Radiobiology

Introduction Radiation protection policy is distributed among several governmental Agencies in the United States. Each agency is tasked with controlling exposure to radiation and the safe use of radioactive materials and radiation generating devices. These agencies inform their policy with reports and recommendations from a number of organizations, including the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). The NCRP is a longstanding organization that strives to provide guidance on all matters related to radiation protection. The organization is semi-governmental that was officially chartered by Congress in 1964 and independent from federal control. In this capacity; the NCRP has heavily influenced policy and practice of radiation protection for both National Regulators and radiation generators. (Jones, 2005) Policy Issue Problem In spite of the NCRP’s importance to national radiation protection policy, the organization has not updated its basic radiation protection in over 20 years. The last revision to the NCRP’s basic protection recommendations was in NCRP Report 116. While the NCRP has continued to release publications; they are focused on limited topics and applications. Without updated basic recommendations the foundation for all the subsequent publications fail to include recent changes in research and usage.(NCRP, 1993) NCRP REPORTS The NCRP releases its finding and recommendation in the form of NCRP Reports. These reports are numbered…

Advancement in Radiation Protection: Non-Lead Apron People are exposed to radiation every day just by being alive on this earth. One receives approximately 3,000 µSv of ubiquitous background radiation a year, which means approximately 8.2 µSv per day (Howerton, Iannucci, 2012). This is known as background radiation and is caused by terrestrial, cosmic, and naturally occurring radon. On the other hand, during radiographic examination some degree of biological damage does occur during exposure,…

A Radiological Dispersion Device, often referred to as an RDD or “dirty bomb”, contains conventional explosives (such as dynamite) and radioactive material. The intention is to spread radioactive material over a large area. RDDs are not a new idea. The military considered creating such devices in 1941. Dirty bombs are no longer considered practical for military applications and are now considered terrorist weapons (The Facts about “Dirty Bombs”, 2005, pg. 4). Radioactive materials are…

The Therac-25 machine was a third-generation machine produced by the company AECL which specialized in manufacturing machines which provided radiation therapy to cancer patients. This machine accomplished this by emitting a beam of electrons or x-rays to the cancerous area. This amount of radiation interferes with the cancerous tissue’s ability to grow by disabling the genetic material in the cell. However, since cancerous cells are not the only cells in the body that grow very quickly, skin and…

Radiation Exposure and Image Quality in Chest CT Examinations The lone conundrum that has stumped radiologists to physicists; from the individuals wielding a bachelor’s degree, to the geniuses that have made education their life occupation. How can radiation exposure be reduced to its absolute minimum without compromising image quality? Radiation is dangerous to the human body, and its variable effects are collective throughout our lives. This scientific concept forces an ethical responsibility…

To understand radiation safety, one must first be familiar with the term radiation. Simply put, radiation may be defined as energy traveling through space as waves or high speed particles. There are two types of radiation, ionizing and non-ionizing (e.g. Heat, visible light), they are differentiated by how they interact with matter. Non- ionizing radiation is essential to life, but excessive exposures can cause tissue damage. Ionizing radiation has sufficient energy to ionize atoms and…

Lawrence University, a rabbit was inadequately anesthetized and was sitting up and kicking during the procedure. Surgery on an animal who has not received adequate anesthesia can result in extreme pain and distress (The Human Society, 208). Not only was the rabbit being operated on without an anesthesia, but it was also not in the hands of a professional. An innocent rabbit most likely died from the amount of blood lost and it was for no reason. There was no evidence that indicated that the…

X-rays and γ-rays is ionizing radiation which is dangerous because of the side effects of DNA. Increasing experimental proof does not fit this theoretical structure, instead, assisting that the radiation level of resistance is controlled by necessary protein harm. Latest reports from several separate labs include harm to necessary protein as the primary potential cause of loss of life in drawn cells. Those DNA sore results in cells revealed to a given amount of radiation appear to be fixed,…

varies with the dose that is received by the patient. Examples of deterministic effects include bone marrow reduction, hair loss, diminished fertility, skin burns, and cataracts (“Questions and Answers for Physicians About Medical X-Rays,” para. 1). Radiation can also affect the unborn fetus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014) states that the unborn fetus is protected by the mother’s uterus so its dose tends to be lower than that of the mother’s. However, the unborn fetus is…