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By Ellen Barcel

The term monoculture is generally used in agriculture to refer to a farmer raising only one variety of a particular crop. There are benefits and disadvantages to monoculture. The benefit is that a farmer can select the best, most well-adapted plant, a plant that will produce the biggest harvest, etc.

The disadvantage of monoculture is that if that particular plant is attacked by an insect pest, fungus, bacteria or virus to which it has no resistance, the entire crop can be wiped out. This happened in the 1800s when only a few strains of potatoes were raised in Ireland. When they were attacked by a blight to which they had no resistance, the Irish potato famine was the result. Had they grown a broader variety of potatoes (and other food crops), this wouldn’t have been as big a disaster.

The same concept can be applied to gardeners when they plant virtually all of the same type of plant. When an insect pest or some sort of disease strikes a particular variety of plant, then their garden is wiped out.

Current situations to keep in mind

Oak wilt has been found in Central Islip recently. It’s a fungal disease that blocks the water-conducting vessels of a tree. Without water, the tree dies. At present there is no cure for oak wilt. The trees must be removed and destroyed so the disease doesn’t spread. This potentially could be a problem on Long Island since we have so many oak trees growing here naturally.

Southern pine beetles have been found on Long Island. The southern pine beetle bores into healthy trees, eventually killing the trees. The Department of Environmental Conservation has been fighting this forest pest, and recently New York State provided grants to local communities to help control it by cutting down the infested trees and destroying them, again, the best method of control.

The Asian longhorn beetle is a pest that particularly attacks hardwood trees. According to New York State Department of Agriculture, it was first discovered in North America in 1996 in Brooklyn. The beetles were detected in Islip in 1999 and eradicated in 2011. They were also detected on Staten Island in 2007 and eradicated in 2013. Recently, an infestation of the beetle has been found in West Babylon. Check your pool filters for these pests and check your hardwood trees for signs of infestation such as bore holes.

Some helpful strategies

◆ Check your trees more frequently. Look for anything out of the ordinary: fungus, unusual deposits of sap, holes in the bark, etc. Call in an arborist if you see anything you don’t like. The sooner a problem is detected, the easier to control it and prevent its spread.

◆ A broader solution is to avoid monoculture. Plant a variety of trees and shrubs that do what you want a particular plant to do: provide shade, provide a living fence, provide a specimen plant, etc. That way, if a pest or disease attacks one species, you have a chance of keeping at least some of your carefully tended plants.

◆ Look for disease- or pest-resistant plants. For example, the Irish potato famine was caused by a fungus that also attacks certain tomato cultivars. This was a problem on Long Island just a few years ago. Check plant tags and catalog descriptions. This is particularly true for new trees being added to your property. It’s easy enough to try a new variety of tomato plant each year, but trees take many years, decades in some cases, to reach maturity.

◆ Lastly, support organizations that are working to develop disease-resistant plants. For example, The American Chestnut Foundation is working toward developing disease-resistant plants. The American chestnut tree was nearly wiped out by a fungal disease known as the chestnut blight in the early 20th century. The tree was native to much of the eastern part of North America. Visit www.acf.org for further information on its work.

For further information on the above and other garden pests and diseases, go to www.dec.ny.gov, www.na.fs.us and www.agriculture.ny.gov.

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

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Trying to avoid triggers for migraines can be worse than navigating a minefield. Stock photo

By David Dunaief, M.D.

Migraines are a debilitating disorder. Symptoms typically include nausea, photophobia and phonophobia — sensitivity to light and to sound, respectively. The corresponding headache usually is unilateral and has a throbbing or pulsating feeling.

Migraines typically last anywhere from four to 72 hours, which is hard to imagine. Then, there is a postdrome recovery period, when the symptoms of fatigue can dog a patient for 24 hours after the original symptoms subside. Migraines are among the top reasons patients see a neurologist (1).

According to the American Migraine Foundation, there are approximately 36 million migraineurs, the medical community’s term for migraine sufferers. This has increased from 23.6 million in 1989. Women are three times more likely to be affected than men (2), and the most common age range for migraine attacks is 30 to 50 (3), although I have seen them in patients who are older.

What causes a migraine?

The theory was once simple: It was caused by vasodilation (enlargement) of the blood vessels. However, this may only be a symptom, and there are now other theories, such as inflammation of the meninges (membrane coverings of the brain and spinal cord). As one author commented, “Migraine continues to be an elephant in the room of medicine: massively common and a heavy burden on patients and their healthcare providers, yet the recipient of relatively little attention for research, education, and clinical resources” (4). There are many potential triggers for migraines, and trying to avoid them all can be worse than navigating a minefield. Triggers include stress, hormones, alcohol, caffeine, diet, exercise, weather, odor, etc. (5).

Focusing on prevention

There are many problems with treating acute migraine attacks beyond the obvious patient suffering. Eventually, patients may increase tolerance to drugs, needing more and more medication until they reach the maximum allowed. There are also rebound migraines that occur from using medication too frequently — more than 10 days in the month — including with acetaminophen (Tylenol) and NSAIDs (6). There are several options for preventive paradigms, some of which include medication, supplements, alternative therapies and dietary approaches.

