Zapatera HS students present alternative cure for gallstones

Thursday, August 18, 2011

AT AN inventors' exhibit, a teenager can be observed explaining to people twice his age his discovery, a possible treatment for gallstones.

John Anthony Normandia, 14, a second year student at the Zapatera Night High School, is a contestant at the 2011 Central Visayas Regional Invention Contest and Exhibit (Rice) held at Ayala Center Cebu.

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Normandia told reporters about how he and his classmates—Clyde Carlo Quindao and Zyrille Enriquez—performed experiments based on a study by Gregor Bergeos of Sendai University in Japan to find a possible prevention and treatment for gallstones without medication and surgery.

Normandia and his classmates experimented with the internal organs of tilapia fish and purified alcohol extract.

Methanol is mixed with internal organs of the Nile tilapia and tested on laboratory animals.

More studies

But Normandia said more studies have to be made as they have not yet identified the active ingredient that removes the gallstones.

He said test results showed that the methanol did not affect the liver of the laboratory animals.

Normandia said the study interested him because many members of his family suffer from gallstones.

The Zapatera Night High School has two other entries under the Student Creative Research (Sibol) High School category.

Cancer

One is a possible treatment for colon cancer using methanol extract from the common guppy fish and plucarine, or combination of leaves of the flower called kalatsutsi and fruits, specifically papaya and rambutan.

Students who were involved in the study tested the mixture and reported that it has properties that relieve fever and diarrhea. They also said it is anti-inflammatory.

Meanwhile, contenders for the Rice creative research award included Grezilda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero, daughter of the late Cebu vice governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr.

Zaballero, a licensed chemical engineer, told Sun.Star Cebu that AHCIL Laboratories Inc. is offering a seaweed-based product for use in farms.

Crops

The firm, owned by the Sanchez family, produces 3SE Concentrate, which can be used for crop protection.

Zaballero said the solution allows herbicides, fungicides and insecticides to stick to the plant, enhancing the effectivity of the substances.

Lactobiotics Worldwide Corp., which was founded by Sanchez, also presented a soya extract and lactobacillus mix for wound treatment.

Other Rice entries are the “Trashkad,” which can be used in garbage collection and features separate containers for different types of wastes.

Visayas Inventors Association president Jesselito Baring said the regional contest has attracted more inventors from the region.

"In Cebu, most of the inventors look to (creating products based on) the demand of the market and most inventions are for the furniture business," he said.

The winners of the exhibitors' competition, which is organized by the Department of Science and Technology through the Technology Application and Promotion Institute, will be announced tomorrow.