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Reconstruction of (131)I radioactive contamination in Ukraine caused by the Chernobyl accident using atmospheric transport modelling.

The evaluation of (131)I air and ground contamination field formation in the territory of Ukraine was made using the model of atmospheric transport LEDI (Lagrangian-Eulerian DIffusion model). The (131)I atmospheric transport over the territory of Ukraine was simulated during the first 12 days after the accident (from 26 April to 7 May 1986) using real aerological information and rain measurement network data. The airborne (131)I concentration and ground deposition fields were calculated as the database for subsequent thyroid dose reconstruction for inhabitants of radioactive contaminated regions. The small-scale deposition field variability is assessed using data of (137)Cs detailed measurements in the territory of Ukraine. The obtained results are compared with available data of radioiodine daily deposition measurements made at the network of meteorological stations in Ukraine and data of the assessments of (131)I soil contamination obtained from the (129)I measurements.

Air Movements↗

Study design: evaluating gene-environment interactions in the etiology of breast cancer - the WECARE study.

INTRODUCTION: Deficiencies in cellular responses to DNA damage can predispose to cancer. Ionizing radiation can cause cluster damage and double-strand breaks (DSBs) that pose problems for cellular repair processes. Three genes (ATM, BRCA1, and BRCA2) encode products that are essential for the normal cellular response to DSBs, but predispose to breast cancer when mutated. DESIGN: To examine the joint roles of radiation exposure and genetic susceptibility in the etiology of breast cancer, we designed a case-control study nested within five population-based cancer registries. We hypothesized that a woman carrying a mutant allele in one of these genes is more susceptible to radiation-induced breast cancer than is a non-carrier. In our study, 700 women with asynchronous bilateral breast cancer were individually matched to 1400 controls with unilateral breast cancer on date and age at diagnosis of the first breast cancer, race, and registry region, and counter-matched on radiation therapy. Each triplet comprised two women who received radiation therapy and one woman who did not. Radiation absorbed dose to the contralateral breast after initial treatment was estimated with a comprehensive dose reconstruction approach that included experimental measurements in anthropomorphic and water phantoms applying patient treatment parameters. Blood samples were collected from all participants for genetic analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Our study design improves the potential for detecting gene-environment interactions for diseases when both gene mutations and the environmental exposures of interest are rare in the general population. This is particularly applicable to the study of bilateral breast cancer because both radiation dose and genetic susceptibility have important etiologic roles, possibly by interactive mechanisms. By using counter-matching, we optimized the informativeness of the collected dosimetry data by increasing the variability of radiation dose within the case-control sets and enhanced our ability to detect radiation-genotype interactions.

Adult↗

Comparison of X-ray dose-response curves obtained by chromosome painting using conventional and PAINT nomenclatures.

PURPOSE: The compare the suitability of PAINT and conventional nomenclature systems for the construction of chromosome aberration dose-effect curves for X-rays using FISH techniques, and to compare these curves with those based on solid-stained dicentrics analysed in first division metaphases by the FPG technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Blood samples were irradiated at 0.1, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Gy 180 kV X-rays. FISH painting was performed using probes for chromosomes 1, 4 and 11 in combination with a pan-centromeric probe. RESULTS: Translocations showed a higher background frequency than dicentrics. This influences the ratio of translocations:dicentrics at the lower doses and the uncertainties of dose-effect curves for translocations. The dose-effect curves for dicentrics obtained by FISH and solid stain were in close agreement. CONCLUSION: For short-term biological dosimetry purposes by FISH, the use of dic(BA) (PAINT nomenclature) or total dicentrics (conventional nomenclature) should give similar dose estimates. For dose reconstruction, the use of total or complete translocations result in similar uncertainties.

