X-ray criteria for assessing the activity of lung sarcoidosis at follow-up

The results of comprehensive X-ray findings in 300 patients with different clinical and X-ray forms of respiratory sarcoidosis who had been registered to be followed up at the Consulting Outpatient Department, Central Research Institute of Tuberculosis Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, were analyzed. The follow-up lasted 3 to 20 years. X-ray study heads the list of the most informative techniques for assessing the activity of sarcoidosis. The time of following up patients with sarcoidosis in dispensary registration groups is recommended in accordance with the recommendations of the sarcoidosis Consensus Commission. X-ray criteria for stabilization of the disease and the optimum methodological complex of radiation diagnosis are defined.     

Education and training for radiation scientists: radiation research program and American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology Workshop, Bethesda, Maryland, May 12-14, 2003

Current and potential shortfalls in the number of radiation scientists stand in sharp contrast to the emerging scientific opportunities and the need for new knowledge to address issues of cancer survivorship and radiological and nuclear terrorism. In response to these challenges, workshops organized by the Radiation Research Program (RRP), National Cancer Institute (NCI) (Radiat. Res. 157, 204-223, 2002; Radiat. Res. 159, 812-834, 2003), and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (Nature, 421, 787, 2003) have engaged experts from a range of federal agencies, academia and industry. This workshop, Education and Training for Radiation Scientists, addressed the need to establish a sustainable pool of expertise and talent for a wide range of activities and careers related to radiation biology, oncology and epidemiology. Although fundamental radiation chemistry and physics are also critical to radiation sciences, this workshop did not address workforce needs in these areas. The recommendations include: (1) Establish a National Council of Radiation Sciences to develop a strategy for increasing the number of radiation scientists. The strategy includes NIH training grants, interagency cooperation, interinstitutional collaboration among universities, and active involvement of all stakeholders. (2) Create new and expanded training programs with sustained funding. These may take the form of regional Centers of Excellence for Radiation Sciences. (3) Continue and broaden educational efforts of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), and the Radiation Research Society (RRS). (4) Foster education and training in the radiation sciences for the range of career opportunities including radiation oncology, radiation biology, radiation epidemiology, radiation safety, health/government policy, and industrial research. (5) Educate other scientists and the general public on the quantitative, basic, molecular, translational and applied aspects of radiation sciences.     

Overview of the Consortium of Hospitals Advancing Research on Tobacco (CHART)

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The Consortium of Hospitals Advancing Research on Tobacco (CHART) is a network of six projects and a research coordinating unit funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research. The CHART projects will assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions initiated during hospitalization and continued post-discharge. Methods/design Along with a seventh project funded previously under the NIH Challenge grants, the CHART projects will assess smoking cessation strategies delivered to approximately 10,000 hospitalized smokers across a geographically diverse group of nearly 20 private, public, academic, and community hospitals. The CHART research coordinating unit at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research provides organizational and data coordination support, facilitating the development of common measures for combining data from multiple CHART projects. DISCUSSION: The targeted enrollment in CHART, if achieved, will represent the largest, most diverse pooled dataset of hospitalized smokers receiving smoking cessation assistance, and is designed to contribute to the dissemination and implementation of smoking cessation interventions provided by hospital systems.     

Energy deposition spectra of negative pions and their application to radiation therapy

Summary Treatment planning for pion radiation therapy must take into account changes in radiation quality within the patient. At the biomedical channelE3 of SIN (Swiss Institute for Nuclear Research) microdosimetric measurements have been performed to investigate radiation quality within pion irradiated phantoms. Results are presented in terms of microdosimetric spectra and derived quantities. As expected marked differences are observed between dose peak and plateau for narrow pion beams. The influence of simulated site diameter on measured spectra has been found to be more pronounced in the plateau region than in the peak. Investigation of the influence of peak width on radiation quality revealed a dilution of the high-LET dose fraction for broader peaks.     

Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin

Different P. aeruginosa strains have been found to differ in exotoxin synthesis. The strain isolated at the Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera (Moscow) and newly isolated cultures obtained from patients with the severe course of the infectious process have been found to possess the highest toxigenic activity and to synthesize exotoxins with the most complete set of pathogenically important antigens. The technological scheme for the production of stable exotoxin which can be used for the development of diagnostic, therapeutic and prophylactic preparations against Pseudomonas infections is proposed.     

