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
Abstract To estimate the seroprevalence of HCV infection among HIV-infected haemophiliacs and to demonstrate the most prevalent HCV genotype, 47 HIV-infected haemophilia patients were screened for anti-HCV antibodies. By performing polymerase chain reaction and DNA enzyme immunoassay, HCV-RNA was detected with subsequent genotyping. Seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibodies was 66.0%. Of 31 HCV/HIV co-infected patients, 21 (67.7%) had no history of blood transfusion. We detected 4 HCV genotypes: 1a, 1b, 4 and 4 mixed with 3a, HCV-1b being the most frequent. Contaminated factor VIII (clotting factor) could be responsible for disease acquisition.
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Microorganisms have an active role in biotechnology for example yeasts, especially in some genus like Saccharomyces, Pichia, and Candida. C.tropicalis one of the most important species of Candida and despite it is one of the causative agents of candidiasis but it has a major role in the production of many chemical compounds. C.tropicalis in the previous study was isolated from sheep dung and morphologically and molecularly classified the result of sequencing was elucidate 100% similarity between the studied isolate and other isolates inserted in DNA Data Bank of Japan DDBJ, physiologically this isolate tolerated 6% ethanol concentration in broth media with the ability to the pro
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Diabetic mellitus is one of the main risk factors of fungal infections because poor glycemic control is associated with a high level of glucose in blood and saliva which could be treated as nutrient to fungi. This study aimed to isolate and identification of pathogenic fungi from diabetic patient. 140 samples were taken from different places of human body from the national center of diabetic patients that related to Mustansiriyah University / college of medicine and Al-yarmuk Hospital in Baghdad. 84 sample (60%) tested positive to fungi and 56 sample (40%) tested negative to fungi. The most frequented fungi isolated have been chosen for molecular identification by PCR (Millerozyma farinosa and Candida orthopsilosis) using specific pri
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The utilization of metal oxide nanoparticles, especially zinc oxide, is of a great importance in the medical field because of its physical and chemical properties as well as its antimicrobial potential effects. In our study, the ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by the precipitation method where pH=14. ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Antifungal activity of the ZnO was tested against candida albicans. The results showed that C. albicans (15 samples) became resistant to the fungal activity after testing its sensitivity to several types of fungal antibiotics. UV-vis spectroscopy, XRD, TEM and A
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Background: Peripheral giant cell lesion (PGCL) and central giant cell lesion (CGCL) of the jaws have a distinct clinical behavior.Giant cell tumour (GCT) is a benign locally aggressive neoplasm affects the long bones. Both lesions are characterized histologically by multinucleated giant cells in a background of ovoid to spindle-shaped mesenchymal cells. The WW domain-containing oxidoreductase (WWOX) gene is located at 16q23.1–16q23.2, a region that spans the second most common human fragile site, FRA16D, at 16q23.2.The Ki-67 antigen is a nuclear protein that is associated with and may be necessary for cellular proliferation.Ki-67 protein is present during all active phases of the cell cycle (G1, S, G2, and mitosis), but is absent fr
... Show MoreThe insurance is considered as one of the sectors that is impact is vital to the national economy and development programs, Insurance companies as financial institutions have an effect an aspects of social, economic as well as the participation of enterprises in compensation for the risk potential losses and individuals, Insurance sector provides insurance service insurance which should be characterized by quality and satisfy needs and desires of the customer , so the raise insurance awareness in the community its members and institutions will help in maintaining the movement of production and service delivery standards, quality sought by the insured to obtain, as well as the development of promotional programs, and use
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Abstract
Praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds, and peace be upon
Muhammad the master of former and latter people, and peace be upon His
relatives, companions and those who followed Him to Judgment day.
After recognizing the prescription which is called (Al- Fadhaly's Thesis in
parsing of "There is no god but God") as it is related with the word of the
investigation of this issue attracted me, as being related with the idea of the
only one God that is mentioned in the prophetic speech, which is said by
Anas- God satisfies him- Who said, Said the Messenger Muhammad peace
be upon him " Goes out of the Hell who said: there is no god but God, and in
his heart a hair weight of charity, and goes out of the He
The detailed data of the Vp/Vs ratio and porosity logs were used to detect the Oil-Water Contact Zone (OWCZ) of Nahr Umr sandstone and Mishrif limestone reservoir formations in Kumiat (Kt) and Dujaila (Du) oil fields, southeastern Iraq. The results of OWC were confirmed using P-wave, Resistivity, and Water Saturation (Sw) logs of Kt-1 and Du-1 wells. It was found that the values of the oil-water contact zone thickness in Nahr Umr sandstone and Mishrif limestone were approximately one meter and eight meters, respectively. These results suggest that the OWCZ is possibly thicker in the carbonate rock than clastic rock formations. The thickness of OWCZ in the clastic rocks changed from one part to another, depending on several factors includ
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This study was carried out in Artificial Insemination Center of Iraq to revealed FMD disease effect on some seminal attributer parameters of 14 imported Holstein bulls divided to three groups according to different reproductive efficiency (four High, five medium and five weak). Results showed that FMD disease had significant (P < 0.05) adverse effect on most seminal attributer parameters, mass, individual motility and sperm concentration / ml during post disease in first of two, four, all months of high, medium and weak semen quality bulls respectively .but semen volume didn’t influenced significantly with this disease. So semen collection should be suspended until resume normal fertility of sperm, after two, four month of high and
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Evaluation is one of the most important elements of teaching process. The recent trends in evaluation and educational reform movements have called for using alternative evaluation, which focuses on performance evaluation. Authentic assessment is usually described as formative, in which students participate in their acquisition, in addition to the fact that students are productive and active, which is reflected in the students' achievement and skill level. The study aims to reveal the degree of knowledge and use of alternative assessment tools by primary school teachers in Gaza -Palestine. To meet the objective of the study, the researchers used the descriptive-analytical method and the questioner as a study tool. The study sample c
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