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PubMed2004

Systematic radium survey in spring waters of Slovenia.

Radium (226Ra) concentration in 115 Slovenian springs ranged from 7.8 to 43.1 Bq m(-3), well below the current Slovenian limit of 1000 Bq m(-3) for drinking water. It showed two distributions, one grouped at around 24 Bq m(-3) and the other at around 37 Bq m(-3). Contrary to expectation, the level of radium does not always relate to the aquifer type. Only at aquifers and springs composed of acid, intermediate and basic igneous and metamorphic rocks, did radium concentration exceed 36 Bq m(-3) and was below this value at the majority of aquifers composed of carbonate and other sedimentary rocks.

Agriculture↗

PubMed2005

Conditioning and long-term storage of spent radium sources in Turkey.

Conditioning of radium sources is required before long-term interim storage to avoid the release of radioactive material and to limit radiation exposure. In this study, containment of the radium sources was achieved by high integrity encapsulation designed to control the radon emanation problem. The capsules were made of Type 316 austenitic stainless steel with dimensions of 22mm diameter and 160mm height. The gas pressures which was caused by encapsulation of different amounts of (226)Ra were determined. The maximum gas pressure found 10atm for 900mCi of (226)Ra in one capsule at 20 degrees C. A lead shielding device was designed to limit radiation exposure. A 200l drum was used as a conditioned waste package for the radium sources and represents a Type A package under the IAEA transport regulations.

Helium↗

PubMed1989

Clinical results in carcinoma of the cervix: radium compared to caesium using remote afterloading.

In 1979 the Cancer Control Agency of British Columbia changed from radium to remote controlled afterloaded caesium in the treatment of carcinoma of the cervix. In the 3 years prior to the change, 139 patients received radium as part of their treatment and in the 3 years after the change, 158 patients received caesium. Overall referral patterns, patient and cancer demographics, and treatment policies were stable throughout the 6-year period. Radiotherapy technique, dose, dose distribution and dose rate were comparable for both radium and caesium treated patients. The results of treatment in the two time periods showed no difference in survival, local tumour control or complications. The use of afterloading has not compromised treatment results and has allowed better nursing care for patients and protection from radiation for all staff.

Brachytherapy↗

PubMed2002

Abnormal high natural radium concentration in surface waters.

Unexpected high 228Ra concentrations, up to 2 Bq 1(-1), were found in waters of a coastal lagoon close to a monazite sand separation plant. Due to their use as process waters in this plant, the initial supposition was a contamination related to its operation. However, it was concluded that these abnormal radium concentrations had a natural origin, springs at the lagoon head area with high 228Ra and 226Ra concentrations. The strong relationship among radium and light rare-earth elements (LREEs), the observed 228Ra/226Ra activity ratio and the rare-earth element pattern in the spring waters suggested that monazite is the main source of nuclides for water, indicating the disturbance of monazite chemical stability by the combined effects of low pH and high salinity. Both factors combined allow relatively low mobility of thorium, but, on the other hand, a relatively high mobility of radium and LREEs.

Environmental Monitoring↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Determination of radium-226 in environmental and personal monitoring samples.

Radium-226 is a member of the Uranium-238 natural decay series and is the most hazardous radionuclide released to the environment from uranium mining and milling. Due to its long half-life (1600 years) and radiological effects it is one of the most important isotopes to be determined among the naturally occurring nuclides in environmental samples. It is also among the most toxic long-lived alpha-emitters present in environmental samples, as well as one of the most widespread. The requirement for the determination of radium has become a matter of interest in public health due to its hazardous nature with respect to internal exposure. It is concentrated in bones, thus increasing the internal radiation dose of individuals. The methodology developed involves dissolving solid samples by microwave digestion. The radium is then separated from matrix interferents by cation exchange chromatography and subsequently electrodeposited onto a stainless steel disc. Alpha-Spectrometry is employed to determine the activity in the sample. A limit of detection of 20 mBq l(-1) for ground water samples (100 ml) and 20 mBq g(-1) for solid samples (0.1 g) is achievable. The method has been validated via an intercomparison exercise and analysis of a marine sediment reference material. Samples analysed include run off waters from uranium mines, coal and fly ash and also trapping media such as silica gel, charcoal and activated carbon.

