Apartamentos com quatro mil moradores - Jornal Expresso

Identificada pela primeira vez proteína diretamente ligada à doença de Parkinson

 

Nunca ninguém tinha visto o aspeto desta proteína humana relacionada com a doença neurodegenerativa que mais cresce no mundo. A descoberta pode ajudar investigadores na busca de novos tratamentos.

Uma equipa de cientistas resolveu um mistério relacionado com a doença de Parkinson ao identificar uma proteína que poderá ser a chave para ajudar a desenvolver novos medicamentos para tratar a doença neurodegenerativa

A PINK1 é uma proteína diretamente ligada à doença de Parkinson, a doença neurodegenerativa que mais cresce no mundo e a mais comum depois da doença de Alzheimer.

Nunca ninguém tinha visto o aspeto desta proteína humana, a forma como se liga à superfície das mitocôndrias danificadas ou como é ativada, mas agora uma equipa de investigadores australianos do Centro de Investigação da Doença de Parkinson do Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) conseguiu fazê-lo.

O trabalho, descrito na quinta-feira na revista Science, poderá ajudar a encontrar novos tratamentos para a doença, que atualmente não tem cura nem medicamentos para travar a sua progressão.

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Criminalidade está a aumentar na Europa

 

A violência está frequentemente relacionada com o consumo e tráfico de droga, sobretudo na Bélgica, nos Países Baixos, em Espanha, na Alemanha e em França.
Um relatório de fevereiro do Serviço de Estudos do Parlamento Europeu (EPRS) alertou que violência nas zonas residenciais está a aumentar em toda a UE, um fenómeno ligado à "escalada da concorrência entre grupos criminosos rivais".
Uma das tendências mais preocupantes é o recrutamento de menores para grupos de crime organizado e terrorismo, o que levou recentemente países como a Suécia a introduzir legislação para colocar escutas telefónicas em crianças com menos de 15 anos, para travar uma vaga de atentados bombistas - pelo menos 36 desde o início de 2025.
De acordo com os dados mais recentes do Eurostat , 10% dos cidadãos da UE relataram ter sido vítimas de crime, violência ou vandalismo na sua área de residência, 12,3% se considerarmos o segmento de pessoas em risco de pobreza.
"Apesar de a Europa continuar a ser um dos continentes menos afetados pela criminalidade organizada, espera-se que as redes criminosas aumentem o seu alcance global, se tornem mais fluidas e digitalizadas e, por conseguinte, mais abertas à diversidade e à concorrência", refere a nota informativa, acrescentando que "isto pode, por sua vez, conduzir a uma violência ainda maior relacionada com a criminalidade organizada".
De um modo geral, as taxas mais elevadas de pessoas que relataram violência local, crime ou vandalismo registaram-se na Grécia (20,9%), nos Países Baixos (16,7%), na Bulgária (15,6%), em França (14,7%), em Espanha (13,6%) e na Bélgica (12,5%).
A Grécia, em particular, registou um aumento da violência entre os adeptos de futebol nos últimos anos, o que levou ao encerramento prolongado de estádios e a novas medidas que reforçam a regulamentação dos clubes e dos bilhetes.
No outro extremo do espetro, a Croácia, a Lituânia, a Polónia, a Eslováquia e a Estónia surgem como os países mais seguros, todos eles com taxas de criminalidade inferiores a 5%.

Carlos Santana

 

Where’s the outrage? ‘Trump World Inc.’s’ many conflicts of interest

 

In 2018, President Trump’s infamous former chief strategist Steve Bannon said that “Democrats don’t matter; the real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with s—.”

Trump’s “flood-the-zone” strategy is working right now about as well as Bannon could have ever imagined. A media so flooded with breaking news faces the prospect of something like reporting on a game of Whack-a-Mole. By design, many of Trump’s significant pronouncements and questionable activities are drowning under layers of excrement, whereas traditionally they would have generated headlines.

Trump’s extreme conflicts of interest are one such story. It is completely lost on the public that Trump is enriching himself daily with millions — potentially even billions — of dollars through his vast, diverse, growing domestic and international business empire.

And the 47th president is only just getting started.

Trump is the first president to own a controlling stake in a publicly traded company. Trump Media and Technology Group (symbol DJT) debuted on NASDAQ in March. Its home page exclaims, “A Uniting Force For Freedom of Expression — No Political Discrimination, Canceling Cancel Culture, Standing Up to Big Tech and Follow the TRUTH.”

Barron’s, a respected financial news source, reported on Inauguration Day that this company “is largely a cipher with scant disclosures, hardly any revenue, and no coverage on Wall Street. The stock has meme-like qualities, trading on presidential utterances and spikes in volume that vanish as quickly as they arise.”

