PEACEFUL SUMMER’S EVE
Ellen Segal of Port Jefferson snapped this serene photo at Long Beach in Nissequogue just moments before the sun set on Aug. 9.
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Editorial: Slight against science
When the National Institutes of Health funds scientific research, the government is investing in hope. The people with the purse strings believe the scientists have the potential for progress, whether from a fundamental discovery or a breakthrough translational finding. Work in these labs may save and extend the lives of our fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers.
On Sept. 12, a cancer scientist at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University was charged with seven counts of stealing state and federal funds, wire fraud and money laundering when he allegedly funneled more than $200,000 of his research money into his own pockets, in part to pay his mortgage.
Taxpayers are a victim in this alleged fraud. Fellow scientists, who might have otherwise received the funds, are also greatly harmed, along with patients awaiting medical help and the support systems for all those patients. In other words, most of us — in one way or another — have been pickpocketed.
So, what’s supposed to happen now? If Geoffrey Girnun is guilty — due process will determine that and he has pleaded not guilty — he will face prison time, fines and other punishments. Girnun allegedly was self-dealing his grant money into shell companies. Perhaps the system where potential conflicts of interest exist needs a closer look, both from funding agencies and from the university.
It’s also crucial that SBU and the NIH pay especially close attention to this criminal case. They need to know all the details of this alleged fraud so they can monitor other scientists and make sure they close any gaps in the funding process. We, the taxpayers, need to be confident that the money the government invests goes toward the hunt for scientific discovery.
What shouldn’t happen? The NIH shouldn’t turn off the tap for scientists at SBU or elsewhere, or create unrealistic hurdles, to receive funding or reimbursement. As it is, many researchers spend considerable time applying for funds and, once they receive them, justifying every penny. Slowing that process down would make them less productive, hurting their research and cutting back on their benefits to the whole of humanity.
Scientific studies seek to understand cause and effect — actions and reactions. When doctors treat cancer patients, they try to balance between the need to eradicate cells with cancerous programming and the potential danger of collateral cellular damage to avoid wiping out healthy and productive cells. The treatment for this alleged fraud should do the same, trying to prevent other such corruption without shutting down valuable science.
D. None of the Above: Our first trip to the animal hospital with our chocolate eating dog
By Daniel Dunaief
Dogs are incredibly stupid. OK, now that I’ve got your attention, I realize that not all dogs lack intelligence. Lassie and Balto both saved the day.
I suspect many dogs, like mine who is now 1 year old, are only as smart as their training.
And they need something almost as often as a young child. What’s the matter, boy? You need to go out? Why are you barking, buddy? Do you see a squirrel? Is the neighbor out watering the grass again? That’s OK, you don’t need to bark at him every time he takes out the hose.
Recently, my wife made chocolate chip cookies. She says that we make them together, but my only job is to put them in the oven, wait for them to rise a bit, make sure the edges are cooked and then allow them to finish baking while they cool on the hot tray. She’s the master chef and I am the cookie flash fryer.
Anyway, the house was starting to develop that wonderful baked goods smell. My wife, son and I were eagerly awaiting the moment when I could bring the hot plate to the master bed, where we could make “mmm” noises at each other as we talked about the day and compared this batch to the ones we had a few months ago, as if we were reviewers on a cooking show.
The young dog has gotten used to the routine. He stands in the kitchen with his ears pitched forward, waiting for his best friend gravity to deliver something to him on the floor, which is, generally, his domain. He follows us back and forth to get the ingredients from the pantry and then to bring those ingredients back.
At 85 pounds, he is a large dog and his eye level has gotten closer to the mixer and the ingredients. We try to push everything to the middle of the island in the kitchen.
After doling out the hot cookies onto a plate into the shape of an edible pyramid, I left the room for a moment. When I returned, I shouted in astonishment. The dog had his front legs on the high counter and was reaching his long neck, tongue and head as far as he could. He had devoured half the plate.
After admonishing him for eating food that wasn’t his and that was dangerous, I locked him in a room without carpets and called the vet, who asked if I could give an exact number of chips he ate. Of course I couldn’t, which meant I had to bring him in, where the vet would empty the chocolate the dog had stolen.
