Survivors Of Hiroshima Research Articles

Cytogenetic validation of DS02R1-estimated dose for atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki with FISH

Introduction For Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, it has not been possible to calculate individual doses from the cytogenetic data and compare them with the physically estimated doses. This is because the cytogenetic studies used solid Giemsa staining which only provides the percent of cells bearing at least one stable-type aberration (most of the unstable-type aberrations had already disappeared), and a gamma-ray dose plus a 10-times neutron dose was used to integrate the data for both cities. Objectives To compare the FISH-derived gamma-ray dose with the DS02R1-derived gamma-ray dose after correcting for a contribution of the neutron dose. It was also an attempt to determine if the frequency of stable-type aberrations had remained unchanged after the exposure. Methods Stable exchange-type aberration data was obtained using the 2-color FISH method from 1,868 atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The collected frequency was first extended to a genome-equivalent frequency. Then, by using known induction rates of exchange-type aberrations in vitro caused by neutrons and gamma-rays, respectively, and the mean relationship between the neutron and gamma-ray doses in the DS02R1 estimates for the survivors, the gamma-ray effect was estimated from the total yield of translocations. Results It was found that over 95% of individual cytogenetic gamma-ray doses fell within the expected range of plus/minus about 1 Gy from the DS02R1 dose and the mean slope for the linear regression was 0.98, which reassures us of the validity of the DS02R1 study. Conclusions The present results demonstrate the validity of the individual DS02R1 doses, and that the frequency of stable-type aberrations in blood lymphocytes did not decay over the years, and thus is useful for retrospective dose evaluations of exposures which took place in the distant past.

The Lesser Evil: Plutonium-239 or Uranium-235? A Study on F0 Atomic Bomb Survivors

‘All models are wrong, but some models are useful.’ Radioactivity is a life-detrimental exposure that increases individuals’ susceptibility to cancer onset. The plasticity of the aging rate, expressed as d(log μ(x))/dx, has been informally acknowledged, often conflated with mortality rate μ(x) or risk log μ(x). A formal examination of this plasticity is lacking. The mortality schedule of irradiated F0 atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima (U-235) and Nagasaki (Pu-239) at age exposure 40 - 45 (ATE45) can unveil the characteristics of hazard trajectories by isotope type and dosimetry. Based on the advantage derived from background radiation, an alternative population was employed during the comparative study. A dose-dependent relationship between radioactive isotope types and the rate of aging was presented in the frailty framework; _γ-Gompertz-Makeham_. Among survivors within the 0-5mGy range, an apparent pseudo-benefit initial mortality risk, linked to the distance from the epicenter, implies that mortality selection is influenced by both impact severity and natural frailty. Moreover, the standardized mortality ratio indicates a more pronounced impact of Pu-239 on age-specific mortality trajectories compared to U-235. In the 0-5mGy range, Pu-239 shows 11% (M) and 37% (F), while U-235 exhibits 4% (M) and 0.5% (F). Upon intense radiation exposure, variation in the human rate of aging exists within a 10-km radius from the epicenter, and gender sensitivity may be a significant contributor to mortality selection.

The Lesser Evil: Plutonium-239 or Uranium-235? A Study on F0 Atomic Bomb Survivors

‘All models are wrong, but some models are useful.’ Radioactivity is a life-detrimental exposure that increases individuals’ susceptibility to cancer onset. The plasticity of the rate of aging _d(log μ(x))/dx_ has never been formally addressed, as it has been casually inferred as mortality rate _μ(x)_ or risk _log μ(x)_. The mortality schedule of irradiated F0 atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima (U-235) and Nagasaki (Pu-239) at age exposure 40 - 45 (ATE45) can unveil the characteristics of hazard trajectories by isotope type and dosimetry. Based on the advantage derived from background radiation, an alternative population was employed during the comparative study. A dose-dependent relationship between radioactive isotope types and the rate of aging was presented in the frailty framework; _γ-Gompertz-Makeham_. A pseudo-benefit initial mortality risk by distance to the epicenter was also observed among 0-5mGy survivors, suggesting that selection for mortality was determined by stringency from impact and frailty from natural selection. Furthermore, the standardized mortality ratio suggests Pu-239 has a more drastic effect on age-specific mortality trajectory than U-235; 0-5mGy, _Pu-239_ 11%(M) 37%(F); _U-235_ 4%(M) 0.5%(F). Upon intense radiation exposure, variation in the human rate of aging exists within a 10-km radius from the epicenter, and gender sensitivity may be a significant contributor to mortality selection.

