Operational experience of electronic active personal dosemeter and comparison with CaSo4:Dy TL dosemeter in Indian PHWR.

Direct reading dosemeter has been used for day-to-day radiation exposure control and management for last four decades in Indian nuclear power plants (NPPs). Recently new real time, alarm and pre-alarm on equivalent dose/dose rate, storage of dose/dose rate and maximum dose rate, user-friendly electronic active personal dosemeter (APD) has been implemented into practice for the first time at Kaiga Atomic Power Station-3&4,  of Indian NPPs. The dosemeter showed tolerance level (L) 0.1085±0.0450 compared with 0.1869±0.0729 (average±SD) for CaSO4:Dy, TL dosemeter, having narrow range trumpet curve, nil electromagnetic interference. Records of >29 000 for APD and TL dosemeter were analysed for comparasion of the measurement of the individual dose. APD followed general acceptance rule of ±25 % for dose >1 mSv. Monthly Station collective dose by TL dosemeters and APD for normal reactor operation as well as outage are found in good agreement. Operational experiences and statistical analysis support that an APD dosemeter is reasonably equivalent to CaSO4:Dy TL dosemeter. The accuracy, reproducibility and repeatability of the measurement of radiation for (137)Cs are comparable with CaSO4:Dy, TL dosemeter. Operational experience of APD during the normal operation as well as outage showed as one of the best ALARA tool for occupational dose monitoring, control, management and future outage planning.

Assessment of hepatic inflammation after spinal cord injury using intravital microscopy.

OBJECTIVES: The liver has been shown to play a particularly important role in the initiation and progression of the early systemic inflammatory response (SIR) to spinal cord injury (SCI). The purpose of this study was to determine the time course of leucocyte recruitment to the liver, and to determine the effect of injury severity on the magnitude of leucocyte recruitment and hepatic injury. METHODS: Rats were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: uninjured, sham-injured (laminectomy and no cord injury), cord compressed or cord transected. At 30 min and 90 min after SCI rats had the left lobe of their livers externalised and visualised using intravital video microscopy. RESULTS: Thirty minutes after injury the total number of leucocytes per post-sinusoidal venule was significantly increased after cord transection compared to that in uninjured and sham-injured rats (P<0.05). Of these leucocytes, significantly more were adherent to venule walls (P<0.05). At 90 min the total number of leucocytes per post-sinusoidal venule and the number of adherent and rolling leucocytes was significantly increased after cord transection and cord compression (P<0.05). DISCUSSION: This is the first study to use intravital microscopy to visualise systemic inflammation in the liver following SCI. We have demonstrated immediate leucocyte recruitment to the liver within 30 min after injury and have shown that systemic inflammation increases with time after injury and with severity of injury.