Above, one of the Harbormen quartets delivers a singing valentine to an appreciative waitress last year. Photo from David Lance
SINGING VALENTINES
They’re back! On February 12, 13 and 14, quartets from the Harbormen Barbershop Chorus will travel all around Suffolk County and beyond to entertain pleasantly-surprised wives, husbands, sweethearts, school children, co-workers, and a host of others. Along with a decorative rose, box of candy and personalized card, the two love songs delivered by these four elegantly-dressed gentlemen will create a most memorable impression for the delighted recipient.
To send your loved one a singing valentine just call 631-644-0129 and ask for “Mr. Valentine.” The donation is only $75 (credit cards accepted). You can check them out on YouTube under “Antiquity Quartet” and Facebook under “Harmonic Tides.” The Harbormen Chorus is a 501(c)3 charitable organization and donates a portion of all their proceeds to the Good Shepherd Hospice facility at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson.
Autoimmune diseases are becoming increasingly common, affecting approximately 23.5 million Americans, with 78 percent of them women. These numbers are expected to continue rising. There are more than 80 conditions with autoimmunity implications (1). These diseases include rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus, thyroid (hypo and hyper), psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease, to mention just a few.
Dr. David Dunaief
Autoimmune diseases are defined by the immune system inappropriately attacking organs, cells and tissues of the body, causing chronic inflammation. Thus, inflammation is the main consequence of immune system dysfunction, and it is the underlying theme tying these diseases together. Unfortunately, autoimmune diseases tend to cluster (2). In other words, once you have one, you are much more likely to acquire others.
Drug treatments
The mainstay of treatment is immunosuppressives. For example, in RA where there is swelling of joints bilaterally, the typical drug regimen includes methotrexate and TNF (tumor necrosis factor) alpha inhibitors, like Remicade (infliximab). These therapies are thought to help reduce the underlying inflammation by suppressing the immune system and interfering with inflammatory factors, such as TNF-alpha. The disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) may slow or stop the progression of joint destruction and increase physical functioning. Remicade reduces C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of inflammation.
However, there are several concerning factors with these drugs. First, the side effect profile is substantial. It includes the risk of cancers, opportunistic infections and even death, according to black box warnings (the strongest warning by the FDA) (3). Opportunistic infections include diseases like tuberculosis and invasive fungal infections. It is no surprise that suppressing the immune system would result in increased infection rates. Nor is it surprising that cancer rates would increase, since the immune system helps to fend off malignancies. In fact, a study showed that after 10 years of therapy, the risk of cancer increased by approximately fourfold with the use of immunosuppressives (4).
Second, these drugs were tested and approved using short-term randomized clinical trials, but many patients are put on these therapies for 20 or more years. Remicade’s package insert was approved with approximately two years of data.
So what other methods are available to treat autoimmune diseases? These include medical nutrition therapy using bioactive compounds, which have immunomodulatory (regulation of the immune system) effects on inflammatory factors and on gene expression, and supplementation.
Nutrition and inflammation
Raising the level of beta-cryptoxanthin, a carotenoid bioactive food component, by a modest amount has a substantial impact in preventing RA. In one study, participants drank the equivalent of about one glass of freshly squeezed orange juice a day with a resultant 49 percent risk reduction in the development of RA (5).
While I have not found studies that specifically tested diet in RA treatment, there are dietary studies that have shown anti-inflammatory effects in other diseases, using biomarkers such as CRP and TNF-alpha. In a study that looked at the Mediterranean-type diet in 112 older patients, there was a significant decrease in inflammatory markers, including CRP (6).
In another study, participants showed a substantial reduction in CRP with increased flavonoid levels, an antioxidant, from vegetables and apples. Astaxanthin, a carotenoid found in fish, was shown to significantly reduce a host of inflammatory factors in mice, including TNF-alpha (7).
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is ubiquitous in helping to treat and prevent many chronic diseases — autoimmune diseases are no exception. Vitamin D affects over 200 genes, according to Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at University of Oxford. In the absence of vitamin D, T-cell response, part of the immune system, becomes dysfunctional and uncontrollable, resulting in an increase in multiple sclerosis (MS) and inflammatory bowel disease — Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. However, when normal levels of vitamin D are conveyed to the vitamin D receptors, proper T-cell functioning is restored with no subsequent autoimmune disease, at least in animal studies (8).
