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In many areas of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, there has been an unplanned and random shift in urban land use where a significant portion of the residential land within the city has been converted to commercial uses. This alteration in land use has led to severe traffic congestion due to the influx of vehicles frequenting these areas, the streets' insufficient capacity to handle the vehicular traffic, and a lack of adequate parking spaces. The research aims to develop a statistical model to calculate the needed parking spaces in Baghdad's commercial areas. It is estimated that the required vehicle parking can be determined by the areas of the buildings. The research concludes that certain commercial activities, such as restaurants and stores, necessitate more vehicle parking compared to other commercial activities, and the demand for parking spaces is directly proportional to the commercial activities' area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, 25 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were diagnosed in 160 clinical samples collected from patients attending the Tuberculosis Institute/ Medical city and Al-Muhmodia Public Hospital, in addition to a number of private laboratories in Baghdad during the period from September 2020 to February 2021. The bacterial isolates from clinical samples were biochemically diagnosed by API® 20E system then further identified by VITEK 2 system. P. aeruginosa represented the most prevalent bacteria in lower respiratory tract specimens. These isolates showed moderate to high susceptibility towards 11 antimicrobial agents tested in this study except that of ceftazidime and ceftriaxone. Extra-chromosomal resistance of the top three of the most resistant P. aeruginosa isolates were subjected for molecular investigation. Bacterial transformation of E. coli S1 cells with plasmid DNA extracted from the selected P. aeruginosa isolates exhibited increased resistance to ceftazidime and penicillin G. The data clearly suggest that the plasmid DNA content is implicated in enhancement of P. aeruginosa resistance through horizontal transfer of extra- chromosomal beta lactam resistance associated genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research deals with the concept of a safe city and the impact of security on cities, in an attempt to identify the most important physical characteristics and indicators necessary to achieve safety in cities. The research identified seven characteristics (access and movement, structure, control, ownership, protection, activity, management and maintenance). From these seven characteristics, eighteen indicators were derived that directly affected the achievement of safety in urban environments. These indicators were applied to the study area, An-Najaf traditional city in Iraq. By adopting the analysis of indicators using field survey, observation and analysis using geographic information systems and mathematical models. The indicators that contributed to achieving a number of characteristics of safe cities in An-Najaf traditional city were identified: the structure of the city, the homogeneity of society, as well as the activity characteristic, as it was characterized by religious and tourism activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy worldwide. The expression of microRNA (miRNA/miR)-146 has been shown to be related to breast cancer progression, and its expression in breast cancer cells has been investigated in the blood of patients. In the present study, the concentration of lipid peroxidation in blood cells was measured by detecting the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) to explore the level of oxidative cellular damage in the collected blood samples of breast cancer patients, alongside healthy women used as the controls. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was used to analyze the expression of miR-146 in the blood of both breast cancer patients and healthy controls. As regards miR-146 expression, the fold change in expression in patients with breast cancer was 3.1-fold higher than that in healthy women. The findings revealed that the expression of miR-146 in patients with breast cancer was almost 3-fold higher than that in healthy women. Notably, the levels of MDA, which has been employed as a marker of lipid peroxidation, were significantly higher in patients with breast cancer (3.25±0.22) compared with healthy women (0.99±0.099). On the whole, the findings of the present study indicate that both miR-146 expression and MDA levels may function as potential biomarkers for determining susceptibility to breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, a couple of respiratory tract cancer and normal cell lines, A549 and Liv22 respectively, were utilised as an in vitro two-dimensional cell culture model to explore the effect of bacterial respiratory infections with P. aeruginosa on the cancer cell progression by modulating EGFR mRNA expression. The results of MTT assay revealed that the bacterial apical infection of cancerous cell line A549 with Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates coded as (PA7 and PA42) led to significant increase of the growth rate compared to normal LIV22 (95% confidence interval) at diluted bacterial suspension (250×10-3) ml. The results of RT-qPCR analysis of EGFR mRNA expression at 95% confidence interval revealed that level of EGFR mRNA expression in A549, which infected with same dose (250×10-3) ml of P. aeruginosa isolates PA7 and PA42 was significantly increased when compared with non-exposed A549 cells. Our findings suggest that EGFR expression has been modulated in the infected cancer cells. Augmentation of EGFR mRNA expression in lung cancer cells in response to the bacterial infection could be the potential factor of increased cellular growth of lung cancer cells. This outcome points out that Pseudomonas aeruginosa may serve as a potential predictor of lung tumorigenesis, which requires further confirmation in a large-scale study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HURP gene encodes the hepatoma upregulated protein (HURP), a microtubule associated protein regulating mitotic spindle dynamics, which promotes chromosomal congression and alignment during mitosis, with a potential role in tumorigenesis. In the present study, HURP mRNA expression was investigated by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). Primary OPSCC tumors from 107 patients and 48 adjacent normal tissues, as well as 12 respiratory tract cancer cell lines (9 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, 2 lung cancer and 1 normal bronchial) were utilised in the present study. mRNA expression levels of HURP