Early-life atomic-bomb irradiation accelerates immunological aging and elevates immune-related intracellular reactive oxygen species.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in immune responses; however, their excessive production and accumulation increases the risk of inflammation-related diseases. Although irradiation is known to accelerate immunological aging, the underlying mechanism is still unclear. To determine the possible involvement of ROS in this mechanism, we examined 10,023 samples obtained from 3752 atomic-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who participated in repeated biennial examinations from 2008 to 2016, for the effects of aging and radiation exposure on intracellular ROS (H2 O2 and O2 •- ) levels, percentages of T-cell subsets, and the effects of radiation exposure on the relationship between cell percentages and intracellular ROS levels in T-cell subsets. The cell percentages and intracellular ROS levels in T-cell subsets were measured using flow cytometry, with both fluorescently labeled antibodies and the fluorescent reagents, carboxy-DCFDA and hydroethidine. The percentages of naïve CD4+ and CD8+ T cells decreased with increasing age and radiation dose, while the intracellular O2 •- levels in central and effector memory CD8+ T cells increased. Additionally, when divided into three groups based on the percentages of naïve CD4+ T cells, intracellular O2 •- levels of central and effector memory CD8+ T cells were significantly elevated with the lowest radiation dose group in the naïve CD4+ T cells. Thus, the radiation exposure-induced decrease in the naïve CD4+ T cell pool size may reflect decreased immune function, resulting in increased intracellular ROS levels in central and effector memory CD8+ T cells, and increased intracellular oxidative stress.

SUMRAY: R and Python Codes for Calculating Cancer Risk Due to Radiation Exposure of a Population

Background: Quantitative risk assessments should be accompanied by uncertainty analyses of the risk models employed in the calculations. In this study, we aim to develop a computational code named SUMRAY for use in cancer risk projections from radiation exposure taking into account uncertainties. We also aim to make SUMRAY publicly available as a resource for further improvement of risk projection.Materials and Methods: SUMRAY has two versions of code written in R and Python. The risk models used in SUMRAY for all-solid-cancer mortality and incidence were those published in the Life Span Study of a cohort of the atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The confidence intervals associated with the evaluated risks were derived by propagating the statistical uncertainties in the risk model parameter estimates by the Monte Carlo method.Results and Discussion: SUMRAY was used to calculate the lifetime or time-integrated attributable risks of cancer under an exposure scenario (baseline rates, dose[s], age[s] at exposure, age at the end of follow-up, sex) specified by the user. The results were compared with those calculated using another well-known web-based tool, Radiation Risk Assessment Tool (Rad- RAT; National Institutes of Health), and showed a reasonable agreement within the estimated confidential interval. Compared with RadRAT, SUMRAY can be used for a wide range of applications, as it allows the risk projection with arbitrarily specified risk models and/or population reference data.Conclusion: The reliabilities of SUMRAY with the present risk-model parameters and their variance-covariance matrices were verified by comparing them with those of the other codes. The SUMRAY code is distributed to the public as an open-source code under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology license.

Reflections on the life and career of Professor Dame Valerie Beral AC DBE FRS FRCOG FMedSci (1943–2022)

Reflections on the life and career of Professor Dame Valerie Beral <scp>AC DBE FRS FRCOG FMedSci</scp> (1943–2022)

Effect of exposure to radiation caused by an atomic bomb on endothelial function in atomic bomb survivors.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of exposure to radiation caused by an atomic bomb in atomic bomb survivors on vascular function and vascular structure and to evaluate the relationships of radiation dose from the atomic bomb with vascular function and vascular structure in atomic bomb survivors. Flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) and nitroglycerine-induced vasodilation (NID) as indices of vascular function, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) as an index of vascular function and vascular structure, and brachial artery intima-media thickness (IMT) as an index of vascular structure were measured in 131 atomic bomb survivors and 1,153 control subjects who were not exposed to the atomic bomb. Ten of the 131 atomic bomb survivors with estimated radiation dose in a cohort study of Atomic Bomb Survivors in Hiroshima were enrolled in the study to evaluate the relationships of radiation dose from the atomic bomb with vascular function and vascular structure. There was no significant difference in FMD, NID, baPWV, or brachial artery IMT between control subjects and atomic bomb survivors. After adjustment of confounding factors, there was still no significant difference in FMD, NID, baPWV, or brachial artery IMT between control subjects and atomic bomb survivors. Radiation dose from the atomic bomb was negatively correlated with FMD (ρ = -0.73, P = 0.02), whereas radiation dose was not correlated with NID, baPWV or brachial artery IMT. There were no significant differences in vascular function and vascular structure between control subjects and atomic bomb survivors. Radiation dose from the atomic bomb might be negatively correlated with endothelial function.

