Prediction of 222Rn from topography in Pennsylvania.

The relationships of Rn levels in basements and first floors of homes to topographic location in a northeastern ridge and valley section of Pennsylvania were investigated. Topographic variables relating to elevation and slope were quantified and related to house Rn levels using both conventional and classification and regression tree (CART) analyses. The original interest was in using topographic correlates to estimate missing values in epidemiologic studies. In this area, Rn levels are usefully predicted by relative and absolute elevations and nearness to hills and ridges. Three- to fourfold differences in geometric mean Rn levels can be obtained for categories representing significant portions of the population of houses. The relationship of first-floor to basement Rn levels was found to be curvilinear and modestly affected by topography.

Postmenopausal loss of Ra acquired in adolescence or young adulthood: quantitative relationship to radiation-induced skeletal damage and dosimetric implications.

From the results of serial measurements of body 226Ra activity in 13 former luminous dial workers 30-60 y after relatively brief periods of intake of luminous compounds in adolescence or young adulthood, we determined the postmenopausal rate of elimination of Ra in percent of contemporary body Ra content per year. This rate was negatively correlated with the "reduced x-ray score," a measure of radiation osteonecrosis observed radiographically in the 13 subjects (r = -0.85, P less than 0.001). The clearance rates of subjects retaining low Ra activity were greater than predicted by retention models. We conclude that for those members of the Ra-exposed population under study for health effects at our institution who sustained the lesser degrees of macroscopic skeletal damage, present estimates of skeletal absorbed dose are systematically low, by at most a factor of 2.

The estimation and potential radiobiological significance of the intake of 228Ra by early Ra dial workers in Illinois.

We made radiochemical determinations of 226Ra and the 228Ra-decay product, 228Th, in samples of bone from former Ra dial workers who belonged to a major cohort of Ra-exposed persons under study for health effects at our institution. Most of the former workers were long-term residents of two communities supplied with drinking water containing elevated natural levels of 228Ra and 226Ra, so determinations also were made of radioactivity in samples of bone from long-term residents not occupationally exposed to Ra. The 228Th activity of the bones of the former workers, after correction for the presence of natural radioactivity, showed that some had significant occupational intakes of 228Ra, contrary to published reports that 228Ra was never used by the Illinois company that had employed the cohort of early workers. For 14 workers hired in the years 1920-23, the calculated ratio of the occupational intake of 228Ra to 226Ra activity averaged 0.15 (coefficient of variation 0.65), whereas for three workers hired in 1924, it was not significantly different from zero (mean 0.05, coefficient of variation 1.5). The risk of radiogenic cancer for the typical worker hired before 1924 may have been nearly twice that incurred in the absence of the 228Ra component of the Ra intakes.

Radioactivity measurements of former military personnel exposed to weapon debris.

Sixteen former military personnel who were present at the "Smoky" atmospheric nuclear weapon test have been investigated for internal deposits of radioactivity. Whole-body and thorax gamma-ray measurements, thorax and skeletal actinide measurements, and urinalyses for plutonium-239 and strontium-90 indicated no evidence of radioactivity in excess of that found in the general population.