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By Matthew Kearns, DVM

I can’t even recall how many times a feline with a runny nose enters my clinic. A kitten is a little more straightforward as an infection is most likely the cause.But what happens when an adult cat presents? What if this cat is the only cat in the household? What if the cat never goes outside? This is when it gets interesting (and sometimes a touch frustrating).

The most common infection associated with a chronic upper respiratory infection is a combination of a herpes and calicivirus. Feline herpesvirus is similar to the human herpesvirus in that it never leaves the host and becomes active during times of stress and illness. The stress of pregnancy, labor and delivery causes the mother cat to start shedding virus.

The kittens are exposed to the virus either when passing through the birth canal or shortly after birth during grooming by the mother. If infected as a kitten, the cat can be predisposed to infections throughout its lifetime. Not only does the herpesvirus make the cat feel ill, but it also allows opportunistic bacterial infections to set in and then you have a real mess.

In addition, these cats shed the virus, increasing the risk of infecting other cats. Luckily, two of the components of the feline distemper vaccine (FVRCP vaccine) are a feline herpesvirus and feline calicivirus. The vaccine contains killed or weakened virus and is designed to stimulate the immune system without causing disease or illness. If your cat goes outside or is in contact with a cat that goes outside, make sure to see your veterinarian every year to update this vaccine.

If infected by the virus as a kitten, a cat can be predisposed to infections throughout its lifetime.

Other causes of the feline upper respiratory syndrome include nasal foreign bodies (grass blades or other plant material), fungal infections (more common in cats adopted from the South or Southwest), tumors (benign polyps or cancer of the nasal passages), allergies or tooth root abscesses.

When a feline patient presents with symptoms of an upper respiratory problem the big question is, “how do we veterinarians determine what is causing the symptoms?” The character of the discharge (if there is one) holds significant clues. If the discharge is serous (clear and watery), it is more likely an allergy or early viral. If it is purulent (thick and green), it is more likely some sort of bacterial infection.

As briefly discussed earlier, a bacterial infection is usually secondary to some other primary disease process, which means that we need to keep searching for the primary cause. Sometimes we veterinarians can look in the mouth and actually see a rotten tooth or a mass/tumor, but many times it’s just not that easy. Blood work and X-rays help but are rarely diagnostic. X-rays are usually of other body cavities initially (such as the chest or abdominal cavities) because the skull and sinuses require anesthesia.

If the patient is anesthetized, we will usually look behind the soft palate with special instruments and mirrors and flush the sinuses with saline. This is also helpful but not always diagnostic.

A study at the University of Missouri Veterinary School reviewed the charts of cats with chronic nasal discharge. Results from this study revealed a diagnosis was only achieved 36 percent of the time. The University of Missouri Veterinary Health Center has not only the very best veterinarians available to them but also advanced diagnostics such as CT, MRI, rhinoscopy (a camera you can stick up the sinuses), biopsies etc. Ughhhh!!!

In conclusion, if your cat does develop signs of an upper respiratory infection, hopefully it resolves quickly with medication. If not, don’t get too frustrated with your veterinarian if an exact diagnosis is difficult to come by.

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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Claire Belllerjeau presents a lecture at the Setauket Neighborhood House. Photo by Beverly Tyler

By Beverly C. Tyler

“Spies” Nest: Major John André’s Activities at Raynham Hall in Oyster Bay, was the featured program for the Three Village Historical Society’s free lecture series at the Setauket Neighborhood House Feb. 27.

Historian Claire Bellerjeau presented her famed lecture on the British Revolutionary War spymaster John André to an eager audience of historians, history buffs, society members and the general public. Bellerjeau began her dramatic presentation by reminding the audience that there has been a great deal of misinformation written and presented as fact about the people and events of the Revolutionary War over the past two-and-a-half centuries. Many of the stories and tales surrounding the activities of British officers and their relationships with the Townsend family in Oyster Bay have grown with the telling and were perpetuated by writer after writer using the same undocumented sources that became the justification around which a dramatic story was created.

Bellerjeau, presently an historian for the Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay, the ancestral home of General George Washington’s Culper Spy Robert Townsend, traveled to the archives of the New York Historical Society, the William L. Clements Library in Michigan and to Toronto, Canada to research the Revolutionary War era documents that tell a more accurate, and no less dramatic story of the events surrounding the life and death of Major John André, the chief of British intelligence in New York City who worked secretly to assist Continental Army General Benedict Arnold in his effort to turn the American fortress at West Point over to the British.