My wife joined me for our evening adventure. After a few moments, the vet brought our surprisingly happy dog to us in a waiting room and told us he’d also eaten some plastic and a bottle cap. She allayed my embarrassment by telling me that her colleague’s dog — she’s a vet, remember — has had five operations because of the nonfood he’s swallowed that has blocked his system. Her colleague’s dog now wears a satellite dish around his head. While the reception is terrible, he doesn’t need emergency procedures anymore.
For all the frustration, the cleaning, the shedding, the wet dog smell, our dog is more than happy to have me, my family member, or the neighbor on the left with the garden hose or on the right with a howling dog, run hands through his wonderfully soft fur. He may not be the smartest or easiest dog on the block, but he is ours and we do get some perks here and there, in between rescuing half chewed flip-flops and slippers.
Between You and Me: History, with its anniversaries, is the source of endless tales
By Leah S. Dunaief
Anniversaries sometimes bring out interesting tidbits of history. One such anniversary involves events that happened 500 years ago. In September 1519, Hernán Cortés met the ruler Montezuma II in what was the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán that is now Mexico City. Records tell us that Cortés was greeted cordially, in part because his arrival happened to coincide with Aztec expectations of a god returning right at that time. To the Aztecs, the Spanish — 500 strong, with their pale skins, guns, canons and horses — must indeed have seemed godlike. The indigenous people had never before seen horses, nor had they any familiarity with gunpowder. Montezuma sent out envoys to meet the newcomers and welcome them to the city.
The Spanish conquistadors, for their part, had different intentions, as we know from elementary school history. For them it was the Age of Exploration. Christopher Columbus had shown the way in 1492, and young Cortés, bored studying law in Salamanca, western Spain, was eager to follow in those footsteps.
So who was Hernán Cortés?
He was born into a noble but not wealthy family in 1485 and was smart and ambitious. The original intention of the explorers was to find a passage to the Far East, from which they could bring back nutmeg, cloves, pepper and cinnamon, the spices so desired by Europeans. But Cortés wanted to explore the New World to seize more land for Spain and ultimately convert the natives in the Americas to Catholicism even as he plundered their gold, gems and made himself rich. The landscape in the 16th century was dramatically changing, with Afro-Eurasian trade connecting a global economy. Opportunity existed for acquiring great wealth.
In 1504, Cortés set sail for Hispaniola — now Haiti and the Dominican Republic — where he became a notary and farmer. In 1511, he joined Diego Velásquez on an expedition to conquer Cuba, where he eventually became the equivalent of mayor of Santiago. Then he persuaded Velásquez to enable a voyage to Mexico, and despite an order at the last minute canceling the trip, he set sail with 11 ships, 500 men and 16 horses, and landed in the Yucatán Peninsula, on the east coast of Mexico, in 1519.
He was, by all accounts, astounded by the gruesome rituals and human sacrifices he saw there, and he replaced pagan idols with crosses and figures of the Virgin Mary. Like so many of the other conquistadors, he regarded the natives as inferior culturally, technologically and religiously. When he encountered resistance in a place called Tabasco, he overpowered the opposition and was given, among other prizes, 20 women slaves.
One was La Malinche, who became an important figure in his life and in his eventual success in conquering Montezuma, for she was able to learn languages and translated Mayan and Aztec for him after she learned Spanish. She also bore him a son, one of the first children of mixed heritage. However, when eventually his wife joined him in Mexico from Spain, Cortés appears not to have acknowledged either his mistress or son.
The rest, as we know, is history. Cortés went on to conquer the Aztecs, with the help both of some of the dissident tribes the Aztecs ruled and smallpox, against which the natives had no immunity. An estimated 3 million indigenous people fell victim to the disease. Cortés sacked the sophisticated capital city and began rebuilding Mexico City on its ruins. Although he was eventually appointed governor of New Spain, he was removed from power by Spanish King Charles I in 1526. Cortés went on to discover Baja, California, in the 1530s. His first wife had died in 1522 and he remarried, fathering several children along the way. Ultimately he returned to Spain, where he died in 1547 in his early 60s, frustrated and embittered that he had not received the recognition and rewards he felt he was owed.
