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The use of non invasive sampling, such as collection of conjunctival swabs, as a diagnostic tool for the detection of Leishmania DNA is of interest. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility of detecting Leishmania infection with the use of conjunctival swab samples in dogs living in a highly endemic area for leishmaniosis and to investigate, for the first time, the presence of Leishmania DNA in oral swabs in the same population. One hundred sixty-three dogs living outdoor and recruited in various provinces of Sicily were studied. Leishmania infantum indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to leishmanin (DTH) and real-time PCR of blood (BL), lymph node (LN), conjunctival (CS) and oral swab (OS) samples were performed. The positive PCR percentages in LN, CS, OS and BL samples were: 24.5%, 22.1%, 8.7% and 5.5%, respectively. Serological and DTH positive percentages were 27.0% and 73.8%, respectively. Seropositive and LN-PCR positive dogs had a high likelihood to be positive by CS-PCR. The similar positive PCR percentages found in CS and LN samples suggest the use of CS-PCR as non-invasive alternative technique to LN-PCR for the detection of Leishmania infection in dogs. In addition, this study demonstrated, for the first time, the presence of Leishmania DNA in oral swabs in dogs., (© 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background and Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of subclinical cardiovascular (CV) abnormalities in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) stratified according to SLE-related organ damage using the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) damage index., Methods and Results: We selected SLE patients without clinically overt CV events (n=45, 56% with SLICC=0, 44% with SLICC=1-4). CV evaluation was performed using cardiac and vascular echo-Doppler techniques. Post-ischemic flow-mediated dilation (FMD) over nitroglycerine-mediated dilation (NMD) of the brachial artery <0.70 defined endothelial dysfunction. The prevalence of preclinical CV abnormalities (CVAbn, including at least one of the following-carotid atherosclerosis, left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, low arterial compliance, LV wall motion abnormalities, aortic regurgitation, FMD/NMD<0.70)-was 64% (16/25) in patients with SLICC=0 and 80% (16/20) in those with SLICC>0 (p=not significant (NS)). In particular, the prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis (28% vs. 16%), of LV hypertrophy (12% vs. 6%) and of LV wall motion abnormalities (15% vs. 12%), of low global arterial compliance (18% vs. 10%), prevalence of aortic regurgitation (30% vs. 18%) and/or aortic valve fibrosclerosis (10% vs. 8%), FMD<10% (14+/-5% vs. 14%+/-6) and prevalence of FMD/NMD<0.70 (53% vs. 52%) were comparable in SLE patients with SLICC>0 and in those with SLICC=0 (all p=NS). Of the SLE patients without carotid atherosclerosis, LV hypertrophy, low arterial compliance, LV wall motion abnormalities and aortic regurgitation (n=17), endothelial dysfunction was detected in 50% of those with SLICC=0 (6/12) and in 40% of those with SLICC>0 (2/5, p=NS)., Conclusions: SLE patients with SLICC=0 often have an elevated CV risk profile due to subclinical manifestations of CV disease detectable by cardiac and vascular echo-Doppler evaluations.