Yearly Archives: 2016

Three Village Community Trust hosts citizen forum

by Phil Corso - February 24, 2016

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David-Calone-Truman-Felloww — David Calone file photo

The Three Village Community Trust announced it would be hosting its winter-spring 2016 “Join the Conversation” series this week with a special discussion from David Calone, former chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission.

The event is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m., inside the Setauket Neighborhood House.

In his discussion, Calone will speak about the community’s role in the comprehensive land use planning of the Three Village area, including Route 25A.

“The Long Island we inhabit today is the result of choices made by those who came before us,” Calone said. “The future shape of Suffolk County is not dictated to us. Now is the time to set our community goals and — most importantly — to then enact policies to support those priorities that are critical to our common future.”

During Calone’s tenure, the county developed and adopted the first comprehensive master plan for Suffolk County in nearly 40 years. It provides a guide for how to harness our region’s assets for growth through 2035 and includes a nationally recognized code for renewable energy use.

“I hope that these talks will prove helpful adjunct to having an informed citizenry to help mover the corridor study to truly reflect the community’s shared vision — and then that the town enacts whatever laws that will help guide development so it is consistent with that vision,” said Cynthia Barnes, president of the Three Village Community Trust board of trustees.

Barnes said that county policy decisions are likely to impact the town and local land use policy, making Thursday’s discussion even more important. Therefore, it is important, to consider what is happening in the region even as citizens endeavor to study their local community.

“The six critical issues are also relevant to the Three Village area,” Barnes said. “The Three Village 25A Corridor Study and Plan that will be prepared by the Town of Brookhaven with input from the Citizens Advisory Committee and the community at large will need to look at these same ‘critical priorities’ and can benefit from the work done by the county.”

The “Join the Conversation” series is open to all and free, or a donation of $5.

For more information, contact the Three Village Community Trust at 631-689-0225.

Mort Künstler: The Art of Adventure opens at the LIM

by TBR Staff - February 24, 2016

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CA-048-Teddy's-Fourth-Of-Julyw — ‘Teddy’s Fourth of July: Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay’ © 2008, by Mort Künstler

By Elizabeth Kahn Kaplan

‘The Poseidon Adventure’ ©1972 by Mort Künstler

Chatting with artist Mort Künstler about his career retrospective opening at the Long Island Museum on Feb. 26, it’s hard to believe that this dynamic man will be 90 next year. The light-filled Oyster Bay home overlooking Long Island Sound he shares with his wife Deborah displays their collection of paintings by Norman Rockwell, Maxwell Parrish and other American illustrators. Deborah’s talent as an interior designer is reflected in the warm, jewel-toned rooms. The couple delights in telling how Mort approached her at Pratt Institute when she was a freshman and he a graduate student. Deborah has been Mort’s favorite model and is the final arbiter when Mort creates a very complicated painting.

After they married, they lived on Deborah’s income as a textile designer, then watched his career grow rapidly as a phenomenally successful illustrator of magazine covers, book jackets, advertisements and movie posters and then as a painter of significant moments in American history. One that they recall as the most thrilling of his long career — one moment that they were privileged to experience in person — was viewed on television by millions. It is captured perfectly in his dramatic painting “Launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, April 12, 1981.”

‘Launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, April 12, 1981’ © 1981 by Mort Künstler

Fifteen years into his successful career, he started doing work for National Geographic in Washington, D.C. “National Geographic set me on the right course to conduct thorough research and be in touch with the foremost expert on a given subject. My career as a painter of complex subjects fell into place after that.” An advertising agent brought him assignments to do historical paintings for corporate calendars and ads. “I was doing a lot of movie posters, too. They were the most exciting, highest paying art at the time. I had a lot of fun meeting movie stars, directors, and others.” His brilliantly colored, action-packed, multifigured movie poster of 1972 for “The Poseidon Adventure” is among other well-remembered posters in the exhibit.

