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
European Chemical Bulletin (ISSN 2063-5346) is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research papers, short communications, and review articles in all areas of chemistry. European Chemical Bulletin has eight sections, namely
The current study included, studying the ability of eight genera of plants belong to Brassicaceae family, Brassica tournifortii, Cakile Arabica, Capsella bursa – pastoris,Carrichtera annua, Diplotaxis acris, Diplotaxis haru , Eruca sativa and Erucaria hispanica to accumulate ten heavy metals Cadmium, Chromium , Copper, Mercury, Manganese ,Nickel ,Lead ,and Zinc . Plant leaves samples were collected from Al-Tib area during spring of 2021.The data demonstrated that, the highest conc. of Cd was 2.7 mg/kg in Diplotaxis acris leaves and lower value was 0.3 mg/kg in Cakile Arabica leaves. For Co, the highest conc.was 1.3 mg/kg in Capsella bursa – pastoris leaves, whereas the lower value was 0.5 mg/kg in Cakile arabica leaves. As for Cr ele
... Show More
(3)
The electron correlation effect for inter-shell have been analysed in terms of Fermi hole and partial Fermi hole for Li-atom in the excited states (1s2 3p) and (1s2 3d) using Hartree-Fock approximation (HF). Fermi hole Δf(r12) and partial Fermi hole Δg(r12 ,r1) were determined in position space. Each plot of the physical properties in this work is normalized to unity. The calculation was performed using Mathcad 14 program.
Background: Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system of unknown etiology. Different techniques and magnetic resonance image sequences are widely used and compared to each other to improve the detection of multiple sclerosis lesions in the spinal cord. Objective: To evaluate the ability of MRI short tau inversion recovery sequences in improvementof multiple sclerosis spinal cord lesion detection when compared to T2 weighted image sequences. Type of the study: A retrospective study. Methods: this study conducted from 15thAugust 2013 to 30thJune 2014 at Baghdad teaching hospital. 22 clinically definite MS patients with clinical features suggestive of spinal cord involvement,
... Show MoreA batch adsorption system was applied to study the adsorption of methylene blue from aqueous solution by Iraqi bentonite and treated bentonite with different amount of zinc oxide (ZnO). The adsorption capacities of methylene blue onto bentonite were evaluated. The equilibrium between liquid and solid phase was described by Langmuir model better than the Freundlich model. Langmuir and Freundlich constants have been determined. The separation factor or equilibrium parameter, RL which is used to predict if an adsorption system is favourable or unfavourable was calculated for all cases.
The high cost of chemical analysis of water has necessitated various researches into finding alternative method of determining portable water quality. This paper is aimed at modelling the turbidity value as a water quality parameter. Mathematical models for turbidity removal were developed based on the relationships between water turbidity and other water criteria. Results showed that the turbidity of water is the cumulative effect of the individual parameters/factors affecting the system. A model equation for the evaluation and prediction of a clarifier’s performance was developed:
Model: T = T0(-1.36729 + 0.037101∙10λpH + 0.048928t + 0.00741387∙alk)
The developed model will aid the predictiv
... Show MoreIn this research, Zinc oxide (ZnO)/epoxy nanocomposite was synthesized by simple casting method with 2wt. % ZnO concentration. The aim of this work was to study the effect of pH and composite dosage on the photocatalytic activity of ZnO/ epoxy nanocomposite. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique images proof the homogeneous distribution of ZnO nanoparticles in epoxy. A synthesized nanocomposite samples were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer (FTIR) measurements. Two spectra for epoxy and 2wt.% ZnO/epoxy nanocomposites were similar and there are no new bonds formed from the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles. Using HCl and NaOH were added to Methylene blue (MB) dye (5ppm) to gat pH values 3 and 8. The degradat
... Show More
(1)
The aim of this paper is to design artificial neural network as an alternative accurate tool to estimate concentration of Cadmium in contaminated soils for any depth and time. First, fifty soil samples were harvested from a phytoremediated contaminated site located in Qanat Aljaeesh in Baghdad city in Iraq. Second, a series of measurements were performed on the soil samples. The inputs are the soil depth, the time, and the soil parameters but the output is the concentration of Cu in the soil for depth x and time t. Third, design an ANN and its performance was evaluated using a test data set and then applied to estimate the concentration of Cadmium. The performance of the ANN technique was compared with the traditional laboratory inspecting
... Show MoreThe study aimed to prepare quick response codes to learn some of the technical skills of the second graders in the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences. The experimental method was used in the design of the experimental and control experimental and control groups. The research sample was represented by second-graders in the College of Physical Education and Sports Sciences / University of Baghdad, and by lot, the second division (a) was chosen to represent the experimental group that applied the inverse method using the QR code, and the second division (g) to represent the control group and applied the traditional method. (10) Students per group. After the tribal tests, his main experiment was carried out for 10 weeks with one
... Show More
Abstract
Public debt has posed a major challenge to both developing and developed countries, which has focused attention on the optimal limits (threshold of debt) and its determinants.
The study examines the effect of the Public bank debt on the foreign reserves and the work of the foreign reserve as a limitation on the process of bank debt (part of the internal debt) for the period (2017-2004), in addition to finding the type and nature of the relationship between them according to the hypotheses of the study, Public bank debt and foreign reserves.
The study was based on data from the Iraqi banking sector, which showed that Iraq has a foreign reserve in line with internat
... Show More
(2)