Publications by authors named "Sekar J"

Interactions between protein kinases and their substrates are critical for the modulation of complex signaling pathways. Currently, there is a large amount of information available about kinases and their substrates in disparate public databases. However, these data are difficult to interpret in the context of cellular systems, which can be facilitated by examining interactions among multiple proteins at once, such as the network of interactions that constitute a signaling pathway.

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In today's world, heart disease threatens human life owing to higher mortality and morbidity across the globe. The earlier prediction of heart disease engenders interoperability for the treatment of patients and offers better diagnostic recommendations from medical professionals. However, the existing machine learning classifiers suffer from computational complexity and overfitting problems, which reduces the classification accuracy of the diagnostic system.

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Mucosal barrier integrity is vital for homeostasis with commensal organisms while preventing pathogen invasion. We unexpectedly found that fungal-induced immunosurveillance enhances resistance to fungal outgrowth and tissue invasion by remodeling the oral mucosal epithelial barrier in mouse models of adult and neonatal colonization. Epithelial subset expansion and tissue remodeling were dependent on interleukin-22 (IL-22) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling, through a non-canonical receptor complex composed of glycoprotein 130 (gp130) coupled with IL-22RA1 and IL-10RB.

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is an ESKAPE pathogen and threatens human health by generating infections with high fatality rates. leads to a spectrum of infections such as skin and wound infections, endocarditis, meningitis pneumonia, septicaemia and urinary tract infections. Recently, strains of have emerged as multidrug-resistant (MDR), meaning they are resistant to at least three different classes of antibiotics.

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Early characterization of the immunostimulatory potential of therapeutic antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) is crucial. At present, little is known about the toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9)-mediated immunostimulatory potential of third-generation locked nucleic acid (LNA)-modified ASOs. In this study, we have systematically investigated the TLR9-activating potential of LNA-modified oligonucleotides using different mouse and human cell culture systems.

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Perturbations in the metabolism of ammonia, a cytotoxic endogenous metabolite, occur in a number of chronic diseases, with consequent hyperammonemia. Increased skeletal muscle ammonia uptake causes metabolic, molecular, and phenotype alterations including cataplerosis of (loss of tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) cycle intermediate) α-ketoglutarate (αKG), mitochondrial oxidative dysfunction, and senescence-associated molecular phenotype (SAMP). L-Isoleucine (Ile) is an essential, branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) that simultaneously provides acetyl-CoA as an oxidative substrate and succinyl-CoA for anaplerosis (providing TCA cycle intermediates).

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Sarcopenia, defined as the loss of muscle mass and strength, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patients. However, the molecular mechanisms that cause sarcopenia remain to be determined. In this review, we will highlight the unique molecular and metabolic perturbations that occur in the skeletal muscle of COPD patients in response to hypoxia, and emphasize important areas of future research.

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Listeria monocytogenes, the third most deleterious zoonotic pathogen, is a major causative agent of animal and human listeriosis, an infection related to the consumption of contaminated food products. Even though, this pathogen has been responsible for the outbreaks of foodborne infections in the early 1980s, the major outbreaks have been reported during the past two decades. Listeriosis infection in the host is a rare but life-threatening disease with major public health and economic implications.

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Background: Protection of wireless technology-enabled e-healthcare data transfer over constrained devices of body sensor networks using lightweight security mechanisms is the demand of health sector nowadays.

Objective: A new secure wireless body sensor network architecture (S-WBSN) with reduced CPU cycles and computational cost is proposed. S-WBSN uses OTP-Q (One-Time Pad-Quasi) and Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithms for encryption and mutual authentication, respectively.

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Article Synopsis
  • Patients with acute alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) exhibit immune dysfunction linked to impaired mitochondrial function, impacting their immune responses and cellular aging processes.
  • A combination of single-cell RNA sequencing and transcriptomics was employed to analyze gene expression related to mitochondrial and telomere function in blood samples from AH patients, healthy controls, and heavy drinkers.
  • Results indicated that AH patients showed reduced mitochondrial respiration and different metabolite profiles compared to healthy individuals, suggesting significant alterations in both mitochondrial function and cellular aging mechanisms in AH.
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Perturbed metabolism of ammonia, an endogenous cytotoxin, causes mitochondrial dysfunction, reduced NAD /NADH (redox) ratio, and postmitotic senescence. Sirtuins are NAD -dependent deacetylases that delay senescence. In multiomics analyses, NAD metabolism and sirtuin pathways are enriched during hyperammonemia.

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Background: Sarcopenia, or loss of skeletal muscle mass and decreased contractile strength, contributes to morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The severity of sarcopenia in COPD is variable, and there are limited data to explain phenotype heterogeneity. Others have shown that COPD patients with sarcopenia have several hallmarks of cellular senescence, a potential mechanism of primary (age-related) sarcopenia.

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Nocturnal hypoxaemia, which is common in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, is associated with skeletal muscle loss or sarcopenia, which contributes to adverse clinical outcomes. In COPD, we have defined this as prolonged intermittent hypoxia (PIH) because the duration of hypoxia in skeletal muscle occurs through the duration of sleep followed by normoxia during the day, in contrast to recurrent brief hypoxic episodes during obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Adaptive cellular responses to PIH are not known.

