Biologically effective dose defined

Perhaps the most fruitful area of research for identifying biomarkers of exposure that can be linked to disease outcome is the study of mechanisms of disease induction. It is not possible to define a marker of a biologically effective dose unless the mechanism by which the biological effect is induced is known. Likewise, the earliest biological events that lead to a disease cannot be determined unless the mechanism of disease induction is understood. Mechanistic studies should help to link the biologic markers represented by traditional toxicokinetic measurements and the biologic markers represented by traditional clinical markers of disease. 

The rad is a unit of absorbed radiation dose in terms of energy actually deposited in the tissue. The rad is defined as an absorbed dose of 0.01 joules of energy per kilogram of tissue. The rem (radiation equivalent man) is the unit of human exposure and is a dose equivalent (DE). The international or SI unit for human exposure is the sievert, which is defined as equal to 100 rem [2]. It takes into account the biological effective of different types of radiation. The biologically effective dose in rems, is the radiation dose in rads multiplied by a quality factor, which is an assessment of the effectiveness of that particular type and energy of radiation. 

The enhanced effectiveness of ion beams is described in terms of the / elative Biological Effectiveness (RBE), defined as the ratio of absorbed doses, which have to be applied for the two radiation types to achieve the same biological effect ... 

Dose Equivalent (DE)—A quantity used in radiation safety practice to account for the relative biological effectiveness of the several types of radiation. It expresses all radiations on a common scale for calculating the effective absorbed dose. It is defined as the product of the absorbed dose in rad and certain modifying factors. (The unit of dose equivalent is the rem. In SI units, the dose equivalent is the sievert, which equals 100 rem.)... 

Dose equivalent or rem is a special radiation protection quantity that is used, for administrative and radiation safety purposes only, to express the absorbed dose in a manner which considers the difference in biological effectiveness of various kinds of ionizing radiation. The ICRU has defined the dose equivalent, H, as the product of the absorbed dose, D, and the quality factor, Q, at the point of interest in biological tissue. This relationship is expressed as H = D x Q. The dose equivalent concept is applicable only to doses that are not great enough to produce biomedical effects. 

The biological effectiveness of dose depends on the type of radiation and also on the mass and sensitivity of the irradiated tissue. For alpha irradiation, a quality factor of 20 is assumed (ICRP, 1981), and the dose in Sieverts is 20 times the dose in Grays. In addition, ICRP recommends a weighting factor of 0.12 for irradiation of the whole lung and 0.06 for irradiation of bronchial epithelium only. Thus the effective dose equivalent , symbol HE, is defined as the dose to the whole body which carries the same risk as the given dose to the organ or tissue. This, for irradiation of bronchial tissue is 20 x 0.06 = 1.2 times the dose to the organ in Gy. 

This chapter will address the implications of the data presented in previous chapters for assessing the risks from environmental chemical exposures. WHO/IPCS has defined risk assessment as an empirically based paradigm that estimates the risk of adverse effects from exposure of an individual or population to a chemical, physical, or biological agent. As shown in Figure 21, it includes the components of hazard identification (Is there an adverse effect ), dose-response assessment (How severe is it ), exposure assessment (What is the level of exposure ), and risk characterization (What is the risk ) (NRC, 1983 IPCS, 2000). 

Rem This older term is the short abbreviation for roentgen equivalent man. It is defined as the dose of radiation absorbed, multiplied by a modifying factor called quality factor Q, or relative biological effectiveness, RBE that takes into account the type of radiation (of any kind) and how the radiation is absorbed. Thus, for beta, gamma and X-rays, the quality factor is 1 for alpha radiation it may be as high as 20, and for neutrons it varies from 3 to 10. 

Sievert (Sv) It is a more modem unit that substitutes the rem, as it reflects the biological effect of radiation. It is defined as the absorbed dose in Gy multiplied by a somewhat complicated factor that takes into account for example the quality factor defined above, the part of the body irradiated and the time and volume of exposure. 1 Sv = 100 rems. 

For radiation protection purposes, several theoretical dosimetric quantities have been created that attempt to normalize the responses of different tissues and organs of the body from irradiation by different types of ionizing radiation so that uniform radiation protection guidelines can be promulgated that are insensitive to the particulars of any given irradiation scenario. The traditionally used quantity has been the dose equivalent (DE), which is defined as the absorbed dose (D) multiplied by the quality factor Q. The unit of dose equivalent has been the rem, which is dimensionally the same as the rad the SI unit is the Sievert (Sv). Recently, the DE has been replaced by a similar concept called the equivalent dose. The equivalent dose depends on the relative biological effectiveness rather than on Q. 

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