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International Journal of Low Radiation

Subscription journal
ISSN (Print) 1477-6545 - ISSN (Online) 1741-9190
Published by Inderscience Publishers

[367 journals]

Evaluation of the dose and of the risk of cancer induction associated with the use of transmission X-ray body scanners using the Monte Carlo MCNPX code
- Authors: Samanda Cristine Arruda Correa; Josilto Oliveira de Aquino; Edmilson Monteiro de Souza; Ademir Xavier da Silva
  Pages: 340 - 354
  Abstract: In recent years, X-ray body scanners have been introduced at airports, penitentiaries and other places with considerable movement of people in order to combat drug trafficking, the entry of illegal materials and terrorism. However, although the application of this equipment in the national security area is indeed relevant, its use has caused a great deal of controversy, especially with regard to the doses absorbed and to the cancer induction risk associated with these exposures. The aim of this study is to use the Monte Carlo MCNPX code and the male adult voxel (MAX) and female adult voxel (FAX) phantoms, to evaluate the absorbed dose, effective dose and risk of cancer incidence attributable to exposures of individuals submitted to transmission X-ray body scanners in several projections. The effective dose values were calculated as recommended by the ICRP Publication 103 and the risk of cancer incidence were estimated through the BEIR VII Report.
  Keywords: MCNP; Monte Carlo simulation; absorbed dose; cancer risk; X-ray body scanners; border security; national security; low radiation; effective dose.
  Citation: International Journal of Low Radiation, Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2011) pp. 340 - 354
  PubDate: 2012-06-04T23:20:50-05:00
  DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2011.047180
  Issue No: Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2012)
External and internal radiation doses due to alpha activity in Tafila district, Jordan
- Authors: Abdul-Wali Ajlouni; Mahmoud K. Kullab; Kholoud M. Kharisat
 Pages: 355 - 362
 Abstract: Tafila district of Jordan is unique in the presence of phosphate mines and hot spa which are the major sources of natural radioactivity. Natural radionuclides transfer from soil to vegetables grown in the region, and become a part of people's food. In this study, 16 soil and vegetable samples from Tafila district were collected from eight locations. External absorbed dose rates were calculated to be in the range of 11.75-217.08 nGy/h, with an overall mean value of 105.4 nGy/h. This value is higher than the corresponding population-weighted (world averaged) value of 60 nGy/h. The annual effective dose was found to vary from 27.44 μSv/y to more than 500 μSv/y with an average of 246.2 μSv/y, which is higher than the international ranges. The internal effective dose due to 238U, 234U and 235U for fresh weights of vegetables were found to be in the range from 7.65 ×; 10−4 µSv/y to 3.16 × 10−2 µSv/y for 238U, 9.31 × 10−4 µSv/y to 3.37 × 10−2 µSv/y for 234U and 1.2 × 10−4 µSv/y to 1.55 × 10−3 µSv/y for 235U.
 Keywords: soil; vegetables; alpha spectrometry; environmental radioactivity; Tafila district; effective dose; internal dose; Jordan; low radiation; phosphate mines; hot spas; natural radioactivity; absorbed dose.
 Citation: International Journal of Low Radiation, Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2011) pp. 355 - 362
 PubDate: 2012-06-04T23:20:50-05:00
 DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2011.047187
 Issue No: Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2012)
Dosimetry analysis of two new design 103Pd interstitial brachytherapy sources
- Authors: Pooneh Saidi; Mahdi Sadeghi; Alireza Shirazi; Seied Rabie Mahdavi; Mohammad Mirzaii
 Pages: 363 - 373
 Abstract: With increased demand for low 103Pd (palladium) seed sources, to treat prostate and eye cancers, new sources have been designed and introduced. This paper presents the two new palladium brachytherapy sources, IR03-103Pd and IR04-103Pd that have been developed at Agricultural, Medical & Industrial Research School. The dosimetric parameters, such as the dose rate constant &923;, the radial dose function g(r) and the anisotropy function F(r, θ), around the sources have been characterised using Version 5 Monte Carlo radiation transport code in accordance with the update AAPM Task Group No. 43 Report (TG-43U1). The results indicated the dose rate constant of 0.689 ± 0.02 and 0.667 ± 0.02 cGy h−1 U−1 for the IR03-103Pd and IR04-103Pd sources, respectively, which are in acceptable agreement with other commercial seeds. The calculated results were compared with published results for those of other source manufacturers. However, they show an acceptable dose distribution, using for clinical applications is pending experimental dosimetry.
