Natural cancer drug available from soaking soybeans

A group of plant scientists at the University of Missouri have discovered a new, inexpensive approach to extracting an powerful anticancer chemical from soybeans. The incidence of a number of common cancers (breast, colorectal, prostate, bladder, lymphoma, and oral cancers) is lower in Japan by a factor of two to ten times than in North America or Western Europe (GLOBOCAN 2008). The medical profession is edging toward a conclusion that a significant portion of the reduction in alimentary system cancers and breast cancer is associated with the importance of the humble soybean to Japanese diets.

Researchers have considered the medical benefits of the soybean for centuries. However, the modern level of interest began with the identification of the Bowman-Birk Protease Inhibitor (BBI) in 1963.

This small protein (molecular weight of about 8,000 Daltons) has demonstrated strong cancer chemoprotective and anticancer treatment properties. It has been found effective against breast, colon, liver, lung, esophageal, and oral cancers. The studies are so impressive that BBI has been an FDA Investigational New Drug since 1992.

Unfortunately, BBI has also been very expensive (~US$2,000/gram at Sigma/Aldrich) owing to the very complex extraction sequence developed during its discovery. Early studies showed that BBI is found primarily in the soybean hulls (seed coats), which are generally removed before processing raw soybeans for the produce and fermentation markets. As a result, the hulls are extremely inexpensive at about $0.10 per kilogram. Ten percent of soybean hulls extracts as sugary solids with a protease inhibitor activity equivalent to about 70 mg/gram of solids, so that protease inhibitors make up about 7 mg/gram of the raw hulls.

Protease is any enzyme which starts the digestion of proteins by breaking peptide bonds in proteins. The extract of protease inhibitors consists of two main inhibitors, the Kunitz trypsin inhibitor and the Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor (BBI), which make up about 6 percent of the total protein of soybeans. However, the fraction with the largest level of protease inhibition is that containing BBI, a substance known to possess chemopreventive activity against a range of cancers.
BBI is traditionally purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, organic solvent extraction, centrifugation, gel filtration, column chromatography, or high performance liquid chromatography. Each of these procedures is time-consuming, involves a variety of hazardous materials, and results in limited amounts of purified material. The result is, as mentioned earlier, an extremely expensive substance.

The Missouri plant scientists have invented a green procedure for extracting BBI from soybean hulls. They found that soybean hulls soaked in water at 122ºF (50ºC) for about four hours naturally release large amounts of BBI that can easily be harvested from the water. Higher extraction temperatures yield less BBI activity – apparently the protein will denature with very long exposures to 50ºC water. When the chemoprotective anticancer properties of the extracted BBI were tested, the extract proved capable of stopping the dividing of in-vitro breast cancer cell division.

There remains considerable research and testing to be carried out on soybean-extracted BBI. However, it provides another tempting and relatively harmless approach to fighting a wide range of cancers.

ZeroN system holds a ball wherever you place it, in mid-air

People who saw the 1984 film 2010: The Year We Make Contact might remember a scene in which Roy Scheider, while describing the orientation of the spaceship that he’s aboard, picks up a pen and places it in mid-air in front of himself. While that effect was actually accomplished using a sticky-sided pen and a very clear plate of glass, the same sort of thing is now actually possible – if you’re in the right place, and positioning the right object. The place is MIT’s Media Lab, and the object is a small plastic-coated spherical magnet called ZeroN. Users can physically place it anywhere within a specified three-dimensional block of “anti-gravity space,” then watch as it stays in place when they let it go. It can also move through the air on its own, and even function as a virtual movie camera.

The ZeroN system was created by Media Lab research assistant Jinha Lee in collaboration with Dr. Rehmi Post of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, and the Media Lab's Prof. Hiroshi Ishii.
Above its open-air anti-gravity space sits an electromagnet, that can be moved vertically and horizontally via a three-axis motor controller. To the side is a stereo infrared motion-tracking system made with two stock Sony PS3 Eyecam cameras, along with a video projector. A second projector and third camera sit beneath a horizontal translucent screen, that is located on a tabletop underneath the anti-gravity space.