Concepts of association between cancer and ionising radiation: accounting for specific biological mechanisms

The probability that an observed cancer was caused by radiation exposure is usually estimated using cancer rates and risk models from radioepidemiological cohorts and is called assigned share (AS). This definition implicitly assumes that an ongoing carcinogenic process is unaffected by the studied radiation exposure. However, there is strong evidence that radiation can also accelerate an existing clonal development towards cancer. In this work, we define different association measures that an observed cancer was newly induced, accelerated, or retarded. The measures were quantified exemplarily by Monte Carlo simulations that track the development of individual cells. Three biologically based two-stage clonal expansion (TSCE) models were applied. In the first model, radiation initiates cancer development, while in the other two, radiation has a promoting effect, i.e. radiation accelerates the clonal expansion of pre-cancerous cells. The parameters of the TSCE models were derived from breast cancer data from the atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For exposure at age 30, all three models resulted in similar estimates of AS at age 60. For the initiation model, estimates of association were nearly identical to AS. However, for the promotion models, the cancerous clonal development was frequently accelerated towards younger ages, resulting in associations substantially higher than AS. This work shows that the association between a given cancer and exposure in an affected person depends on the underlying biological mechanism and can be substantially larger than the AS derived from classic radioepidemiology.

Nature Immersion in an Extreme Environment: Hiroshima Survivors’ Personal Emergence Following Their Atomic Bomb Experience

Nature immersion is defined as multidimensional connecting with earthy materials to generate personal emergence. Personal emergence is an embodied healing force observable via synchronization of bodily rhythms. Research has revealed positive effects of green space for healing. However, little is known about healing of survivors in the space impacted with radioactive nuclear energies. To use the theory of nature immersion to guide exploration of the concepts of connecting with earthy materials, personal emergence and space-time expansion in a sample of people who had experienced the catastrophic nature upheaval of the Hiroshima bombings on 6 August 1945. A descriptive exploratory design with directed content analysis was used with existing qualitative data consisting of 29 Hiroshima atomic-bombing survivors' description of their experience. Self-healing empirically manifested through 23 survivors' connection with earthy materials. There was synchrony between recuperating natural space and healing of survivors. Synchrony, as a dimension of human connection with nature, transcended the disharmony of bombing upheaval. Although further exploration is necessary, these findings serve as evidence about the essence of healing as related to nature for those in extreme environments.

Radiation-induced hematopoietic disorders

Hematopoietic stem cells are one of the most sensitive tissues to radiation exposure. Epidemiological studies of atomic bomb survivors in Nagasaki and Hiroshima revealed a radiation dose-response relationship for acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and Chronic myelogenous leukemia. In our study of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in Nagasaki, the relative risk was higher in the proximal-exposed group. Additionally, the frequency of chromosome abnormalities associated with poor prognosis was higher in the proximal-exposed group than in the non-exposed group. However, no association between the exposure distance and prognosis was observed. We used next-generation sequencing to analyze the role of genetic abnormalities in the development of MDS. The results indicated that genetic mutations related to DNA methylation pathways, which are frequently observed in de novo MDS, were considerably less frequent in the proximal-exposed than in the distal-exposed group. These results suggest that the pathogenesis of MDS in atomic bomb survivors may be different from that of treatment-related and de novo MDS.

Voices of the Unredressed: Korean and Nisei A-Bomb Survivors, Structural Legacies of Violence, and Compensatory Justice in the Cold War Pacific

ABSTRACT This essay explores the historical erasures of Korean and U.S.-born Japanese American (Nisei) survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing. Since 1945, the Korean survivors of Hiroshima have struggled for redress as South Korea has remained a crucial part of the U.S. Cold War nuclear umbrella. As American civilians, the Nisei atomic bomb survivors have also found themselves unrecognized by their country as victims of the U.S. nuclear violence. The struggles of Korean and Nisei A-bomb survivors for historical recognition reveal the colonial, racial, and state violence that remain unredressed in the U.S. “empire for liberty” well into the twenty-first century.

