Abstract Apolipoprotein E (apo E) is a human glycoprotein with 299 amino acids, and it is a major component of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and a group of high-density lipoproteins (HDL). Phylogenetic studies are important to clarify how various apo E proteins are related in groups of organisms and whether they evolved from a common ancestor. Here, we aimed at performing a phylogenetic study on apo E carrying organisms. We employed a classical and robust method, such as Maximum Likelihood (ML), and compared the results using a more recent approach based on complex networks. Thirty-two apo E amino acid sequences were downloaded from NCBI. A clear separation could be observed among three major groups: mammals, fish and amphibians. The results obtained from ML method, as well as from the constructed networks showed two different groups: one with mammals only (C1) and another with fish (C2), and a single node with the single sequence available for an amphibian. The accordance in results from the different methods shows that the complex networks approach is effective in phylogenetic studies. Furthermore, our results revealed the conservation of apo E among animal groups.

Descobertas recentes revelam que modelos matemáticos euclidianos, de há muito estabelecidos e que procuram reproduzir a geometria da natureza, às vezes se apresentam incompletos e, em determinadas situações, inadequados. Especificamente, muitas das formas encontradas na natureza não são círculos, triângulos, esferas, icosaedros ou retângulos. Enfim, não são simples curvas, superfícies ou sólidos, conforme definidos na geometria clássica de Euclides (300 a.C), cujos teoremas possuem lugar de destaque nos textos de geometria. Neste trabalho apresenta-se uma breve e elementar, mas que busca ser consistente, discussão sobre algumas definições e aplicações relacionadas à geometria fractal, em particular fractais ideais. Caracterizaremos alguns fractais auto-similares que, por sua importância histórica ou riqueza de características, constituem exemplos ilustrativos "clássicos" de propriedades de fractais, propriedades estas que muitas vezes aparecem dispersas numa literatura mais especializada. Mostra-se, por construção, que suas medidas de comprimento, área e volume, nas dimensões euclidianas usuais, dão margem a resultados contraditórios. Estes podem ser explicados pelo fato de que tais objetos só podem ser adequadamente mensurados em espaços de dimensão fracionária.

Recent discoveries reveal that mathematical models, established a long time ago and searching to reproduce the nature's geometry, sometimes result being incomplete and even inadequate in some situations. Specifically, many of the forms found in the nature are not circles, triangles, spheres, icosahedrons or rectangles. Finally, they are not simple curves, surfaces or solids, as defined in the classical geometry of Euclides (300 b.C), whose theorems possesses a prominent place in the geometry texts. In this work a brief and elementary, although intended to be consistent, discussion about some definitions and applications related to the fractal geometry is presented. It is also presented properties of some fractals that, for its historical importance or wealth of characteristics, constitute "classical" illustrative examples of the fractals properties which, despite this, many times appear dispersed in the specialized literature. It is shown, by construction, that the measures of length, area and volume for these objects, within the usual Euclidean dimensions, lead to contradictory results. This can be explained by considering that these objects can be adequately measured using spaces of fractional dimensions.