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Pixabay photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

If you’ve ever watched the show “The Voice,” which teenage sensation Carter Rubin from Shoreham won last year, you know the format involves celebrity judges making blind choices during a prolonged audition process.

With their backs to the performers, the judges listen to the contestants sing several bars of familiar songs, sometimes swaying, sometimes mouthing the words, until they hear something in the voices that clicks or that they think they can improve to lead these aspiring artists to the promised land of a music contract, fame and fortune.

The process is imperfect, as are most decisions we make.

The judges don’t get to rate everyone, listening to the entire array of singers before rank ordering or assembling their team. As they go, they add aspiring musicians to their teams, competing against the other judges to encourage performers to work with them.

This process is akin to so many others in so many contexts.

Many years ago, I attended a spectacular and extravagant holiday party for Bloomberg News at the Museum of Natural History. The organization had rented the entire museum during after hours. Fortunately, I brought my then-girlfriend, who is now my wife, to that event, which has given us a party to remember over two decades later.

Anyway, each room had a performer and a collection of tables with mouth-watering food. Hungry and maneuvering slowly through each room, we probably ate more than we should have in the first few rooms, until we understood the spectacular assortment of foods, culminating with sushi under the blue whale in the main room.

Pixabay photo

Having eaten more than I should prior to reaching the whale, I could only sample a few pieces of sushi before shutting down the food consumption. Well, that was true until we waited for the one person in the coatroom who was matching tickets to coats. At that point, servers brought trays of dark and white chocolate-covered strawberries up and down the line.

The point, however, is that the imperfect choices my wife and I made earlier in the evening affected how much we could eat as the night wore on.

In the last few months, I spoke with several researchers in Stony Brook University’s Department of Geosciences, including Joel Hurowitz and Scott McLennan. They are working with a rover on Mars that is choosing rocks in the Jezero crater, putting together a collection of samples that will, one day, return with a round trip mission to the Red Planet.

They can’t sample every rock that might reveal something about Mars, indicating whether life could have existed on the planet billions of years ago.

The decision to choose something in the present, like the rock in front of the rover on Mars, the current singer who is living out his or her dream on “The Voice,” or the morsel of food in a buffet that stretches throughout a museum, can limit the ones those same people have in the future.

Hopefully, along the way, we learn from the decisions we’ve made, the ones that work out and the ones that don’t, that enable us to improve our ability to make informed choices.

And, even if whatever we chose may not be exactly what we thought it was, we, like the judges on “The Voice,” might be able to mold the raw materials of our lives into something even better than we’d initially imagined.

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Help wanted sign in window

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

Here is a possible answer to a couple of current questions. How to deal with the thousands of Afghans we have brought to our country ahead of the Taliban takeover and also those refugees from Central and South America who have massed at our border? That is one question. Another is how to respond to the ever-widening gap between the rising need for home health care workers and hospital aides, and the aging of the current United States population who will need such services?  And there are other such industries that urgently need workers, where there are not enough Americans to fill them.

Some of the immigrants may be well-educated or have needed skills. Those can probably be settled readily into American locations after they have been vetted and vaccinated. For those without obvious skills, the government will need to offer training, including English classes. The newcomers could be given a choice of what work they would want to do. Some may be or would like to be farmers, and we certainly need more workers in agriculture. Some may already be carpenters or landscapers or roofers or mechanics. If they can drive, we might be able to prepare them to drive trucks or buses, jobs that are going begging today. Perhaps they could help moving companies, which are understaffed and leaving customers stranded in their new homes waiting for their furniture to arrive. Some could help veterinarians, who are hugely overworked now by the many new pet owners who wanted companionship during the pandemic and acquired dogs, cats and other domestic creatures. 

Child care is a field that needs more workers. Mental health practitioners, overwhelmed by those experiencing anxiety, depression and stress could certainly use non-managerial help. So could both be teaching and non-teaching educational services, and sawmills turning out lumber for new construction and renovation, and textile mills trying to meet the sudden demand for back-to-school and back-to-work clothing places to welcome help. We have a desperate shortage of nurses in our country, both PNs and RNs. Hospitals, now newly reduced in their staffing because of the vaccine mandates, probably need help with basic services.

