[Carcinogenic risk in residents of the Techa riverside villages].

The paper summarizes carcinogenic risk estimates in residents of the Techa riverside villages who have been exposed for many years to radiation due to discharge of radioactive wastes from the Mayak Production Association into the Techa-Iset-Tobol-Ob river system. Analysis of cancer incidence and mortality data has shown a statistically significant dose-dependent increase in the risk of both malignant tumors and leukemia. The dependence of excess relative risk on exposure dose is well described by a linear model. No evidence has been obtained that carcinogenic risk resulting from low-rate radiation exposure is lower than that from acute exposure of A-bomb survivors. Difficulties of following up vital status due to population migration, incomplete data on mortality causes, and inaccurate dose estimates are believed to be key contributors to radiation risk uncertainties.

[Medical and biological consequences of human's chronic exposure to radiation]. / Mediko-biologicheskie posledstviia khronicheskogo oblucheniia cheloveka.

The authors considered medical consequences of radiation accidents (burial of radioactive waste into Techa river and accident in 1957) in "Majak" Industrial Association. Results of long-term observations helped to evaluate health state of people who underwent chronic exposure to radiation and of their descendants.

[Lethal developmental defects in the offspring of a population living in a territory with traces of radioactivity]. / Letal'nye poroki razvitiia u potomstvo naseleniia, prozhivaiushchego na territorii radioaktivnogo sleda.

The paper is concerned with the materials of a study of long-term effects of irradiation at small doses of a limited population, taking by way of example lethal developmental defects in descendants. In 1957 a radioactive trace was formed as a result of an explosion of a tank with highly active radiochemical by-products. The population in this area was exposed to irradiation. Mortality from lethal developmental defects in the descendants was analyzed. The data obtained have shown that the effect on the gonads of external irradiation at doses of 0.1-0.5 Sv (33,500 persons) revealed no statistically significant variations in the mortality of the descendants from developmental defects as compared to the controls.

[The medical sequelae of the radiation accident in the Southern Urals in 1957]. / Meditsinskie posledstviia radiatsionnoi avarii na Iuzhnom Urale v 1957.

As a result of an accidental outburst of long-lived radionuclides at the nearest zone of the trace, a dose rate of gamma-radiation was several dozen CGy/h and in the open country at some populated areas it was 0.1 CGy/h. The evacuation of 10730 persons permitted a decrease of possible radiation doses 2-24-fold. A follow-up of persons who had been exposed to the highest effective equivalent doses of radiation before the evacuation revealed unstable indices of leukocytes and platelets (however they were within normal variations) in the first 2 years. Morbidity and mortality rates among the adults, the rates of congenital diseases and pediatric mortality did not differ from the control values. The rate of families having children born from persons aged 10 to 30 at the time of the accident did not differ from the similar rates for the USSR; this rate was lower by 5-10% than the control values for persons aged 0 to 9 at that time. Standardized birth rates in the study group (31 x 8,10(-3)) were much higher than in the control group (18 x 4,10(-3)).