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 work we prepared some schiff bases by condensation urea and benzaldehyde or its derevative ( bromo benzaldehyde or hydroxy benzaldehyde ) as ( 1 : 1 ) mole ( urea : benzaldehyde or its substitution ) to prepare compounds ( A1 , B1 , C1 , D1 , E1 , F1 , G1 ) and ( 1 : 2 ) mole ( urea : benzaldehyde or its substitution ) to prepare compounds ( A2 , B2 , C2 , D2 , E1 , F2 , G2 ) . The prepared compounds identified spectroscopic by infrared spectroscopy FT-IR and Thin layer chromotography T.L.C . The force constant calculated from the wave number for the carbonyl stretching from FT-IR chart and by using the following equation K = 4?2C2?'2? The change in double bond order for carbonyl deteremined in according with some past re
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This article deals with the approximate algorithm for two dimensional multi-space fractional bioheat equations (M-SFBHE). The application of the collection method will be expanding for presenting a numerical technique for solving M-SFBHE based on “shifted Jacobi-Gauss-Labatto polynomials” (SJ-GL-Ps) in the matrix form. The Caputo formula has been utilized to approximate the fractional derivative and to demonstrate its usefulness and accuracy, the proposed methodology was applied in two examples. The numerical results revealed that the used approach is very effective and gives high accuracy and good convergence.
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Genetic variation was studied in 22 local and imported samples collected from local Iraqi market by using Single sequence repeat (SSR-PCR). Six primers set were used in this study. These primers produced 33 bands. Molecular weights of these bands ranged between 100 bp to 1500 bp. The number of polymorphic bands is 24, whereas the number of monomorphic bands is 9. The results of Dendrogram of the studied samples depended on SSR-PCR results by using Jaccard coefficient for genetic similarity was distributed the samples into 10 groups. This Dendrogram revealed a higher similarity between Iraqi/Balad green bell pepper and Iraqi/Yousifia green bell pepper with 1 value. This value is the highest between samples in comparison with lowest values (0
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The aim of this research is to know how business organizations achieve competitive advantage ,and make it sustainable through constructing a green strategy ( friend to environment) which is reflected on sustaining their competitive advantages .The problem of this study is presented through trying to answer many thoughtful questions, the most important of them are:
1-Can business organizations today make green strategies supporting their competitive advantage?
2-Is there a framework or mechanism could be depended on by business organizations to manage strategic risks of losing their competit
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Abstract
Objective (s): To evaluate reasons for partial compliance and non-compliance to the
routine childhood vaccination schedule in Al-Karkh district
Methodology: Descriptive study , using the evaluation approach, is carried throughout the present study to determine the reasons for the Routine Childhood Vaccination at health care sectors and primary health care centers at Al-Karkh District in Baghdad City, Convenient, non-probability, sample of (90) mother who are recruited from health care sectors at Al-Karkh District in Baghdad City. All mothers, who ha
... Show Moreraisin on mice in comparison with negative (phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and positive Mitomycin-C (MMC) controls. Moreover, the effect on fertility hormones (follicles stimulation hormone/FSH, lutenising hormone/LH) was also measured. The effect of the extracted samples were measured by employing cytogenetic analysis which included (the mitotic index (MI), chromosomal aberrations (CAs) and micronucleus (MN)) parameters. Results showed that significant increase in MI and significant reduction in both CAs and MN percentage were seen after treatment with both alcoholic and water extracts of the two raisins and alcoholic extracts was more effective than water extracts. On the other hand both the gold and black raisin enhanced the levels of the
... Show MoreElectrochemical oxidation in the presence of sodium chloride used for removal of phenol and any other organic by products formed during the electrolysis by using MnO2/graphite electrode. The performance of the electrode was evaluated in terms fraction of phenol and the formed organic by products removed during the electrolysis process. The results showed that the electrochemical oxidation process was very effective in the removal of phenol and the other organics, where the removal percentage of phenol was 97.33%, and the final value of TOC was 6.985 ppm after 4 hours and by using a speed of rotation of the MnO2 electrode equal to 200 rpm.
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