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.

Comparative analysis between sanitation systems in Brazil and the USA shows the need to apply new technologies for the treatment of chemical compounds created by men, some of them endocrine deregulators. The project is a result of a joint effort from chemistry scientists from both countries, who developed research and scientific articles thanks to São Paulo Research Foundation's SPRINT program, that promote seed funding to projects signed with international partners of the Foundation.

Method aims at ensuring anesthesic substances a deeper penetration inside the mucosa; in tests, patients showed greater tolerance to pain derived from injected anesthesia. Its development was only made possible through São Paulo Research Foundation international seed funding program, which brought together researchers from Brazil and Texas who recently presented their Project in a symposium that took place in USA.

A team led by Smithsonian scientists in Panama exposed a key to understanding tropical tree diversity by studying how fungi interact with seeds that linger in the ground. Despite a smorgasbord of species available to choose from, tropical fungi and seeds are picky about associating with one another. Early pairings with a particular fungus may influence whether a seed survives and also may help explain how tropical forests remain so diverse.

Improve the quality of beef produced in Brazil, which could increase industry revenue without expanding breeding area, is the goal of a research group.

In experiments with mice, a Brazilian research group showed that, well before the profile of intestinal bacteria gets altered, a diet rich in saturated fats damages the hypothalamus -- region of the brain responsible for optimizing the organism's absorption of nutrients -- because its cells react to the excess of fat in the bloodstream as if they were fighting pathogens. According to the research, the ensuing process of inflammation and methabolic disbalance can recede through a diet with low levels of saturated fat and simple carbohydrates.

Researchers from five countries analyze remnants trapped in rainforest sediment to reconstruct 1 million years of Atlantic Rainforest history. Traces held by items such as microbes, pollen, isotopes, greenhouse gases and algae give clues on the variations of sunlight that caused the many glacial-interglacial cycles in the history of the planet, as well as for the impacts of the wet and dry periods on the Atlantic rainforest.