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
In this work, the synergistic effect of chlorinated rubber (additive I),with zeolite 3A (additive II), zeolite 4A (additive III), and zeolite 5A (additive IV) in (1:1) weight percentage, on the flammability for unsaturated polyester resin was studied in the weight ratios for (3,7,10,13&15%) by preparing films of (130×130×3) mm in diameters. Three standard test methods used to measure were the flame retardation which are; ASTM: D-2863, ASTM: D- 635& ASTM: D-3014. Results obtained from these tests indicated that all of the additives were effective additive IV has the highest efficiency as a flame retardant.
Challenges facing the transition of traditional cities to smart: Studying the challenges faced by the transition of a traditional area such as Al-Kadhimiya city center to the smart style
Abstract
Oil is considered a commodity and is still an important and prominent role in drawing and shaping the Iraqi economic scene. The revenues generated from the export of oil are considered the main source of the general budget in cash flows.
Since the revenues consist of quantity and price and the latter is an external factor which is difficult to predict, The effect of any commodity on its price, which is proven in the theory of micro-economic, but it is observed through the research that the response is slow, which means not to take advantage of the rise in prices, by increasing the quantity exported, the result of several facto
... Show MoreIn this research The study of Multi-level model (partial pooling model) we consider The partial pooling model which is one Multi-level models and one of the Most important models and extensive use and application in the analysis of the data .This Model characterized by the fact that the treatments take hierarchical or structural Form, in this partial pooling models, Full Maximum likelihood FML was used to estimated parameters of partial pooling models (fixed and random ), comparison between the preference of these Models, The application was on the Suspended Dust data in Iraq, The data were for four and a half years .Eight stations were selected randomly among the stations in Iraq. We use Akaik′s Informa
... Show MoreThe ground state properties including the density distributions of the neutrons, protons and matter as well as the corresponding root mean square (rms) radii of proton-rich halo candidates 8B, 12N, 23Al and 27P have been studied by the single particle Bear– Hodgson (BH) wave functions with the two-body model of (core+p). It is found that the rms radii of these proton-rich nuclei are reproduced well by this model and the radial wave functions describe the long tail of the proton and matter density distributions. These results indicate that this model achieves a suitable description of the possible halo structure. The plane wave Born approximation (PWBA) has been used to compute the elastic charge form factors.
The cancer is one of the biggest health problems that facing the world . And the bladder cancer has a special place among the most spread cancers in Arab countries specially in Iraq and Egypt(2) . It is one of the diseases which can be treated and cured if it is diagnosed early . This research is aimed at studying the assistant factors that diagnose bladder cancer such as (patient's age , gender , and other major complains of hematuria , burning or pain during urination and micturition disorders) and then determine which factors are the most effective in the possibility of diagnosing this disease by using the statistical model (logistic regression model) and depending on a random sample of (128) patients . After
... Show MoreIn this paper, a harvested prey-predator model involving infectious disease in prey is considered. The existence, uniqueness and boundedness of the solution are discussed. The stability analysis of all possible equilibrium points are carried out. The persistence conditions of the system are established. The behavior of the system is simulated and bifurcation diagrams are obtained for different parameters. The results show that the existence of disease and harvesting can give rise to multiple attractors, including chaos, with variations in critical parameters.
The aim of this research is to find out the influence of Daniel's model on the skills of the twenty-first century among the students of the scientific-fifth grade at the secondary and preparatory government morning schools for the academic year 2022- 2023. Two groups were chosen out of five groups for the fifthscientific grade, one of which represents the experimental group that is taught by the Daniel model, and the other is the control group that is taught in the traditional method. The equivalence of the two research groups was verified with a set of variables. As for the research tool, a scale was developed by the researchers for the skills of the twenty-first century, in which they adopted the framework of the Partnership Organization
... Show MoreThe aim of this research is to find out the influence of Daniel's model on the skills of the twenty-first century among the students of the scientific-fifth grade at the secondary and preparatory government morning schools for the academic year 2022- 2023. Two groups were chosen out of five groups for the fifth-scientific grade, one of which represents the experimental group that is taught by the Daniel model, and the other is the control group that is taught in the traditional method. The equivalence of the two research groups was verified with a set of variables. As for the research tool, a scale was developed by the researchers for the skills of the twenty-first century, in which they adopted the framework of the Partnership Organizat
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