Early public research funding response to COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

INTRODUCTION: This study investigated the role of early public research funding regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. METHODS: We examined the budget for research projects relating to the number of cases and deaths and the relationship between each federal unit, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and the national GDP per capita. RESULTS: Using data from the websites of official funding agencies and the Brazilian government, we found that, in the first four months since the first case in Wuhan, China (December 31, 2019), around US$ 38.3 million were directed to public funding for scientific investigations against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, only 11 out of 27 federal units provided funding during the initial stages of the outbreak, and those that did provide financing were not necessarily the units having the most inhabitants, highest GDP, or the greatest number of cases. The areas of research interest were also identified in the funding documents; the most common topic was "diagnosis" and the least common was "equipment for treatment." CONCLUSIONS: Brazilian researchers had access to funding opportunities for projects against COVID-19. However, strategies to minimize the economic impacts of COVID-19 are crucial in mitigating or avoiding substantial financial and social shortcomings, particularly in terms of an emerging market such as Brazil.

Appraising the potential of Zr-based biomedical alloys to reduce magnetic resonance imaging artifacts.

This study compared Zr-Mo alloys with commercial metallic biomaterials. It was observed that the Zr-Mo alloys exhibited favourable mechanical properties, particularly the Zr-10Mo alloy, which showed the highest strength to Young's modulus ratio among all evaluated metals. These alloys also exhibited the lowest magnetic susceptibilities, which are important for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, both Zr- and Ti-based metals yielded comparable artifacts. It was concluded that the magnetic susceptibility must differ considerably to afford significantly improved MRI quality owing to the increased importance of non-susceptibility-related artifacts when comparing materials with relatively similar magnetic susceptibilities.

Early public research funding response to COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil

Abstract INTRODUCTION: This study investigated the role of early public research funding regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. METHODS: We examined the budget for research projects relating to the number of cases and deaths and the relationship between each federal unit, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and the national GDP per capita. RESULTS: Using data from the websites of official funding agencies and the Brazilian government, we found that, in the first four months since the first case in Wuhan, China (December 31, 2019), around US$ 38.3 million were directed to public funding for scientific investigations against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, only 11 out of 27 federal units provided funding during the initial stages of the outbreak, and those that did provide financing were not necessarily the units having the most inhabitants, highest GDP, or the greatest number of cases. The areas of research interest were also identified in the funding documents; the most common topic was "diagnosis" and the least common was "equipment for treatment." CONCLUSIONS: Brazilian researchers had access to funding opportunities for projects against COVID-19. However, strategies to minimize the economic impacts of COVID-19 are crucial in mitigating or avoiding substantial financial and social shortcomings, particularly in terms of an emerging market such as Brazil.