Life has evolved on Earth for 3 billion years in the presence of background ionizing radiation (IR). All organisms on Earth are continuously exposed to varying amounts of natural radiation and they have therefore incorporated in their normal biology a daily stimulus of ultra-low–dose radiation. A question arises about the biological effects of environmental background radiation and whether the ...

The prevailing dogma for radiation biology is that genotoxic effects of ionizing radiation such as mutations and carcinogenesis are attributed mainly to direct damage to the nucleus. However, with the development of microbeam that can target precise positions inside the cells, accumulating evidences have shown that energy deposit by radiation in nuclear DNA is not required to trigger the damage...

Remembering Professor Ohnishi, I have to think about the time when we first met as graduate students specializing in radiation biology and became friends. We shared a liking for ping-pong and the Chinese language. During congresses, we would leave the main venue and enjoy ourselves. In recent years, we had unfortunately turned in bad company as our position did not allow for it anymore. Not see...

Many modern diagnostic and surgical procedures rely heavily on the use of ionizing radiation. These procedures include computed tomography, nuclear medicine procedures, interventional radiology, and cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology procedures. Recent trends toward increased patient visits and patients with multiple challenging comorbidities have meant that anesthesia providers are ...