Künstler has done a number of paintings set on Long Island, which are part of the exhibit at the Long Island Museum. Two are set during the American Revolution with the Townsend family home, which is now Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay, as the backdrop. “Sally’s Valentine” portrays British Colonel John Graves Simcoe giving Sally Townsend the first known American valentine. In “The Culper Spy,” Sally’s brother, Robert Townsend, a key member of George Washington’s Setauket-based spy ring who gathered information in Manhattan, is portrayed in a candle-lit room, magnifying glass in hand reading an encrypted letter.

Mort Künstler at work in his studio. Photo by Liz Kaplan

“Teddy’s Fourth of July: Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay” was commissioned by Künstler’s neighbor Roger Bahnik to honor the president, whose home was in nearby Sagamore Hill. Künstler surprised Bahnik by painting him as the driver of the president’s car and his wife and children as part of the crowd. Künstler also painted Oyster Bay residents who’d won a prize offered by him to the highest bidders at an auction to raise funds for the Boys & Girls Club of Oyster Bay. The building in the background still stands at the corner of East Main and South Streets.

“I love the research. It’s like being a detective. What was the roof made of? How were the streets paved? What sort of hats would be correct?”

‘Sally’s Valentine’ © 2013 by Mort Künstler

On the third floor of Künstler’s home is a costume room with a variety of hats, coats, gowns and accessories. Künstler designed a rotating platform for his workspace to allow his easel to be moved into the changing light streaming through a large skylight.

Another Long Islander commissioned “Washington’s Crossing.” Thomas R. Suozzi, the former Executive of Nassau County, urged Künstler to undertake his version of that pivotal event of the American Revolution. The painting is a result of Künstler’s determination to provide a historically accurate representation of the subject of Emanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” “That was not the kind of boat used for officers. You could not get horses and cannons in those boats; ferries were used, and the officers traveled with their horses,” said Künstler, who nonetheless considers the 1851 painting “one of the great iconic images of all time.”

‘Respect of an Army’ © 2014 by Mort Künstler

James I. Robertson Jr., the dean of Civil War historians, has said of Künstler’s work, “To study his paintings is to simply see history alive.” Proof of this is seen in “Respect of an Army,” painted to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.

Known for his Civil War battle scenes, for this occasion nonetheless Kunstler chose to depict that moment when peace had finally come to the divided and wounded nation. Soldiers of the victorious Union Army stand respectfully and with a certain sadness as Confederate General Robert E. Lee passes by after having surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant inside the McLean House. It is not a scene of triumph, nor is glory given to the victors. Rather, attention is paid to the leader of the losing side that had fought with courage and tenacity but, in the end, had succumbed to a greater power.

‘The Culper Spy’ © 2013 by Mort Künstler

“The New Nation: The History of the United States in Paintings and Eyewitness Accounts” is the latest of Künstler’s 20 books of paintings, with texts by noted historians. A series of children’s books featuring Künstler’s art, titled “See American History,” will be released this spring by Abbeville Kids. The first two will be on the American Revolution and the Civil War, followed by World War II and the Wild West in the fall.

The name “Künstler,” which means “artist” in German, seems a validation of Mort Künstler’s choice of profession. The exhibit of over 80 of his works is a major retrospective of Kunstler’s paintings starting with childhood art through to his most recent paintings. It is not to be missed.

Mort Künstler: The Art of Adventure will be on view at the Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook, from Feb. 26 through May 30. The community is invited to meet the artist and view the exhibit on Friday, March 18, at 5 p.m. as part of the museum’s Alive@5 series. Tickets are $15, $10 members at the door. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, visit www.longislandmuseum.org or call 631-751-0066.

Long Island lawmakers stand behind Cuomo’s clean water plans

by Phil Corso - February 24, 2016

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Cuomowater1w — Left to right, state Assemblyman Steve Englebright, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Sen. John Flanagan discuss the plan. Photo from Cuomo’s office

Keeping the state’s drinking water clean and safe is a subject anyone can get behind, and New York lawmakers across both major parties did just that.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced a series of aggressive water quality initiatives last week in the company of elected officials representing the North Shore in an attempt to better protect public health and the environment. His proposals received great praise from both Democrats and Republicans as a common-sense way to keep New York’s water clean.