All of these positions, of course, would need varying degrees of training, and that in turn would offer new teaching jobs to the currently unemployed. Such programs would be no small task to organize, but it was doable during the Great Depression almost a century ago, and we can surely again put people to work where they are needed. Some of the jobs would be easier to prepare for than others. All could improve our economy, especially in areas with stagnant growth, and perhaps meet urgent needs.

I wonder if the federal government is thinking strategically when they place thousands of refugees in select communities. Currently, some 37,000 Afghans are at military installations in 10 states while other evacuees remain at overseas bases waiting to be processed, according to Nayla Rush, writing for the Center for Immigration Studies on Sept. 23. In total, the Biden administration has reported that over 100,000 Afghans were evacuated.

The top ten states receiving the newcomers, according to the Center, are California (5255), Texas (4481), Oklahoma (1800), Washington (1679), Arizona (1610), Maryland (1348), Michigan (1280), Missouri (1200), North Carolina (1169) and Virginia (1166). To coordinate this mammoth resettlement, President Joe Biden (D) appointed former Delaware Governor Jack Markell. He is also the former chairman of the National Governors Association and has held top positions in the private sector. 

“Nine religious or community-based organizations have contracts with the Department of State to resettle refugees inside the United States,” according to the Center, and they have final say on the distribution. These agencies, in turn, maintain nationwide networks of local affiliates to provide the necessary services. State and local officials are not involved and have no control over the program. Refugees are not resettled in states that do not have any local affiliates, which explains why some areas are skipped. 

Our country has a need of workers. Potential workers are entering the United States in significant numbers. Together that creates opportunity. We need some thoughtful and skilled management here.

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Stock photo

By Matthew Kearns, DVM

Dr. Matthew Kearns

“My dog keeps licking at one area. Why does she do it?!!!!” The answer is quite simple. However, the diagnosis and treatment is quite complicated (and often quite frustrating). The answer is something called an acral lick granuloma. 

Acral lick granulomas form when a dog repetitively licks at a spot (usually on one of the front legs) until a raised, inflamed, firm, hairless nodular growth on the skin. Breeds that are considered more at risk are Doberman Pinscher, Labrador Retriever, Golden Retriever, Great Dane, boxer, and Irish Setter.

Acral lick granulomas are multi-factorial, meaning many factors cause this condition. Additionally, acral lick granulomas usually have a primary cause and secondary complications. Primary causes include allergies (most common), trauma to the area, arthritis, skin parasites, deep fungal infections, tumors and behavioral issues. 

Most veterinarians (including myself) will treat these conditions initially empirically. What this means is we will treat for the symptoms without investigating a cause. Treating empirically is a less expensive way (this keeps pet owners happy in my experience) to proceed and works in some cases. When it doesn’t, then a diagnostic workup is indicated (this does not keep pet owners happy in my experience). 

Testing includes X-rays, bloodwork, cultures, and biopsies. Diagnosis of allergies (both food and environmental) is very important to either rule in, or rule out as part of the workup. This can include changing your dog’s diet, bloodwork, or even skin allergy testing.

Treatment for acral lick granulomas includes management of both the itch/pain, as well as the infection. Breaking the “itch-lick” cycle is very important. A combination of corticosteroids (cortisone derivatives) and antibiotics can be quite effective and is used initially by many veterinarians to see if they can resolve the problem without a large diagnostic workup. 

Topical medications can be quite effective if the patient does not lick it off. Some sort of covering like a sock or bandage (if the patient will not pull off or eat) or an Elizabethan collar to keep the patient from licking at the area is often used with medication to break the cycle. 

If a specific type of infection, whether it be fungal or bacterial, long-term antibiotics or antifungals may be needed. Also realize that even if your dog leaves the granuloma for long periods of time, flare ups are possible which requires treatment again.

