Earticle

Background: A model to assess the activity concentration of agricultural products and the public ingestion dose as result of a nuclear accident is necessarily required to manage the contaminated agricultural systems by the accident, or to estimate the effects of chronic exposure due to food ingestion at a Level 3 PSA. Materials and Methods: A dynamic compartment model, which is composed of three submodules, namely, an agricultural plant contamination assessment model, an animal product contamination assessment model, and an ingestion dose assessment model has been developed based on Korean farming characteristics such as the growth characteristics of rice and stockbreeding. Results and Discussion: The application study showed that the present model can predict well the characteristics of the activity concentration for agricultural products and ingestion dose depending on the deposition date. Conclusion: The present model is very useful to predict the radioactivity concentration of agricultural foodstuffs and public ingestion dose as consequence of a nuclear accident. Consequently, it is expected to be used effectively as a module for the ingestion dose calculation of the Korean agricultural contamination management system as well as the Level 3 PSA code, which is currently being developed.

Background: In terms of the Level 3 probabilistic safety assessment (Level 3 PSA), ingestion of food that had been exposed to radioactive materials is important to assess the intermediate- and long-term radiological dose. Because the ingestion dose is considerably dependent upon the agricultural and dietary characteristics of each country, the reliability of the assessment results may become diminished if the characteristics of a foreign country are considered. Thus, this study intends to evaluate and analyze the ingestion dose of Korean during a severe accident by completely considering the available agricultural and dietary characteristics in Korea. Materials and Methods: This study uses COMIDA2, which is a program based on dynamic food chain model. It sets the parameters that are appropriate to Korean characteristics so that we can evaluate the inherent ingestion dose of Korean. The results were analyzed by considering the accident date and food category with regard to the 137Cs. Results and Discussion: The dose and contribution of the food category depicted distinctive differences based on the accident date. Particularly, the ingestion dose during the first and second years depicted a considerable difference by the accident date. However, after the third year, the effect of foliar absorption was negligible and exhibited a similar tendency along with the order of root uptake rate based on the food category. Conclusion: In this study, the agricultural and dietary characteristics of Korea were analyzed and evaluated the ingestion dose of Korean during a severe accident using COMIDA2. By considering the inherent characteristics of Korean, it can be determined that the results of this study will significantly contribute to the reliability of the Level 3 PSA.

Background: We analyzed changes in the doses, structure volumes, and dose-volume histograms (DVHs) when data were transferred from one commercial treatment planning system (TPS) to another commercial TPS. Materials and Methods: A total of 22 volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans for nasopharyngeal cancer were generated with the Eclipse system using 6-MV photon beams. The computed tomography (CT) images, dose distributions, and structure information, including the planning target volume (PTV) and organs at risk (OARs), were transferred from the Eclipse to the MRIdian system in digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) format. Thereafter, DVHs of the OARs and PTVs were generated in the MRIdian system. The structure volumes, dose distributions, and DVHs were compared between the MRIdian and Eclipse systems. Results and Discussion: The dose differences between the two systems were negligible (average matching ratio for every voxel with a 0.1% dose difference criterion = 100.0 ± 0.0%). However, the structure volumes significantly differed between the MRIdian and Eclipse systems (volume differences of 743.21 ± 461.91% for the optic chiasm and 8.98 ± 1.98% for the PTV). Compared to the Eclipse system, the MRIdian system generally overestimated the structure volumes (all, p < 0.001). The DVHs that were plotted using the relative structure volumes exhibited small differences between the MRIdian and Eclipse systems. In contrast, the DVHs that were plotted using the absolute structure volumes showed large differences between the two TPSs. Conclusion: DVH interpretation between two TPSs should be performed using DVHs plotted with the absolute dose and absolute volume, rather than the relative values.

Background: Tumor response to anticancer therapies can much be influenced by microenvironmental factors. In this study, we determined the effect of these microenvironmental factors on DNA methylation using A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cell line. Materials and Methods: We subjected A549 cells to various conditions mimicking tumor microenvironment including hypoxia, acidosis (sodium lactate), oxidative stress (H2O2), bystander effect (supernatant from doxorubicin (Dox)-treated or irradiated cells), and immune cell infiltration (supernatant from THP-1 or Jurkat T cells). Genomic DNA was isolated from these cells and analyzed for DNA methylation. Clonogenic cell survival, gene expression, and metabolism were analyzed in cells treated with some of these conditions. Results and Discussion: We found that DNA methylation level was significantly decreased in A549 cells treated with conditioned media from Dox-treated cells or Jurkat T cells, or sodium lactate, indicating an active transcription. To determine whether the decreased DNA methylation affects radiation sensitivity, we exposed cells to these conditions followed by 6 Gy irradiation and found that cell survival was significantly increased by sodium lactate while it was decreased by conditioned media from Dox-treated cells. We further observed that cells treated with conditioned media from Dox-treated cells exhibited significant changes in expression of genes including BAX and FAS (involved in apoptosis), NADPH dehydrogenase (mitochondria), EGFR (cellular survival) and RAD51 (DNA damage repair) while sodium lactate increased cellular metabolism rather than changing the gene expression. Conclusion: Our results suggest that various tumor microenvironmental factors can differentially influence DNA methylation and hence radiosensitivity and gene expression in A549 cancer cells.

Background: Gamma-ray spectrometry helps in radiation shielding problems and different applications of radioisotopes. Experimental arrangements including broad beam geometries are widely used. The aim is to investigate and evaluate the γ-ray spectra via attenuation by environmental materials. Materials and Methods: The photo peak to nominated parts in the γ-ray spectra and the attenuation coefficients μb ⁄ρ from broad beam geometries are measured for the materials water, soil, sand and cement at the energies 0.662, 1.25, and 1.332 MeV with a 3" × 3" NaI(Tl) detector. Results and Discussion: The γ-ray spectra vary according to changes in the effective atomic number Zeff of the attenuator, the photon energy and the solid angle. The peak to total ratios are the most sensitive parts to variations in the experimental conditions and overturn in the region 0.663 MeV to 1.332 MeV. This is indicated as inversion trend. The results are discussed in view of Zeff and the experimental conditions. The intensity build-up is larger at the lower energy and larger scattering angles in agreement with Klein-Nishina formula and other results. The buildup factor B is 1 at high γ-energies and small scattering angles. Conclusion: The sensitivity to material characteristics decrease gradually from peak: to total, to Compton valley, to Compton plateau ratios. Rigorous collimation is necessary at small energies. Cement, of the largest Zeff , is characterized by the maximum broad beam mass attenuation coefficients μb ⁄ρ. The obtained results provide information to decide for the suitable experimental set-up based on aim of the work.