Adult↗

Gross tumor volume, critical prognostic factor in patients treated with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy for non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) has recently become widely available with applications for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These techniques represent a significant advance in the delivery of radiotherapy, including improved ability to delineate target contours, choose beam angles, and determine dose distributions more accurately than were previously available. The purpose of this study is to identify prognostic factors in a population of NSCLC patients treated with definitive 3D-CRT. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between March 1991 and December 1998, 207 patients with inoperable NSCLC were treated with definitive 3D-CRT. Tumor targets were contoured in multiple sections from a treatment planning computed tomography (CT) scan. Three-dimensional treatment volumes and normal structures were reconstructed. Doses to the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) reference point ranged from 60 to 83.85 Gy with a median dose of 70 Gy. The median dose inhomogeneity was +/- 5% across planning target volume. Outcome was analyzed by prognostic factors for NSCLC including pretreatment patient and tumor-related factors (age, gender, race, histology, clinical stage, tumor [T] stage, and node [N] stage), parameters from our 3D-CRT system (gross tumor volume [GTV] in cm3), irradiation dose prescribed to isocenter, volume of normal lung exceeding 20 Gy (V20), and treatment with or without chemotherapy. The median follow-up time was 24 months (range, 7.5 months to 7.5 years). RESULTS: One and two-year overall survival rates for the entire group were 59% and 41%, respectively. Overall survival, cause-specific survival, and local tumor control were most highly correlated with the GTV in cm3. On multivariate analysis the independent variable most predictive of survival was the GTV. Traditional staging such as T, N, and overall clinical staging were not independent prognostic factors. Patients receiving ICRU reference doses > or =70 Gy had better local control and cause-specific survivals than those treated with lower doses (p = 0.05). Increased irradiation dose did not improve overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: GTV as determined by CT and 3D-CRT planning is highly prognostic for overall and cause-specific survival and local tumor control and may be important in stratification of patients in prospective therapy trials. T, N, and overall stage were not independent prognostic factors in this population of patients treated nonsurgically. The value of dose escalation beyond 70 Gy should be tested prospectively by clinical trial.

Adult↗

Influence of radionuclides distributed in the whole body on the thyroid dose estimates obtained from direct thyroid measurements made in Belarus after the Chernobyl accident.

Thyroid dose reconstruction is most accurate when using the results of direct thyroid measurements, in which gamma radiation emitted by radionuclides present in the thyroid and in the remainder of the body is recorded by means of a radiation detector positioned against the neck. A large number of such measurements were performed in Belarus in May-June 1986. Owing to the short half-life of 131I and to the intake and accumulation of caesium radioisotopes (mainly 134Cs and 137Cs) in the body, the thyroid doses derived from thyroid measurements made after the beginning of June 1986 have so far been often considered to be unreliable. To evaluate the influence of the caesium radioisotopes to the signal recorded by an instrument performing measurement of 131I activity in the thyroid, a Monte Carlo method was used to calculate the calibration factors of that instrument. These calculations were made for males of six reference ages: newborn, 1, 5, 10 and 15 years old, and adult. The calibration factors were combined with estimated time-dependent intake functions for 131I and caesium radioisotopes. The fractions of the instrument indications that were due to 131I in thyroid were thus estimated as a function of the age of the subject that was measured and of the time elapsed since the accident. Using this information when processing the thyroid measurements made in May 1986 would improve the accuracy of the thyroid dose estimates, and may make it possible to use a larger proportion of the thyroid measurements made in June 1986.

Adolescent↗

Collaborative exercise on the use of FISH chromosome painting for retrospective biodosimetry of Mayak nuclear-industrial personnel.