“Every New Yorker has a fundamental right to clean and safe drinking water,” Cuomo said. “Water is a priceless resource that requires the highest levels of protection, and I am proud to continue this administration’s legacy of standing up for the environment. We are taking aggressive and proactive steps to ensure clean and healthy communities throughout the state — both for current residents and for generations to come.”

Joining Cuomo at a Stony Brook University discussion on the state’s newest water initiatives were Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D), state Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport), state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) and more. At that discussion, Cuomo pitched his statewide water quality rapid response team, which he said would work to identify and develop plans to address critical drinking water contamination concerns as well as groundwater and surface water contamination problems.

“It’s imperative that we all work together at the local, state and federal levels to protect the public health,” Bellone said. “The actions that Governor Cuomo has announced today are demonstrating unequivocally that New York is taking proactive measures to not just meet that standard, but to really raise the bar on the protection of water quality.”

Cuomo said the rapid response team would be working to develop a comprehensive action plan to immediately address water quality issues raised by municipalities and concerned citizens, taking on matters ranging from currently regulated contaminants like lead, to emerging contaminants, like perfluorooctanoic acid. It was a plan that his fellow lawmakers said was easy to get behind.

“We are blessed in New York State and on Long Island to have the availability of high-quality drinking water, but we also have a responsibility to protect it,” Flanagan said. “At the end of the day, nothing is more important to New Yorkers and their families than the air they breathe and the water they drink.”

The team will also review and incorporate the best available science and may include new review standards for currently unregulated contaminants, enhanced testing and oversight of drinking water systems, including private wells, and state-of-the-art drinking water treatment options.

“Creating an agenda to safeguard the quality of Long Island’s water source is great news — not only for the health of New Yorkers — but for the environment as well,” Englebright said. “Governor Cuomo’s work to ensure that every New Yorker has access to safe, clean drinking water is a testament to his commitment to statewide public health. The implementation of a water quality rapid response team is a proactive way to protect the environment from harmful water contamination and keep New Yorkers’ drinking water clean and safe.”

The discussion over drinking water came in the weeks following a horrific drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where officials have been scrambling to combat unsafe and potentially life-threatening water contaminations.

The governor also proposed regulations to be imposed on mulch-processing facilities to safeguard natural resources. Cuomo said the Department of Environmental Conservation would propose for public comment draft regulations for mulch facilities to increase oversight and provide enhanced safeguards. The proposed regulations would require facilities to establish water runoff management plans to protect groundwater and place restrictions on pile size and storage to reduce the risk of fires, odor and dust.

Overturning the role of women in society

by Leah Dunaief - February 24, 2016

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Last Friday, exactly 53 years ago to the day, a book was published that started by asking the question, “Is this all?” The book, written by Smith College graduate Betty Friedan, is called “The Feminine Mystique” and it is generally considered to have launched a revolution that changed society in America and around the world.

Friedan based the book on a survey she did of her classmates at their 15th reunion in 1957, at which she asked her telling question. At that time women were assumed to be content with their lives if they had a husband, a home and children. The answers she received proved otherwise. For this sample of women, that was resoundingly not enough, and from those answers and her own experience she began to advocate that women be educated not to get a husband but to be an individual. To women today, this thesis seems obvious, but at the time of her book, Friedan’s message was greeted with astonishment. She was overturning the role of women in society that had existed for pretty much all of recorded history.

The same week Friedan’s book came out, my husband and I were married in a beautiful wedding that my parents made for us in New York. That night, we flew to Chicago where my husband was finishing school. I immediately got a job to support us until he graduated and we returned to New York. Were Friedan’s words ringing in my ears? Hardly, for I had recently graduated from a college whose president had repeatedly delivered that same message. These were Barnard College President Millicent McIntosh’s words:

“Don’t make your goal in life simply to find a husband. You cannot know what lies ahead for you. You may not find that special person, you may get divorced or be widowed. Prepare yourself for the future by getting a good education.”

