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
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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This study aimed at identifying how children express the emerging coronavirus in general and according to their age groups (4-13 years) by analyzing 91 of their drawings published online, using the descriptive content analytical approach. The results showed that children's artistic expression of the virus came according to the concepts and ideas they carried about the virus for the age groups of (4-7 years) and (7-9 years), while it came according to visual perception for age groups (9-11 years), and from (11-13) years. Also, most children were aware about the presence of the virus and its widespread around the world, but (99%) of them do not realize the seriousness of the virus. It was confirmed that between (25-34%) of children were su
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Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our master and beloved Muhammad, the wise guide and great teacher, the guide to a straight path, the one sent as a mercy to the worlds, and upon his good and chosen family, his chosen companions, the working scholars, and those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment.
And after:
One of the important controversial topics shared between the sciences of the Noble Hadith and the Fundamentals of God is the issue of the innovator in terms of accepting and rejecting his narration and testimony, and the difference in it leads to disagreement in many branches of jurisprudence that were based on texts narrated by innovated narrators or those accu
... Show MoreThrough research and research in the creative composition in the poetry of Zafer-Alhaddad it turned out to be superior in its systems, especially that he chose a linguistic and verbal texture accompanied by a cultural dictionary full of creativity and beauty helped this culture arrangement reflects the poetically wonderful and beautiful custom led to the harmony of colors and bodies painted by the poet brush the creative artist evaluates the metaphorical and metaphorical relations that would explain the poets idea, most of which were inspired by the wonderful spirit of nature, its beautiful landscapes and bright colors, especially that we do not forget the beautiful colors and the aesthetic touch that created a fascinating musical intera
... Show MoreIn this paper, the theoretical cross section in pre-equilibrium nuclear reaction has been studied for the reaction at energy 22.4 MeV. Ericson’s formula of partial level density PLD and their corrections (William’s correction and spin correction) have been substituted in the theoretical cross section and compared with the experimental data for nucleus. It has been found that the theoretical cross section with one-component PLD from Ericson’s formula when doesn’t agree with the experimental value and when . There is little agreement only at the high value of energy range with the experimental cross section. The theoretical cross section that depends on the one-component William's formula and on-component corrected to spi
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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 |
This 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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Various pathological specimens (180) were collected from patients suffering
from pseudomonas aeruginosa infections from different hospitals in Baghdad from January
to May 2011; these specimens include (Blood samples,sputum,urine and wound swabs) were
tested for pseudomonas aeruginosa producing 2-Aminoacetophenone.Wounds swabs
specially taken from burns and post surgical infections producing a higher concentration of 2-Acetophenone material than from other samples were tested for this material and most of
these were isolated bases on their distinctive grape- like odor of 2-Aminoacetophenone
production usually linked with patients whose immune system compromised by disease or
trauma, its gains access to these pat