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Sinonasal organizing hematomas (SOH) are rare, benign lesions that can be mistaken for malignancies due to their unfamiliarity among clinicians and aggressive appearance on imaging, which can lead to aggressive and unnecessary therapeutic interventions. Herein, we report an unusual case of SOH in an 87-year-old female patient who sought care at a maxillofacial surgery service due to persistent right nasal obstruction and imaging findings that suggested the possibility of sinonasal malignancy. We highlight the importance of recognizing these lesions to ensure adequate treatment through a conservative approach.

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Sjögren's Syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease, characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of exocrine glands. Approximately 10% of patients with SS have pulmonary involvement as the first manifestation of their disease, the most common being non-specific interstitial pneumonia. We present the case of a 51-year-old man with organizing pneumonia as the presenting feature of primary SS. Pulmonary involvement as the presenting feature of SS is uncommon, especially when the pattern on CT-scan is that of organized pneumonia. Initial management includes steroids and other immunosuppressants agents, with a better response in organized pneumonia secondary SS cases.

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SUMMARY BACKGROUND AND AIM: Meteorological factors affect the respiratory system, and the most important factor is the change in ambient temperature and humidity. We aimed to investigate the seasonal characteristics of patients diagnosed with cryptogenic organizing pneumonia. METHODS: The study included 84 cryptogenic organizing pneumonia, 55 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and 42 asthma patients. To determine the characteristics of the disease according to the seasons, the number of attacks and admissions was grouped according to the seasonal characteristics and analyzed for three groups. RESULTS: Among cryptogenic organizing pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients, males significantly predominated (p<0.001). The hospitalization rate was highest in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients but similar to cryptogenic organizing pneumonia and asthma patients (p<0.001). The highest admission rate in cryptogenic organizing pneumonia patients was observed in spring (39.3% in spring, 26.2% in fall, 22.6% in winter, and 11.9% in summer). In winter, cryptogenic organizing pneumonia patients were admitted less frequently than chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma patients. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was higher in cryptogenic organizing pneumonia patients than in asthma patients and similar to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. CONCLUSION: As a result of our study, the high rate of diagnosis and admission in the spring in cryptogenic organizing pneumonia suggested that the effect of allergens on the formation of cryptogenic organizing pneumonia should be investigated. In contrast, it should be kept in mind that cryptogenic organizing pneumonia may develop as a prolonged finding of involvement that may occur in the lung parenchyma due to lung infections and/or cold weather triggering during the winter months. In this regard, further studies can be conducted in which allergens and/or the history of infection in patients and meteorological variables are also evaluated.

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The pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which is related to new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has mobilized several scientifics to explore clinical data using soft-computing approaches. In the context of machine learning, previous studies have explored supervised algorithms to predict and support diagnosis based on several clinical parameters from patients diagnosed with and without COVID-19. However, in most of them the decision is based on a "black-box" method, making it impossible to discover the variable relevance in decision making. Hence, in this study, we introduce a non-supervised clustering analysis with neural network self-organizing maps (SOM) as a strategy of decision-making. We propose to identify potential variables in routine blood tests that can support clinician decision-making during COVID-19 diagnosis at hospital admission, facilitating rapid medical intervention. Based on SOM features (visual relationships between clusters and identification of patterns and behaviors), and using linear discriminant analysis , it was possible to detect a group of units of the map with a discrimination power around 83% to SARS-CoV-2-positive patients. In addition, we identified some variables in admission blood tests (Leukocytes, Basophils, Eosinophils, and Red cell Distribution Width) that, in combination had strong influence in the clustering performance, which could assist a possible clinical decision. Thus, although with limitations, we believe that SOM can be used as a soft-computing approach to support clinician decision-making in the context of COVID-19.

