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 Tigris River, a vital water resource for Iraq, faces significant challenges due to urbanization, agricultural runoff, industrial discharges, and climate change, leading to deteriorating water quality. Traditional methods for assessing irrigation water quality, such as laboratory testing and statistical modeling, are often insufficient for capturing dynamic and nonlinear relationships between parameters. This study proposes a novel application of the Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) to estimate the Irrigation Water Quality Index (IWQI) along the Tigris River. Using data from multiple stations, the study evaluates spatial variability in water quality, focusing on key paramete
The present study discusses the names of the Day of Resurrection in Uri Rubin’s translations of the Holy Qur’an. To identify the translation difficulties and complications and to find out the Hebrew equivalence, the study, through the application of a comparative analytical approach, aims at analyzing the linguistic structures of Day of Resurrection names cited in the Holy Qur’an. Heavenly religions are rich with distinct and unique terms that distinguish and reflect their specificity of other religions; something requires a great accuracy in the translation of such terminology. By investigating selected examples of the names of the Day of Resurrection in Arabic and Hebrew, the present study sheds light on the morphological and semant
... Show More In this research study, I tried to trace the epic effect to learn how it was understood and how it was used. Following the descriptive and analytical approach in the research, the first chapter dealt with a presentation of the methodological framework of the problem, the goal, the limits of the research, the importance and the need for it and the definition of terms, as well as the theoretical framework which consisted of two topics, including the impact of the epic theater on the world theater and the second the effect of the epic theater on the Arab theater, This came by tracing the epic impact on the world stage of the Greeks, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Arab theater of the twentieth century.
As for the second
Decision-makers in each country work to define a list of internal and external interests, goals and threats to their countries according to the nature of their awareness of these interests, goals and threats.
Hence, Iraq is not an exception to this rule, and the process of evaluating its interests and the objectives of its foreign policy is subject to the pattern of awareness of decision-makers and the influencing forces in defining its basic interests, which often witness some kind of difference in defining them, evaluating their importance and determining the size of the threats they face. And among these interests and threats that have witnessed a difference in the assessment of their
... Show MoreThis paper discussed the solution of an equivalent circuit of solar cell, where a single diode model is presented. The nonlinear equation of this model has suggested and analyzed an iterative algorithm, which work well for this equation with a suitable initial value for the iterative. The convergence of the proposed method is discussed. It is established that the algorithm has convergence of order six. The proposed algorithm is achieved with a various values of load resistance. Equation by means of equivalent circuit of a solar cell so all the determinations is achieved using Matlab in ambient temperature. The obtained results of this new method are given and the absolute errors is demonstrated.
This research deals with the study of the identity lost in the novel (handcuffs of paper) by Writer (Kuwaiti / Iraqi ) Yousif Hadi Mays.This is because of The strange subject presented by the writer ,Kuwait has chosen a sbace for his novel and chose apurely Kuwaiti theme. Hence the importance of the novel, as it came to the subject of identity completely dntdiffere from what we wwrote after the fall off the regime (2003), Which is related to the last coming from outside the country, which remained oscillataing between his mother,s identity where language, religion and history and the identity of the other by virtue and dazzling, and integration and here con not belong to either party. This is a violation of the taboos of
... Show MoreThe antimicrobial activity of two naphthoquinone semicarbazone derivatives (Two newly synthesized compounds) have been studied by using tube — diluation and disc plate technique. The effect of those derivatives upon pathogenic microorganism iso-lated from specimen(urine iwounds,stool, swabs, throat ....etc) have been studied also in comparison with the antibiotics (amikacin,ampicillin, carbencillin, cephalothin, cefoxitin,clindamycin ,erythromycin,gentamycin,penicillin,tetracylin and tri-methoprim. It was shown that derivative(1) had more effective against micro organ-ism than derivative(11).