Ionizing radiation can be found everywhere; in the Earth, inside buildings, in space, in the food we eat, and even inside our bodies. It is of much importance to know more about radiation and how it can improve human life, including how to make use of it and how to avoid its harm. This book covers several topics on ionizing radiation to enrich our knowledge about its applications and effects.
In this compilation, the authors examine the importance of ionizing radiations for thermoluminescence dosimetry that is the current area of research for medical and industrial purposes. Ionizing radiations are harmful to the human body, so, there is a need to measure small doses in the environment as well as very high doses at the time of accident like radiation leakage and for the treatment of cancer. Next, recent advances regarding effects on exposure of some foods to ionizing radiations are presented. The dosage required for complete sterilization may, at times, lead to undesirable changes in food flavours or may exceed the permitted levels. Combining irradiation with other treatments yields satisfactory results in these cases. Combined applications of ionizing radiation with heat, low temperature, high hydrostatic pressure, and modified atmospheres are also discussed. Later, new results concerning cell survival and genetic instability of wild-type and radiosensitive yeast cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae surviving after irradiation with 60Co γ-rays, 239Pu α-particles and 254 nm UV light are presented. Survival was determined by cell ability to produce macrocolonies on a solid nutrient medium. The authors also review data on the radiation resistance of AlGaN/GaN and InAlN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) as well as emerging Ga2O3 photodetectors and rectifiers to different types of ionizing radiation. Both of these wide bandgap semiconductor (nitride-based and gallium oxide-based) materials are much more radiation-hard than GaAs or Si and this is largely a result of their high bond strengths. By using the test system of blood lymphocytes of healthy individuals, the following paper presents the co-mutagenic (potentiating) effect of the drugs a calcium channel blocker verapamil and an antioxidant ascorbic acid-on the radiosensitivity of cells. It was found that when the lymphocytes are irradiated in a small dose (0.3 Gy), ascorbic acid (80.0 μg / blood) and verapamil (4.0 μg / ml blood) increase the frequency of chromosomal aberrations in comparison with the radiation effect by 75 and 62, 5% respectively. Afterwards, the experimental data of the effects of temperature, light intensity, background ionizing and non-ionizing radiation on physicochemical properties of water, water solution and cell function are presented. Considering the fact that the cell membrane permeability for water is more than 10 times higher than for inorganic ions, it is hypothesized that, upon the effect of chemical and physical factors, the changes of net water efflux through the membrane precede the activation of ionic fluxes in the membrane. Also in this compilation, a study is included which investigated the modifying effect of astaxanthin on radiation induced genome damages in cultivating human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). The study indicated that astaxanthin in concentration of 20.0 �g/ml demonstrated evident radioprotective properties by reduction of the ChA level, decreasing of DNA damages and increasing of the apoptotic rate. In the last chapter, the authors present some works that study the causes of the high resistance of IRRB to ionizing radiation. Then we focus on presenting in silico approaches that use protein sequences of bacteria in order to predict if an unknown bacterium belongs to IRRB or ionizing-radiationsensitive bacteria (IRSB).
Does radiation medicine need more regulation or simply better-coordinated regulation? This book addresses this and other questions of critical importance to public health and safety. The issues involved are high on the nation's agenda: the impact of radiation on public safety, the balance between federal and state authority, and the cost-benefit ratio of regulation. Although incidents of misadministration are rare, a case in Pennsylvania resulting in the death of a patient and the inadvertent exposure of others to a high dose of radiation drew attention to issues concerning the regulation of ionizing radiation in medicine and the need to examine current regulatory practices. Written at the request from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Radiation in Medicine reviews the regulation of ionizing radiation in medicine, focusing on the NRC's Medical Use Program, which governs the use of reactor-generated byproduct materials. The committee recommends immediate action on enforcement and provides longer term proposals for reform of the regulatory system. The volume covers: Sources of radiation and their use in medicine. Levels of risk to patients, workers, and the public. Current roles of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, other federal agencies, and states. Criticisms from the regulated community. The committee explores alternative regulatory structures for radiation medicine and explains the rationale for the option it recommends in this volume. Based on extensive research, input from the regulated community, and the collaborative efforts of experts from a range of disciplines, Radiation in Medicine will be an important resource for federal and state policymakers and regulators, health professionals involved in radiation treatment, developers and producers of radiation equipment, insurance providers, and concerned laypersons.