PURPOSE: To investigate within the framework of a multilaboratory study the suitability of FISH chromosome painting to measure so-called stable translocations in peripheral lymphocytes of Mayak nuclear-industrial workers (from the Southern Urals) and their use for retrospective biodosimetry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Chromosime analyses were carried out from 69 workers who had received protracted occupational radiation exposures (0.012-6.065 Gy) up to approximately 40 years before blood sampling. Twenty-one unexposed people living in the same area were controls. A multicolour FISH-painting protocol with the target chromosomes 1, 4 and 8 simultaneously with a pancentromeric probe was used to score potentially transmissible chromosome-type aberrations (reciprocal translocations 2B and related 'one-way' patterns I-III according to the S&S classification). RESULTS: Individual biodosimetry estimates were obtained in terms of these potentially long-term surviving aberration types based on the linear component of a low dose-rate gamma-ray calibration curve produced using identical staining and scoring protocols. For comparison, the workers personal and total background doses were converted to red bone marrow doses. The estimated doses were mainly lower than would be predicted by the calibration curve, particularly at accumulated higher dose levels. CONCLUSIONS: Owing to the limited life-time of circulating T-lymphocytes, the long-term persistence of translocations in vivo requires the assumption of a clonal repopulation of these naturally senescing cells from the haemopoietic stem cell compartments. Obviously such a replacement cannot be fully achieved, leading to a temporal decline even of the yield of transmissible aberrations types. Assuming further a highly selective capacity of stem cells against any type of chromosomal damage and the fact that one must rely on partial genome findings, the potential of FISH chromosome painting for retrospective dose reconstruction is probably limited to a decade or so after high-level protracted radiation exposure.

Adult↗

Gamma-ray dose assessment after the 1994 radiation accident in Kiisa (Estonia): preliminary results.

Dose reconstruction using thermoluminescence (TL) of quartz, extracted from the ceramic plant pots, and using EPR of the sugar samples, was performed after the 1994 radiation accident in the village Kiisa (Estonia). A gamma-ray source 137Cs was located during approx. 28 days in one of the village dwelling houses. On the basis of preliminary results, some important details of the history of the accident have been clarified. It was shown, that the gamma-ray source most of the time was placed in the kitchen table drawer. Thus, the absorbed dose rate of whole-body exposure for three inhabitants of the house in Kiisa was defined by this location of the source.

Adolescent↗

Comparison of sample preparation and signal evaluation methods for EPR analysis of tooth enamel.

In dose reconstruction by EPR dosimetry with teeth various methods are applied to prepare tooth enamel samples and to evaluate the dosimetric signal. A comparison of seven frequently used methods in EPR dosimetry with tooth enamel was performed. The participating Institutes have applied their own procedure to prepare tooth enamel samples and to evaluate the dosimetric signal. The precision of the EPR measurement and the dependence of the estimated dosimetric signal with irradiation up to 1000 mGy were compared. The obtained results are consistent among the different methods. The reproducibility of the dosimetric signal and its estimated relation with the absorbed dose was found to be very close for the applied methods with one possible exception.

Dental Enamel↗

Luminescence dosimetry using building materials and personal objects.

There is a growing public awareness of the risk of accidental radiation exposure due to ageing nuclear power installations, illegal dumping of nuclear waste and terrorist activities, and of the consequential health risks to populations in addition to social and economic disturbance extending beyond national boundaries. In the event of catastrophic incidents where no direct radiation monitoring data are available, the application of retrospective dosimetry techniques such as luminescence may be employed with materials from the immediate environment to confirm values of cumulative gamma dose to compare with or augment computational modeling calculations. Application of the method to post-Chernobyl studies has resulted in the development of new procedures using fired building materials with the capability to measure cumulative doses owing to artificial sources of gamma radiation as low as 20 mGy. Combined with Monte Carlo simulations of photon transport, values of cumulative dose in brick can be presented in a form suitable for use in dose-reconstruction efforts. Recent investigations have also shown that certain types of cementitious building material, including concrete, mortar and plaster, and personal objects in the form of telephone cards containing microchips and dental ceramics have the potential to be used for retrospective dosimetry. Examples of the most recent research concerning new materials and examples of application to sites in the Former Soviet Union are discussed.

Construction Materials↗

Accurate dosimetry in 131I radionuclide therapy using patient-specific, 3-dimensional methods for SPECT reconstruction and absorbed dose calculation.