André visited the British headquarters of British Major John Graves Simcoe at the Townsend home, now Raynham Hall, in Oyster Bay a number of times as the two British officers were friends who corresponded with each other regularly. However, the story of Sally Townsend overhearing a conversation about General Benedict Arnold between the two officers and informing her brother Robert Townsend­­—­alias Samuel Culper Jr. of the Culper Spy Ring­—is just that, a story, as the facts uncovered by Bellerjeau definitely place them in other locations at that critical time.

Bellerjeau’s enthusiastic presentation featured the actual documentary evidence she uncovered which also included material by Long Island historian Benjamin Franklin Thompson of Setauket and other historians, as well as original documentary evidence in the archival collection of the East Hampton Library.

For additional information on the Setauket-based Revolutionary War Culper Spy Ring and the role of British spy Major John André, visit the Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay and the SPIES! Exhibit at the Three Village Historical Society History Center on North Country Road in Setauket.

The next Three Village Historical Society lecture series presentation will be a pot luck supper and lecture “The Witchcraft of Goody Garlick” presented by Tata Rider at the Setauket Neighborhood House Monday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. The public is invited to this free program, just bring a covered-dish entree that serves six. A wine and cheese reception at 6:00 p.m. will precede the supper and program. Sponsored jointly by the society and the Setauket Neighborhood House Association.            

Beverly Tyler is Three Village Historical Society historian and author of books available from the Three Village Historical Society, 93 North Country Road, Setauket. For more information call 631-751-3730 or visit www.tvhs.org.

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Waldo

WHERE’S WALDO?

Waldo

He’s at Kent Animal Shelter, of course! Waldo is a 1½-year-old basset hound mix who would just love to be a part of your family! He likes other dogs and children, loves to go for walks and weighs approximately 34 pounds.

Waldo is neutered, microchipped, dewormed and is up to date on all his vaccines. Come meet him today! Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. For more information on Waldo and other adoptable pets at Kent, please call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.

Update: Waldo has been adopted!

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A LIGHT FOR ALL SEASONS Huberto Pimentel of East Setauket captured this image of the Old Field Lighthouse on Feb. 17 using his Nikon D7100. Constructed in 1868 for the sum of $12,000, it replaced the original smaller lighthouse that had been there since 1823 to accommodate the increasing shipping traffic of Long Island Sound. Located at the end of Old Field Road between the entrances to Port Jefferson Harbor and Stony Brook Harbor, the lighthouse is constructed in the Victorian-Gothic Revival style, similar to Block Island North Lighthouse in Rhode Island, Morgan Point , Sheffield Island and Great Captain Island lighthouses in Connecticut and Long Island’s Plum Island Lighthouse.

Send your Photo of the Week to [email protected].

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Benjamin Martin in his lab at Stony Brook University. Photo courtesy of SBU

By Daniel Dunaief

Last week, the Times Beacon Record Newspapers profiled the work of David Matus, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Matus and Benjamin Martin, who has the same title in the same department, are working together on a new cancer study.

While neither Matus nor Martin are cancer biologists, these researchers have experience in developmental biology with different organisms that could contribute to insights in cancer. Specifically, they are exploring the processes that lead to cell division or invasion. Matus is working with the transparent roundworm, while Martin is focusing on the zebrafish.

The duo recently won the 2017 Damon Runyon–Rachleff Innovation Award, which includes a grant of $300,000. Martin got involved in the research “based on learning more about [Matus’] work and the general hypothesis” about division and invasion, Martin said. The overall perspective is that the cell doesn’t “invade through tissues and divide at the same time.”

Martin has done innovative work with a neuromesodermal progenitor in the zebrafish. These cells are highly plastic and can give rise to numerous other cell types. Martin is focused on trying to understand the basic biology of these cells.

From left, David Matus and Benjamin Martin in the lab where they investigate metastatic cancer. Photo courtesy of SBU

Martin is known for the “very original discovery that a signaling protein called Wnt can regulate the decision between these progenitor cells becoming muscle or neurons,” explained David Kimelman, a professor of Biochemistry at the University of Washington who oversaw Martin’s research when he was a postdoctoral student.

