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 aim of this research is to estimate the parameters of the linear regression model with errors following ARFIMA model by using wavelet method depending on maximum likelihood and approaching general least square as well as ordinary least square. We use the estimators in practical application on real data, which were the monthly data of Inflation and Dollar exchange rate obtained from the (CSO) Central Statistical organization for the period from 1/2005 to 12/2015. The results proved that (WML) was the most reliable and efficient from the other estimators, also the results provide that the changing of fractional difference parameter (d) doesn’t effect on the results.
The quality of drinking water is considered among the most urgent issues worldwide nowadays. Ensuring safe water for human consumption remains the highest priority, while challenges also persist in meeting the water quality needs for industrial and agricultural uses. Most of the relevant studies lack accuracy in assessing water quality. Therefore, this study aims to forecast the quality of drinking water along the Tigris River in Iraq following a new approach. A developed forecasting model that utilizes the gravitational search algorithm (GSA) was deployed. The heuristic optimization tool was utilized for the prediction of the water quality index (WQI) in the research area. Out of twelve water stations, 575 samples were gather
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Essential approaches involving photons are among the most common uses of parallel optical computation due to their recent invention, ease of production, and low cost. As a result, most researchers have concentrated their efforts on it. The Basic Arithmetic Unit BAU is built using a three-step approach that uses optical gates with three states to configure the circuitry for addition, subtraction, and multiplication. This is a new optical computing method based on the usage of a radix of (2): a binary number with a signed-digit (BSD) system that includes the numbers -1, 0, and 1. Light with horizontal polarization (LHP) (↔), light with no intensity (LNI) (⥀), and light with vertical polarization (LVP) (↨) is represen
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This study aimed to assess the possible association of oxytocin (OXT) gene with reproductive traits in two groups of Awassi ewes that differ in their reproductive potentials. Sheep were genotyped using PCR—single-stranded conformation polymorphism approach. Three genotypes were detected in exon 2, CC, CA, and AA, and a novel SNP was identified with a missense effect on oxytocin (c.188C > A → p.Arg55Leu). A significant (p < 0.01) association of p.Arg55Leu with the twinning rate was found as ewes with AA and CA genotypes exhibited, respectively a lower twinning ratio than those with the wild-type CC genotype. The deleterious impact of p.Arg55Leu was demonstrated by all in silico tools that were utilized to assess the effect of this varian
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This study is concerned with shedding light on the grammatical method of Ibn Hisham Al-Ansari (761 AH), in his explanation of Bant Souad’s poem by the poet Kaab bin Zuhair, and I included a brief description of Ibn Hisham’s life with a number of explanations of this poem, then clarified the most important features of this method The grammar represented by his reliance on hearing and presenting it to analogy with mention of types of analogy, as well as his attribution of opinions to their owners with weighting, selection and balancing, and his attention to reasoning and a number of grammatical ailments, and his approach is also distinguished by following the method of fractal.
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Topology and its applications occupy the interest of many researching centers in the advanced world. From this point of view and because the near open sets play a very important role in general topology and they are now the research topics of many topologists worldwide and its sets doesn’t enter in fibrewise topology yet. Therefore, we use some of the near open sets to be model for introduce results and new spaces in fibrewise topological spaces. Also, there is a very important role of closure operators in constructing a topological spaces, so we introduce a new closure operators on the power set of vertices on graphs and conclusion theorems and new spaces from it. Furthermore, we discuss the relationships of connectedness between some ty
... Show MoreThe current research deals with practical studies that explain to the Iraqi consumer multiple instances about the phenomenon of water hammer which occur in the water pipeline operating with pressure. It concern a practical study of the characteristics of this phenomenon and economically harmful to the consumer the same time. Multiple pipe fittings are used aimed to reduce this phenomenon and its work as alternatives to the manufactured arresters that used to avoid water hammer in the sanitary installations, while the consumer did not have any knowledge as to the non-traded for many reasons, including the water pressure decreases in the networks and the use of consumer pumps to draw water directly from the network. Study found a numbe
... Show MoreThe current research deals with practical studies that explain to the Iraqi consumer multiple instances about the phenomenon of water hammer which occur in the water pipeline operating with pressure. It concern a practical study of the characteristics of this phenomenon and economically harmful to the consumer the same time. Multiple pipe fittings are used aimed to reduce this phenomenon and its work as alternatives to the manufactured arresters that used to avoid water hammer in the sanitary installations, while the consumer did not have any knowledge as to the non-traded for many reasons, including the water pressure decreases in the networks and the use of consumer pumps to draw water directly from the network. Study found a number of
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facing economic units operating in the environment sector of the Iraqi
industrial many pressures in its seeking to measure and evaluate its performance because of variables, today's corporate environment, as the case which makes looking for a methodology can be adopted to evaluate its performance with a more holistic, rather than being limited to traditional measures that are no longer enough to keep pace with rapid changes in today's corporate environment, which requires that measures of performance are derived from the strategy of unity and commensurate with the specificity of the environment in Iraq. Try searching discussion Ttormwhrat and performance measurement systems to suit the business strategies and directions of change
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