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
Iraq has seen many changes at the social, economic and political levels. This led to cause many shifts in the structure of its society and imposed great challenges reflected in the behavior and awareness of that society in general and youth in particular.
Those changes made the Iraqi society undergoing the transformation of value and culture aspects formed a political awareness that caused cultural and political diversity within the family and society. A greater openness to the outside world caused by the communication revolution, as the world has witnessed during the past two decades, has helped in making that change. Iraq had its share of media and political openness, which were included after the US occupation in 2003. As a re
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This study aims to impact statement played by banking governance according to the decisions of the Basel Committee in achieving the strategic objectives of the banks, But order to achieve the this goal has been the adoption of two hypotheses in addition to the two main hypotheses as sub answered preliminary The study seeks to verify their health and two (no correlation relationship and impact between Banking governance and achieve strategic objectives), has been tested hypotheses. Study has reached
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Actual and effective organizational dynamic capabilities in the work environment contribute to a number of factors that contribute to the organization's ability to manage its human talents. Thus, the study sought to identify the level of contribution of organizational dynamic capabilities to human talent management based on their dimensions in the investigated organization by determining the level of relationship and impact between these variables. The presidency of Mosul University was chosen as a field for the current study, and data were collected by adopting the questionnaire form as the main tool for the study. The study used a deliberate sample of (42) administrative leaders in the investigated organization and adopte
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The quantitative determination of the estrogen E2, Progestron P4 & follicle stimulating hormones FSH in the serums of Albino mice used in the experiments & treated by crude alcoholic extracted 95% of the seeds & leaves of Apium graveolens was a significant increase in the concentration of estrogen of different kinds of the extracted in comparison with the values of the coefficient of the control group, that is the study recorded a significant increase of the concentration of estrogen; it was the highest in the mice which was administrated by the methanolic extracted 95%, then it was less in the mouse which was administrated by the ethanolic extracted., and it was the least in the mice which were administrated by the crude ethanolic-methano
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Foreign direct investment has seen increasing interest worldwide, especially in developing economies. However, statistics have shown that Yemen received fluctuating FDI inflows during the period under study. Against this background, this research seeks to determine the relationship and impact of interest rates on FDI flows. The study also found other determinants that greatly affected FDI inflows in Yemen for the period 1990-2018. Study data collected from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund databases. It also ensured that the time series were made balanced and interconnected, and then the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag method used in the analysis. The results showed that the interest rates and
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This research deals with the risks of non-compliance and its impact on the profitability of Islamic banks. Research variables were measured and analyzed as the risk of non-compliance as an independent variableand profitability as a dependent variable. The profitability was measured by three indicators ((rate of return on assets, rate of return on equity and rate of return on Total deposits)) The results of the research showed a significant relationship between the risk of non-compliance and the rate of return on assets and rate of return on total deposits, while there was no relationship between the risk of non-compliance and rate of return on ownership. The research recommended that the senior management of the Islamic Investment Bank s
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The research deals with analyzing the influencing role of trade policies in the growth and development of productive economic sectors and their contribution to GDP and its reflection on workforce employment. Studies have proven the success of the Malaysian experience in stimulating the productive economic sectors to grow and their contribution to the gross domestic product with an increase in the growth of local markets and access to international markets for national products. The research also deals with the ineffectiveness of Iraqi trade policies after 2003 in stimulating the productive economic sectors (agricultural and industrial) on economic growth, as most of the increase in Iraqi GDP growth throughout the study period was
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The current research aims to evaluate the activities and evaluation questions implied in the content of the computer textbook for the fifth preparatory grade according to the creative thinking and developing suggestions through answering the following question: what is the percentage of creative thinking skills in the content of the computer textbook for the fifth Preparatory grade students issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Education/ Directorate General of the curriculum in the academic year (2019-2020)? The researchers followed the descriptive-analytical approach. The research community was determined by the content of the computer textbook for the fifth preparatory grade. As for the research sample, it was limited to all activitie
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The paper aims to identify the impact of discrete realization strategy in the development of reflective thinking among students: (males/females) of Qur'an and Islamic education departments for the course of Islamic jurisprudence according to the variability of sex. The researcher used the experimental approach and adopted an experimental determination with a set part of the two groups (experimental and controlled). He selected the sample deliberately which consists of (147) students spread over four classes (experimental males/ experimental females/ controlled males/ controlled females), and it took last for an academic year of (2010-2011). He, then, prepared a post test to measure the reflective thinking with his five skills (skill of o
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