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 is a theoretical study that deals with the presentation of the literature of statistical analysis from the perspective of gender or what is called Engendering Statistics. The researcher relied on a number of UN reports as well as some foreign sources to conduct the current study. Gender statistics are defined as statistics that reflect the differences and inequality of the status of women and men overall domains of life, and their importance stems from the fact that it is an important tool in promoting equality as a necessity for the process of sustainable development and the formulation of national and effective development policies and programs. The empowerment of women and the achievement of equality between men and wome
... Show MoreIncreased attention to corporate governance with the increasing need for investors and other parties in the Iraqi market for securities of the information credible and confidence and greater transparency in the disclosure as well as the systems of governance lead to raise the value of the company and that by reducing the cost of capital and reduce the cost of financing, as well as that there are indications modern measurement can be adopted by the Iraqi market for securities for the purpose of evaluating the performance of listed companies and then raise their value.
The research problem is that there is no framework or structure of the legal and local rules for the application of corporate governance in Iraq obliges
... Show MoreThe purpose of this paper is to identifying the level of skill self-esteem of the young tennis players in the Governorate of Baghdad, identifying some aspects of attention (acuteness, concentration, and diversion of attention) among the young tennis players of the Baghdad governorate, and identify the skills of serve and serve spiking in tennis by young tennis players in Baghdad governorate. The researchers used the descriptive approach in the correlative relations style for its suitability and the research problem. the research sample was chosen in a deliberate way from the youth team players in tennis for the Governorate of Baghdad and the participants in the 2021-2022 sports season, whose number is (20) male players and (4) young playe
... Show MoreResearch on the role of organizational change in easing the organizational conflict focuses for being one of the important topics and relatively modern and which have a significant impact on the future of organizations, so this study was to identify the relationship and the impact of organizational change and of deportation (technological, organizational structure, human resources, the change in the task) at the organizational conflict in the Earth company link Iraq, in order to reach the goals of the research, it has been the development of a questionnaire distributed to a random sample of (100) composed employees from managers and heads of departments and the people and staff at the Earth company link Iraq, the study found: the
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This research aims to:
1 – Make a proposed module for (aesthetics) for the second stage - Department of Art Education under education theories.
2 - Verification from the effect of the proposed module on student achievement and motivation towards learning aesthetics material.
To verification the second goal we wording these two hypotheses:
1- There are no individual differences with statistically significant at level (0.05) between the student's scores average. (Experimental group ) who studied according to the proposed module and the average student's scores (control group) who studied in the usual way for the achievement test for the Aesthetics material.
2- There are no individual differences with statistically signifi
The study aims to identify the degree of implementation of the coronavirus prevention standards (covid-19) in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and compare it with the families of intellectual disabilities. The study population consisted of all families residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To achieve the objectives of the research, the analytical descriptive approach was employed. The study sample consisted of (372) families, among them (84) families with intellectual disabilities, and (288) families without intellectual disabilities. They were chosen from the Saudi community according to what is available for collection in a simple random way, using the standard criteria for the prevention of coronavirus (Covid- 19) Prepared by the resear
... Show MoreOnomatopoeia has always been a functional poetic device which enjoys a high sound significance in the poetry of many languages. In modern English and Arabic poetry alike, it proves to be vital and useful at different levels: musical, thematic and at the level of meaning. Still, the cultural difference looms large over the ways it is employed by the poets of each. The present paper investigates the employment of onomatopoeia in the poetry of D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) and Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (1926-1964) who are chosen due to the importance they enjoy in modern English and Arabic poetry and the richness of their poems in onomatopoeias. The conclusions reached at are in a sense related to cultural differences which govern the use of onomato
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The current research aims to study the extent to which the Independent High Electoral Commission applies to information security risk management by the international standard (ISO / IEC27005) in terms of policies, administrative and technical procedures, and techniques used in managing information security risks, based on the opinions of experts in the sector who occupy positions (General Manager The directorate, department heads and their agents, project managers, heads of divisions, and those authorized to access systems and software). The importance of the research comes by giving a clear picture of the field of information security risk management in the organization in question because of its significant role in identifying risks and s
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Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major killer, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects almost one-quarter of the global population. The aim of the study is to Investigate the correlation between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), as well as the relationship between liver function enzymes and specific serum biomarkers in CRC patients with NAFLD. Methods: A case-control study involving 60 participants was conducted from February to August 2022. The patients with colon cancer were examined at Baghdad Medical City's Al-Amal Hospital for Radiation and Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Teaching Hospital, and blood samples were taken. Thirty patients with NAFLD who ha
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