UNLABELLED: (131)I radionuclide therapy studies have not shown a strong relationship between tumor absorbed dose and response, possibly due to inaccuracies in activity quantification and dose estimation. The goal of this work was to establish the accuracy of (131)I activity quantification and absorbed dose estimation when patient-specific, 3-dimensional (3D) methods are used for SPECT reconstruction and for absorbed dose calculation. METHODS: Clinically realistic voxel-phantom simulations were used in the evaluation of activity quantification and dosimetry. SPECT reconstruction was performed using an ordered-subsets expectation maximization (OSEM) algorithm with compensation for scatter, attenuation, and 3D detector response. Based on the SPECT image and a patient-specific density map derived from CT, 3D dosimetry was performed using a newly implemented Monte Carlo code. Dosimetry was evaluated by comparing mean absorbed dose estimates calculated directly from the defined phantom activity map with those calculated from the SPECT image of the phantom. Finally, the 3D methods were applied to a radioimmunotherapy patient, and the mean tumor absorbed dose from the new calculation was compared with that from conventional dosimetry obtained from conjugate-view imaging. RESULTS: Overall, the accuracy of the SPECT-based absorbed dose estimates in the phantom was >12% for targets down to 16 mL and up to 35% for the smallest 7-mL tumor. To improve accuracy in the smallest tumor, more OSEM iterations may be needed. The relative SD from multiple realizations was <3% for all targets except for the smallest tumor. For the patient, the mean tumor absorbed dose estimate from the new Monte Carlo calculation was 7% higher than that from conventional dosimetry. CONCLUSION: For target sizes down to 16 mL, highly accurate and precise dosimetry can be obtained with 3D methods for SPECT reconstruction and absorbed dose estimation. In the future, these methods can be applied to patients to potentially establish correlations between tumor regression and the absorbed dose statistics from 3D dosimetry.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗

An application of the NCRP screening techniques to atmospheric radon releases from the former feed materials production center near Fernald, Ohio. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements has published a series of screening models for releases of radionuclides to the environment. These models have been used to prioritize radionuclides being considered in environmental dose reconstructions. The NCRP atmospheric models are also accepted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for demonstrating compliance with the constraint on releases of airborne radioactive materials to the environment from licensees other than power reactors. This study tested the NCRP atmospheric techniques by comparing annual average predicted air concentrations of radon with measured radon concentrations at 14 locations 43 m to 598 m downwind of the former U.S. Department of Energy Feed Materials Production Center (FMPC) near Fernald, Ohio, for the period 2 July 1985 to 2 July 1986. Predictions were made using five different sets of meteorological data as input: (1) NCRP default values; (2) composite FMPC site data; (3) data from the Greater Cincinnati Airport; (4) data from the Dayton, Ohio, airport; and (5) data collected at Miami University, located near Oxford, Ohio. Following are the respective medians and ranges of the ratio of the predicted to observed annual radon air concentrations for each of these sources of meteorological data: (1) 5.2, 0.9-54; (2) 1.4, 0.1-8.2; (3) 0.7, 0.1-7.2; (4) 0.7, 0.1-8.4; and (5) 0.6, 0.1-10. The stated goal of the NCRP models is to predict doses that do not underpredict actual doses by greater than a factor of 10. In this comparison, all of the meteorological data produced air concentration predictions that meet this criteria. However, to ensure that final doses meet this criterion, one would need to carefully evaluate all assumptions used to calculate dose from each of these air concentrations.

Air Pollution, Radioactive↗

Study of materials for mixed field dosimetry by EPR spectroscopy.

