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Rapid, cheap and accurate tests continue to be essential for epidemiological surveillance and for health services to monitor and contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Brazilian scientists have contributed to endeavors in this field by developing an electrochemical immunosensor that detects antibodies against the virus. In search of a novel diagnostic method, the group opted for a material frequently used in metallurgy – zinc oxide – and combined it for the first time with [...]

Chagas disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is a chronic infectious condition whose prevention requires control of its vectors, the triatomines (kissing bugs), and hence a response by public health services. Endemic in 21 countries in the Americas, Chagas disease affects some six million people, with an annual incidence of 30,000 new cases in the region, leading to 14,000 deaths per year on average. Some 70 million people are estimated to risk contracting the disease because they [...]

A study has shown that levels of Torquetenovirus (TTV), an apparently inoffensive virus considered an indicator of immunodepression, tend to be higher in people infected by SARS-CoV-2. The new study by researchers at the University of São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil) suggests that TTV load in people infected by SARS-CoV-2 can be used as a marker of COVID-19 severity and recovery. TTV is one of the viruses most frequently found in the human organism. It is also common in monkeys and [...]

An impedance analyzer connected to DNA biosensor can be used to detect genetic sequence from SARS-CoV-2. A multidisciplinary team of researchers affiliated with various institutions and led by the University of São Paulo’s São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC-USP; São Paulo, Brazil) has developed the device which has already shown to be efficient in detecting SARS-CoV-2. The result of the analysis can be ready in 30 minutes, for a laboratory-scale cost of less than [...]

The noninvasive measurement of uric acid in saliva has been shown to be an important marker of body fat accumulation in adolescents, which demonstrates the clinical relevance of saliva for detection of early metabolic changes and monitoring of nutritional status. Uric acid is the end-product of the metabolic breakdown of purines, which are nitrogenous bases in DNA and RNA. It accumulates in the blood and, at much lower concentrations, in the saliva. Although uric acid acts as an antioxidant, [...]

Redox-related plasma proteins are candidate reporters of protein signatures associated with endothelial structure/function. Thiol-proteins from protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) family are unexplored in this context. Measuring the blood plasma levels of an enzyme called PDIA1 could one day become a method of diagnosing a person's predisposition to cardiovascular disease even if they are healthy, that is those who are not obese, diabetic or a smoker, and with normal [...]