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
Demography or population studies or demography is the science that is based on the different characteristics of the population scientific study, and represent a population studies principled way to understand the population of society, in addition to verification of the population in a given area determine the reason for the increase or decrease this number from the previous statistical As these studies estimate future trends for the occurrence of demographic change in terms of birth, death and migration That the registration of deaths of paramount importance narrated that way can the demographic reality of the population analysis, and coverage of the health authorities' needs and enable government institutions of decision-making
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Objective: To generate a model that conceptualizes the phenomenon of health promotion and its related factors.
Methodology: A grounded theory methodology is used as qualitative method to explore the health promotion as
phenomenon of interest and its other related factors from the perspectives of specialists in this field. The study is
carried out from January 2002 through September 2004. A sample of (20) specialists in health sciences are
selected and interviewed as experts in the area of health promotion. The investigators conducted intensive and
structured interviews with the specialists to collect the data. These interviews were transcribed verbatim,
analyzed and interpreted.
Results: Findings of the study indicat
The present article delves into the examination of groundwater quality, based on WQI, for drinking purposes in Baghdad City. Further, for carrying out the investigation, the data was collected from the Ministry of Water Resources of Baghdad, which represents water samples drawn from 114 wells in Al-Karkh and Al-Rusafa sides of Baghdad city. With the aim of further determining WQI, four water parameters such as (i) pH, (ii) Chloride (Cl), (iii) Sulfate (SO4), and (iv) Total dissolved solids (TDS), were taken into consideration. According to the computed WQI, the distribution of the groundwater samples, with respect to their quality classes such as excellent, good, poor, very poor and unfit for human drinking purpose, was found to be
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The problem of internal sulfate attack in concrete is widespread in Iraq and neighboring countries.This is because of the high sulfate content usually present in sand and gravel used in it. In the present study the total effective sulfate in concrete was used to calculate the optimum SO3 content. Regression models were developed based on linear regression analysis to predict the optimum SO3 content usually referred as (O.G.C) in concrete. The data is separated to 155 for the development of the models and 37 for checking the models. Eight models were built for 28-days age. Then a late age (greater than 28-days) model was developed based on the predicted optimum SO3 content of 28-days and late age. Eight developed models were built for all
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The discourse surrounding lingual sovereignty within the African postcolonial context is profoundly intertwined with the fabric of cultural identity and self-determination. Language serves not merely as a conduit for communication but as a repository for a people's collective consciousness, encapsulating their traditions, thoughts, and perspectives. In the realm of postcolonial literature, this dialogue often grapples with the paradox of expressing indigenous narratives through the linguistic tools of former colonizers. Chinua Achebe's seminal work, "Things Fall Apart," exemplifies this conundrum, artfully weaving the orature and culture of Umuofia within the English language. Achebe's choice to write in English—a language imposed upon hi
... Show MoreIn recent days, the escalating need to seamlessly transfer data traffic without discontinuities across the Internet network has exerted immense pressure on the capacity of these networks. Consequently, this surge in demand has resulted in the disruption of traffic flow continuity. Despite the emergence of intelligent networking technologies such as software-defined networking, network cloudification, and network function virtualization, they still need to improve their performance. Our proposal provides a novel solution to tackle traffic flow continuity by controlling the selected packet header bits (Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP)) that govern the traffic flow priority. By setting the DSCP bits, we can determine the appropriate p
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Cybersecurity involves protecting computer networks, systems, and data from unauthorized access and disruptions using advanced technologies. The purpose of this research is to establish a novel cyber security framework for strengthening cloud data protection. In this paper, we propose a novel Dung Beetle optimization-redefined Intelligent Random Forest (DB-IRF) for accurate detection of intrusions in a cloud environment. We obtained a dataset that includes cloud system logs and network traffic data, including normal and malicious activities, to train our proposed model. We utilized z-score normalization to pre-process the gathered raw data. Our suggested model enhances classification accuracy by integrating DB optimization with the
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Polyacrylonitrile nanofiber (PANFS), a well-known polymers, has been extensively employed in the manufacturing of carbon nanofibers (CNFS), which have recently gained substantial attention due to their excellent features, such as spinnability, environmental friendliness, and commercial feasibility. Because of their high carbon yield and versatility in tailoring the final CNFS structure, In addition to the simple formation of ladder structures through nitrile polymerization to yield stable products, CNFS and PAN have been the focus of extensive research as potential production precursors. For instance, the development of biomedical and high-performance composites has now become achievable. PAN homopolymer or PAN-based precursor copol
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Breast cancer constitutes about one fourth of the registered cancer cases among the Iraqi population (1)
and it is the leading cause of death among Iraqi women (2)
. Each year more women are exposed to the vicious
ramifications of this disease which include death if left unmanaged or the negative sequels that they would
experience, cosmetically and psychologically, after exposure to radical mastectomy.
The World Health Organization (WHO) documented that early detection and screening, when coped
with adequate therapy, could offer a reduction in breast cancer mortality; displaying that the low survival rates
in less developed countries, including Iraq, is mainly attributed to the lack of early detection programs couple