Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of gastric premalignant changes as gastric atrophy, intestinal metaplasia and dysplastic changes in patients underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy in three health institutions in Karbala province. Methods: The data was collected from patients attended the endoscopy units during a period from January  to September 2018 in three medical centers in holy Karbala/ Iraq, Al Hussein teaching hospital, Imam Zain Al Abedin hospital and Imam AL Hujjah hospital. It includes 215 males and 285  females who were subjected to esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) from whom mucosal biopsies were taken. These biopsies were stained by Giemsa to detect H. pylori organisms. Results: The mean age of patients was (40.9 +/- 15 years SD). H. Pylori infection was demonstrated in (71%) patients, (19.4%) were presented with glandular atrophy, (7.4%) out of 500 patients had intestinal metaplasia and only 6 (1.2%) patients had dysplastic changes. there was a significant statistical relation between gastric glandular atrophy and age, p value (0.03). there was a significant statistical relation between glandular atrophy and infection with H. Pylori, p value (0.001). there was a significant negative relation between H. Pylori infection and the existence of intestinal metaplasia, p value (0.0001). this study show a significant statistical relationship between the existence of intestinal metaplasia and the occurrence of  dysplastic changes, P value (0.001).  Conclusion: the current study show a significant relation between aging and the existence of gastric glandular atrophy. There was a significant relation between each of gastric glandular atrophy and intestinal metaplastic changes with the H. pylori infection. there was a significant relation between gastric intestinal metaplasia and dysplastic changes.

Objectives: The present retrospective study analyzed the spectrum of pediatric CNS tumors in a single tertiary hospital in Iraq. Methods: Data regarding frequencies of various primary CNS tumors (diagnosed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification), in pediatric patients (<18 yrs. of age), were collected from a single tertiary care hospital in Iraq for a period 2014-2017. Results: fifty-four children were diagnosed with primary CNS tumors. The most common primary pediatric CNS tumors were medulloblastoma (37%), followed by low grade gliomas (29.6%), high grade gliomas (0.011% ), CNS germinoma (0.09%), supratentorial primitive neuro-ectodermal tumors and ependymomas (0.037% for each). Rare tumors encountered were oligodendrogliomas, choroid plexus carcinoma, and pineoblastoma (0.18% for each). The most common low grade gliomas tumor was pilocytic astrocytoma. Conclusions: This is the first study reporting the spectrum of CNS tumors in children in Iraq. Except for a higher frequency of CNS germinoma, the profile of other pediatric CNS tumors in Iraq is relatively similar to that reported in other countries.