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
For many problems in Physics and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), providing an accurate approximation of derivatives is a challenging task. This paper presents a class of high order numerical schemes for approximating the first derivative. These approximations are derived based on solving a special system of equations with some unknown coefficients. The construction method provides numerous types of schemes with different orders of accuracy. The accuracy of each scheme is analyzed by using Fourier analysis, which illustrates the dispersion and dissipation of the scheme. The polynomial technique is used to verify the order of accuracy of the proposed schemes by obtaining the error terms. Dispersion and dissipation errors are calculated
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This research aims to identify the role of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) in the Spirituality at the Workplace (SAW) for a sample of the teaching staff of the four Colleges of the University of Kufa reached (200) out of (470) teaching, and to achieve the objective of this research and through access to research and studies of foreign adopted researchers standards scales of research variables, since it relied on the model (Luthans, Youssef, et al., 2007) to represent the components of Psychological Capital (self-efficacy, and hope, and optimism, and resilience), and given the attention organizations in the human element because of it
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The main objective of present work is to describe the feasibility of friction stir welding (FSW) for
joining of low carbon steel with dimensions (3 mm X 80 mm X 150 mm). A matrix (3×3) of welding
parameters (welding speed and tool rotational speed) was used to see influence of each parameter on
properties of welded joint .Series of (FSW) experiments were conducted using CNC milling machine
utilizing the wide range of rotational speed and transverse speed of the machine. Effect of welding
parameters on mechanical properties of weld joints were investigated using different mechanical tests
including (tensile and microhardness tests ). Micro structural change during (FSW) process was
studied and different welding zones
The aim of the current research is to verify the effect of the cognitive modeling strategy on the achievement of the chemistry course for the students of the first intermediate grade. To achieve the objective of the research, the null hypothesis was formulated via cognitive modeling strategy. The results showed that the experimental group's students performed better than the students in the control group. In the light of the results, the researchers concluded: The impact of the cognitive modeling strategy in the achievement of students of first intermediate grade in chemistry.
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This study attempts to determine the necessary teaching competencies for teachers and the level of their importance in the development of their performance professionally and scientifically, and the progress towards a better future to achieve an effective level. Accordingly, the research community consists of the morning-preparatory schools for boys at the General Directorate of Education of Baghdad \ Rusafa2. The study sample included (68) teachers constituted 88.31% of the total community of teachers. As for the research tools, the researcher adopted the descriptive method by using the observation method in which the researcher prepared a list of teaching. For verifying the re
... Show MoreThe current research discusses "The Relationship critical factors for knowledge transfer in strategic success opportunities", the attention have been increased on knowledge transfer and strategic success subjects because on being one of the important and contemporary issues, which have a significant impact on the existence of organizations and its future. The research aims to identify the critical factors for knowledge transfer in private high education environment which enables (the college community surveyed) to achieve strategic success, also the research sought to answer questions related to research problem by testing a number of major and minor hypothes in correlation, in order to test the hypotheses I us
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Obiovisly that the holy thresholds are directly related to Islam and Muslims and related to the general culture of the Islamic peoples. In terms of architecture, it is considered a distinctive architectural scene that reviews the history of this origin and its architectural styles. Recently, with the increase in the number of pilgrims and visitors to the holy shrines, there is a need to develop and expand the buildings and provide them with services and introduce modern technology. The building of the holy thresholds consists of a number of functional design indicators: The general problem of research is that there is no clear theoretical framework for the design indicators for the development of the holy shrines according to the functio
... Show MoreThis study's objective is to assess how well UV spectrophotometry can be used in conjunction with multivariate calibration based on partial least squares (PLS) regression for concurrent quantitative analysis of antibacterial mixture (Levofloxacin (LIV), Metronidazole (MET), Rifampicin (RIF) and Sulfamethoxazole (SUL)) in their artificial mixtures and pharmaceutical formulations. The experimental calibration and validation matrixes were created using 42 and 39 samples, respectively. The concentration range taken into account was 0-17 μg/mL for all components. The calibration standards' absorbance measurements were made between 210 and 350 nm, with intervals of 0.2 nm. The associated parameters were examined in order to develop the optimal c
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