Abstract Candida albicans is a commensal fungal pathogen that grows in yeast and hyphal forms in the human gut. C. albicans causes mucosal and cutaneous diseases that can result in significant mortality following systematic infections and it also exhibits drug resistance. Zebrafish have been an excellent model to investigate C. albicans infections because of their transparency and the availability of many transgenic lines. However, there is a limitation in using zebrafish as a model because the fish embryos cannot survive at 37°C therefore it is not suitable for studying Candida infections at physiological relevant human body temperature. In this thesis, the normal embryonic development of Arabian killifish (A. dispar) is investigated, revealing that embryogenesis was divided into 32 stages based on diagnostic patterns of development. A. dispar can also found to tolerate a wide range of temperatures and salinities. This suggests that A. dispar could be developed as a novel model to investigate host-pathogen interactions. The tolerance of A. dispar to high temperatures may in part be attributable to brown pigment cells with a highly fluorescent character that may have developed to allow the fish to adapt to live within extreme environmental conditions with strong sunlight and a wide range of temperatures (Chapter 3). In terms of Candida infections, this study examined A. dispar as a model to test C. albicans pathogenicity. The survival of A. dispar embryos following Candida infection showed a dose dependent relationship. We also found that A. dispar can survive longer than zebrafish after infection. Furthermore, C. albicans cells were observed to undergo a transition from yeast to hyphae at 37°C. An investigation of the ability of mutant strains of C. albicans with defects in cell wall mannosylation revealed a significant impact on virulence, host mortality, and the fishes’ immune response. The present study found that although the deletion of O- and N-mannan from the cell wall of C. albicans, affected fungal burden (attenuation), and the survival of the infected embryos per se was significantly decreased in the infections of the mutant strains compared to the WT. This data confirms the importance of the mannosylation state of the cell wall in triggering an immune recognition event (Chapter 4). A. dispar is also shown to be suitable for studying the effectiveness of 3 | P a g e antifungals. Fluconazole treatment of infected embryos and eggs promoted greater rates of survival at high doses, alongside a significant reduction of C. albicans CFUs (Chapter 4). When looking at the Candida-host interaction, we directly observed phagocytosed yeast cells within macrophages. Various detection methods were used to follow macrophages and neutrophils including Western blotting, immunostaining and histological staining (Sudan black and FITC-tyramide) allowing the monitoring of the time course of the immune cells. A biphasic response of macrophages was detected by L-plastin Western blotting, suggesting activation of two different type of macrophage: activated macrophage (M1) and alternative macrophage (M2). We also assayed reactive oxygen species (ROS) within infected embryos using a fluorescent probe (H2DCFDA), revealing the accumulation of the fluorescent probe at the sites of infection. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the oxidative and immune response using the H2DCFDA and qPCR were also accomplished within A. dispar embryos after infection with both the WT and mutant strains of Candida albicans (WT, pmr1∆, mnt1-mnt2∆, and och1∆). The results confirmed that the mutant strains did not activate a host oxidative stress response nor immune cell accumulation when compared to WT, suggesting that the immune response is less activated against these mutants. Finally, a new transgenic line of A. dispar fish was developed using Betaactin-DsR-LoxP-GFP. The new transgenic A. dispar is suggested to be an ideal model for real time observation of host-pathogen interactions and for investigation of molecular functions of the immune response. Overall these results improve our understanding of the use of a new transparent fish model to study fungal pathogenesis and demonstrates the potential advantages of using this species in future studies of bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens at a physiologically relevant temperature for human infection. Such a model could lead us to investigate in more depth the key interactions between pathogens and their host and permit the screening and development of new antifungal therapies (that might target the pathogens directly or target the host immune system). View full metadata
The present paper focuses on examining the style of both the civilized dialogue of Prophet Hud (PBUH) in the Glorious Qur'an, and the debated dialogue of Aad’s people. The study consists of an introduction which shows the importance of the civilized dialogue and its significant impact on containing, accepting, and persuading the other in peaceful ways without intolerance and violence. Then, the conditions and techniques of the civilized dialogue and its types have been mentioned. This is followed by the practical side of the study, which involves examining stylistically the techniques used in Hud’s (PBUH) civilized dialogue to be invested later in people’s future conversations. It is also concerned with investigating stylistically