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La neumonía organizada es una entidad poco frecuente, caracterizada por la formación de conglomerados fibroblásticos intraalveolares conocidos como cuerpos de Masson, que puede ser criptogénica o secundaria a una respuesta inmunitaria a diversos estímulos, tales como enfermedades hematológicas, autoinmunitarias, exposición a sustancias químicas, fármacos, tóxicos, etc. Detectada y tratada de forma precoz, suele tener una buena respuesta a la corticoterapia, aunque si se diagnostica de forma tardía, la afectación pulmonar puede ser extensa, y, además, si el estímulo antigénico persiste, la respuesta al tratamiento será incompleta. Presentamos el caso clínico de una paciente de 65 años de edad quien hace 18 meses aproximadamente presentó la rotura intracapsular de sus implantes mamarios, 27 años después de su colocación. Con el mismo tiempo de evolución ha desarrollado progresivamente disnea, tos seca y dolor inframamario, habiendo llegado al diagnóstico de neumonía organizada bilateral difusa, asociada a dicha rotura de implantes.

Organizing pneumonia is a rare entity, characterized by the formation of intraalveolar fibroblastic conglomerates known as Masson bodies, which may be cryptogenic or secondary to an immune response to various stimuli, such as hematological, autoimmune diseases, exposure to chemical substances, drugs, toxics, etc. If it is detected and treated early, it usually has a good response to corticosteroid therapy, although if it is diagnosed late, the lung involvement can be extensive, and furthermore, if the antigenic stimulus persists, the response to treatment will be incomplete. We present the clinical case of a 65-year-old patient who had intracapsular rupture of her breast implants approximately 18 months ago, 27 years after their placement. With the same evolution time, she progressively developed dyspnea, dry cough and under mammary pain, having reached the diagnosis of diffuse bilateral organizing pneumonia, associated with implant rupture.

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Introduction: Organizing pneumonia is a rare clinico-pathological syndrome. This crypto-genic or secondary condition is of unknown origin, and may be infectious, or associated with autoimmune diseases, cancer, drugs, or radiation. Case description: The case is presented of a 52-year-old patient who was diagnosed with organizing pneumonia secondary to anti-synthetase syndrome. Discussion: It is intended to make known that not all pulmonary consolidative clinical pictures correspond to infectious processes. In this case, an organizing pneumonia secondary to anti-synthetase syndrome is documented. Despite being a disorder that is classified as an idiopathic inflammatory myopathy, it manifests as an interstitial lung disease with predominantly respiratory symptoms.

Introducción: La neumonía organizativa es un síndrome clínico-patológico poco frecuente, dentro del cual se desconoce la etiología de la denominada neumonía criptogénica o secundaria, que puede ser infecciosa o asociada con enfermedades autoinmunes, cáncer, fármacos o radiación. Descripción del caso: Se presenta el caso de una paciente de 52 arios a quien se le diagnostica neumonía organizativa secundaria a síndrome antisintetasa. Discusión: Se busca dar a conocer que no todos los cuadros clínicos de consolidación pulmonar corresponden a procesos infecciosos. En este caso se documentó una neumonía organizativa secundaria a síndrome antisintetasa, la cual a pesar de ser una patología que se cataloga como una miopatía inflamatoria idiopática, se manifestó como una enfermedad pulmonar intersticial con síntomas predominantemente respiratorios.

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The aim of this study is to automatically analyze, characterize and classify physical performance and body composition data of a cohort of Mexican community-dwelling older adults. Self-organizing maps (SOM) were used to identify similar profiles in 562 older adults living in Mexico City that participated in this study. Data regarding demographics, geriatric syndromes, comorbidities, physical performance, and body composition were obtained. The sample was divided by sex, and the multidimensional analysis included age, gait speed over height, grip strength over body mass index, one-legged stance, lean appendicular mass percentage, and fat percentage. Using the SOM neural network, seven profile types for older men and women were identified. This analysis provided maps depicting a set of clusters qualitatively characterizing groups of older adults that share similar profiles of body composition and physical performance. The SOM neural network proved to be a useful tool for analyzing multidimensional health care data and facilitating its interpretability. It provided a visual representation of the non-linear relationship between physical performance and body composition variables, as well as the identification of seven characteristic profiles in this cohort.