Acral lick granulomas have a unique behavioral component to them. Dogs that have lick granulomas many times have other compulsive disorders or separation anxiety. Medications such as tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and selected serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are used in conjunction with other medications to break the “itch-lick” cycle in compulsive patients.

If your veterinarian makes a diagnosis or tentative diagnosis of an acral lick granuloma be patient with your dog and your veterinarian.

Dr. Kearns practices veterinary medicine from his Port Jefferson office and is pictured with his son Matthew and his dog Jasmine. 

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Oysters Rockefeller. Photo by Brittany Steiner/Unsplash

By Barbara Beltrami

There are some of you out there who know how I feel about oysters. I’m crazy about them, so much so that one of the items on my bucket list is to learn how to open them.  And so serious am I about this challenge that I’ve ordered the appropriate utensils from Amazon and am now the proud owner of an oyster knife and gloves. 

And there are some of you out there who also know how accident prone I am so what remains now is meeting not so much the challenge of opening the oysters but doing so without impaling myself on the oyster knife! 

My favorite oyster preparation is no preparation … just opening them and slurping them raw from the shell with maybe a squeeze of lemon and/or a raspberry mignonette. In second place are fried oysters, preferably in a traditional po’boy sandwich. And then, let’s not forget Oysters Rockefeller, that elegant appetizer on a bed of spinach, doused with Pernod and baked on a bed of rock salt.

Raspberry Vinegar Mignonette

YIELD: Makes about 1/3 to 1/2 cup

INGREDIENTS: 

1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

1/2 tablespoon coarsely ground pepper

Pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS: 

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients. Cover and let sit for 20 to 30 minutes for flavors to blend. Serve with freshly opened chilled oysters on the half shell and French bread with unsalted butter.

Fried Oyster Po’ Boy

YIELD: Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS: 

3 eggs

1 quart shucked oysters, drained

2 1/2 – 3 cups cornmeal

1/4 cup flour

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 /2 teaspoon cayenne

Canola or vegetable oil for frying

1 long baguette, cut cross-wise into 4 pieces, then sliced horizontally

1/2 cup mayonnaise or remoulade sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded iceberg or romaine lettuce

2 tomatoes, thinly sliced 

12 dill pickle slices

DIRECTIONS: 

In a medium bowl, beat eggs, add oysters, stir to coat and let sit 10 minutes. In a gallon size resealable plastic bag, combine cornmeal, flour, salt and pepper and cayenne. With a fork, remove oysters, one at a time, from bag. Let excess egg drip off, then shake and toss, again, one at a time, in cornmeal mixture. 

Pour one inch of oil or more into a deep skillet; heat over medium-high setting till a pinch of flour mixture sizzles; place oysters, with spaces in between, in oil and fry, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes. (You may have to fry them in two batches); drain on paper towels. Spread top halves of bread with mayonnaise or sauce; on bottom halves arrange lettuce, tomatoes and pickles, then oysters; add sandwich top. Serve with fries or potato chips.

Oysters Rockefeller

YIELD: Makes 8 appetizer servings

INGREDIENTS: 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup unflavored bread crumbs

1 shallot, minced

2 scallions, thinly sliced

2 cups fresh spinach, washed and drained

1/4 cup Pernod

Salt and pepper to taste

Generous dash hot red pepper sauce

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

24 oysters on the half shell

Rock salt

Lemon wedges

Fennel leaves

 DIRECTIONS: 

Preheat oven to 450 F. In a small-medium saucepan melt butter, add garlic and cook over medium heat just long enough to infuse butter, 2 minutes or less. In a small bowl, place bread crumbs and half the garlic butter; toss and set aside. To the remaining garlic butter in the skillet, add shallot, scallions and spinach and cook just until spinach wilts, about 2 to 3 minutes. Deglaze pan with Pernod, add salt and pepper and hot red pepper sauce, then continue cooking over medium heat until liquid evaporates, about 2 to 3 minutes.  

