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
Industrial machining workshops generate substantial quantities of aluminum wire offcuts and filings that cannot be re-entered into bulk metal recycling circuits, posing both a resource management challenge and a potential environmental burden. This study demonstrates a closed-loop valorization route in which this low-grade aluminum waste is converted into nanostructured aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles (NPs) by two scalable synthesis pathways (i) chemo-thermal calcination of precipitated Al(OH)₃ at 1000 °C and 1200 °C for 1 and 4 h, and (ii) direct chemical precipitation via AlCl3/Na2CO3 reaction, and then deployed as a functional additive in water-based drilling fluids (WBDFs) used by the oil and gas industry. Comprehensive chara
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KA Hadi, AH Asma’a, IJONS, 2018 - Cited by 1
Horizontal wells have revolutionized hydrocarbon production by enhancing recovery efficiency and reducing environmental impact. This paper presents an enhanced Black Oil Model simulator, written in Visual Basic, for three-dimensional two-phase (oil and water) flow through porous media. Unlike most existing tools, this simulator is customized for horizontal well modeling and calibrated using extensive historical data from the South Rumaila Oilfield, Iraq. The simulator first achieves a strong match with historical pressure data (1954–2004) using vertical wells, with an average deviation of less than 5% from observed pressures, and is then applied to forecast the performance of hypothetical horizontal wells (2008–2011). The result
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Multi-carrier direct sequence code division multiple access (MC-DS-CDMA) has emerged recently as a promising candidate for the next generation broadband mobile networks. Multipath fading channels have a severe effect on the performance of wireless communication systems even those systems that exhibit efficient bandwidth, like orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and MC-DS-CDMA; there is always a need for developments in the realisation of these systems as well as efficient channel estimation and equalisation methods to enable these systems to reach their maximum performance. A novel MC-DS-CDMA transceiver based on the Radon-based OFDM, which was recently proposed as a new technique in the realisation of OFDM systems, will be us
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One of the most important intellectual issues, which receive attention is the issue of modernity, it has occupied the scholars of all time. However, modern poetry used to have special care in Iraq and in the Arab countries .. it is not strange that the concept of modernity is linked to history .. or having history as the most important dimension of its dimensions .. because Arab poetry is historical and it is moving into an area of the past that is still active in terms of language and literary image .. When some poets found that changing and modernizing poetry became a necessity of evolution, and one of the fundamentals of modernization, the cultural impact did not respond to the desire of poets, and their impulse in modern poetry
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The total and individual multipole moments of magnetic electron scattering form factors in 41Ca have been investigated using a widely successful model which is the nuclear shell model configurations keeping in mind of 1f7/2 subshell as an L-S shell and Millinar, Baymann, Zamick as L-S shell (F7MBZ) to give the model space wave vector. Also, harmonic oscillator wave functions have been used as wave function of a single particle in 1f7/2 shell. Nucleus 40Ca as core closed and Core polarization effects have been used as a corrective with first order correction concept to basic computation of L-S shell and the excitement energy has been implemented with 2ћω. The
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Nicotiana tobaccum L (Solanacea) extracts are used as a mollusciede to the snail Bulinus truncatus the intermediate host of urinary Schistosomiasis. LC50 of the extracts to the snail with 24 hour was 3.27 ml/l? 48 hour was 3.33 ml/l? 72 hour was 2.67 ml/l and 96 hour was 2.28ml/l. This study showed the ability to use the leaf extracts in the control of this type of snail.
Abstract In this paper the effect of light exposure duration on Anthracene solution in chloroform is studied. It is found that: the Anthracene solution change its color when it is exposed to light, and that its relative quantum efficiency, Φ, decreases as the light exposure duration, t, increases and this govern by following empirical equation:- Φ = 0.7918-0.0762 In (t)
With 549,393 new cases recorded in 2018, bladder cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Urinary bladder cancer is the cause of about 3 percent of all new cancer diagnoses and 2.1 percent of all cancer deaths. This study aims to evaluate the efficiency of the N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1(NDRG1) as a biomarker for bladder cancer patients in the Iraqi population. One hundred individuals in the case-control study were enrolled and divided into two groups. The first group included 50 patients diagnosed with a bladder mass and investigated by undergoing cystoscopy examination for transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURB). The second group included 50 healthy individuals who had normal bladder tissue. The resul
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