William Logan Fisher (1781-1862)

William Logan Fisher, industrialist, author, and Philadelphia patriarch bought the Belfield estate from the Peale family in 1826. He lived at Wakefield and established the Wakefield Mills Manufacturing Company. In its prime, the Wakefield Mills, powered by steam and water, produced an estimated nine-tenths of all hosiery and fancy knit goods in the United States.https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/people_places/1000/thumbnail.jp

Mitochondria and Aging: Dilution Is the Solution

Metabolic component depletion in model systems results in life-span extension, which has been difficult to reconcile with human metabolic pathologies. Recently, Rea et al. (2007) have shown that mitochondrial electron transport chain RNAi phenotypes in the worm C. elegans are dose dependent, providing an alternative view of mitochondrial function in longevity and metabolic diseases

Visible light reduces C. elegans longevity.

The transparent nematode Caenorhabditis elegans can sense UV and blue-violet light to alter behavior. Because high-dose UV and blue-violet light are not a common feature outside of the laboratory setting, we asked what role, if any, could low-intensity visible light play in C. elegans physiology and longevity. Here, we show that C. elegans lifespan is inversely correlated to the time worms were exposed to visible light. While circadian control, lite-1 and tax-2 do not contribute to the lifespan reduction, we demonstrate that visible light creates photooxidative stress along with a general unfolded-protein response that decreases the lifespan. Finally, we find that long-lived mutants are more resistant to light stress, as well as wild-type worms supplemented pharmacologically with antioxidants. This study reveals that transparent nematodes are sensitive to visible light radiation and highlights the need to standardize methods for controlling the unrecognized biased effect of light during lifespan studies in laboratory conditions

In Methuselah's Mould

Is aging inevitable or can it be "cured"? Recent work from many different fields of science is now providing clues into why we age and how long we might liv

Positive Behavior Supports - A Tiered Intervention Framework for Behavior

Parents, teachers, and leaders alike are always looking for methods to extinguish undesirable behaviors and replace them with more desirable behaviors at home and school. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports are essential to establish strong foundations for tiered interventions. By building on PBIS implementation and by using consistent strategies earlier to identify a true function for behavior, potential interventions are better aligned to individual student needs. Using target behavior identification, behavior correction plan tools, routines analysis, Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence (ABC) recording, forced-choice reinforcement, and staff questionnaires, Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) best practices are no longer reserved for Tiers 3 and/or 4. The earlier a function for behavior can be determined, intervention and support are better aligned. Come learn about one district\u27s journey to articulate a consistent,user-friendly process for behavioral support in an effort to develop a more comprehensive plan for Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)

Uncoupling of Longevity and Telomere Length in C. elegans

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, after completing its developmental stages and a brief reproductive period, spends the remainder of its adult life as an organism consisting exclusively of post-mitotic cells. Here we show that telomere length varies considerably in clonal populations of wild-type worms, and that these length differences are conserved over at least ten generations, suggesting a length regulation mechanism in cis. This observation is strengthened by the finding that the bulk telomere length in different worm strains varies considerably. Despite the close correlation of telomere length and clonal cellular senescence in mammalian cells, nematodes with long telomeres were neither long lived, nor did worm populations with comparably short telomeres exhibit a shorter life span. Conversely, long-lived daf-2 and short-lived daf-16 mutant animals can have either long or short telomeres. Telomere length of post-mitotic cells did not change during the aging process, and the response of animals to stress was found independent of telomere length. Collectively, our data indicate that telomere length and life span can be uncoupled in a post-mitotic setting, suggesting separate pathways for replication-dependent and -independent aging

New Genes Tied to Endocrine, Metabolic, and Dietary Regulation of Lifespan from a Caenorhabditis elegans Genomic RNAi Screen

Most of our knowledge about the regulation of aging comes from mutants originally isolated for other phenotypes. To ask whether our current view of aging has been affected by selection bias, and to deepen our understanding of known longevity pathways, we screened a genomic Caenorhabditis elegans RNAi library for clones that extend lifespan. We identified 23 new longevity genes affecting signal transduction, the stress response, gene expression, and metabolism and assigned these genes to specific longevity pathways. Our most important findings are (i) that dietary restriction extends C. elegans' lifespan by down-regulating expression of key genes, including a gene required for methylation of many macromolecules, (ii) that integrin signaling is likely to play a general, evolutionarily conserved role in lifespan regulation, and (iii) that specific lipophilic hormones may influence lifespan in a DAF-16/FOXO-dependent fashion. Surprisingly, of the new genes that have conserved sequence domains, only one could not be associated with a known longevity pathway. Thus, our current view of the genetics of aging has probably not been distorted substantially by selection bias