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Research led by scientists at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil has found that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can be detected in tears collected by swabbing. A swab is an absorbent cotton pad on a flexible rod used to clean wounds, apply medication and take specimens. The researchers analyzed samples from patients diagnosed with the disease by conventional methods and admitted to the Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies (HRAC) run by the Bauru Dental [...]

Heavy metals such as lead and cadmium are present in batteries, cosmetics, food and other things that are part of everyday life. They are toxic when they accumulate in the human organism, potentially causing several health problems, but detecting them in body fluids requires expensive equipment and a controlled laboratory environment. Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have now developed a portable sensor made of simple materials to detect heavy metals in [...]

Ordinary everyday ice, like the ice produced by a fridge, is known to scientists as hexagonal ice (ice Ih), and is not the only crystalline phase of water. More than 20 different phases are possible. One of them, called “superionic ice” or “ice XVIII”, is of particular interest, among other reasons, because it is thought to make up a large part of Neptune and Uranus, planets frequently referred to as “ice giants”. In the superionic crystalline phase, [...]

Proven to protect against a wide array of diseases, exercise may be the most powerful anti-aging intervention known to science. However, while physical activity can improve health during aging, its beneficial effects inevitably decline. The cellular mechanisms underlying the relationship among exercise, fitness and aging remain poorly understood. In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center investigated the role of [...]

Scientists are increasingly seeking to discover more about quantum entanglement, which occurs when two or more systems are created or interact in such a manner that the quantum states of some cannot be described independently of the quantum states of the others. Scientists are increasingly seeking to discover more about quantum entanglement, which occurs when two or more systems are created or interact in such a manner that the quantum states of some cannot be described independently of the [...]

Depression affects 10%-16% of pregnant women worldwide. Most get better with the help of antidepressant drugs. Although the safety of using antidepressants during pregnancy is endorsed by science, their effects on fetal neurodevelopment are poorly understood and should be studied with advanced techniques such as genomics. This is the main conclusion reached by a group of Brazilian researchers in a review of more than 100 scientific articles on fetal exposure to these drugs, especially [...]

Vitamin D plays an important role in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus absorption by the organism. It also helps keep the brain and immune system working. Researchers at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in Brazil and University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom have now shown that vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of dynapenia in older people by 78%. Dynapenia is an age-associated loss of muscle strength. It can be partially explained by muscle [...]

Experiments conducted in Brazil by researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and the University of São Paulo (USP) showed that visceral fat – fat around the liver, intestines and other organs, considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure – contributes more to severe COVID-19 than subcutaneous fat (under the skin, as in “love handles”). To reach this conclusion, Marcelo Mori, a professor at UNICAMP’s [...]

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 [...]