The accelerated occurrence of age-related changes of organism in Chernobyl workers: a radiation-induced progeroid syndrome?

The rate of aging was studied in 306 persons working at Chernobyl Atomic Power Station after the accident by means of integral and partial biological age assessment. An accelerated rate of aging was found in 81% of men and in 77% of women in comparison with a control random population sample of Kiev. Persons younger than 45 years appeared to be more vulnerable to radiation. The biological age of persons who worked in the contaminated zone immediately after the disaster exceeded the biological age in those who arrived in Chernobyl 4 months later. The biological age in the investigated persons exceeded its average populational value for 5 years (the integral biological and partial cardiopulmonary age) and for 11 years for the partial psychological age. These data may underlie the concept of radiation progeroid syndrome as the form of accelerated aging.

Subjective time estimation in relation to age, health, and interhemispheric brain asymmetry.

The subjective estimation of time was studied in the population sample of 256 subjects aged 20 to 80 years. Among the elderly, a group of patients with cerebral atherosclerosis and a group of apparently healthy persons were selected. The study also involved 48 patients with remaining manifestations of right- and left-sided stroke. The unoccupied time interval and the interval occupied with performance of verbal tasks were estimated. In both cases, interval durations were 45 s. There was an underestimation of the unoccupied interval in the young group and it was overestimated by the elderly group. With the performance of verbal tasks, the age differences were insignificant. Occupied interval vs unoccupied interval was underestimated to a greater degree. No sex differences were noted. Time estimation in cerebral atherosclerosis without focal disturbances was analogous to the pattern being observed in aging. In left-sided stroke, underestimation of time and estimation accuracy exceeded similar indices in other groups. The relationship was established of the subjective time estimation with non-verbal intellect and several characteristics of brain asymmetry, but not with handedness.