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Extreme temperatures and humidity driven by climate change could reduce the Amazon rainforest's capacity to absorb the greenhouse gas methane by 70 per cent, a study has found. Researchers said that under a warmer climate, the extreme rainfall and droughts projected for South America's Amazon could impact its net greenhouse gas emissions. Often referred to as the 'lungs of the planet', the tropical rainforest lies majorly in Brazil, with parts in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, [...]

Despite its antioxidant effects and role in regulating sleep cycles, melatonin, popularly known as the "sleep hormone", can worsen inflammation of the intestine and impair the action of gut microbiota, warned a study. The community of bacteria and other microbes in the gut is important to health, helping control digestion and benefiting the immune system. An imbalance of unhealthy and healthy microbes in the intestines may contribute to weight gain, high blood sugar, [...]

New Delhi, April 18 - Poor diet contributed to over 14.1 million cases of type 2 diabetes in 2018, representing over 70 per cent of new diagnoses globally, according to a study. Of the 30 most populated countries studied, India, Nigeria, and Ethiopia had the fewest case of type 2 diabetes related to unhealthy eating, the researchers said. The analysis, published in the journal Nature Medicine, looked at data from 1990 and 2018, providing valuable insight into which dietary factors are [...]

Madagascar's nature is so unique that 82 per cent of its plant species and 90 per cent of its animals are endemic, found exclusively on the island off the coast of Southeast Africa. A population so impoverished that the country's human development index (HDI) is one of the lowest in the world and lives among this rare biodiversity, creating the problem of balancing conservation with economic and social growth. Two studies published in the journal Science by researchers affiliated [...]

Rapid, low-cost, and accurate tests are still required for epidemiological surveillance and healthcare services to monitor and contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Brazilian researchers have contributed to this field’s efforts by creating an electrochemical immunosensor that identifies antibodies against the virus. The innovation is described in an article published in the journal ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering. In search of a novel diagnostic method, the group opted for a [...]

A team of Brazilian researchers has discovered that a gene can protect people, even those aged 90 and above, from the deadly Covid disease. Two research papers found that the frequency of variants of the gene 'MUC22' was twice as high in the mild Covid-19 group as in severe patients, and higher still in resilient super-agers. This gene belongs to the "mucin" family and is associated with the production of mucus, which lubricates and protects the airways. On the other [...]

The findings pave the way to novel treatments for Covid-19 and repurposing of known drugs, the researchers noted For the first time, scientists have shown that infection by Covid virus changes the functioning of host cell RNA, providing clues as to how different variants can escape the immune system, and serve as a basis for the development of novel treatments. Researchers at Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil arrived at this conclusion by analyzing 13 datasets obtained [...]

A study shows how SARS-COV-2 infects brain cells called astrocytes, causing structural changes in the brain. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 can cause brain alterations and neurocognitive dysfunction, particularly in long COVID-19 syndrome, but the underlying mechanisms are elusive. Daniel Martins-de-Souza and colleagues used MRI to compare brain structure in 81 study participants recovering from a mild COVID-19 infection and 81 healthy individuals. The authors found that the former group [...]

Omicron emerged as a variant of concern only in November 2021, but all the mutations it contains, except one, had been described before that