Medication’s role

There are several classes of medications that act as a prophylaxis for episodic (less than 15 days per month) migraines. These include blood pressure and anti-seizure medications, botulinum toxin (botox) and antidepressants (7).

Blood pressure control itself reduces the occurrence of headaches (8). The data is strongest for beta blockers. Propranolol, a beta blocker, has shown significant results as a prophylaxis in a meta-analysis (group of studies) involving 58 studies where propranolol was compared to placebo or compared to other drugs (9). However, it showed only short-term effects. Also, there were a substantial number of dropouts from the studies.

Topiramate, an anti-seizure medication, showed a significant effect compared to placebo in reducing migraine frequency (10). In a randomized control trial (RCT) that lasted six months, there was a dose-response curve; the higher the dose, the greater the effect of the drug as a prophylaxis. However, drugs come with side effects: fatigue, nausea, numbness and tingling. The highest recommended dose is 100 mg because of side effects. As a result, almost one-third or 30 percent of patients cease therapy at the 200-mg dose because of side effects (11).

Botulinum toxin type A injection has not been shown to be beneficial for preventive treatment of episodic migraines but has been approved for use as a prophylaxis in chronic (greater than 15 days per month) migraines. However propranolol, mentioned already, has shown better results with fewer adverse reactions (12).

Alternative approaches

Butterbur, an herb from the butterbur (Petasites hybridus) root, was beneficial in a four-month RCT for the prevention of migraine (13). The 150-mg dose, given in two 75-mg increments, reduced the frequency of migraine attacks by almost twofold compared to placebo. This herb was well tolerated, with burping the most frequent side effect. Only Petasites’ commercial form should be ingested; the plant contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which may be a carcinogen and seriously damage the liver.

Feverfew, another herb, but this time the leaves are used for medicinal purposes, unfortunately, had mixed prophylaxis results. In a meta-analysis, study authors concluded that feverfew was not more beneficial than placebo (9). And, the most significant caveat with herbal medications is that their safety is not regulated by the FDA nor by any officially sanctioned regulatory body.

What about supplements?

High-dose riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, may be an effective preventive measure. In a small RCT, 400 mg of riboflavin decreased the frequency of migraine attacks significantly more than placebo (14). The number of days patients had migraines also decreased. The side effects were mild for both placebo and riboflavin. Thus, this has potential as a prophylaxis, though the trial, like most of those mentioned above, was relatively short.

How about diet and exercise?

From my experience and those of other physicians, such as Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Dr. Neal Bernard, nutrient-dense foods are potentially important in substantially reducing the risk of migraine recurrence. I have seen many patients, both in my practice and in the three years I worked with Dr. Fuhrman, do much better, if not recover. There are a number of foods that are unlikely to cause migraine and reduce their occurrence, such as cooked green, orange and yellow vegetables, some fruits — though not citrus fruits — certain nuts, beans and brown rice. The number of foods can be expanded over time.

Interestingly, endogenous (from within the body) and exogenous (from outside the body, such as preservatives) toxins cause high levels of free fatty acids and blood lipids that are triggers for migraine (15). Higher fat diets and high levels of animal protein have been associated with more migraines. In addition, obesity may increase the frequency and severity of migraines (16).

Also, there was a small randomized controlled trial that showed exercise with 40 minutes of cycling three times a week may be comparable to medication for migraine prevention (17). Thus, there are several options for preventing migraines. The most well studied are medications; however, the most effective may be dietary changes and exercise, which don’t precipitate the rebound migraines that medication overuse may cause. And the herb butterbur may be an option as well.

References: (1) uptodate.com Sept. 2011. (2) Headache. 2001;41(7):646. (3) Medscape.com. (4) Annals of Neurology 2009;65(5):491. (5) Cephalalgia. 2007;27(5):394. (6) Headache. 2006;46 Suppl 4:S202. (7) uptodate.com. (8) Circulation. 2005;112(15):2301. (9) Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004. (10) JAMA. 2004;291(8):965-973. (11) CMAJ. 2010;182(7):E269. (12) Prescrire Int. 2011;20(122):287-290. (13) Neurology. 2004;63(12):2240. (14) Neurology. 1998;50(2):466-470. (15) J Women’s Health Gend Based Med. 1999;8(5):623-630. (16) Obes Rev. 2011;12(5):e362-371. (17) Cephalalgia. 2011;31(14):1428-1438.

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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Maureen O’Leary on an expedition in Mali. Photo by Eric Roberts

By Daniel Dunaief

At their greatest depths, oceans hold onto their secrets. With layers of light-blocking water between the surface and the bottom, they hide the kind of clues that might reveal more about who, or what, lived or traveled through them.

What if a sea dried up millions of years ago? And, what if that sea left behind pieces of information — some of them small and subtle and others larger and easier to spot? That’s what happened in a part of Africa that long ago gave up any signs of flowing water. The Sahara desert was, millions of years ago, home to an inland sea called the trans-Saharan seaway.

Maureen O’Leary, a professor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences in the School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, has been to Mali, a country in the northwest of Africa, three times on expeditions, most recently in 2008. There, she collected fossils that are members of extinct groups that are part of larger evolutionary units with living members today.