Another anniversary this week, the 80th, is of when Germany marched into Poland and launched the Second World War. But that is another tale.
Shelter Pet of the Week: Melody
Update: Melody has been adopted!
MEET MELODY!
This week’s featured shelter pet is Melody, an 8-month-old, tortoiseshell kitten with beautiful green eyes. Melody is extremely sweet and friendly and loves to cuddle. She would be a great addition to a family with children.
Melody is spayed, microchipped and is up to date on all her vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Melody and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
Photo courtesy of Kent Animal Shelter
D. None of the Above: Back to school thoughts, and more
By Daniel Dunaief
There’s just far too much going on personally and professionally to contain it within a singularly focused column. Strap yourselves in, because here we go.
For starters, how awesome is the start of the school year? Kids grumble, shuffle their feet, roll their eyes and sigh. But, come on. It’s a clean slate. It’s a chance to learn new material, make new friends and start anew with teachers who didn’t wonder what was wrong with you when your eyes were almost closed during the days before you got sick. It’s also a chance for parents to breathe a sigh of relief as the chaotic house, which was filled with friends coming and going throughout the summer, establishes a predictable routine.
I spoke with a high school senior recently who was absolutely thrilled with the start of her final year of school. Not only does she want to get her grade point average up, which she was doing with a high average in her weakest subject, but she was also incredibly enthusiastic about the opportunity to apply to her favorite college. Her energy and enthusiasm were
infectious.
Keep up: Here comes another topic. The other day, after I dropped my son off at school, I passed a father who put me and so many other parents to shame. He was pushing a fully loaded double stroller with two children who were between 2 and 4 years old. Anyone who has had to push a double stroller with bigger children knows how heavy that bus on wheels can get. He also sported a younger child in a BabyBjörn carrier. That’s not where it ended. While he was pushing and carrying three children, he was walking an enormous dog. Given the size of the dog, I wondered if he was tempted to strap a saddle on the animal and put one of the kids on top of him. Yes, I know that wouldn’t actually work, but it would distribute all that child weight more evenly and would give “man’s best friend” a job to do, other than getting rid of waste products on other people’s lawns.
Speaking of dogs, yes, my family now has a dog. He’s wonderful, soft and fluffy and is also an enormous pain in the buttocks. He has two modes of walking: He either pulls me really hard — he weighs more than 80 pounds — or he completely stops, pushing his snout into grass that he tries to eat and which upsets his stomach. Look, doggie dog, I know I can’t eat dairy because of the enormous negative consequences. Does it occur to you that eating grass, dirt, plastic foam cups and pencils is bad for your digestion? Of course not because the only cause and effect you care about relates to what goes in your mouth.
So, last weekend we went to a baseball tournament for our son. The day after the tournament, the coach sent a pointed note to the parents, reminding us to contact him if we had a problem or question, rather than going straight to management. In case you were wondering, I don’t miss coaching.
Then there’s National Security Advisor John Bolton. So, he gets fired for being a hawk? Who knew he was a hawk? Oh, wait, just about the whole world. So, that begs the question: If his hawkish views weren’t welcome or wanted, why was he hired in the first place?
One more question: When did the weather or hurricane warnings become political?
Medical Compass: Tackling cardiovascular disease
Lifestyle changes put you in control
By David Dunaief, M.D.
Even though cardiovascular disease has been on the decline, it is still the number one killer of Americans, responsible for almost 30 percent of deaths per year (1). Let’s start with a quiz of your cardiovascular disease IQ. The questions below are either true or false. The answers and evidence are provided after.
1. Fish oil supplements help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality.
2. Fiber has significant beneficial effects on heart disease prevention.
3. Unlike sugary sodas and drinks, diet soda is most likely not a contributor to this disease.
4. Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to cardiovascular disease.
Now that was not so difficult. Or was it? The answers are as follows: 1-F, 2-T, 3-F, 4-T. Regardless of whether you know the answers, the reasons are even more important to know. Let’s look at the evidence.