Add oil and parsley to bread crumbs, season again with salt and pepper to taste and toss to combine. Put one teaspoonful of spinach mixture on top of each oyster, then top with a teaspoonful of the bread crumb mixture. Generously sprinkle a large baking pan with rock salt; arrange oysters in the salt crystals to keep them from tilting; bake until golden, about 10 to15 minutes. Remove from oven, top with fennel leaves and serve with lemon wedges and chilled champagne.

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Semir Beyaz (center) with research assistant Onur Eskiocak, left, and graduate student Ilgin Ergin. Photo by Gina Motisi/CSHL

By Daniel Dunaief

High fat diets present numerous health problems for humans and mice, which are often used as a model organism to understand disease.

In a recent multi-disciplinary study with mice, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Fellow Semir Beyaz and 32 colleagues from 15 other institutions explored how a high fat diet affects the development of intestinal tumors.

Semir Beyaz. Photo by Gina Motisi/CSHL

The diverse team of scientists brought together a range of expertise to discover the way a high fat diet disrupts the cross talk among the microbiome, stem cells and immune cells, triggering tumors through the reduction in the expression of an important gene, called major histocompatibility complex II, or MSC-II.

“This work nicely integrates efforts in stem cell biology, immunology, microbiology and metabolism in the context of understanding how diet is linked to cancer,” Beyaz explained in an email. With such interdisciplinary studies, “we hope to improve our understanding” of the mechanisms that link nutrition to diseases.

The paper, published in Cell Stem Cell, for which Beyaz is the first and corresponding author, shows how a high fat diet leads to immune evasion of tumor initiation stem cells due to the suppression of the immune recognition molecule MHC-II.

At the center of this study, the MHC-II gene encodes a protein that presents antigens, or foreign substances, to the immune system. When a cell is infected or cancerous, immune cells detect the unwelcome agents through their surveillance of MHC molecules, Beyaz said.

A high fat diet also results in the alteration of immune cells in the micro environment and the signals that they produce, called cytokines.

“The novel finding of our study is that the crosstalk between stem cells, microbes and immune cells is critical for eliminating tumor initiating cells and this cross talk is dampened in response to a high fat diet, demonstrating a mechanistic basis for how high fat diets may promote cancer,” said Beyaz.

A current hypothesis, which has some supporting evidence in Beyaz’s study, suggests that diet-related factors might facilitate early onset colorectal cancer.

To be sure, researchers need to conduct more work to understand the environmental factors that facilitate early onset colorectal cancer, Beyaz explained. “The knowledge of what causes early onset colorectal cancer in young adults is very limited,” he added.

Semir Beyaz with visiting clinical researcher Aaron Nizam (left) and research tech Katherine Papciak. Photo by Gina Motisi/CSHL

Beyaz believes diet is one of the most important environmental factors that contribute to cancer risk. Diet could affect sleep, stress and other factors.

“There are so many things we don’t know about how diet affects our body,” he said. “That’s why I’m very excited to work on understanding these mechanisms.”

Beyaz said the mice in his study consumed a lard-based pro-obesity diet that was high in carbohydrates.

A diet that is lower in carbohydrates and higher in fat is more similar to a ketogenic diet, which could have other outcomes. His ongoing studies are trying to tease apart some of these differences.

To counteract the effect of diet on the development of cancer, Beyaz plans to activate the altered pathways by using either microbes or small molecule drugs.

“We believe if we promote immune surveillance by activating these pathways, we can elicit preventative and therapeutic strategies against cancer,” he explained.

Additionally, in his ongoing research, Beyaz plans to address numerous other questions that link diet to disease.

An increasing number of studies are exploring how diet and microbes affect cancer, which he described as a “hot topic.”

Beyaz believes a high fat diet might turn on or off some genetic sequences, enabling the latent development of cancer.

His unique niche involves searching for a connection between diet and perturbations that affect cross talk among cells. While this field has numerous challenges, Beyaz suggested he was “drawn” to that difficulty.

Beyaz’s expertise is in stem cell biology and immunology. He appreciates and enjoys the opportunity to interact with researchers from other disciplines that could lead to actionable progress.

