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 study aimed to reveal the degree of inclusion of media concepts in the books of social and national studies in general education in light of the criteria of media education and the nature of the Saudi society. Additionally, to identify the estimations of the participants in the study of the importance of including media concepts in these books, and to build a matrix of the range and sequence of media concepts in the books of social and national studies in the grades of Saudi general education. The study followed the descriptive approach in both descriptive analysis of the textbooks and descriptive survey of the study participants who were (203) students in the schools of boys and girls in general education in Makkah. The study used t
... Show MoreInsurance is one of effective high-impact activities in the economic and social aspects of development and that the insurance companies after the creation of stability, balance and support other sectors. The insurance of financial institutions with economic and social importance has an impact on the development and help shoulder the burden of risk and distribution. And measuring Indicators of service and cost her help in evaluating the performance and activity of insurance, and the study of sectors needed by society, institutions and individuals and development of the company. Covering all aspects of life and activity. In this study will focus on the insurance sector in the field of car accidents and so plentiful and their problems and d
... Show MoreWe need to know the basic facts concerning planning top and bottom limits including any critical levels or the threshold over which the cost would be much higher for land development. Therefore this paper concerned with Baghdad Municipality decision No.2/1004 dated 7/12/2004. The reason behind this decision is the hope to face up at least in the severe housing crisis in the city of Baghdad. This paper attempts to know the attitude of the local community in the general through a field study of people living near such dwelling where third floors are added of. This might indicate any positive or negative effects whether on short or long-term including its effect on the theoretical side including the population growth of Baghdad, the
... Show MoreThe paper aims at making the Russian reader acquainted with the Iraqi Poet Badr Shakir as-Sayyab, and showing the effect of the village and the city in his soul, the theme which is reflected in his poetry. Therefore, the researcher has translated the verses pertaining to this topic from Arabic into Russian so as to make the Russian reader know the important phases that talk about the village and city. The researcher has concluded that the theme of place, village and city has occupied a good portion of As-Sayyab's poetry, and that he (the poet) hated the city and expressed his wrath against it, because he viewed the city as embodiment of money and the degeneration of man. As opposed to this, As-Sayyab he loved being a farmer, and was
... Show MoreMany extracted material were used as mouthwash to settle different kinds of oral fungi and bacteria. In this study an extractive of Cyperus rotundus plant E.C.R. which is very active as a mouthwash, was used in concentration range (10-25) ppm in artificial saliva at pH=6.4 and temperature range (288-318) K, to study it’s inhibitory effect on the corrosion of dental amalgam. Potentiostatic and cyclic polarization were used to follow this study. The presence of E.C.R. lead to shift the corrosion potential to the active direction and decreased the corrosion rate to about 98.87%, the inhibition action of E.C.R. resulting from the adsorption of C.R.E. layer between amalgam and saliva as FTIR spectrums shows, where the variety of FTIR adsorptio
... Show More
(12)
(4)
(14)
(13)
(1)
Physical model tests were simulated non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) spill in two-dimensional
domain above the water table. Four laboratory experiments were carried out in the sand-filled
tank. The evolution of the plume was observed through the transparent side of this tank and the
contaminant front was traced at appropriate intervals. The materials used in these experiments
were Al-Najaf sand as a porous medium and kerosene as contaminant.
The results of the experiments showed that after kerosene spreading comes to a halt (ceased) in
the homogeneous sand, the bulk of this contaminant is contained within a pancake-shaped lens
situated on top of the capillary fringe.
This research aims to provide insight into the Spatial Autoregressive Quantile Regression model (SARQR), which is more general than the Spatial Autoregressive model (SAR) and Quantile Regression model (QR) by integrating aspects of both. Since Bayesian approaches may produce reliable estimates of parameter and overcome the problems that standard estimating techniques, hence, in this model (SARQR), they were used to estimate the parameters. Bayesian inference was carried out using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques. Several criteria were used in comparison, such as root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and coefficient of determination (R^2). The application was devoted on dataset of poverty rates acro
... Show More
Analysis the economic and financial phenomena and other requires to build the appropriate model, which represents the causal relations between factors. The operation building of the model depends on Imaging conditions and factors surrounding an in mathematical formula and the Researchers target to build that formula appropriately. Classical linear regression models are an important statistical tool, but used in a limited way, where is assumed that the relationship between the variables illustrations and response variables identifiable. To expand the representation of relationships between variables that represent the phenomenon under discussion we used Varying Coefficient Models
... Show More