Two +ssRNA mycoviruses cohabiting the fungal cultivar of leafcutter ants.

Leafcutter ants are dominant herbivores in the Neotropics and rely on a fungus (Leucoagaricus gongylophorus) to transform freshly gathered leaves into a source of nourishment rather than consuming the vegetation directly. Here we report two virus-like particles that were isolated from L. gongylophorus and observed using transmission electron microscopy.

Nature of Long-Lived Moiré Interlayer Excitons in Electrically Tunable MoS/MoSe Heterobilayers.

Interlayer excitons in transition-metal dichalcogenide heterobilayers combine high binding energy and valley-contrasting physics with a long optical lifetime and strong dipolar character. Their permanent electric dipole enables electric-field control of the emission energy, lifetime, and location. Device material and geometry impact the nature of the interlayer excitons via their real- and momentum-space configurations.

Metabolomic Profiling of Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Predicting Disease-Free and Overall Survival.

Breast cancer (BC) remains a significant global health concern, with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) offering preoperative benefits like tumor downstaging and treatment response assessment. However, identifying factors influencing post-NACT treatment response and survival outcomes is challenging. Metabolomic approaches offer promising insights into understanding these outcomes.

Energy-Dense and Low-Fiber Dietary Pattern May Be a Key Contributor to the Rising Obesity Rates in Brazil.

Hybrid methods are a suitable option for extracting dietary patterns associated with health outcomes. This study aimed to identify the dietary patterns of Brazilian adults (20-59 years old; = 28,153) related to dietary components associated with the risk of obesity. Data from the 2017-2018 Brazilian National Dietary Survey were analyzed.

Lipidomics by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Liquid Chromatography-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry in Osteosarcoma: A Pilot Study.

Cancer is a complex disease that can also affect the younger population; however, it is responsible for a relatively high mortality rate of children and youth, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Besides that, lipidomic studies in this age range are scarce. Therefore, we analyzed blood serum samples from young patients (12 to 35 years) with bone sarcoma (osteosarcoma) and compared their lipidomics to the ones from the control group of samples, named healthy control (HC group), using NMR and LC-MS techniques.

Thermoascus aurantiacus harbors an esterase/lipase that is highly activated by anionic surfactant.

Fungal lipolytic enzymes play crucial roles in various lipid bio-industry processes. Here, we elucidated the biochemical and structural characteristics of an unexplored fungal lipolytic enzyme (TaLip) from Thermoascus aurantiacus var. levisporus, a strain renowned for its significant industrial relevance in carbohydrate-active enzyme production.

Supplying the ethanol demand for 2030 in Brazil as a land-based climate change mitigation alternative: Implications on greenhouse gases emissions.

Transitioning from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy is crucial to climate action and achieving neutrality in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Biofuel production is an essential land-based GHG mitigation alternative. However, it raises concerns about biodiversity conservation, competition with food production, and net GHG emissions associated with direct land-use change (dLUC).

Faith healing: the threat of "Surucucu" and the local cure of Amazon floodplain dwellers.

Background: Snakebites are considered a neglected tropical disease responsible for many accidents, some fatal, and are related to poverty. The Brazilian Amazon has the highest incidence of snakebites per inhabitant, with the state of Pará having the most reported cases. For those who have difficult access to hospitals and pharmacies, this issue is even more urgent.

Effects of different roughness on Brazilian splitting characteristics of rock-concrete interface.

In order to study the tensile properties of rock-concrete composite disc specimens with different roughness, the surface of the gray-white sand specimen was artificially grooved, and six different roughness were configured. The test results show that the roughness size and roughness mode jointly control the tensile strength of the rock-concrete interface. With the increase of roughness, the tensile strength of the sample changes from the initial decrease to the increase and then decrease, and the tensile strength reaches the highest when the roughness is f3.

Development of a flat jet delivery system for soft X-ray spectroscopy at MAX IV.

One of the most challenging aspects of X-ray research is the delivery of liquid sample flows into the soft X-ray beam. Currently, cylindrical microjets are the most commonly used sample injection systems for soft X-ray liquid spectroscopy. However, they suffer from several drawbacks, such as complicated geometry due to their curved surface.

Proximity Ligand Assay to Localize Proteins in DNA Damage Sites.

The DNA damage response is a genetic information safeguard that protects cells from perpetuating damaged DNA. The characterization of the proteins that cooperate in this process allows the identification of alternative targets for therapeutic intervention in several diseases, such as cancer, aging-related diseases, and chronic inflammation. The Proximity Ligand Assay (PLA) emerged as a tool for estimating interaction between proteins as well as spatial proximity among organelles or cellular structures and allows the temporal localization and co-localization analysis under stress conditions, for instance.

Thermal efficiency dataset around Cuban seas (TEDACS).

Currently, the generation of electrical energy in Cuba is supported by oil and natural gas. These sources, as it is known, are directly linked to large emissions of pollutants that are released into the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to search for new energy options that are directed towards sustainable development, allowing the preservation of natural ecosystems.

