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 current study investigated the stability and the extraction efficiency of emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) for Abamectin pesticide removal from aqueous solution. The stability was investigated in terms of droplet emulsion size distribution and emulsion breakage percent. The proposed ELM included a mixture of corn oil and kerosene (1:1) as a diluent, Span 80 (sorbitan monooleate) as a surfactant and hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a stripping agent without utilizing a carrier agent. Parameters such as homogenizer speed, surfactant concentration, emulsification time and internal to organic volume ratio (I/O) were evaluated. Results show that the lower droplet size of 0.9 µm and higher stable emulsion in terms of breakage percent of 1.12 % we
... Show More
(2)
A new ligand (H4L) and its complexes with ( ZnII, CdII and HgII) were prepared. This ligand was prepared in two steps. In the first step a solution of terephthaldehyde in methanol was reacted under reflux with 1,2-phenylenediamine to give an precursor compound which reacted in the second step with 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde to give the ligand. The complexes were then synthesized by direct reaction of the corresponding metal chloride with the ligand. The ligand and complexes were characterized by spectroscopic methods FT-IR, UV-Vis, 1 HNMR, and atomic absorption, chloride content, HPLC, mole-ratio determination. in addition to conductivity measurement. The data of these measurements suggest a distorted tetrahedral geometry for ZnII, C
... Show MoreA new ligand (H4L) and its complexes with ( ZnII, CdII and HgII) were prepared. This ligand was prepared in two steps. In the first step a solution of terephthaldehyde in methanol was reacted under reflux with 1,2-phenylenediamine to give an precursor compound which reacted in the second step with 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde to give the ligand. The complexes were then synthesized by direct reaction of the corresponding metal chloride with the ligand. The ligand and complexes were characterized by spectroscopic methods FT-IR, UV-Vis, 1HNMR, and atomic absorption, chloride content, HPLC, mole-ratio determination. in addition to conductivity measurement. The data of these measurements suggest a distorted tetrahedral g
... Show MoreA new ligand complexes have been synthesis from reaction of metal ions of MnII , CoII , NiII , CuII , ZnII , CdII and PdII with schiff base [(E)-1-((2-amino-5-(3, 4, 5-trimethoxybenzyl) pyrimidin-4-ylimino) methyl) naphthalen-2-ol [HL)]. The prepared [HL] was characterized by FT-IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, 1H13CNMR spectra Mass spectra and melting point. The compounds were characterized by techniques UV-Vis and FT-IR spectral studies, micro analysis (C.H.N), determination of atomic absorption, chloride content, molar conductivity measurements, magnetic susceptibility and melting point. The ligand acts as a monobasic tridentate, coordinating through deprotonated phenolic O and azomethine N atoms. The compounds are neutral electrolytic in dimeth
... Show More
(60)
(53)
New heterocyclic compounds derived from 2-Morpholino-1,8-naphthyridine-4-carboxylic acid such as oxadiazolo, thiadiazolo – thione and triazolo-thione have been prepared and characterized on the basis of IR and 1H NMR spectra data. The hydrizide compound was utilized as a starting material for preparing of these compounds. The second part of this study involves the biological studies of some of these naphthyridine derivatives by using three different kinds of bacteria namely: Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruglnosa and Escherichia coli. The data indicated that some of these compounds have a good activity against the tested bacteria in comparison to antibiotics.
Abstract
This research deals with studying and analysis of a poetic group under the
title (Trees behind fence) of the great poet Dr. Ahmed Sulaiman AlAhmed
who is the some of the Shek , Sulaiman Al-Ahmed who is the linguist - poet
and famous jurist member in the Arabic scientific assemble in Damascus and
brother of the great poet Badawi Al-Jabal. This poetic group include two big
poetic legends : the first one is (Trees behind fence , ) which include one
hundred and eighty four line and the second one ( AZ-Mebadia ) which is
consists of one hundred and seventy eight line, both of them from the (Al-
Camil ) meter which is free rhyme which bears a many meaning and pictures
and just the great poet composite the
A computational investigation is carried out in the field of charged particle optics with the aid of the numerical analysis methods. The work is concerned with the design of symmetrical double pole piece magnetic lens. The axial magnetic flux density distribution is determined by using exponential model, from which the paraxial-ray equation is solved to obtain the trajectory of particles that satisfy the suggested exponential model. From the knowledge of the first and second derivatives of axial potential distribution, the optical properties such as the focal length and aberration coefficients (radial distortion coefficient and spiral distortion coefficient) are determined. Finally, the pole piece profiles capable of pr
... Show MoreThe calculations of the shell model, based on the large basis, were carried out for studying the nuclear 29-34Mg structure. Binding energy, single neutron separation energy, neutron shell gap, two neutron separation energy, and reduced transition probability, are explained with the consideration of the contributions of the high-energy configurations beyond the model space of sd-shell. The wave functions for these nuclei are used from the model of the shell with the use of the USDA 2-body effective interaction. The OBDM elements are computed with the use of NuShellX@MSU shell model code that utilizes the formalism of proton-neutron.
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
(3)