Interestingly, multiple sclerosis patients are notoriously very low in vitamin D, and it is difficult to raise the levels. There was a small study proclaiming that MS patients may need as much as 50,000 IUs of vitamin D2 weekly, and that it was safe (9). I would check with a neurologist specializing in MS before taking such a high dose.
Fish oil
Fish oil helps your immune system by reducing inflammation and improving your blood chemistry.
If you think vitamin D is impressive, fish oil affects as many as 1,040 genes (10). In a randomized clinical study, 1.8 grams of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation had anti-inflammatory affects, suppressing cell signals and transcription factors (proteins involved with gene expression) that are pro-inflammatory, such as NFkB.
In RA patients, fish oil helps suppress cartilage degradative enzymes, while also having an anti-inflammatory effect (11). When treating patients with autoimmune disease, I typically suggest about 2 grams of EPA plus DHA to help regulate their immune systems. Don’t take these high doses of fish oil without consulting your doctor, since fish oil may have blood thinning effects.
Probiotic supplements
The gut contains approximately 70 percent of your immune system. Probiotics, by populating the gut with live beneficial microorganisms, have immune-modulating effects that decrease inflammation and thus are appropriate for autoimmune diseases. Lactobacillus salvirus and Bifidobacterium longum infantis are two strains that were shown to have positive effects (12, 13).
In a study with Crohn’s disease patients, Lactobacillus casei and L. bulgaricus reduced the inflammatory factor, TNF-alpha (14). To provide balance, I recommend probiotics with Lactobacillus to my patients, especially with autoimmune diseases that affect the intestines, like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.
Fiber
Fiber has been shown to modulate inflammation by reducing biomarkers, such as CRP. In two separate clinical trials, fiber either reduced or prevented high CRP in patients. In one, a randomized clinical trial, 30 grams, or about 1 ounce, of fiber daily from either dietary sources or supplements reduced CRP significantly compared to placebo (15).
In the second trial, which was observational, participants who consumed the highest amount of dietary fiber (greater than 19.5 grams) had reductions in a vast number of inflammatory factors, including CRP, interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and TNF-alpha. (16).
Immune system regulation is complex and involves over a 1,000 genes, as well as many biomarkers. Dysfunction results in inflammation, and potentially autoimmune disease. We know the immune system is highly influenced by bioactive compounds found in high nutrient foods and supplements. Therefore, bioactive compounds may work in tandem with medications and/or may provide the ability to reset the immune system through immunomodulatory effects and thus treat and prevent autoimmune diseases.
Dr. Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management.
There are millions of species of living things. Until the 1860s biologists divided them into two kingdoms, animals and plants.
Louis Pasteur revealed a third group of microscopic bacteria that caused disease, fermented foods (like cheeses), rotted food and decomposed dead organisms. In the mid-20th century this third group, known as prokaryotes, was shown to consist of eubacteria and archaea, differing mostly in how they used energy to carry out their living activities.
Bacteria mostly use oxygen, sunlight and carbon dioxide as fuels and an energy source. Some bacteria are like green plants and use chlorophyll to convert carbon molecules to food and release oxygen. Most of Earth’s atmosphere arose from that early growth of photosynthetic bacteria. Archaea mostly use sulfur, superheated water and more extreme environmental conditions (like deep sea vents) for their energy.
Biologists today identify cellular life as having three domains — archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes. We belong to the eukaryotes whose cells have nuclei with chromosomes. The eukaryotes include multicellular animals, multicellular plants, unicellular protozoa (protists), unicellular algae and fungi.
The two prokaryotic domains and the five eukaryotic groups are designated as kingdoms. A rough time table of early life on Earth would put prokaryotic life about 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago, the first free oxygen in our atmosphere about 3.5 billion years ago, the first eukaryotic cells about 2.5 billion years ago and the first multicellular organisms about 1.5 billion years ago.
The branches of the tree of life biologists construct have an earliest ancestor called LUCA (for the last universal common ancestor of a particular branch). There may have been a biochemical evolution preceding the formation of the first cellular LUCA with RNA and protein associations, RNA and DNA associations and virus-like sequences of nucleic acids.
