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 paper provides an identification key to the species of Orthetrum Newman, 1833 (Odonata, Libellulidae), including six species that were collected from different localities in Iraq.
The species of O. anceps (Schneider, 1845) is registered as a new record in Iraq; the most important characters which are used in diagnostic key are included
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Background: The beliefs of pharmacy students in their curriculum may be critical to the success of medical education and the development of global health competences. Objective: To assess the beliefs, attitudes, and obstacles of PharmD students at the College of Pharmacy, University of Baghdad, during their first year in the newly adopted PharmD program. Method: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted using flexible probing approaches. A sample of fourth-year PharmD students from the University of Baghdad's College of Pharmacy was selected using a purposive sampling method. The gathered data was analyzed using a thematic content analysis approach. Results: 40% of participants applied for the program because they believed it w
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As performers in a social world, we communicate with other people by sharing information on many different levels. Each utterance includes linguistic information and conveys much information about the speaker’s identity. Variation in voice quality indexes information about the speaker and marks the speaker’s identity as a unique individual. The present study aims to validate the belief that each individual has an inalienable voice print that can’t be imitated. The study verifies that, even the more similar personality between two individuals, or the close position in society the variance is voice quality. The acoustic analysis is performed via analysing the acoustic parameters namely: the fundamental frequency, amplitude, inten
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The aim of this paper to study the effect of the implicit factors on the entrepreneurial spirit of the students of the Algerian university. Our structural model was proposed based on the model (Shapiro et Sokol, 1982) and the model (Ajzen, 1991). We tested it on a sample of 163 university students at the University of Algiers 3. The model consists of a set of variables (the intention of contracting as a dependent variable, structural and social educational support as independent variables). The results showed that educational and social support factors affect the entrepreneurial spirit of students more than structural support. The Applied Impacts are the enhancing of knowledge capacities of university stu
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In this study, the Earth's surface was studied in Razzaza Lake for 25 years, using remote sensing methods. Images of the satellites Landsat 5 (TM) and 8 (OLI) were used to study and determine the components of the land cover. The study covered the years 1995-2021 with an interval of 5 years, as this region is uninhabited, so the change in the land cover is slow. The land cover was divided into three main classes and seven subclasses and classified using the maximum likelihood classifier with the help of training sets collected to represent the classes that made up the land cover. The changes detected in the land cover were studied by considering 1995 as a reference year. It was found that there was a significant reduction in the water mass
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The influence of process speed (PS) and tillage depth (TD) , on growth of corn (Zea mays L) yield, for Maha cultivar, were tested at two ranges of PS of 2.483 and 4.011 km.hr-1, and three ranges of TD of 15,20 and 25cm. The experiments were conducted in a factorial experiment under complete randomized design with three replications. The results showed that the PS of 2.483 km.hr-1 was significantly better than the PS of 4.011km.hr-1 in all studied conditions. The , slippage ratio (SR) and the machine efficiency (ME), the physical soil characteristics represented by the soil density and porosity (SBD and TSP), and the plant characteristics represented the roots dry weight, PVI and the crop productivity (CP), except adjective of the fu
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Abstract :
The research aims to study the basic concepts of banking productivity and discuss different approaches to study what ends to identify the most important possible standards applied to measured within the Iraqi banking environment as well as research into the causes of low and high Iraqi banking productivity and identify possible treatments to curb those reasons as to ensure the rise. And in line with the research problem, which states what is the level of productivity and what are the causes of decline and the rise in private banking research sample individually. And what the Iraqi private banks and what is the relationship between performance and the impact of productivity change in the perform
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Art is a language in which the artist expresses himself, his society, and the events he lives in, so new artistic trends emerged, so the artist no longer practices his art as required by any previous artistic rules. And the thoughts wandering inside him, which led him to the abstract method in which the artist tries to employ the elements of the artwork in a plastic construction through which he achieves the relationships of the abstract form through the rhythms of lines, colors, spaces, shapes and textures without these plastic elements having any connection with the visual reality.
The research aims to find a new vision inspired by the school of geometric abstraction to enrich the field of Saudi plastic painting. And to take advan
This research presents a statistical study of radiation generated from communication towers in the Nineveh Plain region Baghdeda. The intensity of radiation energy was measured at 10 meters away from the communication tower in different locations, using a (1PC XH-901 Dosimeter/ Personal Dose Alarm / Radiation Detector, dosage rate: 0.01 μSv/h to 150μSv/h) to measure the amount of radiation at various times. Energy densities were measured and compared with standard limits provided by other authorities, such as the International Committee for Radiation Protection. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 26 to implement the data. The results show that the means of the radiation levels measured at all the zones do not statistically differ
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