Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA — DeWart, DeMole and now—de-cancer.

By reformulating his amazing cream that gets rid of warts and moles without surgery, Rolando dela Cruz, 71, came up with DeBCC that combats skin cancer.

Doctors from the Philippine General Hospital have certified the DeBCC cream as a viable treatment for basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the most common type of skin cancer.

On Friday, Dela Cruz received the World Intellectual Property Office gold medal for DeBCC as an outstanding invention during the closing ceremonies of the National Inventors Week.

When he was a child, Dela Cruz asked his mother why his hands got burnt when he cut a raw cashew nut he found in their backyard.

“I was trying to open the raw cashew nut by striking it with a stone. The oil from the nut splattered on my hands and some areas of my hands got burnt,” he recounted.

Dela Cruz would often refer to this story as how the idea for his invention started. He was able to formulate a cream to remove warts and moles on the skin and later, a painless treatment for the most common type of skin cancer, which the Department of Science and Technology recently hailed as the outstanding invention of the year.

A former barber in Caloocan City, Dela Cruz recalled seeing scars on the faces and necks of his clients, and would ask them about the imperfections.

“I compared my experience of getting burnt from cashew nut oil to the scars of my clients who had their warts cauterized,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on the sidelines of the closing ceremonies of the National Inventors Week on Friday.

“I asked them about the cauterizing machine. I had no idea what it was because I was only in second year high school,” he added.

The cauterizing machine and the cashew nut oil seemed to have the same effect, he figured. Using extract from the cashew nut, he removed the warts and moles of his clients at the barber shop.

In 1997, Dela Cruz and his family started marketing the products as DeWart, a cream to remove warts, and DeMole, a cream to remove moles, his son Rommel de la Cruz said.

In a separate interview, the younger Dela Cruz narrated how they joined an exhibit at the Greenhills Commercial Center in San Juan.

“[At the beginning] we didn’t even know how we would pay for the rent of the stall,” he said. “But in that exhibit, we learned how to price our products and how to sell them. It was a valuable experience.”

DeMole and DeWart were later recognized by the DOST, with the creams winning the Tuklas (Discover) award in 1998.

Doctors also deemed the creams as possible treatment for warts and moles after completing clinical trials and studies on patients, he added.

Then an odd thing happened.

“Patients diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma insisted on trying the DeMole treatment. They even signed a waiver [absolving us from responsibility] so they could apply the cream to their BCC,” the younger Dela Cruz said.

He and the staff charted the results and said the treatment “had a good, albeit, small effect on the growths.”

“In 2003, Tatay reformulated DeMole by adding other ingredients and increased the strength of the cashew extract. We called the cream DeBCC,” the younger Dela Cruz said.

According to the US-based Skin Cancer Foundation, skin cancer is the most common kind of cancer in the United States with over a million cases reported annually. One in five Americans could develop the disease, the foundation said.

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are the usual treatments offered to BCC patients, but doctors encounter difficulties removing growths in sensitive areas like the face and genitalia.

Dela Cruz’s cream made the removal of BCC easier. A clinical trial at the PGH validated the viability of the treatment.

It was documented in the study, “Anacardium Occidentale (Linn. Cashew Nut Extract; DeBCC ®) in the Treatment of Basal Cell Carcinoma or Skin Cancer” by University of the Philippines doctors Eric Talens, Orlando Ocampo, Daniel dela Paz, Horacio Estrada and Porfirio Tica.

The DeBCC cream was also chosen as one of 11 “Posters of Exceptional Merit” last year during the 93rd Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Despite his success as an inventor, Dela Cruz has never forgotten his humble beginnings. Poverty has made him a stronger person, he said.

“Those were trying times. I even experienced living at La Loma cemetery, sleeping in a cold, open ‘nitso (tomb),” he said. During those nights, he dreamed of becoming a doctor.

“And even though I never had a chance to take up medicine, my inventions allowed me to team up with doctors and find treatments,” Dela Cruz said.

ABS – CBN News

Filipina scientist Jurgenne Primavera has landed on the pages of Time Magazine for her contribution to environmental protection.

