On the failure of scientific research: an analysis of SBIR projects funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health

Scientometrics - The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is the primary source of public funding in the United States for research by small firms on new technologies, and the National...     

Validation of a Method for Quantitation of Soybean Lectin in Commercial Varieties

Soybean agglutinin (SBA) protein, also known as soybean lectin, is regarded as an anti‐nutrient due to its negative effect on the ability of monogastric animals to gain weight following consumption of raw soybean seed. Historically, SBA has been measured using a time‐consuming and cumbersome hemagglutination procedure. The objective of our research was to obtain a validated methodology that is precise and accurate in the measurement of SBA while allowing minimally equipped laboratories to effectively conduct the analysis, thus our focus was on evaluating an existing commercially available ELISA, an enzyme‐linked‐lectin‐assay (ELLA), and a hybrid ELISA/ELLA. A new ELLA technique that can detect and quantify lectins was chosen and modified specifically for the quantitation of SBA in soybean seed. The proposed ELLA methodology is similar to a standard sandwich ELISA, and uses polyacrylamide‐linked N‐acetylgalactosamine (Gal–NAc–PAA) for a capture phase and the biotinylated version (Gal–NAc–PAA–Biotin) for detection. Based upon the validation data, the ELLA method can precisely and accurately determine soybean lectin levels in soybean seed. The validated ELLA method was used to quantify SBA in nine commercial soybean varieties introduced between 1972 and 2008 and demonstrated that the natural variability of SBA is subject to the effects of genotype and environment.     

Lipid‐lowering and anti‐inflammatory effects of palmitoleic acid: Evidence from preclinical and epidemiological studies

In preclinical and human epidemiological studies, the monounsaturated fatty acid, cis‐palmitoleic acid, has shown anti‐inflammatory and lipid lowering effects linked to prevention of metabolic syndrome including cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance associated with diabetes and obesity. Randomised, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trials are needed to clarify its role in these conditions.     

Mini-chunk biochar supercapacitors

Biochar prepared from the pyrolysis of maple wood was studied as supercapacitor electrode materials. Three kinds of electrodes were fabricated: mini-chunk electrodes, thin-film electrodes, and large-disk-chunk electrodes. Their capacitive behaviors were studied using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The mini-chunk supercapacitor shows an electrochemical behavior similar to the supercapacitor using the thin-film electrodes. It exhibits outstanding performance characteristic of a high specific capacitance of approximately 32 F g^?1 and a high stability without obvious capacitance decays upon 2,600 potential cycles. This indicates that the mini-chunk supercapacitor can be used as an mF-scale power source for electronic device applications. Moreover, the mini-chunk electrode provides a simple and fast technique to evaluate biochar materials used as potentially high-performance, low-cost, and environmental friendly supercapacitor electrodes without the need of binder and complicated fabrication procedures. However, the supercapacitor using large-disk-chunk biochar electrodes shows lower specific capacitive performance due to the high ohmic resistance stemming from long tubular structures within biochar.