she thought that there were almost no gay Brazilians in Australia After getting in contact with other gays who felt the same she decided to create a support group that today has over 1,200 members.On the first day of the group she received more than 400 messages from those interested in joining it.Today Fruits From Brazil that was set up seven years ago, is the LGBTIQA  (Lesbians Queer and Asexuals) focal point for newly arrived Brazilian migrants in Australia with over 1,200 members. While the group has been having an impressive presence at the annual Mardi Gras it will not participate in this year's parade organising an exhibition of Brazilian short films with the LGBTIQA theme in Sydney on Monday.'Softening the impact of migration'The group founder Nina Caxambu says Fruits from Brazil tries to soften the impact of migrating from another country which she says is never easy. "Even if we leave Brazil thinking that the LGBT issue is going to be better here so that people feel welcomed," she told SBS Portuguese. "People who have already gone through everything that [the newly arrived migrants] are starting to experience can help them by talking about their experiences Even if we think that we'll be much more accepted here it becomes more difficult."Fruits From Brazil - Sydney Mardi Gras Parade 2018 Source: SuppliedCaró Vilares says it is easier to come out in Australia especially in the big cities compared to her homeland."Sydney is very different from São Paulo There (São Paulo) we walk holding hands but with fear and always conscious that we are doing this everything is fine," says Caró.   "Here I feel much more secure and free."Fruits From Brazil Source: SuppliedMore articles and podcasts Carnaval brasileiro em Sydney e o Mardi Gras Portuguese João Queiroga's short film Our Skin on Sydney's Mardi Gras Brasileiros levam o orgulho gay e lésbico ao Mardi Gras de Sydney grupo que acolhe a comunidade LGBTQIA brasileira na Austrália Votação do casamento gay até o final do ano agrada comunidade LGBTQI brasileira Daniel Ribeiro fala do seu filme que abre o Festival de Cinema Gay de Sydney Obese and pre-diabetic mice that received the amino acid in water presented weight loss and improved glucose metabolism (image: Unicamp) Obese and pre-diabetic mice that received the amino acid in water presented weight loss and improved glucose metabolism Agência FAPESP – After supplementing the water of obese mice with the amino acid taurine for two months researchers at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) observed that the animals not only showed significant weight loss but also presented various benefits in terms of glycemia control Data suggest that the treatment could protect the rodents from developing complications such as diabetes The results of the FAPESP-funded study carried out at the Department of Structural and Functional Biology of the Institute of Biology (IB) at Unicamp Everardo Magalhães Carneiro at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Federation of Experimental Biology Societies (FeSBE) “Taurine is an amino acid that is not incorporated into the proteins of the body and that seems to have an important role in cell signaling Our data show that it regulates the intracellular production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) or oxygenated water and this correlates with better action on the part of insulin in the peripheral tissues,” Carneiro said The researcher explained that taurine is naturally synthesized by the body mainly in the liver cells and adipose tissue It can also be obtained by ingesting foods such as meat “Taurine is highly concentrated in the alpha cells of the pancreas playing a role that we are still trying to determine,” Carneiro said The researcher explained that alpha cells are responsible for secreting the hormone glucagon whose function is to mobilize energy stored as glycogen in the liver during extended periods of fasting to prevent potentially fatal hypoglycemia data in the literature indicate that the glucagon produced by alpha cells also stimulates its neighbors There are three main types of cells in the islets of Langerhans: alpha Alpha cells stimulate beta cells to produce insulin and beta cells inhibit glucagon secretion by alpha cells Delta cells produce the hormone somatostatin which is capable of inhibiting the secretion of both insulin and glucagon “It appears that taurine somehow modulates this paracrine control [in which a hormone produced by a cell controls the activity of a neighboring cell] of insulin leading to greater or lesser secretion of the hormone depending on the case,” Carneiro explained the Unicamp researchers observed that in normal-weight mice supplementation with 2% taurine in water increased the secretion of insulin by beta cells causing the animal’s islets of Langerhans to be more responsive to glucose In vitro experiments conducted on the islets of the animals that received taurine supplementation revealed that the cells expressed increased amounts of the active form of the protein PDX-1 a critical transcription factor for insulin synthesis In addition, the researchers showed that the insulin receptors in the peripheral tissues of the animals became more activated after supplementation with taurine, advancing the capture of glucose in the muscle tissue and lowering the production of this sugar by the liver. The results were published in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry “It appears that taurine – we still don’t know if