It has long been accepted that radiation-induced genetic effects require that DNA be hit and damaged directly by the radiation. Recently, evidence has accumulated that in cell populations exposed to low doses of alpha particles, biological effects occur in a larger proportion of cells than are estimated to have been traversed by alpha particles. The end points observed include chromosome aberra...

A recently proposed scaling law for the decay time of alpha particles is generalized for cluster decay. It is shown that for the decay of even-even parents, logT1/2 depends linearly on the scaling variable S=(ZcZd) 0.6/ √ Qc and on the square root of the reduced mass of cluster and daughter. PACS numbers: 23.90.+w,25.85.Ca,23.60.+e

We report data demonstrating that zebrafish embryos irradiated by alpha particles can release a stress signal into the water, which can be communicated to the unirradiated zebrafish embryos sharing the same water medium and thereby inducing a radioadaptive response in these unirradiated zebrafish embryos. The effects of radiation on the whole embryos were studied through quantification of apopt...

The determination of particle induced x-ray emission (PIXE) cross sections and the concentration of elements in a material require the knowledge of the target sample thickness. In this aim, measurements of the thickness by three different methods have been performed. These are absorption of X-rays by a 55 Fe source, transmission of alpha particles by a 241 Am source and Rutherford backscatterin...

The energy-dependent cross section of the ^{7}Be(n,α)^{4}He reaction, of interest for the so-called cosmological lithium problem in big bang nucleosynthesis, has been measured for the first time from 10 meV to 10 keV neutron energy. The challenges posed by the short half-life of ^{7}Be and by the low reaction cross section have been overcome at n_TOF thanks to an unprecedented combination of th...

Cells react differently to clustered and dispersed DNA double strand breaks (DSB). Little is known about the initial reaction to simultaneous induction of DSBs with different complexities. Here, we used live cell microscopy to analyse the behaviour of 53BP1-GFP (green fluorescence protein) foci formation at DSBs induced in U2OS cells by alpha particles, X-rays or mixed beams over a 75 min perio...

Gamma-ray spectra from nuclear reactions between fusion-born alpha (alpha) particles and Be impurities were measured for the first time in deuterium-tritium plasmas in the Joint European Torus. The time dependence of the measured spectra allowed the determination of the density evolution of fast alpha particles. Correlation between the decay time of the gamma-ray emission and the plasma paramet...

The clinical and histological examination of a cataract in a man of 47 is described together with a review of the deposition of radionuclides in the eye. It is suggested that the cataract was possibly due, at least in part, to irradiation of the sensitive cells in the germinative zone of the lens epithelium by alpha particles deposited in the pigmented tissues of the eye from the 239Pu circulat...

The solid state track detector of celluloid films (cellulose nitrate+camphor 25% an weight) using etching technique is suitable for low energy alpha particle detection . The critical rate of energy loss for track formation in celluloid films is determined as 1 .3 MeV/mg•Ecm2. Irradiated samples are etched in NaOH (6 N) solution at 46•Ž for 10 minutes . The etched tracks are observed under a vie...