Radiofrequency radiation levels and population exposure in urban areas of the Eastern United States /

Issued May 1978.

Report of a proposal to establish a tri-state commission to study possible health effects of radiation from nuclear weapons testing.

Mode of access: Internet.

What we know about radiation.

Mode of access: Internet.

Radiation effects in metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors

An investigation has been undertaken into the effects of various radiations on commercially made Al-SiO2-Si Capacitors (MOSCs). Detailed studies of the electrical and physical nature of such devices have been used to characterise both virgin and irradiated devices. In particular, an investigation of the nature and causes of dielectric breakdown in MOSCs has revealed that intrinsic breakdown is a two-stage process dominated by charge injection in a pre-breakdown stage; this is associated with localised high-field injection of carriers from the semiconductor substrate to interfacial and bulk charge traps which, it is proposed, leads to the formation of conducting channels through the dielectric with breakdown occurring as a result of the dissipation of the conduction band energy. A study of radiation-induced dielectric breakdown has revealed the possibility of anomalous hot-electron injection to an excess of bulk oxide traps in the ionization channel produced by very heavily ionizing radiation, which leads to intrinsic breakdown in high-field stressed devices. These findings are interpreted in terms of a modification to the model for radiation-induced dielectric breakdown based upon the primary dependence of breakdown on charge injection rather than high-field mechanisms. The results of a detailed investigation of charge trapping and interface state generation in such MOSCs due to various radiations has revealed evidence of neutron induced interface states, and of the generation of positive oxide charge in devices due to all of the radiations tested. In particular, the greater the linear energy transfer of the radiation, the greater the magnitude of charge trapped in the oxide and the greater the number of interface states generated. These findings are interpreted in terms of Si-H and Si-OH bond-breaking at the Si-SiO2 interface which is enhanced by charge carrier transfer to the interface and by anomalous charge injection to compensate for the excess of charge carriers created by the radiation.

Highly radiation sensitive type IA FBGs for dosimetry applications

We have studied Co60 ionizing radiation effect on the characteristics of Type IA fiber Bragg gratings. A record Bragg peak shift of 190 pm was observed for a grating written in Fibercore PS-1250/1500 photosensitive fiber at a radiation dose of 116 kGy. Type IA and Type I gratings show different kinetics under radiation and during post-radiation annealing, which can be used for the design of a grating based dosimetry system.

Fiber Bragg gratings of type I in SMF-28 and B/Ge fibre and type IIA B/Ge fibre under gamma radiation up to 0.54 MGy

The sensitivities of type I and IIA fibre Bragg gratings written to different reflectivities in SMF-28 and B/Ge fibres to ionizing radiation up to 0.54MGy are investigated. The Bragg wavelength shows a small and rapid increase at the start of irradiation followed by either a plateau (type I) or a decrease (type IIA).

Highly radiation sensitive type IA FBGs for dosimetry applications

We have studied Co60 ionizing radiation effect on the characteristics of Type IA fiber Bragg gratings. A record Bragg peak shift of 190 pm was observed for a grating written in Fibercore PS-1250/1500 photosensitive fiber at a radiation dose of 116 kGy. Type IA and Type I gratings show different kinetics under radiation and during post-radiation annealing, which can be used for the design of a grating based dosimetry system.

Fiber Bragg gratings of type I in SMF-28 and B/Ge fibre and type IIA B/Ge fibre under gamma radiation up to 0.54 MGy

The sensitivities of type I and IIA fibre Bragg gratings written to different reflectivities in SMF-28 and B/Ge fibres to ionizing radiation up to 0.54MGy are investigated. The Bragg wavelength shows a small and rapid increase at the start of irradiation followed by either a plateau (type I) or a decrease (type IIA).

Minimization of radiation exposure due to computed tomography in inflammatory bowel disease

Patient awareness and concern regarding the potential health risks from ionizing radiation have peaked recently (Coakley et al., 2011) following widespread press and media coverage of the projected cancer risks from the increasing use of computed tomography (CT) (Berrington et al., 2007). The typical young and educated patient with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may in particular be conscious of his/her exposure to ionising radiation as a result of diagnostic imaging. Cumulative effective doses (CEDs) in patients with IBD have been reported as being high and are rising, primarily due to the more widespread and repeated use of CT (Desmond et al., 2008). Radiologists, technologists, and referring physicians have a responsibility to firstly counsel their patients accurately regarding the actual risks of ionizing radiation exposure; secondly to limit the use of those imaging modalities which involve ionising radiation to clinical situations where they are likely to change management; thirdly to ensure that a diagnostic quality imaging examination is acquired with lowest possible radiation exposure. In this paper, we synopsize available evidence related to radiation exposure and risk and we report advances in low-dose CT technology and examine the role for alternative imaging modalities such as ultrasonography or magnetic resonance imaging which avoid radiation exposure.

