News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 16-Dec-2025 11:12 ET (16-Dec-2025 16:12 GMT/UTC)

23-Oct-2017

B3 vitamin component fights carcinogen action in human cells, says research

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Brazilian scientists investigate tumoral development caused by benzo[a]pyrene, a hydrocarbon present in cigarette smoke, automotive exhaust, burnt wood fumes and barbecued meat. Culture of human lung cells was exposed to the agent for a week; the preventive role of nicotinamide riboside halted the damaging effects derived from alterations in genetic expression and cell metabolism.

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP

20-Oct-2017

Nicotinic receptor could be target for treatment of lung inflammation

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Book Announcement

Tests using mice employed an experimental drug that stimulates a specific type of nicotinic receptor in immune cells; researchers attested the reversion of the inflammation condition. The results of the drug were surprising, given the fact that it simulates acetylcholine, a bronchoconstrictor neurotransmitter inhibited by asthma and DPOC's best-known treatments

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP

19-Oct-2017

Solid or liquid? Researcher proposes a new definition of glass

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The glass is a non-equilibrium, non-crystalline state of matter that appears solid on a short time scale but relaxes toward the liquid state, proposes Brazilian scientist. The inspiration for the new definition occurred to him after giving the Turner Memorial Lecture at the Society of Glass Technology (SGT) Centenary Conference, in Sheffield (UK).

Journal

Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

18-Oct-2017

Cocaine use during adolescence is even more harmful than during adulthood

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Brazilian scientists found that addicts who began using cocaine before and after the age of 18 showed differences in sustained attention and working memory, among other brain functions. The research, made under controlled drug abstinence condition, measured cocaine's impact on more than a hundred drug users' cognition, and recommended multidisciplinary treatment for patients with an accentuated cognitive deficit.

Journal

Addictive Behaviors

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP

12-Oct-2017

Tropical tree roots represent an underappreciated carbon pool

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Estimates of the carbon stored by tropical forests rarely take tree roots into consideration. Smithsonian scientists report that almost 30 percent of the total biomass of tropical trees may be in the roots.

Journal

PLOS One

Funder

Hoch family, Panama´s Office of National Science and Technology, SENACYT, Mr. Frank Levinson, Panama Canal Authority, Mr. Stanley Motta, Agua Salud Foundation

11-Oct-2017

New clues on the historical origin of the vaccine used to eradicate smallpox

Publicase International
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For centuries, researchers assumed that the active ingredient in the vaccine providing immunity against smallpox was the cowpox virus but a study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates otherwise.

Journal

New England Journal of Medicine

Funder

German Ministry of Health

11-Oct-2017

Artificial intelligence comes to the real estate market

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Business Announcement

A Brazilian company develops recommender engine that personalizes online search by suggesting items aligned with customers' interests, similar to the approach used by streaming services. The innovation aims at increasing the efficiency of online search tools for real estate purchasing - prototype tests point for a 25% rise in sales conversion rate.

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP

10-Oct-2017

New Zika serotypes may emerge, researcher warns

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The virus is mutating very fast in Brazilian patients. Appearance of new serotypes could hinder development of vaccines and efficacy of diagnostic tests, according to a member of one of the leading group of scientists on Zika-related investigations

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP

9-Oct-2017

Human minibrains reveal effects of psychedelic substance

D'Or Institute for Research and Education
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A Brazilian study, published in Scientific Reports on Oct. 9, 2017, has identified changes in signaling pathways associated with neural plasticity, inflammation and neurodegeneration triggered by a compound from the family of dimethyltryptamine known as 5-MeO-DMT.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Funder

Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro, and others, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Funding Authority for Studies and Projects of Brazil

6-Oct-2017

Tests with topical treatment strategy for fighting skin cancer yield positive results

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The methodology developed in Brazil combines low-intensity electric current with a formulation containing nanoencapsulated chemotherapy. According to preliminary results of the study, cancer-induced mice treated with this new approach presented a significantly greater reduction in the size of the tumor than those that received it through injection.

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)