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A new compound that inhibits the replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in several stages of its lifecycle - and is also capable of acting on bacteria, fungi and cancer cells - has been synthesized by researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil. The study was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP via several research projects [see list below] and described in an article published in Scientific Reports, an online journal owned by Springer Nature. "What we did [...]

A study performed at the University of São Paulo's Biomedical Science Institute (ICB-USP) in Brazil shows that sofosbuvir, a drug used to treat chronic hepatitis C, is capable of eliminating chikungunya virus and yellow fever virus. "Human cells infected by chikungunya virus were treated with sofosbuvir, and the drug eliminated the virus without damaging any cells. The drug proved to be 11 times more effective against the virus than against cells," said Rafaela Milan Bonotto , a coauthor of [...]

Sixty years after melatonin was isolated and with more than 23,000 published studies showing the many functions of this hormone secreted by the pineal gland, guidelines should be discussed and established for its therapeutic use. This is the view expressed by José Cipolla Neto , Full Professor at the University of São Paulo's Biomedical Science Institute (ICB-USP), and Fernanda Gaspar do Amaral, a professor at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), both in Brazil, in an article [...]

The situation is relatively common, especially in winter. You come down with the flu, which lasts longer than usual. A few days later, you discover you have pneumonia. The relationship between influenza and pneumonia has long been observed by health workers. Its genetic and cellular mechanisms have now been investigated in depth by scientists in a study involving volunteers and conducted in the United Kingdom. Published in the journal Nature Immunology, the paper describes for the first time [...]

A group of researchers at the University of São Paulo's Medical School (FM-USP) in Brazil recently published the results of a study on the links between alcohol and drug use and the occurrence of violent deaths. The study supported by São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP quantifies these links for the case of São Paulo, Brazil's largest city. It shows that the consumption of alcohol or at least one type of drug correlated with more than half (55%) the violent deaths that occurred in the [...]

Researchers in Brazil have identified a correlation between oral cancer progression and the abundance of certain proteins present in tumor tissue and saliva. The discovery offers a parameter for predicting progression of the disease - whether cervical lymph node metastasis is present, for example - and points to a strategy for overcoming the limitations of clinical and imaging exams. It could also help guide the choice of an ideal treatment for each patient. The study began in the discovery [...]

Shell middens are archeological features consisting mainly of the remains of marine animals thrown away near settlements over hundreds or thousands of years. They are the debris of human activity. In Brazil, they are known by the Tupi word sambaqui. The sambaquis were left by people who lived between 8,000 and 1,000 years ago in coastal Atlantic Forest areas, traditionally considered peripheral to South America's first food production centers in the Andes and the Amazon. A new study, however, [...]

A simple sheet of graphene has noteworthy properties due to a quantum phenomenon in its electron structure named Dirac cones in honor of British theoretical physicist Paul Dirac (1902-1984), who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933. The system becomes even more interesting if it comprises two superimposed graphene sheets, and one is very slightly turned in its own plane so that the holes in the two carbon lattices no longer completely coincide. For specific angles of twist, the [...]

The bite from a brown recluse spider (Loxosceles) can cause skin necrosis, renal failure, and even death. A new ointment is being tested in Brazil, however. Its effects have already been proven in tests conducted in cell cultures and animal models. Now the ointment will have its immunomodulatory action tested on humans in Phase III clinical trials, and it may be included in the treatment protocol for patients who develop lesions caused by the spider bite. The trial has started in [...]