EPR dose reconstruction after accidental photon exposure based on materials irradiated in the vicinity of the victim (sucrose, medicine tablets, etc.) was used successfully in several cases referenced in the literature. However, accidental exposure may also occur with a neutron component such as in the Tokai-Mura criticality accident. The aim of this work is to investigate the potentiality of EPR dosimetry for mixed photon and neutron field exposure with different organic materials already used for photon exposure (sucrose) or with potential dosimetric properties (ascorbic acid, sorbitol, glucose, galactose, fructose, lactose and mannose). To assess the neutron sensitivity, the materials were exposed to a mixed radiation field of an experimental reactor with different neutron to photon ratios. The relative neutron sensitivity was found to range from 12 to 43% according to the materials. The potentiality of these materials for mixed field EPR dosimetry is discussed.

Carbohydrates↗

Accounting for beta-particle energy loss to cortical bone via paired-image radiation transport (PIRT).

Current methods of skeletal dose assessment in both medical physics (radionuclide therapy) and health physics (dose reconstruction and risk assessment) rely heavily on a single set of bone and marrow cavity chord-length distributions in which particle energy deposition is tracked within an infinite extent of trabecular spongiosa, with no allowance for particle escape to cortical bone. In the present study, we introduce a paired-image radiation transport (PIRT) model which provides a more realistic three-dimensional (3D) geometry for particle transport in the skeletal site at both microscopic and macroscopic levels of its histology. Ex vivo CT scans were acquired of the pelvis, cranial cap, and individual ribs excised from a 66-year male cadaver (BMI of 22.7 kg m(-2)). For the three skeletal sites, regions of trabecular spongiosa and cortical bone were identified and segmented. Physical sections of interior spongiosa were taken and subjected to microCT imaging. Voxels within the resulting microCT images were then segmented and labeled as regions of bone trabeculae, endosteum, active marrow, and inactive marrow through application of image processing algorithms. The PIRT methodology was then implemented within the EGSNRC radiation transport code whereby electrons of various initial energies are simultaneously tracked within both the ex vivo CT macroimage and the CT microimage of the skeletal site. At initial electron energies greater than 50-200 keV, a divergence in absorbed fractions to active marrow are noted between PIRT model simulations and those estimated under existing techniques of infinite spongiosa transport. Calculations of radionuclide S values under both methodologies imply that current chord-based models may overestimate the absorbed dose to active bone marrow in these skeletal sites by 0% to 27% for low-energy beta emitters (33P, 169Er, and 177Lu), by approximately 4% to 49% for intermediate-energy beta emitters (153Sm, 186Re, and 89Sr), and by approximately 14% to 76% for high-energy beta emitters (32p, 188Re, and 90Y). The PIRT methodology allows for detailed modeling of the 3D macrostructure of individual marrow-containing bones within the skeleton thus permitting improved estimates of absorbed fractions and radionuclide S values for intermediate-to-high energy beta emitters.

Aged↗

Isothermal decay studies of intermediate energy levels in quartz.

The recent interest in the thermoluminescence of quartz extracted from unfired building materials, such as mortar and concrete for dose reconstruction applications, led to the requirement of an accurate determination of the lifetime of the intermediate glow peaks in this mineral. The prediction of the lifetimes of these peaks is helpful in establishing the likely time range within which retrospective measurements can be carried out. These peaks, corresponding to intermediate energy levels, occur in the glow curve in the temperature range 150-250 degrees C (heating rate 2 degrees C/s). Lifetimes of 720+/-70 days and 580+/-70 years (at a temperature of 15 degrees C) were derived for the two main peaks placed in the glow curve at approximately 150 degrees C and 200 degrees C, respectively, using the isothermal decay technique. These results as well as the estimated values of the trap parameters (thermal activation energy and frequency factor) have been compared with the data already available in the literature.

Construction Materials↗

Health consequences of Chernobyl and other radiation accidents. Report on the European Union Cluster Contractors' workshop (San Miniato, Italy, 17-22 June 1997).

