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In an article published in the journal eLife Sciences, researchers at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, describe a novel strategy for detecting imbalances and complications in patients infected by Plasmodium vivax, one of the parasites that causes malaria and the main cause of the disease in the Americas. According to the study, total parasite biomass in the patient is a better predictor of the extent of infection outside the bloodstream than [...]

By José Tadeu Arantes | Agência FAPESP – 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 [...]

Brazil has more than 286,000 community health workers integrated into the national primary healthcare program. These professionals form a broad network serving 75% of the population, especially low-income families who lack medical insurance and are the most adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. "Back in March, researchers at Gabriela Lotta, a professor at Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV). Lotta is affiliated with the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM) , one of the [...]

A group led by researchers at Butantan Institute in Brazil and supported by FAPESP has described for the first time the presence of venom glands in the mouth of an amphibian. The legless animal is a caecilian and lives underground. It has tooth-related glands that, when compressed during biting, release a secretion into its prey – earthworms, insect larvae, small amphibians and snakes, and even rodent pups. A paper reporting the study is published in iScience. “We were analyzing [...]

A study conducted by scientists at São Paulo State University's Institute of Geosciences and Exact Sciences (IGCE-UNESP) in Rio Claro, Brazil, has identified 19 asteroids of interstellar origin classified as Centaurs, outer Solar System objects that revolve around the Sun in the region between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune. An article on the study is published in the Royal Astronomical Society's Monthly Notices ("An interstellar origin for high-inclination [...]

Caecilians are limbless amphibians that, to the untrained eye, can be easily mistaken for snakes. Though caecilians are only distantly related to their reptilian cousins, researchers in a study appearing July 3 in the journal iScience describe specialized glands found along the teeth of the ringed caecilian (Siphonops annulatus), which have the same biological origin and possibly similar function to the venom glands of snakes. If further research can confirm that the glands contain venom, [...]

Researchers at Biolinker, a biotech startup based in São Paulo, Brazil, are developing a low-cost high-performance COVID-19 diagnostic test using only locally sourced inputs. Biolinker is incubated at the University of São Paulo’s Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CIETEC), jointly run by the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute (IPEN). The project was one of the first to be selected in a call for [...]

About 250 species of electricity-generating fish are known to live in South America, although electric eels (which actually are fish with a superficial eel-like appearance) are the only ones that use their electricity to hunt and for self-defense. Like other electric fishes, they also navigate and communicate with the electricity they produce. Electric eels inspired the design of the first battery in 1799, and as researchers have learned more about how they generate enough electricity to stun a [...]

Making a specific type of brain pattern last longer improves short-term memory in rats, a new study finds. Published online by the journal Science on June 14, the study addressed “working memory,” the temporary activation of brain cells that happens as we tour a new neighborhood, for instance, and remember our way around later that day. Led by researchers at NYU School of Medicine, the new study finds that signals created by brain cells (neurons) — called sharp wave ripples [...]