and relatives-spring fungi of wide distribution.

Several members of the genus sensu stricto occur at the edge of melting snow. These nivicolous species have been widely reported in the Northern Hemisphere and are also known from Australia and New Zealand. We have used 16 specimens from North America and Australia to study morphology and to perform DNA sequencing.

New species and reports of from northern North America compared with related Eurasian species.

This study describes four gray or brown species of (Hygrophoraceae, Agaricales), two of them new species, restricted to arctic-alpine and northern boreal zones of North America, and relates them morphologically and phylogenetically using multigene and nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer ITS1-5.8S-ITS (ITS barcode) analyses to their similar, known counterparts. , epitypified here, is shown to be a pan-palearctic species with sequence-confirmed collections from Fennoscandia and easternmost Asia.

Polyozellus multiplex (Thelephorales) is a species complex containing four new species.

Geographic, morphological, and internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-based molecular review of collections identified as Polyozellus multiplex revealed that it is a complex of five phylogenetic species. Average spore size-either less or more than 7 × 6 µm-splits the complex into a small-spored group of two (P. multiplex and P.

Two new species of true morels from Newfoundland and Labrador: cosmopolitan Morchella eohespera and parochial M. laurentiana.

Morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies of true morels (Morchella) in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador resulted in the discovery of two undescribed species in the M. elata clade that we initially distinguished by the informal designations Mel-19 and Mel-36. The latter species, also collected in New Brunswick, Canada, is hitherto known only from the St Lawrence River Basin.

Northern species of earth tongue genus Thuemenidium revisited, considering morphology, ecology and molecular phylogeny.

Thuemenidium is a small earth tongue genus with three recognized white-spored species. Within Thuemenidium, T. atropurpureum and T.

Effect of laparoscopic failure on outcome of laparoscopic nissen fundoplication: independent review.

Purpose: This study was undertaken to determine whether conversion or early reoperation contributed significantly to the eventual outcome of laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication.

Patients And Methods: An independent surgeon, blinded to the operative events, administered two general and one system-specific quality of life tools to the first 100 consecutive patients booked for laparoscopic fundoplication in a community hospital, where the open conversion rate was 4 patients/surgeon and the early reoperation rate 1.5 patients/surgeon for the first 20 operations.

Laparoscopic vertical banded gastroplasty: early results with the JOVO procedure.

Background: Vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG) is an established treatment for morbid obesity for selected patients. This study seeks to assess the effectiveness of a laparoscopic version, the JOVO procedure, of the VBG.

Methods: An Independent surgeon interviewed all patients, who had had the JOVO procedure at one institution, evaluating weight loss, comorbid conditions, satisfaction and quality of life using the 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36).