Commercial fish catch in the Iraqi marine waters from December 2018 to December 2019 was investigated. The study is based on three stations: the first station is located at the Shatt Al-Arab estuary, ...the second represents the area between the Shatt Al-Arab Estuary and open marine waters, and the third is associated with the Iraqi territorial marine waters. The total weight of the catch was 1881 kg, represented by 500, 654, and 727 kg in the first, second and third stations respectively. The third station was the highest with a majority of the family Sciaenidae by 464 kg, while the lowest was the family Scombridae by 0.5 kg. The total number of species included 37 species, belonging to 27 genera, 19 families, and 6 orders, the largest order represented by a high number of species was the Perciformes and the lowest versatile orders were Oreclotiformes, Nemipterideaformes and Scombridaeformes; while the order Scorpaeniformes was found by only one species.
Radiomics aims to develop novel biomarkers and provide relevant deeper subvisual information about pathology, immunophenotype, and tumor microenvironment. It uses automated or semiautomated ...quantitative analysis of high‐dimensional images to improve characterization, diagnosis, and prognosis. Recent years have seen a rapid increase in radiomics applications in nuclear medicine, leading to some promising research results in digestive system oncology, which have been driven by big data analysis and the development of artificial intelligence. Although radiomics advances one step further toward the non‐invasive precision medical analysis, it is still a step away from clinical application and faces many challenges. This review article summarizes the available literature on digestive system tumors regarding radiomics in nuclear medicine. First, we describe the workflow and steps involved in radiomics analysis. Subsequently, we discuss the progress in clinical application regarding the utilization of radiomics for distinguishing between various diseases and evaluating their prognosis, and demonstrate how radiomics advances this field. Finally, we offer our viewpoint on how the field can progress by addressing the challenges facing clinical implementation.
Recent years have seen a rapid increase in radiomics applications in nuclear medicine, leading to some promising research results in digestive system oncology, which have been driven by big data analysis and the development of artificial intelligence. This review article summarizes the available literature on digestive system tumors regarding radiomics in nuclear medicine. The authors discuss that the progress in the clinical application regarding the utilization of radiomics for distinguishing between various diseases and evaluating their prognosis, and demonstrate how radiomics advances this field.
Introduction
While lung is the most common site of metastasis, bone metastasis of soft tissue sarcoma is a part of the natural history affecting the prognosis of these patients. To date, no studies ...have analyzed the histologic subtypes more likely to metastasize to bone, the risk factors for bone metastasis at initial presentation, or the effect that bone metastasis has on the survival of these patients.
Material/methods
Patients were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database with primary extremity STS between 2010 and 2015. Risk factors for early bone metastasis, survival based on different sites of metastasis, and prognostic factors of survival were analyzed.
Results
Among 8,234 STS, 2.2% (
n
= 180) presented with skeletal metastasis. Bone metastasis was more likely when regional lymph nodes were involved (OR = 4.48,
p
= 0.008). Deep and moderate or high-grade sarcomas had 5–12-fold tendency to present with bone and lung metastasis (
p
= 0.046, 0.006, 0.030, respectively). The 5-year survival rate was 41.2% (26.9–54.9%) for isolated bone metastasis and 32.9% (21.2–45.1%) for patients with bone and lung metastasis. Resection of the primary sarcoma was the only significant predictor of survival (HR = 0.44,
p
= 0.021) for patients with bone metastasis.
Conclusion
High tumor grade, deep location to fascia and regional lymph node metastasis are significant risk factors for skeletal metastasis at diagnosis of an extremity STS. While neither systemic chemotherapy nor radiotherapy of the primary sarcoma has a significant influence on survival in the presence of bone metastasis, radical resection of the primary STS is associated with increased survival.
During the last few decades, a critical scarcity of water has occurred in the Middle East due to climate change and the mismanagement of water resources. The situation is complicated by the absence ...of an effective legislative framework at the local level as well as by the incapability and disrepute of the local water authorities. Most Iraqi citizens depend on the surface waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which have their sources in upstream neighbouring countries. Water crises concerning the shared waters urgently require a solution at the international level. Unfortunately, Iraq has faced several wars in a row (1980–2003), which has prevented the country from establishing its institutions. The rapid increase in the population of the transboundary countries on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the high demands on agriculture, are accelerating water exploitation. In this paper, the present state of water management in Iraq from the viewpoint of the legislative framework, water balance, and transboundary issues will be discussed, with special attention to Kurdistan. Many legislative documents have been established or amended by the Iraqi and Kurdistan parliaments since 2003. In 2015, the Kurdistan Government Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, in cooperation with the EU, issued a guide for environmental legislation related to all environmental components such as air, water, and soil. The recommendations on actions needed in the water management in Kurdistan will be presented; they are inspired by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) implemented in EU member states.
An essential aspect of thyroid cancer (TC) management is personalized and precision medicine. Functional imaging of TC with radioiodine and
FFDG has been frequently used in disease evaluation for ...several decades now. Recently, advances in molecular imaging have led to the development of novel tracers based on aptamer, peptide, antibody, nanobody, antibody fragment, and nanoparticle platforms. The emerging targets-including HER2, CD54, SHP2, CD33, and more-are promising targets for clinical translation soon. The significance of these tracers may be realized by outlining the way they support the management of TC. The provided examples focus on where preclinical investigations can be translated. Furthermore, advances in the molecular imaging of TC may inspire the development of novel therapeutic or theranostic tracers. In this review, we summarize TC-targeting probes which include transporter-based and immuno-based imaging moieties. We summarize the most recent evidence in this field and outline how these emerging strategies may potentially optimize clinical practice.