The three domains have produced six million different genes. Molecular biologists have identified 355 genes that all cellular organisms share in common. This is possibly the genome of the LUCA of all living cellular organisms. Whether such a synthetic DNA chromosome could be inserted into a bacterial or archaeal cell or even a eukaryotic cell whose own DNA has been removed has not yet been attempted. It may not work because we know little about the non-DNA components of bacterial or archaeal cells.
Biologists have known for some time that a nucleus of a distant species (e.g., a frog) placed in a mouse egg whose nucleus has been removed will not divide or produce a living organism. But two closely related species (like algae of the genus Acetabularia) can develop after swapping nuclei. In such cases the growing organism with the donated nucleus resembles the features of the nuclear donor.
There is a LUCA for the first primate branch with the genus Homo. We are described as Homo sapiens. Anthropologists and paleontologists studying fossil human remains have worked out the twigs of the branch we identify as the genus Homo. Neanderthals and Denisovans (about 500,000 years ago) are the two most recent branches that preceded the origins of H. sapiens (about 160,000 years ago). Most humans have a small percentage of Neanderthal or Denisovan genes. Fossils of Homo erectus (about 1.8 million years ago) or Homo habilis (about 2.8 million years ago) are much older than the recent three species of Homo. Those fossils do not have DNA that can be extracted from teeth.
A second objective of studying LUCA’s 355 genes will be the identification of each gene’s function. That will tell biologists what it is that makes these genes essential in all cellular organisms.
I can think of a third important consequence of studying LUCA. There are millions of different viruses on Earth, especially in the oceans. If cellularity arose from clusters of viruses, the genes of the mother of all LUCAs may be scattered among some of those viruses and give biologists insights into the step-by-step formation of that first LUCA cell.
In Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, “The Mikado,” one character boasts of tracing his ancestors to a primordial bit of protoplasm. The genome of LUCA might become an unexpected example where science imitates art.
Elof Axel Carlson is a distinguished teaching professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University.
Liliana Davalos, right in blue and white shirt, in La Victoria, Colombia with the paleo team from Grand Valley State University during a fossil dig last year. Photo courtesy of Siobhán Cooke
By Daniel Dunaief
It’s like that old bus riddle. The bus starts out with 20 people. Six people get off, then eight get on, two more get off, 12 enter, eight exit, and so on until, lo and behold, the bus has either the same number of people or someone asks the identity of the driver.
In this case, though, the bus is a collection of Caribbean islands called the Greater Antilles, which includes the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Hispaniola, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. The passengers are not people; they are species of bats.
Working with Luis Valente, a postdoctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum of Berlin, Liliana Davalos, an associate professor of conservation biology/ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University, recently determined that the number of species of bats, like the people entering and leaving the bus, remained in relative equilibrium for millions of years over many generations.
Liliana Davalos at La Venta site in Colombia with a rainbow in the background.Photo courtesy of Siobhán Cooke
While several species of bats will colonize the islands and new species will also form over that long time scale, the rate of natural extinction in that time balances out the islands’ diversity gains, leaving the metaphorical bus with about the same number of species.
Famous biologists Edward O. Wilson and Robert MacArthur came up with the theory of island biogeography in 1967, which might help explain how the number of species of bats remained in equilibrium for millions of years. The theory proposes an equilibrium between colonization and extinction.
For bats, however, that balance changed. About 20,000 years ago, fossils of extinct species made their final appearance, while other species died off about 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. So, what happened to the bat bus?
The last ice age accounts for some of the declines about 20,000 years ago. More recently, the arrival of people altered conditions on the islands. At least two other waves of colonization occurred before the arrival of Europeans, with people changing the landscape through agriculture. While hunting of other mammals is evident from the archeological record, it is less certain how changes on the land affected bats. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact time when each species went extinct, although many of those events happened after people arrived on the islands, changing the region’s equilibrium.
Davalos’ previous work had found that the number of species lost was as predicted if the losses occurred because of the rising sea levels at the end of the last glaciation. If that were the case, many of those species would have disappeared around that time. Some of her colleagues, however, dated the remains of bats and found that these species became extinct more recently, over the last few thousand years.
“While we cannot be certain that all bat extinctions were caused by humans, evidence increasingly seems to suggest so,” explained Valente in an email. “All over the world, colonization of islands by humans has led to many extinctions of local species, because islands have very unique species that are very prone to any disturbances.”
