Preferred Language
Articles
/
6xafM4oBVTCNdQwCP5Hw
The Arabian killifish (Aphanius dispar) as a novel model for mycophysiological studies.
...Show More Authors

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

Publication Date
Sat Jun 25 2022
Journal Name
International Journal Of Drug Delivery Technology
Microneedles as A Magical Technology to facilitate Transdermal Drug Delivery: A Review Article
...Show More Authors

Skin drug administration is the method used to provide drugs for local or systemic therapy, which is recognized for clinical usage. It is the third-largest method of medication delivery, after only intravenous administration and oral administration. Using a transdermal delivery method makes the administration easy, and blood concentration and adverse effects can be reduced. A microneedle is a micron-sized needle with a short height of no more than 500 micrometers and a width of no more than 50 micrometers. The needle comes into contact with the epidermal layer of the skin before it gets to the dermal layer, where there is no discomfort. Several materials, such as metals, inorganic, and polymer materials, are used to create microneed

... Show More
View Publication
Scopus (8)
Crossref (6)
Scopus Crossref
Publication Date
Sun Feb 25 2024
Journal Name
Baghdad Science Journal
Simplified Novel Approach for Accurate Employee Churn Categorization using MCDM, De-Pareto Principle Approach, and Machine Learning
...Show More Authors

Churning of employees from organizations is a serious problem. Turnover or churn of employees within an organization needs to be solved since it has negative impact on the organization. Manual detection of employee churn is quite difficult, so machine learning (ML) algorithms have been frequently used for employee churn detection as well as employee categorization according to turnover. Using Machine learning, only one study looks into the categorization of employees up to date.  A novel multi-criterion decision-making approach (MCDM) coupled with DE-PARETO principle has been proposed to categorize employees. This is referred to as SNEC scheme. An AHP-TOPSIS DE-PARETO PRINCIPLE model (AHPTOPDE) has been designed that uses 2-stage MCDM s

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Scopus (5)
Crossref (5)
Scopus Crossref
Publication Date
Fri Jan 01 2021
Journal Name
International Journal Of Agricultural And Statistical Sciences
ESTIMATED NON-PARAMETRIC AND SEMI-PARAMETRIC MODEL FOR LONGITUDINAL DATA
...Show More Authors

View Publication
Scopus
Publication Date
Tue Nov 27 2018
Journal Name
The Iraqi Geological Journal
CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHICALLY BASED RESERVOIR MODEL FOR CENOMANIAN CARBONATES, SOUTHEASTERN IRAQ OILFIELDS
...Show More Authors

The Cenomanian – Turronian sedimentary succession in the south Iraq oil fields, including Ahmadi, Rumaila, Mishrif and Khasib formations have undergone into high-resolution reservoir-scale genetic sequence stratigraphic analysis. Some oil-wells from Majnoon and West-Qurna oil fields were selected as a representative case for the regional sequence stratigraphic analysis. The south Iraqi Albian – Cenomanian – Turronian succession of 2nd-order depositional super-sequence has been analyzed based on the Arabian Plate chronosequence stratigraphic context, properly distinguished by three main chrono-markers (The maximum flooding surface, MFS-K100 of the upper shale member of Nahr Umr Formation, MFS-K140 of the upper Mishrif carbonate

... Show More
View Publication
Crossref (2)
Crossref
Publication Date
Thu Jun 01 2023
Journal Name
International Journal Of Electrical And Computer Engineering (ijece)
An optimized deep learning model for optical character recognition applications
...Show More Authors

The convolutional neural networks (CNN) are among the most utilized neural networks in various applications, including deep learning. In recent years, the continuing extension of CNN into increasingly complicated domains has made its training process more difficult. Thus, researchers adopted optimized hybrid algorithms to address this problem. In this work, a novel chaotic black hole algorithm-based approach was created for the training of CNN to optimize its performance via avoidance of entrapment in the local minima. The logistic chaotic map was used to initialize the population instead of using the uniform distribution. The proposed training algorithm was developed based on a specific benchmark problem for optical character recog

... Show More
View Publication
Scopus (4)
Crossref (2)
Scopus Crossref
Publication Date
Mon Mar 30 2026
Journal Name
Journal Of Al-qadisiyah For Computer Science And Mathematics
Adaptive Security Model for Data Protection Using Behavioral User Authentication
...Show More Authors

Credential compromise is one of the most widespread security threats, allowing adversaries to bypass traditional authentication measures and impersonate legitimate users. Traditional intrusion detection systems are often based on network-level or macro-behavioral indicators, which can be easily spoofed by an attacker, thus compromising the effectiveness of those mechanisms. This study presents an improved adaptive intrusion detection system to authenticate user behavior based on micro-digital behavioral profiling. It involves the use of timing of keystrokes, micro-mouse, navigation in the application, and interaction rhythm signatures. The proposed system uses a hybrid model consisting of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) sequence predi

... Show More
View Publication
Crossref
Publication Date
Fri May 01 2020
Journal Name
Journal Of Engineering
Building 1D Mechanical Earth Model for Zubair Oilfield in Iraq
...Show More Authors

Many problems were encountered during the drilling operations in Zubair oilfield. Stuckpipe, wellbore instability, breakouts and washouts, which increased the critical limits problems, were observed in many wells in this field, therefore an extra non-productive time added to the total drilling time, which will lead to an extra cost spent. A 1D Mechanical Earth Model (1D MEM) was built to suggest many solutions to such types of problems. An overpressured zone is noticed and an alternative mud weigh window is predicted depending on the results of the 1D MEM. Results of this study are diagnosed and wellbore instability problems are predicted in an efficient way using the 1D MEM. Suitable alternative solutions are presented

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Crossref (3)
Crossref
Publication Date
Fri Jan 01 2021
Journal Name
Annals Of Pure And Applied Mathematics
Linear Regression Model Using Bayesian Approach for Iraqi Unemployment Rate
...Show More Authors

In this paper we used frequentist and Bayesian approaches for the linear regression model to predict future observations for unemployment rates in Iraq. Parameters are estimated using the ordinary least squares method and for the Bayesian approach using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. Calculations are done using the R program. The analysis showed that the linear regression model using the Bayesian approach is better and can be used as an alternative to the frequentist approach. Two criteria, the root mean square error (RMSE) and the median absolute deviation (MAD) were used to compare the performance of the estimates. The results obtained showed that the unemployment rates will continue to increase in the next two decade

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Crossref (1)
Crossref
Publication Date
Sun Jun 01 2014
Journal Name
2014 International Conference On Computer And Information Sciences (iccoins)
Proposed conceptual model for E-service quality in Malaysian universities
...Show More Authors

View Publication
Scopus (3)
Crossref (2)
Scopus Crossref
Publication Date
Sat Jun 01 2019
Journal Name
Al-nahrain Journal Of Science
THREE DIMENSIONAL EXPLICIT MODEL FOR COMETARY TAIL IONSINTERACTIONSWITH SOLAR WIND
...Show More Authors

The different interactions between cometary tail and solar wind ions are studied in the present paper based on three-dimensional Lax explicit method. The model used in this research is based on the continuity equations describing the cometary tail-solar wind interactions. Three dimensional system was considered in this paper. Simulation of the physical system was achieved using computer code written using Matlab 7.0. The parameters studied here assumed Halley comet type and include the particle density , the particles velocity v, the magnetic field strength B, dynamic pressure p and internal energy E. The results of the present research showed that the interaction near the cometary nucleus is mainly affected by the new ions added to the

... Show More