“What is very nice is that [Martin’s] discovery in zebrafish has since been replicated in other organisms such as the mouse and even in human stem cells, showing that this is a fundamental property of vertebrates,” Kimelman explained in an email.

Similar to Matus’ work with the worm, Martin has been working with cells that go through invasive behavior and don’t engage in cell proliferative activities. “We already knew that notochord progenitors are not proliferating when they undergo convergence and extension” from other published works, explained Martin in an email. “Since notochord progenitors exist in the tailbud and we were already studying them, it was a natural jumping off point to address the same question.”

Martin is testing a transcription factor, called brachyury, which drives metasasis-like behavior in human cancer cells. He has studied this transcription factor in the context of early zebrafish development and will see if it helps drive metastasis through inhibition of the cell cycle. At this point, Martin said, there is some “evidence that it does arrest the cell cycle” using human cells in another lab.

So far, the work he has done with brachyury and the cell cycle/invasion in zebrafish is preliminary. Their hypothesis is that halting the cell cycle is a prerequisite for invasive behavior. Like the roundworm, the embryonic zebrafish is transparent, which makes it easier to observe cellular changes.

One of the goals of the project is “to observe the cell cycle of human cancer as it invades through tissues in the fish embryo,” Martin said. In the long term, he hopes to see whether the overexpression of a transcription factor Matus has found in the worm is sufficient to drive metastasis in the zebrafish.

Martin described winning the Damon Runyon–Rachleff Award as “exciting,” and suggested that it “pushes back a little bit of the worry phase” of finding funding for compelling scientific projects. Kimelman said Martin is an “exceptional scientist” and one of the “best I have had the privilege to train.”

Kimelman believes the work Martin and Matus are doing has the potential to provide “important insight into the basic changes that occur during cancer as cells become metastatic,” he explained in an email. “While it doesn’t immediately lead to a therapeutic, understanding the basic biology of cancer is the first step to defining new ways of affecting it.”

Kimelman particularly appreciated the way Matus and Martin combined two different model systems, which offers the potential to provide insight into the basic changes that occur during cancer as cells become metastatic.

Martin learned about science and research during his formative years. His father Presley Martin was a graduate student at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore when the younger Martin was born. Presley Martin recently retired from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he studied the genetics of the fruit fly Drosophila. “At a young age, I was exposed to a lot of the lab and experiments and it was certainly appealing to me,” said Martin.

Benjamin Martin with his son Calvin. Photo by Richard Row

Martin is married to Jin Bae, whom he met at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was studying the molecular control of how muscle precursor cells move to distant parts of the embryo in frogs and fish. Bae is a registered nurse at Stony Brook Hospital. The couple’s son Calvin, who enjoys visiting the lab, will be four in April.

Matus and Martin are collaborating with Scott Powers, a professor in the Department of Pathology at Stony Brook, and Eric Brouzes, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook.

Powers said the work Martin and Matus are doing is a “basic discovery but an important one,” he explained in an email. “Conceivably, further research could lead to translation but as of right now, any thoughts along those lines are speculative.”

Martin appreciates the opportunity to work on these cells that are so important in development and that might lead to insights about cancer. “It seems like in the past few years” these discoveries have “opened up a subfield of developmental biology,” he said. “It’s exciting to see.”

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The medium-sized pinecones of a Colorado blue spruce can be used for crafts. Photo by Ellen Barcel

By Ellen Barcel

If you decide to plant one or more conifers this spring, here’s a quick rundown of some interesting plants to consider. If you are growing a particular conifer to gather the cones for crafts, make sure you select the correct tree.

Cryptomeria cones are not really suited for crafts. Photo by Ellen Barcel

Crytomeria japonica (in the cyprus family) has mature cones that are very unusual, being small, green and roundish. The tree can grow to an enormous size. As its name suggests, it is a native of Japan.

The Leyland cypress has been advertised in recent years as a fast-growing privacy hedge or, more accurately, wall. This is a cross between the Monterey cypress and the Nootka cypress. It can reach 100 feet at maturity and can grow as much as three feet a year. If you’re looking for a quick-growing screen, this is one to consider, but they do take up a lot of space.

Arborvitae are also in the cypress family. They, too, are fast growing but not as fast as the Leyland cypress. As with many evergreen, arborvitae are very difficult to prune attractively. Depending on the species, they can grow to great heights, so read the tag carefully before buying and planting them. Then, make sure you give them enough room to spread out.

