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PubMed2003

Late effects of the Chernobyl radiation accident on T cell-mediated immunity in cleanup workers.

The main goal of this investigation was to evaluate the abnormal T-cell immunity in cleanup workers who took part in the cleanup after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNCs) of apparently healthy cleanup workers (n = 134) were used to analyze the phenotype and proliferative response to mitogens in vitro. Evaluation of the MNC phenotype of cleanup workers did not reveal a significant disturbance in the T-cell subpopulation content except for an increase in CD3+CD16+56+ (NKT) cells. Immunophenotyping of phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-activated MNCs demonstrated suppression of CD4+ T-cell propagation and augmentation of CD8+ T-cell propagation in vitro compared to control individuals. DNA synthesis in the MNCs of cleanup workers was markedly inhibited after activation for 3 days with suboptimal concentrations of PHA, pokeweed mitogen and PMA. In contrast to control individuals, the monocytes of cleanup workers were able to stimulate the proliferation of T cells from healthy individuals but inhibited the proliferation of T cells from cleanup workers. This study affords a better understanding of the response of MNCs to stimulation with suboptimal concentrations of PHA and provides an approach to a more accurate analysis of the immunological disorders found after exposure to radiation from Chernobyl-related activities.

Antigens, CD↗
PubMed2003

Hereditary minisatellite mutations among the offspring of Estonian Chernobyl cleanup workers.

A single accidental event such as the fallout released from the Chernobyl reactor in 1986 can expose millions of people to non-natural environmental radiation. Ionizing radiation increases the frequency of germline mutations in experimental studies, but the genetic effects of radiation in humans remain largely undefined. To evaluate the hereditary effects of low radiation doses, we compared the minisatellite mutation rates of 155 children born to Estonian Chernobyl cleanup workers after the accident with those of their siblings born prior to it. All together, 94 de novo paternal minisatellite mutations were found at eight tested loci (52 and 42 mutants among children born after and before the accident, respectively). The minisatellite mutation rate was nonsignificantly increased among children born after the accident (0.042 compared to 0.036, OR 1.33, 95% CI 0.80-2.20). Furthermore, there was some indication of an increased mutation rate among offspring born after the accident to workers who had received doses of 20 cSv or above compared with their siblings born before the accident (OR 3.0, 95% CI 0.97-9.30). The mutation rate was not associated with the father's age (OR 1.04, 95% CI 0.94-1.15) or the sex of the child (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.50-1.79). Our results are consistent with both no effect of radiation on minisatellite mutations and a slight increase at dose levels exceeding 20 cSv.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Risk of thyroid cancer in the Bryansk Oblast of the Russian Federation after the Chernobyl Power Station accident.

This population-based case-control study investigated whether exposure to radiation from the Chernobyl Power Station accident is associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer in children and adolescents aged 0-19 years at the time of the accident who were residing in the more highly contaminated areas of the Bryansk Oblast. Cases were diagnosed with thyroid cancer before October 1, 1997 (n = 26); two controls per case were identified from the Russian State Medical Dosimetrical Registry and were matched by gender, birth year, and raion of residence and type of settlement (urban, town, rural) on April 26, 1986 (n = 52). Individual radiation doses to the thyroid were estimated using a semi-empirical model and data were collected in interviews, primarily of the participants' mothers. Based on a loglinear dose-response model treating estimated dose as a continuous variable, the trend of increasing risk with increasing dose was statistically significant (one-sided P = 0.009). These data suggest that exposure to radiation from Chernobyl is associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer, and that the relationship is dependent on dose. These findings are consistent with descriptive reports from contaminated areas of Ukraine and Belarus, and the quantitative estimate of thyroid cancer risk is generally consistent with estimates from other radiation-exposed populations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Soil redistribution model for undisturbed and cultivated sites based on Chernobyl-derived cesium-137 fallout.

Measurements of 137Cs fallout have been used in combination with a range of conversion models for the investigation of soil relocation mechanisms and sediment budgets in many countries for more than 20 yr. The objective of this paper is to develop a conversion model for quantifying soil redistribution, based on Chernobyl-derived 137Cs. The model is applicable on uncultivated as well as on cultivated sites, taking into account temporal changes in the 137Cs depth distribution pattern as well as tillage-induced 137Cs dilution effects. The main idea of the new model is the combination of a modified exponential model describing uncultivated soil with a Chapman distribution based model describing cultivated soil. The compound model subsequently allows a dynamic description of the Chernobyl derived 137Cs situation in the soil and its change, specifically migration and soil transport processes over the course of time. Using the suggested model at the sampling site in Pettenbach, in the Austrian province of Oberösterreich 137Cs depth distributions were simulated with a correlation coefficient of 0.97 compared with the measured 137Cs depth profile. The simulated rates of soil distribution at different positions at the sampling site were found to be between 27 and 60 Mg ha(-1) yr(-1). It was shown that the model can be used to describe the temporal changes of 137Cs depth distributions in cultivated as well as uncultivated soils. Additionally, the model allows to quantify soil redistribution in good correspondence with already existing models.

