Mediated Diasporas: Material Translations of the Philippines in a Globalized World

Recent work demonstrates the ways that new media and ICTs both in the Philippines and among Filipino diasporans have become central to contemporary processes of identity formation, altering and enabling the articulation of alternative selves and expanding spatially Filipino national identifications and definitions of ‘home’ (Pertierra 2002, 2006, 2010 Tyner and Kuhlke 2000, Ignacio 2005). While attending to media in the specific sense of particular social technologies of mass communication, we extend that work here drawing together new empirical studies both to demonstrate the various ways that a wide range of differently situated migrants make use of those media and by considering processes of mediation in a much broader sense (Mazzarella 2004), an approach that draws together both an analysis of the ‘materialities of migration’ (Basu and Coleman 2008) and ‘the technics of translation’ (Rafael 2005)

Preliminary bioactivity screening of dichloromethane and methanol crude extracts from the fire coral Millepora dichotoma

Marine organisms are a very good source of unique bioactive secondary metabolites, although they have been comparatively underexplored relative to their terrestrial counterparts. Preliminary investigation of crude extracts from the fire coral Millepora dichotoma revealed that the hemolytic potential of the MeOH extract, at a concentration of 5 mg/mL, was significantly lower at less than 5% hemolysis while DCM extract at the same concentration resulted to almost 100% hemolysis. Furthermore, antimicrobial assay revealed that the MeOH extract (5 mg/mL) mildly inhibited the fungi T. mentagrophytes and resulted in the thinning of growth of S. aureus, while DCM extracts showed no detectable activity against these organisms. These results demonstrated that MeOH extracts of M. dichotoma, without showing hemolytic side effects, could be further analysed for potential use against T. mentagrophytes and S. aureus infections

The investigation of the reaction of 1-Bromobutane with Fenton reagent

Reaction of 1-bromobutane was investigated using Fenton reagent. This reagent is known to be a good oxidant for organic pollutants, which is composed of Fe2+ and H2O2. The reaction products that were identified were: 1-bromo-2-butanol, 1-butanoyl bromide, 1,3-dibromobutane, 1,4-dibromobutane, and 1,1,1-tribromobutane. This was verified by separating and analyzing the reaction mixture by GC/MS. Mechanisms were proposed for the formation of the products of the reaction of 1-bromobutane and Fenton reagent

Bioactivity of Ag nanoclusters capped with crude protein extracts from the sea anemone heteractis magnifica

Novel protein-based nanomaterials are gaining much interest in recent years due in large part to their more environment-friendly preparation schemes coupled with promising biological activities. Although nanoparticles synthesized from protein sources are not new, various researches are still continuously investigating other potential templates and sources of new protein-based materials. In this study, Ag nanoclusters capped with crude protein extracts from the sea anemone Heteractis magnifica (H. magnifica) were prepared via one-pot, green synthesis, and subjected to preliminary biological activity testing. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis indicated successful capping of the nanoclusters, consistent with previous reports utilizing similar synthetic protocols, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed the presence of more aggregates on the surface of the prepared nanoclusters. Formation of the nanoclusters resulted in a slight to moderate antibacterial, but not antifungal, activity, although the material also showed a concentration-dependent hemolytic action. In contrast, the unmodified extract did not show any antimicrobial action while being more hemolytic as well. These results demonstrate the potential of these protein-capped Ag nanoclusters as antibacterial agents, although its unwanted hemolytic side effect will have to be reduced for it to have any therapeutic potential. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York

Chemical constituents of Millepora dichotoma

Chemical investigation of the dichloromethane extract of the fire coral, Millepora dichotoma yielded β-sitosterol (1), triacylglycerols (2), and wax esters (3). The structures of 1-3 were identified by comparison of their NMR data with literature data

Trace metal analysis of organic vegetables sold in some supermarkets in Manila, Philippines

Recent years have seen the rapid growth of the organic food products industry, primarily driven by the consumers\u27 desire for a healthier lifestyle. Similar to worldwide trend, explicitly-labeled organic food products have become ubiquitous in the Philippines, with the consumers most of the time having no information on the quality of the products. In the Philippine setting, very few researches have focused on the analysis of organic vegetables, and in this study, the trace-metal (cadmium, copper, iron, nickel, and zinc) concentration of specific organic and conventional vegetables (cabbage, celery, leek, lettuce, and spinach) that are being sold in some shops in the cities of Makati and Manila, Philippines were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The mean concentration for copper, iron, nickel and zinc in the samples were calculated to be between 0.0146-0.881 mg/kg, 0.648-13.1 mg/kg, 0.0409-2.04 mg/kg, and 0.266-2.87 mg/kg, respectively, while cadmium levels varied from 0.005- 0.772 mg/kg (with some samples below the limit of detection). Nevertheless, statistical analysis (p \u3c 0.05) showed more organic vegetables having no significant differences than conventional ones indicating that in terms of the content of these trace metals, being organic may not necessarily mean better. © 2018 North University of Baia Mare

