Certamente não há uma pessoa que não goste de pagar mais barato, ainda mais ao realizar compras online, já que é possível comparar o valor de um mesmo produto em diferentes lojas. No entanto, acompanhar a variação de preços em tantos lugares pode ser uma tarefa complicada, mas o aplicativo SmartTracker promete facilitar isso!
Desenvolvido pelo brasileiro Hugo Prione, o app (disponível para iPhone, iPad e Mac) permite acompanhar preços em qualquer site, definir alertas inteligentes e visualizar gráficos de histórico de preços para comprar sempre no momento certo.
O SmartTracker é nativo, roda localmente e funciona em qualquer site que você possa abrir no navegador. Para começar a rastrear um produto, basta tocar no ícone de mais (+) e colar a URL dele. Em seguida, o aplicativo gera o seletor e detecta o formato automaticamente.
É possível escolher o período para que o app atualize as informações: a cada 10, 15 ou 30 minutos — ou então a cada hora, dia, semana ou mês. No Mac, um pequeno processo auxiliar continua em execução em segundo plano, esteja o SmartTracker aberto ou fechado — mesmo ao encerrar o aplicativo, o rastreamento prossegue.
No iPhone/iPad, o iOS/iPadOS decide quando ativar o aplicativo; portanto, o momento da atualização depende do sistema. Além disso, quando o Mac detecta uma alteração, a sincronização via iCloud encaminha o alerta para o iPhone e o iPad — ou seja, o Mac pode manter seus outros dispositivos atualizados de forma silenciosa.
Outros recursos do SmartTracker incluem:
Monitore qualquer texto em uma página: status de estoque, prazo de envio, números de versão — e seja avisado no momento em que mudar.
Defina preços-alvo e receba notificações quando as ofertas ficarem abaixo do seu orçamento.
Veja seus preços mais recentes direto na Tela de Início e na Tela Bloqueada com widgets.
Use o app sem as mãos com a Siri e o app Atalhos (Shortcuts): adicione itens, atualize preços e abra ofertas com um toque ou com a voz.
Organize listas de desejos e coleções por lojas, produtos ou projetos.
Segundo o desenvolvedor, o SmartTracker foi feito com privacidade em mente, de modo que seus dados ficam nos seus dispositivos e na sua conta do iCloud. Ele também não exige uma conta.
Disponível gratuitamente na App Store, o SmartTracker oferece até cinco itens monitorados e três coleções na versão grátis. Para desbloquear itens/coleções ilimitados e atualização em segundo plano, é necessário assinar a versão Premium por R$24/ano ou realizar uma única compra de R$80.
Há algum tempo, o iOS permite compartilhar o seu contato com outra pessoa facilmente por meio do recurso NameDrop, que entra em cena ao aproximar um iPhone do outro.
Por mais prática que essa ferramenta possa ser, porém, ela não chega a atender por completo as necessidades de usuários corporativos, por exemplo, os quais podem ter múltiplas informações de contato salvas nos seus aparelhos — como uma para a vida pessoal e a outra para o trabalho.
E é exatamente essa lacuna que o aplicativo Passable tenta preencher! Focado no app Carteira (Wallet), do iOS, ele permite criar tíquetes digitais personalizados que servem mais como cartões de contato em vez de ingressos ou coisas do tipo, além de poderem ser compartilhados com poucos toques.
O editor do Passable permite mudar, entre outras coisas, detalhes como a cor e o estilo dos seus cartões, bem como adicionar logos e outros elementos visuais. Enquanto um tíquete pode ter um visual mais descontraído para situações mais casuais, outro pode ser mais sério e clean — ideal para o ambiente de trabalho.
Uma vez criado, o tíquete pode ser exportado para o app Carteira e compartilhado com quantas pessoas você quiser. Além disso, caso você exclua ou faça uma alteração no seu cartão, ele será automaticamente atualizado nos iPhones das pessoas com as quais você compartilhou seu contato, o que significa que elas sempre terão o seus dados mais recentes.
Mas não para por aí, já que o Passable também permite criar tíquetes para compartilhar coisas como sites da web, portfólios e até aplicativos da App Store ou do TestFlight — algo que as atuais soluções da Apple não chegam nem perto de fazer.