Over the past several decades, public concern over exposure to ionizing radiation has increased. This concern has manifested itself in different ways depending on the perception of risk to different individuals and different groups and the circumstances of their exposure. One such group are those U.S. servicemen (the "Atomic Veterans" who participated in the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site or in the Pacific Proving Grounds, who served with occupation forces in or near Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or who were prisoners of war in or near those cities at the time of, or shortly after, the atomic bombings. This book addresses the feasibility of conducting an epidemiologic study to determine if there is an increased risk of adverse reproductive outcomes in the spouses, children, and grandchildren of the Atomic Veterans.
The benefits of ionizing radiations have been largely demonstrated through many achievements of human life. Understanding the fundamental elementary interactions of ionizing radiations with material has allowed the development of various applications needed by different industries. This book draws some facets of their applications, such as hardening process for semiconductor devices, biomedical imaging by radiation luminescent quantum dots, hydrogen gas detection by Raman lidar sensor for explosion risk assessment, water and wastewater purification by radiation treatment for environment, doping by the neutron transmutation doping for the semiconductor industry, and polymerization by irradiation, which is useful for industries requiring resistant and protective coating. I wish the chapters of this book can provide some helpful information on ionizing radiation applications.
In October 1982, a small international symposium was held at the Gesellschaft fUr Strahlen- und Umweltforschung mbH (GSF) in Munich as a satellite meeting of the IX International Conference on Analytical Cytology. The symposium focussed on cytometric approaches to biological dosimetry, and was, to the best of our knowledge, the first meeting on this subject ever held. There was strong encouragement from the 75 attendees and from others to publish a proceedings of the symposium. Hence this book, containing 30 of the 36 presentations, has been assembled. Dosimetry, the accurate and systematic determination of doses, usually refers to grams of substance administered or rads of ionization or some such measure of exposure of a patient, a victim or an experimental system. The term also can be used to describe the quantity of an ultimate, active agent as delivered to the appropriate target material within a biological system. Thus, for mutagens, one can speak of DNA dosimetry, meaning the number of adducts produced in the DNA of target cells such as bone-mar row stem cells or spermatogonia.
The industrial and medical applications of radiation have been augmented and scientific insight into mechanisms for radiation action notably progressed. In addition, the public concern about radiation risk has also grown extensively. Today the importance of risk communication among stakeholders involved in radiation-related issues is emphasized much more than any time in the past. Thus, the circumstances of radiation research have drastically changed, and the demand for a novel approach to radiation-related issues is increasing. It is thought that the publication of the book Evolution of Ionizing Radiation Research at this time would have enormous impacts on the society. The editor believes that technical experts would find a variety of new ideas and hints in this book that would be helpful to them to tackle ionizing radiation.
Gamma radiation has been discovered since more than a century and contributed in many achievements in human life. Continuous developments make it necessary to have more understandings and more discussions about well-established concepts as well as newly implemented hypothesis and applications of gamma rays. This book presents new visions of gamma ray spectrometry and applications. I hope this book can present part of the useful applications of gamma rays.
Written by practitioners experienced in the field, 'Practical Radiation Protection in Healthcare' provides a practical guide for medical physicists and others involved with radiation protection in the healthcare environment.
This book reevaluates the health risks of ionizing radiation in light of data that have become available since the 1980 report on this subject was published. The data include new, much more reliable dose estimates for the A-bomb survivors, the results of an additional 14 years of follow-up of the survivors for cancer mortality, recent results of follow-up studies of persons irradiated for medical purposes, and results of relevant experiments with laboratory animals and cultured cells. It analyzes the data in terms of risk estimates for specific organs in relation to dose and time after exposure, and compares radiation effects between Japanese and Western populations.