O’Leary has explored and cataloged a number of remnants from the region, including a turtle and crocodile skull. She and her collaborators have also discovered sting ray fossils. Originally considered likely residents after an asteroid hit Earth that caused a massive extinction, these fossils now suggest that these sting rays lived in the area earlier than previously believed.

“This suggests that the sting rays did survive” the asteroid impact, said O’Leary. “Often extinction events are described in very broad terms but specific studies like this help us” hone in on the kind of species that survived.

She also found intriguing deposits in fossilized feces. Invertebrates burrowed through these fossilized remains, leaving a cast of the shapes of their bodies. The group that left traces of their activities in fossilized feces includes Pholadidae, which has living members. “A careful inspection of a whole fauna of fossils allows you to find invertebrates you had no record of,” said O’Leary.

Leif Tapanila, the director of the Idaho Museum of Natural History and an associate professor of geosciences at Idaho State University, joined O’Leary on an expedition to Mali in 1999, where he was the invertebrate expert. Tapanila said the feces of sharks, crocodiles and turtles have bone fragments that tend to preserve well. Some of these fossilized feces can be four- to five-feet-thick deposits. A prehistoric diver from 30 million years ago would have found that the bottom of the seaway, which was probably 50 to 70 meters at its deepest points, was covered in these hard feces, Tapanila said.

Tapanila described O’Leary as an effective collaborator who ensured scientists formed effective partnerships. “She brings people together,” Tapanila said. “One of her biggest strengths is that she finds pieces of the puzzle that are needed for a particular scientific question. She sets up the infrastructure to make a research project work.”

In one of the blocks of limestone recovered in 1999, O’Leary found a crocodile skull with well-preserved ear bones. That level of detail is unusual in a fossil because of the relatively small and fine nature of those bones. Robert Hill, who was a doctoral student in O’Leary’s lab and is now a professor at Hofstra University, noticed that the ear bones had bite marks on them. A closer examination suggested that the marks were made by a shark, either during a prehistoric battle or after the crocodile had died.

O’Leary is currently working with Eric Roberts, the head of Geoscience at James Cook University in Australia, to write a review paper on Mali that would contain some reconstructions of the region and the species. The paper would emphasize a big picture story using the specialized details she and others collected. This will not only help people see the world as it was but also may help them see the Earth as a changing place, where rising sea levels could cause another transition in a dry and arid region.

While O’Leary would like to return to Mali, she and numerous other scientists have kept their distance amid the political instability in the area. In 2008, Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler was taken hostage for 60 days. “There were some diplomats there who seemed unflappable and serious” who suggested that O’Leary and her colleagues return home during their expedition. “The American Embassy was instrumental in leaning on me to leave.” O’Leary said the politics of these areas, despite the rich story they may have to tell about the past, “can play into whether science can even be done.”

In addition to her research in Mali, O’Leary raised the money and created an online system called MorphoBank, which enables scientists studying anatomy all over the world to collect their information in one place. MorphoBank encourages those interested in anatomy of any kind to find data in one place. Tapanila credits O’Leary for creating a valuable resource. For the time, MorphoBank was “totally new. It takes a lot of effort and vision to pull that off,” he said.

O’Leary is married to Michael Novacek, an author and senior vice president and curator in the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History. He is one of the team leaders of the joint American Museum of Natural History/Mongolian Academy of Sciences ongoing expeditions to the Gobi Desert. The duo, who collaborated on an expedition in Morocco, have co-authored papers on the philosophy of science, placental mammal evolution and a team-based study of mammal evolution that was published in the journal Science.

O’Leary watches the political scene in and around Mali from afar.“I do keep an eye on it and would love to return,” she said.

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Mom first met her great-great-grandson Aiman on July 13, 2016. Photo by Beverly Tyler

By Beverly C. Tyler

Growing up in Setauket, I learned a great deal from my father by his example, but encouragement and support came from Mom. My sister Ann, my brother Guy and I were taught that we were not only a family but a part of a community that extended from our relatives and neighbors across the street to our relatives and friends everywhere.

We lived with my Grandma Edith Tyler until I was 12 and then we moved into the house down the street where my father’s half sister Carrie had lived with her two aunts, Annie and Corinne, until their deaths. Soon after we moved, my Grandma Tyler moved in and lived with us until her death in 1963. A few years later my grandmother Margaret Carlton (Nana) moved from her home in Port Jefferson to our home and lived with us until her death in 1980.

During all this time, these transitions seemed very normal to me. Mom never said a cross word that I was ever aware of, nor any indication that it was the least bit difficult for her sharing a kitchen and dealing with a strong-willed mother-in-law and an equally strong-willed mother. I always loved and appreciated my grandmothers. They were, like Mom, independent women who had run households of their own.

Grandma and my grandfather Tyler owned and ran a boarding house (now Setauket Neighborhood House) until they sold it in 1918 to Eversley Childs. After my grandfather died in 1926, Grandma took the job of Setauket’s postmaster, and then as librarian at Emma Clark Memorial Library.