Fish oil
There is a whole industry built around fish oil and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet the data don’t seem to confirm this theory. In the age-related eye disease study 2 (AREDS2), unfortunately, 1 gram of fish oil (long chain omega-3 fatty acids) daily did not demonstrate any benefit in the prevention of cardiovascular disease nor its resultant mortality (2). This study was done over a five-year period in the elderly with macular degeneration. The cardiovascular primary endpoint was a tangential portion of the ophthalmic AREDS2. This does not mean that fish, itself, falls into that same category, but for now there does not seem to be a need to take fish oil supplements for heart disease, except potentially for those with very high triglycerides. Fish oil, at best, is controversial; at worst, it has no benefit with cardiovascular disease.
Fiber
We know that fiber tends to be important for a number of diseases, and cardiovascular disease does not appear to be an exception. In a meta-analysis involving 22 observational studies, the results showed a linear relationship between fiber intake and a decreased risk for developing cardiovascular disease (3). In other words, for every 7 grams of fiber consumed, there was a 9 percent reduced risk of developing the disease. It did not matter the source of the fiber from plant foods; vegetables, grains and fruit all decreased the risk of cardiovascular disease. This did not involve supplemental fiber, like that found in Fiber One or Metamucil. To give you an idea about how easy it is to get a significant amount of fiber, one cup of lentils has 15.6 grams of fiber, one cup of raspberries or green peas has almost 9 grams and one medium-size apple has 4.4 grams. Americans are sorely deficient in fiber (4).
Diet soda
Analysis of the Northern Manhattan study, a population-based study of 4,400 adults in New York City suggests that daily diet soda intake may increase the risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular events, such as stroke (5). In those drinking diet soda daily, there was an increased likelihood they experienced a cardiovascular event, such as a stroke or heart attack during the study period. These results took into account confounding factors like smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. Interestingly, the same effect was not found with lower levels of diet soda or sugared soda consumption.
Vitamin D
The results of an observational study in the elderly suggest that vitamin D deficiency may be associated with cardiovascular disease risk. The study showed that those whose vitamin D levels were low had increased inflammation, demonstrated by elevated biomarkers including C-reactive protein (CRP) (6). This biomarker is related to inflammation of the heart, though it is not as specific as one would hope.
What have we learned?
Study after study has shown benefit with fiber. So if you want to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, consume as much whole food fiber as possible. While the effects of diet soda are still being studied, early results suggest we should limit or eliminate our intake. Also, since we live in the Northeast, consider taking at least 1,000 IUs of vitamin D daily. This is a simple way to help thwart the risk of the number one killer.
References:
(1) hhs.gov. (2) JAMA Intern Med. Online March 17, 2014. (3) BMJ 2013; 347:f6879. (4) Am J Med. 2013 Dec;126(12):1059-67.e1-4. (5) J Gen Intern Med. 2012 Sep;27(9):1120-6. (6) J Clin Endocrinol Metab online February 24, 2014.
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, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com or consult your personal physician.
Ask the Vet: The infamous list of 16 FDA-‘banned’ diets
By Matthew Kearns, DVM
I recently had a pet owner come in and ask me what I knew about the list of FDA-banned diets for dogs. I felt I’d better not be behind the times, so time to do some research.
I took a quick trip to the FDA’s website and found the article to which all the hub-bub was linked. What I found was that the FDA did not ban any diets but did list 16 brands of dog food that were linked to 500 cases of a heart condition called dilatory cardiomyopathy, or DCM for short. The study ran from 2014 to 2019. I will not list the 16 diets, but they can be found on the FDA’s official website in the report.
I need to start with a disclaimer that there is no current evidence to link grain-free diets and heart disease, but here’s what we know so far: New studies have found that some dogs on grain-free diets are more at risk for canine DCM.
DCM is a heart condition where the heart muscle becomes thin and the heart dilates, or the chambers of the heart expand. Unfortunately, as the heart dilates, the heart becomes an inefficient pump and the patient goes into heart failure. The lung and abdomen then fill with fluid, making it impossible to breathe and, without treatment, is fatal. Even with treatment the patient’s life span is reduced dramatically.