Hannah Meyer. Photo from CSHL

While science has to be reductionistic and focused on one molecule or cells at times, new conceptual and technical advances have made it possible for the lines between disciplines in biology to disappear slowly, he explained.

Beyaz and his colleagues are looking forward to taking some of the next steps in this effort.

For starters, he is excited to expand this study, to understand whether there is a threshold for a high fat diet that favors the growth of tumors. Diets that fall below a potential threshold might not promote the growth or development of tumors.

Such a threshold could become clinically relevant, providing health care workers with a pre-cancerous marker that could signal the need for lifestyle changes and medical vigilance that could stave off or avoid the formation of disease-bearing and life-threatening tumors.

“We have some ongoing work to delineate such thresholds and proxies,” Beyaz said. Additionally, they would like to see whether this effect is reversible, to determine whether an altered microbiome might promote the expression of MHC-II, which could derail the tumor forming process.

Pawan Kumar. Photo from SBU

Beyaz’s collaborators on this work include Hannah Meyer, who is a fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Fellow, and Pawan Kumar, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.

In his life outside the lab, Beyaz, who enjoys fishing, gardening, and hiking, avoids excessive sugar and fat consumption. He doesn’t eat fast food or consume sugary drinks.

Originally from the town of Samandag which is near the Mediterranean Sea in the southeastern part of Turkey, Beyaz enjoys cooking and is fond of making lamb, beef, chicken and eggplant kebabs.

When he was growing up, Beyaz said science was a passion for him.

“It is not a job or a career,” he explained. “It is the way I find meaning in life, by learning how to ask and (sometimes) answer questions at the edge of cumulative human knowledge.”

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Congressman Lee Zeldin. File photo

Last week, Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY1) formally announced that he is now in remission from leukemia. 

The Shirley native said that back in November 2020, he was diagnosed with the illness and after nine long months he’s now cancer-free.

It’s impressive. Zeldin has done quite a lot while battling cancer — and keeping it quiet from the public. 

He won his reelection the same month he was diagnosed; he was in Congress when the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol happened in January; he announced his run for governor and has been campaigning for that office since.

While he has been busy at work throughout his treatment, he also has done some things that a typical cancer patient would absolutely steer away from.

We’re happy to hear that he’s healthy again and he has beaten a disease that has taken thousands of lives. But what’s most concerning is that while going through chemotherapy, he chose not to wear a mask and, in fact, has taken a strong stance against them. 

Masks are protecting others — such as Zeldin now — who have compromised immune systems, and who are most at risk. 

It was discouraging to know now that the congressman has held several anti-mask and Unmask Our Kids rallies, where people were in close proximity to each other. 

Zeldin was the lucky one — other people are not always so lucky and with new variants spreading, immunocompromised people could be hit harder.

According to a new study published by University College London, cancer has become an increasing public health priority in the U.K. after vaccines and other measures continued to contain the spread of COVID-19. Findings from the study showed 40,000 late diagnoses of cancer due to a lack of emergency referrals by general doctors and fewer face-to-face appointments. Delays caused by lockdown could result in 10,000 people dying of cancer “significantly earlier” than would otherwise have been the case.

Could the U.S. follow suit? 

We hope that representatives such as Zeldin, who now has personal experience to relate to, will reconsider their stances on anti-masking, vaccinations and general public health. 

The cold months are coming, and germs will be everywhere — we need to keep each other safe. 

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Pixabay photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

In a fractured and uncertain world, the skill sets that make us marketable to potential friends, employers and neighbors have shifted.

Sure, competence, professionalism and experience can and do come in handy in the context of numerous environments. These days, though, getting along with others and navigating through the cacophony of frustration beamed into our living rooms and phones on an hourly basis seems to have elevated what otherwise might seem like trivial skill sets in another time.

I have come up with a list of skills or, perhaps more appropriately, qualities that might be helpful in the modern world.

I don’t overuse the word “literally.” To emphasize a point, people often literally throw the word “literally” into phrases, as in “I literally hate tofu.” I’m not sure you can figuratively hate tofu, but I don’t overuse that word.

