ABSTRACT:Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the fourth leading cause of death from cancer worldwide. This study provides an overview of changes in sociod-demographic parameters in patients with colorectal cancer (henceforth CRC) disease in a local cancer hospital in Sulaymaniyah province of Kurdistan region of Iraq. The study included 113 patients admitted to Hiwa Cancer Hospital, Sulaymaniyah from January 2014 to December 2015. The data collection lasted for 3 weeks (from 19/12/2015 to 11/01/2016) and was obtained from the management department of Hiwa Cancer Hospital. Several socio-demographic parameters including age, gender, and smoking, as well as biochemical parameters such as liver function, renal function and blood glucose level were studied and statistically analyzed. Results have shown that the majority of CRC patients were neither current smoker nor x-smoker (P-value < 0.05). Males suffered from CRC at an earlier age compared to females (P-value < 0.05). Regarding the biochemical tests, there was no significant correlation between CRC and impaired liver function during the diagnosis process and most of the study patients had a normal liver function test on presentation. In contrast, the correlation between CRC and impaired renal function on presentation was statistically siginificant (P-value < 0.05). No significant difference was noted in the means of hematological and biochemical parameters between males and females, except for white blood cells and serum Aspartate Aminotransferase. White blood cells and total serum bilirubin showed significant differences (P-value < 0.05) between smoker and nonsmoker sub-populations. It was concluded that CRC is one of the common cancers in Sulaymaniyah province. Males develop it at an earlier age compared to females, and the impaired renal function is a significant finding on presentation.

Although the production of the secondary metabolite is frequently restricted, methods to regulate and optimize their synthesis are extremely beneficial. The current study proposes to enhance the production of antibiofilm metabolite in Streptomyces cellulosae (S. cellulosae). It was isolated from soil by growing on Gause's media and identified by colony morphology and genomic sequencing of 16S rDNA. Antibacterial and antibiofilm activities of the isolates were screened against a series of pathogenic bacteria by agar plug diffusion and 96 well microtiter plate methods, respectively. Physiological regulation of the bacterial bioactivity against biofilm formation was monitored under different cultural conditions. The isolated Streptomyces sequence analysis of the 16S rDNA was 100% identical to the sequence of S. cellulosae strain NBRC 13027. Physical (temperature and pH) and chemical (carbon, nitrogen, and minerals) culture medium factors have shown variable impacts on the growth and bioactive substances of S. cellulosae. Moreover, results of simple linear regression and correlation suggested that most of the physiological regulations with the highest response (r2= 0.85-0.99; p<0.01) and linearly (r= 0.88-0.99; p<0.01) were correlated between microbial biomass and crude extract. Lastly, under different culture growth conditions, biofilm inhibition was tested against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). The physiological regulation results exhibited that 1 μg/mL of the extract was the most efficient concentration against biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa while 3 μg/mL is an effective bactericidal dose against P. aeruginosa. We concluded that S. cellulosae can produce antibacterial and antibiofilm metabolites. Physiological regulation is considered a powerful tool that can be used for increasing the biosynthesis of the active metabolites and biomass.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jdmc.v20i2.10546 J. Dhaka Med. Coll. 2011; 20(2): 178-182

This study was planned to investigate the consequences of exogenous administration ofmelatonin on the amelioration of some biochemical variables in cisplatin (CP)-inducedacute nephrotoxicity in rats. Twenty-four male rats weighing 300-350g were used.Housing of the animals and the experiment were achieved and the rats were -housed inthe Department of Biology /College of Science/ Sulaimani University. The Animals weredivided into three groups (n=5); control group (receiving prepared standard chow for ratsand water ad libitum); model group(The animals administered a single intraperitoneal(i.p) dose of CP (8 mg/kg BW.); and the third group in addition to CP injection theanimals were supplemented with melatonin (180 mg/kg food) at the same day of CP-injection for five days. Finally, the blood specimen was taken using cardiac puncture.The studied parameters include Malondialdehyde (MDA), serum creatinine, serum urea,serum total bilirubin, serum albumin, serum electrolytes (Ca+2, Na+ and K+), as well assome hematological parameters (WBC, RBC, HCT, HGB). Our results showedsignificant (P<0.05) elevation in the serum level of MDA,, creatinine, urea and totalbilirubin in model group. On the other hand, the WBC count was also increasedsignificantly (P<0.01), whereas there was no significant alterations in the level ofcalcium, sodium, and potassium. The outcome of our study indicated that the melatoninadministration in injected rats for five days significantly (P<0.01) improved the elevatedserum levels of MDA, creatinine, urea, total bilirubin and WBC count. In conclusion,this study confirmed that melatonin has protective effects of ameliorating thenephrotoxicity induced by cisplatin in rat.