The Power of Place in Memory: An Oral History of the Eastern Corporation in Brewer,Maine

“If preservationists are to be true to the insights of a broad, inclusive social history encompassing gender, race and class . . . it means emphasizing the building types — such as tenement, factory, union hall or church — that have housed the working people’s everyday lives.”1 This article introduces a special issue of Maine History on the state’s paper industry and particularly the fortunes of the Eastern Fine Paper Company in Brewer. The mill, which closed in 2005,was an economic and cultural mainstay of this Maine town, and in this article MacDougall and Stevens trace the history of a unique project that documented, from a variety of perspectives, the closure and its effect on the lives of the people who, for generations, had worked and lived in the mill community. Pauleena MacDougall is director of The Maine Folklife Center and faculty associate in Anthropology at the University of Maine. She received her Ph.D.in American history from the University of Maine in 1995 and has published widely on Penobscot Indian language, culture, and history, including The Penobscot Dance of Resistance: Tradition in the History of a People (University of New England Press).Amy Stevens, a lifelong Brewer resident, received her M.A. in history from the University of Maine in 2007 and worked for the Old York Historical Society, the Maine Folklife Center, Primary Source, and the American Folk Festival in Bangor, researching topics of special interest to Maine schools and Maine curriculums. She teaches elementary school

Mitochondria and neuroprotection in stroke: Cationic arginine-rich peptides (CARPs) as a novel class of mitochondria-targeted neuroprotective therapeutics

Stroke is the second leading cause of death globally and represents a major cause of devastating long-term disability. Despite sustained efforts to develop clinically effective neuroprotective therapies, presently there is no clinically available neuroprotective agent for stroke. As a central mediator of neurodamaging events in stroke, mitochondria are recognised as a critical neuroprotective target, and as such, provide a focus for developing mitochondrial-targeted therapeutics. In recent years, cationic arginine-rich peptides (CARPs) have been identified as a novel class of neuroprotective agent with several demonstrated mechanisms of action, including their ability to target mitochondria and exert positive effects on the organelle. This review provides an overview on neuronal mitochondrial dysfunction in ischaemic stroke pathophysiology and highlights the potential beneficial effects of CARPs on mitochondria in the ischaemic brain following stroke

Proteomic analysis of cortical neuronal cultures treated with poly-arginine peptide-18 (R18) and exposed to glutamic acid excitotoxicity

Poly-arginine peptide-18 (R18) has recently emerged as a highly effective neuroprotective agent in experimental stroke models, and is particularly efficacious in protecting cortical neurons against glutamic acid excitotoxicity. While we have previously demonstrated that R18 can reduce excitotoxicity-induced neuronal calcium influx, other molecular events associated with R18 neuroprotection are yet to investigated. Therefore, in this study we were particularly interested in protein expression changes in R18 treated neurons subjected to excitotoxicity. Proteomic analysis was used to compare protein expression patterns in primary cortical neuronal cultures subjected to: (i) R18-treatment alone (R18); (ii) glutamic acid excitotoxic injury (Glut); (iii) R18-treatment and glutamic acid injury (R18 + Glut); (iv) no treatment (Cont). Whole cell lysates were harvested 24 h post-injury and subjected to quantitative proteomic analysis (iTRAQ), coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/ MS) and subsequent bioinformatic analysis of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). Relative to control cultures, R18, Glut, and R18 + Glut treatment resulted in the detection of 5, 95 and 14 DEPs respectively. Compared to Glut alone, R18 + Glut revealed 98 DEPs, including 73 proteins whose expression was also altered by treatment with Glut and/or R18 alone, as well as 25 other uniquely regulated proteins. R18 treatment reversed the up- or down-regulation of all 73 Glut-associated DEPs, which included proteins involved in mitochondrial integrity, ATP generation, mRNA processing and protein translation. Analysis of protein-protein interactions of the 73 DEPs showed they were primarily associated with mitochondrial respiration, proteasome activity and protein synthesis, transmembrane trafficking, axonal growth and neuronal differentiation, and carbohydrate metabolism. Identified protein pathways associated with proteostasis and energy metabolism, and with pathways involved in neurodegeneration. Collectively, the findings indicate that R18 neuroprotection following excitotoxicity is associated with preservation of neuronal protein profiles, and differential protein expression that assists in maintaining mitochondrial function and energy production, protein homeostasis, and membrane trafficking

Behavioral effects of irreversible dopamine receptor inactivation in the preweanling rat: assessment of the receptor reserve hypothesis

EEDQ is an irreversible receptor antagonist that eliminates the dopamine (DA) mediated behaviors of adults rats. In contrast, EEDQ does not seem to affect the DA mediated behaviors of preweanling rat pups. One explanation for this age dependent difference is that rat pups may have a DA receptor reserve, not available to adults, which is sufficient to mediate behavior. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine whether a Di and D2 receptor reserve exists in preweanling rats. A total of 96, 17-dayold rat pups were injected with EEDQ (7.5 mg/kg) or its vehicle immediately after being trained to approach an anesthetized dam on a straight alley for nipple attachment reward. After 18 hours rat pups were then injected with saline, the D1 agonist SCH 23390 (0.5 mg1kg), or the D2 agonist sulpiride (50 mg/kg). A final testing session occurred 30 min later. This session consisted of an additional 28 trials on the straight alley, in which responding resulted in either reinforcement or extinction. Results of this experiment indicated that EEDQ and SCH 23390 combined to maximally disrupt the extinction responding of the rat pups. Unexpectedly, EEDQ did not potentiate sulpiride\u27s effects. In general, these results indicate that preweanling rat pups do not have a DI or D2 receptor reserve, but age-dependent differences in DA receptor functioning were apparent

Developmental stress, condition, and birdsong: a case study in song sparrows.

Sexual-selection theory posits that ornaments and displays can reflect a signaler\u27s condition, which in turn is affected both by recent and developmental conditions. Moreover, developmental conditions can induce correlations between sexually selected and other traits if both types of traits exhibit developmental phenotypic plasticity in response to stressors. Thus, sexually selected traits may reflect recent and/or developmental characteristics of signalers. Here, we review data on the relationships between birdsong, a sexually selected trait, and developmental and current condition of birds from a long-term study of a population of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Field studies of free-living birds indicate that the complexity of a male\u27s songs, a permanent trait, reflects the size of a song-control region of his brain (HVC), and is correlated with body size and several parameters of immunity, specifically investment in protective proteins. However, the performance of a male\u27s songs, a dynamic trait, is not correlated to immune investment. Complexity of song is correlated with the glucocorticoid stress-response, and in some years response to stress predicts overwinter survival. Experimental manipulations have revealed that stressors in early life impair development of HVC, but that HVC recovers in size by adulthood. These manipulations result in impaired song-complexity and song-learning, but not song-performance. Experimental developmental stressors also affect growth, endocrine physiology, metabolism, and immune-function, often in a sex-specific manner. Combined, these studies suggest that song-complexity provides reliable information about early developmental experience, and about other traits that have critical developmental periods. Birdsong thus provides a multi-faceted sexually selected trait that may be an indicator both of developmental and recent conditions