Grandma Carlton, Nana to us kids, had married Guy Carlton in 1909 in Alna, Maine, and the couple immediately moved to Port Jefferson where my grandfather Carlton, Pup-Pup to us kids, worked building the original Belle Terre Club. A master carpenter and cabinet maker, Pup-Pup built his house in Port Jefferson, overlooking the harbor, and my grandmother insisted that they have indoor plumbing. This was in 1909, when outhouses were the norm.

One summer (1948) I went to work with my grandfather in Crystal Brook. He was building a full bar in the basement of one of the houses. It was a beautiful piece of furniture with cabinets behind the bar in the game room of the summer cottages, and he told me, “Don’t tell your grandmother, she wouldn’t approve.” My grandfather was a tough man, but my grandmother was the strength of the family.

Mom took all of this in stride. She also believed in letting go and letting her kids explore and discover the world. When I was about 8, I was allowed to cross Main Street in Setauket on my own and take my 4-year-old sister and 3-year-old brother with me to Mrs. Celia Hawkins’ farm. We loved going across to the farm with cows, pigs, geese and a few chickens running through the house. We grew up on the buttermilk and candy corn Celia provided for us every day.

On a number of occasions, I unsuccessfully tried to milk the cows. I could never get the hang of it, but Celia let us churn the butter until our arms gave out and we collapsed on the porch. We also enjoyed mornings when we could help collect the eggs, learning quickly how to avoid having our hands pecked by the chickens.

Mom and Dad also took us on vacations to historic and natural sites from Williamsburg, Virginia, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Niagara Falls and the Reversing Falls Rapids in St. John, New Brunswick.

Dad drove and Mom made up games for us to play in the car, usually looking for things outside as we drove. I didn’t realize it at the time, but although Dad was the tour guide and historian, it was Mom who put the fun into the trips with details about interesting signs, structures and people along the route.

“One in; one out. Life goes on and we have a plethora of memories and stories to keep in our hearts.”

— Beverly Tyler

As adults, we took Mom on a few trips, including one to Maine for the burial service of my Aunt Etta, who died when she was 105. Going through one town, Mom suddenly burst out laughing. She pointed out a Chinese restaurant named Mi Sen Gui, and exclaimed, “That’s my son, guy.”

Mom sang a number of years with the Greg Smith singers, even traveling with them to Europe. She played bridge with a group of friends and enjoyed the Setauket Library book study group, even traveling with members of the club to London.

Mom and Dad were members of the Old Field Point Power Squadron and Mom completed every advanced grade course, including celestial navigation. I remember that after completing that last tough course, her warm, aromatic chocolate chip cookies reappeared after a few years absence. Mom was also an excellent cook whose pie crusts have no equal and my wife will attest to that.

Mom enjoyed golf, bowling, boating, car trips and other outdoor activities with my father until his death in a terrible auto accident in 1975. Mom married her second husband Lewis Davis in 1978 and together they enjoyed golf, bowling, trips to Florida and trips all over the world, making a few lasting friends in Australia and other countries as well as closer to home. I especially got to know and appreciate Mom as a friend as well as a mom after Lew died in 2008, in his 94th year.

By the time Lew died, Mom had developed paralysis due to an inherited condition that strikes different people in our family at all different ages and with varied intensities. By the last few years of her life, Mom struggled with special shoes and braces on both legs. I hardly ever heard her complain or let her paralysis slow her down. By this year she was almost completely wheelchair-bound but was still able, with assistance, to move short distances, including in and out of vehicles.

Mom has always been able to take a problem, evaluate it, and after a day, make a decision that is best for everyone around her as well as for herself. Mom always wanted her colonial era home and property to be preserved. Working through state legislator Steven Englebright, this has been accomplished and the property will now go to the Three Village Community Trust.

Mom never lost her sense of humor. Recently, her companion Elizabeth was rubbing some lotion, with a pleasing but distinctive aroma, on her feet. Mom turned and looked very seriously at Elizabeth and said, “Will this clash with my perfume?”

Mom was always able to set herself a goal and stick to it. Elizabeth said that Mom is the only person she knows who could eat one dark chocolate candy kiss and put the bag of candy back in the refrigerator.

Mom’s concern even extended to our parish priest. A week ago we all feared the end of her life was near, but we didn’t know she knew. I told her that our rector, Canon Visconti, was on the way to see her and she whispered to me, “Does he know the situation?” That’s Mom, always one step ahead of the rest of us.

Mom died Thursday, Aug. 25, in her 102nd year, just a few hours after her fourth great-great-grandchild was born in Tennessee. Mom is survived by sons Beverly (Barbara) and Guy, daughter Ann Taylor (Frank), two stepdaughters Sukie Crandall (Steve) and Nancy Rosenberg, seven grandchildren, one step-granddaughter, 21 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.

One in; one out. Life goes on and we have a plethora of memories and stories to keep in our hearts.

The funeral will be Friday, Sept. 9 at 11 a.m. at the Caroline Church, 1 Dyke Rd., Setauket. There will be a wake at Bryant Funeral Home, 411 Old Town Rd. in Setauket Sept. 8 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.

Beverly Tyler is a lifelong resident of Setauket, Three Village Historical Society historian and author of books available from Three Village Historical Society.