All three of the above have a feathery appearance, rather than the sharp needles so many of us associate with conifers.

Fir trees are your typical Christmas trees and include Balsam fir and Frasier fir with short, flat needles and typical pine cones. There are approximately 50 different species of fir trees, but they are not fast growers. If you’re looking for a tree that won’t quickly take over, consider a fir. Size and shape vary so research your choice to see if it’s what you want for a particular craft.

The medium-sized pinecones of a Colorado blue spruce can be used for crafts. Photo by Ellen Barcel

Pine trees grow well in acidic soil, so you’ll notice many pine trees on Long Island. There are over 100 species of pine including the eastern white pine. They have longish needles and their cones are round in shape. They don’t have the elegance, to my mind, of firs and spruce but they are quick growers and provide a high privacy screen, many losing their lower limbs as they mature. Be careful where you plant them because of their sticky sap that can get on your car if you park it in their shade.

There are a number of spruce trees you might want to consider for your garden. Dwarf Alberta spruce, a sport of the larger white spruce, is used extensively in landscaping because of its small stature and thick evergreen foliage. It can, however, on rare occasions revert to type. It’s accustomed to the cold and does well in U.S.D.A. hardiness zones 2 through 7 (Long Island is 7). It generally doesn’t produce cones.

Another spruce is the Colorado blue spruce with its beautiful bluish needles. This is an elegant, medium-sized tree and not particularly a rapid grower.

Norway spruce is a magnificent tree. The branches on mature specimens drape down gracefully. The tree, however, is enormous at maturity. One in my neighborhood dwarfed a two-story house and it was planted about 45 years ago. If you have room for this magnificent tree, then go for it, but beware of how large this one can get. It’s cones are slightly curved and about five to six inches long.

Hemlock are beautiful and fast growing evergreens, but they have a major problem. They have been attacked by woolly adelgids (the appearance of white, cottony deposits on the needles are the egg cases), to the point that few have survived without yearly spraying. Even treated they do not always survive. They do make a quick growing and beautiful privacy hedge.

The Norway spruce is an elegant tree that reaches great heights. Its cones are approximately six inches long and slightly curved. Photo by Ellen Barcel

Dawn redwood Metasequoia, is a beautiful and fascinating tree, but unfortunately is not an evergreen. Unlike most conifers, this one is deciduous, that is, it loses its needles in fall. So, during winter you have a tree as bare as your maple or oak. Considered a “living fossil” the dawn redwood was believed extinct until it was found growing in the 1940s in China.

Yews (taxus) are small trees and shrubs with unusual cones, which remind one of red berries, rather than the more typical, woody, brown-layered cones. Many birds enjoy eating the seeds. Various species of yews are native to North America, Europe and Asia. Even mature, specimens are relatively small.

Cedar are beautiful, but very large evergreen conifers. The golden deodar cedar has branches tinged with gold, while the blue Atlas cedar have the same bluish cast as the Colorado blue spruce. Cedar cones tend to be very small, but the tree itself can get quite large. They can easily spread out to 40 feet across at the base at maturity. This can be a problem for gardeners who don’t realize their mature size and plant them right up against their house. There are also weeping versions of blue cedar, which are smaller in height but really spread out to make a great specimen plant as well as living screen.

So, do your homework and select just that perfect tree for next year’s garden as well as your craft projects.

Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.

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Portuguese Kale Soup

By Barbara Beltrami

Oh, come on! You must have known it was only a matter of time before I, your friendly local recipe writer, zeroed in on that magic new gastronomic and health phenomenon, that newly popular, recently discovered among health-conscious Americans veggie … kale!

Basically a kind of cabbage that doesn’t form a head but produces lots of leaves, some variety of kale is a staple of many European, Asian and African diets. Rich in vitamins, especially vitamin K, which has been found to help blood clotting, this dark green (or sometimes other color) veggie can now be found on supermarket shelves as well as restaurant menus.

Kale is not new to me, however. My mother, who had a knack for finding and cooking what were many decades ago obscure vegetables, made kale regularly. That is, she boiled it. Period. So it wasn’t one of my favorites.

Fast forward several decades and cookbooks, websites and home making magazines are rife with recipes for kale paired with every conceivable as well as some very inconceivable ingredients. Because it is a little bitter and tough by itself, it is best prepared by removing its stems and pairing it with flavors that complement it.