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The goal of the research is to identify the effectiveness of using a proposed strategy according to the Fraunhofer model of knowledge management in mathematics achievement for second-grade female students in middle and high schools affiliated with the General Directorate of Education in Baghdad / Al-Karkh II. The objective was to prove the following null hypothesis: "The average scores of the experimental group who will study with the proposed strategy according to the Fraunhofer model and the scores of the control group students who will study in the usual way in the mathematics achievement test are not statistically significant different at the significance level (0.05)." The General Directorate of Education of Baghdad / Al-Karkh
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Abstract
The research aimed to test the relationship between the size of investment allocations in the agricultural sector in Iraq and their determinants using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method compared to the Error Correction Model (ECM) approach. The time series data for the period from 1990 to 2021 was utilized. The analysis showed that the estimates obtained using the ECM were more accurate and significant than those obtained using the OLS method. Johansen's test indicated the presence of a long-term equilibrium relationship between the size of investment allocations and their determinants. The results of th
... Show MoreIn this research، a comparison has been made between the robust estimators of (M) for the Cubic Smoothing Splines technique، to avoid the problem of abnormality in data or contamination of error، and the traditional estimation method of Cubic Smoothing Splines technique by using two criteria of differentiation which are (MADE، WASE) for different sample sizes and disparity levels to estimate the chronologically different coefficients functions for the balanced longitudinal data which are characterized by observations obtained through (n) from the independent subjects، each one of them is measured repeatedly by group of specific time points (m)،since the frequent measurements within the subjects are almost connected an
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ABSTRACT Purpose: The determination of standard scores and levels for some mental skills by researchers is of great importance, especially if it matches the target research sample, Method: as the researchers used the descriptive approach in the survey method, and the researchers chose the sample of youth players for clubs for the season (2022-2021), numbering (127) players, and the researchers identified the scale and procedures and applied it to the research sample, Results: obtained the results that were processed, extracted grades and standard levels, and then interpreted them and obtained conclusions, Conclusion: the most important of which are: The standard levels of mental skills reached the results of the sample studied within the
... Show MoreThe purpose of the study is to identify the need to improve health services in Iraq by determining the efficiency of service in health care centres and working on exploiting limited resources through choosing the most efficient technological art represented by using precast concrete technology to fill the shortfall in the establishment health centres for primary care and to explain the impact of this on saving resources, time, and increasing production efficiency. To achieve this, the quantitative analysis adopted as a methodology in the study by determining the size of the deficit in the infrastructure of health centres for primary care according to the standard of a he
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The aim of this study is to identify the effect of particle size and to increase the concentration of Iraqi bentonite on rheological properties in order to evaluate its performance and to know if it can be used as drilling fluid without additives or not. In this study, Iraqi bentonite was carried out by mineral composition (XRD), chemical composition (XRF) and Particle size distribution (PSD), and its rheological properties were measured at different particle size and concentration. The results showed that when the particle size of Iraqi bentonite decreased, and the rheological properties were increased with increased concentration of Iraqi bentonite. Also, Iraqi bentonite was unable to use as drilling fluid without certain additives.
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The article considers the main reason for A. I. Herzen's address to obsolete words, which is their ability to acquire a stylistic coloring in the context of speech, as well as the possibility of combining, in some cases, with neutral lexemes of various functional styles. A certain stylistic effect of such characteristics of this type of vocabulary is represented, as a result of which their stylistic coloring in syntagmatic terms does not coincide with stylistic coloring in terms of paradigmatics, that is, in speech they have a completely stylistic meaning. Attention is focused on the role of outdated vocabulary, which consists in the fact that they serve to implement such features of the artistic style as imagery, emotionality, and their
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Because the Coronavirus epidemic spread in Iraq, the COVID-19 epidemic of people quarantined due to infection is our application in this work. The numerical simulation methods used in this research are more suitable than other analytical and numerical methods because they solve random systems. Since the Covid-19 epidemic system has random variables coefficients, these methods are used. Suitable numerical simulation methods have been applied to solve the COVID-19 epidemic model in Iraq. The analytical results of the Variation iteration method (VIM) are executed to compare the results. One numerical method which is the Finite difference method (FD) has been used to solve the Coronavirus model and for comparison purposes. The numerical simulat
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