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Stony Brook University Hospital. File photo

By Kenneth Kaushansky, M.D.

In a unique type of collaboration, Stony Brook Medicine and Mount Sinai Health System have entered into a formal affiliation agreement that combines the strengths of both organizations to create positive change in biomedicine, the delivery of care to our communities and the education of the next generation of health care professionals.

The affiliation of Stony Brook Medicine and Mount Sinai Health System is based on our common values, as well as a reverence for translating basic biomedical science into new cures for human disease and a commitment to providing health care professionals of the future the most advanced approaches to both didactic and experiential learning.

We also share the commitment to using robust clinical evidence to determine the very best medical practices that improve the quality of care delivered to our patients. Both institutions seek to apply our understanding of human health and disease to the entire population we serve, through our leadership positions in the New York State Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) Program and other avenues, so that all will benefit from our efforts.

Often, when people hear the word “affiliation,” it is thought that there is a merger or acquisition; however, this is not the case — Mount Sinai is not buying Stony Brook or vice versa. It is an agreement that allows collaborative efforts to flourish and heighten academic, research and clinical care synergies.

This means boundless opportunities on a number of fronts. For example, the Stony Brook University School of Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will develop joint graduate and medical educational programs, maximizing the strengths of existing master’s and doctoral programs at each institution. Students will have the opportunity to take classes on both campuses, allowing them to learn new techniques and expand their exposure.

In addition, the combining of two research powerhouses has immense promise to influence both institution’s abilities to make major breakthroughs by moving discoveries made at the very basic level and bringing them to the bedside faster — all to improve diagnostics and treatments. We believe that the joint efforts will yield greater discoveries than would arise from either institution alone. Mount Sinai and Stony Brook have already taken steps in this direction by investing a combined total of $500,000 to introduce new research programs, with the intent of receiving collaborative external funding.

The areas of focus include biomedical engineering and computer science; drug discovery and medicinal chemistry sciences; neuroscience, neurology and psychiatry; basic biology and novel therapeutics; and public health and health systems. The alliance will capitalize on Mount Sinai’s strengths in biomedical and clinical research and health policy and outcomes and Stony Brook’s expertise not only in the School of Medicine but also in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences and in departments such as mathematics, high-performance computing, imaging and the physical and chemical sciences.

It is a momentous time for academic medicine, health care, our respective students, faculty and staff and for the communities we serve across the Island and into Manhattan. The partnership allows both institutions to look at new ways to be innovative and bring the benefits of our shared transformation to our patients.

Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky is senior vice president of Health Sciences and dean of Stony Brook University School of Medicine.

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Brie is a very versatile cheese and pairs nicely with a multitude of wines. Stock photo

By Bob Lipinski

“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”  — Charles de Gaulle, 1890–1970, President of France, 1962 speech

According to popular legend, Emperor Charlemagne supposedly first tasted Brie in around 774 at a monastery and fell in love with its creamy flavors and inviting texture. There are stories that put Brie’s beginnings several hundred years earlier, but those cannot be proven.

At the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) a jury of ambassadors each brought a cheese from their respective countries for a judging. France’s statesman, Talleyrand, brought Brie and after a vote, the conference delegates proclaimed it the King of Cheeses.

Brie, which is a double-crème, cow’s milk cheese is made in the French province of Brie, in the department of Seine-et-Marne, northeast of Paris, although it is also made in the United States and other countries. Brie is similar to Camembert (France), Coulommiers (France), Crèma Danica (Denmark) and Paglia (Italy).

The term Brie covers a small family of cheeses, which carry the name of the town or village where they are made. The finest Brie is generally considered to be Brie de Meaux while another variety is Brie de Melun.

Prior to aging, the small or large wheels of cheese are washed with a salt brine, then rubbed or sprayed with a culture of pure-white mold spores. After that, the cheeses are taken to the curing room for many months of aging. Brie has a thin, edible, white rind, with a creamy yellow interior.

When Brie begins to get old, the white rind turns brown and an odor of ammonia can be detected. Its texture is soft and smooth, almost honey-like, but definitely not runny. It is mild to pungent tasting with hints of mushrooms, cognac, heavy cream, nuts and even truffles. After one hour or so opened at room temperature, Brie becomes runny with a buttery and earthy flavor and is quite spreadable. It is sometimes flavored with herbs, peppers and mushrooms.

I generally serve Brie at room temperature, and for guests, with the aid of a sharp knife, I remove the top rind and immediately brush the cheese with lemon juice. Next I spread a thin layer of apricot or peach preserves, followed by raisins previously soaked in white wine, in the center. Spread slivered almonds or pecans in a circular fashion around the raisins. Place in a 425 F oven for approximately 7 to 10 minutes. Remove and let rest for 10 minutes, then serve with crackers.

Brie is a very versatile cheese and pairs nicely with a multitude of wines including some reds — Beaujolais, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, grenache, merlot, pinot noir and zinfandel. White wines include chardonnay, chenin blanc, Gewürztraminer, riesling and sauvignon blanc. Let’s not forget Champagne and sparkling wines.

Two New York State Finger Lakes wines I recently paired with Brie were:

Standing Stone 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon: Bright ruby colored with aromas of wild cherry, red candy and spicy blueberries. Should develop into a stunning wine.

