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A new technique for the decontamination of organs before transplantation using ultraviolet and red light irradiation has been developed by Brazilian and Canadian researchers and is described in an article published in the journal Nature Communications. The research is supported by São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP and has been partially conducted at the Optics and Photonics Research Center (CEPOF), hosted by the University of São Paulo (USP) at São Carlos in São Paulo State [...]

In the past three decades, almost 4,000 planet-like objects have been discovered orbiting isolated stars outside the Solar System (exoplanets). Beginning in 2011, it was possible to use NASA's Kepler Space Telescope to observe the first exoplanets in orbit around young binary systems of two live stars with hydrogen still burning in their core. Brazilian astronomers have now found the first evidence of the existence of an exoplanet orbiting an older or more evolved binary in which one of the [...]

During the period in which the papaya (Carica papaya) is ripening, its cell walls separate, making the tissue softer and more digestible because the cell contents become accessible and the sucrose in the fruit is more easily extracted. Sugarcane roots have recently been found to undergo a similar process. Their cell walls are modified during development to form gas-filled intercellular spaces in a type of tissue known as aerenchyma. "Aerenchyma is very common in crops grown in flooded fields, [...]

Gut microbiota - the population of microbes that live in our intestine - can be used to predict the occurrence of colorectal cancer, the second most common type of cancer in women and the third in men. Research by an international team of scientists including Brazilians has found a link between colorectal cancer and changes in gut microbiota patterns that do not depend on the dietary habits of the populations studied. The discovery paves the way to the development of non-invasive tests capable [...]

A microscopic aquatic fungus is responsible for the heaviest biodiversity loss ever found to be due to a single pathogen, according to an article published in the journal Science on March 28. The microorganism causes chytridiomycosis, an infectious disease that affects amphibians worldwide. In the past 50 years, it has caused a decline in the populations of at least 501 species of amphibians. In some cases, they have dwindled to less than 10% of their original distribution, and 91 species are [...]

A new study has found that the microbial food web accounts for most of the carbon circulating in Amazonia's lakes, floodplains and wetlands. "We concluded from our research that the amount of carbon circulating in the microbial food web in floodplain lakes in the Amazon is up to ten times the amount circulating in the classical phytoplankton-zooplankton-fish food chain," said Hugo Miguel Preto de Morais Sarmento, a professor in the Hydrobiology Department of the Federal University of São [...]

Although neglected diseases account for 11% of the global disease burden, they are targeted by only a small proportion of the new drugs developed every year. Between January 2012 and September 2018, a total of 256 new drugs entered the market, but only eight (3.1%) were designed to treat neglected diseases. This value exceeds the proportion for 1975-99, which was 1.1%, but falls short of the 4.3% mark recorded for 2000-11. The term “neglected diseases” refers to malaria, diarrheic [...]

Brazilian researchers have discovered that a drug regularly prescribed to control cholesterol can also be used to treat cachexia, or wasting syndrome, a condition characterized by rapid weight loss and muscle atrophy associated with extreme physical weakness. This condition is common among patients with chronic diseases such as cancer, heart failure and AIDS. The study has been published in Scientific Reports. "Our goal is to understand more comprehensively how cachexia develops and to [...]

A group of Brazilian scientists have long conducted experiments with roundworms to investigate the role of schizophrenia-linked genes in patients' response to antipsychotic drugs. The results obtained thus far point to new ways of understanding resistance to certain classes of medication. The studies are conducted by researchers in the Pharmacology Department of the Federal University of São Paulo's Medical School (EPM-UNIFESP), collaborating with colleagues at the University of Campinas [...]