We fabricated a small-sized, flexible, and insertable fiber-optic radiation sensor (FORS) that is composed of a sensing probe, a plastic optical fiber (POF), a photomultiplier tube (PMT)-amplifier system, and a multichannel analyzer (MCA) to obtain the energy spectra of radioactive isotopes. As an inorganic scintillator for gamma-ray spectroscopy, a cerium-doped lutetium yttrium orthosilicate (...

OBJECTIVES We aimed to assess the radiation exposure for epidemiologic investigation in residents exposed to radiation from roads that were accidentally found to be contaminated with radioactive cesium-137 ((137)Cs) in Seoul. METHODS Using information regarding the frequency and duration of passing via the (137)Cs contaminated roads or residing/working near the roads from the questionnaires t...

The prevalence of HLA-DR4 in relation to age at disease onset was calculated in 226 consecutive female patients with definite or classical rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A slight increase in the prevalence of DR4 with age at RA onset was found. This appeared to be due to the low percentage of rheumatoid factor (RF) positivity in the youngest age groups; the DR4 prevalence in the RF positive patient...

The activity concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40, were measured by using a gamma ray spectrometry for coal, soil and water samples collected from the Barapukuria coal mine in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. The average activity concentrations of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 in coal samples were found to be 6.21±3.68, 10.69±7.5 and 185.76±138.86 Bqkg, respecti...

BACKGROUND Although rarely seen in healthy patients, the coronary sinus (CS) is often visualized on echocardiography in patients with right-sided heart disease. However, the prevalence of this finding and its relation to right-sided heart structure and pressure remains undefined. METHODS We examined the transthoracic echocardiograms of 43 consecutive patients referred for the evaluation of pu...

To understand the effects of radionuclides on non-human biota and the environment, it is essential to study the intake and metabolism of radio-isotopes in earthworms which are among the most important soil organisms, and Eisenia fetida, which were used in this study, are known to be sufficiently sensitive to chemicals and representative of common earthworms. In this study, we assessed the conce...