The Hiroshima A-Bomb Black Rain and the Lifespan Study; A Resolution of the Enigma.

The Japanese Lifespan Study (LSS) of the A-Bomb survivors is the principal basis of the current legal radiological framework. Evidence provided for the first time here shows that internal exposure to radiologically significant quantities of Uranium-234 contained in sub-micron particle rainout from the un-fissioned weapon warhead, the Black Rain, is a missing exposure in the LSS analysis. It is argued that this is responsible for a background excess cancer risk in all the LSS dose groups. This, together with epidemiological evidence based on unexposed controls falsifies the LSS cancer vs. dose regression coefficients for internal exposure.

APPLICATION OF ART THERAPY FOR CORRECTION OF PERSONAL DISORDERS OF PSYCHOEMOTIONAL STATE OF CHILDREN - INHABITANTS OF RADIATION POLLUTED TERRITORIES AND CHILDREN DISPLACED FROM THE ARMED CONFLICT ON THE SOUTHERN EAST OF UKRAINE. / ZASTOSUVANNIa ART-TERAPIÏ DLIa KOREKTsIÏ PORUShEN' PSYKhOEMOTsIY̆NOGO STANU DITEY̆-MEShKANTsIV RADIOAKTYVNO ZABRUDNENYKh TERYTORIY̆ TA DITEY̆, PEREMIShchENYKh IZ ZONY ZBROY̆NOGO KONFLIKTU NA PIVDENNOMU SKhODI UKRAÏNY.

OBJECTIVE: to identify the psycho-emotional state of children - residents of radioactively contaminated territories and children displaced from the zone of armed conflict in the south-east of Ukraine, and evaluate the effectiveness of art therapy application to correct its disturbances. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The psycho-emotional state was determined in 113 children, of which 57 children from radioactively contaminated territories with 137Cs content in the body from 269 Bq to 7024 Bq (group I) and 56 chil- dren displaced from the zone of military conflict in the Southeast of Ukraine (group II). The age of children ranged from 10 to 17 years. The children were hospitalized to the childrens' clinics of the NRCRM because of functional dis- orders and chronic somatic pathology. The psycho-emotional state of children was evaluated using the «non-exis- tent animal¼ test. It was analyzed for three symptoms - anxiety, aggressiveness and neuropsychiatric exhaustion and was evaluated by scoring points. Correction of the psychoemotional condition was carried out by the method of art therapy in the form of a serial drawing. Psychological testing was performed twice: at admission to the hospital and after the end of the art therapy. RESULTS: The results of the primary examination of the psycho-emotional state of children by the «non-existent ani- mal¼ test showed that in children - residents of radioactively contaminated territories the state of anxiety was reg- istered in all 57 children (100 %), the state of aggression - in 38 children (66.7%); exhaustion - in 37 children (64.9 %). In children who have been displaced from the zone of armed conflict in the south-east of Ukraine, the state of anxiety was also registered in all 56 children (100 %), the status of aggression was determined in 53 chil- dren (94.6 %), and the state of exhaustion - in 44 children (78.6 %). It was established that in children displaced from the combat zone in the Southeast of Ukraine, the quantitative indices of anxiety and aggression states were sig- nificantly higher than in children living in radioactively contaminated territories (p < 0.001), whereas nor by frequen- cy, nor by the degree of severity of exhaustion state they did not clearly differ (p > 0.05). Correlation analysis with the definition of Spearman's criterion did not reveal likely association between the content of 137Cs in the body of children - residents of radioactively contaminated territories and the peculiarities of their psycho-emotional state. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the art therapy method in the form of a serial drawing for children - residents of radioac- tively contaminated territories and children moved from the combat zone in the south-east of Ukraine, led to a sig- nificant positive effect, which was characterized by a decrease in the manifestations of symptoms of anxiety and aggressiveness. The state of exhaustion was less well corrected and its indices only had a tendency to improve. Thus, the method of art therapy in the form of a serial drawing is characterized by efficiency, simplicity of execution, low cost, it can be widely used in children's teams to correct disorders of the psycho-emotional state.

Iodine Prophylaxis in the Case of Nuclear Accident.