As the user reaches into the space with the ZeroN ball in their hand, the motion-tracking system keeps track of where it is. It relays this information to the motor controller, which moves the electromagnet accordingly. When the user lets go, the magnet will be in such a position that its magnetic field holds the ball in place, right where the user left it. If they then reach in and reposition it, the electromagnet will move with it, to keep it hovering in its new location.

Along with simply keeping the ZeroN where it was left, however, the system can also record its movements and then play them back. This means that the ball could be guided through an aerial routine by hand, let go, and then proceed to repeat that routine on its own.

While these may sound like fascinating parlor tricks, the technology has many potential applications. Using the side-mounted projector, for instance, images can be projected onto the surface of the ZeroN. They will not only stay with it through 3D space, but will also rotate with it as it spins in place. This feature could allow it to be labelled, then used to help visualize physics problems – instead of simply thinking the problems through or looking at two-dimensional computer models, physicists could actually reach in and manipulate models of objects such as electrons by hand.

It could also be used in the field of astronomy to act as a rotating model of a planet, orbiting around a static model Sun.

In fact, it could even play the part of the Sun. If an object is placed on the translucent bottom screen, the bottom projector can be instructed to create a digital virtual shadow for that object on the screen. As the ZeroN is moved above the object, the direction and length of its shadow will change, as if the ZeroN is the Sun.

Additionally, the ZeroN can be assigned the role of a movie camera. In this case, after it has been moved over a grouping of physical models placed below it, a 3D fly-over animation of those objects can be generated, “shot” as if the ZeroN were the camera. This could prove particularly useful to architects, who want to record virtual aerial shots of their hand-built models.

Lee goes into more detail of the possibilities, in the video below.

Movement-monitoring garment gives feedback for yoga, sport and dance

                       Since the 1980s keeping fit has become an ever more popular pursuit and these days, the diversity of fitness programs is truly breath-taking and increasingly high tech. With a prototype created by an avant-garde Seattle design lab, exercise looks set to become positively futuristic. Along similar lines to the MotivePro vibrating suit we looked at last week, Move, designed by Electric Foxy, a company that develops wearable technology, is a kind of sensorial tank top that monitors movements during exercise to help people improve their performance, with particular emphasis on movement precision.

The result looks like something lifted from the sleek science fiction movie Gattaca. It includes sensors that are placed all over the garment. With the help of haptic pieces placed on hips and shoulders, information about the wearer's movements is fed back to the application, which then assesses it, and makes necessary adjustments customized to the user. The user receives "nudges" that tell them which part of the body needs adjustment. The application creates a timeline of the performance so that the user can visualize progress over time.
There is also a social networking aspect to the equipment, as the application allows users to share their performance details and get advice and encouragement from friends and experts.
There are several types of exercise that the Move app can be used to improve, especially yoga and Pilates, but also golf, baseball and physiotherapy. Designer Jennifer Darmour adds that expressive movements such as hip hop, modern dance and ballet can also be improved with Move.
For now, exercise aficionados with a flair for futurism can only use Move to exercise their imagination. Jennifer told Gizmag that her creation is a concept product at this stage and not available to purchase.

The video below shows Move in action.

OriginOil and Algasol enter algae development deal

                        OriginOil and Algasol, two companies working to develop algae into renewable fuel, have announced a collaboration on growth and harvest technology. The companies hope the partnership will help them reduce cost and improve performance, therefore increasing commercial prospects for algae as fuel source. Harvesting algae is one of the main cost drivers associated with this type of raw material. Algae are microscopic and live in suspension on liquid. When the time comes to harvesting it, the water/algae ratio can be as high as 1,000/1. In order to make it suitable for commercial applications, that ratio needs to be reduced to around 10/1.