How true! I was able to support us in those early years because of my education and was able to carry on and care for my family after my husband died at an early age because of my solid identity. All widows eventually do this. It certainly helped to be prepared.

When the youngest of my three children started first grade in 1976, I launched my own business. It was the hometown newspaper you are now reading 40 years later. Within five years after I stepped back into the workplace, women had indeed “left their kitchens,” as Republican presidential candidate John Kasich controversially said this week, to get jobs outside the home. Some started businesses of their own. Some of those women, wives and mothers, helped me immeasurably to grow my business. Women were hungry for a creative role and an individual existence outside the home in addition to their meaningful work maintaining the family.

When more women began to work and the idea of wives earning salaries became more acceptable, the two-paycheck families became the norm. This in turn brought forth all sorts of new issues: latchkey children, gender equality in the workplace, redefinition of roles within marriage, glass ceilings, higher divorce rates, balancing work and family for women and men, the child care industry. All are familiar themes to us now.

In a way, my life and those of my contemporaries span the dramatic changes Friedan’s book and McIntosh spoke of, for we are living examples of those truths.

Reports of 150,000 penguin deaths are greatly exaggerated

by Daniel Dunaief - February 24, 2016

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Recent headlines, displayed prominently on news sites around the world, were alarming, such as: “150,000 Adélie penguins killed by iceberg.” The stories suggested our flightless black-and-white friends were cut off by a Rhode Island-sized iceberg from their food supply. It was too late to save the “Happy Feet” characters. But the reality was anything but black and white.

“These headlines, while eye-popping, are not necessarily true,” said Heather Lynch, an assistant professor in the Stony Brook University Department of Ecology and Evolution. The stories came from a recent study, published in Antarctic Science. Lynch did not participate in the study, but is involved in monitoring penguin populations from satellites. “This idea that [these] penguins have perished doesn’t reflect the biology in hand,” she said. It will take “many years” before scientists are able to sort out the effect of this iceberg on penguin survivorship.

That’s because penguins can take a year or two off from breeding during unfavorable environmental conditions, which means that penguins displaced from breeding by an iceberg aren’t likely dead.

The scientists in the original study were linking the change in the breeding penguin population at Cape Denison — the site of a research station for famous Australian geologist and explorer Douglas Mawson about a century earlier — with the number of nesting pairs recorded after the arrival of iceberg B09B in 2010.

“There was some concern that there were dead chicks or frozen eggs at the site,” Lynch said. “We need to be cautious about interpreting that as evidence of some kind of catastrophic mortality event. There’s extremely high chick mortality rate under normal circumstances. That is the cycle of life.”

Reports about penguins losing habitat, breeding grounds or access to food typically lead to the kind of questions that were central to the “Happy Feet” story: What role do humans have in the process and what action, if any, is necessary to save the birds?

Kerry-Jayne Wilson, the lead author on the study and the chairperson of the West Coast Penguin Trust in New Zealand, offered some perspective.

“We did not suggest adult penguins had died,” she said in response to an email request for comment. “Some media outlet started” this rumor.

She said she believes most of the missing penguins are probably “out at sea, having assessed conditions as unsuitable for breeding.”

The authors sent out a clarifying press release in response to the stories: “It is unlikely many, if any, adult penguins have died as a result of this stranding event. This iceberg stranding event only affects Adélie penguins in the Commonwealth Bay area; the millions of Adélie penguins breeding around the rest of Antarctica are not affected.”

So, where did the story go wrong? For starters, a press release announcing the study used the headline: “Giant iceberg decimates Adélie penguin colonies.” The statement suggests that breeding has declined in the area, without indicating that 150,000 of Mr. Popper’s pals perished.

