Exercise training reduces pulmonary ischaemia-reperfusion-induced inflammatory responses.

Physical exercise reduces the deleterious effects of cardiovascular and inflammatory disorders. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the beneficial effects of physical training on the inflammatory responses following lung ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) in rats. Male Wistar rats were divided into sham-operated animals and sedentary and trained animals submitted to lung IR. The run training programme consisted of 5 sessions.week(-1), each lasting 60 min.day(-1), at 66% of maximal oxygen consumption for 8 weeks. The left pulmonary artery, bronchus and pulmonary vein were occluded for 90 min and reperfused for 2 h. Lung protein extravasation was measured as (125)I-human albumin accumulation, whereas lung neutrophil infiltration was measured as myeloperoxidase activity. Lung IR in sedentary rats resulted in marked increases in protein extravasation and neutrophil influx, and in significant elevations of serum tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-1beta levels. Physical preconditioning attenuated the increased IR-induced protein leakage without affecting neutrophil influx. It also reduced serum TNF-alpha (and IL-1beta) levels, but had no effect on IL-10 levels. Plasma superoxide dismutase activity was significantly increased in trained IR rats. The present data show that physical preconditioning protects the rat lung from ischaemia-reperfusion injury by attenuating the pulmonary vascular permeability that may be a consequence of reduced levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1beta and elevated superoxide dismutase activity.

Mesotelioma maligno de pleura com associaçäo etiológica a asbesto: a propósito de três casos clínicos / Malign mesothelioma of pleura with etiological association to asbestos: apropos of 3 clinical cases

O mesotelioma maligno de pleura (MM) é tumor de ocorrência rara e nosso meio e tem-se mostrado, quando em elevada incidência, relacionado à exposiçäo pregressa a asbesto ou amianto nas séries descritas em outros países. OBJETIVO. A partir de casos clínicos atendidos no Hospital de Clínicas da UNICAMP, procurou-se evidenciar tal associaçäo epidemiológica, visando alertar profissionais médicos quanto à possível elevaçäo da incidência de tal tumor nesta década e, futuramente, por características próprias da história natural desse tipo de tumor. MÉTODOS. Säo descritos três casos de MM de pleura ocorridos na regiäo de Campinas, SP, num período de dois anos, dos pontos de vista clínico, laboratoriais complementares e anatomopatológico, incluindo minuciosa investigaçäo anamnésica ocupacional e ambiental. RESULTADOS. Todos os casos foram confirmados do ponto de vista anatomopatológico, incluindo microscopia eletrônica, como casos de MM. Os três casos mostraram relaçäo epidemiológica, comprovada por meio de história ocupacional, com exposiçäo a asbesto no passado. Um dos casos teve exposiçäo ocupacional pregressa de curta duraçäo (cerca de um ano); outro teve exposiçäo doméstica a partir de asbesto trazido do ambiente de trabalho por seu pai, durante sua infância, e o terceiro caso com contaminaçäo ocupacional indireta. CONCLUSÃO. A ocorrência de MM de pleura relacionada à exposiçäo a asbesto, no passado, parece ser realidade em nosso meio, como mostram estes três casos clínicos. Destaca-se a necessidade da anamnese ocupacional e ambiental detalhadas na abordagem desses casos, alertando-se para maior atençäo no diagnóstico dos tumores primários da pleura e do peritônio, nos próximos anos, em funçäo de provável aparecimento de novos casos relacionados a exposiçäo a asbesto pregressa, tendo em vista o intervalo de tempo entre o início da manipulaçäo do asbesto em nosso país e o aparecimento destes primeiros casos coincidir com o tempo de latência médio esperado para a ocorrência de MM. Destacam-se, ainda, as necessidades de definiçäo precisa de critérios diagnósticos, para esse tipo de tumor, e criaçäo de registro centralizado de casos.

[Malignant mesothelioma of the pleura with etiological association to asbestos: report of 3 clinical cases]. / Mesotelioma maligno de pleura com associação etiológica a asbesto: a propósito de três casos clínicos.

UNLABELLED: Diffuse Malign Mesotheliomas (DMM) has a low background prevalence. High incidences of this tumor have been related to asbestos exposure in the past. PURPOSE: To describe and discuss three clinical cases treated in our hospital, in which precise histopathologic diagnosis was made, and detailed occupational and environmental histories were taken, trying to identify in their past some kind of asbestos exposure. METHODS: Three cases of DMM are described. Diagnosis was confirmed by histochemical analysis and electronmicroscopy. Detailed occupational and environmental histories were taken from subjects and their families, searching for past contact with asbestos. RESULTS: The cases were diagnosed in a short period of time (two years), in a region of the country where many asbestos cement plants are located since the mid sixties. Skillful histological procedures were used. From these cases we found out that one had a twelve months period of exposure, 24 years before, in one of those plants. Another patient had an exposure for three years, as a bystander, in the same plant (also 24 years before) and a third patient was contaminated by asbestos brought home by his father in the 1950s (latency period of 30 years). All cases were histochemically studied and diagnosis confirmed by the presence of microvilli at electronmicroscopic examination. CONCLUSIONS: These three cases seem to confirm the existence of the epidemiologic association with asbestos exposure in our country. Definition of diagnosis criteria, centralization of cases registry and the necessity of more attention to this kind of asbestos related disease are discussed and stressed, as many new cases like those described are thought to occur in the near future, as the latency period of the disease seems to match with that of industrial asbestos manipulation in Brazil.