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Background To assess the prevalence of oral and maxillofacial malignant neoplasias in children and adolescents diagnosed through biopsies sent to the Oral Pathology Laboratory at the University of Sao Paulo School of Dentistry. Material and Methods A retrospective analysis of anatomopathological reports on patients between 1 and 18 years old issued by the oral and maxillofacial pathology laboratory between 1997 and 2021 was performed for demographic data, lesion site, type of biopsy, diagnostic hypothesis and final diagnosis. Results The laboratory issued 76,194 anatomopathological reports during this period, of which 10.77% were of children and adolescents. Of this total, only 32 biopsies (32/8.204; 0.39%) were neoplasias in children and adolescents. Sarcomas were the most prevalent malignant neoplasms (19/32; 59%), followed by carcinomas (7/32; 22%), lymphomas (5/32; 16%) and ganglioneuroblastomas (1/32; 3%). Of these 32 patients, the most affected individuals were aged between 4 and 11 years old (47%), 18 (56%) were male, and the mandible was the main anatomical site involved (28%). In 41% of the cases (13/32), the diagnostic hypothesis of the biopsied lesion was mistakenly considered benign and there was no diagnostic hypothesis in 18% of the cases. Conclusions Oral and maxillofacial malignant neoplasms in children and adolescents are uncommon and the accuracy of provisional diagnoses is low in these cases. Better knowledge on oral and maxillofacial malignant lesions in this population would help professionals to reduce the diagnostic time and consequently improve the patient’s prognosis. Key words: Oral cancer, paediatric, adolescent, epidemiology, head and neck neoplasms, biopsy.

Undernourishment is still a noticeable cause of impaired immunocompetence, and has been shown to be an important causal factor in the increased susceptibility to infectious diseases. Exercise modulates both innate and acquired immune response. The direction and magnitude of the changes, however, are influenced by numerous factors comprising the type, duration and intensity of exercise, as well as the conditioning level and age of the subject. Herein we have presently the effect of a moderate intensity exercise programme on immune cell function in undernourished rats. Rats (n = 40) were submitted to caloric restriction (CR, 50 %) for 4 weeks, and then trained for 10 weeks at 60 % VO2max, in a treadmill, 5 days a week, 1 h a day.CR led to a reduction in thymus cellularity (48 and 59 %, respectively). CR led to a reduction in concanavalin A-induced mitogenic response in lymphocyte from mesenteric lymph nodes (LFN) and spleen (48 and 59 %, respectively).The moderate intensity training protocol restored thymic cellularity. Additionally, the exercise protocol promoted a decrease in plasma corticosterone and an increase in plasma leptin concentration; both changes being strongly associated with the thymic recovery.The present data reinforce that undernutrition decreases in vitro immune cell function and that a moderate intensity training protocol restores the thymic cellularity and lymphocyte mitogenic response.This work was financially support by FAPESP 01/06655-1; Fiocruz, CNPq (Brazil).