[A new biological irradiator for the laboratory]. / Un nuovo irradiatore biologico da laboratorio.

The use of high doses (15-20 Gy) of X- or gamma-rays to irradiate blood-derived materials is a common practice by now. It is usual especially when materials must be transfused into non-immunocompetent patients. This is done to avoid the so-called GVH disease. Nowadays, for this purpose, units containing radioactive gamma-emitting sources with high activity and long half-life (usually 137Cs) are on the market. The characteristics of these "irradiators" allow their implementation in any laboratory with no need of structural shieldings. In spite of it, serious accidents (e.g., fire, fallings, etc.) which could imply hazards for the operating staff and even the general population, cannot be excluded. At the same time, the problem of long-term disposal of exhausted sources cannot be neglected. For these reasons, a new type of self-shielded irradiator was designed. It is equipped with an X-ray tube, operating at nearly 200-kV voltage, with 12-mA anodic current. The system is water- and oil-cooled and can work for a long time without thermal overloads. In this paper, the environmental and dosimetric measurements for beam characterization are reported. The system can produce beams with satisfactory characteristics for this specific problem. Moreover, its use may greatly reduce administrative radioprotection problems.

[Chernobyl accident: dosimetric evaluation and estimation of risks]. / Incidente di Chernobyl. Valutazioni dosimetriche e stime dei rischi.

The results of dosimetric evaluations carried out after Chernobyl accident in the Health Physics Department of Niguarda Ca' Granda Hospital (Milan) on air, rain and ground contamination are presented. The results obtained show that the incidence of stochastic late effects, both somatic and genetic, will be so low that practically will not be distinguishable from "natural" incidence.

[The true error and the attributed error: analysis of the causes and remedies from specimen collection to response]. / L'errore vero e l'errore attribuito: analisi delle cause e dei rimedi dal prelievo alla risposta.

After a brief definition of accidental, systematic error and blunder, the AA. analyse the causes and remedies of the error, before and during the laboratory stage. During the latter they analyse the manual and automatic steps of the tests. The AA. conclude that the modern laboratory is a very efficient and sometimes resolving means in order to formulate a diagnosis. It's not the diagnosis.