Standing Stone 2014 Dry Vidal: Vidal is a white French hybrid of Ugni Blanc and Rayon d’Or, developed in 1929 by Jean-Louis Vidal. The wine has an aroma of grapefruit, kiwi and peaches. It has plenty of acidity, which keeps it clean and crisp tasting. Definitely one of the best dry Vidal wines I have encountered!

Bob Lipinski, a local author, has written 10 books, including “101: Everything You Need to Know About Vodka, Gin, Rum & Tequila” and “Italian Wine & Cheese Made Simple” (available on Amazon.com). He conducts training seminars on wine, spirits and food and is available for speaking engagements. He can be reached at www.boblipinski.com or [email protected].

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Above, variegated azalea grown from a sport, but the azalea is ‘reverting to type’ growing some solid green leaves. Photo by Ellen Barcel

By Ellen Barcel

Recently, I received a U.S. stamp with a couple of bright red pears pictured on it. The paperwork that came with the stamp noted that pear trees, along with apple trees, are noted for putting out sports.

Botanically, sports are genetic mutations that arise naturally in plants. And yes, pear and apple trees do put out sports, which can lead to new varieties of plants being developed. On a pear tree, which normally produces green pears, you may see a branch that has reddish pears. Or on an apple tree, you may find a branch that has larger or different colored apples.

Now, I’m not talking about trees that are grafted to produce more than one variety of fruit — you can see these advertised in magazines and gardening catalogs — but a tree that naturally produces one or more unusual branches and fruit. This is referred to as “throwing a sport.”

Certain plants are more prone to produce these genetic mutations than others. For example, hostas easily produce sports, leading to the literally hundreds of varieties of hostas on the market today, from tiny to enormous, variegated, bluish, etc.

When these sports are propagated, the new plants will resemble the sport, not the parent plant. Propagate the unusual hosta and you now have a new cultivar. Propagate the red pear sport and you now have an entire tree filled with those red pears.

But sometimes, these sports are not stable. They “revert to type,” that is, they revert to the genetic makeup of the original plant. It’s usually not the whole plant that reverts, but a small part of it. A branch will grow, for example, that looks just like the original plant.

This dwarf Alberta spruce is reverting to type. Note the unusual branches growing out of the top of the tree.
This dwarf Alberta spruce is reverting to type. Note the unusual branches growing out of the top of the tree. Photo by Ellen Barcel

Dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca var. albertiana f. conica) is a lovely, slow-growing, compact coniferous evergreen, which as its name implies stays very small. It makes an ideal decorative plant and easily grows in tubs. Many people like them decorated at Christmas. The dwarf Alberta spruce is a naturally occurring mutation of white spruce. Yes, it can revert to type. A couple of years ago, I saw a walkway lined with them; and yes, there growing from the top of one was a branch that had reverted to type.

So, what do you do if you find a sport on one of your plants, or, a plant grown from a sport reverts to type? That depends on whether you like the appearance or not.

Ignore it. If you find that the sport, or the reversion, is pleasing, you can just ignore it. That’s what I did when my variegated azaleas began to revert to solid green leaves. The flowers are the same gorgeous ones on all the branches, and the reversion actually has larger green leaves than the variegated ones.

Remove it. If you don’t like the sport or the reversion, find it ruins the plant etc., you can simply prune it out. I could have done this with my azaleas, but as I said above, it didn’t affect the flowers and made the overall plant larger.

Propagate it. If you absolutely love the sport, you can attempt to cultivate it. Usually vegetative propagation is the best since a sport is a mutation, a change in the genes. For hostas, this usually means digging up the plant and dividing it, detaching the different variety. Make sure you have the roots with the division. Replant the original plant and plant the sport in a different location, giving it a new home. Commercial growers sometimes use tissue culture, but this is really a specialized group of techniques that is beyond the home gardener. If the plant with the sport is a woody one, you can try to take woody cuttings. Use rooting hormone and sterile soil for best results.

You can, of course, collect the seeds from any flowers that form on a sport and try to grow the sport from seed. Chances are that if the seeds are not sterile, you will get a wide range of results from the original plant to the sport. Growing from seed, however, is time consuming as many plants can take years of growth before they mature. Plants like the dwarf Alberta spruce generally don’t produce cones and, therefore, no seeds. So, growing from seed is very iffy.

Note that if you find a really different branch with totally different flowers, on say, a rose bush, trace it back to its origin. Chances are you will find that the branch goes all the way back to the ground. Chances are that this is a grafted plant and that those roots are sprouting, rather than the graft. Usually grafted plants are made up of a common root stock with a beautiful plant on top. Unless you absolutely love what’s growing on the root sprouts, remove them at the soil level, below the graft (the large bump on the stem just above soil level). This will send the energy of the plant into the beautiful graft rather than the common root stock.

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

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Wei Zhu with a photo of her mother, Shenzhen Du. Photo by Joyce Ruan

By Daniel Dunaief

Wei Zhu’s long personal and professional journey began in China. Devoted to her mother, Shenzhen Du, Zhu watched her hero fight through a long illness with chronic kidney disease. Shortly before she died, her mother woke from a coma and suggested that her daughter become a doctor, like the people who were helping her in the hospital.