I keep a straight face: even when confronted with outrageous claims in which others hold fast to ideas, to heroes or to patterns I find questionable or even objectionable, I don’t wince, roll my eyes or shout them down until I’m in the safe space of my home with my wife.

I know how to write a handwritten note. Electronic communication has become so ubiquitous that sharing a personal touch that comes from writing something by hand has scarcity value.

I have trained my dog to do exactly what he wants. Sure, other people have trained their dogs to sit, roll over, fetch the newspaper and come to them when they call, but my dog does exactly what he wants. That means when he wags at me, he’s genuinely excited to see me and he’s not just wagging because he’s expecting some immediate reward or punishment.

I can find almost anything in a supermarket. Having spent an embarrassing amount of time searching the supermarket for foods that satisfy four diets and that take the place of in-person dining and social interactions, I can find most items sooner than supermarket employees.  

Through a hard-target search of every bed sheet, blanket and pillowcase, I can find the remote control. While that may seem trivial, it shows a willingness to go the extra mile to avoid having to take a few extra steps to change the channel.

I speak teenager. Yes, they are wonderful people who not only have a shorthand way of speaking, but also have a tendency to multitask while they are talking, looking at their phones or speaking through a mouthful of food. I can interpret much of what they say even when they appear to be offering disconnected sounds in a guttural and frustrated language.

I can finish an entire chapter in a non James Patterson book without checking email or texts. That means I can concentrate for longer periods of time. Patterson is excluded because the chapters in his violent novels are often shorter than this column.

I can make myself laugh. Every week, I enter the New Yorker cartoon contest. The captions I write never win, but they make me laugh.

I have a wealth of untapped ideas. I look at all the masks around me and think, “Hmm, I could come up with so many new mask products.” For example, how about mood masks, which change color depending on the person’s mood? Or, perhaps, masks with the outline of states, presidents of the United States, or images of abolitionists, important women in history or slogans? Masks could become the equivalent of educational posters hung on the walls of classrooms or, if you prefer, facial bumper stickers, giving someone starting at our covered mouths a chance to read or see something new.

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Otto Heinrich Warburg

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

There are two good stories in “Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the search for the Cancer-Diet Connection.” The newly released book, by Sam Apple, is about the Nazi’s hunt for the cause of cancer and the remarkable support Hitler gave, before and during World War II, to Otto Warburg, a premier scientist, homosexual and Jew.

Hitler’s mother, possibly the only person he loved, died a painful death from breast cancer. Hitler, reportedly a vegetarian and a hypochondriac, periodically thought he was dying of cancer. Otto Warburg, who won the Nobel Prize in 1931 and had been nominated repeatedly for the prize during his career, did in-depth biochemical research on the metabolism of tumors, especially cancer cells. Despite Warburg’s several obvious drawbacks and outspoken criticism of Nazi values — he refused to have Nazi flags in his lab or offer the Nazi salute — Hitler protected him and allowed him to do his work.

Otto Heinrich Warburg, born in 1883 into a prominent family of bankers and scientists, first distinguished himself in the elite cavalry regiment, the Uhlans, during WWI. He won the Iron Cross for bravery and was still fighting at the front in 1918 when Albert Einstein, a close friend of his physicist father, wrote him a letter urging him to come home. Einstein told him that science needed him. That, combined with his breakthrough research before the war on sea urchins, and his aristocratic family, did much to solidify his lifetime arrogance.

He did return home, continued his distinguished work, and was named director of a Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin founded by the Rockefeller Foundation, designed by him in the Rococo style, in 1931. He proceeded with his investigations into the causes of cancer, which had been relatively rare until the 19th century but was exploding in numbers in the early 20th century. The German people, along with people in the United States and elsewhere, were terrified of the disease.

