Fuzzy logic as a decision-making support system for the indication of bariatric surgery based on an index (OBESINDEX) generated by the association between body fat and body mass index

Background: A Fuzzy Obesity Index (OBESINDEX) for use as an alternative in bariatric surgery indication (BSI) is presented. The search for a more accurate method to evaluate obesity and to indicate a better treatment is important in the world health context. BMI (body mass index) is considered the main criteria for obesity treatment and BSI. Nevertheless, the fat excess related to the percentage of Body Fat (%BF) is actually the principal harmful factor in obesity disease that is usually neglected. This paper presents a new fuzzy mechanism for evaluating obesity by associating BMI with %BF that yields a fuzzy obesity index for obesity evaluation and treatment and allows building up a Fuzzy Decision Support System (FDSS) for BSI.

Methods: Seventy-two patients were evaluated for both BMI and %BF. These data are modified and treated as fuzzy sets. Afterwards, the BMI and %BF classes are aggregated yielding a new index (OBESINDEX) for input linguistic variable are considered the BMI and %BF, and as output linguistic variable is employed the OBESINDEX, an obesity classification with entirely new classes of obesity in the fuzzy context as well is used for BSI.

Results: There is a gradual, smooth obesity classification and BSI when using the proposed fuzzy obesity index when compared with other traditional methods for dealing with obesity.

Conclusion: The BMI is not adequate for surgical indication in all the conditions and fuzzy logic becomes an alternative for decision making in bariatric surgery indication based on the OBESINDEX

J/ψJ/\psi-kaon cross section in meson exchange model

We calculate the cross section for the dissociation of $J/\psi$ by kaons within the framework of a meson exchange model including anomalous parity interactions. Off-shell effects at the vertices were handled with QCD sum rule estimates for the running coupling constants. The total $J/\psi$-kaon cross section was found to be $1.0 \sim1.6$ mb for 4.1\leq\sqrt{s}\leq5 \GeV.Comment: 13 pages, 4 eps figure

Arborescent formations portuguese laurel cherry (Prunus lusitanica L. subsp. lusitanica) : a priority habitat for conservation in Europe.

No âmbito de um levantamento sobre a flora da Serra do Moradal, no intuito de se publicar um Guia Botânico da mesma, foram efetuadas diversas saídas de campo - durante o ano de 2015 - para caracterização, identificação e localização de espécies. No sítio da Fraga da Água de Alto, freguesia do Orvalho, considerada uma das maiores quedas de água da Beira Baixa, identificou-se uma significativa comunidade de azereiros, vestígios da Laurissilva. Dado o interesse conservacionista destas formações a nível europeu, efetuamos a sua caracterização. Para além disso, efetuamos algumas abordagens históricas, taxonómicas e morfológicas do Prunus lusitanica, bem como de alguns aspetos da sua propagação e utilizações mais comuns.Abstract As part of a survey of the flora of Serra do Moradal in order to publish a botanical guide, during the year 2015 several field trips were made in order to characterize, identify and locate plant species. During the field work, vestiges of laurissilva were found in the site of Fraga da Água de Alto, Freguesia of Orvalho (considered as the largest water fall in Beira Baixa) and we have identified a significant community of, Portuguese laurel cherry. Thus, the characterization of the formations of Prunus lusitanica was made, considering its conservation interest at European level. Furthermore, we made some historical characterization, taxonomic and morphological approaches of Prunus lusitanica, as well as some aspects of its propagation and most common uses.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Encapsulation of alpha-amylase into starch-based biomaterials : an enzymatic approach to tailor their degradation rate

This paper reports the effect of a-amylase encapsulation on the degradation rate of a starch-based biomaterial. The encapsulation method consisted in mixing a thermostable a-amylase with a blend of corn starch and polycaprolactone (SPCL), which were processed by compression moulding to produce circular disks. The presence of water was avoided to keep the water activity low and consequently to minimize the enzyme activity during the encapsulation process. No degradation of the starch matrix occurred during processing and storage (the encapsulated enzyme remained inactive due to the absence of water), since no significant amount of reducing sugars was detected in solution. After the encapsulation process, the released enzyme activity from the SPCL disks after 28 days was found to be 40% comparatively to the free enzyme (unprocessed). Degradation studies on SPCL disks, with a-amylase encapsulated or free in solution, showed no significant differences on the degradation behaviour between both conditions. This indicates that a-amylase enzyme was successfully encapsulated with almost full retention of its enzymatic activity and the encapsulation of a-amylase clearly accelerates the degradation rate of the SPCL disks, when compared with the enzyme-free disks. The results obtained in this work show that degradation kinetics of the starch polymer can be controlled by the amount of encapsulated a-amylase into the matrix.This work was partially supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through funds from the POCTI and/or FEDER Programmes. This work was carried out under the scope of the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283)

Phenotypic reversion of Aspergillus nidulans morphological deteriorated variants in the presence of osmotic stabilisers

Strains of Aspergillus nidulans with chromosome duplications are unstable at mitosis. They produce sectors which are mainly of two types: improved sectors that result from partial or total loss of the duplication segment and deteriorated sectors having poor conidiation and dark brown mycelium. It is postulated that deteriorated variants carry additional duplications resulting from non-homologous sister-chromatid exchange within the duplicated segments. (Nga and Roper, 1968 Genetics 58: 193-209). Deteriorated sectors are unstable but can give more derivatives which probably are the result of transpositions of the tandem duplication segment to other regions of the genome (Azevedo and Roper, 1970 Genetical Research 16: 79-93). Crosses between these more stable deteriorated variants are not always successful due probably to incompatibility factors

Incorporation of alpha-amylase enzyme and a bioactive filler into hydrophilic, partially degradable, and bioactive cements (HDBCs) as a new approach to tailor simultaneously their degradation and bioactive behavior

Hydrophilic, partially degradable, and bioactive cements (HDBCs) are starch-containing cements intended to degrade partially in the human body and, in so doing, allow for bone ingrowth inside the pores formed during degradation. Therefore, the study of degradation and bioactivity behavior was performed to assess the suitability of the current HDBCs formulations to achieve those aims. The degradation profile of HDBCs was studied under different conditions, including incubation in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and PBS supplemented with R-amylase at different concentrations. Thermostable R-amylase was also added to some formulations to allow control of the degradation rate and its extent. In a second stage the simultaneous phenomena of enzymatic degradation and bioactivity (both in vitro) was studied. We observed that the degradation of starch present in HDBCs can be easily controlled by the amount of R-amylase added to the cement and high values of degradation may be achieved if high enough quantities of enzyme are incorporated. However, the maximum degradation extent is much more dependent on the total amount of starch present in the formulation than on the amount of enzyme added to it: for full pore connectivity, the amount of starch should be higher than the percolation threshold for a 3D specimen. Nonetheless, calcium phosphate was able to nucleate and spread in inner pores of the cement, formed due to degradation, if they were interconnected. For a more thorough covering of the pores with calcium phosphates the amount of starch present in HDBCs should be increased to be higher than the percolation threshold