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It is already possible to produce food with a 3D printer, potentially delivering products that suit consumer preferences regarding taste, texture, cost, convenience, and nutrition. In the near future, it will be possible to produce food with personalized shapes, textures, flavors, and colors considered attractive and healthy for children and the elderly, for example. A group of researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP) in [...]

That biofuels can contribute to a cleaner global energy mix is widely accepted, but the net benefits of bioenergy in terms of mitigating greenhouse gases (GHG) are moot. Some argue, for example, that biofuels are not sustainable because the conversion of non-agricultural land to grow energy crops could lead to a significant initial decrease in carbon storage, creating what is known as a “biofuel carbon debt”. A study by a cross-border group of researchers published in Proceedings [...]

The discovery of a potential “Achilles heel” in Nef, the protein that is crucial to HIV virulence and its capacity to trigger AIDS, paves the way for the development of a new class of drugs against the virus. Researchers have succeeded in demonstrating a structure that binds this protein to another called AP-2 and regulates endocytosis, the process by which cells take in substances such as nutrients or pathogens by engulfing them in a vesicle. As a result, it is increasingly clear [...]

The Xavante, one of the indigenous communities most vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil, are suffering from an epidemic of diabetes, a “silent” disease considered a risk factor for severe COVID-19. A group of researchers affiliated with the Federal University of São Paulo’s Medical School (EPM-UNIFESP) and the University of São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto Medical School (FMRP-USP) examined the retinas of 157 individuals before the COVID-19 pandemic and [...]

Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have discovered that the muscle regeneration promoted by aerobic exercise is mediated by changes in oxygen consumption by satellite cells, also known as skeletal muscle stem cells. The discovery is expected to be used to help people recover from injury and combat the loss of muscle mass associated with aging. Previous research showed that weight lifting and other kinds of strength training increase the number of satellite cells. [...]

Researchers based in Brazil and the United States have completed the first-ever mapping exercise to profile the toxins produced by tube-dwelling anemones, or cerianthids, a family of marine animals belonging to the same phylum (Cnidaria) as sea anemones, jellyfish and corals. The analysis revealed that the toxins that can act on the nervous system, cardiovascular system, and cell walls, among other functions, paving the way to the discovery of novel medications. “Tube anemones and sea [...]

Scientists affiliated with the Center for Research on Inflammatory Diseases (CRID http://crid.fmrp.usp.br), hosted by the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, have discovered that an enzyme involved in key metabolic processes also plays a role in immune cell differentiation and hence in the development of autoimmune diseases. The finding could contribute to the future development of new treatments and more cost-effective and resolutive medications for this kind of disease. The study [...]

An international team of researchers have published the results of a study that compared the effects of COVID-19 deaths to deaths due to missing routine vaccinations in resource poor countries. As you’d expect, when taken in toto, the cumulative effect of missing immunization to preventable diseases presents more of a threat. According to the Lancet Global Health paper, “In the high-impact scenario, for every one excess COVID-19 death attributable to SARS-CoV-2 infections [...]

The most widely used model to describe the epidemic evolution of a disease over time is called SIR, short for susceptible (S), infected (I), and removed (R). A susceptible person can be infected, and the infected person will eventually be removed owing to either immunization or death. The number of people in each class varies, whereas the total population, given by the sum of individuals in all three classes, is considered constant in the time scale of epidemic contamination. The function I(t) [...]