The aim of the present article is to describe a puzzle developed for use in teaching cardiac physiology classes. The puzzle presents figures of phases of the cardiac cycle and a table with five columns: phases of cardiac cycle, atrial state, ventricular state, state of atrioventricular valves, and pulmonary and aortic valves. Chips are provided for use to complete the table. Students are requested to discuss which is the correct sequence of figures indicating the phases of cardiac cycle. Afterward, they should complete the table with the chips. Students of biology, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, and nursing graduation courses from seven institutions performed the puzzle evaluation. They were invited to indicate whether the puzzle had been useful for learning about the subject by filling one of four alternatives. Of the students, 4.6% answered that it was not necessary but helped them to confirm what they had learned, 64.5% reported that although they had previously understood the cardiac cycle, the puzzle helped them to solve doubts and promoted a better understanding of it, and 30.9% said that they needed the puzzle to understand the cardiac cycle, without differences among courses, institutions, and course semesters. The results of the present study suggest that a simple and inexpensive puzzle may be useful as an active learning methodology applied after the theoretical lecture, as a complementary tool for studying cardiac cycle physiology.

Imagine a time where your health status could be available to you without the pain, discomfort and inconvenience of a physical examination. Distant vision of an inconceivable future or impending reality with potentially immeasurable impact? Recent advancements in the field of molecular diagnostics indicate this is not only possible, but closer than we think. Novel discoveries and substantial advancements have revealed that saliva may contain real-time information describing our overall physiological condition. Researchers are now reporting that, like blood and tissue biopsies, oral fluids could be a source of biochemical data capable of detecting certain diseases. What is even more intriguing is that this phenomenon not only applies to local disorders like oral cancer and Sjögren's syndrome, but distant pathologies like autoimmune, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases as well as viral/bacterial infections and even some cancers. These revelations have provided a foundation for the burgeoning field of salivary diagnostics and hence spurred the onset of investigations poised at deciphering the salivary milieu. This paper overviews salivary diagnostics from biomarker development to the multitude of techniques utilized in identifying saliva-based molecular indicators of disease. In doing so, we present oral fluids as an easily accessible noninvasive alternative to traditional diagnostic avenues and not just an essential component of the digestive process. Determining saliva as a credible means of evaluating health status represents a considerable leap forward in health care, one that could lead to enormous translational advantages and significant clinical opportunities.

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