Why would grain-free diets cause this? The link seems to be taurine.
Taurine is an amino acid, or building block of protein, that is essential for normal heart function. It is found in higher concentrations in muscle of animals including red meats, poultry and seafood. Plants contain very little to no taurine. The lowest concentrations of taurine are found in legumes (peas, chick peas), potatoes and other plants. Some dog foods are supplemented with taurine and some are not.
In 2018, A study led by Dr. Joshua Stern (a veterinary cardiologist at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine) found a higher number of DCM in golden retrievers. Stern also discovered that many of these patients were on a grain-free diet and had abnormally low taurine levels.
In June of 2019 the FDA released a report that found 500 cases of DCM related to 16 diets. Golden retrievers were the most common breed affected. All of the diets listed were labeled “grain free” or contained legumes.
An actual link between grain-free diets and DCM has not been definitively established, but research is ongoing and I will update everyone as soon as I have more information.
Dr. Kearns practices veterinary medicine from his Port Jefferson office and is pictured with his son Matthew and his dog Jasmine. Have a question for the vet? Email it to [email protected] to see his answer in an upcoming column
Legally Speaking: Can you disinherit your family?
THE FACTS: I have been estranged from my family for many years. I want to be sure that family members are not able to inherit from my estate
THE QUESTION: Is that possible?
THE ANSWER: While you cannot disinherit your spouse, you can certainly take steps to prevent your siblings, children, cousins and other blood relatives from getting a share of your estate. However, keep in mind that even if they are not successful in inheriting from your estate, certain relatives can try to recover against your estate if you do not plan properly. Defeating claims against your estate could be time consuming and costly.
HOW IT WORKS:
You did not mention whether you were married and, if so, whether you were estranged from your spouse as well as from other family members. If you do have a spouse, she will be entitled to a share of your estate upon your death regardless of what you may do with your assets.
Spouses have a statutory right of election that entitles the surviving spouse to one-third of most of their deceased spouses’ assets, even if those assets are jointly held or are in a trust. Getting a divorce or getting your spouse to waive her spousal rights are the only options you have for defeating any claim she may make against your estate.
As for other family members, you can ensure that they do not get a share of your estate if you transfer all of our assets into a trust. Unlike a will that is subject to court oversight upon your death, a trust is generally free of such oversight. In most cases, people who are not named as beneficiaries in the trust are not even required to be given notice of the grantor’s death. That means that trust assets can be distributed without notice to your family.
If you do not want to transfer assets into a trust, you can execute a will that explicitly states that you do not want the family members identified in the will to share in your estate.
While some people believe leaving a nominal amount of money to the people they do not want to inherit will convince them not to contest their will, that strategy rarely works. If someone would be entitled to $50,000 if a will was denied probate, it is unlikely that they will accept $10 to simply walk away.
It is important to note that only certain family members have the right to contest a will. If you have children, for example, they could contest your will because, if you died without a will, they would be in line to inherit.
In that case, your siblings could not contest your will because your children have priority. Your siblings could only contest your will if you die without a spouse, parents or children. When deciding how to proceed with your estate plan, it will be helpful to understand the circumstances under which certain family members can try to recover against your estate.
If you are serious about protecting your estate from your family, you should consult with an experienced estate planning attorney. Working with an attorney who regularly deals with the issue of estranged family members is the best way to ensure that your estate plan will meet your needs.
Linda M. Toga, Esq. provides legal services in the areas of estate planning, real estate, small business services and litigation from her East Setauket office. Visit her website at www.lmtogalaw.com or call 631-444-5605 to schedule a free consultation.
BNL clears milestone for state-of-the-art telescope
By Daniel Dunaief
What’s out there? It’s a question that occurs to everyone from parents sleeping at night who hear a noise in the front yard to tourists aboard a whale watching cruise off the coast of Montauk to anyone looking up at the night sky.
Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory recently took a milestone step in a long journey to understanding objects and forces deep in space when they completed shipment of the last of 21 rafts that will become a part of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, or LSST, in the Cerro Pachón ridge in north central Chile.