directly or indirectly – induces the expression of certain proteins This culminates in more secretion of insulin We decided to investigate whether this would also occur in a model of diet-induced obesity,” Carneiro said mice were weaned to a diet of 31% pork fat the animals were already considered obese and pre-diabetic they presented glucose intolerance (a delay in removing the nutrient from the blood vessels) and insulin resistance the expanded adipose tissue produces inflammatory substances and small amounts of hormones that disrupt insulin’s bonds to its target cell receptors,” Carneiro said This signals the pancreas to produce even more insulin leading to failure of the beta cells and consequently to diabetes,” he said insulin resistance and the resulting difficulty in getting the nutrient inside cells results in further production of glucagon by the alpha cells increasing the levels of blood glucose even more some of the mice received supplementation with 5% taurine in water during treatment when fed a high-fat diet analyses revealed that the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas of the animals had diminished in size taking on a similar appearance as those in the non-obese control group The levels of insulin secretion also decreased by 45% accompanied by partial improvement in glucose intolerance and insulin resistance In addition to this, there was partial improvement, or 20% and 4% in the glucose and blood cholesterol levels, respectively. This improvement was associated with a 75% increase in the activity of an intermediate protein from the insulin signaling cascade in the liver, but not in the muscles. Some of the results were published in the journal Amino Acids The researchers then conducted the same experiment using a group of genetically obese mice fat accumulation was caused by a mutation in the gene that encodes the hormone leptin in the adipose tissue “Leptin is an important hormone for controlling appetite It acts on the hypothalamus and signals to the body that it is time to stop eating which ends up leading to uncontrolled food ingestion,” Carneiro explained the obese mice received 5% taurine supplementation in water for 60 days Analyses showed a nearly 16% reduction in the weight of the treated group and hepatic glucose production decreased by 28% these parameters were still significantly higher than in non-obese mice “Another interesting test that we did with the obese animals was a glucagon tolerance test which consists of administering this hormone and observing how much glucose that the animal is able to mobilize in the liver hepatic glucose production was very high compared with production in the control group the percentage fell to 39%,” Carneiro said The researchers are currently studying the changes in the gene expression patterns of more than 11,000 genes in the hypothalamus induced by the interventions conducted during the experiments “Preliminary data indicate that taurine modulates the expression of various genes thus causing the animal to better adapt in terms of food behavior It also appears to protect the cells of the hypothalamus against endoplasmic reticulum stress which is a phenomenon involved in the death of several types of cells Neil Pace Cocks 81 (N); Clayton Failla 76 pen Naxxar Lions earned their first three points thanks to a 2-1 win over neighbours Mosta After losing to Hibernians in their first outing Naxxar were determined not to remain empty-handed They created the better chances throughout the 90 minutes this was the second defeat in as many matches They reacted well after conceding the first goal notching the equaliser but the second goal killed their hopes Mosta had three changes from the team which lost to Sliema Wanderers as Sean Mintoff deputised for the suspended David Akpan while Brazilian duo Giancarlo Goncalves and Matheus Cambuci were handed their debut Edson Cerqueira was preferred to Yasukaze Ito Naxxar went close to taking the lead on sevents minutes but Takuma Yamaguchi was unlucky hit the upright Mosta replied with a Cambuci effort from outside the area which ended just over the bar on 12 minutes.  A shot by Giancarlo Goncalves ended just wide a minute later The Lions managed to take the lead on 33 minutes Matheus Taumaturgo released Caxambu on the left and off the latter’s assist Takuma Yamaguchi placed the ball at the back of the net Mosta improved in the second half and on 49 minutes Richard Luca tried his luck with a curling shot from the left which ended just wide but on 54 minutes hitting sky high off an assist by Caxambu from the left Richard Luca concluded a good move with a shot which was turned into a corner a minute later.  Shedrack had a shot from outside the area parried by Naxxar goalkeeper Matthias Debono Caxambu handled the ball off Clayton Failla’s cross from the right referee Slobodan Petrovic ordered a penalty and Failla duly converted from the penalty spot Goalkeeper Mintoff came to the rescue for the Blues turning into a corner a great freekick by Caxambu on 79 minutes Caxambu’s cross from the left was partially saved by Mintoff and Neil Pace Cocks placed the ball at the back of the net The Lions went close to increasing the lead on 86 minutes but Degran Jackson concluded a good move with a shot from inside the area which hit the crossbar Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa The head of South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL called on FIFA to expand.. 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