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Introduction: The greeting is the first form of verbal and nonverbal communication and is a valuable tool to support the physician-patient relationship., Objective: Assess parents and children preferences on how they want pediatricians greet and address them., Material and Methods: Cross-sectional study. The population was persons accompanying patients (parents or guardians) between 1 month and 19 years old and patients older than 5 years old. A survey questionnaire was completed after the medical visit., Results: A total of 419 surveys from patients' companions and 249 from pediatric patients were analyzed; 68% of the companions preferred the doctor addressed them by the first name, 67% liked to be greeted with a kiss on the cheek and 90% liked to be treated informally. Preferring to be greeted with a kiss on the cheek was associated in multivariate analysis with the companion was the mother, age younger than 39 years and longer time in knowing the pediatrician; 60% of the patients preferred to be addressed by their first name., Conclusions: In the outpatient setting patients companions and patients themselves prefer to be addressed by their name informally and be greeted with a kiss on the cheek.

A series of 119 patients with 122 gastric carcinomas treated by gastrectomy, with a follow up of more than 5 years is presented. There were 80 (67.2%) men and 39 (32.8%) women with a mean age of 66.4 years. In 101 (84.9%) the diagnosis of cancer was endoscopic. Pain was the most frequent symptom (55.5%). Seventy two (59%) were localized in the antrum; 26 (21%) were cardial, and 24 (19.7%) were in the body. In 43.4% the size was smaller than 5 cm and in 56.6% it measured 5 cm or more. Eighty nine (73%) were of the intestinal type, 15 (12.3%) were diffuse and 18 (14.8%) were mixed. Eighty (65.6%) were low histological grade and 42 (34.4%) were high grade. Ten (9.2%) were early carcinomas and 112 (91.8%) advanced carcinomas. An amplification of the c-erbB-2 oncogene was associated with tumors that were smaller than 5 cm (p = 0.05) and with histological low grade (p = 0.005). A five years survival correlated with tumors smaller than 5 cm (p = 0.02), with parietal infiltration not surpassing the muscular layer (p = 0.001), and without lymph node metastases (p = 0.001). There was no association between survival and amplification of c-erbB-2 oncogene.