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 deals with social responsibility visible to the media and the role they play in spreading the culture of environmental protection, and make research on a sample of the University of Baghdad consisting students from 150 students, male and female were distributed questionnaire form on the sample to obtain the required information has been questionnaire included axes distributed questions achieve the objectives of the search, and after the form data were analyzed using statistical program spss results show that the visual media and its role in spreading the culture of environmental protection form averages arithmetic high, indicating a rise in the influence of th
... Show MoreThe study aims at diagnosing the importance of environmental analysis (external, industrial and internal) in the organization's strategy for the development of public organizations. The theoretical problem derived from the existence of a knowledge gap for studies and research that dealt with the variables of the study. Three public organizations were selected as the study society (the Civil Defense Directorate, the Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Residency, the General Traffic Directorate). The sample of the study was a sample of (215) managers (managers, department managers, Analysis of the data and hypothesis testing using the appropriate statistical tools, Pearson, the simple and multiple regression coefficient to te
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The study aimed to investigate the relationship between empowerment strategies and their impact on the success of enrichment work, it included the dimensions of empowerment strategies (power, knowledge, information, rewards), The dimensions of Job enrichment are (Skill variety, Task identity, Task significance, Autonomy, Feedback). The study was conducted at the headquarters of the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad and was based on a sample of the leadership of the ministry of managers consisting of 215 people. The data were collected using the questionnaire method based on scientific standards adopted in previous st
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The increase in obesity and the many accompanying diseases is attributed to the increased production and consumption of foods made of non-nutritive sweeteners without regard to the risks of consuming additional calories, and this in turn leads to hormonal imbalance and metabolic disorders and the resulting imbalance and ill health that have spread to all segments of society. During the research, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05 % of stevia sweetener was added to the cream instead of the sugar used. Physical and chemical tests were performed for the stevia extract and the microbial content in the cream, as well as the sensory evaluation. It was noted that fortifying the cream with calorie-free stevia sugar led to the production of
... Show MoreThe aim of the study was to identify the use of the strategies of numbered heads and brainstorming in learning handspring on the Vault table in artistic gymnastics for Men for the third grade students in the collage of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, as well as to identify the best group among the three research groups (number of heads numbered,, brainstorming strategies And the traditional style group) to learn the skill under study. Using the experimental method, the research subject included the third grade students in the collage of Physical Education and Sports Sciences / University of Baghdad, and randomly by lot, 12 students were selected for each of the three research groups. The study consisted of the arithmetic mean
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The information revolution، the new language has become one for all the peoples of the world through handling and exchange and to participate in all key areas (economic، cultural and scientific) and Accounting episode of this revolution has turned most of the traditional systems (manual) in companies to automated systems، this transformation in the regulations summoned from the auditors that develops their traditional examination automated systems so had to provide tools for auditing help auditors to keep abreast of developments and as a result there is no evidence checksum Local Private audited automated systems came search to provide evidence helps auditors for guidance as part of COBIT، which provides audit procedures Detailed inf
... Show MoreThe research aims to determine the role of training strategy dimensions of (trainers، curriculum training programs، trainees and their desire for training، administrative and supervisory services and their impact on the success of the training program) in the entrepreneurial performance of the organization dimensions of (pre-planning، renovation and modernization، efficiency، effectiveness)، so search ranks of great importance because it addresses an important and modern issue in performance entrepreneurial، and strategy training، aware of the importance of the subject and expected outcomes (General company for electrical Industries - motor plant) surveyed، was an analysis of data obtained through field visits in addition to the q
... Show More- Identifying the visual culture skills of students of the College of Education for Pure Sciences / Ibn Al-Haytham.
- Identifying the statistically significant differences in the visual culture skills of students of the College of Education for Pure Sciences / Ibn Al-Haytham according to the gender variable.
And the descriptive approach was used, due to its relevance to the nature of the research objective.
To verify this, the visual culture skills test consisted of (22) items of the multiple choice type, where the (Koder Richardson 20) equation was applied to calculate the stability of the visual culture skills test. For the skill of writing