Cesium Radioisotopes↗
PubMed1998

Coping with the stress of immigration among new immigrants to Israel from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) who were exposed to Chernobyl: the effect of age.

This study examined the differential effect of age on coping and psychological measures among immigrants from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to Israel. Some of these immigrants originated in the Republics adjacent to the Chernobyl Power Plant, site of the 1986 accident. The sample consisted of 708 immigrants who were interviewed between the years 1993-1995 with an average age of 47.5 (sd 11.8). This sample was reinterviewed approximately a year and three months later (n = 520). The sample included two exposure groups--high exposed and low exposed based on the estimated levels of ground cesium contamination from the IAEA maps and a comparison group matched by age, gender, and year of immigration. Those over the age of sixty-five were disadvantaged, compared to those aged fifty to sixty-four, and younger, when it came to the tasks of immigrant absorption; learning the language, working and acquiring an income, and establishing alternative social networks which could offer support in times of illness. The psychological variables showed that over time, somatization, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms related to Chernobyl improved, however at a much slower pace for older immigrants (aged 55 and over) compared to younger ones.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1988

The Chernobyl accident. Transport of radionuclides to man living in northern Sweden.

The pathways of 131I, 134Cs and 137Cs from the Chernobyl fallout to man were followed in the county of Västerbotten, Sweden. Reported airplane measurements had shown that the ground deposition of 137Cs was 3-40 kBq/m2 with hot spots with more than 80 kBq/m2. Multiplying with a factor of 0.6 gave the 134Cs deposition and an approximate factor of 20 the 131I ground deposition. The effective dose equivalent from 131I became low, less than 0.1 mSv, as the cows were stabled. The 137Cs activity concentration in different types of food was measured in approximately 8,000 samples. The most important sources of Cs intake in man were lake fish, elk (European moose) and reindeer. Variations with time was studied in detail for four types of lake fish. Whole-body measurements on more than 250 persons showed that no group of people on average received more than 1 mSv from food during the first year after the Chernobyl accident. However, single persons eating large amounts of reindeer meat received up to 2.5 mSv. People buying all their food in ordinary provision-shops got less than 0.1 mSv from the food during the first year. The present level of 90Sr activity concentration in man will only give an effective dose equivalent of 0.004 mSv/year, most of it being a result of the atmospheric nuclear bomb tests.

Accidents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The children of Chernobyl.

During the past twelve months much media attention has been focused on the plight of the children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union. The visit to Australia by several groups of these children during 1991 has heightened community interest in the innocent victims of the world's worst nuclear accident. As medical adviser for one of these visits, I saw how some of the children of Chernobyl benefited from their holiday away from radioactivity.

Accidents↗
PubMed1997

The Chernobyl accident: predicting cardio-vascular disease in the ex-workers.

This paper describes a computer package that has been used to predict the likelihood of the onset of cardiovascular diseases in these patients who were former workers (liquidators) on the Chernobyl site in the Ukraine, Chernobyl being the place where the Nuclear Power Station was destroyed when the atomic reactor got out of control and spread radiation over a very wide area both on the ground and into the atmosphere. The programme predicts the future morbidity in those patients with an accuracy of 90%.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Genetic effects in populations of plants growing in the zone of Kyshtym and Chernobyl accidents].

Studies to analyze the genetic processes in natural populations of plants were started on the territory of the East-Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT) in 1962 and in the zone of the Chernobyl accident in May 1986. The main directions of the genetic studies in both radioactive areas were similar: 1) study of the mutation process intensity depending on the dose and dose rate and analysis of dose-effect relationships for different genetic changes (point mutations, chromosome aberrations in mitosis and meiosis) in irradiated plant populations; 2) study of the mutation process dynamics in generations of chronically (prolongly) irradiated populations of plants; 3) analysis of microevolutionary processes in irradiated plant populations. The report presents an analysis of observed dose-effect relationships under the action of radiation on populations of Arabidopsis thaliana, Pinus sylvestris and a number of other plant species. Analysis of the mutation processes dynamics in 8 Arabidopsis populations growing in the zone of the Chernobyl catastrophe has demonstrated that the level of the embryo lethal mutations 10 years after the accident in the irradiated populations significantly exceeds the control level. The following phenomena observed in chronically irradiated populations have also been considered: increased radioresistance of irradiated populations (radioadaptation), the appearance of abnormal karyotypes and selective markers upon chronic irradiation. The authors call attention to the high importance of monitoring of genetic processes in irradiated plant populations for understanding of the action of radiation on human populations.

