Browsing by Author "Karunasena, Enusha"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    'Cut from the same cloth': Shared microsatellite variants among cancers link to ectodermal tissues-neural tube and crest cells
    Karunasena, Enusha; McIver, Lauren J.; Bavarva, Jasmin H.; Wu, Xiaowei; Zhu, Hongxiao; Garner, Harold R. (Impact Journals, 2015-09-08)
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    Effects of the probiotic lactobacillus animalis in murine mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infection
    Karunasena, Enusha; Kurkure, Paresh C.; Lackey, Russell D.; McMahon, Kevin Wyatt; Kiernan, Estevan P.; Graham, Suzanne; Alabady, Magdy S.; Campos, David L.; Tatum, Owatha L.; Brashears, Mindy M. (2013-01-16)
    Background MAP is a suspected zoonotic pathogen and the causative agent of Johne’s Disease in cattle and other ruminant animals. With over $1 billion dollars in loss to the dairy industry due to Johne’s Disease, efforts to eliminate or reduce MAP from cattle are of importance. The purpose of this study was to determine if daily intake of probiotics could eliminate or reduce Johne’s Disease associated symptoms and pathogenesis by MAP. Post infection, animals are often asymptomatic carriers with limited shedding of the pathogen, proving early detection to be difficult. Disease and symptoms often appear 3-4 years after infection with antibiotic treatment proving ineffective. Symptoms include chronic gastrointestinal inflammation leading to severe weight-loss from poor feed and water intake cause a wasting disease. These symptoms are similar to those found in individuals with Crohn’s Disease (CD); MAP has been implicated by not proven to be the causative agent of CD. Probiotics administered to livestock animals, including dairy and beef cattle have demonstrated improvements in cattle performance and health. Our objectives included determining the benefits of Lactobacillus animalis (strain name: NP-51) in MAP infected BALB/c mice by evaluating systemic and gastrointestinal response by the host and gut microbiota. Male and female animals were fed 1x106 CFU/g probiotics in sterile, powdered mouse chow daily and infected with 1 x 107 CFU/ml MAP and compared to controls. Animals were evaluated for 180 days to assess acute and chronic stages of disease, with sample collection from animals every 45 days. MAP concentrations from liver and intestinal tissues were examined using real time-PCR methods and the expression of key inflammatory markers were measured during MAP infection (interferon-gamma [IFN-Υ], Interleukin-1α, IL-12, IL-10, IL-6, and Tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α]). Results Our results demonstrate administration of probiotics reduces production of IFN-Υ and IL-6 while increasing TNF-α and IL-17 in chronic disease; healthful immune responses that reduce chronic inflammation associated to MAP infection. Conclusions We observed that the immune system’s response in the presence of probiotics to MAP contributes towards host health by influencing the activity of the immune system and gut microbial populations.
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    Somatic intronic microsatellite loci differentiate glioblastoma from lower-grade gliomas
    Karunasena, Enusha; McIver, Lauren J.; Rood, Brian R.; Wu, Xiaowei; Zhu, Hongxiao; Bavarva, Jasmin H.; Garner, Harold R. (Impact Journals, 2014-08-15)
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    Updating microbial genomic sequences: improving accuracy & innovation
    Tae, Hongseok; Karunasena, Enusha; Bavarva, Jasmin H.; Garner, Harold R. (2014-11-07)
    Background Many bacterial genome sequences completed using the Sanger method may contain assembly errors due in-part to low sequence coverage driven by cost. Findings To illustrate the need for re-sequencing of pre-nextgen genomes and to validate sequenced genomes, we conducted a series of experiments, using high coverage sequencing data generated by a Illumina Miseq sequencer to sequence genomic DNAs of Bacteroides fragilis NCTC 9343, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Paratyphi A str. ATCC 9150, Vibrio cholerae O1 biovar El Tor str. N16961, Bacillus halodurans C-125 and Caulobacter crescentus CB15, which had previously been sequenced by the Sanger method during the early 2000’s. Conclusions This study revealed a number of discrepancies between the published assemblies and sequence read alignments for all five bacterial species, suggesting that the continued use of these error-containing genomes and their genetic information may contribute to false conclusions and/or incorrect future discoveries when they are used.