The Radiation Protection Research Unit of the European Commission has been supporting collaborative research projects on the radiological consequences of the Chernobyl accident since 1991. However, in the Fourth Framework Programme of the Commission which started in 1996, the collaboration with scientists in the former Soviet Union has been placed on a different footing, and the programme has been expanded to include other regions, especially in Russia and Kazakhstan, where previous nuclear incidents have led to the exposure of workers and the local populations and to widespread radioactive contamination. There are 15 projects on health-related studies in the newly started programme, and in order to improve the collaboration between the different scientists working in these projects a Cluster Contractors' Meeting was organised in San Miniato, Italy, in June 1997 with the participation of some 50 scientists from the European Union (EU) and the Newly Independent States (NIS). This report summarizes the different topics, including molecular biology and treatment of childhood thyroid cancer, various epidemiological studies and dose reconstruction, which were discussed at the meeting and which form the major projects in the new collaborative programme.

Chromosome Aberrations↗

Measurements of radioactivity in environmental samples from the southern Urals.

A region between Chelyabinsk and Ekaterinburg in the Southern Urals has been heavily contaminated due to operational and accidental releases from the first Soviet plutonium production facility Mayak. In 1992 and 1993, the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection organized a measuring campaign involving two Russian institutes to assist with the validation of former Soviet measurement data. The results of this measuring campaign are reported here. Environmental samples were collected from areas affected by significant radioactive releases into the Techa river, which started in 1948, and by fallout from the explosion of a fission product storage tank in 1957. Soil, sediment, water, milk and food samples were independently analysed for 90Sr, 137Cs and plutonium by the three institutes involved. This paper presents data on the present levels of environmental radioactivity. The highest contamination of areas accessible to the local population was found in the vicinity of the Techa river around Muslumovo. Activity concentration of floodplain samples reached up to 37,000 Bq.kg-1 137Cs, 5,600 Bq.kg-1 90Sr and 9.9 Bq.kg-1 Pu. Milk and potatoes from private farms in Muslumovo showed low activity in the range from 0.7 Bq.kg-1 to 25 Bq.kg-1 90Sr. The results of the three independent measurement teams showed sufficient agreement. One Russian laboratory obtained plutonium activities that exceeded the results of the other laboratories by about 20%. Contrary to the International Chernobyl Project, there was no overestimation of 90Sr activities in the Russian analyses. Therefore, the validity of earlier data sets acquired with same methodology and quality control can be considered a valuable basis for further assessments and for dose reconstruction in epidemiological projects.

Animals↗

Dicentric and translocation analysis for retrospective dose estimation in humans exposed to ionising radiation during the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

Chromosome analyses were carried out in peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained between September 1991 and March 1992 from 15 persons exposed to ionising radiation during the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. At present, all are being treated for symptoms of the delayed stage of the cutaneous radiation syndrome. Biological dose-equivalent estimates were determined, either by measuring the frequency of dicentric and ring chromosomes in first division unstable cells from conventional preparations (Qdr method), or by measuring the frequency of stable translocations using two-colour fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) with composite whole chromosome-specific DNA libraries for human chromosomes 1, 4 and 12 (chromosome painting) and a degenerate alpha-satellite pancentromeric DNA probe. With both methods fairly comparable individual estimates between 1.1 and 5.8 Gy were obtained for 12 of 15 individuals. Three individuals exhibited no elevated aberration frequencies. Perspectives and limitations of chromosome painting for dose reconstruction of past radiation exposures are discussed.

Cells, Cultured↗

Environmental and medical effects of nuclear weapon production in the southern Urals.

As a result of the activities of the 'Mayak' facility producing weapon's grade plutonium, large territories of the Urals Region (Russia) were exposed to radioactive contamination and the population residing in these territories was exposed to elevated radiation levels. Due to three radiation incidents and normal operation of the plant, significant radiation doses were received in a number of cases by the residents of the communities located in the close vicinity of the facility, along with its workers. Cases of chronic radiation sickness were registered within the early period of exposure and in the later years increased morbidity and mortality from leukosis and malignant neoplasms were noted. Problems of irradiation dose reconstruction, and the health status in the offspring of the exposed population are discussed.

Accidents↗