Association between oral health, cognitive impairment and oral health-related quality of life Objective: Investigating oral health-related quality of life's (OH-QoL) relationship with cognitive state. Background: Oral health affects OH-QoL and is poor in institutionalised and cognitively impaired people. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 215 institutionalised elderly (82.9 mean age), who were interviewed, examined and cognitively screened using the Pfeiffer test. Results: Mean GOHAI score was 53.1; only 43.7% of the participants reported having a good OH-QoL. Needing help with dressing or washing (OR 2.14; p = 0.004), having one to nine teeth (OR 4.65; p ‡ 0.001), eight or less occluding pairs (OR 2.74; p = 0.002), one to three caries (OR 1.85; p = 0.005) and being cognitive impaired (OR 0.54; p = 0.034) were significantly associated with altered OH-QoL in bivariate analysis. Being edentulous (OR 3.18; p = 0.0046), having 1-9 teeth (OR 2.62; p = 0.056) and presenting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (OR 0.32; p = 0.016) appeared as predictive variables in logistic regression for having an altered OH-QoL. Conclusions: Participants having MCI had significantly better GOHAI score than cognitively normal residents. Performing cognitive screening parallel to applying any OH-QoL instrument would make the results more reliable and would benefit cognitively impaired people.

Ecological studies on commercial important fish species are of great value to support resource management issues. This study calculated trophic levels of those Colombian Caribbean fish species whose diet has been locally described. Usable diet data of 119 species resulted in 164 trophic level estimates. An ordinary regression model relating trophic level and fish size was formulated. The regression slope was positive and significantly different from zero (p<0.05) suggesting a scaling of trophic level with fish size. Both the list of trophic levels and the regression model should be of help in the formulation of trophic indicators and models of neotropical ecosystems. Rev. Biol. Trop. 59 (3): 1195-1203. Epub 2011 September 01.

<p><em><strong><span>Background:</span></strong></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span> </span></span><span>Predicting mandibular morphology is important in facial reconstruction for forensic purposes as in orthodontics and maxillofacial surgery. This process has been performed through parametric and linear methods based on Caucasian populations. Also, these analyzes are performed on lateral cephalograms, but a prediction from a posteroanterior view is not taken into account.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><strong>Purpose:</strong></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>To predict through artificial neural networks the mandibular morphology using craniomaxillary measures in posteroanterior radiographs.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><strong>Methods:</strong></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>229 standardized posteroanterior radiographs from Colombian young adults of both sexes were collected. Coordinates of craniofacial skeletal landmarks were used to create mandibular and craniomaxillary measures. 17 predictor craniomaxillary input variables were selected, measuring widths, heights, and angles. Similarly, 13 mandibular measures were selected to be predicted, considering both the right and left sides. Artificial neural networks were used for the prediction process and it was evaluated by a correlation coefficient using a ridge regression between real value and the predicted value.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><strong>Results:</strong></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The results found in the model were significant especially for 5 variables of morphological importance in the forensic field: right mandibular ramus (Cdd-God), bigonial width (Goi-God), bicondylar width (Cdi-Cdd), and distance between the condyles to the menton (Cdd-Me and Cdi-Me).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em><strong>Conclusions:</strong></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>An important prediction capacity in 5 measures of forensic importance in patients with skeletal Class I, Class II and Class III was found in both sexes.</span></p>

RESUMENLa vía de señalización Notch se caracteriza por mediar la comunicación célula-célula, regulando diferentes procesos celulares como proliferación, apoptosis y definición del destino celular. Esta vía ha sido implicada en el desarrollo de estructuras craneofaciales como paladar, diente y bóveda craneal. El objetivo de esta investigación fue identificar los patrones de expresión de los genes componentes de la vía Notch, Serrate1 y Notch1, durante el desarrollo del tercio medio facial. Se utilizaron embriones de pollo (Gallus gallus) seleccionados de acuerdo a los criterios de Hamilton y Hamburger y sobre los cuales se realizó hibridación in situ con ribosondas marcadas con Digoxigenina (DIG), para luego ser detectadas con anticuerpos Anti-Dig. Los resultados mostraron expresión de los genes evaluados, en las prominencias maxilares (pmx) y frontonasal (pfn) durante el desarrollo del tercio medio facial. Estos resultados sugieren una probable participación de la vía Notch a través de estos genes, en los diferentes procesos celulares que determinan la morfogénesis y el desarrollo del tercio medio facial.Palabras clave: desarrollo facial, Notch1, prominencia frontonasal, prominencias maxilares, Serrate1, vía de señalización Notch. ABSTRACTThe Notch signaling pathway is characterized by mediate cell-cell communication, regulating different cellular processes as proliferation, apoptosis and cell fate definition. This pathway has been implicated in craniofacial structures development as palate, teeth and cranial vault. The objective of this research was to identify the genes expression patterns of some Notch signaling pathway components, Serrate1 and Notch1, during the midface development. It was used chicken embryos (Gallus gallus) selected according to Hamilton and Hamburger criteria. We performed in situ hybridization with Digoxigenin (DIG)-labeled riboprobes and detected with the antibody Anti-Dig. The results showed the expression of the evaluated genes in the maxillary (pmx) and frontonasal (pfn) prominences during the midface development. These results suggest a probable involvement of the Notch pathway through these genes in different cellular processes that determine midface morphogenesis and development.

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