Com versões para iPhone/iPad, Mac e Apple Vision Pro, ele requer minimamente iOS/iPadOS 18, o macOS 15 ou o visionOS 2.
Com suporte ao português, ele permite criar um tíquete por categoria — limite que é expandido para dez com assinatura Gold, que sai por R$7 mensais, R$55 anuais ou por uma compra única de R$100.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had linked the outbreak of cyclosporiasis, an infection notorious for inducing explosive diarrhea, to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms that was supplied to Taco Bell.
Per the reporting, Taco Bell said it was voluntarily pulling the lettuce from select states where it received the contaminated produce: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. An announcement from the CDC warned the public not to eat food items with shredded lettuce from Taco Bell, but hasn’t identified Taylor Farms as the source.
But while Taco Bell may have served the tainted lettuce, it would be remiss to lay all of the blame on the fast food chain (although one aggrieved customer is already suing it after contracting the illness).
The contamination occurred at the farms or facilities where the food was processed, from a single supplier in Mexico, Food and Drug Administration officials said. The supplier, Taylor Farms, has been involved in previous outbreaks, including another outbreak of cyclosporiasis in a salad mix in 2013.
Taco Bell, to its credit, also immediately pulled its ingredients from some of its locations last week as soon as it learned about the situation, according to local reports.
And then there’s the broader political context that many experts are drawing attention to: how the Trump administration has slashed funding to the CDC and paralyzed the nation’s food safety bodies.
Last February, shortly after Trump took office, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) dissolved its National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods, which provided scientific guidance on food safety policy. Ryan Cooper at The Prospect notes that the committee was working on advice for foodborne illness outbreaks before being terminated. The FDA also shut down its National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection.
Not spared during the wave of cuts that wreaked the federal government, the USDA lost over 20,000 workers last year, with 913 of them coming from its Food Safety Inspection Service.
Last year, the CDC — which has lost some 3,000 employees under Trump — scaled back its food surveillance program called FoodNet that monitored eight common foodborne pathogens, changing it so that surveillance of the cyclospora parasite that causes cyclosporiasis was optional.
Dan Jernigan, a former director of CDC’s Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told the Washington Post that the decision was made because funding for food safety had not been maintained over the past few years. That the US is now on track to have more cyclospora cases this year than any previous year in history is likely no coincidence.
Jernigan left the agency last August in protest of Trump ousting its then director Susan Monarez and the policies of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. But he said that the Trump cuts would have little impact on the ongoing outbreak, adding that FoodNet wasn’t designed for real-time outbreak detection or response.
As the WaPo reporting notes, federal and state health authorities have insisted that the cyclosporiasis investigation hasn’t been impeded because the parasite is still reportable to a separate national database. Still, Jernigan said that scaling back FoodNet wasn’t inconsequential.
“Routine outbreak investigators are the firefighters responding to a specific blaze. FoodNet is the citywide system that tracks how often fires occur and whether the overall risk is rising,” he told WaPo. “Removing cyclosporiasis from FoodNet does not take the firefighters away from the current outbreak, but it does remove part of the system that tells us how large the problem is and whether it is getting worse over time.”
Cyclosporiasis is a particularly tough illness to track. Symptoms can take weeks to present, making it difficult for health officials to trace back where sufferers were infected. A recent Wired piece drew attention to how many people may be wrongly misdiagnosing themselves as news of the diarrhea dilemma spread across social media.
Linda Yancey, an infectious disease specialist at Memorial Hermann Health System in Texas, warned that large outbreaks like this could become more common.
“Unfortunately with so many budget cuts, every federal agency is hurting for personnel and resources,” she told Time Magazine earlier this month. “We could be at greater risk of foodborne infections because the FDA is so understaffed and underfunded right now.”
So far, Michigan, the epicenter of the outbreak, has alone tallied over 4,300 cases of infection, while nationwide there could be 7,000 cases, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has only confirmed 1,600 of them.
Apocryphal tales of its meals causing the runs have plagued Taco Bell since time immemorial. But this latest parasitic outbreak is something else entirely.
