iraqi female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The composite stage of breast cancer was determined according to UICC TNM Classification System of Breast Cancer and the American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging. The studied parameters comprised age of the patient, stage of the disease, marital and educational status, history of lactation and hormonal intake (for a minimum period of 6 months), family history of breast or any other cancer, the effected breast side, hormone (Estrogen and Progesterone) receptor (ER, PR) and Her2 contents of the primary cancer. Statistical analysis was performed to correlate the recorded composite stages at diagnosis with the corresponding clinical and pathological data utilizing SPSS version 16.0 statistical program. Results: Out of 603 patients, seven (1.2%) had ductal carcinoma in situ (Stage 0). Stages I, II and III and IV were documented in 9.5%, 47.1%, 33.2% and 9.1% of the patients at the time of diagnoses. Overall 70.8% of patients presented in the age group (40-59 years), 79.3% were married and 32.2% were highly educated. History of lactation, hormonal intake, family breast cancer and contralateral breast involvement was observed in 73.4%, 26.5%, 20.2% and 6.5% respectively. No correlation was elicited between the stage of breast cancer and the age of the patients, history of lactation or contralateral breast involvement. On the other hand, significant associations were demonstrated with respect to the marital and educational status, history of hormonal intake and breast cancer in the family. Immuno-histochemical evaluation revealed ER+PR+Her2+ (Triple Positive/Luminal B), ER-PR-Her2- (Triple Negative), ER+PR+Her2- (Luminal A) and ER-PR-Her2+ (Her2) subtypes in 13.4%, 11.8%, 48.2% and 9.8% of the examined breast samples respectively. When correlating the composite stage at diagnosing breast cancer with the corresponding subtypes the relationship was highly significant at p<0.01. Conclusions and Recommendations: The study reports a regression in Stage IV breast cancer at the time of initial presentation among Iraqi patients specifically in those with family history of the disease; pointing out to the fruitful outputs of initiating the National Program for Early Detection of Breast Cancer in the country. Further professional efforts, endorsed by practical policy decisions, are recommended to down stage breast cancer through promoting evidence based protocol guidelines and adopting comprehensive well designed diagnostic, screening and cancer control strategies.
Background: Antimicrobial agents have been considered as having potential for the prevention of dental caries. This study aimed to test the effect of different concentrations of cardamom and black tea extracts on the sensitivity and growth of salivary mutans streptococci in comparison to chlorhexidine gluconate (0.2%) in vitro. Materials and methods: In this study. Mutans streptococci were isolated from saliva of 34 healthy people (aged between 22-40yrs). The bacteria was isolated, purifiedand diagnosed according to morphologicalcharacteristic and biochemical tests. Aqueous extracts of cardamom and black tea were prepared. Different concentrations of extracts were prepared and estimated in gm/ 100ml deionized water. The agar diffusion techn
... Show MoreDetecting the optimum layer for well placement, which requires a diverse assortment of tools and techniques, represents a significant challenge in petroleum studies due to its critical impact on minimizing drilling costs and time. This study aims to evaluate integrated geological, petrophysical, seismic, and geomechanical data to identify the optimum zones for well placement. Three different reservoirs were analyzed to account for lateral and vertical variations in reservoir properties. The integrated data from these reservoirs provides many tools for reservoir development, especially to detect appropriate well placement zones based on evaluations of reservoir and geomechanical quality. The Mechanical Earth Model (MEM) was construct
... Show MoreOne of the main parts in hydraulic system is directional control valve, which is needed in order to operate hydraulic actuator. Practically, a conventional directional control valve has complex construction and moving parts, such as spool. Alternatively, a proposed Magneto-rheological (MR) directional control valve can offer a better solution without any moving parts by means of MR fluid. MR fluid consists of stable suspension of micro-sized magnetic particles dispersed in carrier medium like hydrocarbon oil. The main objectives of this present research are to design a MR directional control valve using MR fluid, to analyse its magnetic circuit using FEMM software, and to study and simulate the performance of this valve. In this research, a
... Show MoreIn this study, concentrations of radon and uranium were measured for twenty six samples of soil. The radon concentrations in soil samples measured by registrant alpha-emitting radon (222Rn) by using CR-39 track detector. The uranium concentrations in soil samples measured by using registrar fission fragments tracks in CR-39 track detector that caused by the bombardment of U with thermal neutrons from 241 Am-Be neutron source that has flux of 5 ×103n cm-2 s-1.
The concentrations values were calculated by a comparison with standard samples The results show that the radon concentrations are between (91.931-30.645Bq/m3).
The results show that also the uranium concentrat
This study focuses on producing wood-plastic composites using unsaturated polyester resin reinforced with Pistacia vera shell particles and wood industry waste powder. Composites with reinforcement ratios of 0%, 20%, 30%, and 40% were prepared and tested for thermal conductivity, impact strength, hardness, and compressive strength. The results revealed that thermal conductivity increases with reinforcement, while maintaining good thermal insulation, reaching a peak value of 0.633453 W/m·K. Hardness decreased with increased reinforcement, reaching a minimum nominal hardness value of 0.9479. Meanwhile, impact strength and compressive strength improved, with peak values of 14.103 k/m² and 57.3864568 MPa, respectively. The main aim is to manu
... Show MoreAfter baking the flour, azodicarbonamide, an approved food additive, can be converted into carcinogenic semicarbazide hydrochloride (SEM) and biurea in flour products. Thus, determine SEM in commercial bread products is become mandatory and need to be performed. Therefore, two accurate, precision, simple and economics colorimetric methods have been developed for the visual detection and quantitative determination of SEM in commercial flour products. The 1st method is based on the formation of a blue-coloured product with λmax at 690 nm as a result of a reaction between the SEM and potassium ferrocyanide in an acidic medium (pH 6.0). In the 2nd method, a brownish-green colored product is formed due to the reaction between the SEM and phosph
... Show MoreThe study discussed here deals with the isolation of Aspergillus niger from palm dates, the formal and the most famous fruit in Iraq, to test and qualify this fungus isolate for its ability to produce citric acid. Submerged fermentation technique was used in the fermentation process. A.niger isolated from “Zahdi” Palme dates was used in the study of the fermentation kinetics to get the production efficiency of citric acid. Kinetics of CA production via fermentation by A. niger S11 was evaluated within 432 h fermentation time and under submerged conditions of 11% (w/v) sucrose, 5% (v/v) inoculum size, pH 4, 30 °C and 150 rpm. The maximum citric acid produced was (37.116 g/l). Kine
In the present work, a study is carried out to remove chromium (III) from aqueous solution by: activated charcoal, attapulgite and date palm leaflet powder (pinnae). The effect of various parameters such as contact time, and temperature has been studied. The isotherm equilibrium data were well fitted by Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. The adsorption capacity of chromium (III) that was observed by activated charcoal, attapulgite and date palm leaflet powder (pinnae) increased with the rise of temperature when the concentrations of Cr (III) were 600, 700 and 100mg/L respectively. The greatest adsorption capacity ofactivated charcoal, attapulgite and date palm leaflet powder (pinnae) at 10°C was 7.51, 5.39 and 0.77mg.gˉ¹ respective
... Show More