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 responsibility of the Central Bank through the implementation of its monetary policy to maintain the integrity and stability of the financial system and the economic system, because any shock, whether internal or external, may endanger the financial system and instability, so the research sheds light on the effectiveness of monetary policy in maintaining financial stability, The most important conclusion is that there is an increase in capital, which gives banks the possibility to face the risks to which they are exposed, as well as a rise in the total bad debts, which weakens its financial position, which constitutes a decline in the financial stability of these banks.
Abstract
Agricultural Bank is an important source of funding Specialist His role in lending to farmers, it imposes a great job in providing the necessary head for any developmental process in the agricultural sector money. The ACB of ancient Iraqi banks, and that because of its importance to the advancement of the national economy and contribute to the development and regulation of the economic sector through the support and the assignment of the Iraqi agricultural sector in various agricultural activities because it is responsible
for the process of granting agricultural loans to farmers bank.
The aim of the internal control in the agricultural banks to
... Show More
This investigation pertains to the evaluation of water quality in SAWA Lake, located in the Al-Muthanna province of Southern Iraq, from 1977 to 2020. Understanding the water quality and assessments of this Lake is of great importance. The Lake is home to small, transparent, blind fish measuring approximately 10 cm and is often referred to as the "wonderful" or "strange" Lake due to its many unique features. The study focuses on several elements to represent water quality, including total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and temperature (T), which were measured directly in the field. Additionally, scientific concepts such as K+, Ca2+, Cl-, HCO
The research aims to identify the impact of the visual teaching strategy by using infographics mathematics achievement for intermediate grade students. The experimental research method was adopted, as the experimental design of two independent and equal groups with a post test was used, whereas the experiment was applied on a sample consisting of (52) male students from first- intermediate grade students in (Al-Haq Al-Mubin intermediate school for Boys) of the General Directorate in Anbar Governorate - Department Education in Fallujah for the academic year (2021-2022), and the research sample was distributed equally on the two research groups, and Division (B) was chosen randomly to be the experimental group, while Division (A) was the cont
... Show More
(4)
(3)
The paper aims to measure the impact of monetary policy on price stability , by testing the causal relationship between the money supply, inflation rate and the exchange rate , In order to prove that the inflation is a monetary phenomenon in the Iraqi economy , and that the exchange rate is controlled in the money supply , the money supply as an endogenous variable continued we found by using the standard tests to the existence of a single co-integration between the money supply and the rate of inflation and the money supply and the parallel exchange rate, This confirms the existence of a long-term relationship between the variables , It also confirmed the results of the vector error correctio
... Show More
(1)
Oil industry played a major role in delineating the course and type o development in both imported and exported Arabic countries alike where its revenues has perform an essential role in forming programs and plans of development on both national and international level in addition to anticipation of future consuming.
Iraq, as an oil producer country with a revenues –based economy depends on oil in building its economy totally including its infrastructure having a the greatest conformed reservoir which make the government budget depends largely on oil revenues where its strategic importance lies in funding all aspects of expenders as it is considered the prime source of foreign currency. The chall
... Show More
Citrus fruits are one of the consumer agricultural products of the Iraqi citizen. It is rich in vitamins and usedin many food industries as well as medicines. Classifying the amount of production of citrus treesaccording to the producing governorates has been done to find a map that shows the production of citrustrees according to Iraqi governorates. A cluster analysis method was used according to the hierarchicalmethod. The results showed that Najaf and Qadisiyah are the most similar in citrus production, whileSaladin and Najaf were the two governorates with the furthest distance in proximity matrix. Diyalagovernorate was clustered in the first cluster within two, three, four or five of the clusters for classifyingIraqi governorates covere
... Show More
(2)
The responsibility of the Central Bank through the implementation of its monetary policy to maintain the integrity and stability of the financial system and the economic system, because any shock, whether internal or external, may endanger the financial system and instability, so the research sheds light on the effectiveness of monetary policy in maintaining financial stability, The most important conclusion is that there is an increase in capital, which gives banks the possibility to face the risks to which they are exposed, as well as a rise in the total bad debts, which weakens its financial position, which constitutes a decline in the financial stability of these banks.