 Keywords: Monte Carlo radiation transport code; palladium brachytherapy; TG-43U1; MCNP5; low radiation; prostate cancer; eye cancer; dose distribution; brachytherapy sources.
 Citation: International Journal of Low Radiation, Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2011) pp. 363 - 373
 PubDate: 2012-06-04T23:20:50-05:00
 DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2011.047177
 Issue No: Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2012)
Low doses of γ-radiation induce consistent protein expression changes in human leukocytes
- Authors: Sara Skiöld; Susanne Becker; Ulf Hellman; Gert Auer; Ingemar Näslund; Mats Harms-Ringdahl; Siamak Haghdoost
  Pages: 374 - 387
  Abstract: Twenty percent of cancer patients experience adverse effects after radiotherapy. The therapeutic doses are adjusted to the most sensitive individuals, resulting in a suboptimal dose for many patients. At present there is no screening system available to predict individual radiosensitivity. The main aim of this study is to investigate differences in protein expression pathways induced by low doses of radiation in whole blood obtained from radiosensitive and non-radiosensitive patients. To address this aim, a protocol for exposure condition, dose and analysis of whole blood was developed. The conditions for handling blood samples were optimised. The optimal doses and post irradiation conditions were determined. We found that 1 mGy and 150 mGy significantly changed protein expression in leukocytes collected from the two donors. The result shows that the protocol developed is suitable for characterisation of proteomic profiles associated with low dose exposure of leukocytes.
  Keywords: low dose radiation; oxidative stress; proteomics; whole blood; gamma radiation; low radiation; cancer patients; radiotherapy; screening; radiosensitivity; protein expression pathways; leukocytes.
  Citation: International Journal of Low Radiation, Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2011) pp. 374 - 387
  PubDate: 2012-06-04T23:20:50-05:00
  DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2011.047188
  Issue No: Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2012)
Expression of apoptotic genes can distinguish radiation workers from normal population
- Authors: Mohammad Taghi Bahreyni-Toossi; Reza Fardid; Abdolrahim Rezaee; Ariane Sadr-nabavi; Houshang Rafatpanah; Mohammad Bolbolian
 Pages: 388 - 399
 Abstract: Ionising radiation can be produce different forms of DNA damage on living cells. Changes in biomarkers due to exposure to ionising radiation can be an appropriate tool for the immediate recognition of individuals exposed to radiation after a radiological accident or nuclear disaster. QPCR technique, as an approved method, can be used for analysing the expression levels of sensitive genes following radiation exposure. Gene expression studies were performed on a group of 36 radiation workers and 36 matched-normal people without a history of radiation exposure. Mean gene expression values for control and irradiated groups were compared. Mean gene expression values for control and irradiated groups were compared. There were significant differences between the mean gene expressions of Bax and Bcl-2 (p<0.05), in normal and irradiated groups. The logistic regression model is able to correctly identify 77.8% of irradiated samples (specificity) and 75.0% of normal samples (sensitivity).
 Keywords: ionising radiation; radiation workers; low dose; biodosimetry; QPCR; Bax; Bcl-2; apoptosis; gene expression; apoptotic genes; low radiation; DNA damage; biomarkers; radiation exposure.
 Citation: International Journal of Low Radiation, Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2011) pp. 388 - 399
 PubDate: 2012-06-04T23:20:50-05:00
 DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2011.047184
 Issue No: Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2012)
Caffeine treatment enhances low dose γ-irradiation-induced chromatid-type aberrations in human leukaemia cells, but not in human normal fibroblast cells in culture
- Authors: Mitra N. Jha; Joel S. Bedford; Smita Jha; Kedar N. Prasad
  Pages: 400 - 411
  Abstract: We investigated the effect of caffeine on low dose γ-radiation-induced chromosomal damage in human T-cell leukaemia cells (Jurkat T-cells) and two normal human fibroblast cell lines (AG1522 and GM2149). Low doses of gamma-radiation were found to increase the levels of chromatid gaps and breaks in a dose-dependent manner in both normal and cancer cells; however, cancer cells appeared to be more sensitive than the normal cells. Caffeine treatment before radiation exposure significantly increased the levels of chromatid gaps and breaks in Jurkat T-cells at all radiation doses, but it did not increase the level of these aberrations in normal cells. The mechanisms of this differential effect of caffeine in cancer cells and normal cells are unknown; however, G2-delay allows more time for rejoining of chromosome breakage to occur, then elimination of this delay by caffeine in tumour cells, not in normal cells might account for difference.