Genes, Lethal↗
PubMed1999

[The dynamic characteristics of morbidity with temporary loss of work capacity in river fleet workers with digestive tract diseases before and after the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station].

An analysis was done of morbidity involving temporary unfitness for work in those persons working on ships of the river fleet of the Kiev Water Transport Junction (KWTJ) and in the population of Ukraine. They had ulcer disease of the gastroduodenal location (UD), other gastrointestinal abnormalities in the upper portion of the tract. KWTJ workers demonstrated higher levels of UD morbidity as evidenced by the number of cases and by that of days of disability with almost equal duration of the case. After 1986 the river fleet workers appeared to be affected by UD more frequently, with its course being more grave in liquidators of the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident than in the river fleet workers who did not happen to work in Chernobyl after accident. After 1986, gastritis and duodenitis, affections of the liver, of the gallbladder and pancreas were found out to run a graver course in the KWTJ river fleet workers as compared to the able-bodied population of Ukraine.

Absenteeism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The use of reflexotherapy in the initial forms of cerebrovascular insufficiency in persons who suffered as a consequence of the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station].

A comprehensive evaluation has been done in 120 patients presenting with primary forms of cerebrovascular insufficiency (PFCVI), who had become victims of Chernobyl accident. PFCVI diagnosis was made on the basis of findings from the clinical investigation, rheoencephalography, electroencephalography, echoencephalography, iridodiagnosis, electropuncture diagnosis as recommended by Nakatani, variation pulsometry, study into the vegetative nervous system. Functional inadequacies were disclosed in the bodily regulatory-adaptive system, specifically, the system of regulation of cerebral circulation. Cerebral symptoms in PFCVI are a reflection, first of all, of the brain nonspecific systems dysfunction. All this was taken into account in working out schemes of treatment for the above-named category of patients, incorporating lasero- and acupuncture. Exposure to the treatments described resulted in a noticeable improvement in 78% of the patients, and improvement in the rest of the series. High efficiency of the proposed approach to the treatment of PFCVI patients having become victims of Chernobyl accident suggests its pathogenetic significance.

Acupuncture Points↗
PubMed1999

[Changes in the L-serine and L-threonine dehydrogenase activities in the blood serum of those who worked in the cleanup of the aftermath of the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station who became ill with chronic acalculous cholecystitis].

Activity was studied of blood serum plasmic enzymes L-serine and L-threonine dehydrogenazes (SDG and ThDG) in 92 liquidators of aftermath of the Chernobyl atomic power plant breakdown, presenting with chronic non-calculous cholecystitis during the stage of moderately severe exacerbation with no clinical and laboratory and sonographic signs of affection of the liver. A quarter of the examinees demonstrated an increased activity of the enzymes under study, which fact is regarded by the authors as a preclinical sign of reactive hepatitis. Recommendations are given as to the outpatient registration and prophylactic management and therapy of those persons having taken part in the elimination of the effects of the Chernobyl accident, presenting with biliary pathologies.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Biological dosimetry of chernobyl cleanup workers: inclusion of data on age and smoking provides improved radiation dose estimates.

We report the results of a study of chromosome translocations in 126 Russian subjects who participated in the cleanup activities at Chernobyl and another 53 subjects, from other places in Russia, who were not exposed at Chernobyl. In agreement with our earlier study, we find increased translocation frequencies among the exposed compared to Russian controls. We describe statistical methods for estimating the dose of ionizing radiation determined by scoring chromosome translocations found in circulating lymphocytes sampled several years after exposure. Two statistical models were fitted to the data. One model assumed that translocation frequencies followed an overdispersed Poisson distribution. The second model assumed that translocation frequencies followed a negative binomial distribution. In addition, the effects of radiation exposure were modeled as additive or as multiplicative to the effects of age and smoking history. We found that the negative binomial model fit the data better than the overdispersed Poisson model. We could not distinguish between the additive and the multiplicative model with our data. Individual dose estimates ranged from 0 (for 43 subjects) to 0.56 Gy (mean 0.14 Gy) under the multiplicative model and from 0 to 0.95 Gy (mean 0.15 Gy) under the additive model. Dose estimates were similar under the two models when the number of translocations was less than 4 per 100 cells. The additive model tended to estimate larger doses when the number of translocations was greater than 4 per 100 cells. We also describe a method for estimating upper 95% tolerance bounds for numbers of translocations in unexposed individuals. We found that inclusion of data on age and smoking history was important for dose estimation. Ignoring these factors could result in gross overestimation of exposures, particularly in older subjects who smoke.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

[Radioactivity in Harz area drinking water after Chernobyl].