were higher in malignant OPSCC tissues compared with in normal mucosa (P<1×10−5) and significantly associated with sex and smoking status (P<0.0001). Vinorelbine in vitro toxicity at half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was measured in the 11 cancer cell lines using an MTT assay. Sensitivity to vinorelbine was significantly correlated with HURP expression (r=0.636; P=0.035). The data indicated that HURP overexpression is frequent in OPSCC tissues and associated with smoking. The correlation between HURP mRNA expression and vinorelbine in vitro response suggests that HURP is a potential modulator of vinorelbine response; therefore, it should be explored for its possible predictive value for the efficiency of vinorelbine treatment in this type of cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Colorectal cancer, ranking second in global cancer mortality following lung cancer, arises from diverse causes. While the genetic aspects of colorectal cancer (CRC) have been extensively explored, there is growing recognition of the substantial involvement of epigenetic modifications of histones at the DNA level in various malignant diseases, including CRC. This research sought to evaluate the immunoexpression of HDAC-1 and 3 in a cohort of colorectal cancer patients. Additionally, we investigated potential associations between the expression of HDAC-1,3 and p53. Methods: The retrospective analysis encompassed 95 paraffin-embedded tissue samples from CRC cases, involving participants aged 22 to 79 years, including 60 males and 35 females. Results: Notably, the expression of the p53 protein exhibited a remarkable correlation with the protein expression of both HDAC1 (p < 0.001, rho = 0.522) and HDAC3 (p < 0.001, rho = 0.411), as well as the advanced TNM staging of the patients (p = 0.002, rho = 0.313). Downregulated p53 was correlated with underexpressed HDAC1& HDAC3. Nevertheless, the observed expression of p53 exhibited a negative but significant correlation with the ages of the patients. Conclusion: The outcomes of this research highlight the diagnostic and prognostic importance of protein 53 in CRC. Our data in respect with the expression of HDACs-P53 correlation could pave the way to hypothesize a possible mechanism of action between the expression of HDACs and 53, highlighting the need for broader studies on Whole Transcriptome Sequencing level to thoroughly illustrate the pattern of interplay between p53 and HDACs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deregulation of mitotic spindle genes has been reported to contribute to the development and progression of malignant tumours. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between the expression profiles of Aurora kinases (AURKA, AURKB and AURKC), cytoskeleton-associated protein 5 (CKAP5), discs large-associated protein 5 (DLGAP5), kinesin-like protein 11 (KIF11), microtubule nucleation factor (TPX2), monopolar spindle 1 kinase (TTK), and ß-tubulins (TUBB) and (TUBB3) genes and clinicopathological characteristics in human non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction-based RNA gene expression profiles of 132 NSCLC and 44 adjacent wild-type tissues were generated, and Cox's proportional hazard regression was used to examine associations. With the exception of AURKC, all genes exhibited increased expression in NSCLC tissues. Of the 10 genes examined, only AURKA was significantly associated with prognosis in NSCLC. Multivariate Cox's regression analysis demonstrated that AURKA mRNA expression [hazard ratio (HR), 1.81; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.16-2.84; P=0.009], age (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00-1.06; P=0.020), pathological tumour stage 2 (HR, 2.43; 95% CI, 1.16-5.10; P=0.019) and involvement of distal nodes (pathological node stage 2) (HR, 3.14; 95% CI, 1.24-7.99; P=0.016) were independent predictors of poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC. Poor prognosis of patients with increased AURKA expression suggests that those patients may benefit from surrogate therapy with AURKA inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We hypothesized that attacking cancer cells by combining various modes of action can hinder them from taking the chance to evolve resistance to treatment. Incorporation of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with oncolytic virotherapy might be a promising dual approach to cancer treatment., Methods: NDV AMHA1 strain as virotherapy in integration with aminolaevulinic acid (ALA) using low power He-Ne laser as PDT in the existing work was examined against breast cancer cells derived from Iraqi cancer patients named (AMJ13). This combination was evaluated using Chou-Talalay analysis., Results: The results showed an increased killing rate when using both 0.01 and 0.1 Multiplicity of infection (MOI) of the virus when combined with a dose of 6172.8 photons/gm (ph/gm) of PDT focused on cancer cells., Conclusion: integration of the attenuated NDV-AMHA1 strain with photodynamic therapy has a synergistic killing effect on breast cancer cells in vitro, suggesting that this strategy could have clinical application to overcome breast cancer.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a frequent human malignancy that demonstrates a range of genetic and epigenetic alterations. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are key epigenetic regulators of cell-cycle progression, differentiation and apoptosis and their dysregulation is implicated in cancer development. HDACs are promising targets for anticancer therapy through the utilisation of HDAC inhibitors (HDACis). OSCC cells have been shown to have low levels of histone acetylation, suggesting that HDACis may produce beneficial effects in patients with OSCC. Valproic acid (VPA) is a class I and IIa HDACi and, therefore, may be useful in anticancer therapy. VPA has been reported as a chemo-preventive epigenetic agent in individuals with high-risk oral dysplasia (OD) and thus associated with a reduced risk of HNSCC. It is hypothesised that HDAC inhibition by VPA triggers a change in the expression levels of different HDAC family gene-members. The present review summarises the current literature on HDAC expression changes in response to VPA in oral cancer patients and in vitro studies in an effort to better understand the potential epigenetic impact of VPA treatment. The present review outlined the need for exploring supportive evidence of the chemo-preventive role played by VPA-based epigenetic modification in treating oral pre-cancerous lesions and, thus, providing a novel tolerable chemotherapeutic strategy for patients with oral cancer., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024, Spandidos Publications.)