I turned to a representative at SBU’s Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, which teaches scientists to make their research accessible to the public, to see if there are any lessons from this communication misfire.

Elizabeth Bass, director emerita of the center, suggested scientists needed to know their audience when sharing their research. “Be crystal clear about your findings,” she advised. In all the courses the center teaches, the message is to stress characterizing the work in a way that’s “not going to be misunderstood.”

Lynch is concerned that these type of stories, taken out of context, make it more difficult to share well-grounded science from future studies with policymakers.

“At some point, people stop listening and that’s what concerns me,” she said. “Real science whispers, it doesn’t shout.”

Huntington Arts Council celebrates Earth, Air and Water

by Heidi Sutton - February 24, 2016

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HAC-receptionw — HAC Executive Director Marc Coutrade with Honorable Mention winner George Gough. Photo by Heidi Sutton

The Huntington Arts Council, 213 Main St., Huntington, held an artist reception for its latest exhibit, Earth, Air and Water: A Celebration of Tri-State Wildlife and Nature on Feb. 19. Executive Director Marc Coutrade thanked a packed house for coming and then introduced the judge, New Jersey-based photographer Andrew Darlow.

“It was really an honor to see everyone’s pictures and, like every judge says, it was extremely difficult to choose. There was so much great work and I felt like these were really pictures that were from the area around people’s homes — I could feel it. So often I’ve judged contests with pictures from Bali and all these other places and that’s great but I really felt that spirit and I’m so happy that we kept it in our little Tri-State region,” said Darlow.

Best in Show went to “Crab Meadow Sunset” by Irene Andreadis. Darlow stated, “[The photograph] stands out both as an ideal representation of the show’s theme and for its sheer beauty. The photographer captured the sunlit foreground in sharp focus, with its wonderful desert-like texture. The eye is then led toward two bodies of shimmering water captured perfectly with a bird in flight that appears to have been heaven sent.”

The judge also commented on Honorable Mention “Osprey in the Rain” by Tom Reichert, stating, “This image captures the power of nature via the movement of the rain in the air, plus the miracle of life in the form of a young bird of prey” and Honorable Mention “Cutchogue Barn” by George Gough —“The photographer skillfully combined just a hint of foreground brush to draw us into the image and framed the photograph to make us feel as though we were standing there together with him or her, feet (and possibly a tripod) firmly planted in the snow.”

The photography exhibit will run through Feb. 27. For further information, call 631-271-8423 or visit www.huntingtonarts.org.

Disease-modifying treatments for osteoarthritis

Medical Compass

by David Dunaief - February 24, 2016

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scalew — Osteoarthritis sufferers who lose weight can experience improvements in functions and a reduction in pain. Stock photo

Not surprisingly, osteoarthritis is widespread. The more common joints affected are the knees, hips and hands. There are three types of treatment for this disease: surgery, involving joint replacements of the hips or knees; medications; and nonpharmacologic approaches. The most commonly used first-line medications are acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen. Unfortunately, medications mostly treat the symptoms of pain and inflammation.

However, the primary objectives in treating osteoarthritis should also include improving quality of life, slowing progression of the disease process and reducing its disabling effects (1).

Dairy and milk

When we think of dairy, specifically milk, there are two distinct camps: One believes in the benefits, and the other thinks it may contribute to disease. In this case they both may be at least partly correct. In the Osteoarthritis Initiative study, an observational study of over 2,100 patients, results showed that low-fat (1 percent) and nonfat milk may slow the progression of osteoarthritis (2). The researchers looked specifically at joint space narrowing that occurs in those with affected knee joints. Radiographic imaging changes were used at baseline and then to follow the patients for up to 12 to 48 months for changes. Compared to those who did not drink milk, patients who did saw significantly less narrowing of knee joint space.

Was it a dose-dependent response? Not necessarily. Specifically, those who drank less than three glasses/week and those who drank four to six glasses/week both saw slower progression of joint space narrowing of 0.09 mm. Seven to 10 glasses/week resulted in a 0.12 mm preservation. However, those who drank more than 10 glasses/week saw less beneficial effect, 0.06 mm preservation compared to those who did not drink milk. Interestingly, there was no benefit seen in men or with the consumption of cheese or yogurt.