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Bereavement exclusion (BE) is a criterion for excluding the diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD). Simplistically, this criterion states that an individual who reports MDD symptoms should not be diagnosed as suffering from this mental illness, if such an individual is grieving a sorrowful loss. BE was introduced in 1980 to avoid confusing MDD with normal grief, because several cognitive and physical symptoms of grief and depression can look similar. However, in 2013, BE was removed from the MDD diagnosis guidelines. Here, this controversial topic is computationally investigated. A virtual population is generated according to the Brazilian data of death rate and MDD prevalence and its five kinds of individuals are clustered by using a Kohonen's self-organizing map (SOM). In addition, by examining the current guidelines for diagnosing MDD from an analytical perspective, a slight modification is proposed. With this modification, an adequate clustering is achieved by the SOM neural network. Therefore, for mathematical consistency, unbalanced scores should be assigned to the items composing the MDD diagnostic criteria. With the proposed criteria, the co-occurrence of normal grief and MDD can also be satisfactorily clustered.

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Resumen La neumonía en organización es un tipo de enfermedad pulmonar intersticial difusa que puede ser idiopática (criptogénica) o secundaria a numerosas etiologías, y se asocia con hallazgos clínicos y de laboratorio inespecíficos. Su diagnóstico y tratamiento exigen un equipo interdisciplinario, en el que las imágenes desempeñan un papel indispensable. Se presenta una serie de nueve casos, haciendo énfasis en las características clínicas y profundizando en los diversos patrones imagenológicos identificados. También se aporta una revisión de las variantes recientemente descritas.

Abstract Organizing pneumonia is a type of diffuse interstitial lung disease that can be idiopathic (cryptogenic) or secondary to numerous etiologies, and is an entity associated with nonspecific clinical and laboratory findings. Its diagnosis and treatment require an interdisciplinary team in which images play an indispensable role. The presentation of a series of nine cases is made, emphasizing the clinical characteristics and delving into the various identified imaging patterns. A review of the recently described variants is also provided.

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Spa tourism has undergone important changes in recent decades, actively embracing wellness and wellbeing. However, this transition is taking place in different ways in Europe, and this has led to varying perceptions of thermalism that have little to do with its original conception. The main aim of this study was to analyse current perceptions of spa tourism amongst university students, so as to identify profiles and compare the differences between two study cases: Granada (Spain) and Aachen (Germany). For this purpose, we applied a methodology that combines artificial intelligence techniques with questionnaires containing both quantitative and qualitative variables. This enabled us to identify and characterize a series of profiles, so as to acquire detailed knowledge of the perceptions of these students regarding spa tourism in Granada and Aachen. On the basis of the results, the interviewees were grouped together into seven profiles from which we deduced that young Germans from Aachen visit spas more frequently and have a more realistic perception of the thermal sector than young Spanish people from Granada. This situation could limit present and future demand for spas in southern Spain. With this in mind, in this paper we present an updated assessment of the demand for spas amongst university students, in order to design effective geomarketing strategies in two cities with long spa traditions.

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Improvements in computing capacity have allowed computers today to execute increasingly complex tasks. One of the main benefits of these improvements is the possibility of developing machine learning algorithms, of which the fields of application are extensive and varied. However, an area in which this type of algorithms acquires an increasing relevance is structural health monitoring (SHM), where inspection strategies and guided wave-based approaches make the evaluation of the structural conditions of an aircraft, vessel or building among others possible, by detecting and classifying existing damages. The use of sensors, data acquisition systems (DAQ) and computation has also allowed these damage detection and classification tasks to be carried out automatically. Despite today's advances, it is still necessary to continue with the development of more robust, reliable, and low-cost structural health monitoring systems. For this reason, this work contemplates three key points: (i) the configuration of a data acquisition system for signal gathering from an an active piezoelectric (PZT) sensor network; (ii) the development of a damage classification methodology based on signal processing techniques (normalization and PCA), from which the models that describe the structural conditions of the plate are built; and (iii) the use of machine learning algorithms, more specifically, three variants of the self-organizing maps called CPANN (counterpropagation artificial neural network), SKN (supervised Kohonen) and XYF (X-Y fused Kohonen). The data obtained allowed one to carry out an experimental validation of the damage classification methodology, to determine the presence of damages in two aluminum plates of different sizes, where masses were added to change the vibrational responses captured by the sensor network and a composite (CFRP) plate with real damages, such as delamination and cracks. This classification methodology allowed one to obtain excellent results by validating the usefulness of the SKN and XYF networks in damage classification tasks, showing overall accuracies of 73.75% and 72.5%, respectively, according to the cross-validation process. These percentages are higher than those obtained in comparison with other neural networks such as: kNN, discriminant analysis, classification trees, partial least square discriminant analysis, and backpropagation neural networks, when the cross-validation process was applied.