                      As we've seen, California-based OriginOil has big hopes for algae. The company has developed a technique called Single Step Extraction, which is a way to separate algae from water without using expensive chemicals or heavy equipment, which makes it more energy-efficient. The process also breaks into algae cell walls to release oils and other components that can be separated out during other phases of processing. Algae are highly sensitive to electromagnetic waves. OriginOil has developed tuned wave patterns that cause the algae to “flocculate”, that is, to separate from water. It also causes the algae to “lyse”, or rupture. Algasol, headquartered on the Balearic Islands in Spain, is developing a photobioreactor with low cost material and design that can be scaled up industrially. The idea is to lower investments and operating costs, which are currently a major obstacle for the development of algae fuel. The weather-protected photobioreactor developed by Algasol floats on water and is divided into several compartments. To manufacture it, Algasol uses a thin and flexible polymer material, and the device can be installed in seawater, either in a pond land or in the sea. The company has patents pending in 70 countries.

                      Algae as biofuel feedstock offer several advantages compared with food crops. For one, it doesn’t compete with food production, a major point of contention among environmentalists. Further, biofuel crops release carbon emissions and in some cases can contribute to deforestation because of the land needed to raise biofuel crops sometimes replaces tropical rainforest. Algae avoid all these problems. They can be grown in open ponds and closed bioreactor systems. Potential yields are high, even 10 times higher than the most productive crops currently explored. Hopes are high for algae as a cleaner petroleum substitute, and aviation is spearheading algae biofuel application. Last November, a United Airlines flew between Houston and Chicago on Solazyme's mix of 60 percent petroleum and 40 percent algal fuel. Before that, Solazyme had tested its algae fuel technology on a military helicopter running a 50/50 mix of petroleum and algal oil.

Compound found in red wine could help fight obesity

Researchers from Purdue University in Indiana are testing a compound found in red wine that has the ability to block the processes of fat cell development. The research into the compound known as piceatannol may lead towards finding a simple method to combat obesity. Piceatannol results from the conversion of resveratrol – a compound found in red wine, grapes and peanuts that is also thought to combat cancer, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases. When resveratrol is converted into the piceatannol compound, which naturally occurs after consumption, the compound has the ability to delay fat cell growth. "Piceatannol actually alters the timing of gene expressions, gene functions and insulin action during adipogenesis, the process in which early stage fat cells become mature fat cells," explains Kee-Hong Kim, an assistant professor of food science at Purdue University. "In the presence of piceatannol, you can see delay or complete inhibition of adipogenesis." Young fat cells develop over a period of 10 days or more and go through several stages of development before becoming mature fat cells. The researchers are currently testing the effects of the piceatannol compound during the early stages of fat cell development before mature fat cells occur. "These precursor cells, even though they have not accumulated lipids, have the potential to become fat cells," Kim said. "We consider that adipogenesis is an important molecular target to delay or prevent fat cell accumulation and, hopefully, body fat mass gain." The research found that piceatannol binds to insulin receptors of immature fat cells in the first stage of adipogenesis, blocking insulin's ability to control cell cycles and activate genes that carry out further stages of fat cell formation. In other words, piceatannol is able to block the immature fat cells from maturing and growing. Professor Kim will now start testing the compound with an animal model of obesity and hopes to find a way to protect piceatannol from degrading in the bloodstream. "We need to work on improving the stability and solubility of piceatannol to create a biological effect," Kim said.

Kim explains the study in the video below.

Vapur updates its Anti water bottle line with new Element

The intriguingly named Anti Bottle just got updated. The new Element is purpose built large for the thirstiest customers and features a couple of updates from the original Anti Bottle models. It is the largest Anti Bottle yet, coming in 0.7 liter (24 oz) and one liter (34 oz) sizes, with a wide mouth "SuperCap" to deliver that extra fluid to your body more quickly. It also gets a stronger attachment clip designed to better hold on to your backpack during intense workouts.

Outside of that, the Element is just like other Anti Bottles. It's a soft-bodied water bottle that can be rolled, folded, frozen and reused. It's basically a hydration bladder that you can drink out of, and is easier to stash and carry than a water bottle - so it can slide into tight spaces like a large jacket pocket or cramped backpack. The Vapur Element hit the market this week, with the 0.7 L model retailing for US$11.99 and the one liter version coming in at $13.99. It comes in Water (blue), Fire (black) and Wind (white).