However, there are significant flaws with this study. First, the patients were only asked about their dietary intake of milk at baseline; therefore their consumption could have changed during the study. Second, there was a recall bias; patients were asked to recall their weekly milk consumption for the previous 12 months before the study began. I don’t know about you, but I can’t recall my intake of specific foods for the last week, let alone for the past year. Third, there could have been confounding factors, such as orange consumption.

Oddly, this was not a dose-response curve, since the most milk consumption had less beneficial effect than lower amounts. Also, why were these effects only seen in women? Finally, researchers could not explain why low-fat or nonfat milk had this potential benefit, but cheese was detrimental and yogurt did not show benefit. We are left with more questions than answers.

Would I recommend consuming low-fat or nonfat milk? Not necessarily, but I may not dissuade osteoarthritis patients from drinking it. There are very few approaches that slow the progression of joint space narrowing.

Vitamin D

Over the last five years or so, the medical community has gone from believing that vitamin D was potentially the solution to many diseases to wondering whether, in some cases, low levels were indicative of disease, but repletion was not a change-maker. Well, in a recent randomized controlled trial, the gold standard of studies, vitamin D had no beneficial symptom relief, nor any disease-modifying effects (3). This two-year study of almost 150 men and women raised blood levels of vitamin D on average to 36 ng/ml, which is considered respectable. Researchers used MRI and X-rays to track their results.

Glucosamine

There is raging debate about whether glucosamine is an effective treatment for osteoarthritis. In the latest installment, there was a RCT, the results of which showed that glucosamine hydrochloride was not effective in treating osteoarthritis (4). In the trial, 201 patients with either mild or moderate knee pain drank diet lemonade with or without 1500 mg of glucosamine hydrochloride.

There was no difference in cartilage changes in the knee nor in pain relief in those in the placebo or treatment groups over a six-month duration. Bone marrow lesions also did not improve with the glucosamine group. The researchers used 3T MRI scans (an advanced radiologic imaging technique) to follow the patients’ disease progression. This does not mean that glucosamine does not work for some patients. Different formulations, such as glucosamine sulfate, were not used in this study.

Weight

This could not be an article on osteoarthritis if I did not talk about weight. Do you remember analogies from the SATs? Well here is one for you: Weight loss, weight loss, weight loss is to osteoarthritis as location, location, location is to real estate. In a recent study involving 112 obese patients, there was not only a reduction of knee symptoms in those who lost weight, but there was also disease modification, with reduction in the loss of cartilage volume around the medial tibia (5).

On the other hand, those who gained weight saw the inverse effect. A reduction of tibial cartilage is potentially associated with the need for knee replacement. The relationship was almost one-to-one; for every 1 percent of weight lost, there was a 1.2 mm3 preservation of medial tibial cartilage volume, while the exact opposite was true with weight gain.

Exercise and diet

In a recent study, diet and exercise trumped the effects of diet or exercise alone (6). Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee who lost at least 10 percent of their body weight experienced significant improvements in function and a 50 percent reduction in pain, as well as reduction in inflammation, compared to those who lost 5 to 10 percent and those who lost less than 5 percent. This study was a well-designed, randomized controlled single-blinded study with a duration of 18 months.

Researchers used a biomarker — IL6 — to measure inflammation. The diet and exercise group and the diet-only group lost significantly more weight than the exercise-only group, 23.3 pounds and 19.6 pounds versus 4 pounds. The diet portion consisted of a meal replacement shake for breakfast and lunch and then a vegetable-rich, low-fat dinner. Low-calorie meals replaced the shakes after six months. The exercise regimen included one hour of a combination of weight training and walking with alacrity three times per week.

