University of Maine at Presque Isle

About: University of Maine at Presque Isle is a education organization based out in Presque Isle, Maine, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Branchiobdellida & Crayfish. The organization has 74 authors who have published 167 publications receiving 2602 citations. The organization is also known as: UMPI.

Inflammaging and Oxidative Stress in Human Diseases: From Molecular Mechanisms to Novel Treatments

Abstract: It has been proposed that a chronic state of inflammation correlated with aging known as inflammaging, is implicated in multiple disease states commonly observed in the elderly population. Inflammaging is associated with over-abundance of reactive oxygen species in the cell, which can lead to oxidation and damage of cellular components, increased inflammation, and activation of cell death pathways. This review focuses on inflammaging and its contribution to various age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. Recently published mechanistic details of the roles of reactive oxygen species in inflammaging and various diseases will also be discussed. Advancements in potential treatments to ameliorate inflammaging, oxidative stress, and consequently, reduce the morbidity of multiple disease states will be explored.

Future Directions in Education and Inclusion of Students with Disabilities: A Delphi Investigation

Abstract: This article reports on a survey of 37 educators regarding future directions in the education of students with disabilities. The survey used the Delphi technique. For the decade of the 1990s and af...

Paths to selection on life history loci in different natural environments across the native range of Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract: Selection on quantitative trait loci (QTL) may vary among natural environments due to differences in the genetic architecture of traits, environment-specific allelic effects or changes in the direction and magnitude of selection on specific traits. To dissect the environmental differences in selection on life history QTL across climatic regions, we grew a panel of interconnected recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of Arabidopsis thaliana in four field sites across its native European range. For each environment, we mapped QTL for growth, reproductive timing and development. Several QTL were pleiotropic across environments, three colocalizing with known functional polymorphisms in flowering time genes (CRY2, FRI and MAF2-5), but major QTL differed across field sites, showing conditional neutrality. We used structural equation models to trace selection paths from QTL to lifetime fitness in each environment. Only three QTL directly affected fruit number, measuring fitness. Most QTL had an indirect effect on fitness through their effect on bolting time or leaf length. Influence of life history traits on fitness differed dramatically across sites, resulting in different patterns of selection on reproductive timing and underlying QTL. In two oceanic field sites with high prereproductive mortality, QTL alleles contributing to early reproduction resulted in greater fruit production, conferring selective advantage, whereas alleles contributing to later reproduction resulted in larger size and higher fitness in a continental site. This demonstrates how environmental variation leads to change in both QTL effect sizes and direction of selection on traits, justifying the persistence of allelic polymorphism at life history QTL across the species range.

Zoogeography of branchiobdellidans (Annelida) and temnocephalidans (Platyhelminthes) ectosymbiotic on freshwater crustaceans, and their reactions to one another in vitro

Abstract: The zoogeographical distribution of branchiobdellidans (Annelida) and temnocephalidans (Platyhelminthes), ectosymbiotic on freshwater crustaceans, is reviewed and revised. In the areas where the Holarctic branchiobdellidans and Gondwanian temnocephalidans overlap, distributions of species and their respective hosts are reviewed in detail. Specimens of the branchiobdellid, Branchiobdella astaci, and the scutariellid temnocephalidan, Bubalocerus pretneri, were allowed to meet in vitro on the dorsal carapace of a crayfish, Austropotamobius pallipes. This usually resulted in the scutariellid being ingested by a branchiobdellid. Specimens of B. astaci were placed in contact with the host of B. pretneri, Troglocaris sp., a cave-dwelling shrimp and the branchiobdellid immediately moved away from the shrimp.