In its October 6 issue, the international magazine named her one of 30 scientists, activists, celebrities, innovators and financiers all over the world for their noteworthy efforts in preserving the planet.

The magazine cited her campaign for sustainable fish farming, rooted in the protection of mangrove forests, and lauded her “groundbreaking studies” on the life cycle of tiger prawns in the country, which “helped galvanize an aquaculture revolution.”

Primavera, who has done aquaculture research on giant tiger prawns for 15 years, welcomed the citation for helping bring her mangrove and environmental concerns mainstream.

“In history, during Spanish times, the first ponds were built. We had a ratio of half a hectare of mangrove to half a hectare of pond. I’ve chanced upon an ecology paper that said no more than 20% of mangrove should be converted to ponds. As a precautionary principle, there should be four hectares of mangrove to a hectare of pond. As of 1994, there were only 20,000 hectares of mangrove remaining as against 200,000 hectares of pond. We’re in trouble,” she laments, citing how the ratio has dwindled over time.

But, she notes, there have been a number of success stories. She cites a mangrove plantation in Kalibo, Aklan that has generated income for locals since it was opened as an ecotourism destination, and the successful preservation of a natural mangrove plantation in Bais Bay.

Mangrove greenbelts

Today, she hopes to see mangrove greenbelts or buffer zones restored as they should be, as mandated by law.

“I hope to see the enforcement of greenbelt laws which mandate 100-200 meters from shorelines and along rivers. Republic Act 8550 requires fishponds to have a greenbelt, but there isn’t enough enforement. For policy makers, walang pesos and centavos. If you give those figures in black and white, maybe they will be better convinced.”

She adds, practices may be better if locals were made better aware of the function of mangrove ecosystems, not just as spawning grounds for fish and other aquatic life but as coastal protection.

Her advocacy for mangrove, she recalls, began as child’s play.

“I used to climb trees,” she recalls. “We’d eat fruits on trees. When we went into aquaculture, I realized ponds had been replaced by mangrove. I have seen meters of coastlines eroded, communities forced back by waves, because there are no greenbelts to protect them.”

Native tree species

Aside from mangrove, she has also picked up a love for native tree species as her latest advocacy.

She believes in using available native trees, specially the fast growing ones like the Molave, Yakal, Apitong and Dao to replace the exotic trees that line our highways.

Today, there is no stopping Primavera’s dream of having a better environment even in some small way. She recently bought 3 hectares of land in Iloilo City with her retirement pay for a mini-forest of native tree species.

GMA News

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino scientist currently studying in the United States has found a new source of coherent light, like lasers, which only potentially needs lower power to operate, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said on Wednesday.

In a press statement, the DOST’s Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) said Ryan Balili, together with his adviser David Snoke of University of Pittsburgh, were able to demonstrate that the transition of particles into waves could be done at higher temperature which would require lesser power to generate.

The phenomenon is called Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC), named after Indian physicist Satyendranath Bose who worked on the statistics of monoatomic ideal gases and Albert Einstein who speculated this macroscopic coherent state.

“Einstein proposed that at very low temperatures a certain type of identical particles, now called bosons, would’collapse,’ or condense, into a single quantum mechanical wave.

“However, in Balili’s work, he was able to demonstrate the same phenomenon at higher temperatures using polaritons, an energy particle which exists only in a medium that can be polarized by an electromagnetic wave,” the statement explained.

It quoted Balili as saying that the main challenge was making the polariton transition into a BEC even if polaritons exist only for very short times, approximately a few picoseconds.

Nevertheless, Balili and his adviser were able to trap polaritons which turned into a single, spatially compact condensate of gas analogous to atomic BEC.

“One way to think of a polariton BEC is that it is a state of matter that has some of the properties of a laser and some of the properties of a superconductor,” the DOST-SEI statement said.

Balili and his group at the University of Pittsburgh said that what they were able to show is that the emitted light of the polariton BEC and its electrons are coherent, which is a property of superconductors that allows it to make electric current flow without resistance and wavelike interference of electrical signals.

He said that the most promising applications of the polaritons BEC are in optical devises which takes advantage of laser-like sources at low-power coherent light sources.

