Anxiety and salivary cortisol levels in patients with burning mouth syndrome: case-control study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the anxiety and salivary cortisol levels in patients with burning mouth syndrome.

Study Design: A case-control ed into 2 groups: BMS, with diagnosis of the syndrome, and control, without any complaint of burning mouth. Anamnesis, oral examination, sialometry, the application anxiety inventory, and 3 saliva samples for cortisol analysis were done in every patient.

Association of chronic stress, depression symptoms and cortisol with low saliva flow in a sample of south-Brazilians aged 50 years and older.

Background: Few studies have evaluated the relationship between depression symptoms, chronic stress or physiological measures of stress such as cortisol levels and saliva secretion.

Objective: To evaluate the association of low saliva flow with chronic stress, depression symptoms and cortisol in a population aged 50 years and older.

Methods: Participants (n = 227) were recruited from community clubhouses and among dementia caregivers.

Evolution of dark-spored Myxomycetes (slime-molds): molecules versus morphology.

The Myxomycetes are a major component of soil amoebae, displaying a complex life cycle that terminates in the formation of often macroscopic fruiting bodies. The classification of Myxomycetes is controversial and strongly depends on the weight given by different authors to morphological and developmental characters. We used a molecular approach to establish the phylogenetic relationships in the dark-spored orders Stemonitales and Physarales.

Simulated laparoscopic operating room crisis: An approach to enhance the surgical team performance.

Objective: Diminishing human error and improving patient outcomes is the goal of task training and simulation experience. The fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery (FLS) is a validated tool to assess technical laparoscopic skills. We hypothesize that performance in a crisis depends on technical skills and team performance.

Phylogenomics reshuffles the eukaryotic supergroups.

Background: Resolving the phylogenetic relationships between eukaryotes is an ongoing challenge of evolutionary biology. In recent years, the accumulation of molecular data led to a new evolutionary understanding, in which all eukaryotic diversity has been classified into five or six supergroups. Yet, the composition of these large assemblages and their relationships remain controversial.

Bipolar gene flow in deep-sea benthic foraminifera.

Despite its often featureless appearance, the deep-ocean floor includes some of the most diverse habitats on Earth. However, the accurate assessment of global deep-sea diversity is impeded by a paucity of data on the geographical ranges of bottom-dwelling species, particularly at the genetic level. Here, we present molecular evidence for exceptionally wide distribution of benthic foraminifera, which constitute the major part of deep-sea meiofauna.

Crew resource management and team training.

This article reviews medical team training using the principles of crew resource management (CRM). It also briefly discusses crisis resource management, a subset of CRM, as applied to high-acuity medical situations. Guidelines on setting up medical team training programs are presented.

Higher-level phylogeny of Foraminifera inferred from the RNA polymerase II (RPB1) gene.

Macroevolutionary relations among main lineages of Foraminifera have traditionally been inferred from the small subunit ribosomal genes (SSU rDNA). However, important discrepancies in the rates of SSU rDNA evolution between major lineages led to difficulties in accurate interpretation of SSU-based phylogenetic reconstructions. Recently, actin and beta-tubulin sequences have been used as alternative markers of foraminiferal phylogeny and their analyses globally confirm results obtained with SSU rDNA.

First insights into the biodiversity and biogeography of the Southern Ocean deep sea.

Shallow marine benthic communities around Antarctica show high levels of endemism, gigantism, slow growth, longevity and late maturity, as well as adaptive radiations that have generated considerable biodiversity in some taxa. The deeper parts of the Southern Ocean exhibit some unique environmental features, including a very deep continental shelf and a weakly stratified water column, and are the source for much of the deep water in the world ocean. These features suggest that deep-sea faunas around the Antarctic may be related both to adjacent shelf communities and to those in other oceans.

Adhesion-related kinase induction of migration requires phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and ras stimulation of rac activity in immortalized gonadotropin-releasing hormone neuronal cells.

GnRH neurons migrate into the hypothalamus during development. Although migratory defects may result in disordered activation of the reproductive axis and lead to delayed or absent sexual maturation, specific factors regulating GnRH neuronal migration remain largely unknown. The receptor tyrosine kinase, adhesion-related kinase (Ark) (also known as Axl, UFO, and Tyro7), has been implicated in the migration of GnRH neuronal cells.

Mitochondrial genome of Savalia savaglia (Cnidaria, Hexacorallia) and early metazoan phylogeny.

Mitochondrial genomes have recently become widely used in animal phylogeny, mainly to infer the relationships between vertebrates and other bilaterians. However, only 11 of 723 complete mitochondrial genomes available in the public databases are of early metazoans, including cnidarians (Anthozoa, mainly Scleractinia) and sponges. Although some cnidarians (Medusozoa) are known to possess atypical linear mitochondrial DNA, the anthozoan mitochondrial genome is circular and its organization is similar to that of other metazoans.

Psychological distress in Brazilian caregivers of relatives with dementia.

The authors evaluated stress, anxiety, depression, and feelings of hopelessness in caregivers of relatives with dementia. One hundred and twenty-nine caregivers and 145 non-caregivers who lived in metropolitan Porto Alegre, Brazil completed Lipp's Inventory of Stress Symptoms for Adults, (ISSL), and Beck's Anxiety (BAI), Depression (BDI), and Hopelessness (BHS) scales. Caregivers showed higher levels of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, resistance/pre-exhaustion stress than controls.