The researchers used computer simulations to calculate that it would take nature eight million years to restore bat biodiversity. “Some people argue that if we leave nature alone it will quickly return to its original state,” Valente explained. “However, the finding that it would take eight million years to recover lost diversity suggests that is clearly not the case.” Valente, who described Davalos as a “wonderful collaborator” who was “actively involved in the project at all stages,” wrote that this study “raises awareness for conservation of the unique bat species of the Caribbean.”
While there is still work ahead, the “nations of the Greater Antilles have amazing natural parks to protect their biodiversity,” Davalos explained. In the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, Puerto Rico is the “number one example of a forest growing back,” Davalos said. “Puerto Rico is one of the places in the world that has had more of a resurgence of the forest.”
The preservation of biodiversity remains threatened even now as at least three bat populations on the Greater Antilles are threatened with extinction and two might already be extinct. Still, the effort is not “hopeless,” she said, as there are some large populations of bats thriving on these islands. Davalos and her colleagues were able to make these discoveries by examining the bat in detail.
A resident of Setauket, Davalos has been at Stony Brook University for eight years. She enjoys kayaking on Long Island and visiting local and state parks. Over the last few years, she has spent her free time on staycations, where she sees a protected area of Long Island each day.
From a young age, Davalos recalls being interested in science. Indeed, when she was only 4, she saw a documentary where Louis and Mary Leakey showed the results of their expeditions where they collected human fossils in Kenya. “From that moment on,” Davalos recalled, “I thought, ‘Some day, this is what I’m going to study.’” Her family and their acquaintances suggested that pursuing such a career path would be challenging.
She tells her current SBU students that she’s “the luckiest person in the world, living out my childhood dream.” Last year, she went on her first fossil dig in Colombia, where she joined a team from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, and Johns Hopkins. She found fossils from bats that were 12 million years old.
While Davalos has never met the Leakey family, she wants to tell them that, “Children are watching and [their work] can have a huge effect” on their dreams. Some day, Davalos hopes a future scientist may say the same thing about her research.
February is National Pet Dental Health Month; so I wanted to write an article on swellings of the oral cavity in dogs and cats. Swellings of the oral cavity are relatively common in dogs and cats. Some are tumors, some are not. Some are malignant, some are not. A fair number of cases of oral swellings are actually related to inflammation and not a tumor at all. Unfortunately, if these swellings are tumors, the majority of these tumors are malignant. This is why early diagnosis and treatment is so important.
How do we keep an eye on these things? Most veterinary oral surgeons recommend brushing your pet’s teeth daily, but I have not always found this approach feasible, even with my own pets. I think checking our pet’s mouths once weekly or as often as one can remember is more reasonable. Please bring any new swellings or masses in your pet’s mouth to your veterinarian’s attention right away. The “wait and see” approach is not recommended.
If I or any of my colleagues suspect a tumor, surgical excision and biopsy are recommended; however, certain pre-surgical testing is very important. Chest X-rays are recommended in all cases even though the rate of metastasis, or spread to other organ systems, in oral tumors is low. Chest X-rays can usually be performed without any sedation or anesthesia and, if evidence of metastasis is present, I recommend a discussion with the pet owner before proceeding with surgery/biopsy.
Wouldn’t it be great if our pets brushed their own teeth?
Also, if lymph nodes are enlarged, they should either be tested before surgery or removed and biopsied at the time of surgery to differentiate between secondary inflammation or metastasis. Preoperative blood work rules out other concurrent disease such as organ dysfunction to determine a patient’s risk of anesthesia more than it evaluates the tumor.
Oral swellings of the maxilla (upper portion of the jaw connected to the sinuses) suspected to be tumors should have either a CT (CAT-SCAN) or skull X-rays to see if there is invasion of the tumor into the bone of the skull. CT and skull X-rays require anesthesia so these are scheduled the same day as surgery.
Depending on the location of the tumor, surgical excision can be curative. The down side is that a “wide excision” is necessary. This means a large amount of tissue (both the tumor itself and a fair amount of healthy tissue around it) is necessary to ensure complete removal.
If a wide resection is not possible due to location, follow-up radiation therapy can be used after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells. Radiation alone is only potentially curative in benign, or noncancerous, oral tumors. Chemotherapy is also sometimes used after surgery for cancerous oral tumors with either confirmed metastasis before surgery or a high metastatic potential based on biopsy.