“This may be useful for signaling, switching, and amplification in optical communications,” he said.

Balili, a 2002 summa cum laude Bachelor of Science in Physics graduate of the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, is currently taking up his doctorate in Physics at the University of Pittsburgh where he also finished his Master of Science in Physics.

Balili was a scholar of the DOST during his undergraduate years.

Dr. Ester B. Ogena, director of the DOST-SEI, lauded Balili’s work saying his discovery is a manifestation of the caliber of scholars the DOST is getting every year.

“We are the germination box of soon-to-be great names in the science and technology world. Balili is just one of them and every year we get around 3,500 scholars who in the future would propel the Philippines into first world status,” she said in the statement.

Ogena expressed optimism that more DOST-SEI scholars would make a mark in science and technology with the implementation of the Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development Program (ASTHRDP) and the Engineering Research and Development for Technology Program (ERDTP) which provides students to proceed to the MS and PhD studies as a scholar.

“We are beefing up our critical mass of scientists and engineers through the ASTHRDP and ERDTP by providing them with scholarships in our top universities,” she said.

Ogena avowed to continuously entice students to venture into science careers through promotional programs and scholarship grants.

“We shall be at the forefront of science and technology human resources development and create the necessary critical mass of scientists and engineers the Philippines needs,” she said.

Good News Pilipinas

Reinabelle Co Reyes has received the “Chambliss Astronomy achievement student award” for her major role in the discovery of the largest number of “obscured quasars.”

She received the honor during the 211th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

The prestigious society was established in 1899 and it is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America whose basic objective is to promote the advancement of astronomy and closely related branches of science.

“The membership of the American Astronomical Society include physicists, mathematicians, geologists, engineers and others whose research interests lie within the broad spectrum of subjects now comprising contemporary astronomy,” Santiago said.

The “Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Awards” are given by the Society to recognize exemplary research by undergraduate and graduate students. The awardees are honored with a Chambliss medal and a certificate.

Reyes’ role in the discovery of the largest amount of “obscured quasars,” is significant because it will eventually revise science books.

“The discovery, which may eventually revise science books, was the culmination of a five-year study spearheaded by Nadia Zakamska, a long-term post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Advance Study, under the supervision of quasar hunter professor Michael Strauss,” Santiago said.

Aside from the “Chambliss Astronomical achievement student award,” Reyes is also a recipient of awards and fellowships which include: the Centennial Fellowship, Princeton University Graduate School (2006-2010); Merit Prize Fellowship Grant, Princeton University Graduate School (2006-2010); Martin Schwarschild Graduate Fellowship, Princeton University (2006-2007); Academic Scholarship, Ateneo de Manila University (2001-2005); and Merit Science Scholarship, Department of Science and Technology (2001-2005).

“Reinabelle’s other ongoing research projects include: Testing gravity on large scales using cosmological observations; Constraining the amplitude of fluctuations using galaxy clusters; Dust emission in the infrared spectra of SINGS galaxies; and Cometary Knots around the Helix Planetary Nebula,” Santiago said.

Reyes is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Astrophysics at Princeton University in New Jersey, USA. She was a Merit Science Scholar of the DOST after graduating valedictorian from the Philippine Science High School, after which she received an academic scholarship from the Ateneo de Manila University. In 2005 she graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Physics.

Reyes entered a masters level program in 2006 at the High Energy Physics of the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—A grade school Chemistry experiment, a supportive high school science teacher and a longtime fascination with living things made him what he is today—a scientist whose pioneering research paved the way for the use of venom as a potent pain reliever.

Baldomero “Toto” M. Olivera, a distinguished professor of biology at University of Utah in the United States and the Harvard Foundation’s 2007 Scientist of the Year, has been hailed for his work in neurotoxins which is produced by venomous cone snails commonly found in the tropical waters of his native Philippines.

The research conducted by his group became the basis for the commercial drug Prialt (generic name: Ziconotide), which is considered more effective than morphine and does not result in addiction. (But Olivera’s group was not able to patent its work, and it never profited from the sales of the drug.)

