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An article published in Science Advances suggests that a type of cancer treatment known as immune checkpoint blockade may be beneficial in certain cases of severe COVID-19. The creators of this therapy, which can successfully activate the immune system to fight cancer, won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The findings reported by the authors were based on experiments involving cells from patients treated in intensive care units (ICUs) after being infected by SARS-CoV-2, and [...]

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), a system of ocean currents that carry warm water from the tropics into the North Atlantic and transport cold water from the northern to the southern hemisphere, is a fundamental mechanism for the regulation of Earth’s climate. The conveyor belt has collapsed in the past owing to natural factors. The most recent collapse played a key role in the last deglaciation. AMOC is now threatened by global warming, scientists have shown, and a [...]

Brazil presents a key example. The country is home to the world’s largest area of rainforest — some 1.2 million square miles, an area more than 16 times the size of Nebraska. The Amazon contains large tracts of rainforests that, when converted to agriculture, release a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change. Increasing agricultural production is a national priority for Brazil, the world’s largest soybean exporter. Since the 1990s, [...]

Newswise — Spin is the intrinsic magnetic moment of a particle – an electron, for example. It is a fundamental magnitude, like mass and charge. Simply put, it is as if the particle had a magnet inside it that enabled it to interact, even while at rest, not only with the spins of other particles but also with external magnetic fields. By analogy with usual liquids, a system in which spins do not exhibit magnetic order, even at temperatures close to absolute zero, is termed a spin [...]

A Brazilian study published in the journal PNAS describes some of the effects infection by SARS-CoV-2 can have on the central nervous system. A preliminary version (not yet peer-reviewed) posted in 2020 was one of the first to show that the virus that causes COVID-19 can infect brain cells, especially astrocytes. It also broke new ground by describing alterations in the structure of the cortex, the most neuron-rich brain region, even in cases of mild COVID-19. The cerebral cortex is the [...]

Newswise — The banana borer Cosmopolites sordidus and the disease Fusarium wilt, caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum, are among the most harmful pests that threaten the livelihoods of banana growers, who face major challenges in attempting to control them. The former is a species of weevil that bores into the plant’s rhizome (the underground stem that produces roots and shoots), weakening its root system, reducing nutrient absorption and [...]

A study by Brazilian researchers analyzed risk factors and found that reducing smoking prevented most deaths from cardiovascular disease, while high blood sugar had the most significant impact on mortality Newswise — Several factors increase the risk of heart attack, such as high blood sugar (hyperglycemia), obesity, abnormal cholesterol levels, high blood pressure (hypertension), and smoking. A study conducted in Brazil and reported in an article published in the [...]

The study involved the use of biosensors, algorithms and open-source software to build a miniature microscope. The findings contribute to a better understanding of how our brains track and retain information about routes and learn new locations. Newswise — Over a decade after the role of pyramidal neurons in mental representations of space and location was discovered, a group of Brazilian and American researchers has made an important contribution to scientists’ understanding of [...]

Conservation of CO2 stocks in the biome is highly affected by forest degradation, which could lead to at least 30% higher emissions than those produced by climate change. Newswise — The countless benefits of native forests include the capacity of tree biomass to store large amounts of carbon, which can counterbalance greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. A paper published in the journal Science Advances reports on an innovative analysis of a large dataset [...]