[Radioclinical aspects of cerebral and muscular cysticercosis: 20 cases]. / Aspects radiocliniques de la cysticercose cérébrale et musculaire. A propos de 20 observations.

We report a series of 20 cases of cysticercosis. Cysticercosis is a rather wide-spread disease in North Vietnam with clinical signs such as myalgia, headache, epileptic seizures. It is often seen in male adults 30 to 60 years old, not in children. CT-scan is a good method for detecting cerebral cysticercosis at different stages of evolution: cysts with scolex, calcified cysts or both simultaneously, which is the evidence of several successive infestations. Muscular cysticerci can be detected by palpation or by radiography when they are calcified. Cerebral and muscular locations of cysticercosis are nearly always simultaneous, therefore we must always explore these both seats by CT scan (for the brain) and by radiography (for the muscles and the subcutaneous tissue).

Dusts causing pneumoconiosis generate .OH and produce hemolysis by acting as Fenton catalysts.

Silicates causing pneumoconiosis function as Fenton catalysts to generate hydroxyl radicals (.OH) when incubated with hydrogen peroxide and a reducing substance. In contrast, silicates which do not cause pneumoconiosis demonstrate no Fenton activity. Catalytic activity is decreased by pretreatment of silicates with the iron chelators deferoxamine or transferrin. Hemolysis from silicates is decreased by interventions which remove superoxide anion or hydrogen peroxide from the medium, or by pretreatment of dusts with iron chelators. Thus, asbestos and nonfibrous silicates may cause pneumoconiosis through a common oxidant mechanism by catalyzing production of toxic .OH radicals in the lung.