After the reactor accident in Chernobyl on April 26th, 1986 drinking water pollution was in Lower Saxony a problem in the Harz mountains. With the rainout of the radioactive clouds radioactivity came into the water-barrages, brooks und pools for drinking water supply. Good drinking water management supervised by the district community physician limited radioactive nuclides in drinking water. Drinking water path was approximately only 5% of the exposure to radioactive nuclides in the Harz region due to Chernobyl in 1986.

Germany↗
PubMed2000

[Acute leukemia in adults: morbidity in Donetsk region of Ukraine before and after Chernobyl' accident].

AIM: To study whether Chernobyl accident has implications for acute leukemia (AL) incidence rate in Donetsk region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Records of the Donetsk regional hematological center for new verified cases of AL have been analysed for 1977-1987 and 1989-1994. RESULTS: Four years after the accident AL morbidity was higher than before the accident. After 1991 AL morbidity returned to the preaccident level. CONCLUSION: A rise in AL incidence is attributed to radionuclide contamination after the Chernobyl accident of a region with initially unfriendly environment.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Sexual function of male rats exposed to the factors of the Chernobyl exclusion zone].

The influence of chronic internal and external irradiation in low doses on sexual behavior and fertility of sexual active animals keeping within the 30-km Chernobyl exclusion zone was studied. After the 1.5 month consumption of drinking water containing radionuclides of natural Chernobyl spectrum the decrease in proportion of sexual active animals and suppression of sexual motivation and erection were observed. This deviations resulted in the reducing of the inseminated females number. The dependence between the magnitude of total absorbed dose and the working of the sexual behavior regulative mechanisms was obtained. In addition, the reduction of rat fertility took place because of the increase of preimplantation, but not post-implantation death in in irradiated females coupled with irradiated males. The irradiation of males with total absorbed dose on testis 0.23 cGy decreased the fertility because of sexual behavior disturbance, and this effect was intensified by negative influence of ionizing radiation in the range of 0.7-7.0 cGy on male gametes.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

[Biliary tract diseases in persons suffering as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station].

A retrospective analysis was performed of case histories and of results of sonographic investigations in liquidators of the Chernobyl accident suffering from chronic abnormalities of the biliary ducts. Patients with cholecystitis were studied for the biochemical composition of their bile. The incidence of the gallbladder disorders (chronic cholecystitis, angiocholitis, dyskinesias of the biliary ducts) has not changed much over the last 10 years having elapsed since the accident. The biochemical composition of bile was found to have been changed to a greater extent in the liquidators of the Chernobyl accident than it was in those having avoided danger of exposure to ionizing radiation. Mechanisms of origination of cholelithiasis are discussed on the basis of investigations designed to study biochemical properties of bile and findings secured with the aid of the ultrasound techniques.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

A case-control analysis of leukemia in accident emergency workers of Chernobyl.

We estimated the radiation-induced risk of leukemia in 162,684 Chernobyl accident emergency workers (EWs) using the data of the Russian National Medical and Dosimetric Registry (RNMDR). A system was established for the collection and verification of data in 55 cases of leukemia from 1986 to 1995. The principal analysis included 41 leukemia cases that occurred more than 2 years after the first exposure to radiation. The case-control methodology was used to evaluate the risk of leukemia associated with various factors. Radiation dose, effective exposure dose rate, date of entry into the Chernobyl zone (ChZ), and the duration of stay in the zone were used as risk factors. The relationship between the date of entry and the duration of stay in the zone was investigated. All cases of leukemia, excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), were analyzed. An analysis was also performed on all EWs and on the EWs who worked in the zone from 1986 to 1987 (EWs of 1986 to 1987). No significant association was found between the risk of leukemia and the factors we investigated. Nevertheless, the relative risk estimates for leukemia, excluding CLL, were greater than the value for all leukemia and were greater than one. The estimated excess relative risk (ERR) per Gy was greater for all EWs [ERR = 1.33, 95% confidence interval (CI): -6.25, 8.90 for all leukemia, and ERR = 15.59, 95% CI: -24.92, 56.11 for leukemia, excluding CLL] compared with EWs of 1986 to 1987 (ERR = 0.28, 95% CI: -5.84, 7.41 for all leukemia, and ERR = 9.43, 95% CI: -20.0, 38.86 for leukemia, excluding CLL).

Case-Control Studies↗