The loss of proliferative potential of a cell is often equated to cell kill, and many studies of the cellular effects of radiation (both ionising and non-ionising) utilise this definition of cell kill to define cell survival. To measure cell survival using this paradigm, a cell culture that has been exposed to a known dose of radiation is cultured and, at a predefined time post irradiation, the...

Nori NAKAMURA, Chuzo MIYAZAWA, Shozo SAWADA, Mitoshi AKIYAMA, A. A. AWA Department of Genetics and Department of Radiobiology, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, 5-2 Hijiyama Park, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 732, Japan, Department of Chemistry, Ohu University School of Dentistry, 31-1 Aza-Misumido, Tomita-machi, Koriyama 963, Japan, Department of Radiobiology, Research Institute for Radiation Bio...

The use of radiation in therapy of cancer and diagnosis of other diseases has been practised since the discovery of X-ray. Radiotherapy of cancer was founded on the simple observation that radiations can kill tumour cells. As the science of radiobiology developed, some of its concepts were slowly incorporated in the therapeutic use of radiations, and this led to improve patient treatment. Howev...

Recent advances in the field of radiation biology have increased our knowledge of cellular responses to radiation and microenvironmental disseminations through radiation at molecular level.

The unique feature of the space radiation environment is the dominance of high-energy charged particles (HZE or high LET radiation) emitted by the Sun and galactic sources, or trapped in the Van Allen radiation belts. These charged particles present a significant hazard to space flight crews, and accelerator-based experiments are underway to quantify the health risks due to unavoidable radiatio...