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Background: In soils, phosphorous (P) mostly exists in fixed/insoluble form and unavailable for plants use in soil solution, hence it is in scarcity. P is fixed in the form of aluminium, iron and manganese phosphates in acidic soils and calcium phosphate in alkaline soils. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria, the ecological engineers play a pivotal role in the mobilization of fixed forms of P by using different mechanisms.

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Skeletal muscle generation of ammonia, an endogenous cytotoxin, is increased during exercise. Perturbations in ammonia metabolism consistently occur in chronic diseases, and may blunt beneficial skeletal muscle molecular responses and protein homeostasis with exercise. Phosphorylation of skeletal muscle proteins mediates cellular signaling responses to hyperammonemia and exercise.

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Fungal infections are more predominant in agricultural and clinical fields. Aspergillosis caused by Aspergillus fumigatus leads to respiratory failure in patients along with various illnesses. Due to the limitation of antifungal therapy and antifungal drugs, there is an emergence to develop efficient antifungal compounds (AFCs) from natural sources to cure and prevent fungal infections.

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Article Synopsis
  • The rise in systemic invasive fungal infections over recent decades has led to higher mortality and morbidity rates globally, largely due to resistance to existing antifungal treatments.
  • The development of new strategies, particularly combinational therapy and the use of chemosensitizers, has shown promise in enhancing the effectiveness of antifungal drugs against resistant fungal strains.
  • Natural compounds, including the antifungal protein (AFP) produced by certain fungi, have the potential to act as effective chemosensitizers, improving the efficacy of traditional antifungal treatments.
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Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), a globally important organosulfur compound is produced in prodigious amounts (2.0 Pg sulfur) annually in the marine environment by phytoplankton, macroalgae, heterotrophic bacteria, some corals and certain higher plants. It is an important marine osmolyte and a major precursor molecule for the production of climate-active volatile gas dimethyl sulfide (DMS).

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Introduction: Transgender (trans) women of color navigate the intersected identity frames of gender, race, social class and sexuality, whilst facing multiple layers of stigma, discrimination and violence during and following gender affirmation. However, little is known about the ways in which trans women of color negotiate gender affirmation, in the context of the risk of social exclusion and violence.

Aim: This article discusses the experience and construction of gender transitioning and gender affirmation for trans women of color living in Australia, associated with the risk of social exclusion or violence.

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Ammonia is a cytotoxic metabolite with pleiotropic molecular and metabolic effects, including senescence induction. During dysregulated ammonia metabolism, which occurs in chronic diseases, skeletal muscle becomes a major organ for nonhepatocyte ammonia uptake. Muscle ammonia disposal occurs in mitochondria via cataplerosis of critical intermediary metabolite α-ketoglutarate, a senescence-ameliorating molecule.

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Despite experiencing high rates of sexual violence, there is limited research that explores coping and support needs among trans women of color and those from migrant backgrounds. This article examines the impact of sexual violence, as well as responses and support needs in relation to sexual violence, among 31 trans women of color, aged between 18-54 years, living in Australia. Women were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling, local LGBTQI + networks, and social media.

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Ammonia is a cytotoxic molecule generated during normal cellular functions. Dysregulated ammonia metabolism, which is evident in many chronic diseases such as liver cirrhosis, heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, initiates a hyperammonemic stress response in tissues including skeletal muscle and in myotubes. Perturbations in levels of specific regulatory molecules have been reported, but the global responses to hyperammonemia are unclear.

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Background/aims: Signaling and metabolic perturbations contribute to dysregulated skeletal muscle protein homeostasis and secondary sarcopenia in response to a number of cellular stressors including ethanol exposure. Using an innovative multiomics-based curating of unbiased data, we identified molecular and metabolic therapeutic targets and experimentally validated restoration of protein homeostasis in an ethanol-fed mouse model of liver disease.

Methods: Studies were performed in ethanol-treated differentiated C2C12 myotubes and physiological relevance established in an ethanol-fed mouse model of alcohol-related liver disease (mALD) or pair-fed control C57BL/6 mice.

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Bacterial communities communicate, regulate and coordinate their cooperative activities and physiological process by releasing, sensing and responding to small diffusible signal molecules such as acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs), auto-inducing oligo-peptides (AIPs) and autoinducer-2, a process referred to as Quorum sensing (QS). The QS mediated communication in rhizosphere associated bacterial communities significantly influence traits governing plant-microbe interactions. This study aimed to identify AHL-mediated QS signals in bacterial communities associated with rice rhizosphere using two AHL biosensors reporter strains Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and Agrobacterium tumefaciens NTL4 (pZLR4).

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This paper discusses the way that trans women embody their transgender identity, focusing on identity questioning, gender dysphoria, clinical gatekeeping and medicalized narratives. Situated within the hermeneutics methodological approach, we adopted the unobtrusive research as our research method, where data was derived from online forums where trans women posted content about their perspectives and experiences of gender and gender transitioning. Thematic analysis method was used for data analysis.

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