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As a management function, organizing deals with activities designed to support the realization of institutional goals and plans, performed within an organizational structure that serves to connect, direct, manage, and control the activities associated with these plans and goals. Considering the extensive scope of ​​landscape architecture, it is necessary for organizations operating in this field to focus on management and organization issues (which have ecological, architectural, economic, and social dimensions), and their integration with administrative functions to achieve success. In this context, the present study examined the organizing processes of private enterprises operating in the landscape sector, investigated the differences among them, and analyzed the interaction of organization-related aspects. Within this scope, the research focused on evaluating stages of organizing, principles and effects of organizing, organizational relations, and organizational authorities and responsibilities. The province of Istanbul was selected as a case study to consider the specified objectives. Data were collected through questionnaires and then sent through ANOVA and Spearman correlation analyses. The results showed that the main problems affecting these enterprises in terms of organizing were delegation, participative management, and inter-departmental relations. Organizational aims and customer groups were also shown to have an impact on these issues, and the components of the organizing function distinct relationships with one another. This study concluded that adopting a holistic approach in organizational processes and related applications is essential.

Enquanto função de gestão, a organização ocupa-se das atividades que apoiam a realização dos objetivos e planos institucionais e da estrutura organizacional; é, por isso, um instrumento essencial de ligação entre os planos, que dirige, conduz e controla atividades. Tendo em conta a abrangência da área da arquitetura paisagista, é necessário que as empresas que atuam neste setor se foquem em questões relacionadas com gestão e organização para serem bem-sucedidas. Estas organizações têm de ter em conta aspetos ecológicos, arquitetônicos, económicos e sociais integrados em aspetos administrativos. Neste contexto, o objetivo deste estudo é examinar as estruturas organizacionais e o processo de organização em empresas privadas que atuam no setor da arquitetura paisagista, analisando as diferenças entre elas. A interação entre os aspetos relacionados com organização foi também analisada. Neste âmbito, este estudo procurou avaliar as etapas de organização, os princípios e efeitos da organização, as relações organizacionais, e também a autoridade e a responsabilidade. A província de Istambul foi a escolhida para constituir a amostra e alcançar os objetivos propostos. Os dados foram recolhidos através de questionários submetidos a empresas de arquitetura paisagista que atuam na província, tendo sido depois analisados com recurso à ANOVA e à análise da correlação de Spearman. Descobriu-se que os principais problemas destas empresas em termos de organização são a delegação, a gestão participativa e as relações interdepartamentais. Descobriu-se ainda que a sua missão e os grupos de clientes afetam os aspetos relacionados com organização, e que as componentes da função de organização estão relacionadas entre si. A importância de uma abordagem integral aos processos organizacionais e às aplicações relacionadas com os mesmos é fundamental.

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Microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs) perform critical cellular tasks by nucleating, stabilizing, and anchoring microtubule's minus ends. These capacities impact tremendously a wide array of cellular functions ranging from ascribing cell shape to orchestrating cell division and generating motile structures, among others. The phylum Apicomplexa comprises over 6000 single-celled obligate intracellular parasitic species. Many of the apicomplexan are well known pathogens such as Toxoplasma gondii and the Plasmodium species, causative agents of toxoplasmosis and malaria, respectively. Microtubule organization in these parasites is critical for organizing the cortical cytoskeleton, enabling host cell penetration and the positioning of large organelles, driving cell division and directing the formation of flagella in sexual life stages. Apicomplexans are a prime example of MTOC diversity displaying multiple functional and structural MTOCs combinations within a single species. This diversity can only be fully understood in light of each organism's specific MT nucleation requirements and their evolutionary history. Insight into apicomplexan MTOCs had traditionally been limited to classical ultrastructural work by transmission electron microscopy. However, in the past few years, a large body of molecular insight has emerged. In this work we describe the latest insights into nuclear MTOC biology in two major human and animal disease causing Apicomplexans: Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium spp.

