Abstract Genes can influence lipid profile and anthropometric variables related to obesity. The present study aimed to verify if variants of the APOE, APOB, ADIPOQ, HSD11β1, and PLIN4 genes are associated with lipid levels or anthropometric variables in a sample comprised of 393 Euro-Brazilian children and adolescents. DNA was genotyped by TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. The ε4 and ε2 alleles of the APOE gene were associated respectively with lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (p=0.015 and p=0.012, respectively), while the ε3 allele was associated with higher abdominal circumference (p=0.0416) and excess weight (p=0.0001). The G allele (rs846910) of the HSD11β1 gene was also associated with excess weight (p=0.039). No other association was found. Our results indicate that the ε4 and ε2 alleles could contribute to lower HDL-C and LDL-C levels, respectively, furthermore, the ε3 allele and the G allele (rs846910) of HSD11β1 gene may be risk factors for excess of weight.These findings are very important because we observed that some genetic variants influence the lipid profile and anthropometric variables early in life.

Many conditions interfere with butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity, e.g., pregnancy or presence of the BCHE gene variant -116A can decrease activity whereas obesity and types I and II diabetes mellitus can increase activity. In this study, we examined BChE activity, -116A and 1615A BCHE gene variants, and anthropometric and biochemical variables associated with diabetes in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and in healthy pregnant women. BChE activity was measured spectrophotometrically using propionylthiocholine as substrate and genotyping of the -116 and 1615 sites of the BCHE gene was done with a TaqMan SNP genotyping assay. Three groups were studied: 150 patients with GDM, 295 healthy pregnant women and 156 non-pregnant healthy women. Mean BChE activity was significantly lower in healthy pregnant women than in women from the general population and was further reduced in GDM patients. BChE activity was significantly reduced in carriers of -116A in GDM patients and healthy pregnant women. Although GDM patients had a significantly higher mean body mass index (BMI) and triglycerides than healthy pregnant women, they had lower mean BChE activity, suggesting that the lowering effect of GDM on BChE activity was stronger than the characteristic enhancing effect of increased BMI and triglycerides.

The individual response to diet may be influenced by gene polymorphisms. This study hypothesized that ADRB2 (Gln27Glu, rs1042714 and Arg16Gly, rs1042713), ADRB3 (Trp64Arg, rs4994) and GHRL (Leu72Met, rs696217) polymorphisms moderate weight loss. The study was a seven weeks dietary weight loss intervention with Brazilian adult obese women (n = 109). The body mass index (BMI) was calculated and polymorphisms in these genes were assessed by real-time PCR assays. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA (2 x 2) were used to analyze the intervention effect between polymorphisms and BMI over the period and after stratification for age and socioeconomic status (SES). The weight loss intervention resulted in decreased BMI over the seven-week period (p < 0.001), for high and low SES (p < 0.05) and mainly for participants with 30-49 y. The intervention did not result in a statistically significant difference in weight loss between polymorphism carriers and non-carriers, and although, the ADRB2, ADRB3 and GHRL polymorphisms did not moderate weight loss, the Gln27Glu polymorphism carriers showed a lower BMI compared to non-carriers in the low SES (p = 0.018) and the 30-39 y (p = 0.036) groups, suggesting a role for this polymorphism related to BMI control.

Ghrelin coded by the GHRL gene is related to weight-gain, its deactivation possibly depending on its hydrolyzation by butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) encoded by the BCHE gene, an enzyme already associated with the body mass index (BMI). The aim was to search for relationships between SNPs of the GHRL and BCHE genes with BChE activity, BMI and obesity in 144 obese and 153 nonobese Euro-Brazilian male blood donors. In the obese individuals, a significant association with higher BChE activity, in the 72LM+72MM; -116GG genotype class (GHRL and BCHE genes, respectively) was noted. No significant differences were found otherwise, through comparisons between obese and control individuals, of genotype and allele frequencies in SNPs of the GHRL gene (Arg51Gln and Leu72Met), or mean BMI between 72LL and 72LM+72MM genotypes. Although there appears to be no direct relationship between the examined GHRL SNPs and BMI, the association of the 72M SNP with higher BChE activity in obese subjects probably points to a regulatory mechanism, thereby implying the influence of the GHRL gene on BChE expression, and a consequential metabolic role in the complex process of fat utilization.

This study compared obese (N = 134) and unobese (N = 92) male blood donors, regarding the relative intensity (RI) and activity of different molecular forms (G1, G2, G4 and G1-ALB) of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE, EC 3.1.1.8) found in plasma, thereby searching for an association between these variables with obesity and SNPs of exons 1 and 4 of the BCHE gene. It was shown that obese and unobese individuals do not differ in the RI of each BChE band, even when classifying the sample into three genotypes of exons 1 and 4 of the BCHE gene (-116GG/539AA, -116GG/539AT, -116GA/539AT). Although the mean BChE activity of each band was significantly higher in obese than in unobese blood donors, the proportions of BChE bands were maintained, even under the metabolic stress associated to obesity, thereby leading to infer that this proportion is somehow regulated, and may therefore be important for BChE functions.

Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE; EC 3.1.1.8; Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) number 177400) is an enzyme found in many human tissues and encoded by the BCHE gene, of which 65 variants have been identified. In a recent study we found that the -116A variant of exon 1 of the BCHE gene was associated with lower mean BChE activity. The present study analyzed the -116 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in 253 Guarani Amerindian Brazilians from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (148 Guarani-Kaiowá, 83 Guarani-Ñandeva and 22 Kaiowá-Ñandeva descendants) and verified that they were all homozygotic for the -116G variant. A comparative analysis of the -116 site in nine vertebrate species indicated the -116A variant as the ancestral type. This is the first study of the -116 SNP in Amerindians and it is therefore difficult to infer whether or not the -116A variant was always absent from southern paleo-Amerindians or was present and then subsequently lost due to evolutionary factors.

This paper addresses the problem of integrating in a single model operational optimization and cyclic scheduling of continuous plants. Considered are multiproduct, multistage plants with finite intermediate storage capacity (FIS). A combined optimization approach introduces synergic effects for more effective scheduling and plant operation (Alle and Pinto, 2001a,b). The representation proposed for this problem results in an MINLP model with a nonconvex feasible region and nonconvex objective function. In order to deal with nonconvexity, a spatial branch-and-bound global optimization algorithm is applied. Results show that the global approach is effectively able to yield more profitable solutions than those obtained by local optimization methods.

The problems of scheduling and optimization of operational conditions in multistage, multiproduct continuous plants with intermediate storage are simultaneously addressed. An MINLP model, called TSPFLOW, which is based on the TSP formulation for product sequencing, is proposed to schedule the operation of such plants. TSPFLOW yields a one-order-of-magnitude CPU time reduction as well as the solution of instances larger than those formerly reported (Pinto and Grossmann, 1994). Secondly, processing rates and yields are introduced as additional optimization variables in order to state the simultaneous problem of scheduling with operational optimization. Results show that trade-offs are very complex and that the development of a straightforward (rule of thumb) method to optimally schedule the operation is less effective than the proposed approach.