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
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Mercury, arsenic, cadmium and lead, were measured in sediment samples of river and marine environmental of Basra governorate in southern of Iraq. Sixteen sites of sediment were selected and distributed along Shatt Al-Arab River and the Iraqi marine environment. The samples were distributed among one station on Euphrates River before its confluence with Tigris River and Shatt Al-Arab formation, seven stations along Shatt Al-Arab River and eight stations were selected from the Iraqi marine region. All samples were collected from surface sediment in low tide time. ICP technique was used for the determination of mercury and arsenic for all samples, while cadmium and lead were measured for the same samples by using Atomic Absorption Spectrosc
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Pure cadmium oxide films (CdO) and doped with zinc were prepared at different atomic ratios using a pulsed laser deposition technique using an ND-YAG laser from the targets of the pressed powder capsules. X-ray diffraction measurements showed a cubic-shaped of CdO structure. Another phase appeared, especially in high percentages of zinc, corresponding to the hexagonal structure of zinc. The degree of crystallinity, as well as the crystal size, increased with the increase of the zinc ratio for the used targets. The atomic force microscopy measurements showed that increasing the dopant percentage leads to an increase in the size of the nanoparticles, the particle size distribution was irregular and wide, in addition, to increase the surfac
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Three-dimensional nonlinear thermal numerical simulations are conducted for the friction stir welding (FSW) of AA 7020-T53. Three welding cases with tool (rotational and travel) speeds of 900rpm-40mm/min, 1400rpm-16mm/min and 1400rpm-40mm/in are analyzed. The objective is to study the variation of transient temperature in a friction stir welded plate of 5mm workpiece thickness. Based on the experimental records of transient temperature at several specific locations during the friction stir welding process for the AA 7020-T53, thermal numerical simulation is developed. The numerical results show that the temperature field in the FSW process is symmetrically distributed with respect to the welding line, increasing travel speed decreasing tran
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This paper aims to improve the voltage profile using the Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) in the power system in the Kurdistan Region for all weak buses. Power System Simulation studied it for Engineers (PSS\E) software version 33.0 to apply the Newton-Raphson (NR) method. All bus voltages were recorded and compared with the Kurdistan region grid index (0.95≤V ≤1.05), simulating the power system and finding the optimal size and suitable location of Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM)for bus voltage improvement at the weakest buses. It shows that Soran and New Koya substations are the best placement for adding STATCOM with the sizes 20 MVAR and 40 MVAR. After adding STATCOM with the sizes [20MVAR and 40MV
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Background: Preoperative radiographical assessment of the maxillofacial lesions is of a great importance in guiding the surgeon during surgical procedure in reducing post-operative complications. This study highlighted the application of CBCT scan in the assessment of maxillofacial cystic and cystic like lesions as a part of advanced radiology Materials and methods: A total of 20 patients (15 males and 5 females) participated in this prospective study. CBCT scan (Kodak 9500 CBCT) with (DICOM) software utilized to perform scanning to all patients in order to assess lesion extension, morphological features and it’s relation to the adjacent vital structures. Results: In this study, the total cystic and cystic like lesions involving the
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This experiment was conducted to examine the effects of injected gibberellic acid GA3 in subcutaneous of hens neck and supplemental vitamin D3 to control basal diet on productive performance and egg shell thickness ,relative weight of egg shell of aged laying hens. Two hundred and seventy Lohmann Brown laying hens at 73 weeks of age were randomly assigned to three treatments groups. Each treatment consist of three replicates (30 hens / replicate). The treatments were : T1 control were injected subcutaneous with 0.2 ml / kg of body weight of ethanol: sesame oil solution, T2 and T3 were injected subcutaneous with 0.2 ml / kg of body weight of ethanol: sesame oil solution which contained 400 μg GA3/ kg of body weight /week during 8 weeks (tre
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Abstract
The resources-based introduction in the study of business organizations is increasingly dealing in the study of the human capacities and the best ways to develop them and changing the resources of the organization to be essential and competent to face the business challenges. Today’s organizations need crucial practices to face those challenges and the influences of those practices which take into consideration the importance of developing the entrepreneurship inside the organization. Those practices are called “High Performance Work Systems” which is denoted by “HPWS” and defined as the practices of human resources management which help in acquiring func
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Background: Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is the most ‎commonly used mâ€aterial in denture construction. This material is ‎far from ideal in fulfilling the‎ mechanical requirements, like low impact and transverse strength and poor thermal conductivity are present in this material. The purpose of this study was to study the effect of addition a composite which include 1%wt silanized silicone dioxide nano fillers (SiO2) and 1wt% oxygen plasma treated polypropylene fiber (PP) on some properties of heat cured acrylic resin denture base material (PMMA). Materials and methods: One hundâ€red (100) prepared specimens were divided into five groups according to the tests, each group consisted of 20 specimens and t
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