This was the main finding of a study involving rats conducted by Brazilian researchers. Mortality was 29% higher for fetuses exposed to a synthetic compound that acts on the brain in a similar manner to natural cannabinoids. Respiratory control and CO2 sensitivity, which influence sudden infant death syndrome, were also altered.

During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, a constant public fear was the rise of a new variant of the disease. Among the countless possibilities of a SARS-CoV-2 viral mutation, some were really alarming, such as Omicron, Delta, and Gamma. The strains with greater virulence and ability to invade the immune system are defined as variants of concern (VOCs), since they also have the potential to overwhelm the health system, increasing the number of admissions to intensive care units (UTIs). Recently published in the Intensive Care Medicine journal, a new study led by the D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) used Big Data analysis techniques to compare the profile of patients admitted to Brazilian ICUs during the dominance of different VOCs.

Concern about the mental health of hospital professionals has been increasing in recent years, and when, in early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic was declared and rapidly spread, there was a large increase in the overload of workers in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Given this, researchers from the D’Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) and other national institutions assessed the prevalence and extent of psychological disorders such as burnout, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pediatric ICUs (PICUs) health professionals. The study was published in the scientific journal Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and selected as the Feature Article and Editor’s choice of the month, receiving a specific editorial.

Non-locality and contextuality were born with quantum theory but followed independent paths for several decades. Only recently has there been growing interest in finding out whether both phenomena could be manifested concurrently in the same physical system.

Working at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, the researchers used epigenetics to study the mechanism, which could be associated with pathologies such as Alzheimer’s. The discovery expands scientists’ knowledge of the central nervous system.