浙江省狼蛛科2新种记述（蛛形纲：蜘蛛目）

记述采自浙江省的狼蛛科2新种,定名为宁波熊蛛Arctosa ningboensis sp.nov.,树穴狼蛛Hogna trunca sp.nov.     

Increase in the ability of human cancer cells to induce cytotoxic T lymphocytes by ultraviolet irradiation

The roles of ultraviolet-B (UV) radiation in the immunogenicity of human cancer cells have not been fully studied. We have investigated the effects of UV radiation on metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma cells with regard to MHC antigen expression and the ability to induce cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) or tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) against untreated autologous tumor cells. UV radiation respectively decreased or increased MHC class I expression of freshly isolated tumor cells or cultured tumor cells, and also decreased MHC class I expression of starved cultured tumor cells. It increased the ability of both freshly isolated and cultured tumor cells to induce CTL activity from PBMC against untreated autologous tumor cells. UV-irradiated subclones that were more susceptible to CTL lysis were more potent for CTL induction from TIL than either an untreated parental clone or a UV-irradiated subclone that was resistant to CTL lysis. In summary, UV radiation increased the ability of tumor cells to induce CTL activity without a corresponding effect on MHC antigen expression.This work was supported in part by a grant CA47891 from the National Cancer Institute, USA, a grant-in-aid of the comprehensive 10-years strategy for cancer control from ministry of a Health and Welfare, Japan, and the Ishibashi Research Fund, Japan     

辐射育成新桑树品种-川799

辐射新桑树品种“川799”系四川省农科院蚕业研究所采用辐射育种与杂交育种相结合的方法培育而成。经多年室内观察调查及两年区试、农村示范推广应用,该品种表现较好的丰产性,平均亩产桑叶1551．53公斤,比对照“湖桑32”高11．64％。1996年-2000年列为省科技厅“优质、高产桑、蚕新品种选育研究”重大科技项目桑树主攻品种。经五年试验研究,达到育种目标,完成项目研究工作,2001年四川省农作物品种审定委员会审定通过,并发合格证书,予以推广。     

Characteristics of the cohort of workers at the Mayak nuclear complex.

At Branch No. 1 of the Russian State Research Center "Biophysics Institute", a registry has been created of workers at the "Mayak" Production Association, the first nuclear complex in Russia. This registry includes 18,830 persons hired at Mayak's nuclear reactors and radiochemical and plutonium production plant between 1948 and 1972. Twenty-five percent of these workers are women. As of December 31, 1994, the vital status is known for approximately 90% of the cohort members. A total of 5,118 persons have died. The cause for 97% of total deaths has been ascertained. The cohort members were exposed to both external gamma radiation and internal radiation from incorporated plutonium. The plutonium body burden has been measured in 30% of the cohort members with potential for plutonium exposure. External gamma-ray doses were in the range from tenths of milligrays to about 10 Gy, and plutonium body burdens were up to about 260 kBq. In view of the nature of the Mayak worker cohort, it has the potential to provide reasonably precise, quantitative estimates of the long-term health effects associated with chronic low-dose-rate exposure to external gamma radiation as well as internal radiation from plutonium. However, a number of issues must be addressed before credible risk estimates can be obtained from this cohort. These issues include the development of an appropriate internal comparison group and/or external rates and separating of the effects of internal and external exposures on risk estimates.     

A model of the neural mechanisms responsible for pattern recognition and stimulus specific habituation in toads

A neural model of the mechanisms possibly responsible for stimulus-specific habituation in toads is proposed. The model follows the hypothesis that preypredator recognition is performed by command units as a result of retina-tectum-pretectum interaction. The model allow us to study the possible coding that the nervous system of toads uses for different prey stimuli, the neural mechanisms of habituation and dishabituation, and the dynamic changes that the command units may have during these processes. The model proposes specific hypothesis and experiments to clarify the nature of these processes and to test the validity of the command unit hypothesis.Research supported in part by CONACYT under grant PCCBBNA 021005Research supported in part by the NIH under grant NS 14971-05 from National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke     

Current biotechnological developments in Belgium

In recent years, actions have been undertaken by the Belgian government to promote process innovation and technical diversification. Research programs are initiated and coordinated by the study committee for biotechnology setup within the Institute for Scientific Research in Industry and Agriculture (IRSIA). As a result of this action, the main areas where biotechnological processes are developed or commercially exploited include plant genetics, protein engineering, hybridoma technology, biopesticides, production by genetic engineering of vaccines and drugs, monoclonal detection of human and animal deseases, process reactors for aerobic and anaerobic wastewater treatment, and genetic modification of yeast and bacteria as a base for biomass and energy. Development research also includes new fermentation technologies principally based on immobilization of microorganisms, reactor design, and optimization of unit operations involved in downstream processing. Food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries are involved in genetic engineering and biotechnology and each of these sectors is overviewed in this paper.     