  Keywords: gamma irradiation; caffeine treatment; low dose radiation; chromatid-type aberrations; human leukaemia; fibroblast cells; dose-dependent manner; sensitivity; low radiation; cancer cells; tumour cells.
  Citation: International Journal of Low Radiation, Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2011) pp. 400 - 411
  PubDate: 2012-06-04T23:20:50-05:00
  DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2011.047176
  Issue No: Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2012)
A chronic very low dose of gamma-rays alters cell adhesion
- Authors: Laetitia Lacoste-Collin; Suzanne Jozan; Veronica Pereda; Monique Courtade-Saïdi
 Pages: 412 - 428
 Abstract: The biological effects of very low doses of ionising radiation are difficult to assess. We previously observed a delay of death by lymphoma in two different mouse strains continuously irradiated (γ-rays) with a dose rate of 10 cGy year−1. Cellular mechanisms likely to lead to slowing tumour growth were explored. Human lymphoid and epithelial cell lines (HL60 and MCF7) were irradiated in vitro at very low dose rate of 4 cGy month−1. Proliferation was not modified in HL60 and MCF7 cells. However, irradiated MCF7 adherent cells showed a lower cell attachment to support partly related to a slight decrease in expression levels of α6 and β4 integrins. We also observed a transient adaptive response during at least two weeks after the beginning of the irradiation in both cell lines. These results demonstrate the ability of tiny amounts of gamma-irradiation to alter cell attachment to support and to induce an adaptive response.
 Keywords: low-dose rate radiation; cell adhesion; adaptive response; HL60; MCF7; low radiation; gamma irradiation; ionising radiation; tumour growth.
 Citation: International Journal of Low Radiation, Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2011) pp. 412 - 428
 PubDate: 2012-06-04T23:20:50-05:00
 DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2011.047185
 Issue No: Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2012)
A simple radon chamber for use with soil gas for calibration of radon measuring devices and instruments
- Authors: Darwish Al-Azmi; N. Karunakara
 Pages: 429 - 439
 Abstract: A simple and easy to use radon calibration chamber of volume of 216 litres was designed and constructed for applications in calibration of radon measuring devices and for research studies. The main advantage of this chamber is that instead of using 226Ra source to generate the 222Rn inside the chamber, soil gas is utilised as a source of 222Rn. Soil gas is drawn from the soil using a pump to fill the chamber in order to obtain radon with high concentrations inside the chamber. The advantage of this technique is that the desired radon concentration (ranging from few Bq/m³ to about kBq/m³) can be attained easily and fast at any time by filling the chamber with different volumes of soil gas. After demonstrating the usefulness of the technique, calibration experiments were carried out for radon measuring devices (charcoal canisters and scintillation cell) using the calibration chamber constructed in the present study.
 Keywords: soil gas; radon chamber; radon calibration; radon gas measurements; scintillation cells; charcoal canisters; radon measurement.
 Citation: International Journal of Low Radiation, Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2011) pp. 429 - 439
 PubDate: 2012-06-04T23:20:50-05:00
 DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2011.047183
 Issue No: Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2012)
Abstracts from the Ninth LOWARD International Conference
- Authors: Anon
  Pages: 440 - 487
  Abstract: 35 abstracts are listed. They are taken from papers presented at the Ninth LOWRAD International Conference on 'The Effects of Low and Very Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation on Human Health and Biotopes', held in Barcelona, Spain from 13-15 December, 2010.
  Keywords: low radiation; low dose effects; ionising radiation; human health; biotopes; LOWRAD.
  Citation: International Journal of Low Radiation, Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2011) pp. 440 - 487
  PubDate: 2012-06-04T23:20:50-05:00
  DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2011.047189
  Issue No: Vol. 8, No. 5/6 (2012)