Irradiation as a hazard for mucociliary clearance.

Objectives: In this paper we study effects of irradiation to pulmonary tissue on a micro and ultrastructural level to get insights into the dynamics of morphological changes and associated post-radiative physiological conditions.

Methods: Animal and human pulmonary tissue with and without radiation damage was subject to light, transmission, scanning and polarization microscopy and morphometric evaluation.

Results: The present investigations on the influence of irradiation on experimental and human lung tissue demonstrate that complex changes are induced in the cells which are essential for mucociliary clearance.

Rare peripheral femoral nerve neuropathy in children.

Peripheral neuropathy of the femoral nerve is extremely rare. In the literature, we found descriptions of only 50 similar patients, mainly as a complication of coagulopathies, and none of intrapelvic tumors. Three children with a rare peripheral neuropathy of the femoral nerve as a complication of extraperitoneal pelvic masses are described in this report.

Is the trachea a marker of the type of environmental pollution?

Objectives/hypothesis: The differentiated character of changes in the mucous relief of the trachea as induced by air containing pollutants from the wastes of nickel-, mercury-, and cement-producing plants and by Candida albicans occurring in the waste disposal site of a large town are identified. The trachea was chosen because it is the entrance gate for the penetration of polluted air into the lungs. Changes on the trachea influence the character and extent of changes in lungs.