BACKGROUND This study aimed to estimate the rate of HER-2/neu (c-erbB2) immunohistochemical overexpression in different histological types of breast cancer found in the middle Euphrates region of Iraq, a region that was exposed to high levels of depleted uranium. HER-2/neu (c-erbB2) overexpression was correlated with common clinicopathological parameters such as age, grade, stage, tumor size an...

The uranium concentration in 59 samples of bottled and tap water, mainly from northern Italy, was measured by different techniques. Results obtained by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), semiconductor alpha spectrometry and low level liquid scintillation counting with alpha/beta discrimination (LSC) have been compared. High resolution gamma spectrometry and semiconductor alp...

Understanding the corrosion of uranium is important for its safe, long-term storage. Uranium metal corrodes rapidly in air, but the exact mechanism remains subject to debate. Atom Probe Tomography was used to investigate the surface microstructure of metallic depleted uranium specimens following polishing and exposure to moist air. A complex, corrugated metal-oxide interface was observed, with ...

The use of depleted uranium in armor-penetrating munitions remains a source of controversy because of the numerous unanswered questions about its long-term health effects. Although there are no conclusive epidemiological data correlating depleted uranium exposure to specific health effects, studies using cultured cells and laboratory rodents continue to suggest the possibility of genetic, repro...

BACKGROUND The deleterious impact of uranium on human health has been linked to its radioactive and heavy metal-chemical properties. Decades of research has defined the causal relationship between uranium mining/milling and onset of kidney and respiratory diseases 25 years later. OBJECTIVE We investigated the hypothesis that uranium, similar to other heavy metals such as cadmium, acts like es...

Considerable evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the toxicity of uranyl acetate (UA), a soluble salt of depleted uranium (DU). We examined the ability of the two antioxidants, beta-glucan and butylated hydroxyl toluene (BHT), to prevent UA-induced mitochondrial dysfunction using rat-isolated kidney mitochondria. Beta-glucan (150 nM) and BHT (20 nM) attenuated UA-indu...

  ABSTRACT   Background : The application of DU emanation for first time contaminated certain areas in the south west region of Iraq after the second Gulf war (1991). These contaminated areas were discovered in 1994. Radioactive contamination was detected using the nuclear enterprise PCM5/1 in soil samples collected from two regions near by grazing lands. This study was done for assessment of D...