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 work has been accomplished through a dense field work on the Sawa Lake. The aim of this work is to highlight on characteristics that are consistent with outstanding universal values to be a new Iraqi site belongs to the World Natural Heritage. This study sorted many unique characteristics might ensure that Sawa Lake as a world natural heritage sites. This study shows that the lake had met four natural criteria of the outstanding universal values: (1) the seventh criterion which states to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. (2) The eighth criterion which stated to be outstanding example representing major stages of earth's history, including the rec
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Theoretical spectroscopic studies of beryllium oxide has been carried out, potential energy curves for ground states X1Σ+ and exited states A1Π , B1Σ+ by using two functions Morse and and Varshni compared with experimental results. The potentials of this molecule are agreement with experimental results. The Fortrat Parabola corrcponding to and branches were determind in the range 1<J<20 for the (0-0) band. It was found that for electronic transition A1Π- X1Σ+ the bands head lies in branche of Fortrat p |
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The mediation system is based on settling the dispute amicably through the intervention of a third party by bringing views closer away from the judiciary, which is an amicable way to settle disputes, which disputants resort to voluntarily, but some Western legislation has begun to impose resorting to mediation to settle disputes compulsorily, to take advantage of its advantages, get rid of the disadvantages of resorting to the judiciary in some disputes, and relieve pressure on the courts.
The article characterizes metaphors and comparisons as a means of rethinking the phenomena of the surrounding world; two directions are named within which metaphors and comparisons are studied: 1) the linguo-classification direction combines several classifications of metaphors and comparisons, which are basically focused on comparing two denotations through the meanings of word forms that are part of the trope; 2) the theoretical and conceptual direction is associated with the concept of conceptual displacement and is the basis of the theoretical and methodological study of metaphor and comparison, i.e. the modern theory of metaphor is being formed; The main attention is focused on the comparative concept of Aristotle, which postul
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Reading is one of the essential components of the English language. Countries that use English as a second language (ESL) sometimes have difficulties in reading and comprehension. According to many researches, mother tongue has proved some interferences with learning a second language. This study investigated the results of reading difficulties of young second language learners in terms of accuracy, comprehension, and rate using the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability test. The study was carried out in one of the High Schools for Boys in Hyderabad, India and included Grade five, aged 10-12 years. In order to understand the reading difficulties of English as a second language, a qualitative approach was employed. Interview, reading tes
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In this study, NAC-capped CdTe/CdS/ZnS core/double shell QDs were synthesized in an aqueous medium to investigate their utility in distinguishing normal DNA from mutated DNA extracted from biological samples. Following the interaction between the synthesized QDs with DNA extracted from leukemia cases (represents damaged DNA) and that of healthy donors (represents undamaged DNA), differential fluorescent emission maxima and intensities were observed. It was found that damaged DNA from leukemic cells DNA-QDs conjugates at 585 nm while intact DNA (from healthy subjects) DNA–QDs conjugates at 574 nm. The obtained results from the optical analyses indicate that the prepared QDs could be utilized as probe for detecting disrupted DNA th
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إنّ التّأمّل في الدّراسات الأدبيّة النّقديّة الحديثة الّتي تنظر إلى النّصّ أنّه لوحة تتشكّل من مجموعة تداخلات نصّيّة سابقة للنصّ المُنتج أو مُعاصرة له، تدفع القارئ إلى الغوص في أعماق النّصوص وتحليلها والكشف عن الآليّات والإجراءات الّتي اعتمدت في إنتاجه، وإظهار الجماليّات الفنّيّة التي شكلت في مُجملها كائنا حيّا يُعبّر عن حالات إنسانيّة مُستمرة الحدوث رغم تقادم الأزمان.
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... Show MoreThis study relates to the estimation of a simultaneous equations system for the Tobit model where the dependent variables ( ) are limited, and this will affect the method to choose the good estimator. So, we will use new estimations methods different from the classical methods, which if used in such a case, will produce biased and inconsistent estimators which is (Nelson-Olson) method and Two- Stage limited dependent variables(2SLDV) method to get of estimators that hold characteristics the good estimator .
That is , parameters will be estim
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