Driven to fulfill her mother’s request, Zhu attended college where, despite aspirations to become a writer like Charles Dickens or Charlotte Bronte, she studied math. She found the subject challenging but stuck with it. “Math was absolutely hard work,” she recalled. “We had to devote longer time to our study than many other majors. It all paid off in my case.”

Indeed, after she completed a one-year graduate program in math, she and her husband, Yeming Ma, came to the United States, where she used her experience in math to explore ways to understand how statistics can provide a perspective on everything from drug dosage to global warming to the causes of cancer.

“You can use math to improve people’s health,” said Zhu, who is now the deputy chair and professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics & Statistics at Stony Brook University.

Wei Zhu with her daughter, Merry Ma. Photo by Merry Ma
Wei Zhu with her daughter, Merry Ma. Photo by Merry Ma

At the beginning of the year, Yusuf Hannun, the director of the Stony Brook Cancer Center, emailed Zhu to ask her to pitch in to help understand a major question about cancer. In the prestigious journal Science, several researchers had concluded that the “bad luck” hypothesis suggested cancer was something that was written in a person’s genes. This scientific conclusion was akin to suggesting that a character’s fate in a play may have been written in the stars.

Hannun, Song Wu, an assistant professor in her department, Scott Powers, a professor in the Department of Pathology and Zhu came to a different conclusion, which they published in the equally prestigious magazine Nature.

Putting the data and the theory together, the group suggested that lifestyle choices and environmental exposure were also instrumental in this disease. The argument is the equivalent of nature versus nurture for a deadly disease.

“We were able to quantify what we observed,” Zhu said. For most cancers, the group concluded, the majority of the risk was due to lifestyle and environmental factors other than pure intrinsic genetic mutations. The disease debate, scientists recognize, doesn’t end there.

“The entire cancer research community still has a long way to go in order to perfectly understand the causes, prevention and treatments for each cancer, for each individual,” Zhu explained.

Hannun suggested that the direction cancer research is going requires advanced expertise in several areas of applied mathematics, physics and related disciplines. These are now needed for working with large data sets, for modeling pathways and events and for generating new hypotheses and organizing principles, Hannun wrote in a recent email. Hannun described Zhu as “terrific, highly dedicated and very collaborative” and suggested that the work has been “rewarding.”

Zhu is hoping that the recent Nature publication will trigger additional funding to support more research with this team of Stony Brook University scientists.

Wu, who was the first author on the Nature article, described Zhu as “well respected in the scientific community. She has done a lot of work on the analyses of brain image and proteomics data,” he wrote in an email.

Throughout her career, Zhu has sought to use statistics, bioinfomatics and other modern tools to enhance a scientific understanding of complex questions. She recently worked with Ellen Li, a professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, who wanted to understand the development of digestive diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer. Putting the numbers together could provide the kind of information that offers an understanding of how lifestyle and food choices contribute to some diseases over time, Zhu said.

“We have published several papers together over the years,” Zhu said. “We are still in the data collecting stage for the diet analysis.” In her career, which spans 24 years, Zhu has worked on a wide range of topics. She has helped analyze data on the regions of the brain that are active in addiction and helped refine and enhance global climate models. In her early work, she also help pharmaceutical companies come up with optimal drug dosage. Numbers have been a part of Zhu’s life wherever she goes. “You do see numbers in the air,” she said. “When it’s getting hot,” she asks, “what does it have to do with my climate model? Does it fit the data?”

In more recent years, Zhu has struggled with the tension between contributing to larger projects and budgetary constraints. She worries that the “funding situation has changed the dynamics of the job market for the young generation of statisticians,” she said. “Now the majority of my doctoral students hope to focus their research on financial models, instead of biological models.”

Zhu and her husband Ma, who is a financial manager for GE, live in Setauket. Their son Victor, 24, recently earned his graduate degree in finance, while their daughter Merry, 11, attends Mount Elementary School. Zhu appreciates living on Long Island, where she can be close to the ocean.

As she looks back on the developments in her life that brought her to this point in her career, Zhu recognizes that the decision to learn more about math and statistics provided her with the kind of background that allowed her to fulfill her mother’s wish. “I can always honestly tell young students that it is a good idea to choose mathematics or statistics as their undergraduate majors,” she said. It will pave the way for them to have “a solid foundation for a variety of future graduate studies.”

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Pan Roasted Maple Dijon Chicken. Stock photo

As summer comes to an end and the reality of back-to-school season sets in, it can be challenging to get organized and jump back into your day-to-day routine. But even as things get hectic, it’s still possible to create delicious dishes — such as Pan-Roasted Maple Dijon Chicken and Chicken Thighs and Tomatoes — that leave you plenty of time to savor meals together as a family.

