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Introduction: The course of multiple sclerosis is characterised by the development of cerebral atrophy. It is of interest to monitor it in order to evaluate the treatment response, and the preferred technique consists in performing brain volume analyses, which are currently restricted to the field of research., Aim: To analyse the corpus callosum index (CCI) as a possible alternative to the methods based on brain segmentation., Subjects and Methods: Our sample was made up of 109 patients with recently diagnosed demyelinating diseases (90 relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, 7 primary progressive forms and 12 isolated demyelinating syndromes), and the CCI was calculated in their first magnetic resonance brain scan, together with 101 healthy controls. The sequences of the patients were submitted to a volumetric analysis using the software package MSmetrix., Results: The mean value of the CCI was 0.377 in patients and 0.411 in the controls, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The CCI also showed a statistically significant correlation with the brain volume (p < 0.001; r = 0.444) and with the lesional volume in the FLAIR sequence (p < 0.001; r = -0.521), while no association was observed with the volume of grey matter (p = 0.058)., Conclusions: The CCI is related to the overall brain volume obtained by volumetric techniques and may reflect the presence of atrophy in the initial stages of demyelinating diseases, which makes it a fast and easy to calculate alternative.

Objectives: Several studies have suggested the existence of seasonal variation in the incidence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGB). However, the role of climatic factors has not been elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of these factors in the incidence of UGB secondary to esophageal varices (EV), gastric ulcer (GU), and duodenal ulcer (DU)., Material and Methods: Based on the use of the Minimum Data Set and the International Classification of Diseases, cases of endoscopically-confirmed UGB secondary to EV, GU and DU were retrospectively included (1998-2001). The incidence of UGB was correlated with daily climatic factors (temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, direction and speed of wind) in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) during the study period., Results: A total of 499 patients were included (GU = 192, DU = 199, EV = 108). No significant differences were found in the monthly or seasonal incidence of UGB. Episodes of UGB were grouped according to the climatic conditions present on the day of admission. No significant relationship was found between UGB and any of the daily climatic factors studied., Discussion: The results of our study do not support the existence of a seasonal pattern in the incidence of UGB secondary to GU, DU or EV and allow us to conclude that, in our geographical area, these factors are not involved in episodes of bleeding.