Global warming and coastal protected areas: A study on phytoplankton abundance and sea surface temperature in different regions of the Brazilian South Atlantic Coastal Ocean.

In this study, we examined the relationship between sea surface temperature (SST) and phytoplankton abundance in coastal regions of the Brazilian South Atlantic: São Paulo, Paraná, and Santa Catarina, and the Protection Area of Southern right whales () in Santa Catarina (APA), a conservation zone established along 130 km of coastline. Using SST and chlorophyll- (Chl-) data from 2002 to 2023, we found significant differences in SST between the regions, with São Paulo having the highest SST, followed by Paraná and Santa Catarina. All locations showed a consistent increase in SST over the years, with North Santa Catarina, APA and São Paulo experiencing the lowest rate of increase.

The polyunsaturated fatty acid docosahexaenoic affects mitochondrial function in prostate cancer cells.

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) shows a rewired metabolism featuring increased fatty acid uptake and synthesis via de novo lipogenesis, both sharply related to mitochondrial physiology. The docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) that exerts its antitumoral properties via different mechanisms, but its specific action on mitochondria in PCa is not clear. Therefore, we investigated whether the DHA modulates mitochondrial function in PCa cell lines.

Bacteria-Derived Cellulose Membranes Modified with Graphene Oxide-Silver Nanoparticles for Accelerating Wound Healing.

This study reports on the modification of bacterial cellulose (BC) membranes produced by static fermentation of bacterial strains with graphene oxide-silver nanoparticles (GO-Ag) to yield skin wound dressings with improved antibacterial properties. The GO-Ag sheets were synthesized through chemical reduction with sodium citrate and were utilized to functionalize the BC membranes (BC/GO-Ag). The BC/GO-Ag composites were characterized to determine their surface charge, morphology, exudate absorption, antimicrobial activity, and cytotoxicity by using fibroblast cells.

The seroconversion history to SARS-CoV-2 in Indigenous people from Brazil - the interplay between exposure, vaccination, and tuberculosis.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant loss of human lives and a worldwide decline in quality of life. Although our understanding of the pandemic has improved significantly since the beginning, the natural history of COVID-19 and its impacts on under-represented populations, such as Indigenous people from America, remain largely unknown. We performed a retrospective serological survey with two Brazilian Indigenous populations (n=624), Tupiniquim and Guarani-Mbyá.

Exploring Canine Mammary Cancer through Liquid Biopsy: Proteomic Profiling of Small Extracellular Vesicles.

(Background). Canine mammary tumors (CMTs) have emerged as an important model for understanding pathophysiological aspects of human disease. Liquid biopsy (LB), which relies on blood-borne biomarkers and offers minimal invasiveness, holds promise for reflecting the disease status of patients.

Analysis of nanomaterial biocoronas in biological and environmental surroundings.

A biomolecular coating, or biocorona, forms on the surface of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) immediately as they enter biological or environmental systems, defining their biological and environmental identity and influencing their fate and performance. This biomolecular layer includes proteins (the protein corona) and other biomolecules, such as nucleic acids and metabolites. To ensure a meaningful and reproducible analysis of the ENMs-associated biocorona, it is essential to streamline procedures for its preparation, separation, identification and characterization, so that studies in different labs can be easily compared, and the information collected can be used to predict the composition, dynamics and properties of biocoronas acquired by other ENMs.

Organic matter decay and bacterial community succession in mangroves under simulated climate change scenarios.

Mangroves are coastal environments that provide resources for adjacent ecosystems due to their high productivity, organic matter decomposition, and carbon cycling by microbial communities in sediments. Since the industrial revolution, the increase of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) released due to fossil fuel burning led to many environmental abnormalities such as an increase in average temperature and ocean acidification. Based on the hypothesis that climate change modifies the microbial diversity associated with decaying organic matter in mangrove sediments, this study aimed to evaluate the microbial diversity under simulated climate change conditions during the litter decomposition process and the emission of GHG.

Molecular overlaps of neurological manifestations of COVID-19 and schizophrenia from a proteomic perspective.

COVID-19, a complex multisystem disorder affecting the central nervous system, can also have psychiatric sequelae. In addition, clinical evidence indicates that a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder is a risk factor for mortality in patients with COVID-19. In this study, we aimed to explore brain-specific molecular aspects of COVID-19 by using a proteomic approach.

Carbon savings from sugarcane straw-derived bioenergy: Insights from a life cycle perspective including soil carbon changes.

Sugarcane straw removal for bioenergy production will increase substantially in the next years, but this may deplete soil organic carbon (SOC) and exacerbate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These aspects are not consistently approached in bioenergy life cycle assessment (LCA). Using SOC modeling and LCA approach, this study addressed the life cycle GHG balance from sugarcane agroindustry in different scenarios of straw removal, considering the potential SOC changes associated with straw management in sugarcane-cultivated soils in Brazil.

Toward an Improved Understanding and Treatment of Canine Mammary Tumors: Insights and Advances from the Research.

As Guest Editors of this Special Issue on canine mammary tumors, we are pleased to present a collection of articles on this highly relevant and timely topic [...