Letter to Future UNF Community

Letter written by President Adam W. Herbert to be opened on the University of North Florida\u27s 50th Anniversary. Envelope included

Convocation Remarks

President Adam W. Herbert\u27s fall convocation remarks. Blue UNF folder included

Meet with Peace of Mind

Protocols for meetings at the Adam W. Herbert University Cente

Montana's Crucial Areas and Connectivity Assessment: An Update and Demonstration of the Crucial Areas Mapping Service

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) completed the Comprehensive Fish and Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CFWCS) in October 2005 as a landscape level plan to identify aquatic and terrestrial focus areas important to species and habitats of "Greatest Conservation Need." As implementation of the CFWCS began, FWP saw a need to refine the conservation scale and include terrestrial game and sport fish, FWP lands, and other recreational values into a Comprehensive Plan for Conservation. The "Crucial Areas and Connectivity Assessment" is an attempt to refine the conservation scale and identify important game and nongame fish and wildlife habitats, critical corridors, and valued recreational areas using a combination of empirical data, modeling based on these data, and expert opinion. The goal of this project is to identify and display critical and important habitats for fish and wildlife. Multiple benefits are perceived through achievement of this goal: increased efficiency in planning and commenting on development proposals, effective targeting and planning for the conservation of valued habitats, and increased opportunity for coordination with other agencies states. FWP spent the past year developing data layers, vetting the layers both internally and within the scientific community. Layers available to date include: game quality, game fish life history, watershed integrity, species of concern, aquatic connectivity, angler use, terrestrial species richness, and core area index. In parallel, FWP has developed an interactive Crucial Areas Mapping Service (CAMS) that depicts these resource values and allows users to relate each resource value to risk factors including energy development, urbanization, and subdivision. As the project develops and nears completion, best management practices and policy related to critical habitats will be produced. In mid-March, we plan to release CAMS to the public as a preplanning tool and comprehensive decision support system

Structural genomics analysis of uncharacterized protein families overrepresented in human gut bacteria identifies a novel glycoside hydrolase.

BackgroundBacteroides spp. form a significant part of our gut microbiome and are well known for optimized metabolism of diverse polysaccharides. Initial analysis of the archetypal Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron genome identified 172 glycosyl hydrolases and a large number of uncharacterized proteins associated with polysaccharide metabolism.ResultsBT_1012 from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron VPI-5482 is a protein of unknown function and a member of a large protein family consisting entirely of uncharacterized proteins. Initial sequence analysis predicted that this protein has two domains, one on the N- and one on the C-terminal. A PSI-BLAST search found over 150 full length and over 90 half size homologs consisting only of the N-terminal domain. The experimentally determined three-dimensional structure of the BT_1012 protein confirms its two-domain architecture and structural analysis of both domains suggests their specific functions. The N-terminal domain is a putative catalytic domain with significant similarity to known glycoside hydrolases, the C-terminal domain has a beta-sandwich fold typically found in C-terminal domains of other glycosyl hydrolases, however these domains are typically involved in substrate binding. We describe the structure of the BT_1012 protein and discuss its sequence-structure relationship and their possible functional implications.ConclusionsStructural and sequence analyses of the BT_1012 protein identifies it as a glycosyl hydrolase, expanding an already impressive catalog of enzymes involved in polysaccharide metabolism in Bacteroides spp. Based on this we have renamed the Pfam families representing the two domains found in the BT_1012 protein, PF13204 and PF12904, as putative glycoside hydrolase and glycoside hydrolase-associated C-terminal domain respectively

Genetics of bone mineral density and the associated influence on performance and stress fracture incidence in high-level endurance runners

Low bone mineral density (BMD) is established as a primary predictor of osteoporotic risk but can also have substantial implications for athlete health and injury risk in the elite sporting environment. BMD is a highly multi-factorial phenotype influenced by physical activity and genetics. The exact contribution of these factors and the specific genetic variants association with BMD, particularly in athletic populations, has yet to be determined. Furthermore, few investigations have considered gene-environment interactions - in particular, whether specific genes may be sensitive to mechanical loading from physical activity and the outcome of such an interaction for BMD and potential stress fracture injury risk. Consequently, the overall aim of the current thesis was to investigate the genetic associations with BMD, stress fracture incidence and marathon performance in high-level endurance runners and compare these to a non-athlete cohort to explore genotype-physical activity interactions. BMD differences between endurance runners and non-athletes as well as between runners who had suffered a stress fracture in comparison to those who had not was observed. Additionally, WNT16 rs3801387 and BDNF-AS rs6265 genotype-cohort interactions with BMD were observed whilst P2RX7 rs3751143, COL1A1 rs1800012 and TNFRSF11A rs3018362 genotype associations with BMD were also present. WNT16 rs3801387, COMT rs4680 and P2RX7 rs3751143 were associated with endurance runner status but no variants were associated with performance or stress fracture incidence. These results identify novel genetic associations with BMD and athlete status in an endurance running population as well as genotype-cohort interactions that influence BMD. In conclusion, there appears to be a genotype-dependent influence on athlete status as well as BMD, which may be influenced by physical activity level. Further research is needed to replicate the associations observed in comparable and different populations. Nonetheless, the work presented here has added to our understanding of the genetic associations with performance, BMD and stress fracture incidence, which may have implications for exercise programme management and improving performance in high-level endurance runners