With apologies to my mother, I offer you kale salad,  Portuguese kale soup and kale chips.

Kale, Orange, Avocado and Pignoli Salad

The rough texture of the kale, the tanginess of the orange, the creaminess of the avocado and crunchiness of the pignoli nuts converge on the palate for an interesting taste sensation.

YIELD: 4 to 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

One 12-ounce bag baby kale, washed, dried and de-stemmed

One large navel orange, peeled and diced

One avocado, peeled and sliced

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons orange juice

1½ tablespoons wine vinegar

One tablespoon honey

One garlic clove

One teaspoon dried tarragon or one tablespoon fresh, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ cup toasted pignoli nuts

DIRECTIONS: Crush the kale leaves with your hands so that they wilt a little. Place in a large bowl and toss with orange and avocado. In a small bowl whisk together the oil, orange juice, wine vinegar, honey, garlic and tarragon. Remove and discard garlic. Gently toss liquid mixture with kale mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle pignoli nuts on top and serve immediately. Serve with crusty bread and a hard cheese or with any fish, chicken or meat dish.

Portuguese Kale Soup

Hearty as can be, this national comfort food of Portugal has many interpretations by Portuguese immigrants in America, and each one is better than the next. This recipe borrows ingredients from various versions that elaborate upon the basic “caldo verde,” which is potatoes and kale.

Portuguese Kale Soup

YIELD: 6 to 8 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces linguica or chorizo sausage, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

One large onion, peeled and diced

4 garlic cloves, sliced very thin

One pound kale, washed, de-stemmed and torn into pieces

2 quarts chicken broth

2 pounds potatoes, scrubbed and diced

One 14-ounce can diced tomatoes with juice

One 28-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Handful fresh flat leaf parsley, rinsed, de-stemmed and chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS: In a large pot over medium heat, brown the sausage slices. Add the olive oil and onion; stir over medium heat until onion is soft and slightly opaque. Add garlic, kale, broth and potatoes. Lower heat slightly and continue to cook until kale is wilted, then add remaining ingredients and simmer, covered, until potatoes are cooked through, about 20 minutes. Add water or more broth, if needed. Serve hot or refrigerate until used. Pair with Portuguese bread and olive oil.

Kale Chips

Amazingly easy and surprisingly delicious, these munchies are an excellent way to get kids to eat their veggies. In fact, I know of a certain little boy who became a convert from Pringles and Cheetos to kale chips!

YIELD: 2 to 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

One pound kale, washed, dried and de-stemmed

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 F. Toss kale with oil, salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes until crispy. Serve with yogurt dip or hummus.

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Stony Brook has the only regional Trauma Center in Suffolk County. File photo from SBU

By L. Reuven Pasternak, M.D.

Injury is the leading cause of death for all Americans under age 45. When an injury or trauma occurs, having fast access to comprehensive care can be the difference between life and death. Stony Brook Trauma Center was officially verified by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and designated by the New York State Department of Health as Suffolk County’s only Adult and Pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center earlier this month.

Level 1 Trauma Centers are the highest level centers, capable of providing a full range of services to the most severely injured patients. Stony Brook Trauma Center is also designated by New York State as the Regional Trauma Center (the highest level) for adults and children and serves as Suffolk’s only regional burn center through the Suffolk County Volunteer Firefighters Burn Center at Stony Brook Medicine.

Meeting the strict quality and safety requirements established by the ACS further proves Stony Brook’s standing in the community as a center of excellence, able to offer a full range of medical services and world-class patient care. Patients who are seriously injured by major trauma require immediate attention from a team of medical professionals who are specially trained to recognize and treat immediate threats to life.

Led by Dr. James Vosswinkel, trauma medical director, and Dr. Richard Scriven, pediatric medical director, Stony Brook Trauma Center cares for close to 2,000 patients annually — adults and children, who have sustained blunt, penetrating or thermal traumatic injury. Ninety-five percent of these patients have sustained blunt injuries — the majority from falls or from motor vehicle crashes. Twenty-five percent of the center’s patients are transferred in from one of the county’s 10 other hospitals and every day Stony Brook flight paramedics are on board Suffolk County Police Department helicopters, providing timely and advanced care directly at the scene of an injury.

As a Level I Trauma Center, Stony Brook participates in a national quality program called TQIP (Trauma Quality Improvement Program). In the most recent TQIP report, it was found that patients who were seriously injured and then treated at Stony Brook Trauma Center were much less likely to die or to develop a major complication than patients treated at other TQIP trauma centers.

