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 goal of this investigation is to prepare zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-thin films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique through Q-switching double frequency Nd:YAG laser (532 nm) wavelength, pulse frequency 6 Hz, and 300 mJ energy under vacuum conditions (10-3 torr) at room temperature. (ZnO) nano-thin films were deposited on glass substrates with different thickness of 300, 600 and 900 nm. ZnO films, were then annealed in air at a temperature of 500 °C for one hour. The results were compared with the researchers' previous theoretical study. The XRD analysis of ZnO nano-thin films indicated a hexagonal multi-crystalline wurtzite structure with preferential growth lines (100), (002), (101) for ZnO nano-thin films with different thi
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The forensic evidence important for the sources of legislation after the book of God Almighty and the Sunnah of the purified, including what is agreed upon in the protest, which is the book and the Sunnah and consensus, and what is different in the protest, such as measurement and approval and say companions and interests sent, and that the approval of the evidence that did not agree Accordingly, the terms of the fundamentalists differed and their definition differed with the similarity between each other, and the approval in some schools is an argument is not considered as the Shaafa'is, so it may correspond to measurement with them, but the approval at the tap and those who agree is a hidden measurement is likely to clear measurement,I
... Show MoreOne of the most important parameters determining structural members' durability and strength is the fire flame's influence and hazard. Some engineers have advocated using advanced analytical models to predict fire spread impact within a compartment and considering finite element models of structural components to estimate the temperatures within a component using heat transfer analysis. This paper presented a numerical simulation for a reinforced concrete beam’s structural response in a case containing Water Absorbing Polymer Spheres (WAPS) subjected to fire flame effect. The commercial finite element package ABAQUS was considered. The relevant geometrical and material parameters of the reinforced concrete beam model a
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In this paper, we find the two solutions of two dimensional stochastic Fredholm integral equations contain two gamma processes differ by the parameters in two cases and equal in the third are solved by the Adomain decomposition method. As a result of the solutions probability density functions and their variances at the time t are derived by depending upon the maximum variances of each probability density function with respect to the three cases. The auto covariance and the power spectral density functions are also derived. To indicate which of the three cases is the best, the auto correlation coefficients are calculated.
Abstract The current study is a theoretical study that aims to underline the role of picture books as a serious genre of children's literature in raising children's understanding of English literature and life concepts; especially for non-English speakers. Unfortunately, most Iraqi people have developed a social phobia of learning English since childhood. This phobia is resulted from the heavy traditional reading and writing assignments as well as hard exams. Therefore, this study suggests incorporating more interesting literary material like picture books that would bring pleasure and help in raising children's love and cognition of English Language. More significantly, it calls to replace the old curriculum with a more vital
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The current research aims to identify the contributions of small income-generating projects in theempowerment of rural women in Nineveh Governorate ,Al-Hamdaniya district, as a simplerandom sample was drawn from the research community of 280 respondents , according to theRobert Mason equation at the level of significance 0.05, so the sample size was 162 respondents,i.e. a percentage 58% collected the necessary data using a questionnaire prepared as a basic toolfor data collection consisting of 20 items distributed on two axes ,and the results of the researchwere analyzed and presented using the spss statistical program, as well as manual analysis usingrepetitions, the weighted mean, the standard deviation, and the percentage weight. And the
... Show MoreBackground: The most widely used material for fabrication of denture base is poly methyl methacrylate, despite its popularity, the main problems associated with it as a denture base material are poor strength particularly under fatigue failure inside the patient mouth, impact failure outside the patient mouth, which are the main causes for fracture of denture, several studies was done to increase mechanical properties of denture base. The present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the effect of addition single walled carbon nanotubes in different concentrations to polymethyl methacrylate on some mechanical properties (surface hardness, surface roughness, impact strength and transverse strength). Materials and methods: Forty eight
... Show MoreThis study aimed to show the extent of compliance with the income taxpayer to provide tax returns and increase the speed of collection of these taxes in addition to increasing confidence in Income Tax department and reduce the number of cases transferred to the courts and promote taxpayer awareness in charge of the importance of system self-assessment, and study sought to investigate the effect of the existence of records documents, technical audit, and computational audit and documentary audit on income tax collections in Jordan, from the point of view of Jordanian income tax auditors ,results shows there's a strong relation between these variables and Income Tax collections.
The search consists of four chapters, which are as follows: -First Chapter,The research shows the problem and the importance and its need, its aim and limits are to identify the terms of it consist. The problem of the research has been identified by answering the following question:How to representthe significant displacement of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ in contemporary drawing? ,The aim of the research also has been discussed around what it represents: The significant displacement of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ in contemporary drawingshows. As for the research limits .the portress which are taken from a variety of sources, and the period of time of the year (1945-2008).fearst chapter;The theoretical framework and previous stud
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