As the Washington Post reports, federal and state authorities are investigating whether the fast food chain is behind the outbreak of explosive diarrhea cases across the country — further cementing its scatological legacy.
The illness, caused by the cyclosporiasis parasite, has sickened as many as 5,100 people across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Michigan, which appears to be the epicenter of the outbreak, over 3,700 people have been infected, state authorities said.
Taco Bell’s suspected role in the outbreak comes after reports that the chain’s Michigan locations began pulling some of its ingredients. Signs in front of the restaurants stated that they were no longer serving lettuce, cilantro, onion, pico de gallo, and guacamole due to a “nationwide recall,” though what recall they were referring to is unclear.
Health officials have so far struggled to narrow down how the parasite is spreading. While usually found on fresh produce, symptoms can take weeks to manifest, making it difficult to trace back to the source.
Lettuce has emerged as one of the likeliest culprits. In an update this week, Michigan’s chief medical executive Natasha Bagdasarian said that “early information has shown lettuce as a common product that regularly comes up during the investigation.”
“Although we do not have a definite product identified as the source of the outbreak, we want to let Michiganders know what we have learned so far so they can take steps to protect their families,” Bagdasarian added.
Federal authorities haven’t singled out any veggies yet, though acting Food and Drug Administration director Don Prater acknowledged Michigan’s fixation on lettuce.
“What I can say at this point is that we’re continuing our traceback investigation on multiple produce items, including the lettuce,” he said, per WaPo.
So far, no nationwide recalls have been made related to the outbreak. One person familiar with the federal investigation, however, praised Taco Bell’s response.
“It’s good the chain has already voluntarily stopped serving a number of items,” they told the newspaper. They added that some who became sick said they didn’t eat at the chain, suggesting that it’s not the only one responsible.
Une piqûre et tout bascule. À l’échelle microscopique, une véritable opération d’infiltration est déjà en cours : des virus — mais pas que… — exploitent le moustique pour nous atteindre. Pour ce troisième épisode de notre série de l’été consacrée aux secrets des moustiques, Futura vous embarque...
As an explosive diarrhea outbreak splatters across the country, Taco Bell is preparing for the worst.
This week, the fast food chain — or at least its locations in Michigan — began temporarily pulling some of its staple ingredients to help stop the spread of cyclosporiasis, a foodborne parasite that causes sufferers to go running to the toilet even more often than a standard Taco Bell meal might.
Many of your favorite menu items, like the Crunchwrap Supreme and the Cantina Chicken bowl, may be imperiled.
“We are currently unable to sell Lettuce, Cilantro Onion, Pico de Gallo, and Guacamole due to a nationwide recall,” a notice posted at locations in Metro Detroit reads, Michigan outlet WWJ reported. “Any items ordered that normally come with these items WILL NOT contain them,” it stressed.
It doesn’t sound like any cases of cyclosporiasis-related explosive diarrhea have been linked to Taco Bell yet, so the fast food chain is probably just trying to err on the side of caution.
So far, nearly 3,000 people have been infected with the foodborne parasite, with around 86 hospitalized, NBC News reported, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Michigan appears to be one of the epicenters, accounting for over half the reported cases so far.
Cyclosporiasis symptoms are pretty gnarly, but usually not life threatening. It can cause stomach cramps and a lengthy bout of explosive diarrhea. The intensifier is warranted: one sufferer who spoke to the New York Post was in awe of the “amount of pressure when it comes out,” adding that the “force is crazy.”
No food items have been recalled yet related to the outbreak. The virus is usually found on fresh produce, but we don’t know what specific food items are spreading it or the supplier they come from. Cyclosporiasis is notoriously hard to track because the symptoms usually don’t present until at least a week after the contaminated food is ingested.
They may not all come from the same source, the CDC cautioned, and what we’re seeing could be a cluster of unrelated outbreaks.
To protect yourself, the best thing to do is thoroughly wash and cook your veggies, which you should still eat. And maybe skip on the fast food.