Development and Optimization of Four-dimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (4D-MRI) for Radiation Therapy

A tenet of modern radiotherapy (RT) is to identify the treatment target accurately, following which the high-dose treatment volume may be expanded into the surrounding tissues in order to create the clinical and planning target volumes. Respiratory motion can induce errors in target volume delineation and dose delivery in radiation therapy for thoracic and abdominal cancers. Historically, radiotherapy treatment planning in the thoracic and abdominal regions has used 2D or 3D images acquired under uncoached free-breathing conditions, irrespective of whether the target tumor is moving or not. Once the gross target volume has been delineated, standard margins are commonly added in order to account for motion. However, the generic margins do not usually take the target motion trajectory into consideration. That may lead to under- or over-estimate motion with subsequent risk of missing the target during treatment or irradiating excessive normal tissue. That introduces systematic errors into treatment planning and delivery. In clinical practice, four-dimensional (4D) imaging has been popular in For RT motion management. It provides temporal information about tumor and organ at risk motion, and it permits patient-specific treatment planning. The most common contemporary imaging technique for identifying tumor motion is 4D computed tomography (4D-CT). However, CT has poor soft tissue contrast and it induce ionizing radiation hazard. In the last decade, 4D magnetic resonance imaging (4D-MRI) has become an emerging tool to image respiratory motion, especially in the abdomen, because of the superior soft-tissue contrast. Recently, several 4D-MRI techniques have been proposed, including prospective and retrospective approaches. Nevertheless, 4D-MRI techniques are faced with several challenges: 1) suboptimal and inconsistent tumor contrast with large inter-patient variation; 2) relatively low temporal-spatial resolution; 3) it lacks a reliable respiratory surrogate. In this research work, novel 4D-MRI techniques applying MRI weightings that was not used in existing 4D-MRI techniques, including T2/T1-weighted, T2-weighted and Diffusion-weighted MRI were investigated. A result-driven phase retrospective sorting method was proposed, and it was applied to image space as well as k-space of MR imaging. Novel image-based respiratory surrogates were developed, improved and evaluated.

Roadmap to clinical use of gold nanoparticles for radiation sensitization

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in interest in the use of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) as radiation sensitizers for radiation therapy. This interest was initially driven by their strong absorption of ionizing radiation and the resulting ability to increase dose deposited within target volumes even at relatively low concentrations. These early observations are supported by extensive experimental validation, showing GNPs' efficacy at sensitizing tumors in both in vitro and in vivo systems to a range of types of ionizing radiation, including kilovoltage and megavoltage X rays as well as charged particles. Despite this experimental validation, there has been limited translation of GNP-mediated radiation sensitization to a clinical setting. One of the key challenges in this area is the wide range of experimental systems that have been investigated, spanning a range of particle sizes, shapes, and preparations. As a result, mechanisms of uptake and radiation sensitization have remained difficult to clearly identify. This has proven a significant impediment to the identification of optimal GNP formulations which strike a balance among their radiation sensitizing properties, their specificity to the tumors, their biocompatibility, and their imageability in vivo. This white paper reviews the current state of knowledge in each of the areas concerning the use of GNPs as radiosensitizers, and outlines the steps which will be required to advance GNP-enhanced radiation therapy from their current pre-clinical setting to clinical trials and eventual routine usage.

FLIP: a targetable mediator of resistance to radiation in non-small cell lung cancer

Resistance to radiotherapy due to insufficient cancer cell death is a significant cause of treatment failure in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The endogenous caspase-8 inhibitor, FLIP, is a critical regulator of cell death that is frequently overexpressed in NSCLC and is an established inhibitor of apoptotic cell death induced via the extrinsic death receptor pathway. Apoptosis induced by ionizing radiation (IR) has been considered to be mediated predominantly via the intrinsic apoptotic pathway; however, we found that IR-induced apoptosis was significantly attenuated in NSCLC cells when caspase-8 was depleted using RNA interference (RNAi), suggesting involvement of the extrinsic apoptosis pathway. Moreover, overexpression of wild-type FLIP, but not a mutant form that cannot bind the critical death receptor adaptor protein FADD, also attenuated IR-induced apoptosis, confirming the importance of the extrinsic apoptotic pathway as a determinant of response to IR in NSCLC. Importantly, when FLIP protein levels were down-regulated by RNAi, IR-induced cell death was significantly enhanced. The clinically relevant histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors vorinostat and entinostat were subsequently found to sensitize a subset of NSCLC cell lines to IR in a manner that was dependent on their ability to suppress FLIP expression and promote activation of caspase-8. Entinostat also enhanced the anti-tumor activity of IR in vivo. Therefore, FLIP down-regulation induced by HDAC inhibitors is a potential clinical strategy to radio-sensitize NSCLC and thereby improve response to radiotherapy. Overall, this study provides the first evidence that pharmacological inhibition of FLIP may improve response of NCSLC to IR.