Therefore, concentrate on lifestyle modifications if you want to see potentially disease-modifying effects. These include both exercise and diet. In terms of low-fat or nonfat milk, while the study had numerous flaws, if you drink milk, you might continue for the sake of osteoarthritis, but stay on the low end of consumption. And remember, the best potential effects shown are with weight loss and with a vegetable-rich diet.

References:

(1) uptodate.com. (2) Arthritis Care Res online. 2014 April 6. (3) JAMA. 2013;309:155-162. (4) Arthritis Rheum online. 2014 March 10. (5) Ann Rheum Dis online. 2014 Feb. 11. (6) JAMA. 2013;310:1263-1273.

Dr. Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, go to the website www.medicalcompassmd.com or consult your personal physician.

SBU study searches for proteins damaged with age

Power of 3

by Daniel Dunaief - February 23, 2016

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degraffstonybrookitaly2w — Adam de Graff takes a break from the Gordon Conference on the Biology of Aging in Lucca, Italy, last year to enjoy the sights. Photo de Graff

Flecks of gray hair appear near the temples, laugh or frown lines deepen and elbows become dry and scaly. These are some of the signs of aging that people see, particularly when they’ve known family and friends for decades.

Adam de Graff, a research assistant at Stony Brook University’s Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, however, is studying changes that occur well beneath the skin.

Specifically, de Graff, Ken Dill, a distinguished professor of chemistry and physics and director of the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology and graduate student Michael Hazoglou looked at the proteins that are damaged by free radicals, which are released during oxidation. These free radicals are molecules that have an unpaired electron and a high chemical reactivity that can damage proteins, DNA and lipids.

When people reach 80, about half their proteins are damaged by oxidation. de Graff, Dill and Hazoglou used physics and computer analysis to look closely at protein changes. These Stony Brook scientists recently published their results in the journal Structure.

The researchers studied “how naturally occurring damage to proteins affects their ability,” de Graff said. “Such an understanding is critical, as stability is essential to their function.”

The proteins these scientists identified could become a site for targeted treatment against age-related diseases, de Graff said. Proteins operate with a simple principle: Their shape, structure and flexibility determine their function. Their stability ensures their success in their roles. Proteins have many different functions, from transporting oxygen to providing structure and hormonal signals.

Each of these protein functions requires a certain type of architecture. Protein structure is needed for a “complete understanding of function,” de Graff said. While other researchers have explored which amino acids are the most susceptible to oxidation, de Graff and his collaborators focused primarily on the charged amino acids.

The creation of free radicals is a universal side effect of respiration. Finding a drug, however, that might make the mitochondria, or the energy producer of the cell, work without causing damage, might increase the longevity of the cell machinery and the organism.

When comparing the life expectancy of birds to rodents, birds win out, living much longer, on average, than mice or rats. Some scientists believe this might be the case because birds have “much cleaner” mitochondria, de Graff said.

Indeed, a drug that makes human mitochondria work without producing as many protein-damaging free radicals might generate human cells that suffer less age-related damage.

Their method of analyzing and studying proteins could indicate which proteins are the most vulnerable to oxidative damage, while also indicating which are the most durable.

De Graff said he and Dill studied these proteins by using a computer code they wrote, which sorts through entire proteomes. They sorted through the proteins to find the proteins most destabilized by damage. They are predicting the degree of stability loss resulting from that damage.

De Graff said he has paid particular attention to studies that demonstrate a link between lifestyle choices and longevity.

Seventh Day Adventists, who have a restricted diet that doesn’t include as much animal protein, live, on average, six to seven years longer than the rest of the population. He suggested that some of what will help people live longer will have less to do with “genetic manipulation” than it will with making better and more informed choices about diet and health. It will be helpful at a protein level to understand “why dietary intervention has an impact on how we age.”

He is also confident that, over time, researchers will develop an enhanced understanding of the interventions that will protect proteins from damage. Equally important, he believes “we will enhance our understanding of interventions that enhance our ability to get rid of this damage as it is occurring or once it has occurred.”

