Comparison of Clinico-Pathological Presentations of Triple-Negative versus Triple-Positive and HER2 Iraqi Breast Cancer Patients

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer remains the most common malignancy among the Iraqi population. Affected patients exhibit different clinical behaviours according to the molecular subtypes of the tumour. AIM: To identify the clinical and pathological presentations of the Iraqi breast cancer subtypes identified by Estrogen receptors (ER), Progesterone receptors (PR) and HER2 expressions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The present study comprised 486 Iraqi female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. ER, PR and HER2 contents of the primary tumours were assessed through immunohistochemical staining; classifying the patients into five different groups: Triple Negative (ER/PR negative/HER2 negative), Triple Positive (ER/PR positive/HER2 positive), Luminal A (ER/PR positive/HER2 negative), HER2 enriched ((ER/PR negative/HER2 positive) and all other subtypes. RESULTS: The major registered subtype was the Luminal A which was encountered in 230 patients (47.3%), followed by the Triple Negative (14.6%), Triple Positive (13.6%) and HER2 Enriched (11.5%). Patients exhibiting the Triple Negative subtype were significantly younger than the rest of the groups and presented with larger size tumours. A significant difference in the distribution of the breast cancer stages was displayed (p < 0.05); the most advanced were noted among those with HER2 enriched tumours who exhibited the highest frequency of poorly differentiated carcinomas and lymph node involvement. CONCLUSION: The most significant variations in the clinicopathological presentations were observed in the age and clinical stage of the patients at diagnosis. Adoption of breast cancer molecular subtype classification in countries with limited resources could serve as a valuable prognostic marker in the management of aggressive forms of the disease

Design and Fabrication of an Electromechanical Tester to Perform Two-dimensional Tensile Testing for Flexible Materials

There are many diseases that affect the arteries, especially those related to their elasticity and stiffness, and they can be guessed by estimating and calculating the modulus of elasticity. Hence, the accurate calculation of the elastic modulus leads to an accurate assessment of these diseases, especially in their early stages, which can contribute to the treatment of these diseases early. Most of the calculations used the one-dimensional (1D) modulus of elasticity. From a mechanical point of view, the stresses to which the artery is subjected are not one-dimensional, but three-dimensional. Therefore, estimating at least a two-dimensional (2D) modulus of elasticity will necessarily be more accurate. To the knowledge of researchers, there is a lack of published research on this subject, as well as a paucity of research that designed and implemented a 2D tensile testing device (2DTTD). However, there is no inspection of arterial flexibility and elasticity using the 2DTTD adequately studied before. Therefore, the aim of this work is to design and implement the 2DTTD to scrutinize if there is a difference between the 1D and 2D tensile examination. Different sized rectangular silicone specimens were manually fabricated; they were tested individually using the fabricated 2DTTD, which mainly comprises four actuators synchronously working with the same velocity and axial load force, two at each axis. As expected using the 2DTTD, the dimensions of the specimen remarkably influence the tensile testing results; the strain and stress rates and the modulus of elasticity were influenced.  To validate the acquired 2D tensile testing results, the 1D tensile testing was performed using the same fabricated 2DTTD and compared to results gained using another tensile testing apparatus. During the verification process, the input data for models calibration were sufficiently and accurately provided. The results showed reasonable precision and reliability in calculations of the 2D stress and strain rates during the whole deformation process. Each mechanical device that has been used has the possibility to stretch and squeeze the sample and log the change in the specimen elongation. The authors thought that the present experimental methodology was applied to the linear mechanical device successfully, where the encoder that is attached to tested samples was in the principal direction. The present method is used to measure the deformation in a manner that differs from the traditional digital image correlation method, which required a toolset that is more expensive, where it incorporates high-accuracy optical equipment

A miniaturization of the UWB monopole antenna for wireless baseband transmission

In this paper, a novel Monopole patch antenna with dimension 22*20*1.6 mm3 is presented to enhance the bandwidth and minimize the size of the antenna. The power divider and etched a slot on the ground plane are significant improvements in the proposed antenna. Based on this approach, the ultra-wideband antenna for 2.4 GHz to 9.6 GHz frequency band is a significant improvement. The flat gain from -5dB to 2.3dB over the frequency band of operation, which is provided to transmit and receive the output line code from Rapid Signal Flux Quantum (RSFQ) chip directly without modulation techniques (WBT) by these antennas between two different environments (4K-300k). The nearly radiation patterns of the presented antenna are bidirectional at E-plane and omnidirectional at H-plane

