Research progress of radiation carcinogenic effect and its interference factors for survivors of the atomic bomb disaster in Japan / 中国辐射卫生

Based on the study of solid cancer incidence in survivors of the atomic bomb disaster (atomic bomb survivors) from 1958 to 1998, the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) performed an additional 11-year follow-up (1999—2009) to further investigate the 50-year solid cancer incidence of atomic bomb survivors from 1958 to 2009. Considering influencing factors such as gender, smoking, drinking, body mass index, and medical exposure, we updated the radiation risk estimate for solid cancer and found a new problem of the relationship between gender-specific dose response, exposure age and cancer incidence during the study, which provides guidance for future research.

Melioidosis: a case series from coastal Karnataka, India

Melioidosis is an infectious disease caused by gram negative bacteria B. pseudomallei. The disease is largely under diagnosed globally. Sporadic cases have been reported from India, distributed mostly in the coastal areas. Authors present a series of seven culture proven cases of Melioidosis treated at a tertiary care Hospital in the coastal city of Mangalore in South India.

Effects on the respiration and nervous system of rat exposed to the thermobaric bomb simulated gas / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

Objective@#To investigate the effects of simulated-thermobaric explosive gas on the respiration and nervous system in rats.@*Methods@#70 of SPF SD rats were randomly divided into four thermobaric explosive gas groups, two restoration observation groups and control group from April to August in 2018. The exposure time of in four thermobaric explosive gas groups were 3.75, 7.5, 15.0 and 30 min, respectively. The restoration observation groups were designed to observe for 30 and 120 min after exposure thermobaric explosive gas 30 min. The bloods were collected and analyzed at the end of exposure and recovery observation. The endogenous carbon monoxide (CO) , nitric oxide (NO) , glutamic acid (GLU) , acetylcholinesterase (AchE) and dopamine (DA) were detected in brain tissues, respectively.@*Results@#The blood gas index (pH, PCO2, PO2, COHb, O2Hb, MeHbt) and blood electrolytes (Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Cl-) in exposure groups have significant differences with these in control (P<0.05) . The pH value decreased with the exposure time longer. However, it basically returned to normal level when terminating exposure for 120 min. The concentration of PCO2, MeHb and CoHb increased first and then decreased with the exposure time extension. Conversely, The PO2 and O2Hb decreased first and then increased with the exposure time longer. The concentration of endogenous CO, GLU, and AchE decreased and NO increased in exposure group 4 and the restoration observation group 1 compared with those in control (P<0.01) . In addition, there were pathological changes in lung and brain tissue of exposure group, such as inflammatory cell infiltration and edema.@*Conclusion@#The blood gas index, electrolytes, neurotransmitter, histopathology of lung and brain were changed to various degrees by thermobaric bomb gas exposure. These findings would provide some beneficial support for evaluating the damage effect of thermobaric bomb gas on organisms.

Treatment of patients with different degree of acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by inhalation of white smoke / 中华烧伤杂志