Warburg’s hypothesis was that cancer growth was caused by tumor cells generating energy (to reproduce) mainly by the anaerobic (no oxygen) fermentation of glucose. Healthy cells, by contrast, generate energy mainly from oxidative breakdown with the salt pyruvate in the mitochondria (part of the cell responsible for producing the cell’s energy.)  If you don’t understand those last sentences, it doesn’t matter. The point is that Warburg believed the primary cause of cancer was the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells with the fermentation of sugar. Therefore the culprit: SUGAR. 

Today the understanding of the cause of cancer is mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes that lead to a malignant transformation. The metabolic changes in cells that Warburg observed were not causative, today’s scientists believe, but the result of those mutations.

Warburg’s work offered support for the role of metabolism in the mitochondria in aiding tumor suppression. He oversimplified the complex interactions between the mitochondria and the cell nucleus, between metabolism and mutations.

After the war, Warburg did come to the United States, but his self-important personality, his tyrannical behavior in the lab, his imperiousness with his peers and finally his inability to admit error, all helped to push his research out of sight. He ultimately returned to Switzerland.

In the 1960s, scientific attention turned to the newly defined DNA and cancer-causing genes. Only with the new century has there been a metabolism revival and attention to the role of insulin and the link with obesity.

The book offers us interesting history, both about the Nazis and scientific research into the causes of cancer. Reading it will certainly make us think about what we eat.

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Pixabay photo

By Elof Axel Carlson

Elof Axel Carlson

Scientists study nature. Nature is the world we can observe. It includes things like life, from viruses to plants and animals, and to all forms of  humanity.  It includes the earth and its continents, oceans, and atmosphere.  It includes the moon, the planets and stars and galaxies. It includes the composition of all the objects we can see, touch, taste, smell, or hear.

What does it not include? Scientists call that aspect of our experience the supernatural. What is the supernatural?  It includes a belief in gods, souls, ghosts, spirits, devils, angels, saints, witches, goblins, trolls, leprechauns, and mythical beasts like unicorns, or snakes that speak intelligible language we can understand, or a host of imagined possibilities such as a fountain of youth, turning other metals into gold, devising perpetual motion machines, pills that can convert water into gasoline, or using the ground powder of rhinoceros horns to cure impotence in middle aged men. 

It also includes pseudo-sciences such as astrology, alchemy, palmistry, mind-reading, telekinesis, and other forms of extrasensory perception. The list is long, and scientists would strike off some of the supernatural if carefully controlled experiments are done to demonstrate them. Unfortunately, that has not occurred. 

Magicians are often allied with scientists in exposing the tricks other magicians and charlatans use to fool inexperienced or gullible people. Science has more mysteries to solve and does not need supernatural unproven claims to compete for an interpretation of the universe. Science uses reason, gathering of information or data, proposals of theories, testing of theories, instruments to amplify or supplement our senses, and experimentation to test predictions of theories. 

The supernatural depends on faith. It raises some difficulties. Whose gods are valid and whose have been demoted to myths? Is Zeus still alive? Is Osiris still alive? Is Gilgamesh still alive? Of our current deities, is Jesus an aspect of a Trinitarian deity or is he a human prophet who founded a new religion? If the Old Testament deity called Jehovah, Lord, or God is monotheistic, and if He is also the God of the Hebrew people of the Old Testament, is He the same God that Christians pray to and call Jesus?  

As these questions and concerns sink in, note that scientists exclude the numerous ways supernatural beings (represented in human or other forms of life) are accepted.  The supernatural events and things are accepted through faith. Science is universal and demands testable and repeatable evidence. It does not matter what country one lives in; water will consist of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. It will behave the same wherever it is studied and exists as a gas, liquid, or solid, depending on temperature and pressure. 

Science is very strict about the evidence needed for demonstrating something to science. Those who practice supernatural beliefs do so out of faith. There is no one universal supernatural system all people would agree to. But all people on earth will be convinced that striking a match to dry paper at room temperature, in breathable air, will ignite the paper and reduce it to ashes and release carbon dioxide into the air.

Elof Axel Carlson is a distinguished teaching professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University.

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Studies show that running just 5 to 10 minutes each day may help reduce your risk of death from heart attacks, strokes, and other common diseases. Pixabay photo
Add quality years with modest lifestyle changes

By David Dunaief, M.D.