Characterization of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) collection using quantitative and qualitative traits in the Mediterranean Basin

Abstract This study was conducted to determine the genetic diversity and relationship among 256 groundnut genotypes of which 132 belong to subspecies (Subsp.) Arachis hypogaea L. and 124 to Subsp. Arachis fastigiata L. The collection was evaluated for eight quantitative and five qualitative traits during three consecutive years under Mediterranean climate conditions. Coefficient of variation (CV) significantly differed among the genotypes for all the studied quantitative traits ranged from 9.10 to 33.98%, while the highest CV was recorded for seed yield. The subspecies, A. hypogaea L. and A. fastigiata L., displayed significant differences for quantitative traits except for numbers of pods per plant and seed yield. Principal component analyses showed that the first three principal components accounted for 68.14% variation for quantitative traits. Major traits that accounted for the variation by the three PCs include days to the first flowering, days to 50% flowering, number of pods per plant and shelling percentage. The groundnut collection also offers wide seed coat color diversity which affects the crop marketability. The information on variations in quantitative and qualitative traits identified in the present investigation provided useful genotypes which would be serving parents. These parental genotypes can be used in groundnut breeding programs to develop desirable cultivars in Mediterranean basin and globally

Hotspot generation for unique identification with nanomaterials.

Nanoscale variations in the structure and composition of an object are an enticing basis for verifying its identity, due to the physical complexity of attempting to reproduce such a system. The biggest practical challenge for nanoscale authentication lies in producing a system that can be assessed with a facile measurement. Here, a system is presented in which InP/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) are randomly distributed on a surface of an aluminium-coated substrate with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs). Variations in the local arrangement of the QDs and NPs is shown to lead to interactions between them, which can suppress or enhance fluorescence from the QDs. This position-dependent interaction can be mapped, allowing intensity, emission dynamics, and/or wavelength variations to be used to uniquely identify a specific sample at the nanoscale with a far-field optical measurement. This demonstration could pave the way to producing robust anti-counterfeiting devices

Do bilateral social security agreements deliver on the portability of pensions and health care benefits? A summary policy paper on four migration corridors between EU and non-EU member states

This policy paper summarizes four corridor studies on bilateral social security agreements (BSSAs) between four EU Member and two non-Member States, draws conclusions on their results, and offers recommendations. BSSAs between migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries are seen as the most important instrument to establish portability of social security benefits for internationally mobile workers. Yet only about 23 percent of international migrants profit from BSSAs and their functioning has been little analyzed and even less assessed. The four corridors studied (Austria-Turkey, Germany-Turkey, Belgium-Morocco, and France-Morocco) were selected to allow for comparison of both similarities and differences in experiences. The evaluation of these corridors' BSSAs was undertaken against a methodological framework and three selected criteria: fairness for individuals, fiscal fairness for countries, and bureaucratic effectiveness for countries and migrant workers. The results suggest that the investigated BSSAs work and overall deliver reasonably well on individual fairness. The results on fiscal fairness are clouded by conceptual and empirical gaps. Bureaucratic effectiveness would profit from ICT-based exchanges on both corridors once available

Sensitivity of Irrigation Water Requirement to Climate Change in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions towards Sustainable Management of Water Resources

This study aimed to assess the spatiotemporal sensitivity of the net irrigation water requirement (NIWR) to changes in climate, for sixteen crops widely cultivated in four irrigation projects located in arid and semi-arid regions of Iraq. Using LARS-WG and five GCMs, the minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation were projected for three periods from 2021–2080 with 20-year steps (P1, P2, and P3) under representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5. Weather data available for a reference period from 1990–2019 in four representatives’ meteorological stations were used. The climate variables and other required data were inserted into the CROPWAT 8 NIWR tool. Findings revealed that the increase in the NIWR for the considered crops due to climate change falls in the range 0.1–42.4%, 1.8–44.5%, 1.2–25.1%, and 0.7–14.7% for the North Jazeera Irrigation Project (NJIP), Kirkuk Irrigation Project (KRIP), Upper Khalis Irrigation Project (UKIP), and Dalmaj Irri-gation Project (DLIP), respectively. Barley is more susceptible to changes in climate, whereas maize, potato, soybean, and millet are found to withstand changes in climate better than others. The novel outcomes of this study support optimal spatiotemporal allocation of irrigation water requirement and the sustainable management of water resources in a changing climate in arid and semi-arid regions