Objective@#To summarize the treatment experience of patients with different degree of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by inhalation of white smoke from burning smoke bomb.@*Methods@#A batch of 13 patients with different degree of ARDS caused by inhalation of white smoke from burning smoke bomb, including 2 patients complicated by pulmonary fibrosis at the late stage, were admitted to our unit in February 2016. Patients were divided into mild (9 cases), moderate (2 cases), and serious (2 cases) degree according to the ARDS Berlin diagnostic criteria. Patients with mild and moderate ARDS were conventionally treated with glucocorticoid. Patients with severe ARDS were sequentially treated with glucocorticoid and pirfenidone, and ventilator-assisted breathing, etc. were applied. The vital signs, arterial oxygenation index, changes of lung imaging, pulmonary ventilation function, general condition, and the other important organs/systems function were timely monitored according to the condition of patients. The above indexes were also monitored during the follow-up time of 10-15 months post injury. Data were processed with SPSS 18.0 statistical software.@*Results@#(1) The symptoms of respiratory system of patients with mild and moderate ARDS almost disappeared after 3 days′ treatment. Their arterial oxygenation index was decreased from post injury day 1 to 4, which almost recovered on post injury day 7 and completely recovered one month post injury. The symptoms of respiratory system of patients with severe ARDS almost disappeared at tranquillization condition 1-3 month (s) post injury. Their arterial oxygenation index was decreased from post injury day 3 to 21, which gradually recovered 1-3 month (s) post injury and was normal 15 months post injury. (2) Within 24 hours post injury, there was no obvious abnormality or only a little texture enlargement of lung in image of chest CT or X-rays of patients with mild and moderate ARDS. One patient with moderate ARDS had diffuse patchy and ground-glass like increased density shadow (pulmonary exudation for short) at post injury hour 96. Chest iconography of all patients with mild and moderate ARDS showed no abnormalities 10 months post injury. Both lungs of each of the two patients with severe ARDS showed obvious pulmonary exudation at post injury hours 45 and 75, respectively. One patient with severe ARDS showed no abnormality in chest image 10 months post injury, but there was still a small mesh-like increased density shadow in double lobes with slight adhesion of pleura in the other patient with severe ARDS 15 months post injury. (3) All patients showed severe restrictive hypoventilation when admitted to hospital. Pulmonary ventilation function of patients with mild and moderate ARDS recovered to normal one month post injury, and they could do exercises like running, etc. Pulmonary ventilation function of one patient with severe ARDS recovered to normal 6 months post injury, and the patient could do exercises like running, etc. The other patient with severe ARDS showed mild restrictive hypoventilation 15 months post injury and could do exercises like rapid walking, etc. (4) The condition of all mild and one moderate ARDS patients was better on post injury day 3, and they were transferred to the local hospital for subsequent treatment and left hospital on post injury day 21. One patient with moderate ARDS healed and left hospital on post injury day 29. Patients with severe ARDS healed and left hospital on post injury day 81. During the follow-up time of 10-15 months post injury, the other important organs/systems of all patients showed no abnormality, and there was no adverse reaction of glucocorticoid like osteoporosis, femoral head necrosis, or metabolic disorder. Two patients with severe ARDS did not have any adverse reaction of pirfenidone like liver function damage, photosensitivity, anorexia, or lethargy.@*Conclusions@#Early enough and uninterrupted application of glucocorticoid can significantly reduce the ARDS of patients caused by inhalation of white smoke from burning smoke bomb. Sequential application of glucocorticoid and pirfenidone can effectively treat pulmonary fibrosis at the late stage.

Mind Bomb-2 Regulates Hippocampus-dependent Memory Formation and Synaptic Plasticity

Notch signaling is a key regulator of neuronal fate during embryonic development, but its function in the adult brain is still largely unknown. Mind bomb-2 (Mib2) is an essential positive regulator of the Notch pathway, which acts in the Notch signal-sending cells. Therefore, genetic deletion of Mib2 in the mouse brain might help understand Notch signaling-mediated cell-cell interactions between neurons and their physiological function. Here we show that deletion of Mib2 in the mouse brain results in impaired hippocampal spatial memory and contextual fear memory. Accordingly, we found impaired hippocampal synaptic plasticity in Mib2 knock-out (KO) mice; however, basal synaptic transmission did not change at the Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapses. Using western blot analysis, we found that the level of cleaved Notch1 was lower in Mib2 KO mice than in wild type (WT) littermates after mild foot shock. Taken together, these data suggest that Mib2 plays a critical role in synaptic plasticity and spatial memory through the Notch signaling pathway.

Serial bomb blasts in north-east India: A postmortem study.

Terrorism has become a global phenomenon and most of the countries, whether developed or developing, are facing terror activities. Recently the terror activities have become a regular feature in India where more than 15 major terrorist strikes occurred from 2008 to 2010. Assam, the gateway of northeast India, on 30th October 2008 witnessed a strategically planned terrorist multiple consequential serial bomb blast attack where more than 13 bombs were exploded within a span of merely 10-20 minutes. The news on the next day indicated the initial death of 66 persons; and 470 sustained minor to severe injuries during the explosions in different places. Out of these ultimately 90 persons had died, which was the highest mortality in any blast in the Assam till that date. The dead bodies of 56 victims were brought to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital mortuary for postmortem examination. During autopsy apart from the demographic data collected on interaction with police, relatives of the victims and inquest papers of every victim, the postmortem findings were recorded in details and the difficulties faced in the management of this disaster in mortuary will be discussed in this paper.