De Graff likened the process of keeping a biological system running over time to managing a city. In the urban setting, the mayor might take the tax dollars and use it to build roads or fix bridges. As time goes on, the available tax dollars might diminish, which increases the importance of understanding the cost of each activity with age.

De Graff, who grew up in Canada and now lives in Stony Brook, said he was interested in math from the age of 5. When he was 6, he was already doing fourth-grade math. De Graff said he practices what he preaches — he has significantly reduced his consumption of animal protein and lives a clean lifestyle.

When he was in high school, he thought he’d become a physicist or engineer. He coupled that natural talent and appreciation with a desire to understand biological systems.

Banu Ozkan, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at Arizona State University, praised de Graff’s efforts and his results. De Graff “always finds intriguing questions and is very inquisitive,” said Ozkan. “He’s a very hard worker. Whenever I came [to the lab], during weekends and sometimes at night, I found him working.” Ozkan predicted de Graff had a bright future.

As for his work, de Graff remains excited about the possibility of collaborating on future aging-related research.

“Without an understanding of what it takes to maintain individual proteins in their healthy state,” he said, it’s hard to “understand the interactions and aging processes inside the cell.”

Benner’s Farm sweetens a winter’s day with some maple sugar

by Giselle Barkley - February 23, 2016

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The community roamed around Benner’s Farm in Setauket in search of sweets on Saturday, Feb. 20, during its annual Maple Sugaring Day. Families learned the history of maple sugaring, how to tap trees, turn sap into syrup and how to make sugar candies. Participants also enjoyed freshly made pancakes with farm-made syrup. Maple syrup, sugar candies and jams were also sold during the event.

In between eating pancakes, learning about maple sugaring and sampling sap from a tree, families roamed the farm to visit the animals and treat some to a leftover pancake. Children played on the Big Swing up in the woods and visited with the resident barn cats, Lightning, Thunder and Storm. A sweet time was had by all!

Half Hollow Hills West knocks Northport out of playoffs

by Desirée Keegan - February 22, 2016

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The Tigers’ tallest player was short on time, and it wasn’t enough to dig his team out of the hole that knocked them out of the playoffs.

The No. 3-seeded Half Hollow Hills West boys’ basketball team took advantage of No. 2 Northport’s early foul trouble, which left star senior center Lukas Jarrett benched for most of the first half with two personal fouls. By the time he returned to the Stony Brook University court for the second half of the Suffolk County Class AA semifinal matchup, the Tigers’ 31-20 deficit only continued to grow.

Northport had finished the season undefeated in League II, at 14-0, and only suffered one loss this season, a 70-48 defeat at Baldwin. The Tigers’ 72-47 loss on Sunday evening proved to be a similar-looking one, with the Colts coming up with big blocks and an array of 3-pointers to stifle Northport. The difference this time, though, was that the 6-foot, 7-inch Jarrett was not around to counter with many blocks of his own, and although the Tigers scored six 3-pointers, the Colts’ Matt Asenjo had six alone, followed by Kian Dalyrimple with five. The two combined for 41 points — almost as much as Northport’s entire team.

When Jarrett returned, he came through with a block to go along with a field goal and two free-throw points. Northport senior guard Sean O’Shea, who had been strong on offense the entire season, took over in Jarrett’s absence, scoring six points in each half for a team-high 12 points. Jarrett finished with nine points. Guards Brennan Whelan, a senior; Kevin Cryer-Hassett and Ryan Magnuson, both juniors; and Justin Carrano, a sophomore, tacked on five points apiece.

Northport was able to close the gap back to 11 points with O’Shea’s field goal at the 6:27 mark of the third, but by the end of those eight minutes the Tigers were down 49-30. Half Hollow Hills West led by as much as 30 points, after a trifecta put the team up 70-40 with 2:35 left in regulation, but O’Shea’s free-throw point, Cryer-Hassett’s 3-point play and junior guard Brett Vansteenbergen’s 3-pointer helped narrow that lead to give the game its final score.

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