BACKGROUND Ramsar, a city in northern Iran, has areas with some of the highest recorded levels of natural radiation among inhabited areas measured on the earth. AIMS To determine whether short-term exposure to extremely high levels of natural radiation induce oxidative stress. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, 53 Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups of 10-12 animals. Animal...

There is a vigorous debate about whether or not there may be a "threshold" for radiation-induced adverse health effects. A linear-no threshold (LNT) model allows radiation protection practitioners to manage putative risk consistently, because different types of exposure, exposures at different times, and exposures to different organs may be summed. If we are to argue to regulators and the publi...

by R. Mukherjee and J. Mircheva H, I ealth risks from exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation, particularly those relating to cancer, invariably command considerable attention. Recent reports about radon levels in homes and buildings, the extensive fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident, and suspected cancer clusters around nuclear facilities have contributed to a heightene...

The cancer mortality ratios (CMRs) in Poland in high and low level radiation areas were analyzed based on information from national cancer registry. Presented ecological study concerned six regions, extending from the largest administration areas (a group of voivodeships), to the smallest regions (single counties). The data show that the relative risk of cancer deaths is lower in the higher rad...

As an environmental agent that is toxic at high concentrations, radon can exert a beneficial effect on the immune system when it generates low radiation doses in man. This paper is a brief examination of this effect and considers in particular that produced by low radiation doses and their mechanisms of action. It also analyses the effects found in the study of human populations exposed to low ...