Environmental Exposure↗

PubMed2002

Evaluation of potential chelating agents for radium.

The alpha-particle-emitting radionuclide 223Ra (t(1/2) = 11.4 d) is of interest for use in targeted radionuclide therapy. In order to provide radium-labeled monoclonal antibodies, the development of a chelator binding radium in a stable fashion is required. As a part of the search for potentially useful radium chelators, the relative stability of 223Ra-chelates with linear and cyclic chelating agents was evaluated by means of competition extraction experiments.

Alpha Particles↗

PubMed1991

Determination of radium isotope ratios and abundances in geologic samples by thermal ionization mass spectrometry.

We describe chemical separation and mass spectrometric procedures for the measurement of radium isotopes in geologic samples. These methods provide 226Ra/228Ra ratio measurements for 1 g or less of rock sample containing subpicogram amounts of radium with precision better than 1.5% (95% confidence level). Radium-226 concentrations were measured by isotope dilution for smaller sample sizes (100-500 mg) containing as little as 1-10 fg of total 226Ra with similar high precision.

Geology↗

PubMed1970

Malignancy from radium.

Human experience of the toxicity of radium acts as a guide for the setting of occupationally permissible levels for radioactive nucleides, especially bone-seekers. Reviewing the published statements and photomicrographs in early reports especially those of Martland (1931) one can make a case that malignancy was induced in bone-marrow (leukaemia, malignant myelosclerosis) as well as in bone (osteosarcoma) by radium, especially with large doses. Three case reports of radium intoxication in Britons are noted as compatible with this suggestion, after revised interpretation in two of them.

Aged↗

PubMed1978

Bone cancer among female radium dial workers. Latency periods and incidence rates by time after exposure: brief communication.

Bone cancer in 1,250 women exposed to radium while working in the luminous watch-dial industry between 1913 and 1929 were analyzed for times of appearance ("latency periods") and incidence rates over time after first exposure. The lowest radium intake dose associated with bone cancer, among 751 women whose intake doses had been determined, was 202.5 muCi. Mean and median bone cancer latency periods tended to decline, but average survival among women without bone cancer also decreased with increasing intake level. Bone cancer incidence rates over time were compared in 2 intake-dose groups (200--749 and greater than or equal to 759 muCi) by means of an actuarial method that takes competing risks into account. Incidence rates were consistently higher in the higher intake-dose group versus the lower dose group at each 5-year period after first exposure. The variability in the odds ratios across the time periods was not statistically significant, and the actuarial method provided little evidence for an effect of intake dose on the pattern of incidence rate over time. With the use of similar methods, no significant variability was evident in the relative odds of bone cancer over time after exposure between one group of women first exposed to radium at less than 18 years of age and another group exposed when 18 or more years old.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Radiological health risk evaluation of radium contaminated land: a real life implementation.

A plot of land, currently used for dairy farming, has been contaminated over the years with radium due to the operation of one of the world's largest radium production plants. Within the framework of a global remediation approach for the plant surroundings, the land owner needed advice for a future destination of the land. Therefore, the radium contamination was accurately mapped, and on the basis of its severity a practically feasible subdivision of the land into four plots was proposed. For all four plots, the radiological risk was evaluated for the current type of land use and for possible alternative types. Hence a clear and useable advice could be formulated to the authorities reconciling public health, economic and practical issues.

Belgium↗

PubMed2006

Natural background dose and radium equivalent measurements at Ikogosi warm spring, Nigeria.

