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 research investigates the importance of social accounting and the auditor’s report. It basically checks if there is an impact of social accounting on the auditor’s report at the availability the INTOSAI standards No. (1700 and 1706). The study recruited 105 employees of the Federal Financial Supervision Office in Iraq. Data were collected using questionnaire. The questionnaire validity and reliability were checked to assure the truthfulness of the findings. The study found a positive correlation and a statistically significant effect between the accounting for social responsibility and the auditor’s report. It is necessarily recommended for the auditor and the bodies working in the Board of Supreme Audit to ensure the inclusio
... Show MoreThe present research aims to identify and define the basic dimensions of the information management strategy and the administrative creativity in the Faculty of Management and Economics / the University of Kirkuk, as well as the role played by the dimensions of the information technology management strategy in achieving the administrative innovation in the college and the research problem was formulated in several questions. The research problem was formulated in several questions centered on the correlation between the research variables, and the research was based on a major hypothesis and five sub-hypotheses emerged from which it was subjected to several tests to ensure its validity. The researcher used the descriptive-analyti
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The electronic payment systems are considered the most important infrastructure for the work of banks, particularly after a steady and remarkable development in information and communication technology, Which created the reality of the work of the infrastructure for these systems and these systems also become one of the most important components of infrastructure for the work of banks, cause it is one of the most important channels through which the transfer of cash, financial instruments between financial institutions in general and banking in particular.
In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the most important to identify the concept of electronic payment systems, and its divisions, and th
... Show Moreيهدف هذا العمل الى بيان طبيعة العلاقة بين الادارة بالتجوال والتجديد الاستراتيجي ، ومدى تأثير المتغير المستقل في المتغير التابع. تضمنت فقرات الاستبانة بوصفه الأداة الرئيسة لجمع البيانات ثلاث جوانب اساسية، تضمن الاول البيانات الشخصية للمستجيبين، فيما تضمن الجانب الثاني الفقرات الخاصة بمتغير الادارة بالتجوال من خلال خمسة ابعاد، فيما اشتمل الجانب الثالث على فقرات التجديد الاستراتيجي عبر تناول اربعة ابعاد. ي
... Show MoreThis research aims at clarifying the concept of social auditing, which is one of the most important reasons for its emergence is social responsibility accounting and its role in measuring the social performance of enterprises. The study also aimed to know how social auditing has an impact and its role in improving the social performance of business organizations, and the research refers to testing the hypotheses of an impact of social auditing on social performance through a commitment to social responsibility. The research sample consisted of 200 individuals from 20 Algerian business organizations and represented individuals who were researched in managers and em
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The research problem was to identify the impact of monetary policies on economic growth in the oil and non-oil countries. The researcher chose the Republic of Iraq as an example for the oil countries and the Arab Republic of Egypt as an example for the non-oil countries to hold a comparison on the impact of monetary policies.
The research found that the monetary policies and their tools in the Iraqi economy affect the rate of GDP growth by 73%, which shows the strong impact of monetary policies on the economic growth in the Iraqi economy as an example of an oil state. GDP growth rate of 61%, indicating the impact of monetary policies on economic growth in the
The aim of organizational contemporary is development man power active, in spit-of there are littlie resources. But in the Iraqi environment there are too much resources with performance inhabiting. specially in the ministry of water resources (sample of this research), about dryness and lower levels of rivers. There for this study have some important variable, it is ethical leadership & transformational leadership as (independent variable), and Perceived organizational support(dependent variable). Over here to invest with authority on the problem of research, is weakness harmony between employed perception and the pattern of leadership. We find decline in of reaction of organ compound between the variable to weaken high perf
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Role of public relations (PR) and from one community to another, depending on the different cultures of these societies in General, and different ethical values established by their practitioners in these communities organizations , public relations in developed societies, and in some developing countries have taken great strides to contribute to the strategic planning and decision-making, in the framework of their commitment to the values and ethical standards for practitioners, In contrast, we find that applied in Iraq still skips phase coordinate with different communication means with the aim of advertising and publicity for the organization. As a result of the limited recognition of the strategic and vital
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Cost is the essence of any production process for it is one of the requirements for the continuity of activities so as to increase the profitability of the economic unit and to support the competitive situation in the market. Therefore, there should be an overall control to reduce the cost without compromising the product quality; to achieve this, the management should have detailed credible and reliable information about the cost to be measured, collected, understood and to analyze the causes for the spread of deviations and obstacles the management faces, and to search for the factors that trigger the emergence of these deviations and obstacles