Evaluation of the anti-cancer potential of amphidinol 2, a polyketide metabolite from the marine dinoflagellate Amphidinium klebsii

The increasing incidence of new cancer cases and the appearance of cancer cells resistant towards standard chemotherapeutic drugs have prompted active research on finding novel compounds with promising anti-cancer properties. In this regard, marine organisms could provide interesting and unique compounds that may be of use in the treatment of this disease. Amphidinols (AMs) belong to a class of polyketide metabolites isolated from the marine dinoflagellate Amphidinium klebsii. These compounds are known to perforate the membrane via sterol interaction ultimately leading to pore formation and cell death. Herein, the activity of amphidinol 2 (AM2) against HCT-116, HT-29, and MCF-7 cancer cells was evaluated and compared with normal HDFn cells. Cell viability assays revealed that AM2 was cytotoxic to all cells tested, but it was significantly lower in normal cells; its IC50 against HDFn cells was 135.5 μg/mL compared with 1.2-8.5 μg/mL for the three cancer cell lines. Gene expression experiments showed that the presence of AM2 resulted in the upregulation of the pre-apoptosis markers cfos and cjun in all cancer cell lines tested, which may explain its observed cytotoxic action. These results demonstrate the potential of AM2, and possibly this class of compounds, as an effective anti-cancer therapeutic. © 2017 Jordan Journal of Biological Sciences

A bioactive sesquiterpene from Bixa orellana

A dichloromethane extract of the air-dried leaves of Bixa orellana afforded ishwarane 1, phytol 2, polyprenol 3, and a mixture of stigmasterol 4a and sitosterol 4b by silica gel chromatography. The structure of 1 was elucidated by extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. Compound 1 at three doses (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg BW) was tested for prophylactic, gastrointestinal motility, analgesic, hypoglycemic, and antimicrobial potentials. Results of the prophylactic assay demonstrated the anti-toxic property of 1 at 100 mg/kg BW. A 50 mg/kg BW dose of 1 resulted in a more propulsive movement of the gastrointestinal tract (88.38 ± 13.59%) compared to the negative control (78.47 ± 10.61%). Tail flick and acetic acid writhing tests indicated that 100 mg/kg BW 1 had minimal analgesic activity. Compound 1 demonstrated no hypoglycemic potential on the animals tested. Compound 1 exhibited moderate antifungal activity against C. albicans, low activity against T. mentagrophytes, and low antibacterial activity against E. coli, S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa. It was inactive against B. subtilis and A. niger. © 2010 The Japanese Society of Pharmacognosy and Springer

An <i>in silico</i> analysis of the interaction of marine sponge-derived bioactive compounds with type 2 diabetes mellitus targets DPP-4 and PTP1B

Type 2 diabetes is a medical condition involving elevated blood glucose levels resulting from impaired or improper insulin utilization. As the number of type 2 diabetes cases increases each year, there is an urgent need to develop novel drugs having new targets and/or complementing existing therapeutic protocols. In this regard, marine sponge-derived compounds hold great potential due to their potent biological activity and structural diversity. In this study, a small library of 50 marine sponge-derived compounds were examined for their activity towards type 2 diabetes targets, namely dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B). The compounds were first subjected to molecular docking on protein models based on their respective co-crystal structures to assess binding free energies (BFE) and conformations. Clustering analysis yielded BFE that ranged from 24.54 kcal/mol to −9.97 kcal/mol for DPP-4, and from −4.98 kcal/mol to −8.67 kcal/mol for PTP1B. Interaction analysis on the top ten compounds with the most negative BFE towards each protein target showed similar intermolecular interactions and key interacting residues as in the previously solved co-crystal structure. These compounds were subjected to absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) profiling to characterize drug-likeness and combining the results from these analyses, (S)-6’-debromohamacanthin B was identified as a potential multi-target inhibitor of DPP-4 and PTP1B, having favorable protein interaction, no Lipinski violations, good gastrointestinal (GI) tract absorption, blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration, and no predicted toxicity. Finally, the interaction of (S)-6’-debromohamacanthin B with the two proteins was validated using molecular dynamics simulations over 100 ns through RMSD, radius of gyration, PCA, and molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MMPBSA) confirming favorable interactions with the respective proteins. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma A 50-compound library previously reported from marine sponges was docked to putative T2DM targets, DDP-4 and PTP1B.(S)-6’-debromohamacanthin B was identified as a probable dual-targeting compound based on binding interactions and ADMET evaluation.Interaction of (S)-6’-debromohamacanthin B with DPP-4 and PTP1B was validated by MD simulations. A 50-compound library previously reported from marine sponges was docked to putative T2DM targets, DDP-4 and PTP1B. (S)-6’-debromohamacanthin B was identified as a probable dual-targeting compound based on binding interactions and ADMET evaluation. Interaction of (S)-6’-debromohamacanthin B with DPP-4 and PTP1B was validated by MD simulations.</p