The rafts will serve as the film in a camera that will take images that cover 40 times the area of the moon in a single exposure.
The telescope, which will be the world’s largest digital camera for astronomy, will allow researchers and the general public to view asteroids at great distances. It will also provide information about dark energy and dark matter, changes in the night sky over the course of a decade of collecting data, and data that can build on knowledge about the formation and structure of the Milky Way.
Paul O’Connor, a senior scientist at BNL’s Instrumentation Division who has worked on the LSST for 17 years, expressed appreciation for the efforts of people ranging from area high schoolers to senior scientists on the project.
“It was just a joy to see the dedication from everyone to get what needed to be done,” he said in an email. “It takes a team like that to complete a project like this.”
The LSST, which is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, involves researchers from institutions all over the world who have each played a role in moving the unique telescope toward completion.
While the rafts that will function as the film for the 3.2-gigapixel sensor array are completed, O’Connor will continue to work on commissioning the telescope, which should occur gradually until it begins providing data in October of 2022.
O’Connor said the construction of the 21 raft modules containing a total of 200 16-megapixel sensors involved “moments of drama, both good and bad.”
The first time the team brought the system into its operating temperature range of about 100 degrees below zero Celsius, some of the cool-down behavior “differed from our predictions,” he explained.
That required quick thinking to make sure the equipment wasn’t damaged. This was especially important not only because the operation needed to stay on schedule but also because the rafts are expensive and the team was operating on a budget. “Each of these rafts has an enormous cash value” and involved considerable labor to build, O’Connor added.
Bill Wahl, the science raft subsystem manager of the LSST project since 2015, described how one of the challenges involved packing and shipping such sensitive electronic materials.
“We came up with a very elegant and somewhat low-cost approach,” he said, which involved shipping these rafts in a pressurized vessel that avoided damage during any shocks in transit.
The rafts, which each weighs about 25 pounds, had a shipping weight that included protective fixtures of over 100 pounds.
Additionally, the BNL team had to deal with cleanliness, as particulates can and did cause problems. Some of the rafts didn’t function the way they should have after shipping. The BNL team went through a complete refurbishing over six months, where they took all the rafts apart and cleaned them. They upgraded the design to limit the amount of particulates, Wahl said.
While BNL built the requisite rafts, it has an additional two rafts that can replace any of those in the telescope if necessary.
These extra rafts will be stored at the observatory.
Along with the challenges and some anxiety from building such sensitive equipment, the instrumentation unit also had several high points.
In January of 2017, BNL tested one of the rafts in the clean room. Scientists constructed an image projector and projected that onto the raft with enough detail to show that every pixel was functioning correctly. O’Connor made a printout of that image and taped it to his office door.
The day of the successful test was one that the team had been anticipating for “over 10 years. When the first image was delivered, it was very gratifying to see the system was working,” he said.
While O’Connor isn’t a cosmologist, he is particularly interested in the search for dark energy. “It has been puzzling the theorists and as experimentalists, we hope to take measurements that will one day lead to a resolution of this fundamental question,” he explained.
Several teams are working on the LSST in different locations. One of them is constructing the telescope in Chile, while another is assembling the camera in California.
At this point, technicians have installed about half the rafts into the main camera cryostat. Researchers will conduct a preliminary test before populating the rest of the focal plane with all the rafts later this year, O’Connor explained.
As the LSST catalogues four billion galaxies, it will “literally be impossible” to look at these areas item by item. Informatics tools will be necessary to extract all the information, O’Connor said.
Wahl suggested that the LSST could become an important educational tool for budding astronomers.
“I’m not an astronomer or physicist,” said Wahl, who will become the chief operating officer of an instrumentation group at BNL on Oct. 1, “but from my point of view, what I find absolutely amazing is that everyone relies heavily on Google Earth to look at where they are going. In a similar way, [people] are going to do that in the sky. It’s going to give them the opportunity to be junior astronomers unlike they’ve ever been able to do.”
Indeed, the LSST will help people figure out what’s out there.
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