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
This research studies the effect of addition of some nanoparticles
(MgO, CuO) and grain size (30,40nm) on some physical properties
(impact strength, hardness and thermal conductivity) for a matrix
blend of epoxy resin with SBR rubber. Hand –Lay up method was
used to prepare the samples. All samples were immersed in water for
9 weeks.
The Results showed decreased in the values of impact strength and
hardness but increased the coefficient of thermal conductivity.
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The article describes a certain computation method of -arcs to construct the number of distinct -arcs in for . In this method, a new approach employed to compute the number of -arcs and the number of distinct arcs respectively. This approach is based on choosing the number of inequivalent classes } of -secant distributions that is the number of 4-secant, 3-secant, 2-secant, 1-secant and 0-secant in each process. The maximum size of -arc that has been constructed by this method is . The new method is a new tool to deal with the programming difficulties that sometimes may lead to programming problems represented by the increasing number of arcs. It is essential to reduce the established number of -arcs in each cons
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Change the morphological characteristics with the change of the factors affecting it has been shown that the Tigris River has the characteristics of the morphology of the low values in terms of depth, width and perimeter wet and gradient which in turn affected the morphological and other characteristics in terms of the direction and pattern of runoff came through the study of 48 cross-section is taken of the Tigris River Year 2008 by section for each 1 km, it has been shown that the average width of the Tigris River does not exceed 221.1 meters and the average depth of 3.9 meters either wet ocean amounted to 268.9 meters and changed the cross-section area of the last section at a rate of 4594.3 square meters, and through the study turned
... Show MoreThe avoidance strategy of prey to predation and the predation strategy for predators are important topics in evolutionary biology. Both prey and predators adjust their behaviors in order to obtain the maximal benefits and to raise their biomass for each. Therefore, this paper is aimed at studying the impact of prey’s fear and group defense against predation on the dynamics of the food-web model. Consequently, in this paper, a mathematical model that describes a tritrophic Leslie-Gower food-web system is formulated. Sokol-Howell type of function response is adapted to describe the predation process due to the prey’s group defensive capability. The effects of fear due to the predation process are considered in the first two levels
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In drilling processes, the rheological properties pointed to the nature of the run-off and the composition of the drilling mud. Drilling mud performance can be assessed for solving the problems of the hole cleaning, fluid management, and hydraulics controls. The rheology factors are typically termed through the following parameters: Yield Point (Yp) and Plastic Viscosity (μp). The relation of (YP/ μp) is used for measuring of levelling for flow. High YP/ μp percentages are responsible for well cuttings transportation through laminar flow. The adequate values of (YP/ μp) are between 0 to 1 for the rheological models which used in drilling. This is what appeared in most of the models that were used in this study. The pressure loss
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Women are considered the real power to build societies, as they are half of society, and it is their responsibility to raise generations، as human history testifies to the recording of great names with their giving and achievement in various scientific, social and humanitarian disciplines. Because of the importance of women in our lives, society must give them special care, whether at home or within the community structure to which they belong, so that they contribute to the image that brings about a transformation in the public scene, as well as providing them with support to take charge of bringing about change themselves, and this explains the interest of the press at all levels. Women's issues and topics through various journal
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The paper deals with claims in construction projects in Iraq and studies their types, causes, impacts, resolution methods and then proposes a management system to control the impacts of claims. Two parts have been done to achieve the research objective (theoretical part and practical part). The findings showed that the main types of the claims are extra work claims, different site condition claims, delay claims and the main causes of the claims are variation of the orders, design errors and omission, delay in payments by owner, variation in quantities and scheduling errors. The claims have bad impacts on the cost by increasing (10% to 25%) and also on the duration of the project by increasing from (25% to 50%).The negotiation is the main
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Praise be to Allah , the Lord of Heavens , Who revealed His Scripture in plain Arabic, and prayers and peace be upon the Master of all creatures and the chosen one , Muhammad (PBUH).Pushkin was known as a poet in Russia, the sun of its poetry that set, the father of the Russian literature and the founder of its literary language. When he published his poems, trying to express his inner poetic feelings and creative visions, he presented them with creativity and special touch. The reason behind the selection of Pushkin as the subject of this study is that he was affected by Islam and Arabs. For the purpose of this study, the dissertation has been divided into introduction and three chapters; each chapter includes two topics. In the introdu
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