Olivera was in the second grade when his teacher taught him to perform a simple experiment to find out which substances were soluble in water.

The boy went around soaking everything he could get hold of in water, and was hooked on science experiments for life.

“I feel I was just lucky. Every second grader should get to do an experiment,” quipped the Utah-based Olivera at the UP Centennial celebration with University of the Philippines faculty, students and alumni at the UP Film Center in Diliman, Quezon City.

On that day, Jan. 16, he delivered a lecture, “From cone snail venoms to drugs: The scientific odyssey of a UP graduate,” and was later conferred an honorary doctor of science degree by his alma mater.

“For Olivera, discovery, and the sense of power that it was something he could determine himself, something that he didn’t know before, is one reason he is a scientist today,” said UP marine scientist Giselle Concepcion, who introduced the man to his audience.

Nine UP campuses nationwide took part in the gathering via videoconference. The program was Webcast for UP alumni all over the world.

Nature’s wonders

As an only child cloistered in isolation with his parents, and having no neighbors and playmates, Olivera often found himself alone with plenty of time on his hands.

This led to a love for reading as well as a fascination with nature’s wonders, particularly seashells, and what he described as their diverse shapes and intricate colors and patterns.

According to Concepcion, Olivera became an avid shell collector early on, honing his keen, meticulous talent for detailed observation. Thus, his understanding of snail morphology, taxonomy, biology and behavior became almost intuitive later in his scientific career.

In Olivera’s own narration, an important influence in his life was the late Dolly Hernandez of UP, a dedicated high school teacher in chemistry and zoology who recognized his unique talents and inspired and guided him toward a career in science.

Now the scientist wishes to return the favor by encouraging the youth to feed on their inherent inquisitiveness.

RP biodiversity planet’s richest

At the subsequent forum, Olivera said he was supporting a project initiative involving marine biodiversity links for young Filipino students.

The project, which he described as in its “very early stages,” is aimed at finding appropriate individuals to help him reach out to second- and third-grade students.

Olivera’s own vision is to have UP college students visit primary schools and teach the children how to conduct experiments.

He said he was trying to combine experiments in chemistry with those that would expose students to biodiversity.

Part of Olivera’s vision is public education to help protect the Philippines’ marine biodiversity, which he described as the richest on the planet.

“More than anything else, the students—second graders and third graders—need to know that the marine animals around them may seem very commonplace, but are found nowhere else,” he said.

Olivera said he was “very optimistic” about the prospect: “I think that in a few years, the general attitude [will change] dramatically because of a few people who are very dedicated.

“And it’s clear that educating the receptive population about the uniqueness of a particular species is really helping conserve biodiversity.”

Cone snails

Olivera said in his lecture that Filipino fishermen might have collected more cone snails than any other group on earth.

The reason for this, he said, was that the fishermen knew where and when to find them.

“Furthermore, there are more species of cone snails found in the Philippines than in any other place. And part of the reason for this is our own geological history,” he said, adding:

“The country’s geological history of tectonic plates—the same geological history that has given [it] volcanic eruptions and earthquakes—has also led to the evolution of the richest marine biota in the planet.”

Excellent mentor

Olivera was recently cited by UP for being “an excellent collaborator and mentor of young scientists, allowing them to work directly on advanced problems, thus accelerating their technical training and developing their self-confidence at a crucial stage of their career.”

Role model

He was also recognized for demonstrating “genuine concern in the intellectual development and technical training of Filipino graduate students, permitting them meaningful access to state-of-the-art facilities and valuable technical advice for serving as a role model to inspire young students to pursue a career in the biological sciences, thereby ensuring the continuous generation of new scientific knowledge.”

He was recognized by the Harvard Foundation for his “outstanding achievements and contributions to American science, and for his notable contributions to molecular biology and groundbreaking work with conotoxins.”

Olivera majored in chemistry at UP and graduated summa cum laude and valedictorian of the UP Class of 1960.

He also became a Fulbright scholar and pursued his Ph.D. in biochemistry at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Good News Pilipinas

Ten exceptional students have earned the right to represent the Philippines in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, Georgia, in May this year. They were selected during the Intel Philippine Science Fair in Tagaytay City.

