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Background: Flexibility is crucial to the harmonious execution of joint movements. While skeletal muscle dysfunction in patients with HTLV-1 can interfere with mobility, it is unclear whether these patients experience reduced flexibility., Objective: To evaluate the differences in flexibility between HTLV-1-infected individuals with and without myelopathy compared with uninfected controls. We also investigated whether age, sex, body mass index (BMI), physical activity level, or lower back pain influence flexibility in HTLV-1-infected individuals., Methods: The sample consisted of 56 adults, of which 15 did not have HTLV-1, 15 had HTLV-1 without myelopathy, and 26 had TSP/HAM. Their flexibility was assessed using the sit-and-reach test and a pendulum fleximeter., Results: No differences in flexibility were observed between the groups with and without myelopathy and controls without HTLV-1 infection using the sit-and-reach test. The pendulum fleximeter results of individuals with TSP/HAM presented the lowest flexibility among the groups with respect to trunk flexion, hip flexion and extension, knee flexion, and ankle dorsiflexion, even after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, level of physical activity, and lower back pain using multiple linear regression models. Additionally, HTLV-1-infected individuals without myelopathy demonstrated reduced flexibility in movements: knee flexion, dorsiflexion, and ankle plantar flexion., Conclusions: Individuals with TSP/HAM demonstrated reduced flexibility in most of the movements evaluated by the pendulum fleximeter. Additionally, HTLV-1-infected individuals without myelopathy demonstrated reduced knee and ankle flexibility, potentially representing a marker of myelopathic development., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Academia Brasileira de Neurologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

Introduction: Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance is a marker of oxidative stress and has cytotoxic and genotoxic actions. C- reactive protein is used to evaluate the acute phase of inflammatory response., Objectives: To assess the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance and C-reactive protein levels during extracorporeal circulation in patients submitted to cardiopulmonary bypass., Methods: Twenty-five consecutive surgical patients (16 men and nine women; mean age 61.2 ± 9.7 years) with severe coronary artery disease diagnosed by angiography scheduled for myocardial revascularization surgery with extracorporeal circulation were selected. Blood samples were collected immediately before initializing extracorporeal circulation, T0; in 10 minutes, T10; and in 30 minutes, T30., Results: The thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance levels increased after extracorporeal circulation (P=0.001), with average values in T0=1.5 ± 0.07; in T10=5.54 ± 0.35; and in T30=3.36 ± 0.29 mmoles/mg of serum protein. The C-reactive protein levels in T0 were negative in all samples; in T10 average was 0.96 ± 0.7 mg/dl; and in T30 average was 0.99 ± 0.76 mg/dl. There were no significant differences between the dosages in T10 and T30 (P=0.83)., Conclusions: C-reactive protein and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance plasma levels progressively increased during extracorporeal circulation, with maximum values of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance at 10 min and of C-reactive protein at 30 min. It suggests that there are an inflammatory response and oxidative stress during extracorporeal circulation.