Nuclear Physics Fundamentals Milorad Mladjenovic
Frank Helus, Lelio G. Colombetti in Radionuclides Production, 2019
The interaction of elementary particles is now considered to be governed by four types of forces, or, briefly said, there are four types of interactions. Two of them have been known for a long time in classical physics — gravitational and electromagnetic forces. In studying the atomic nucleus, two more forces were discovered. A strong nuclear force, which can overcome repulsive electric force between protons, is responsible for the binding of nucleons into nuclei. Another kind of force is responsible for such transformations as beta decay. It is considerably weaker than the strong nuclear force. Hence, they are usually named “strong” and “weak” interaction, respectively. It is not known yet whether the four known interactions — gravitational, electromagnetic, strong, and weak — are connected more intimately at a deeper level. So far, such connection is believed to have been found only between electromagnetic and weak interactions.
Short-Lived Positron Emitting Radionuclides
Frank Helus, Lelio G. Colombetti in Radionuclides Production, 2019
In the beta decay process a positive or negative charged electron is emitted from the nucleus. In all cases a neutrino is simultaneously emitted. The electron and the positron, a positively charged electron, are antiparticles and they can annihilate when brought in close contact. All neutron-rich nuclei will decay via β− emission along its isobar to a stable isotope. All proton-rich nuclei will decay with the emission of β+ particles or by electron capture. The two basic processes in the decay of proton-rich nuclei are
Non-Radiographic Imaging
Eric Ford in Primer on Radiation Oncology Physics, 2020
The process of nuclear decay, the decay modes, and products are described in Section 2.2. To summarize briefly, important decay modes include beta-plus, beta-minus, electron capture, alpha decay, isomeric transition, and internal conversion. For a summary see Table 2.2.1. For beta decay specifically, the neutron-rich isotopes undergo beta-minus decay, have relative long half-lives, and are made in reactors, while the proton-rich isotopes undergo beta-plus decay, have relatively short half-lives, and are made in cyclotrons.
Radiological risk assessment of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (HPNS)
Published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2022
Dennis J. Paustenbach, Robert D. Gibbons
Cs-137 has a radioactive half-life of 30 years and is a byproduct of nuclear fission. Cs-137 was released to the atmosphere from nuclear weapons testing conducted by the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, and the former USSR from 1946 to 1980 and from nuclear reactor accidents, such as those that occurred at the Chernobyl and Fukushima-Daiichi plants (Eisenbud and Gesell 1997; Balonov 2007; Marianno et al. 2018). As a result of these releases, measurable quantities of Cs-137 can be found in the environment (including soils) and in human tissues. Beta decay of Cs-137 produces a metastable excited state of barium (Ba-137m) with a radioactive half-life of 2.55 min. The decay of Ba-137m to the stable isotope of Ba-137 emits a high-energy gamma ray. Cs-137 is primarily an external radiation hazard although it can pose an internal radiation hazard if ingested or inhaled (ICRP 2008; Johnson et al. 2012). The potential for Cs-137 to be present on ships returning from nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific and Cs-137 use in calibrating radiation detection equipment were the primary reasons Cs-137 was identified as an ROC (USN 2004).
New frontier radioiodinated probe based on in silico resveratrol repositioning for microtubules dynamic targeting
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2023
Ashgan F. Mahmoud, Mohamed H. Aboumanei, Walaa Hamada Abd-Allah, Mohamed M. Swidan, Tamer M. Sakr
The most prominent criteria in radio-theranostics design are the prober selection of a drug with high affinity to the target organ and indeed the convenient radionuclides to be laden on it (Essa et al. 2015; Ibrahim et al. 2015; Al-Wabli et al. 2016; Swidan et al. 2019). Firstly, the molecular modeling study of the radioiodinated resveratrol had showed a good affinity toward β-tubulin binding site in the microtubules domain system with an appropriate binding energy (−34.46 kca/mol). This criterion was further enlightened through the in vivo distribution study in tumor models which showed high accumulation and retention in the tumor lesion. On the other hand, the radioactive iodine [131I] was selected for the radiolabeling process due to its convenient physical and decay characteristics. The radioactive iodine [131I], half-life ≈ 8 days, is considered as one of the most suitable radionuclides for radio-theranostics procedures due to its dual decay mode (10% gamma decay which utilized in the diagnosis while 90% beta decay which utilized in therapeutic application) (Sheikh et al. 2017; Sakr et al. 2018). So, the 131I-radioiodinated resveratrol preparation as a theranostic probe had successfully achieved the criteria mentioned above. From the molecular biology point of view, tracking of the microtubules dynamics is significantly help the physicians with soulful amelioration in the early detection of any abnormal modifications arisen during the cellular division such as tumor cell progression.
Radiobiological effects of tritiated water short-term exposure on V79 clonogenic cell survival
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2018
Mattia Siragusa, Pil M. Fredericia, Mikael Jensen, Torsten Groesser
With the important aid of COOLER, we have obtained carefully controlled sets of clonogenic cell survival curves for V79 cells internally exposed to tritium. We have found that the change in cell culture condition growth must be taken into account (single spherical cell, suspended cell clusters, and adherent cells). After comparison to S-values calculated for different cell geometries, no substantial difference was found between the use of the whole beta decay spectrum and its average decay energy. Finally, our findings underline the importance of using internal radiation and reference radiation at the same dose rate and stating the dose rate when measuring in vitro RBE-values.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Beta Particle
- Electron Capture
- Radioactive Decay
- Tritium
- Atomic Nucleus
- Positron Emission
- Valley of Stability
- Isotopes of Nitrogen
- Half-Life
- Nuclear Transmutation