Objective: To determine the epidemiological profile of malignant melanoma cases treated at the National Institute for Neoplastic Diseases “Dr. Eduardo Caceres Graziani” (INEN) over the period 1952 to 2008. Study Design: All clinical records with complete data of patients presenting a histopathological diagnosis of malignant melanoma of the oral cavity were reviewed. Data such as age, gender, location, tumor size, disease length, presence of metastasis, treatment received and year of admission were recorded. Results: During the study period 97 cases were found. The average age of patients was 52.85±1.6 years old mostly between 50 and 59 years old; the predominant gender was the female. The most common location was the palate and there was 58.8% of cases with a tumor size bigger than or equal to 4 cm. The length of the disease in 38.1% of the cases was longer than a year and in great part of the cases (69.1%) there was no metastasis. The treatment of choice was the surgery plus radiotherapy in 38.1% of the cases. According to the admission date it was also noted that the number of cases is increasing. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate a late diagnosis and an increasing frequency of this neoplasia in the oral cavity. Key words: Melanoma, oral cavity, epidemiology.

Objective: To identify the overall survival and prognostic factors of malignant lymphoma of the oral cavity and the maxillofacial region. Study Design: Clinical records data were obtained in order to determine overall survival at 2 and 5 years, the individual survival percentage of each possible prognostic factor with the actuarial technique, and the survival regarding the possible prognostic factors with the actuarial technique and the Log-rank and Cox’s regression tests. Results: Of 151 subjects, an overall survival was 60% at 2 years, and 45% at 5 years. The multivariate analysis demonstrated statistically significant differences for clinical stage (p=0.002), extranodal involvement (p=0.030), presence of human immunodeficiency virus (p=0.032), and presence of Epstein-Barr virus (p=0.010). Conclusion: The advanced clinical stage and the larger number of involved extranodular sites are related to a lower overall survival, as well as, the presence of previous infections such as the human immunodeficiency and the Epstein-Barr virus. Key words:Lymphoma, oral cavity, survival.

Objective: Analysis of the clinical characteristics of patients with Sarcomas of the Jaws treated in the “Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas. Dr. Eduardo Caceres Graziani” from 1952-2007. Study Design: Review of 155 clinical records of patients with Sarcomas of the Jaws and record of age, gender, size, location, clinical symptoms and signs, histopathological diagnoses and type of treatment. The data obtained were analyzed by means of Student’s statistical t-test, Fisher and Friedman’s test. Results: Analysis of 155 Sarcomas of the Jaws. The average age of patients was 36.8 years old (range: 1-80 years); the female gender was the most frequent (52.9%); the average tumor size was 5.5 cm; in upper jaw 54.84% occurred and 45.16% in the lower jaw; the predominant sign was facial asymmetry (87.74%) and the predominant symptom: pain (63.23%). The most frequent diagnosis was Osteosarcoma 50.3% followed by Chondrosarcoma 18%. Surgery plus radiation therapy was the treatment type of choice with 21.94% of cases. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate the delayed diagnosis and facial asymmetry and pain appear as the most important events for the diagnosis of Sarcomas of the Jaws. Key words: Sarcoma, jaw, jaw neoplasms, mouth neoplasms.

The results revealed the importance of clinical stage regarding the survival of patients with a primary diagnosis of MC of the salivary glands.

The purpose of this study was to determine the survival and prognostic factors of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DL-BCL) of the oral cavity and maxillofacial region. Retrospectively, the clinical records of patients with a primary diagnosis of DLBCL of the oral cavity and maxillofacial region treated at the A.C. Camargo Hospital for Cancer, São Paulo, Brazil, between January 1980 and December 2005 were evaluated to determine (A) overall survival (OS) at 2 and 5 years and the individual survival percentage for each possible prognostic factor by means of the actuarial technique (also known as mortality tables), and the Kaplan Meier product limit method (which provided the survival value curves for each possible prognostic factor); (B) prognostic factors subject to univariate evaluation with the log-rank test (also known as Mantel-Cox), and multivariate analysis with Cox's regression model (all the variables together). The data were considered significant at p ≤ 0.05. From 1980 to 2005, 3513 new cases of lymphomas were treated, of which 151 (4.3%) occurred in the oral cavity and maxillofacial region. Of these 151 lesions, 48 were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, with 64% for OS at 2 years and 45% for OS at 5 years. Of the variables studied as possible prognostic factors, multivariate analysis found the following variables have statistically significant values: age (p = 0.042), clinical stage (p = 0.007) and performance status (p = 0.031). These data suggest that patients have a higher risk of mortality if they are older, at a later clinical stage, and have a higher performance status.

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No abstract

RESUMENObjetivo: Determinar si el uso de estrategias de aprendizaje y motivación influyen en el nivel de habilidades investigativas en estudiantes de posgrado en odontología de la Universidad de San Martín de Porres. Materiales y métodos: se encuestaron 130 estudiantes con una tasa de no respuesta del 16.07%, los cuales pertenecen a los programas de maestría y especialidades, seleccionados en forma aleatoria. Se utilizó dos cuestionarios: 1) de estrategias de aprendizaje y motivación; y 2) de habilidades investigativas. Resultados: se realizó el análisis descriptivo de los datos, Chi 2 y ANOVA para evaluar la asociación entre las variables y la razón de prevalencia con la prueba de regresión lineal de Poisson. Se encontró asociación en cuanto a las variables tiempo de estudio, trabajos científicos previos, pertenencia a una asociación científica, cursos anteriores de investigación y métodos de estudio Chi2 (p<0.05), también se encontró asociación con la motivación y estrategias de aprendizaje ANOVA (p<0.05) resaltando la motivación interna del estudiante y el pensamiento crítico en todas las etapas de investigación (p<0.05). Conclusiones: se encontró que los estudiantes que tienen un nivel alto de uso de estrategias de aprendizaje y motivación tienen casi tres veces más probabilidades de tener habilidades investigativas altas (RP:2.82 IC=1.55-5.14), cuentan con un nivel de habilidades investigativas entre medio a alto (58%).Palabras Clave: Motivación, aprendizaje, técnicas de investigación, investigación. (Fuente: DeCS BIREME) ABSTRACTObjetive: To determine if the use of learning strategies and motivation influence the level of research skills in postgraduate students in dentistry of the Universidad de San Martín de Porres. Materials and Methods: 130 students were surveyed with a non-response rate of 16.07% which belong to the programs of masters and specialities, which were randomly selected. We used two questionnaires 1) learning strategies and motivation and 2) questionnaire to evaluate the rsearch skills which was previously validated. Results: Descriptive analysis of the data, Chi2 and ANOVA was carried out to evaluate the association between the variables and the ratio of prevalence with the linear regression test of Poison. An association was found regarding the variables study time, previous scientific work, membership of a scientific association and antecedets of research and methods of study courses Chi2 (p<0.05), we also found association with motivation and learning strategies ANOVA (p<0.05) highlighting Internal motivation of the student and critical thinking in all stages of research (p<0.05). Conclusions: It was found that students who have a high level of use of learning strategies and motivation are almost three times more likely to have high research skills (RP: 2.82 CI = 1.55-5.14 ), Have a medium to high level of research skills (58%)