Much of what we veterinarians recommend is not only based on location and suspicion of metastasis but also age and pre-existing disease. Whether or not to pursue testing and treatment is always up to you (as the owner) but diligent monitoring and prompt intervention should be discussed earlier rather than later.
Dr. Kearns practices veterinary medicine from his Port Jefferson office and is pictured with his son Matthew and his dog Jasmine.
The cast of ‘The Snow Queen,’ from left, Danny Meglio, Jacqueline Hughes, Stephanie Krasner, TracyLynn Connor and Matthew Rafanelli. Photo courtesy of Engeman Theater
By Heidi Sutton
In perfect harmony with the frosty weather outside, “The Snow Queen” opened at the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport last weekend to a warm reception. Based on the beloved Hans Christian Andersen story that inspired Disney’s “Frozen,” the musical, co-written by Rick Lombardo and Kirsten Brandt, is told in seven short stories and revolves around a young girl name Gerda, her best friend, Kai, and the power of love and friendship.
The Snow Queen has kidnapped Kai and taken him to her icy palace. There she orders him to solve the Riddle of Eternity by counting all the snowflakes in the world. When Gerda realizes what has happened, she sets off on a dangerous journey to save her friend.
Reminiscent of an Alice in Wonderland experience, Gerda encounters many obstacles along the way including a sneaky Garden Witch, a band of robbers and the blistering cold. Fortunately, she also meets a talking crow, a lovable reindeer and a wise Woman of the North who help her reach the palace.
Alyson Leonard expertly directs a talented adult cast of five, all of whom, with the exception of the lead, play multiple roles throughout the show. Stephanie Krasner, last seen in the role of Rapunzel, returns to Engeman’s stage as Gerda, who proves to be a faithful friend willing to go to the ends of the Earth to save Kai. Her courage and determination has the audience rooting for her from the beginning. Matthew Rafanelli is terrific as Kai, trapped within the clutches of the Snow Queen but absolutely shines as the Crow who helps Gerda.
TracyLynn Connor gives the Snow Queen an icy regalness but also plays the role of a rose, princess and robber girl with ease. From her first appearance on stage as an old woman to her last as the Wise Woman of the North, Jacqueline Hughes’s performance is always top notch. Her solo “Breathe” takes your breath away and her various accents are impressive.
Last seen in “The Wizard of Oz,” Danny Meglio tackles the role of the troll, prince and sweet reindeer this time around. Helping Gerda reach the castle in the darkness and the cold as the reindeer is one of the most memorable scenes in the show.
Although at times Gerda’s journey may seem a bit long, the wonderful songs including “Flying,” “The Real Reality,” “Here I Am,” “Never Give Up” and “The End,” written by Haddon Kime, more than make up for its shortcomings, and you will find yourself humming these songs for days to come. Those familar with Andersen’s fairy tale won’t be disappointed with the ending and will go back out into the air with a warm heart after realizing that love conquers all.
The show is recommended for ages 8 and up because of its complex storyline, although younger children will enjoy it for the beautiful costumes, special effects and songs. Meet the entire cast in the lobby for autographs and photos after the show. An autograph page is conveniently located at the end of the program.
The John W. Engeman Theater, 250 Main St., Northport will present “The Snow Queen” on Saturdays at 11 a.m. and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. through March 5. Up next is “Madagascar: A Musical Adventure” from March 25 to April 30. All seats are $15. To order, call 631-261-2900 or visit www.engemantheater.com.
Above, resident survivors at Gurwin Jewish-Fay J. Lindner Residences take part in the recent Holocaust Memorial Day Campaign. Photo courtesy of Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center
The World Jewish Congress last week launched the largest global event ever to commemorate the Holocaust, via a #WeRemember international social media campaign. People around the world were encouraged to upload to Twitter and Facebook photos of themselves displaying “WeRemember” signs.
In the days leading up to today’s observation of Holocaust Memorial Day — the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp — supporters worldwide posted their #WeRemember photos to social media, which were then live-streamed on a jumbotron at Poland’s notorious camp, Auschwitz, near crematorium 2.
Resident survivors at Gurwin Jewish-Fay J. Lindner Residences, an assisted living community in Commack, were honored to be part of the campaign. World Jewish Congress noted several reasons for the critical nature of the global social media movement: the dwindling number of survivors, the ongoing occurrence of genocides and the need to educate future generations about the atrocities of the Holocaust. Robert Singer, World Jewish Congress CEO, noted the importance of the campaign, hoping it would “engage the next generation, because soon it will be their responsibility to tell the story and ensure that humanity never forgets.”