BACKGROUND: On 26th April, 1986 the greatest accident of nuclear plant in Czernobyl occured and isotopes with high percentage of release were erupted: 33-Xe, 131-I, 132-Te, 134-Cs and 137-Cs. The radioactivity of the isotopes was very high - for instance: 33-Xe 6500 PBq, 131-I 1760 PBq. Rest of the 15 isotopes represented similar radioactivity with shorter percentage of release. The most exposed group of people were 237 liquidators, and 11600 people living around had to be evacuated when the limit dose for a person (5mSv) was crossed. Ionizing radiation on the molecular level produces high energy radicals, water radiolysis and ionization of the atoms leading to damage of the enzymes activity centers and receptors, cell membranes DNA, intracellular lysosomes, and especially important for ATP synthesis - mitochondria. These destructions lead to tissue and organs damage. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is the presentation of the protective property of iodine application in the case of nuclear accident. METHODS: In Poland at that time, effective iodine prophylaxis did not exist. In the face of such exposition, a special Governement Commission was appointed. When permissioned maximal dose for children and adolescents 50mSv appeared in some areas of the country, the Commission made a decision about obligatory administration of a single pharmacological dose of potassium iodide for all children and adolescents till age 16. No relevant recent patents were available for this WHO report. RESULTS: In this way, the dose of 131-I to thyroid for inhabitants in high, moderated, and low contaminated regions were reduced by about 45%. However, from 1987 to 1997 increase in prevalence of the differentiated thyroid cancer in adults in Polish population especially in women over 40 years old in the southern part of Poland was observed. CONCLUSION: Actually in European countries work 185 nuclear power plants and to 2045 another 100 is planned. In 1999, WHO issued recommendations on iodine prophylaxis in the case of nuclear accident.

Estimation of the respiratory tract burden resulting from a prolonged inhalation exposure to aerosols of DU, based on the U in a 24-h urine sample taken years after exposure.

A procedure is presented to estimate the respiratory tract burden from a prolonged inhalation exposure to particulate matter of depleted uranium, in cases where the rate of deposition is an unknown function. The precise range of possible values is identified. The calculations are based on the amount of depleted uranium measured in a single 24-h urine sample. In order to present an example, a simplified pharmacokinetical model is introduced. The results presented in this article are valid for any pharmacokinetical model represented by homogeneous linear differential equations with constant coefficients and non-zero initial values, and that clearly includes the International Commission on Radiological Protection model. In fact, they are applicable to any monitorable quantity measured over a short period of time, a monitorable quantity with a kinetic that can be described using a structurally similar system of differential equations to one describing these pharmacokinetical models.

Plutonium and other alpha emitters in mushrooms from Poland, Spain and Ukraine.

The paper presents results on Pu, U and Th isotope activity concentration measurements in some mushroom samples collected in Poland, Spain and Ukraine. The sampling sites differ a lot with regard to observed levels of Pu, its origin and isotope ratios as well as the environmental properties. Some of the Polish samples were collected in the northeastern part of the country with up to 30 Bq/m2 of Chernobyl Pu deposition. Other Polish and the Spanish samples are from areas with almost exclusively global fallout Pu present. Ukrainian samples were collected in a highly contaminated area with a deposition of about 3.7 kBq/m2 of Chernobyl (239-240)Pu. The maximum (239+240)Pu activity concentration was found equal to (54+/-4) Bq/kg (dw--dry weight) for a Ukrainian Cantharellus cibarius sample. Ukrainian samples have an extremely high radiocesium level, with maximum of (51+/-4) MBq/kg (dw). The maximum (239+240)Pu activity concentration for Polish samples was (81+/-5) mBq/kg (dw) for Xerocomus badius. From the isotopic ratio in this sample it can be concluded that Chernobyl fallout is the origin of Pu. More than twice as large was the Spanish maximum for Hebeloma cylindrosporum but with only global fallout Pu. Some aspects of the transfer of nuclides to fruit bodies is discussed and in some cases the transfer factors or aggregation coefficients were calculated. Especially high transfer factors were found for Hebeloma cylindrosporum from Spain.

Comparisons of lung tumour mortality risk in the Japanese A-bomb survivors and in the Colorado Plateau uranium miners: support for the ICRP lung model.

