Double-strand DNA breaks cause cell damage in several organisms, but apparently play a key role in the lifecycles of species that cause Chagas disease, sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis. The results of the study pave the way to the development of more effective treatment.
The strategy was tested at the Federal University of São Carlos. The conversion took place under ambient temperature and pressure conditions, which could enable methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to be used to produce fuel. The process currently used by the chemical industry consumes large amounts of energy.
Quantum materials were the focus for the 12th FAPESP 60 Years Conference, which featured leading experts in the field.
In a longitudinal survey of children born in 2015 and 2016 in a city in Acre State, North Brazil, over half of the participants reported experiencing hunger in the previous month. The occurrence of symptoms also correlated with social vulnerability, and with the mother’s schooling and skin color.
A project supported by environmental agencies, local government and private enterprise, as well as FAPESP, compared the use of a wooden pole bridge and a rope ladder bridge between tree canopies over a local road for three years in a municipality with an Atlantic Rainforest conservation unit. Monitoring focused on the Black lion tamarin, an environmental heritage species symbolizing wildlife conservation in the state of São Paulo.
Results published in Physical Review Letters by scientists at the University of São Paulo and Rice University can be used to improve thermoelectric devices.
The world’s largest tropical forest has already lost 30% of its carbon storage capacity owing to human activity. This and other topics were discussed at a webinar held to honor FAPESP’s 60th anniversary by the São Paulo State Academy of Sciences.
Brazilian researchers have developed an algorithm to identify the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi in photographs of blood samples taken with a mobile phone camera. The low-cost method is described in the journal PeerJ and can be reproduced.
Researchers at the University of São Paulo analyzed the expression of long non-coding RNAs, the type that does not give rise to proteins, in samples from patients and tumor cell lines, identifying a group of genes with augmented expression in pancreatic cancer.
The agreement was signed between the University of São Paulo, the state government and Pasteur Institute at an event held to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Louis Pasteur’s birth and FAPESP’s 60th anniversary. FAPESP renewed and expanded its support for the Scientific Platform Pasteur-USP, which will host the new research unit.
A clinical trial involving women aged 55-70 suggests that supplementing diet with this nutrient can reinforce the organism’s antioxidant defenses and possibly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Studies with more volunteers are needed to confirm the effect.
The finding comes from a study reported by scientists from Brazil, China, Australia and Germany in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The group used a novel methodology focusing on low rainfall and severe drought.
Researchers at the State University of Campinas and the University of California San Diego have discovered the mechanism that causes this rare but severe autism spectrum disorder. They reversed progression of the syndrome in laboratory models, opening up new possibilities for treatment using drugs and gene therapy.
A study conducted at the University of São Paulo showed that management of irrigation with the aid of the algorithm, adjusted on the basis of field data, reduced water and power consumption by 31%. The researchers are now pursuing market validation of the technology.
Grasslands are endangered everywhere on Earth, warns a group of researchers from several countries in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. The solution involves restoration and the pursuit of sustainable economic development alternatives.
Brazilian researchers have discovered that PCNA, a protein present in the nuclei of human cells, interacts with the SARS-CoV-2 membrane matrix protein M. In laboratory tests, inhibition of this mechanism using a drug reduced viral replication by 15%-20%.
A startup supported by FAPESP has developed a technology based on artificial intelligence that can reduce the time to produce a diagnosis by 40%.
A research group at the State University of Campinas proposes treating the solid waste produced by breweries with ultrasound before submitting it to the process of digestion by microorganisms. The strategy obtains larger amounts of methane, which can be used by the brewery itself to generate electricity and heat. The final waste can be used as crop fertilizer.
Several substances that killed antibiotic-resistant bacteria were found by Brazilian researchers in a marine sponge native to Fernando de Noronha, an archipelago off the coast of the Northeast.
Results of studies conducted at the Research Center for Greenhouse Gas Innovation (RCGI) have fed into a bill before the Senate to set up a legal framework on carbon capture and storage as an economic activity.
The São Paulo State Academy of Sciences presented the first chapter of a book on FAPESP’s 60 years of contributing to science for national development at the first in a series of online events that will continue until December and can be watched on Agência FAPESP’s YouTube channel.
The latest in the FAPESP 60 Years lecture series featured an assessment of the current social and political conditions in Brazil by Maria Hermínia Tavares de Almeida, a professor at the University of São Paulo. The event focused on the erosion of liberal democracy. Oscar Vilhena, Dean of Getúlio Vargas Foundation’s São Paulo Law School, also took part.
Researchers at the University of São Paulo analyzed 43 scientific articles with data for some 11,500 athletes. The findings point to the need for carefully personalized assessment of athletes and sports players before a resumption of training is allowed, they warn.
Advanced drug discovery methods have led to advances in the search for treatments for some neglected tropical diseases, including leishmaniasis and Chagas, but research on schistosomiasis and other diseases caused by worms remains at an early stage, according to an article in Drug Discovery Today by Brazilian researchers.
Research that can increase Brazil’s access to CAR T-cell therapy, an increasingly important strategy for treating cancer, is under way at the University of São Paulo’s Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CTC) in Ribeirão Preto, and the Butantan Institute.
