Lipofuscin, amyloids, and lipid peroxidation as potential markers of aging in Daphnia.

Accumulation of autofluorescent waste products, amyloids, and products of lipid peroxidation (LPO) are important hallmarks of aging. Until now, these processes have not been documented in Daphnia, a convenient model organism for longevity and senescence studies. We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of autofluorescence and Congo Red (CR) fluorescent staining for amyloids in four clones of D. magna. Additionally, we used a single time point cross-sectional common garden experiment within a single clone in which autofluorescence and BODIPY C11 fluorescence were measured. We observed a robust increase in autofluorescent spots that show diagnostic co-staining by Sudan Black indicating lipofuscin aggregates, particularly in the upper body region. There was also a significant clone-by-age interaction indicating that some genotypes accumulated lipofuscins faster than others. Contrary to predictions, CR fluorescence and lipid peroxidation did not consistently increase with age. CR fluorescence demonstrated a slight non-monotonous relationship with age, achieving the highest values at intermediate ages, possibly due to elimination of physiological heterogeneity in our genetically uniform cohorts. LPO demonstrated a significant ovary status-by-age interaction, decreasing with age when measured in Daphnia with full ovaries (late phase ovarian cycle) and showing no significant trend or slight increase with age when measured during the early phase in the ovarian cycle.

Color vision deficits and Rorschach performance in aged persons.

Forty-two community residing older adults (M age = 69.28) (32 color normal, 10 color deficient) were administered the Rorschach and measures of both verbal and nonverbal intelligence in order to explore the effect of color vision deficiencies on affective responsivity. Among the sample of older persons screened for both visual and auditory acuity, when controls for intelligence and numbers of responses were made, greater affective constriction was found in the protocols of color vision deficient persons, relative to color normal individuals. These data suggest that Rorschach indicators of affective constriction may be biased in the case of individuals who have experienced color vision decrements. Consequently, first screening for color vision decrements when assessing older persons' personality dynamics may be desirable.

Users and "teasers": failure to follow through with initial mental health service inquiries in a child and family treatment center.

This article examines the experience of families who contacted a child and family community mental health treatment center, but then did not follow through to receive even one session of diagnosis or treatment at the agency. The paper reports the base rate for this behavior in a large (N = 2,358) sample of cases who either only made inquiry or who received treatment at the agency. The inquiry group, or "teasers," tended to have children who were older than client groups, to have relatively more behavioral and fewer personality problems, to have demonstrated problems earlier than client groups, and to have parents who were slightly older. A follow-up study was conducted with 100 inquiry and 100 client cases. The relative efficacy of telephone and written questionnaire methodologies are compared, demonstrating that the telephone approach was more effective. Client-group children were reported to be only moderately better off at the time of follow-up than the inquiry group, but conclusions about the effects of treatment are limited by the finding that many members of the inquiry group had sought treatment elsewhere after their brief contact with the agency. Implications of this study for community mental health administration and for future research in this area are discussed.