[COPD: what is there beyond BODE index?]. / Enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica: ¿qué hay más allá del índice BODE?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a multidimensional disease with wide phenotypic heterogeneity that is not adequately reflected by forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1)). Assessment of patients with COPD requires analysis of multiple variables that encompass respiratory and extrapulmonary involvement. These variables should be viable in clinical practice, should not provide duplicate information, and should have an effect on the course of the disease. The BODE index (FEV(1), dyspnea, body mass index and the 6-minute walk test) is the most obvious example of this conceptual approach and its acceptance among the scientific community has grown in the last few years. Nevertheless, other aspects of the disease not included in the BODE index, such as pulmonary hyperinsufflation, exacerbations and comorbidities, have been shown to be important in COPD. Moreover, the development of new technologies could allow imaging techniques and biomarkers to be incorporated, which would in turn improve characterization of the disease and allow more specific and individually-tailored patient management. Nevertheless, the role of all these factors in the evaluation of a highly prevalent disease such as COPD remains to be defined.

Detection of Leishmania braziliensis in human paraffin-embedded tissues from Tucumán, Argentina by polymerase chain reaction.

American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is an endemic disease in Northern Argentina. We applied the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by a hybridization labelled probe to 21 paraffin embedded human skin biopsies, already analyzed histologically, from leishmaniasis endemic areas in the province of Tucumán, Argentina. We used primers previously designed to detect a Leishmania-specific 120-base-pair fragment of kinetoplast DNA minicircle, other two primer pairs that amplify kDNA minicircles belonging to the L. braziliensis and L. mexicana complexes respectively, and specific oligonucleotide primers to detect L. (V.) braziliensis which amplify the sequence of the ribosomal protein L-14 of this species. The PCR-hybridization showed a sensitivity of 90.5% when compared to the histopathology test which was 61.9%. Five of the total samples analyzed were positive for the L. braziliensis complex whilst none was positive for the L. mexicana complex. The specific primers for L. (V.) braziliensis detected the parasite in four samples. These results are consistent with those reported for close endemic areas and demonstrate that the causative agent of human leishmaniasis in the analyzed cases was L. (V.) braziliensis. PCR should be used as a diagnostic tool for tegumentary leishmaniasis, especially in the mucosal form, and as a valuable technique for the identification of the Leishmania species that causes the disease in certain areas.