Transfer of ERR for radiation-related leukemia from Japanese population to Chinese population / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective To establish a transfer model for excess relative risk (ERR) for radiation-related leukemia from Japanese population to Chinese population.Methods Combined ERR of several subtypes of leukemia published in 1994, with the corresponding leukemia baseline incidence rates obtained from Cancer Incidence in Five Continents Vol.Ⅸ (CI5-Ⅸ) for Japanese population and Chinese population, a weighted risk transfer model was employed between an additive model and a multiplicative model, to execute ERR transfer.Results A range of weighing factors was proposed for risk transfer models:weighing factor was 0.4 for male and 0.3 for female, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia and chronic myeloid leukemia.The uncertainty for ERR transfer was characterized by lognormal distribution.Conclusions Based on the difference of baseline incidence rate for subtypes of leukemia between Japanese population and Chinese population, the transfer model and these weighing factors discussed in the present study could be applicable to transfer ERR for radiation-related leukemia from Japanese population to Chinese population.

The Investigation for Damage Patterns by Experimental Detonations of a Hand Grenade / 대한법의학회지

Deaths caused by grenades hardly occur except for during wartime, and can be seen as a particular incident that can be observed only within the military or by acts of terrorism. However, there has never been any data which tried to analyze the damage patterns through mock grenade explosions. So far, the processes leading to deaths were merely inferred by reconstructing the situation with limited intelligence after the incidents have already occurred. Therefore, the authors believe that having mock grenade explosions in order to compare and study the observances with those of the actual incident will be helpful for a more precise and objective medical jurisprudence, and thus have summarized the damage patterned obtained on 8 butchered pigs, that were 6~8 months old, about 100 cm in length and 70~100 kg in weight by photographing with radioactive rays and running autopsies after detonating grenades on them. In conclusion, if there was extensive loss of body parts, the grenade probably exploded when in contact with the lost body parts. If fractures were found the grenade is likely to have detonated contacting or within 25 cm of distance with the body, and if there were no lacerations or loss of body parts the grenade probably exploded at a distance of at least 50 cm. If soot was prevalent on the deceased's body, the grenade is likely to have exploded within a distance of 25 cm from the body at a free floating state, in which it was not in contact with the ground or the body. Lastly, if no soot was found, the grenade most probably detonated at a distance of 50 cm or more. The posture or the direction of the body cannot give precise clues of the victim's state before theexplosion, and a hasty presupposition could be very dangerous in case of contact explosions especially.

Non-cancer Diseases of Korean Atomic Bomb Survivors in Residence at Hapcheon, Republic of Korea

Many Koreans, in addition to Japanese, were killed or injured by the atomic bombs detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945. Our study examined noncancer diseases of Korean A-bomb survivors in residence at Hapcheon, Republic of Korea and evaluated whether they had significantly higher prevalence of noncancer diseases than non-exposed people. We evaluated a number of tests, including anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, blood chemistry, hepatitis B surface antigen, and urinalysis, of survivors (n=223) and controls (n=372). Univariate analysis revealed significantly lower fasting glucose and creatinine, and higher diastolic blood pressure, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and blood urea nitrogen levels in the survivors than in the controls. The calculation of crude prevalence ratios (PRs) revealed that A-bomb survivors had a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension (PR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.00-1.35) and chronic liver disease (2.20; 1.59-3.06) than controls. After adjusting for covariates (age, sex, body mass index, marital status, education, alcohol consumption, and smoking), A-bomb survivors had a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension (1.24; 1.06-1.44), chronic liver disease (2.07; 1.51-2.84), and hypercholesterolemia (1.79; 1.11-2.90) than controls. This study suggests that A-bomb exposure is associated with a higher prevalence of non-cancer diseases in Korean survivors.