Herman, survivor from Bergen-Belsen
In all, seven Gurwin assisted living residents, including survivors of the Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz concentration camps, posed with their “We Remember” signs, some fulfilling promises to family members who perished in the genocide, to “live to tell the story,” and others eager to participate in a remembrance project with an international reach. “My father told me to do everything I could to survive, to get out and tell the world what was happening,” said Sally Birnbaum, an Auschwitz survivor, now living at Gurwin. The World Jewish Congress made it possible for Sally, and thousands of others, to be sure that the world never forgets.
First responders, soldiers or those exposed to any kind of chemical weapons attack need a way to remove the gas from the air. While masks with activated carbon have been effective, the latest technological breakthrough involving a metal organic framework may not only remove the gas, but it could also disarm and decompose it.
That’s the recent finding from research led by Anatoly Frenkel in a study on a substance that simulates the action of sarin nerve gas.
Frenkel, who is a senior chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering at Stony Brook University, worked with metal organic frameworks, which contain zirconium cluster nodes that are connected through a lattice of organic linkages.
Anatoly Frenkel with his son, Yoni, at Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey. Photo by Mikhail Loutsenko.
These structures would “do the job even without any catalytic activity,” Frenkel said, because they are porous and capture gases as they pass through them. “It’s like a sponge that can take in moisture. Its high porosity was already an asset.”
Frenkel and his colleagues, which include John Morris and Diego Troya from Virginia Tech, Wesley Gordon from Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and Craig Hill from Emory University, among other contributors, suspected that these frameworks might also decompose the gas.
Theoretically, researchers had predicted this might be the case, although they had no proof. Frenkel and his team used a differential method to see what was left in the structure after the gas passed through. Their studies demonstrated a high density of electrons near the zirconium atoms. “These were like bread crumbs congregated around a place where the zirconium nodes with the connecting linkers were,” Frenkel said.
While this work, which the scientists published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, has implications for protecting soldiers or civilians in the event of a chemical weapons attack, Frenkel and his colleagues, who received funding from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, can share their results with the public and scientific community because they are not working on classified materials and they used a substance that’s similar to a nerve gas and not sarin or any other potentially lethal gas.
“This knowledge can be transferred to classified research,” Frenkel said. “This is a stepping stone.” Indeed, Frenkel can envision the creation of a mask that includes a metal organic framework that removes deadly nerve gases from the air and, at the same time, disarms the gas, providing a defense for first responders or the military after a chemical weapons attack. Even though he doesn’t work in this arena, Frenkel also described how manufacturers might use these frameworks in treating the fabric that is used to make clothing that can prevent gases that can be harmful to the skin from making contact.
A physicist by training, Frenkel’s work, which includes collaborations on five other grants, has a common theme: He explores the relationship between structure and function, particularly in the world of nanomaterials, where smaller materials with large surface areas have applications in a range of industries, from storing and transmitting energy to delivering drugs or pharmaceuticals to a targeted site.
Eric Stach, a group leader in electron microscopy at BNL, has collaborated with Frenkel and suggested that his colleague has helped “develop all these approaches for characterizing these materials.” Stach said that Frenkel has “an outstanding reputation internationally” as an expert in X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and, in particular, a subarea that allows scientists to learn about extremely subtle changes in the distance between atoms when they are subjected to reactive environments.
Frenkel said some of the next steps in the work with metal organic frameworks include understanding how these materials might become saturated with decomposed gas after they perform their catalytic function. “It’s not clear what can affect saturation,” he said, and that is something that “needs to be systematically investigated.” After the catalyst reaches saturation, it would also be helpful to know whether it’s possible to remove the remaining compound and reuse the catalyst.
“The next question is whether to discard” the framework after it’s trapped and deactivated the chemicals or regenerate it, Frenkel said. He is also exploring how temperature ranges might affect the performance of the framework. Ideally, it would function as well in an arctic environment as it would in a desert under extreme heat. A commercial application might require the synthesis of a material with different physical characteristics for a range of temperature conditions.
Frenkel has been working on this project for about one and a half years. A colleague approached him to become a part of this new collaboration. “My role was to bring this work to a national lab setting,” where the scientists could use the advanced tools at BNL to study the material as it was working, he said.