The natural background dose and the radium equivalent due to the natural radioactivity levels in rocks and sediments collected around Ikogosi warm spring, Nigeria, has been determined in this study using a highly sensitive HpGe detector. The mean activity concentration of (40)K, (226)Ra and (228)Ac were measured to be 585.50 +/- 17.40 Bq kg(-1), 66.91 +/- 5.23 Bq kg(-1) and 48.91 +/- 2.10 Bq kg(-1), respectively, in rock samples while in sediment samples the activity concentrations were found to be 113.89 +/- 5.64 Bq kg(-1) for (40)K, 21.47 +/- 5.14 Bq kg(-1) for (226)Ra and 14.20 +/- 1.07 Bq kg(-1) for (228)Ac. This mean values give rise to average absorbed dose rate of 85.87 nGy h(-1) at a distance of 1.0 m above the ground level and a mean human effective dose equivalent of 0.53 man Sv y(-1) for rock samples. A radium equivalent of 50.55 Bq kg(-1) was measured for the sediment samples. The radium equivalent value is far less than the 370 Bq kg(-1) limit for materials that can be used as building materials while the human effective dose equivalent falls below the world average background dose of 2.4 man Sv y(-1).

Background Radiation↗

PubMed2002

Cancer incidence after nasopharyngeal radium irradiation.

BACKGROUND: From 1940 until 1970, nasopharyngeal radium irradiation was used to treat children and military personnel suffering from Eustachian tube failure attributable to local lymphoid hyperplasia. METHODS: We studied cancer incidence in a cohort of 4339 Dutch patients treated with nasopharyngeal radium irradiation, mostly in childhood, and 4104 frequency-matched nonexposed subjects. Average doses to the nasopharynx, pituitary gland, brain, and thyroid gland were 275, 10.9, 1.8, and 1.5 cGy, respectively. We assessed cancer incidence from cancer registry linkage (1989-1996), self-report including medical verification (1945-1988), and death certificates (1945-1996). RESULTS: During 18-50 years of follow-up, four thyroid malignancies (standardized incidence ratio [SIR] = 2.8; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.8-7.2) and five malignant brain tumors (SIR = 1.3; CI = 0.4-3.1) were observed. Increased risks were observed for malignancies of lymphoproliferative and hematopoietic origin (SIR = 1.9; CI = 1.2-2.8) and breast cancer (SIR = 1.5; CI = 1.1-2.1). Strong dose-response trends could not be demonstrated for any cancer outcome, although relative risk estimates were elevated in the highest-dose category for head and neck cancer and breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide little evidence for a high excess risk of cancer associated with nasopharyngeal radium irradiation treatment as applied in the Netherlands. Inconsistent findings across studies and public concern warrant the continuing follow-up of available cohorts.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1983

Survey of ocular cataracts in radium dial workers.

A survey of the medical records of 813 female radium dial workers first exposed to radium before 1930 yielded reports of 119 cataracts in the group whose radium body burden had been measured at least once. After dividing the subjects into high and low dose groups, the data were analyzed according to latency (time between first employment and first diagnosis of cataract), duration of employment and age at first exposure. Duration of employment and age at employment showed no significant correlation with dose. Latency, however, showed a significant negative correlation with dose. Since radiation cataracts tend to occur earlier than so-called senile cataracts, these preliminary data suggest the need for further investigation.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Consideration of age-dependent radium retention in people on the basis of the beagle model.

This paper examines in humans the proposition emanating from studies in beagles that initial retention of radium varies in proportion to the calcium addition rate at the time of intake. Human calcium addition rates were scaled from those in beagles, the relative calcium accretion rates in the two species at equivalent stages of skeletal growth providing the scaling factor. The variation of radium retention with age was determined by fitting a modified power function to data on the retention of radium from about 30 to 15000 days following a series of therapeutic injections of 226Ra in humans ranging in age from 18 to 63 yr. The fractional retention R at t days following a single injection of 226Ra was described by R = (1 + t/d)-0.44. The age-dependent parameter d in the retention function was found to be proportional to the calcium addition rate at the time of injection in subjects receiving less than 200 micrograms 226Ra.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1983

Measurement techniques for radium and the actinides in man at the Center for Human Radiobiology.

