Exercise for asthmatic and COPD patients: how much do they perform and which are the real benefits?

Resumo

Asthma and COPD have an increased prevalence representing important problems in public health. This project aims to study mechanisms involved in airway inflammation and remodeling as well as hyperresponsiveness in these diseases due to life style and environmental stimuli. The effect of exercise and pollution will be investigated in patients as well as in murine models (translational study). There will be used functional respiratory evaluations (metabolic cart, moviment sensor), pulmonary mechanics measurements (optoeletronic plethysmography and in vivo mechanics), airway and systemic inflammation (breath condensate, cytospin, ELISA, luminex and immunohistochemistry), airway remodeling (hystological analysis) and mollecular biology techniques to quantify gene expression. An equipment to exposure animals to smoke cigarette will also be developed. It will be studied the role of exercise (physical inactivity and exercise training) in asthma and COPD disease control, airway inflammation, psychosocial aspects and health related quality of life will also be performed. At the end of this study, we intend to explain many aspects of enviromental stimuli (exercise and pollution) modify the disease evolution and… (AU)