Stony Brook Trauma Center is committed to not only treating injury but to preventing injury from occurring. The trauma center regularly conducts many community prevention programs in partnership with other local agencies. They include:

Teddy Bear Clinics: These school-based safety programs target the use of booster seats, rear-facing car seats and use of helmets for sports.

Senior Fall Prevention: These community-based programs educate older adults and their families on how to remain independent and safe. Evidenced-based programs, such as Tai Chi, that are designed to build core strength and prevent fall injury are taught.

Traffic Violators: A bimonthly program with the Suffolk County Traffic Court teaches the consequences of risky driving and offers techniques for behavior change.

Bleeding Control for the Injured (B-Con): To help community members cope with public emergency situations, this important program, which is provided at no charge to universities, community groups and schools, teaches key lifesaving skills, including hands-only CPR, tourniquet making and wound treatment.

To learn more about Stony Brook Trauma Center, visit www.trauma.stonybrookmedicine.edu.

L. Reuven Pasternak, M.D., is the chief executive officer at Stony Brook University Hospital and the vice president for health systems at Stony Brook Medicine.

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Studies show that even moderate exercise can significantly lower mortality risk when compared with no physical activity at all.

Reducing inflammation is part of this process.

By David Dunaief, M.D.

Dr. David Dunaief

When asked what was more important, longevity or healthy aging (quality of life), more people choose the latter. Why would you want to live a long life but be miserable? Well, it turns out the two components are not mutually exclusive. I would like you to ponder the possibility of a third choice, “all of the above.” Would you change your answer and, instead of making a difficult choice between the first two, choose the third?

I frequently use the example of Jack LaLanne, a man best known for popularizing fitness. He followed and preached a healthy lifestyle, which included diet and exercise. He was quite a motivator for many and ahead of his time. He died at the ripe old age of 96.

This brings me to my next point, which is that the number of 90-year-olds is growing by leaps and bounds. 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 a 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). Another benchmark is the amount of health care dollars spent in their last few years. Statistics show that the amount spent for those who were in their 60s and 70s was significantly higher, three times as much, as for centenarians in their last two years (4).

Factors that predict one’s ability to reach this exclusive club may involve both genetics and lifestyle choices. One group of people in the U.S. that lives longer lives on average than most is Seventh-day Adventists. We will explore why this might be the case and what lifestyle factors could increase our potential to maximize our healthy longevity. Exercise and diet may be key components of this answer. Now that we have set the tone, let’s look at the research.

Exercise

For all those who don’t have time to exercise or don’t want to spend the time, this next study is for you. We are told time and time again to exercise. But how much do we need, and how can we get the best quality? In a 2014 study, the results showed that 5 to 10 minutes of daily running, regardless of the pace, can have a significant impact on life span by decreasing cardiovascular mortality and all-cause mortality (5).

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. Here is the kicker: 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 (6). Thus, this recent study suggests an easier target that may still provide significant benefits.

Diet

A long-standing paradigm is that we need to eat sufficient animal protein. However, there have been cracks developing in this façade of late, 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 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 (7). 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 from plants. In fact, a high-protein plant diet may reduce the risks, not increase them. The reason for this effect, according to the authors, is that animal protein may increase insulin growth factor-1 and growth hormones that have detrimental effects on the body.

Interestingly, those who are over the age of 65 may benefit from more animal protein in reducing the risk of cancer. However, there was a significantly increased risk of diabetes mortality across all age groups eating a high animal protein diet. The researchers therefore concluded that lower animal protein may be wise at least during middle age.

The Adventists Health Study 2 trial reinforced this data. It looked at Seventh-day Adventists, a group whose emphasis is on a plant-based diet, and found that those who ate animal protein up to once a week had a significantly reduced risk of dying over the next six years compared to those who were more frequent meat eaters (8). This was an observational trial with over 73,000 participants and a median age of 57 years old.

Inflammation

You may have heard the phrase that inflammation is the basis for more than 80 percent of chronic disease. But how can we quantify this into something tangible?

