Background: Colorectal cancer is the most common gastrointestinal tract cancer worldwide. In Iraq, colorectal cancer was the seventh top cancers, whereas in Kurdistan, it was the fourth most common cancer for both males and females. Although the methods of the diagnosis and therapy have been improved, only about 50% of the patients who resected the tumor died from disease within 5 years, due to distant metastasis. The study was carried out to determine the frequency of histopathological types of colorectal cancer, and to evaluate the correlation between colorectal cancer regarding the grade, stage, with different histological finding which include desmoplastic reaction, lymphocytic infiltration, foamy macrophages, necrosis, intraglandular necrosis, and calcification. Subject and Methods: This study includes (108) patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Cases were collected during the period January 2015-December 2017 from the histopathological department at Central Public Health Laboratory and other private labs in Duhok city. Clinical information were obtained from the available histopathological reports. Paraffin embedded blocks were sectioned and stained with immunohistochemistry markers; Ki67 and VEGF then processed automatically according to protocols supplied by the antibody manufacturer. Results: Patients age ranged from18-83 years with a mean of 54.42 years. The peak ages of the patients were between 60-69 years. Male: female ratio was 1.5:1. The commonest tumor location was (recto-sigmoidal region); rectum was (42.6 %) and sigmoid colon was(22.2%).Conventional adenocarcinoma was the predominant type 86(79.6%), majority of cases were moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma constituting85.2%. Stage III was the highest stage constituting 56(51.9%), followed by stage II which constitute 37(34.3%).The local invasion of the mucosa and other layers of colonic wall were associated with desmoplasia and collagen fiber remodeling. Infiltration of foamy macrophages decreased in number in relation to higher grade. Intraglandular necrosis showed significant correlation with tumor invasiveness, lymph node metastasis and grade. The frequency of both markers Ki67 and VEGF were 77 and 75 respectively. Ki67 immunoreactivity revealed significant relationship with tumor grade (P=0.014), whereas VEGF had significant relationship with TNM stage (P = 0.019), as well as the local invasion to the colorectal wall (P 0.009). Conclusions: Moderate differentiated adenocarcinoma (85.2%) and stage III (51.9%) were the most frequent diagnosed cases with colorectal cancer. Macrophages infiltration was conversely related with grading of colorectal cancer. Histopathological changes like desmoplastic reaction and intraglandular necrosis were common findings in colorectal cancer and they were in concordance correlation with stage and grade.Ki67 had relationship with tumor grade, whereas VEGF correlate with tumor invasion.

The study was performed to detect cryptosporidiosis in animals in Duhok city /Kurdistan region of Iraq by examining 348 fecal samples of cattle and 280 of sheep using Modified Ziehl Neelsen Method (MZNM) to detect the oocysts of Cryptosporidium. A total of 233 fecal samples (129 cattle, 104 sheep) were randomly chosen to detect coproantigen of Cryptosporidium by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). By MZNM, the total rate of cryptosporidiosis was 26.15% , 11.07% in cattle and sheep respectively. The infection rates were 28.99%, 24.29% in diarrheic and non-diarrheic groups of cattle respectively. While in sheep; the infection rates were 23.26% and 5.67% in diarrheic and non-diarrheic groups, respectively. Out of 129 fecal samples of cattle, 31(24.03%), and 37 (28.68%) were positive by MZNM, and ELISA respectively. A total of 104 fecal samples of sheep, 23(22.12%), and 24(23.08%) were positive by MZNM, and ELISA, respectively. The highest infection rate by MZNM, and ELISA was among the age group 1-2 months in diarrheic cattle and sheep, while in non-diarrheic cattle and sheep, it was among 3-6 months age group. This study indicated that infection was associated with diarrhea in all ages and it decreased with increasing of age.

Introduction: It is important to better understand the presence of neutralizing anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the population, as they potentially prevent (re)infection. Aim: To correlate the Cycle threshold (Ct value) of SARS-CoV-2 and its impact on specific Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG titer, to reveal the effect of age and disease severity on antibodies titer. Methodology: A total of 153 infected participants laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases 4-11 months ago, aged 18-85 years old (mean = 43.58, SD ± 15.34) were enrolled in the study. They have not received any COVID-19 vaccine. A questionnaire was prepared including demographic data, age, gender, residence, and symptoms severity they suffered. Five mL of venous blood was taken from each participant to measure SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies against the receptor binding domain (RBD) by (VIDAS SARS-COV-2 IgG - Biomerieux kit). Ct values were measured by qRT-PCR (BIO-RAD-CFX96) kit which detected two virus genes, namely (RdRp-N genes). Results: Lowest Ct values were detected significantly in age group 50-59 and 70-85 respectively. The highest mean of IgG was detected in age groups 70-85 and 50-59, and was found to be significantly correlated with disease severity. There is a direct relationship between Ct values and the titer of specific IgG, as increasing in viral load is associated with a higher level of antibodies. Antibodies were detected several months after infection with the highest mean after 10-11 months. Conclusions: Specific Anti-viral IgG are significantly associated with increasing age and disease severity, and the direct relation of IgG with viral load. Antibodies are detected several months post-infection but their protective efficacy is controversial.

Neuroendocrine differentiation has been mentioned in many cancers of non-neuroendocrinal organs, involving the gastrointestinal tract. In contrast, the correlation of focally diffused neuroendocrine differentiation in colorectal adenocarcinoma with neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia has not been somewhat reported. The objective of this research is to study the relationship between neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia and neuroendocrine differentiation in colorectal adenocarcinoma and to find the correlation of neuroendocrine differentiation and VEGF expression with clinicopathological parameters of colorectal adenocarcinoma. Methods employed in the current study were including eighty-one patients with colorectal cancer. Formalin fixed paraffin embedded blocks were sectioned and stained with immunohistochemical markers; Chromogranin A and VEGF; and processed automatically according to protocols supplied by the antibody manufacturer. Results show that neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia in the mucosa nearby tumor comprised (42%) and it was associated with neuroendocrine differentiation. Neuroendocrine differentiation and vascular endothelial growth factor were positive in 48.1% and 63% respectively. Neuroendocrine differentiation did not show a relation with clinicopathological parameters with the exception of tumor that metastasizes to other tissues and organs. The association of VEGF with the same factors had significant impact with tumor stage, degree of local invasion and lymph node metastasis. Other histological changes revealed that only desmoplastic reaction had significant difference in relation to neuroendocrine differentiation. This study reached the conclusion that neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia is positively correlated with neuroendocrine differentiation and it has strong linkage in pathogenesis of colorectal adenocarcinoma. Neuroendocrine differentiation and VEGF expression are greatly correlated with progression and invasion of tumor to other tissues and organs, and this can be represented as an important parameter for poor prognosis of colorectal adenocarcinoma.