Video display terminals and radon.
Recent reports indicate that video display terminals (VDTs) can collect radon progeny from the air. This occurs especially when they are turned off and may have negative electric fields which attract positively charged radioactive dust. We have studied this phenomenon in detail and evaluated various techniques for removing the gettered radioactivity while the video display terminal is both off and on. We have evaluated what happens when the video display terminal is switched, thereby reversing the electric field near the screen. We have also studied possible inhalation effects by a video display terminal operator during field reversal and find that although some radioactivity may be released during the cycle, room air currents redistribute it into the room with no detectable levels being inhaled by users.
Indoor Radon Progeny Aerosol Size Measurements in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Regions
By using direct and indirect methods, we conducted size distribution measurements of radon progeny particles in a variety of indoor environments in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The radon progeny particle size distribution owing to indoor activities has two definable source categories: (1) gas combustion from stoves and kerosene heaters–particles were found to be smaller than 0.1 μm in diameter, mostly in the range 0.02–0.08 μm; and (2) cigarette smoking and food frying—particles were found to be larger, in the size range 0.1–0.2 μm. The radon progeny particle size distribution, without significant indoor activities, such as cooking, was found to be larger in rural areas than in urban or suburban areas. The modal diameters of the size spectra in the rural areas were two to three times larger than those in urban or suburban areas, around 0.3–0.4 vs. 0.1–0.2 μm. Results obtained by applying the attachment theory to the measured number-weighted size spectra from an electrical aerosol size analyzer suppor...
Production of new antituberculosis drug and other medical preparations by electron beam treatment
Abstract Possibility of electron beam usage for immobilization of hydrazidum of an isonicotinic acid (HIA) on dextrane was studied to produce a drug for treatment of a tuberculosis. As a result of irradiation of dextrane the processes of oxidation and formation of polysaccharide occur due to carbonyl groups which are to link isoniasidum. The HIA immobilized on dextrane may be used as an effective medical preparation having prolonged action for action on endo and extracellular population of Micobacterium tuberculosis .