Various techniques are employed to determine the amounts, retention, and distribution of radioactivity in human subjects in vivo. The principal method is gamma-ray spectrometry with large NaI(Tl) scintillation crystals ("whole-body counting"). The geometries used include an arc of 1.5-m radius in which all parts of the body are roughly equidistant from the detector, a reclining chair and a flat bed with detectors placed above and below the subject. When a sufficient amount of radioactivity is present in a subject, scanning techniques assist in determining its distribution in the body. Specialized instruments such as a xenon-filled proportional counter and a dual-crystal (phoswich) detector are used to measure low-energy photon emitters, primarily plutonium and americium. americium. There are three primary methods of calibrating the detectors. The first is analytical, in which a rigorous mathematical treatment is employed; the second involves the administration of tracer amounts of radioactivity to human volunteers; the third consists of determining detector response to known amounts of radioactivity in a phantom. All three methods can be intercompared, and further evaluated by comparing the results of measurements in vivo with those of postmortem analyses. For both radium and thorium cases measured in vivo, the interpretation of the results is complicated by the fact that neither radium nor thorium emit gamma rays of any consequence. Instead, the observed gamma rays result from the decay of 214Bi (RaC) and 208Tl (ThC"), respectively. Since each of these nuclides is preceded in the decay chain by an isotope of the noble gas radon, some of which is exhaled, its activity is not equal to that of the parent radium or thorium. Therefore, breath samples are collected to determine the exhalation rate of the precursor isotope, 222Rn (radon) or 220Rn (thoron). The total body content is then the sum of the gamma activity and the exhaled radioactivity, referred to as the retained and emanating fractions, respectively.

Actinoid Series Elements↗

PubMed1998

Radium and leukemia: is current dogma valid?

Current reviews have concluded that internal 226Ra appears not to give rise to leukemia in humans, a conclusion based on incidence in U.S. female radium dial workers. In fact, leukemias have occurred significantly early in female dial workers; males occupationally exposed to radium show an excess of leukemias; and the rare erythrocytic leukemias appear in male workers as they do in Thorotrast case series. It appears more reasonable that Thorotrast data are suitable for projection of leukemogenic risk from radium and plutonium than that no concern for leukemogenic risk is warranted.

Bone Marrow↗

PubMed2000

Radium-induced eye melanomas in dogs.

The intraocular radiotoxicity of intravenously injected 226Ra and 228Ra was studied in beagle dogs. Approximately 0.071% of injected radium was retained in each eye of beagles following intravenous administration. The retention was principally in the tapetum and the intraocular pigmented structures where significant pigmentary lesions were produced. These included melanotic plaques on the iris, melanosis of the ciliary body, varying degrees of tapetal degeneration, and intraocular melanomas. The tumors occurred principally in the ciliary body and to a much lesser extent in the iris. They appeared to arise from the pigment epithelium layer of the ciliary body. Thus, unlike melanomas arising in other sites, they are apparently not of neural crest origin. In addition to bone cancer, they represent another radium-induced neoplasm in beagles. Radium-induced intraocular melanomas have not been reported in people.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Biokinetic model of radium in humans and beagles.

A compartmental model of the distribution of radium in humans and young adult beagle dogs (approximately 500-550 d) is presented. The model consists of one soft tissue compartment and seven skeletal compartments for humans, and five skeletal compartments for beagles. The number of transfer parameters to be estimated was reduced by using remodeling rates of bone and imposing several constraints deduced from known features of bone physiology, radium metabolism, and autoradiographic analyses. The model predictions are in good agreement with measured retentions in plasma, whole body, skeleton, and soft tissues of both species. Moreover, for beagles even the retention in individual bones can be predicted quite well if the relevant morphometric parameters are known. While some of the estimated transfer parameters are similar in both species, others differ by an order of magnitude or more. Wherever possible, a comparison of model parameters with those of previous models is given. The new model not only is instrumental for calculating local doses in the skeleton but also can be used for characterizing the microdistribution of radium in this organ.

Animals↗