Questões de Inglês - Grammar

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Avoiding meat and dairy is single biggest

way to reduce your impact on Earth

    Avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet, according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet.

    The new research, published in the journal Science, shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world. Loss of wild areas to cattle farming is the leading cause of the current mass extinction of wildlife.

    The new analysis shows that while meat and dairy products provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, they use the vast majority – 83% – of farmland and produce 60% of farming greenhouse gas emissions. Other recent research shows 86% of all land mammals are now livestock or humans. The scientists also found that even the lowest impact by meat and dairy products may cause much more environmental harm than the least sustainable vegetable and cereal growing.

(Damian Carrington. www.theguardian.com, 31.05.2018. Adaptado.)

Natural tooth repair method, using Alzheimer's
drug, could revolutionise dental treatments

A new method of stimulating the renewal of living stem cells in tooth pulp using an Alzheimer’s drug has been discovered by a team of researchers at King’s College London.
Following trauma or an infection, the inner, soft pulp of a tooth can become exposed and infected. In order to protect the tooth from infection, a thin band of dentine is naturally produced and this seals the tooth pulp, but it is insufficient to effectively repair large cavities. Currently dentists use manmade cements or fillings, such as calcium and silicon-based products, to treat these larger cavities and fill holes in teeth. This cement remains in the tooth and fails to disintegrate, meaning that the normal mineral level of the tooth is never completely restored.
However, in a paper published today in Scientific Reports, scientists from the Dental Institute at King’s College London have proven a way to stimulate the stem cells contained in the pulp of the tooth and generate new dentine in large cavities, potentially reducing the need for fillings or cements.
The novel biological approach could see teeth use their natural ability to repair large cavities rather than using cements or fillings.
Significantly, one of the small molecules used by the team to stimulate the renewal of the stem cells included Tideglusib, which has previously been used in clinical trials to treat neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease.
Using biodegradable collagen sponges to deliver the treatment, the team applied low doses of small molecule glycogen synthase kinase (GSK-3) inhibitors to the tooth. They found that the sponge degraded over time and that new dentine replaced it, leading to complete, natural repair. Collagen sponges are commercially-available and clinicallyapproved, again adding to the potential of the treatment’s swift pick-up and use in dental clinics.
Disponível em<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/newsevents/news/newsrecords/2017/01January/Naturaltooth-repair-method-usingAlzheimer'sdrugcouldrevolutionisedentaltreatments.aspx> Acessado em 13 de abril de 2017.

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Rare animals vital for ecosystem life support

  Rare animal species are vital to maintaining tropical ecosystems and could cause a chain reaction of disastrous biodiversity loss if they go extinct, a study warns.

  Animals that are considered rare – because they occupy a niche environment or there are few of them – are more likely than common animals to perform specialised and often irreplaceable roles in their environments, the study found. This is especially true for highly biodiverse environments, such as the tropics, the researchers say. “Losing rare species today may mean losing much more complex processes in the long term,” says lead author Rafael Leitão, a biologist at the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus, Brazil.

  The study notes that rare animals perform essential “ecosystem services” such as dispersing seeds, filtering water and controlling other animal populations and invasive species. “There is no way to know exactly how, in future, an ecosystem     11     with the loss of those rare species, but chain effects are common, meaning that the loss of some functions can lead to other losses, making the whole environment crumble,” says Leitão.

(www.scidev.net. Adaptado.)