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
: The Aluminium (Al) material emerged as a plasmonic material in the wavelength ranges from the ultraviolet to the visible bands in different on-chip plasmonic applications. In this paper, we demonstrate the effect of using Al on the electromagnetic (EM) field distribution of a compact hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPW) acting as a polarization rotator. We compare the performance of Al with other familiar metals that are widely used as plasmonic materials, which are Silver (Ag) and Gold (Au). Furthermore, we study the effect of reducing the geometrical dimensions of the used materials on the EM field distributions inside the HPW and, consequently, on the efficiency of the polarization rotation. We perform the study based o
... Show MoreThis research aims to predict the value of the maximum daily loss that the fixed-return securities portfolio may suffer in Qatar National Bank - Syria, and for this purpose data were collected for risk factors that affect the value of the portfolio represented by the time structure of interest rates in the United States of America over the extended period Between 2017 and 2018, in addition to data related to the composition of the bonds portfolio of Qatar National Bank of Syria in 2017, And then employing Monte Carlo simulation models to predict the maximum loss that may be exposed to this portfolio in the future. The results of the Monte Carlo simulation showed the possibility of decreasing the value at risk in the future due to the dec
... Show MoreThe organizational integration forms a necessity according to McKinsey model, especially for service organizations. In the context of various service sector developments, importance adoption of compact mechanisms by these organizations to upgrade their services has increased and senior management must be more aware of environmental, competitive and developmental requirements. It gets more important when it shows in an organization seeking at excellence of making services within its policies and strategies. Subject organizational integration dimensions (strategy, structure, systems, style, staff, shared values, and skills) are effective components in directing behaviors of employees and organization. This motivated both researcher
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Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) is a modern poet belongs to the apocalyptic movement of the 1940's.This movement is influenced by the doctrines and techniques of surrealism.
Poetry for him should not be primarily concerned with man in society, but with the celebration of spiritual truth. It should bring to light the hidden causes, hence his personal interest is to strip darkness and explore the inward motives. To do this he uses a cluster of images: a constant building up and breaking down of images. His poetry depends on the romantic spontaneity, suggestiveness of the Symbolists and the the surrealists' mysterious liberation of the unconsciousness and
... Show MoreDylan Thomas (1914-1953) is a modern poet belongs to the apocalyptic movement of the 1940's.This movement is influenced by the doctrines and techniques of surrealism. Poetry for him should not be primarily concerned with man in society, but with the celebration of spiritual truth. It should bring to light the hidden causes, hence his personal interest is to strip darkness and explore the inward motives. To do this he uses a cluster of images: a constant building up and breaking down of images. His poetry depends on the romantic spontaneity, suggestiveness of the Symbolists and the the surrealists' mysterious liberation of the unconsciousness and the emotional involvement in the dynamics of life. In "Light Breaks
... Show MoreModern French novel has gained a distinctive status in the history of French literature during the first half of the twentieth century. This is due to many factors including the new literary descriptive objective style adopted by novelists like Alain Robbe – Grillet that has long been regarded as the outstanding writer of the nouveau roman, as well as its major spokesman, a representative writer and a leading theoretician of the new novel that has broken the classical rules of the one hero and evolved, through questioning the relationship of man and the world and reevaluating the limits of contemporary fiction , into creating a new form of narrative.
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En vue de résu
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In this research we built a mathematical model of the transportation problem for data of General Company for Grain Under the environment of variable demand ,and situations of incapableness to determining the supply required quantities as a result of economic and commercial reasons, also restrict flow of grain amounts was specified to a known level by the decision makers to ensure that the stock of reserves for emergency situations that face the company from decrease, or non-arrival of the amount of grain to silos , also it took the capabilities of the tanker into consideration and the grain have been restricted to avoid shortages and lack of processing capability, Function has been adopted
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The aim of this research is to construct a three-dimensional maritime transport model to transport nonhomogeneous goods (k) and different transport modes (v) from their sources (i) to their destinations (j), while limiting the optimum quantities v ijk x to be transported at the lowest possible cost v ijk c and time v ijk t using the heuristic algorithm, Transport problems have been widely studied in computer science and process research and are one of the main problems of transport problems that are usually used to reduce the cost or times of transport of goods with a number of sources and a number of destinations and by means of transport to meet the conditions of supply and demand. Transport models are a key tool in logistics an
... Show MoreAllosteric inhibition of EGFR tyrosine kinase (TK) is currently among the most attractive approaches for designing and developing anti-cancer drugs to avoid chemoresistance exhibited by clinically approved ATP-competitive inhibitors. The current work aimed to synthesize new biphenyl-containing derivatives that were predicted to act as EGFR TK allosteric site inhibitors based on molecular docking studies.
A new series of 4'-hydroxybiphenyl-4-carboxylic acid derivatives, including hydrazine-1-carbothioamide (S3-S6) and 1,2,4-triazole (S7-S10) derivatives, were synthesized and characterized using IR, 1HNMR, 13CNMR
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In this study, a mathematical model for the kinetics of solute transport in liquid membrane systems (LMSs) has been formulated. This model merged the mechanisms of consecutive and reversible processes with a “semi-derived” diffusion expression, resulting in equations that describe solute concentrations in the three sections (donor, acceptor and membrane). These equations have been refined into linear forms, which are satisfying in the special conditions for simplification obtaining the important kinetic constants of the process experimentally.