Recently, spectral computed tomography (CT) technology has received great interest in the field of radiology. Spectral CT imaging utilizes the distinct, energy-dependent X-ray absorption properties ...of substances in order to provide additional imaging information. Dual-energy CT and multi-energy CT (Spectral CT) are capable of constructing monochromatic energy images, material separation images, energy spectrum curves, constructing effective atomic number maps, and more. However, poor contrast, due to neighboring X-ray attenuation of organs and tissues, is still a challenge to spectral CT. Hence, contrast agents (CAs) are applied for better differentiation of a given region of interest (ROI). Currently, many different kinds of inorganic nanoparticulate CAs for spectral CT have been developed due to the limitations of clinical iodine (I)-based contrast media, leading to the conclusion that inorganic nanomedicine applied to spectral CT will be a powerful collaboration both in basic research and in clinics. In this review, the underlying principles and types of spectral CT techniques are discussed, and some evolving clinical diagnosis applications of spectral CT techniques are introduced. In particular, recent developments in inorganic CAs used for spectral CT are summarized. Finally, the challenges and future developments of inorganic nanomedicine in spectral CT are briefly discussed.
The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling network is frequently hyperactivated in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Recent studies suggest that hypoxia, a common ...microenvironmental stress found in tumors, blocks this mitogenic pathway. Here, we demonstrate that in HNSCC cell lines, the expression of the phosphorylated forms of the mTOR downstream targets S6 kinase and S6 (pS6) decreased after hypoxia. These events were associated with a marked up-regulation of the regulated in development and DNA damage 1 (REDD1), a recently characterized hypoxia-induced protein that negatively controls mTOR activity. Conversely, pS6 levels were retained under hypoxia in REDD1 knock-down cells and in HNSCC cells lacking endogenous REDD1 expression. Furthermore, we observed that prolonged hypoxia induced an energy-depleting response as evidenced by decreased cellular ATP levels and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation. Interestingly, AMPK inhibition before prolonged hypoxia prevented REDD1 expression, thereby sustaining mTOR activity. These results suggest a novel mechanism by which AMPK activation after hypoxia-induced energy stress may be crucial in regulating REDD1 expression to control the mTOR pathway in HNSCC. Furthermore, we found that, in some HNSCC cells, the reduced mTOR activity in response to hypoxia through AMPK/REDD1 was deregulated, which hence might contribute to the persistent activation of the mTOR pathway in this cancer type.
Single-domain antibody (sdAb) is among the most promising vectors for developing molecular imaging tracers. Several sdAb tracers targeting human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 or programmed death ...ligand 1 have entered clinical practice. However, radiolabeled single-valent sdAbs generally have high kidney retention, limiting their therapeutic applications. Therefore, engineering strategies such as PEGylation or incorporation of renal cleavable linkers can be adapted to improve pharmacokinetics and reduce kidney retention. In this Focus on Molecular Imaging review, we try to summarize the latest developments in sdAb-derived agents and propose potential strategies that can be used to improve the theranostic value of radiolabeled sdAbs.
Semaphorin 4D (Sema4D) is a glycoprotein that is expressed by several tumors and immune cells. It can function as a membrane bound protein or as a cleaved soluble protein (sSema4D). We sought to ...investigate the translational potential of plasma sSema4D as an immune marker in plasma of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Paired peripheral blood and tumor tissue samples of 104 patients with HNSCC were collected at the same time point to allow for real time analysis. Scoring of the histological inflammatory subtype (HIS) was carried out using Sema4D immunohistochemistry on the tumor tissue. sSema4D was detected in plasma using direct ELISA assay. Defining elevated sSema4D as values above the 95
percentile in healthy controls, our data showed that sSema4D levels in plasma were elevated in 25.0% (95% CI, 16.7-34.9%) of the patients with HNSCC and showed significant association with HIS immune excluded (HIS-IE) (p = 0.007), Sema4D
tumor cells (TCs) (p = 0.018) and PD-L1
immune cells (ICs) (p = 0.038). A multi-variable logistic regression analysis showed that HIS was significantly (P = 0.004) associated with elevated sSema4D, an association not explained by available patient-level factors. Using the IO-360 nanoString platform, differential gene expression (DGE) analysis of 10 HNSCC tumor tissues showed that patients with high sSema4D in plasma (HsS4D) clustered as IFN-
negative tumor immune signature and were mostly HIS-IE. The IC type in the HsS4D paired tumor tissue was predominantly myeloid, while the lymphoid compartment was higher in the low sSema4D (LsS4D). The Wnt signaling pathway was upregulated in the HsS4D group. Further analysis using the IO-360, 770 gene set, showed significant non-inflamed profile of the HsS4D tumors compared to the LsS4D. In conclusion, our data reveals an association between sSema4D and the histological inflammatory subtype.
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