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
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Ficus (FIC) leaf extract used as corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel alloy (C.S) in two corrosive environments (saline and acidic) with four concentrations (1, 2, 3 and 4 ppm) at varied temperature range between (298-328 K) using electrochemical polarization measurements. The importance of this work focused on the use the green chemistry that is far from the chemical materials effect. The results of polarization presented the FIC inhibitor consider a mixed type (anodic and cathodic) inhibitor. Tafel curve used to evaluate the corrosion inhibition activity. In a saline medium, the best inhibitor efficiency reaches to (87%) in 2 ppm and IE% reach to (99%) for HCl medium inhibited by 1ppm. Langmuir isotherm obeys the study by thermodynamic pa
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A novel azo dye ligand namely (2-(pyridin-3-yldiazenyl)naphthalen-1-ol (HPYNA), was synthesized by the coupling reaction of diazonium salt of 3-aminopyridine with naphthol. The palladium(II) complex for HPYNA ligand was prepared by reacting palladium(II) ions with the HPYNA ligand. These synthesized compounds were characterized using different techniques, including mass, 1H-NMR, infrared, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The infrared results show that the azo ligand reacts as a bidentate via the oxygen atom of phenol and nitrogen atom of the azo group. The palladium(II) complex is square-planer with diamagnetic properties depending on the results of electronic transitions and magnetic sensitivity. The HPYNA ligand and palladium complex show
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Computations of the relative permeability curves were made through their representation by two functions for wetting and nonwetting phases. Each function contains one parameter that controls the shape of the relative permeability curves. The values of these parameters are chosen to minimize an objective function, that is represented as a weighted sum of the squared differences between experimentally measured data and the corresponding data calculated by a mathematical model simulating the experiment. These data comprise the pressure drop across core samples and the recovery response of the displacing phase. Two mathematical models are constructed in this study to simulate incompressible, one-dimensional, two-phase flow. The first model d
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This article aims to estimate the partially linear model by using two methods, which are the Wavelet and Kernel Smoothers. Simulation experiments are used to study the small sample behavior depending on different functions, sample sizes, and variances. Results explained that the wavelet smoother is the best depending on the mean average squares error criterion for all cases that used.
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The objective of this paper is to study the stability of SIS epidemic model involving treatment. Two types of such eco-epidemiological models are introduced and analyzed. Boundedness of the system is established. The local and global dynamical behaviors are performed. The conditions of persistence of the models are derived.
The development of technology used in computerized programs is considered on of the most important topics that is responsible for creating tools that can be used in the business environment, the audit profession is one of those professions that received this development. In order for this profession to be more effective, there must be a tool based on sound (correct) scientific basis that can be based upon to enhance the quality of auditing. The research also aims to propose a computerized program to plan the auditing process according to the methods appropriate to the working environment in the audit offices and companies in Iraq. The computerized program was applied to the research sample and the hypothesis of the research has been prov
... Show MoreSemi-parametric regression models have been studied in a variety of applications and scientific fields due to their high flexibility in dealing with data that has problems, as they are characterized by the ease of interpretation of the parameter part while retaining the flexibility of the non-parametric part. The response variable or explanatory variables can have outliers, and the OLS approach have the sensitivity to outliers. To address this issue, robust (resistance) methods were used, which are less sensitive in the presence of outlier values in the data. This study aims to estimate the partial regression model using the robust estimation method with the wavel
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