The suitability of negative pions for radiotherapy: 4 years preclinical research with the biomedicalΠE3-beam at SIN

Summary The radiobiological experiences over 4 years research with the biomedical pion channel of the 590 MeV proton-accelerator of the Swiss Institute for Nuclear Research (SIN) have been summarized. Mainly sensitive biological systems have been chosen (limiting factor: dose-rate not more than 10 rad/min, exceptionally till 30 rad/min). The RBE values in the peak region vary between 0.7–3.3 and in the plateau region between 0.4–1. The gain factors for pion radiotherapy of cancer are, beside the excellent physical dose distribution, irradiation in the same treatment with two types of radiation: sparsely ionizing (low LET) radiation in plateau (healthy tissue) region and densely ionizing (high LET) radiation in peak (tumor) region. The biological effectiveness ratio in peak and plateau as the clinically most important relation vary between 1.4–4.2. This is valid also for clinically limiting factors such as reaction of skin, of small intestine, vascular damage, dominant lethals in hypoxic cells, tumor induction. For peak pions the RBE in hypoxic cells (tumor cells) can be much higher than in euoxic cells (healthy tissue). This preclinical work supports the hope in a highly effective cancer therapy with negative pions.Supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant no. 3.682-0.75) and the Swiss Mobilar Insurance Company     

Distribution of lichen flora on South Korea

After an overview on the temporary situation of the lichenology in South Korea, localities of 95 macrolichen taxa are reported for South Korea. In this revised lichen flora of South Korea, 16 species are apparently new to the territory. Voucher specimens have been deposited in the Korean Lichen Research Institute (KoLRI) at Sunchon National University in Korea, and duplicates have also been donated to the National History Museum and Institute, in Chiba, (CBM) Japan.     

Increased frequency of chromosome translocations associated with diagnostic x-ray examinations

Informative studies of cancer risks associated with medical radiation are difficult to conduct owing to low radiation doses, poor recall of diagnostic X rays, and long intervals before cancers occur. Chromosome aberrations have been associated with increased cancer risk and translocations are a known radiation biomarker. Seventy-nine U.S. radiologic technologists were selected for blood collection, and translocations were enumerated by whole chromosome painting. We developed a dose score to the red bone marrow for medical radiation exposure from X-ray examinations reported by the technologists that they received as patients. Using Poisson regression, we analyzed translocations in relation to the dose scores. Each dose score unit approximated 1 mGy. The estimated mean cumulative red bone marrow radiation dose score was 42 (range 1-265). After adjustment for age, occupational radiation, and radiotherapy for benign conditions, translocation frequencies significantly increased with increasing red bone marrow dose score with an estimate of 0.007 translocations per 100 CEs per score unit (95% CI, 0.002 to 0.013; P = 0.01). Chromosome damage has been linked with elevated cancer risk, and we found that cumulative radiation exposure from medical X-ray examinations was associated with increased numbers of chromosome translocations.     

不同海拔地区紫外线B辐射状况及植物叶片紫外线吸收物质含量的分析

对不同海拔地区的太阳 UV- B辐射和植物叶片的光学特性进行了比较研究。结果表明 :位于高海拔地区的海北高寒草甸生态系统定位站 ,太阳 UV- B辐射明显高于相近纬度的西宁、兰州和南京地区。UV- B辐射与总辐射和 PAR的日变化规律相似 ,都受太阳高度角的直接影响 ,在当地太阳正午时最高。UV- B/Q的日变化也为单峰曲线 ,海北站地区的 UV- B/Q高于西宁的同期测定结果。对珠芽蓼等植物的研究表明 ,生长于海北站地区的珠芽蓼 ,其叶片中紫外线吸收物质的含量明显高于西宁的同种植物 ,也略高于海拔较高的达坂山和小达坂山山顶的同种植物。叶绿素含量以海北站珠芽蓼最低 ,达坂山和小达坂山的同种植物最高。珠芽蓼叶片中类胡萝卜素的含量以西宁最低 ,海北站、达坂山和小达坂山依次升高。海北站矮嵩草与从海北站移植到西宁生长 4年的同种植物相比 ,叶片中紫外线吸收物质、叶绿素、类胡萝卜素的变化与生长于两地区的珠芽蓼相同     