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Abstract COVID-19 pneumonia generates both immediate damage due to the viral effects and distant damage due to inflammatory immune deregulation. Systemic corticosteroid therapy has proven to be beneficial in the first part of the process, but its usefulness in post-acute damage is still unclear. The number of affected patients makes it imperative to find a treatment that reduces potential pulmonary sequelae. This series of cases included 18 patients admitted to polyvalent private medical institutions of Buenos Aires City: 15 were male and 3 were female; age 58.4 ± 13.6 years. History of most common comorbidities: AHT (4 patients), obesity (6 patients) and smoking (4 patients). Five patients had no medical history. All patients showed dyspnea, oxygen desaturation, and persistent or progressive tomo graphic abnormalities 14 days after their infection. All of them received dexamethasone according to current regulations. Subsequently, given the poor evolution, they were administered oral and/or intravenous corticosteroids with the same treatment used for secondary organizing pneumonia (OP). A transbronchial biopsy was performed in 6 of the patients, showing an OP pattern in 3 of them. Four weeks after the beginning of the treatment, all of the patients showed clinical improvement expressed by decreased dyspnea and the fact that they didn't require oxygen anymore and that all chest tomographies showed clearly reduced pulmonary parenchymal involve ment. Systemic corticosteroids administered in the post-acute period of COVID-19 have a clinical and radiological beneficial effect.

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The behaviors of internal standards, according to different flow rates of the cell collision gas (He), were studied for the determination of Cd, Pb, Pd, Pt, Rh, and Sn in samples of fish and mollusks by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The elements Bi, Ge, In, Sc, and Y were selected as internal standards, considering their masses and first ionization energies. Addition and recovery experiments were carried out at three concentration levels to evaluate the accuracy of the method applied for the analysis of two samples with different matrices. The results were evaluated using a self-organizing map (SOM). The best analyte/IS pairs were as follows: 114Cd+/74Ge+, 195Pt+/74Ge+, and 208Pb+/74Ge+. For 103Rh+, 106Pd+, and 120Sn+, greater accuracy was achieved without use of an internal standard. Helium gas (2.8 mL min-1) was used in the collision cell for the analytes, except for Sn, and recoveries ranged from 98 to 101% under optimal conditions. The use of SOM as an exploratory analysis tool was an effective approach for selection of the most appropriate internal standards.

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Over the past few decades, the La Paz aquifer system in Baja California Sur, Mexico, has been under severe pressure due to overexploitation for urban water supply and agriculture; this has caused seawater intrusion and deterioration in groundwater quality. Previous studies on the La Paz aquifer have focused mainly on seawater intrusion, resulting in limited information on nitrate and sulfate pollution. Therefore, pollution sources have not yet been identified sufficiently. In this study, an approach combining hydrochemical tools, multi-isotopes (δ2HH2O, δ18OH2O, δ15NNO3, δ18ONO3, δ34SSO4, δ18OSO4), and a Bayesian isotope mixing model was used to estimate the contribution of different nitrate and sulfate sources to groundwater. Results from the MixSIAR model revealed that seawater intrusion and soil-derived sulfates were the predominant sources of groundwater sulfate, with contributions of ~43.0% (UI90 = 0.29) and ~42.0% (UI90 = 0.38), respectively. Similarly, soil organic nitrogen (~81.5%, UI90 = 0.41) and urban sewage (~12.1%, UI90 = 0.25) were the primary contributors of nitrate pollution in groundwater. The dominant biogeochemical transformation for NO3- was nitrification. Denitrification and sulfate reduction were discarded due to the aerobic conditions in the study area. These results indicate that dual-isotope sulfate analysis combined with MixSIAR models is a powerful tool for estimating the contributions of sulfate sources (including seawater-derived sulfate) in the groundwater of coastal aquifer systems affected by seawater intrusion.

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Organizing pneumonia is a nonspecific pulmonary response pattern associated with a variety of clinical contexts including viral infections. The classic radiological manifestations are peribronchovascular/peripheral ground glass opacities or consolidations and may be accompanied by nodules, masses, and interstitial opacities. We describe the case of a 62-year-old male patient with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia and torpid clinical and radiological evolution in whom organizing pneumonia was documented through transbronchial biopsy and imaging findings, with a good response to corticosteroids. The importance of recognizing the development of organizing pneumonia lies in the better prognosis and outcome in those patients who receive treatment with corticosteroids, however, the clinical and radiological suspicion must be confirmed with biopsy because radiological findings associated with bacterial coinfection may overlap.