Schistosoma mansoni is a parasitic worm that infects millions of people worldwide, entering the body through the skin. Unlike bacterial infections that often cause pain and inflammation, S. mansoni usually slips in unnoticed, rarely causing discomfort. Scientists have long wondered why our skin’s defenses don’t react more strongly to this invader.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Tulane University explored whether a specialized group of pain-sensing neurons, called TRPV1+, plays a role in detecting and fighting off S. mansoni during its invasion. TRPV1+ neurons are nerve cells in the skin that respond to heat, spicy foods, and certain bacteria and fungi. When activated, they can trigger pain and release molecules that alert the immune system. Previous researchers have shown that these neurons help defend against bacterial and fungal skin infections, but their role in fighting off parasites was unclear.
To examine how S. mansoni infects its hosts, the team conducted experiments using groups of 4 to 8 mice, matched for age and sex. They repeated each experiment 2 to 3 times to ensure their data was reproducible. They anesthetized the mice, exposed their ears to a solution containing 100 to 150 live S. mansoni larvae, and covered the area with vaseline to keep the solution in place. After 20 to 30 minutes, they counted the number of larvae remaining in the mice’s ears to assess how many had successfully penetrated their skin.
Next, the team measured pain sensitivity in the mice exposed to the parasite by placing them in chambers and applying an infrared heat source to their paws. They recorded how long it took each mouse to withdraw its paw as a sign of pain. They repeated this test 3 times per paw on each mouse, waited at least 5 minutes between each measurement, and calculated an average withdrawal time. They found that mice infected with S. mansoni were approximately half as sensitive to heat-induced pain as an uninfected control group, suggesting that the parasite could be suppressing the mice’s TRPV1+ neurons.
To investigate this further, the team isolated nerve cells that transmit sensory signals from the mice’s skin, known as dorsal root ganglia, and grew them in the lab. They stimulated these neurons by adding a spicy compound in chili peppers, known as capsaicin. Then they measured calcium influx, a sign the neurons were active, using a special dye that glows differently under a microscope depending on calcium levels. This allowed them to see how active the neurons were and how many molecules they released in response to infection and stimulation. They found that 68% of neurons from uninfected mice responded to capsaicin, but only 26% of neurons from infected mice did so, confirming that the parasite dampened their sensory neuron responses.
To test whether restoring the mice’s neuron activity could help their bodies resist parasite invasion, the researchers genetically engineered the mice to produce a light-sensitive protein in their TRPV1+ neurons, called channelrhodopsin. They “turned on” these neurons by stimulating them with blue light for 30 minutes every day for 5 days before infecting the mice with parasites. Six days later, they assessed the mice’s immune response by using a laser to count immune cells in samples of ear tissue. They also determined how far the parasites had spread by counting larvae in lung samples. They saw that mice with the artificially activated TRPV1+ neurons had nearly double the immune response, blocked roughly twice as many larvae at the skin, and had about 20% fewer parasites in their lungs.
Next, the researchers selectively destroyed TRPV1+ neurons in a new set of mice using a compound known as resiniferatoxin. Three weeks later, they confirmed the treatment had worked by testing the mice’s pain sensitivity using the same heat assay as before. After confirming the mice had lost their pain sensitivity, the team exposed the mice to the parasites. They found that the reinfected mice had 1% to 3% weaker skin immune responses and approximately 25% to 30% more parasites in their lungs than a control group, further confirming that TRPV1+ neurons play a protective role during early infection.
The team concluded that S. mansoni has evolved ways to silence pain-sensing neurons, like TRPV1+. Their discovery suggests that future scientists could boost skin immunity against parasites by targeting sensory neurons. For example, they could develop topical creams or therapies that activate these neurons to help our bodies fight off S. mansoni and similar parasitic invaders.
After finding a host and shedding its wings for good, a blood-feeding fly appears to sacrifice some of its vision to better support its parasitic lifestyle. Researchers from Aberystwyth University and the University of Florence have discovered that this major shift in behavior is accompanied by a significant change in the insects’ sensory systems. Deer [...]
Votre chat passe ses journées à explorer le quartier avant de rentrer réclamer sa gamelle et quelques caresses ? Selon une nouvelle étude, ces escapades pourraient aussi l'exposer à de nombreux microbes, parasites et virus susceptibles d'être rapportés jusqu'au foyer.
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