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Biologists Laura Carolina Leal and Felipe Passos performed a series of experiments in Brazil’s Northeast region — specifically in the interior of Bahia State, where the semiarid Caatinga biome predominates — to determine how plants with extrafloral nectaries interact with ants. Extrafloral nectaries are nectar-secreting glands not involved in pollination which supply insects with carbohydrates in exchange for defense against herbivores. The nectar attracts predatory insects [...]

Heat flows from hot to cold objects. When a hot and a cold body are in thermal contact, they exchange heat energy until they reach thermal equilibrium, with the hot body cooling down and the cold body warming up. This is a natural phenomenon we experience all the time. It is explained by the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the total entropy of an isolated system always tends to increase over time until it reaches a maximum. Entropy is a quantitative measure of the disorder in a [...]

Research conducted at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo State, Brazil, shows that vigorous physical exercise such as strength and weight training can reduce accumulated liver fat and improve blood sugar control in obese and diabetic individuals in a short time span, even before significant weight loss occurs. In experiments with mice, researchers at UNICAMP’s Molecular Biology of Exercise Laboratory (LaBMEx) found that two weeks of such exercise was sufficient to [...]

A new study by Brazilian biologists suggests that the effect of pesticides on bees could be worse than previously thought. Even when used at a level considered nonlethal, an insecticide curtailed the lives of bees by up to 50%. The researchers also found that a fungicide deemed safe for bees altered the behavior of workers and made them lethargic, potentially jeopardizing the survival of the entire colony. The results of the study are published in Scientific Reports, an online journal owned by [...]

Measuring the blood plasma ranges of an enzyme referred to as PDIA1 might sooner or later grow to be a way of diagnosing an individual’s predisposition to heart problems even when they’re wholesome, i.e., not overweight, diabetic or a smoker, and with regular ldl cholesterol. That is recommended by a research printed within the journalRedox Biologyby Brazilian researchers affiliated with the College of São Paulo (USP), the College of Campinas (UNICAMP) and Butantan [...]

Brazilian and US researchers have developed a molecule called FRW that, in tests with mice, proved capable of binding to blood vessels in the brain but not in other organs when injected into the bloodstream. They used the technique to produce the first ever complete map of the vasculature of the brain, paving the way for the creation of novel diagnostic imaging strategies and therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The research was supported by São Paulo [...]

Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have discovered that growth hormone (GH), which stimulates skeletal maturation and linear bone growth, as well as helping maintain tissue and organs throughout life, also acts directly on the brain to conserve energy when the body loses weight. A paper on the discovery has just been published in the journal Nature Communications. “Growth hormone has been known for decades, but our discovery shows it does a lot more than was [...]

Canadian researchers, working in partnership with Brazilian colleagues, have developed 13 bioluminescence sensors for use in testing the effectiveness of new medical drugs in the laboratory. The study, published in the journalScience Signaling, paves the way for new drugs to be tested and characterized. The biosensors are based on the action of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are membrane-bound proteins involved in communication between cells. The researchers did not choose to [...]

Materials that are hybrid constructions (combining organic and inorganic precursors) and quasi-two-dimensional (with malleable and highly compactable molecular structures) are on the rise in several technological applications, such as the fabrication of ever-smaller optoelectronic devices. An article published in the journalPhysical Review Bdescribes a study in this field resulting from the doctoral research of Diana Meneses Gustin and Luís Cabral, both supervised by Victor Lopez Richard, a [...]