GOVPH

Water toxicity to living organisms is of great concern as today’s potable water levels are rapidly decreasing. Decreasing the concentrations of heavy metals in water through biosorption was explored. Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used as a biosorption agent to remediate different heavy metal ions in simulated heavy-metal polluted ground water. Briefly, 20 mL of aqueous solutions with critical concentrations of heavy metal ions namely 0.025 ppm Ni(NO3)2, 1.3 ppm Cu(NO3)2 and 0.5 ppm FeCl3 were added with 5 mL of S. cerevisiae solutions in PDB (McFarland Standard 10) at different concentrations (1 mL, 2 mL, and 3 ml S. cerevisiae in 4 mL, 3 mL and 2 mL distilled H2O, respectively). All treatments were conducted under constant conditions such as temperature and agitation period. After a week, results showed that S. cerevisiae had a significant remediating capability for Ni (II), Cu (II), and Fe (III). The average percentage of removal are as follows: 41.89%, 74.51%, and 29.30% for Ni (II), Cu (II), and Fe (III) ions, respectively. It is found that S. cerevisiae is highly effective in reducing the concentrations of the said metal ions based on the Analysis of Variance at 0.05 alpha.

The study was conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of the Acid Solubilized Collagen (ASC) of Oreochromis niloticus (Nile Tilapia) scales against Staphylococcus aureus. Air dried tilapia fish scales were extracted for collagen initially with 0.1 M of NaOH to remove the base soluble substances then with 10% (v/v) butyl alcohol to remove the fat tissues finally with 0.5 M acetic acid to acquire the solubilized collagen with a yield of 22.40%. Antimicrobial assay was then carried out through Agar diffusion.

The antimicrobial effect was based on the zone of inhibition measured in mm and the result were analyzed and compared using One-Way ANOVA of the Statistical Packages for Social Science 16 (SPSS) at a 0.05 level of significance. The mean zone of inhibition of the Acid Solubilized Collagen (ASC) falls in the 13mm-19mm range. This indicates that Nile tilapia scale collagen is active against S. aureus. Also, the positive control exceeding having the mean zone of inhibition of 39.97mm which exceeds 19 mm is very active against S. aureus. The positive control is significantly more active than the Nile tilapia collagen. The blank setup and negative control, water and acetic acid respectively, had no activity at all. These results prove that Nile tilapia scales are potential source of collagen and Acid Solubilized Collagen (ASC) of Nile tilapia scale is a potential antimicrobial agent.

Pleurotus ostreatus, commonly known as Oyster Mushroom, contains nutrients that are essential in increasing blood platelet count. This study aims to determine the effect of varying concentrations of Pleurotus ostreatus on the blood platelet count of Mus musculus. The Pleurotus ostreatus extract was administered to the mice through intraperitoneal administration then blood samples were collected in different time interventions. Statistics showed significant effect on the blood platelet count of Mus musculus per treatment using paired-samples t-test and no significant effect (at p<0.05) using one-way ANOVA, thus, this study concludes that Pleurotus ostreatus possesses no anti–thrombocytopenic potential.

The research entitled “Development of a Semi-Social Networking Site for the S.C.A.L.E. Program of the Philippine Science High School – Cagayan Valley Campus” dealt with the integration of technology to the documentations and the S.C.A.L.E. achievements of the student included in the program. The program extends the services from the processing the research document to the presentation of the achievement. The program was built and developed through the adaptation of the System Development Cycle. It was proven to provide efficient service to the clienteles of the S.C.A.L.E program.

Euphorbia milii cv., “The Crown of Thorns”, is a common species of Euphorbia that is widely distributed among different countries in Asia. Studies have indicated its toxicity against humans, and more studies have indicated its anti-oxidant, anti-mutagenic, anti-tumor and anti-cancer and many more of its biological activities. The researchers have come to recognize cancer as a prevailing cause of mortality worldwide, thus, this study aimed to determine the possible cytotoxic effect of Euphorbia milii cv. leaves on lung and colorectal cancer cell lines in order to provide a basis for upcoming similar researches.

The leaves were subjected to solvent extraction using methanol and afterwards, the extract was diluted in DMSO in preparation for the MTT Assay. Through the MTT Assay, the cytotoxic activity of the extract on lung and colorectal carcinoma was determined.

The results from the MTT Assay showed that the Euphorbia milii cv. leaf extract inhibited the cell growth of HCT116 and A549 cancer cells with its IC50 values 26.281 μg/mL and 33.96647 μg/mL respectively, making it effective in killing half (50%) the population of the cancer cells. Also, it has been found out that 100μg/mL concentration of Euphorbia milii cv. is the most effective of all the concentrations. Euphorbia milii cv., having found to exhibit a cytotoxic activity against human lung and colorectal carcinoma, is recommended for extensive studies implying further purification of its extract and a live cell count before and after treatment for more accurate results and a wider understanding of it.

People today use electronic machines to aid them in day to day activities. Electricity is in high demand but the major resource from which we get energy is fast depleting. This research aimed to build a self-sustaining street light and charging station that utilizes solar energy.

The device can be simplified into three parts, namely: the automatically adjusting solar panel, the LED lamp, and the charging station. The device makes use of ZDS II - Z8 Encore! Family as its program. The solar panel adjusts towards the direction of the sun every hour but it can also be manually adjusted by the user. It uses a real-time clock (RTC) and pre–calculated angles of the sun. This function helped maximize the energy gathered by the solar panel throughout the day. The LED lamp was programmed to turn on and off by 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM, respectively. The charging station can charge devices with at most 2000 mAh batteries. The energy gathered by the panel is stored in a 12V battery that the device will make use of for the charging station and the LED lamp.

The device is self-sustaining, needing only an average of 5 hours to charge the required amount of AHr to supply the street light and the charging station in 24 hours.

Free radicals are atoms or molecules that have unpaired electrons which can cause numerous diseases. Antioxidants, on the other hand, are substances that inhibit the oxidation of free radicals. Lately, there is an increasing interest in antioxidants, particularly towards the antioxidant activity of Dragon fruit. Dragon fruit, which is also known as pitaya is the fruit of a night blooming cactus. The study aims to evaluate the total phenolic content and the radical scavenging activity of the white fleshed dragon fruit peel, red fleshed dragon fruit peel, and the combination of the white fleshed dragon fruit and the red fleshed dragon fruit. The dragon fruit peels were consecutively extracted with ethanol to produce dragon fruit crude extracts. The extracts were separately added with their respective reagents with 3 replicates of the three extracts each in the determination of Total Phenolics Content and DPPH free radical scavenging activity.

The results of the study indicate that White-fleshed dragon fruit yielded the highest total phenolics content and radical scavenging activity compared to Red-fleshed dragon fruit, combination of White-fleshed dragon fruit and Red-fleshed dragon fruit, and the controls (Ascorbic Acid for Total Phenolics Content and Catechin for Free radical scavenging activity).

Based on the data gathered, there is a significant difference in the antioxidant properties of the dragon fruit peel extract treatments in terms of total phenolics content but not in terms of free radical scavenging activity. It was found that the white-fleshed dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) peel ethanolic extract significantly yielded the highest total phenolics content and qualitatively the highest free radical scavenging activity among the treatments followed by the 1:1 combination of the white-fleshed and red-fleshed dragon fruit peel extracts. These results imply that Hylocereus undatus peels are the best source of phenolics which can act as antioxidants but the antioxidant activities of all the dragon fruit peel extracts tested are comparable to each other and to the positive control, Catechin.