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 accretion circumstellar disk of young stars and the Brown dwarf plays an essential role in the formation and evaluation of the planet. Our main work in this paper is to investigate the geometrical shape model for the protoplanetary disk around one of the Brown Dwarfs. The photometric measurements for the brown dwarf CFHT-BD-Tau 4 were extracted from the Vizier archive. We used a numerical simulation to build a model of the spectral energy distribution of our target CFHT-BD-Tau 4. The spectral energy distribution model was fitted with observational data for the brown dwarf CFHT-BD-Tau 4. A transitional disk has been assumed around CFHT-BD-Tau 4. We obtained physical properties of the two disks and the size of the gap between them
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This research aimed to identify the structural model of the relationship between emotional creativity and self-efficacy among male and female students of the preparatory year at Tabuk University. The current study adopted the descriptive correlational approach, as it is appropriate to the nature of the study. The study tools contained (60) items that measure the relationship between emotional creativity and self-efficacy among the male and female students of the preparatory year at Tabuk University. The study sample was chosen by the stratified random method of the study community, where the study sample reached (183) male and female students of the preparatory year at the University of Tabuk. The results of the study showed that there a
... Show MoreRandom laser gain media is synthesized with different types of dye at the same concentration (1×10-3 M) as an active material and silicon dioxide NPs (silica SiO2) as scatter centers through the Sol-Gel technique. The prepared samples are tested with UV–Vis spectroscopy, Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), and Energy Dispersive X-ray Diffraction (EDX). The end result demonstrates that doped dyes with silica nanoparticles at a concentration of 0.0016 mol/ml have lower absorbance and higher fluorescence spectra than pure dyes. FESEM scans revealed that the morphology of nanocrystalline silica is clusters of nano-sized spherical particles in the range (25-67) nm. It is con
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This study examines the relationship between the increase in the number of tourists coming to Tunisia and GDP during the period 1995-2017, using the methodology of joint integration, causal testing and error correction model. The research found the time series instability of the logarithm of the number of tourists coming to Tunisia and the output logarithm but after applying the first differences, these chains become stable, THUS these time series are integrated in the first differences. Using the Johansson method, we found the possibility of a simultaneous integration relationship between the logarithm of the number of tourists coming to Tunisia and the logarithm of GDP in Tunisia, and there is a causal relationship in one direc
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The research aims to develop alternatives to transportation at the entrance to the Educational City (University of Baghdad) during the morning and evening peaks, which result from of the traffic congestion at the entrances to the educational city (the University of Baghdad), and affects the emotional, functional, and social performance of the whole city, and leads to hotbeds of confluence and congestion at the entrances in the morning and evening peaks. This movement was measured on the ground for pedestrians and vehicles. Some criteria were adopted to determine the density of road length to the area and density of roads for the number of users and the rate of the area served by roads. The research reviews the experiences of some
... Show MoreThe research problem consisted in answering the question that revolves around whether there is a relationship to the settlement of salaries with the growth of bank deposits? The research also aimed to provide some initial solutions to improve the role of salary localization, in terms of reviewing the concept of electronic payment systems, its tools and channels, and then identifying the concept of salary localization, its importance, objectives and obstacles to its application, and then analyzing the reality of the state of the settlement of salaries and bank deposits for the research sample banks, which are each of the bank (Ashur International, Business Bay, the Iraqi Middle East for Investment, the Iraqi National, Development and the
... Show MoreAccording to the circumstances experienced by our country which led to Occurrence of many crises that are the most important crisis is gaining fuel therefore , the theory of queue ( waiting line ) had been used to solve this crisis and as the relevance of this issue indirect and essential role in daily life .
This research aims to conduct a study of the distribution of gasoline station in (both sides AL – kharkh and AL Rusafa, for the purpose of reducing wasting time and services time through the criteria of the theory of queues and work to improve the efficiency of these stations by the other hand. we are working to reduce the cost of station and increase profits by reducing the active serv
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Sultan Said bin Sultan bin Ahmed bin Said Al-Busaidi (1223-1273 AH / 1806-1856 AD) was able to rule Oman and Zanzibar in a unified Arab-African state during his reign. However, it was separated for several reasons. Thus, the study aims to clarify the efforts made by Sultan Said for annexing Zanzibar to Oman, establishing the Arab-African Sultanate, and shedding light on the role played by Britain in dividing the Arab-African Sultanate and separating Zanzibar from the Omani rule in (1275 AH-1861 AD). The study has adopted the historical descriptive analytical approach. The study has reached several conclusions, such as: The economic motivators were the most important factors that pushed Sultan Said to move his capital from Muscat to
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The Iraqi construction industry suffers from many issues that lead to many design errors, clashes, delays and cost overruns. Therefore, applying constructability will prevent these issues from happening, as it has proven its positive effect in different projects around the world. The goal of this paper is to use building information modelling (BIM) to assess the constructability, provide the opportunities for the project stakeholders to choose the best constructable design alternative and find the affection of applying constructability on project cost. The practical side of this research consists of two parts: in the first part, 37 factors are collected from the literature review as factors that effect on constructability. After tha
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