Chosen as the Philippine representatives to Atlanta were Jed Sidney Oliva of Ballesteros National High School in Cagayan for his project “MORH: Jedoque Process of increasing the compressive strength and lessening the water absorbency of hollow blocks;” Andrew Diamante, Visayas State University Laboratory High School, “Prediction of total soluble solids in ripe mangoes based on their electrical resistance;” Steven Tan, The Quantum Academy Inc. of General Santos City, “Pharmaceutical compounds (antibacterial immunobooster) from Barringtonia Asiatica and Garcinia Mangostana;” Louie Lugto, Don Alejandro Roces Sr. Science and Technology High School of Quezon City, “Isolation and characterization of the most cytotoxic fraction of select Philippine poisonous crabs;” Michelle Borbon, Rachel Bernadas and Mary Cris Corpuz of Gingoog City Comprehensive National High School, “A comparative study on mangrove species diversity at different locations in Pangasihon Forest;” and Marvin Ambrosio, Rachel Cahilig and Adrian Patacsil of Philippine Science High School of Quezon City, “Construction of a mechanical prototype of a micro tremor recorder.”

“Just as Intel is continually innovating and evolving, through young geniuses like the Intel Philippine Science Fair participants, the [science fair] continues to be a venue that keeps alive the spirit of unlimited possibilities and the excitement of the next scientific discovery,” said Arlita Narag, Intel corporate affairs manager.

The Intel Philippine Science Fair is an annual science-project competition that draws participants from all over the country.

The first prize winners in the Life Science category were: Cluster 1- Individual, Steven Tan of The Quantum Academy Inc.; Cluster 1-Team, John Vincent Gabiano and Mae Ann Tabasin of Maasin National Comprehensive High School, Maasin, Iloilo; Cluster 2-Individual, Louie Lugto of Don Alejandro Roces Sr. Science and Technology High School in Quezon City; and Cluster 2-Team, Erwin Angelo Amago, John Isaac Merin and Lawreanne Sanico of Philippine Science High School in Eastern Visayas.

In the Physical Science category, the first prize winners were: Cluster 1-Individual, Jessel Fatima Cane of Bayugan Comprehensive National High School; Cluster 1-Team, Marc Amando Marquez, Anna Rose Malapad and Rachel Aurora Chi of Marinduque National High School; Cluster 2-Individual, Andrew Diamante of Visayas State University Laboratory High School; and Cluster 2-Team, Marvin Paolo Ambrosio, Rachel Ruth Cahilig, and Adrian Patacsil of Philippine Science High School in Quezon City.

The Philippine Star

Two scientists doing groundbreaking research work on deriving powerful painkillers from local snails for severe pain, epilepsy and neurodegenerative disorders have been conferred national honors.

President Arroyo has named Lourdes Cruz National Scientist and awarded the Legion of Honor, rank of Grand Officer, to Baldomero Olivera.

In 2007, Olivera was chosen as “Scientist of the Year” by the Harvard Foundation. Cruz received the Outstanding ASEAN Scientist and Technologist Award in 2001.

Cruz, an academician from the National Academy of Science and Technology, is currently doing research on neuroactive peptides and other marine toxins at the Marine Science Institute of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

Olivera’s group, which includes Cruz, made a breakthrough discovery of a family of biomolecules they collectively called conotoxins, from Conus sp. marine snails (Cone shells) collected in tropical waters in the Philippines.

These biomolecules are widely used in neuroscience research today in the study of ion channels and neuro-muscular synapses.

Olivera graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1960. He finished his doctoral degree in Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology in 1966, and rendered post-doctoral work at Stanford University from 1966-1968.

Olivera also teaches at the University of Utah.

On July 9, 2007, UP honored Olivera for his research on neuropharmacology using the venom of conesnails (carnivorous, predatory marine snails which thrive in tropical and subtropical habitats).

Cruz, on the other hand, conceptualized and established the Rural Livelihood Incubator or Rural LINC in 2001 which was meant to generate employment opportunities and establish sustainable means of livelihood as long-term solutions to poverty and socio-political instability in rural areas especially among Aetas, upland farmers, and fisherfolk.

