Chavez High School Research Paper

In the dental setting the main concern is the dental radiation effects on children. Panoramic dental x-rays can cause DNA damage and cellular death in oral mucosa cells of these children. Cone-beam CT scanner, which was claimed to be the safe, is harmful on children due to them being more susceptible to radiation effects. Children are by far more susceptible to changes in their cells from a given dose of radiation compared to adults because they are still growing, developing, and changing. Radiation protection is needed to protect all children and adults from the exposure, the less the exposure the less problems later in life.

Radiation is one of the main forms of energy (Pettigrew 1). In today’s environment we are only familiar with the basic types of radiation. These types are in the form of

Ira Helfand demonstrates ethos, or authority, to argue the fact that any amount of radiation can be detrimental to public health, no matter how small. In order to effectively represent authority with this claim, Helfand uses a report from the National Research BEIR VI, “It is the consensus of the medical and scientific community, summarized in the National Research Council BEIR VII report, that there is no safe level of radiation,” (Helfand, 2012. Para. 2). The National Research Council BEIR VII specializes in the study of nuclear energy. For this group to insist that there is not an amount of exposure to radiation that could be deemed as safe, it is more of an “eye-opener” on the argument. Consequently, including an expert organization’s findings into his article allows Dr. Helfand a security of authority on the

I chose to write about radiological events, which involves ionizing radiation, to write about this week and I was surprised at how much I learned about the process. The human body is exposed to certain types of radiation all of the time. Some of the side effects were astounding.

The Beta travels faster and penetrates further than any other. Gamma rays are the most dangerous from all since the can travel further and damage tissues and organs. Radiation can be measured in doses such as the Roentgens and the Rem. Radiation in our planet can come from cosmic radiation, terrestrial sources, the body, or man-made sources such as diagnostic radiology and therapeutic radiology. When a person is exposed to radiation he/she can suffer from acute effects also known as effects that occur quickly or chronic effects which are known as long term effects. People can handle chronic exposure to radiation better than a large amount of radiation within a short period of time. People who have a been exposed to large amounts of radiation within a short period of time can become ill quickly such as in acute radiation sickness or could potentially die from such exposure. Exposure to radiation can cause illnesses such as cancer, cataracts, and could ultimately cause a reduction in life. America uses emergency managers to handle aspect of all emergencies posed to communities across the country. Emergency managers use The Radiological Protection System trains and aids communities when radiological emergencies occur. In the United

People can differentiate between different types of radiation by finding the source of radiation, the amount of energy being carried, and any particles involved.

When Hiroshima, Japan is ever mentioned, almost everyone feels a deep down feeling of sadness. The bomb that the United States created called “Little Boy” was dropped on August 6th, 1945. This was done to help end the war that North America and their allies were ready to end. Therefore when this bomb was dropped, it was concluded as a war ending step for America but came with a big life altering cost for Hiroshima. The aftermath left many people killed, injured, or missing but also left a few survivors which are extremely lucky. These survivors however are paying the price that many of the one killed had already experienced to this day. Acute Radiation Syndrome also known

For the plutonium, polonium and uranium experiments the researchers wanted to protect the people working on nuclear weapons. They used sick patients to experiment on, and they collected data from those experiments to develop a safer and healthier environment for the workers. The total-body irradiation (TBI) experiments the government was gathering information to use and develop nuclear weapons. The radioisotope experiments involved plutonium injections, and the biomedical research that was conducted was to further the medicine advancements (“OSTI,” 1995).

Acute radiation syndrome, or ARS, occurs in the whole human body when there are large doses of ionizing radiation strike for a short period. When an ionizing radiation occurs, it produces biologic damage inside the human body because the interaction within the cells causes molecular changes and inability to functions. It is a somatic effect that shows early symptoms of nausea, fatigue, and fever. Then months or years after radiation exposure, a person could potentially receive lung diseases, cataract, or cancer. These effects are examples of multiple epidemiologic cases involving human population that received high doses of ionizing radiation. This paper addresses one of the epidemiologic events that affected the Navajo miners handling a high

Radioactivity was first discovered in 1896 by Henri Becquerel. He used fluorescent minerals to study the properties of x-rays. He had photographic plates, which had been wrapped around in black paper with potassium uranyl sulfate that had been exposed to sunlight on top. This had been believed that uranium had absorbed the sun’s energy, then released to create an x-ray. His first experiment had failed due to an overcast over in Paris, but this didn’t stop Becquerel from developing his photographic plates. Although Becquerel was the one to discover radiation, the term radioactivity was formed by Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre. This was a little after the phenomenon that had recently been discovered by Becquerel. Extracting uranium from

As more information becomes available to the public about the detrimental effect of excessive radiation on human health, the United States government has entrusted the NRC with protecting of the public from exposure to nuclear products. To this end, the NRC is constantly putting out

Previous Undergraduate Research. As an undergraduate at Southern Arkansas University I assisted in various research projects. I explored the effects of gamma rays on HUVEC (Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cell) cells, assembly of a Cartesian robot, and theoretically calculated thermal convections for my dorm. As a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) student at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.) under Dr. Abdel Bachri, I conducted a NASA-sponsored study on subjecting cells to radiation in near-zero-gravity conditions. Gamma rays have detrimental health effects, such as genomic instabilities, on astronauts in

The scientific community unanimously agrees that exposure to high levels of radiation is a health hazard. Many people feel unconcerned because they feel it’s not a relevant problem in their lives. However, there are over 71,000 tons of nuclear waste simple in temporary storage at the U.S.’s 104 nuclear reactors (Oliver). Nearly one out of three Americans live within a 50-mile radius of a reactor filled with waste (Oliver). Still many are skeptical remaining ignorant of the potential dangers of radiation exposure. The severity of the damage to a person’s heath due to radiation is based on how much radiation and how long they were exposed to the amounts of radiation. The amount of radiation a person receives is measured in “rem” and depending on that the health effects could range from no observable health effects, to cancer, to even death (Effects of Radiation). Even a fraction of the amount of radiation to kill a person could cause nausea, fatigue, vomiting, loss of appetite, loss of hair and abnormalities in blood cells (Effects of Radiation). Nuclear waste from a typical fuel rod will still have 2,000 times more rem than the required dosage to kill a person even after 10 years (USNRC).

Radioactivity has been around since the 1800s. It is very popular in the medical field. It is used my many professionals to help diagnose and treat people every single day. Although it does have some advantages and disadvantages, people still use it to this day.

On the other hand, a thyroid cancer specialist, Dr. Leonard Wartofsky argues that with the new technology and scientific equipment we have these days, there is no reason to be concerned. The amount of radiation that is actually exposed is not enough to cause harmful damage to anyone. Also, the radiation that is actually exposed from dental x-rays has decreased a huge amount for the past two decades.