Not only is Trump Media a shaky investment, but it represents a political-financial alternative universe that has become “normalized.” Consider that the president owns approximately 53 percent of the company’s stock, and that its communication platform, Truth Social, is the president’s mouthpiece.

Trump utilizes Truth Social 24/7 to make official government announcements, inject controversy, spew misinformation, hurl insults and rant against his enemies. As of January 2025, Truth Social had only 6.3 million active users, but media amplification keeps it top of mind. Truth’s home page reads, “Your Voice — Your Freedom,” language that could have been ripped from George Orwell’s classic “1984.”

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Warren Buffett sounds warning to Washington as Berkshire reports record profit, cash

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway on Saturday reported record annual profits and boosting its cash stake to $334.2 billion, as Warren Buffett used his annual shareholder letter to caution Washington to spend money wisely and take care of those who get the "short straws in life."

Buffett's admonition came as many investors worry U.S. lawmakers won't rein in soaring fiscal deficits, and could make them worse by extending tax cuts backed by President Donald Trump.

The 94-year-old Buffett, the world's sixth-richest person and arguably its most famous investor, also acknowledged his advanced age, telling shareholders he uses a cane and will spend less time fielding their questions at Berkshire's annual meeting on May 3.

He nonetheless assured shareholders they would be in good hands after he turns over the conglomerate's reins to Vice Chairman Greg Abel, saying the 62-year-old Abel has "vividly shown his ability" to deploy capital.

"It won't be long" before Abel takes over, Buffett said.

Buffett's letter was accompanied by Berkshire's annual report, where it reported a third straight record annual operating profit, rising 27% to $47.44 billion.

Quarterly operating profit rose 71% to $14.53 billion, also a record, and which analysts viewed as solid..

Berlin Stabbing Extends Chain of Attacks Ahead of German Election

 

BERLIN—German authorities said a Syrian suspect was intending “to kill Jews” when he stabbed a tourist in Berlin on Friday, the latest in a string of attacks by refugees and asylum seekers that have increased in frequency ahead of a crucial election on Sunday. 

The suspect, a 19-year-old refugee, was detained shortly after the attack Friday night on a Spanish tourist inside the city’s sprawling Holocaust Memorial opposite the U.S. Embassy, the Berlin police and general prosecutor said in a statement.

“A plan had matured in him over several weeks to kill Jews, which determined his choice of a place to strike,” the police and prosecutors said, based on statements the suspect had made after his arrest. 

The 30-year-old victim suffered life-threatening wounds to the throat but was out of danger on Saturday after undergoing an emergency operation, authorities said.

The litany of attacks has punctuated an electoral campaign that was initially focused on economic issues, and has forced candidates to spar over immigration and crime instead. The ballot on Sunday will elect a new parliament and determine who will lead the country for the next four years.

The front-runner is the center-right Christian Democratic Union, led by would-be chancellor Friedrich Merz and credited with about 30% of votes in recent polls, followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, with around 20% of the voters.

Both parties have called for a crackdown on immigration and want the country to largely close its borders to asylum seekers, but immigration is more central to the AfD’s pitch whereas Merz has put a bigger emphasis on the economy.

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The Unabashedly Provocative Youth Driving Germany’s Far Right

 

The Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, with its anti-immigrant and nationalist platform, has long been the pariah of German politics. Its members have been fined for Nazi slogans and labeled extremist by the government.

Ahead of Sunday’s national parliamentary election, a new band of influencers has found a voice among voters by bringing a more youthful edge to the party known for its provocations and controversies. They welcome the scorn of protesters, journalists and the mainstream political parties. Some of them still trade jokes about Hitler and Jews, along with the occasional Sig Heil salute.

Their party’s energy and ethos has won approving nods from Elon Musk, an adviser to President Trump, and from Vice President JD Vance. And they have helped elevate the party to second in the polls, even as the political establishment has kept the AfD out of government as part of a longstanding commitment to sideline parties deemed extreme.

They are the changing face of the AfD.

When Marie-Thérèse Kaiser, 28, first went to an AfD event in 2017, she was surrounded by retirees. “They could have been my grandparents,” she said. Things have changed. Young people who might have been punks or hippies in a different time are now finding the AfD, she said — and posting about it.

Ms. Kaiser is a parliamentary candidate and a personal assistant in the office of Alice Weidel, the leader of the AfD. She canvassed for the party on a frigid Saturday morning in Sittensen, a small town outside Hamburg. She picked the spot because she had been uninvited from a panel discussion there because of lingering controversy over a social media post that violated a law against hate speech.

In 2021, Ms. Kaiser on Facebook criticized Germany’s acceptance of immigrants from Afghanistan. In the post, she asked Hamburg’s mayor whether he was creating a “welcome culture for gang rapes?” The government fined her 6,000 euros ($6,275) and convicted her of inciting racial hatred. Her online following grew.

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