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 (9). 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 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, specifically running, can lead to a substantial increase in healthy life span. While calories are not equal, protein from plants may trump protein from animal sources in reducing the risk of mortality from all causes, from diabetes and from heart disease. This does not necessarily mean that one needs to be a vegetarian to see the benefits. 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 doctor 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) CDC.gov. (5) J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;64:472-481. (6) J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;64:482-484. (7) Cell Metab. 2014;19:407-417. (8) JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173:1230-1238. (9) CMAJ. 2013;185:E763-E770.

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.

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Charles Darwin

By Elof Axel Carlson

Elof Axel Carlson

An intellectual pedigree traces the power of mentoring across many generations. I got my Ph.D. in genetics with Nobel laureate Hermann J. Muller at Indiana University. Muller got his Ph.D. in genetics with Thomas H. Morgan also a Nobel laureate at Columbia University. Morgan got his Ph.D. in embryology with William K. Brooks at Johns Hopkins University.

Brooks got his Ph.D. in comparative anatomy with Louis Agassiz at Harvard. Agassiz came from Europe. He got his Ph.D. in ichthyology (fossil and live fishes) with Georges Cuvier in Paris. Cuvier got his doctorate in comparative anatomy from Ignaz Döllinger in Germany. Döllinger got his Ph.D. at Padua in Italy studying embryonic development. He was mentored by Antonio Scarpa at Modena in Italy.

Scarpa was mentored by Giovanni Morgagni at Padua. Morgagni was mentored by Antonio Valsalva who named the Eustachian tube, and he was mentored by Marcello Malpighi an early microscopic anatomist. Malpighi was mentored by Giovanni Borelli who first used physics to describe animal motion relating bones and muscles to function. Borelli was mentored, in turn, by Benedetto Castelli a mathematician and astronomer who studied sun spots. Castelli was mentored by Galileo Galilei.

I followed the history two more generations. Galileo was mentored by Ostillio Ricci. Ricci was mentored by Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, another mathematician whose text on applied mathematics was a best seller in Renaissance Italy. From my Ph.D. in 1958 to Tartaglia’s years of birth and death (1499-1557) is a span of about 450 years.

If I number Tartaglia as 1, I am generation 16. Not all had a Ph.D. as their highest degree. Some had the M.D. The modern university as a research and teaching institution dates to the late 1700s in Germany. The Medieval and Renaissance university was based on the seven liberal arts leading to the B.A degree. Students could then choose law, medicine, theology,. or philosophy as a specialty leading to a M.A., M.D. or Ph.D. Nicolaus Copernicus got degrees in canon law (laws applied to and by the church), medicine and philosophy.

The M.D. degree until the late 1890s used to require a book-length dissertation as did the Ph.D. Note that German science was influenced by the Italian universities that took an interest in observational and experimental science in the Renaissance. It was Döllinger who brought this tradition back from Padua.

There was no scientific tradition at the university or college level in the United States until the 1870s when Cornell, Yale and Johns Hopkins stressed the Ph.D. as a scholar’s degree. Prior to that most American colleges stressed training for the ministry. Agassiz brought that scholarly tradition to Harvard to bolster American science.

I have done intellectual pedigrees for William Castle, Ralph Cleland, Seymour Benzer, Theodosius Dobzhansky, J.B.S. Haldane, Barbara McClintock and a few other geneticists. They usually differ. That means not all roads lead to Galileo. A few plug in to Agassiz or Döllinger. I was pleased to trace McClintock back to Carl Linnaeus. They are fun to do and you can use Wikipedia for the biography of a scholar you wish to follow. It will give (most of the time) the person who supervised a thesis or the names of that person’s best known students.

I also learned that sometimes there is more than one major mentor in a scholar’s life. Morgan was mentored by Brooks, but he was also mentored by H. Newell Martin who was a student of Michael Foster who was a student of Thomas H. Huxley, who was mentored by Charles Darwin. That means, I too, have a branch that leads to Darwin.

I learned from these pedigrees that we are shaped by what we experience. We are shaped by our parents and their community. We are shaped by mentors in high school or college. Sometimes it is through a course we take. Sometimes it is in our volunteer or extracurricular activities. Also, we have influence on more students than those who come for a Ph.D. research experience. In my career, this can be through the courses I taught, the office visits I had or the chance encounters with students while eating lunch, serving on committees that brought me in contact with them or serving as an academic advisor for my department.

Life gives us opportunities to be thankful. I thank the 15 generations that preceded me in my life as a scientist and teacher. What each generation gave was an opportunity to discover and to learn, to relate and to communicate, to lecture and to write.

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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