Dr. David Dunaief

The number of 90-year-olds is growing in the U.S. According to the National Institutes of Health, those who were more than 90 years old increased by 2.5 times over a 30-year period from 1980 to 2010 (1). This group is among what researchers refer to as the “oldest-old,” which includes those aged 85 and older.

What do these people have in common? According to one study, they tend to have fewer chronic morbidities or diseases. Thus, they tend to have a better quality of life with greater physical functioning and mental acuity (2).

In a study of centenarians, genetics played a significant role. Characteristics of this group were that they tended to be healthy and then die rapidly, without prolonged suffering (3). In other words, they grew old “gracefully,” staying mobile and mentally alert.

Factors that predict one’s ability to reach this exclusive club may involve both genetics and life-style choices. Let’s look at the research.

Get modest exercise

We are told repeatedly to exercise. Here’s one reason. Results of one study showed that 5 to 10 minutes of daily running, regardless of the pace, can have a significant impact on life span by decreasing cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (4).

Amazingly, even if participants ran fewer than six miles per week at a pace slower than 10-minute miles, and even if they ran only one to two days a week, there was still a decrease in mortality compared to nonrunners. Those who ran for this very short amount of time potentially added three years to their life span. There were 55,137 participants ranging in age from 18 to 100 years old.

An accompanying editorial to this study noted that more than 50 percent of people in the United States do not meet the current recommendation of at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day (5).

Reduce animal protein

A long-standing paradigm has been that we need to eat sufficient animal protein. However, cracks have developed in this theory, especially as it relates to longevity.

In an observational study using NHANES III data, results show that those who ate a high-protein diet (greater than 20 percent of calories from protein) had a twofold increased risk of all-cause mortality, a four-times increased risk of cancer mortality, and a four-times increased risk of dying from diabetes (6). This was over a considerable duration of 18 years and involved almost 7,000 participants ranging in age at the start of the study from 50 to 65.

However, this did not hold true if the protein source was plants. In fact, a high-protein plant diet may reduce the risks, not increase them. The reason, according to the authors, is that animal protein may increase insulin growth factor-1 and growth hormones that have detrimental effects on the body.

The Adventists Health Study 2 trial reinforced this data. It looked at Seventh-day Adventists, a group that emphasizes a plant-based diet, and found that those who ate animal protein once a week or less had a significantly reduced risk of dying over the next six years compared to those who were more frequent meat eaters (7). This was an observational trial with over 73,000 participants and a median age of 57 years old.

Reduce systemic inflammation

In the Whitehall II study, a specific marker for inflammation was measured, interleukin-6. The study showed that higher levels did not bode well for participants’ longevity (8). In fact, if participants had elevated IL-6 (>2.0 ng/L) at both baseline and at the end of the 10-year follow-up period, their probability of healthy aging decreased by almost half.

The good news is that inflammation can be improved significantly with lifestyle changes.

The takeaway from this study is that IL-6 is a relatively common biomarker for inflammation that can be measured with a simple blood test offered by most major laboratories. This study involved 3,044 participants over the age of 35 who did not have a stroke, heart attack or cancer at the beginning of the study.

The bottom line is that, although genetics are important for longevity, so too are lifestyle choices. A small amount of exercise and replacing animal protein with plant protein can contribute to a substantial increase in healthy life span. IL-6 may be a useful marker for inflammation, which could help predict healthy or unhealthy outcomes. Therefore, why not have a discussion with your doc-tor about testing to see if you have an elevated IL-6? Lifestyle modifications may be able to reduce these levels.

References:

(1) nia.nih.gov. (2) J Am Geriatr Soc. 2009;57:432-440. (3) Future of Genomic Medicine (FoGM) VII. Presented March 7, 2014. (4) J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;64:472-481. (5) J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;64:482-484. (6) Cell Metab. 2014;19:407-417. (7) JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173:1230-1238. (8) CMAJ. 2013;185:E763-E770.

Dr. David Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com. 

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