A resident of Great Neck, Frenkel, who grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia, lives with his wife Hope Chafiian, a teacher at the Spence School in Manhattan for almost 30 years. He has three children: Yoni lives in Manhattan and works at JP Morgan Chase, Ariela is a student at Binghampton and Sophie is in middle school in Great Neck.
Frenkel appreciates the opportunity to explore the broader world of nanomaterials, which, he said, are not constrained by crystal structures and can be synthesized by design. “They show a lot of mysteries that are not understood fully,” he said. Indeed, Frenkel explained that there are numerous commercial processes that might benefit from design studies conducted by scientists. As for his work with metal organic frameworks, he said “there’s no way to overestimate how important [it is] to do work that has a practical application that improves technology, saves costs, protects the environment” and/or has the potential to save lives.
Learn how to transform your yard into a wildlife-friendly habitat at one of 12 free workshops offered. Photo courtesy of Jay Gammill
By Ellen Barcel
The Maritime Explorium, a nonprofit organization based in Port Jefferson and dedicated to science-themed exhibits and activities, will be holding a very special series of workshops dedicated to helping gardeners “transform 100 square feet of your yard into a butterfly, bee and bird friendly habitat that keeps our waterways clean and clear …”
Lauren Hubbard, founding president and former executive director of The Maritime Explorium is the program director. She noted that there are a number of reasons for transforming part of your yard into a wildlife-friendly habitat, and there are many ecological benefits to using native plants.
“They provide food for pollinators as well as food for birds,” she said. It is these very pollinators that guarantee the seeds for the next generation of plants and that farmers rely on to produce our food. She noted that native plants don’t required fertilizers. This reduces the runoff of nitrogen [from chemical fertilizers] into the surrounding waters. Excess nitrogen leads to poor water quality, which for one thing affects eel grass which is a fish nursery. Excess nitrogen also increases algae in the Sound.
Hubbard added that native plants have roots that go very deep, that is, many have taproots. They need less supplemental water from the gardener and they catch runoff of excess rain. Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and other varieties of milkweed, for example, have a taproot. And, many, like the New England aster, are deer resistant. Native plants also feed native birds, who also eat many of the garden pests, insects, for example, that damage our gardens.
Each project participant registers for only one workshop, but to make the workshops and project convenient, they are spread over the next six months and are held at two locations. Those at the Flax Pond Marine Laboratory in Old Field are held on Saturdays (Jan. 28, Feb. 18, March 25, April 29, May 27 and June 24). Those at The Barn at Avalon Park and Preserve in Stony Brook (off Shep Jones Lane) will be held on Sundays (Jan. 29, Feb. 19, March 26, April 30, May 28 and June 25), all from 9 to 11:30 a.m.
Not only are the workshops free, but each project participant is reimbursed up to $50 for plants they buy to create their own butterfly, bee and bird-friendly garden if they complete the project. The workshops are open to all who are interested, but there are several requirements to participate in the project and receive the reimbursement. The piece of property you wish to transform (100 square feet, i.e., roughly 10 by 10 feet) must be within the Long Island Sound watershed (water on your street drains to the Sound as opposed to the Great South Bay and ocean). If you have a question as to whether your area is within the watershed, email [email protected] for details.
The property must then be planted with appropriate plants — a list will be provided at the workshop you attend. You are then asked share a before and after photo of the 100 square feet you have transformed.
This project is funded by a grant from the Long Island Sound Future Fund from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. To register, go to www.eventbrite.com/e/my-yard-our-sound-nature-friendly-landscaping-workshops-tickets-31275703471.
For more details on native plants, visit The Long Island Native Plant Initiative website at www.linpi.org, which holds an annual sale of native plants.
Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.
Jason Whiffen of Port Jefferson captured this image of Porf Jefferson Harbor on Jan. 8 after a winter storm using his iPhone.
February is National Pet Dental Health Month; so I wanted to write an article on swellings of the oral cavity in dogs and cats. Swellings of the oral cavity are relatively common in dogs and cats. Some are tumors, some are not. Some are malignant, some are not. A fair number of cases of oral swellings are actually related to inflammation and not a tumor at all. Unfortunately, if these swellings are tumors, the majority of these tumors are malignant. This is why early diagnosis and treatment is so important.
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