Chicken Thighs and Tomatoes

Chicken Thighs and Tomatoes. Stock photo
Chicken Thighs and Tomatoes

YIELD: Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

1 pint cherry tomatoes

pepper

kosher salt

olive oil

4 chicken thighs (skin-on, bone-in)

1 cup white wine

1 clove garlic

1 lemon, juice only

DIRECTIONS: Heat oven to 400 F. In cast iron skillet, toss tomatoes with pinch of pepper, kosher salt and light drizzle of olive oil and place in oven. Roast tomatoes for 20 minutes. Set aside. Heat skillet on stove top. Once hot, sear chicken thighs. Flip chicken and sear bottom side for about 1 minute. Remove chicken from pan and set aside. With pan still hot, pour in white wine. Once wine has settled, add minced garlic. Add juice of one lemon. Return chicken thighs and tomatoes to skillet. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes and serve.

Source: Edna Valley Vineyard

Pan-Roasted Maple Dijon Chicken with Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts

Pan Roasted Maple Dijon Chicken. Stock photo
Pan Roasted Maple Dijon Chicken

YIELD: Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 chicken thighs

4 chicken drumsticks

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

16 Brussels sprouts (about 8 ounces), bottom trimmed, outer leaves removed and halved

2 cups diced (1/2 inch) butternut squash

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

DIRECTIONS: In saute pan large enough to hold chicken in single layer, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan, skin side down, and saute about 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until chicken is browned. Remove chicken from pan and reserve. In same pan, add butter. Allow butter to melt over medium heat. Add sprouts and squash to pan and saute, tossing occasionally, until outsides are golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from pan and hold separately from chicken.

Turn heat to high and add stock, syrup and mustard. Stir and bring to boil, stirring to scrape up brown bits on bottom of pan. Add chicken back to pan, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook over medium-low heat 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken registers 170 F with instant read thermometer. Add vegetables back to pan, cover again and cook another 8 to 10 minutes until vegetables are tender. Move chicken and vegetables to serving platter, placing vegetables around chicken. Turn heat to high and boil sauce until it is reduced and slightly thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.

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By Nancy Burner, Esq.

In my practice as an elder law attorney, clients often inquire about the benefits of gifting to reduce taxes or to qualify for Medicaid. As a senior with the unexpected need for long-term care in the future, the consequences of gifting may have unexpected results.

It is a common myth that everyone should be gifting monies during their life to avoid taxation later. Currently, a person can give away during life or die with $5.45 million before any federal estate tax is due. For married couples, this means that so long as your estate is less than $10.9 million, federal estate taxes are not a problem. For New York State estate tax, the current exemption is $4.1875 million and is currently slated to reach the federal estate tax exemption by 2019.

While it is true that there are gifting estate plans that can reduce estate taxes, any gift that exceeds the annual gift exclusion must be reported on a gift tax return during the decedent’s life and is deducted from their lifetime exemption. In 2016, that exclusion is $14,000. However, while gifting may be good if the goal is to reduce estate tax, it can be detrimental if the donor needs Medicaid to cover the cost of long-term care within five years of any gifts.

It is important to remember that the $14,000 only refers to the annual gift tax exclusion under the Internal Revenue Code. The Medicaid rules and regulations are different. In New York, Medicaid requires that all applicants and their spouses account for transfers made in the five years prior to applying for Institutional Medicaid. These gifts are totaled, and for each $12,633 that was gifted, one month of Medicaid ineligibility is imposed for Long Island applicants. It is also important to note that the ineligibility begins to run on the day that the applicant enters the nursing home and is “otherwise eligible for Medicaid” rather than on the day that the gift was made.

For example, if a grandfather gifted $100,000 over the course of five years to his grandchildren and then needed nursing home care, those gifts would be considered transfers and, if they cannot be returned, would create a period of ineligibility for Medicaid benefits for approximately eight months. What makes this even more difficult for some families is that an inability to give the money back or help the grandfather pay for his care is not taken into consideration, causing many families great hardship.

It would have been far better for the grandfather to have put assets into a Medicaid-qualified trust five years ago to start the period of ineligibility and allow the trustee to make the annual gifts. Another concern when gifting is considering to whom you are gifting? Once a gift is made to a person, it becomes subject to their creditors, legal status and can adversely affect their government benefits.

Accordingly, if you make a gift to a person who has creditors or who later gets a divorce, that gift could be lost to those debts. Consider creating a trust for the benefit of the debtor-beneficiary to ensure that their monies are protected. Another problem arises when making gifts to minors. Because a minor cannot hold property, if gifted substantial sums, someone would have to be appointed as the guardian of the property for that child before the funds could be used.

To avoid this problem, consider creating a trust for the minor beneficiary and designate a trustworthy trustee who will manage the money for the minor until they are old enough to manage it themselves.

Finally, if gifting to a disabled beneficiary, make sure to review what government benefits they may be receiving. If any of the benefits are “needs based,” even small gifts may disqualify them for their benefits. In order to maintain eligibility, a Supplemental Needs Trust could be created to preserve benefits for the disabled beneficiary.

A common phrase comes to mind “do not try this at home.” Before doing any kind of substantial gifting, or even if you have begun gifting, see an elder law attorney who concentrates their practice in Medicaid and estate planning to help optimize your chances of qualifying for Medicaid and/or reduce estate taxes, while still preserving the greatest amount of assets.

Nancy Burner, Esq. practices elder law and estate planning from her East Setauket office.

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