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BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SCZ) presents complex challenges related to diagnosis and clinical monitoring. The study of conditions associated with SCZ can be facilitated by using potential markers and patterns that provide information to support the diagnosis and oral health. METHODS: The salivary composition of patients diagnosed with SCZ (n = 50) was evaluated and compared to the control (n = 50). Saliva samples from male patients were collected and clinical parameters were evaluated. The concentration of total proteins and amylase were determined and salivary macro- and microelements were quantified by ICP OES and ICP-MS. Exploratory data analysis based on artificial intelligence tools was used in the investigation. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in the salivary concentrations of Al, Fe, Li, Mg, Na, and V, higher prevalence of caries (p < 0.001), periodontal disease (p < 0.001), and reduced salivary flow rate (p = 0.019) in SCZ patients. Also, samples were grouped into six clusters. As, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Se, and Sr were correlated with each other, while Fe, K, Li, Ti, and V showed the highest concentrations in the samples distributed in the clusters with the highest association between SZC patients and controls. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained indicate changes in salivary flow, organic composition, and levels of macro- and microelements in SCZ patients. Salivary concentrations of Fe, Mg, and Na may be related to oral conditions, higher prevalence of caries, and periodontal disease. The exploratory analysis showed different patterns in the salivary composition of SCZ patients impacted by associations between oral health conditions and the use of medications. Future studies are encouraged to confirm the results investigated in this study.

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Organizing pneumonia emerges as a late phase complication of COVID-19. Corticosteroids are standard therapy for organizing pneumonia, but the question of whether an approach with high dose corticosteroids would be beneficial for patients with organizing pneumonia secondary to COVID-19 remains to be answered. Herein we report a series of three patients, one male and two females, mean age 58.3 years old, admitted for COVID-19 with severe pulmonary disease requiring ventilatory support. The patients underwent chest computed tomography scans due to maintained hypoxemia, which showed a pattern compatible with organizing pneumonia. The patients were treated with a high dose of corticosteroids (prednisone 1 mg/kg PO), showing marked clinical improvement, and decreasing oxygen flow ratio demand. They were discharged after a mean period of 6.3 days of hospitalization. Our report suggests that patients with COVID-19 with organizing pneumonia might benefit from high dose corticosteroids as an adjuvant therapy.

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The objective of this work was to analyze the genetic diversity using conventional methods and artificial neural networks among 12 colored fiber cotton genotypes, using technological characteristics of the fiber and productivity in terms of cottonseed and cotton fiber yield. The experiment was conducted in an experimental area located at Fazenda Capim Branco, belonging to the Federal University of Uberlândia, in the city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais. Twelve genotypes of colored fiber cotton were evaluated, 10 from the Cotton Genetic Improvement Program (PROMALG): UFUJP - 01, UFUJP - 02, UFUJP - 05, UFUJP - 08, UFUJP - 09, UFUJP - 10, UFUJP - 11, UFUJP - 13, UFUJP - 16, UFUJP - 17 and two commercial cultivars: BRS Rubi (RC) and BRS Topázio (TC). The experimental design used was complete randomized block (CRB) with three replications. The following evaluations were carried out at full maturation: yield of cottonseed (kg ha-1) and the technological characteristics, which include, fiber length, micronaire, maturation, length uniformity, short fiber index, elongation and strength, using the HVI (High volume instrument) device. Genetic dissimilarity was measured using the generalized Mahalanobis distance and after obtaining the dissimilarity matrix, the genotypes were grouped using a hierarchical clustering method (UPGMA). A discriminant analysis and the Kohonen Self-Organizing Map (SOM) by Artificial Neural Networks (ANN's) were performed through computational intelligence. SOM was able to detect differences and organize the similarities between accesses in a more coherent way, forming a larger number of groups, when compared to the method that uses the Mahalanobis matrix. It was also more accurate than the discriminant analysis, since it made it possible to differentiate groups more coherently when comparing their phenotypic behavior. The methods that use computational intelligence proved to be more efficient in detecting similarity, with Kohonen's Self-Organizing Map being the most adequate to classify and group cotton genotypes.

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