Abstract Objective: To evaluate the sealing capacity and retention of apical barriers made with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and Portland cement (PC). Material and Methods: Fifty-six bovine incisors were sectioned 8 mm above and 12 mm below the cement-enamel junction. The root canal was enlarged with a diamond drill to create a standard 2.5 mm diameter opening. Apical sheets of 5 mm thickness were placed using white MTA-Angelus or white PC. Fifteen samples of each material were exposed to human saliva in a dual chamber apparatus and casting was evaluated at 30 days. Samples without apical barriers and fully sealed samples were used as positive and negative controls (n = 3), respectively. Data were analyzed by Fisher's exact test (p<0.05) after 3 periods: 1 to 10 days (P1); days 11 to 20 (P2); and days 21 to 30 (P3). Then, three 1 mm thick sections were obtained at the apical level of other root samples of each material (n = 10) and the push-out test was performed Results: The leakage rates in P1, P2 and P3 were 60%, 73.3% and 100% for the MTA; and 73.3%, 86.7% and 100% for CP, with no significant difference between materials, regardless of the period analyzed. There were no significant differences between the bond strengths for both cements (p>0.05) Conclusion: Mineral trioxide aggregate and Portland cement apical barriers presented similar sealing ability and bond strength values.

<sec><title>Aim:</title><p> To measure the agreement of methods for identification of Candida species in oral cavity samples, comparing the CHROMagar Candida, microculture, API 20C AUX and RAPD techniques.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods:</title><p> Ninety-one colonies of Candida were isolated and presumptively identified in CHROMagar Candida, submitted to microculture, API 20C AUX and RAPD techniques. After this, agreement among methods using Kappa test was performed.</p></sec><sec><title>Results:</title><p> Agreement rates between RAPD and CHROMagar Candida, showed significant accuracy for C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. dubliniensis and C. krusei (Kappa: 0.760, 0.640, 0.416 and 0.360, respectively, p<0.05). Comparing RAPD results with microculture, the highest agreement was for C. albicans (Kappa: 0.851 - p<0.05) but no significant agreement for C. lusitaniae, C. krusei and C. guilliermondii was obtained (p>0.05). The agreement was significant for all identified species when RAPD (OPE-18) and API 20C AUX (p<0.05) were used. Critical levels of agreement between RAPD and microculture were observed when C. lusitaniae, C. krusei and C. guilliermondii were identified.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions:</title><p> API 20C AUX presented the best agreement with molecular random identification and CHROMagar showed good agreement for C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. dubliniensis and C. krusei identification.</p></sec>