Cruz’s scientific achievements include, among others, the elucidation of the biochemical and molecular structure, properties and mechanisms of action of conotoxins from Philippine marine snails. She has inspired and challenged Filipino and international scientists with her achievements that include her pioneering work in conotoxins.

Her expertise in marine toxinology has been recognized not only in the country but also in the international science community. In 1993, she was awarded the “Sven Brohult Award” by the International Science Foundation for Science in Sweden.

Since its first awarding in 1978, 31 National Scientists have been conferred the honor.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

FORT DEL PILAR, BAGUIO CITY — Jeanette Belarmino-Sardenta, Carina Dayondon and Noelle Wenceslao may have won their spurs as the first Filipino women to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, the world’s tallest peak, but their expedition leader said what the three women accomplished was even more valuable to medical science.

Art Valdez said international doctors were astonished by the physiological feat achieved by the all-Filipino women Mt. Everest team, particularly Sardenta who had given birth to a son just five months before the climb.

‘We all come from a tropical country, with no experience in high altitude environments that affect blood flow, so when we allowed Jeanette to climb, [the medical field] was amazed,’ Valdez said.

He said the experience gave Filipino doctors some insights into changes in the team members’ menstrual cycles, the alterations in their blood sugar with each step of the way up Everest, as well as their psychological condition before and after the historic climb.

Wenceslao’s mother died while the expedition was midway through their mission. The daughter decided to continue the trek, ‘with mama beside me.’

Valdez said the slew of medical information gathered from the expedition inspired the team doctor, Ted Esguerra, to compile them into a medical journal and a book on Asian physiology and high-altitude weather.

The world has also taken notice of the other experts on the team, Valdez said. Filipino climatologist Voltaire Velasco was able to get a job at the US National Aeronautical and Space Administration (Nasa).

Sardenta, Dayondon, Wenceslao and Leo Oracion, the first Filipino to reach the summit of Everest in 2006, were honored with a parade by Philippine Military Academy cadets here on Saturday.

At a Friday news conference, Sardenta said giving birth forced her to confront the psychological terrors of the climb.

The worst they could imagine occurred on the way to the summit, she said.

Mindful of the physical trauma they would have to endure, the three women decided not to take medicine to suppress menstruation, Dayondon said.

The trek was not conducive to women as there were to be no bath facilities for at least three months.

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MagicClip Website

PEOPLE are generally born curious. Our fascination with a lot of things come early. At a young age, we ask a range of simple questions like “What’s that?” or “What are you doing?” to the lip-stuttering “How was I born?” or “How did you make me?” which parents find difficulty answering.

And finally through learning, we become inventive. We pile up our knowledge to come up with new things which usually comes from environment. But little did we know that our path to success sometimes just lies around the corner. Just as what Col. Geronimo A. Dango, the one who gave the world the “magiclip” took.

The simple yet very useful trick started when, in the early 70s, in a small firm in Los Angeles where Dango works as a maintenance engineer, he observed Mexican delivery boys playing with an engineer’s T-square and junked ball bearings. The ball bearings when pressed against the T-square can hold up pieces of paper even without tapes, clips, or thumb tacks. This was a neat trick that took Dango’s interest and without his knowing brought an overwhelming change in his life. Born with a curious and inventive mind, Dango bought the idea and realised that by using the similar technique, he could come up with a simple device that could bring great help to office workers in holding up paper works. And that was when the “magiclip” came into being.

After years of perfecting his simple invention, Dango had the device patented in America which unfortunately did not do well. Thus, in 1977, when the former President Ferdinand Marcos issued P.O. 819, the Balik-Scientist Program which allows Filipino scientists to come home and be given the privilege to contribute to the economy’s development.

Though the market in the Philippines for his magiclip did not do magic with sheer courage and determination, he relentlessly pushed his product and took the risk of putting up his own company, the Herdan Enterprises, which later on became Herdan Corporation, which produces a multiple other products using the “MagiClip” concept. These included copy holders, telephone organizers, flip charts, desk organizers, and holders for negatoscope x-rays.

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