PURPOSES: To estimate the ratio of risks for exposure to radon progeny relative to low-LET radiation based on human lung cancer data, taking account of possible time and age variations in radiation-induced lung cancer risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fitting two sorts of time- and age-adjusted relative risk models to a case-control dataset nested within the Colorado Plateau uranium miner cohort and to the Japanese atomic (A)-bomb survivor mortality data. RESULTS: If all A-bomb survivors are compared with the Colorado data, there are statistically significant (two-sided p < 0.05) differences between the two datasets in the pattern of the variation of relative risk with time after exposure, age at exposure and attained age. The excess relative risk decreases much faster with time, age at exposure and attained age in the Colorado uranium miners than in the Japanese A-bomb survivors. If only male A-bomb survivors are compared with the Colorado data, there are no longer statistically significant differences between the two datasets in the pattern of variation of relative risk with time after exposure, age at exposure or attained age. There are no statistically significant differences between the male and female A-bomb survivors in the speed of reduction of relative risk with time after exposure, age at exposure or attained age, although there are indications of rather faster reduction of relative risk with time and age among male survivors than among female survivors. The implicit risk conversion factor for exposure to radon progeny relative to the A-bomb radiation in the male survivors is 1.8 x 10(-2) Sv WLM(-1) (95% CI 6.1 x10(-3), 1.1 x 10(-1)) using a model with exponential adjustments for the effects of radiation for time since exposure and age at exposure, and 1.9 x 10(-2) Sv WLM(-1) (95% CI 6.2 x 10(-3), 1.6 x 10(-1)) using a model with adjustments for the effects of radiation proportional to powers of time since exposure and attained age. Estimates of the risk conversion factor calculated using variant assumptions as to the definition of lung cancer in the Colorado data, or by excluding miners for whom exposure estimates may be less reliable, are very similar. The absence of information on cigarette smoking in the Japanese A-bomb survivors, and the possibility that this may confound the time trends in radiation-induced lung cancer risk in that cohort, imply that these findings should be interpreted with caution. CONCLUSIONS: There are no statistically significant differences between the male A-bomb survivors data and the Colorado miner data in the pattern of variation of relative risk with time after exposure and age at exposure. The risk conversion factor is very close to the value suggested by the latest ICRP lung model, albeit with substantial uncertainties.

Immunomodulatory and clinical effects of Viscum album (Iscador M and Iscador P) in children with recurrent respiratory infections as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Ninety-two children 5 to 14 years of age living in areas exposed to the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl with recurrent respiratory infections (RRIs) were treated after randomization with either Viscum album praeparatum mali or pini (Iscador M or P). The dosage was two subcutaneous injections a week for 5 weeks with individual doses of 0.001 mg to 1.0 mg. Both Viscum album preparations were effective in significantly reducing clinical symptoms. One year after a single treatment course, the frequency of RRI relapses decreased by 78% and 73%, respectively. Immunomodulatory effects were assessed by investigation of lymphocyte subsets, natural killer (NK) cell activity, phagocytic and oxidative activity of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and antiviral activity of serum before and 1 week after treatment. Viscum album therapy resulted in normalization of initial immune indices either below or above the normal ranges. High levels of antiviral activity before treatment were significantly decreased by Viscum album mali. Viscum album treatment should be studied further in children with RRI.

[The demonstration of environmental radioactive contamination by its gametocidal action]. / Indikatsiia radioaktivnogo zagriazneniia okruzhaiushchei sredy po ego gametotsidnomu deistviiu.

Two Viola matutina Klok. populations growing in two areas of the thirty-kilometer zone of Chernobyl varying in gamma radiation background have been studied. Stable, repeated (during a period of 1987-1988) differences between the populations with respect to the amount of sterile pollen and the pattern of anther distribution curves have been revealed. It is suggested that the increased radiation loading is the cause of the increased occurrence of sterile pollen in one of the populations.

The effects of radiation on the thyroid gland: a quantitative analysis.

Radiation can cause cancer of the thyroid, and the thyroid is one of the most radiosensitive tissues. Children are much more sensitive to thyroid irradiation than are adults. The effectiveness of thyroid iodination from radioisotopes of iodine is largely a function of the half-life of the isotope. Short-lived isotopes (132I), which give a high dose rate, are essentially equivalent, rad for rad, to x-irradiation. Long-lived isotopes (131I) are one-fifth or less as effective as x-ray. Stimulation of the thyroid by TSH markedly increases the carcinogenic potential of thyroid irradiation, and inhibition of TSH stimulation probably decreases the carcinogenic effects of radiation.