Molecular parasitology of malaria in Papua New Guinea

Research into the molecular biology of infectious diseases is mostly associated with well-developed countries. But in the midst of tropical Papua New Guinea, highly sophisticated molecular research has being conducted over years to understand and fight malaria and other tropical diseases. Here, we review such research carried out at the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research. This Institute has considerably shaped research on molecular epidemiology through its analysis of the diversity and structure of the Plasmodium falciparum population. In addition, research has been conducted on human host factors and, more recently, the molecular analysis of drug resistance and the underlying molecular mechanisms of host-parasite interactions have been investigated.     

Algal polymorphism in high rate wastewater treatment ponds

In the past as well as today there have been two conflicting opinions as to whether changes in the algal species in water bodies indicate polymorphism or the development of separate species. Similar changes were also found in High Rade Algae Pond (HRAP) used for wastewater treatment, effluent reclamation and protein production. To critically examine both opinions, samples of HRAP effluent were taken and the algal species identified and measured continuously, using conventional methods.Two main algal species were identified. These remained stable during all four monitoring sessions over a three-year period. The external changes observed in the algae were a reflection of controlled periods of organic loading and the conditions under which the pond was operated, such as retention time (a dependant of radiation), ambient temperature, effluent depth and aeration methods.Current address: Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sde-Boker, Israel 84990     

Considerations on the time factor in radiobiology

Summary Although extension of the time period during which a given dose of radiation is administered commonly reduces effectiveness, there are well established instances where the reverse is true. Theoretical considerations are presented which relate reduction or enhancement to the shape of the dose-effect curve. While in many instances these changes of sensitivity may be due to intracellular processes it appears that in the case of carcinogenesis by low doses of neutrons, time dependent intercellular action must be involved.This investigation was supported by Contract DE-AC02-78EV04733 from the Department of Energy and by Grant Nos. CA 12536 and CA 15307 to the Radiological Research Laboratory/Department of Radiology, and by Grant No. CA 13696 to the Cancer Center/Institute of Cancer Research, awarded by the National Cancer Institute, DHHS     

Modification of radiation damage of bacteria by folic acid antagonists

Pittillo, Robert F. (Southern Research Institute, Birmingham, Ala.), Mary Lucas, Robert T. Blackwell, and Carolyn Woolley. Modification of radiation damage of bacteria by folic acid antagonists. J. Bacteriol. 90:1548-1551. 1965.-The folic acid analogues, 2,4-diamino-6-methylpteridine, amethopterin, and aminopterin, have been found to sensitize certain bacteria, especially Escherichia coli, to the lethal action of ionizing irradiation. Data are presented which indicate that (i) the compounds must be present during the irradiation period for maximal sensitization to be observed, (ii) the sensitizing effect can be nullified by cysteine or cysteamine, (iii) the sensitizing effect occurs in a number of diverse bacterial genera, and (iv) folic acid neither sensitizes bacteria to irradiation nor prevents the sensitization caused by these antifolic agents.     

Effect of inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis on spike activity and chemical sensitivity of cortical neurons in rabbits

Experiments on unanesthetized, unrestrained rabbits using a technique of microiontophoresis showed that the non-narcotic analgesics aspirin, butadione, and indomethacin, which inhibit prostaglandin synthesis, have a marked effect on spontaneous firing and sensitivity of sensomotor cortical neurons to neurotransmitters (acetylcholine and noradrenalin). The non-narcotic analgesics in most cases inhibited spontaneous unit activity and potentiated responses to neurotransmitters. In some neurons the action of non-narcotic analgesics was to produce total but reversible inhibition of discharge activity and also of chemical sensitivity. The experimental results are discussed from the standpoint of the mechanisms of participation of prostaglandins in unit activity.P. K. Anokhin Research Institute of Normal Physiology, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 130–134, March–April, 1982.