Analysis of expressed sequence tags from a naked foraminiferan Reticulomyxa filosa.

Foraminifers are a major component of modern marine ecosystems and one of the most important oceanic producers of calcium carbonate. They are a key phylogenetic group among amoeboid protists, but our knowledge of their genome is still mostly limited to a few conserved genes. Here, we report the first study of expressed genes by means of expressed sequence tag (EST) from the freshwater naked foraminiferan Reticulomyxa filosa.

Monophyly of Rhizaria and multigene phylogeny of unicellular bikonts.

Reconstructing a global phylogeny of eukaryotes is an ongoing challenge of molecular phylogenetics. The availability of genomic data from a broad range of eukaryotic phyla helped in resolving the eukaryotic tree into a topology with a rather small number of large assemblages, but the relationships between these "supergroups" are yet to be confirmed. Rhizaria is the most recently recognized "supergroup," but, in spite of this important position within the tree of life, their representatives are still missing in global phylogenies of eukaryotes.

A molecular time-scale for eukaryote evolution recalibrated with the continuous microfossil record.

Recent attempts to establish a molecular time-scale of eukaryote evolution failed to provide a congruent view on the timing of the origin and early diversification of eukaryotes. The major discrepancies in molecular time estimates are related to questions concerning the calibration of the tree. To limit these uncertainties, we used here as a source of calibration points the rich and continuous microfossil record of dinoflagellates, diatoms and coccolithophorids.

Tempo and mode of spliceosomal intron evolution in actin of foraminifera.

Spliceosomal introns are present in almost all eukaryotic genes, yet little is known about their origin and turnover in the majority of eukaryotic phyla. There is no agreement whether most introns are ancestral and have been lost in some lineage or have been gained recently. We addressed this question by analyzing the spatial and temporal distribution of introns in actins of foraminifera, a group of testate protists whose exceptionally rich fossil record permits the calibration of molecular phylogenies to date intron origins.

Phylogenetic position of Multicilia marina and the evolution of Amoebozoa.

Recent molecular phylogenetic studies have led to the erection of the phylum Amoebozoa, uniting naked and testate lobose amoebae, the mycetozoan slime moulds and amitochondriate amoeboid protists (Archamoebae). Molecular data together with ultrastructural evidence have suggested a close relationship between Mycetozoa and Archamoebae, classified together in the Conosea, which was named after the cone of microtubules that, when present, is characteristic of their kinetids. However, the relationships of conoseans to other amoebozoans remain unclear.

Chronic stress, depression, and cortisol levels as risk indicators of elevated plaque and gingivitis levels in individuals aged 50 years and older.

Background: The role of psychoneuroimmunological factors in oral hygiene has been overlooked in the dental literature. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of stress, depression, and cortisol levels in dental plaque accumulation and gingivitis in a population of individuals aged >or=50 years.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 230 subjects, selected from caregivers of demented patient groups and from social activities groups of Porto Alegre, Brazil, were evaluated.

A randomized controlled trial of simulation-based teaching versus traditional instruction in medicine: a pilot study among clinical medical students.

Objective: To compare simulator-based teaching with traditional instruction among clinical medical students.

Methods: Randomized controlled trial with written pre-post testing. Third-year medical students (n = 38) received either a myocardial infarction (MI) simulation followed by a reactive airways disease (RAD) lecture, or a RAD simulation followed by an MI lecture.

[Recurrent alveolar hemorrhage in the course of Goodpasture's syndrome].

We describe the case of 24-years old man, smoking up to 60 cigarettes daily, with rapidly progressive crescentic glomerulonephritis in the course of Goodpasture's syndrome. The disease was initially presented with recurrent diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage with normal renal function and moderate proteinuria and haematuria on urinalysis lasting 2 months. Immunologic tests for ANCA and anti-GBM Ab were negative until the patient's renal function rapidly deteriorated during next 3 weeks.

Constrictive bronchiolitis obliterans in patient with Castelman's disease.

A 37-year-old woman with hialin- vascular type Castelman's disease (CD) localised in the retroperitoneal region, incompletely resected, developed progressive dyspnoea. The chest radiograph taken 3 months before the operation was normal. The chest CT scan revealed diffused bronchiectases, hyperinflation and air trapping.

How do clinical clerkship students experience simulator-based teaching? A qualitative analysis.

Objectives: To critically analyze the experience of clinical clerkship students exposed to simulator-based teaching, in order to better understand student perspectives on its utility.

Methods: A convenience sample of clinical students (n = 95) rotating through an emergency medicine, surgery, or longitudinal patient-doctor clerkship voluntarily participated in a 2-hour simulator-based teaching session. Groups of 3-5 students managed acute scenarios including respiratory failure, myocardial infarction, or multisystem trauma.

Molecular evidence for host-symbiont specificity in soritid foraminifera.

Symbiosis between the dinoflagellate genus Symbiodinium and various invertebrates and protists is an ubiquitous phenomenon in shallow tropical and subtropical waters. Molecular studies undertaken on cnidarian symbionts revealed the presence of several distinctive lineages or subgeneric clades of Symbiodinium whose taxonomic level provides limited information about the specificity between invertebrate hosts and their symbionts. This contrasts with the finding of several Symbiodinium clades being present almost exclusively in foraminifera and belonging to the subfamily Soritinae.