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 study aimed to reveal the stage for teachers of basic training needs from the perspective of workers in Mafraq Governorate, through a survey of a sample of counselors look at the Ajloun area schools reached (58) counselors.
To achieve the objective of the study was constructed questionnaire where they are finalized (18) items distributed on two dimensions (professional needs, performance requirements) and after confirmation of the validity and reliability have been applied to the sample where the results showed that training needs were high, both on a professional or per formative level .
The results also showed no statistically significant differences in the areas of tool due to gender, educational qualification. The study co
The research aims to build a list of digital citizenship axes and standards and indicators emanating from them, which should be included in the content of the computer textbook scheduled for second grade intermediate students in Iraq, and the analysis of the above mentioned book according to the same list using the descriptive analytical method ((method of content analysis)). The research community and its sample consisted of the content of the computer textbook scheduled for the second year intermediate students for the academic year 2018-2019, and the research tool was built in its initial form after reference to a set of specialized literature and previous studies that dealt with topics related to digital citizenship, and the authenticit
... Show MoreThe world is currently facing a medical crisis. The epidemic has affected millions of people around the world since its appearance. This situation needs an urgent solution. Most countries have used different solutions to stop the spread of the epidemic. The World Health Organization has imposed some rules that people should adhere. The rules are such, wearing masks, quarantining infected people and social distancing. Social distancing is one of the most important solutions that have given good results to confront the emerging virus. Several systems have been developed that use artificial intelligence and deep learning to track social distancing. In this study, a system based on deep learning has been proposed. The system includes monitor
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The marshes are one of the important environmental features affecting human and animal systems, so the studying of changes they undergo is one of the important topics. This study is concerned with the changes occurring in the Al Saadya marsh for the period from 1987 to 2017 exclusively in the winter season (the marshes’ revival season in Iraq revive). In order to inspect the changes in this marsh, we choose 7 years to cover the study period as a criterion years, namely 1987, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2007, 2014 and 2017. The “Maximum Likelihood” classifier was used to separate the stacked land cover features, where the minimum overall accuracy ratio that recorded for all years of study was 96%. The results revealed that Al-Saadya marsh went t
... Show MoreAgricultural lands have great importance in people's lives, and their exploitation has a great impact on strengthening the national economy. Therefore, countries have given great importance to this sector, and because of the importance of this sector, the state has given large areas of these lands to the farmers to invest in agriculture, and among these farmers are those who died and left behind children who took up crafts. Agriculture, for fear that these agricultural lands would be abandoned and turned into waste lands, a land system was introduced called (regular distribu- tion), which corresponds to (legitimate inheritance). Under this system, these lands were trans- ferred to the children of farmers who died so that the process of inve
... Show Moreirrigation use at many stations along the Euphrates River inside the Iraqi lands and to try to correlate the results with the satellite image analyses for the purpose of making a colored model for the Euphrates that can be used to predict the quality classifications of the river for irrigation use at any point along the river. The Bhargava method was used to calculate the water quality index for irrigation use at sixteen stations along the river from its entrance to the Iraqi land at Al-Qaim in Anbar governorate to its union with the Tigris River at Qurna in Basrah governorate. Coordinates of the sixteen stations of the Euphrates River were projected at the mosaic of Iraq satellite image which was taken from LANDSAT satellite for bands 1, 2
... Show MoreImportance of study :
The interesting of industrial sector and developing it after corner stone. It is important to build economic balanced and get behind and front linkage for transformative industrials, and this is important to get balanced.
The value of transformative industry sector is more important than other sectors in economy, and this is reflect the capital in industrial sector .Industry sector is larger than other sectors ,so it regards the motive which moving the economic wheel .
The problem :
The research treats reduction and retreat the ind
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Training has an effect on employees’ performances. Accordingly, the person who is responsible for employees’ development must figure out the most effective way to train and develop employees. Central Michigan University (CMU) has recognized the importance of providing appropriate training for employees who have a duty in advising students. The reason is that these employees have a significant impact on students’ educational performances. Thus, special attention to this category of employees is needed to improve advising quality. This research attempted to explore the impact of training on academic advising at CMU. Face-to-face interviews and online surveys were used as data collection tools for this study. The study scope c
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This paper including a gravitational lens time delays study for a general family of lensing potentials, the popular singular isothermal elliptical potential (SIEP), and singular isothermal elliptical density distribution (SIED) but allows general angular structure. At first section there is an introduction for the selected observations from the gravitationally lensed systems. Then section two shows that the time delays for singular isothermal elliptical potential (SIEP) and singular isothermal elliptical density distributions (SIED) have a remarkably simple and elegant form, and that the result for Hubble constant estimations actually holds for a general family of potentials by combining the analytic results with data for the time dela
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The role of relaxation program for reducing anxiety of patients in dental clinic