Leukemia. Radiation. Chornobyl (Oncohematological Consequences of the Chornobyl Catastrophe). D. F.Gluzman, M. P.Zavelevych, A. A.Philchenkov, S. V.Koval and L. N.Gusliter, Nova Science Publishers, 2020.

It is now 35 years since the Chernobyl disaster (26 April 1986). It was my privilege to visit Kiev on three occasions, in 2003, 2004 and 2007, as part of an international panel aiding in the validation of diagnoses in suspected radiation-induced haematological neoplasms. In 2004 a visit to Chernobyl itself, 130 km north of Kiev, was arranged. It was therefore with considerable interest that I noted the publication of this book. The authors are from the Department of Oncohaematology of the R.E. Kavetsky Institute of Experimental Pathology, Oncology and Radiation Biology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Their approach is necessarily detached and scientific. The horror and sadness of the event are not captured in the same way as they are by a visit to the site or a well-made documentary. The book covers more than Chernobyl, starting with survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and including the effects of nuclear weapons tests and other nuclear accidents. Investigations following Chernobyl expanded the known range of radiation-related neoplasms since chronic lymphocytic leukaemia was now added to the previously known acute myeloid leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, chronic myeloid leukaemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. In addition, the data support an aetiological role of radiation in multiple myeloma. The book is comprehensive. I would have liked more indication of the significance of results, P values and confidence intervals for example, but the book is very fully referenced so that this can be followed up. This publication will be of interest to haematologists, epidemiologists and physicists.

The ‘Hiroshima Maidens’ on Different Shores: Decentralising Scarred Japanese Femininity in the A‐Bomb Victimhood

AbstractThis article explores uneven histories of hibakusha (survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings in 1945) activism involving publicly visible nuclear injuries. By looking beyond the famous ‘Hiroshima Maidens’ and expanding an intersectional analysis of gender, race and disability to Korean, Japanese and American hibakusha, this article decentralises the scarred Japanese femininity in our understanding of hibakusha history. As Japan's former colonial subjects, Korean hibakusha successfully obtained disability compensation from the Japanese government beginning in the 1970s, helping Japanese and American survivors, too, to gain better treatment by the government. By contrast, US survivors remained unrecognised by any official US entities, despite the rising activism in Asian America in the 1970s. This article argues, it was a redefined, postcolonial masculinity of Korean and Japanese hibakusha that brought them tangible state benefits. In America, transforming gender was not enough to deconstruct the ‘model minority’ myth, which trivialised any physical injuries and disabilities among Asian Americans as self‐healable. Indeed, racism might have overwhelmed gender by making both femininity and masculinity irrelevant to racial minority rights. This illuminates a need to analyse the intersection of gender, race and disability in trans‐Pacific contexts so as to better identify the roots of nuclear injustice.

Conclusions and Suggestions on Low-Dose and Low-Dose Rate Radiation Risk Estimation Methodology

Background: For radiological protection and control, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) provides the nominal risk coefficients related to radiation exposure, which can be extrapolated using the excess relative risk and excess absolute risk obtained from the Life Span Study of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the dose and dose-rate effectiveness factor (DDREF). Materials and Methods: Since it is impossible to directly estimate the radiation risk at doses less than approximately 100 mSv only from epidemiological knowledge and data, support from radiation biology is absolutely imperative, and thus, several national and international bodies have advocated the importance of bridging knowledge between biology and epidemiology. Because of the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in 2011, the exposure of the public to radiation has become a major concern and it was considered that the estimation of radiation risk should be more realistic to cope with the prevailing radiation exposure situation. Results and Discussion: To discuss the issues from wide aspects related to radiological protection, and to realize bridging knowledge between biology and epidemiology, we have established a research group to develop low-dose and low-dose-rate radiation risk estimation methodology, with the permission of the Japan Health Physics Society. Conclusion: The aim of the research group was to clarify the current situation and issues related to the risk estimation of low-dose and low-dose-rate radiation exposure from the viewpoints of different research fields, such as epidemiology, biology, modeling, and dosimetry, to identify a future strategy and roadmap to elucidate a more realistic estimation of risk against low-dose and low-dose-rate radiation exposure.

Resilience before PTSD: or, Robert Vas vs The Bomb

ABSTRACT Resilience today is a highly instrumentalized weapon of the neoliberal state. Its purpose is the reduction and privatization of responsibility for emotions that conflict with the institutional interests of the western armed forces. This development dates back to the recognition of PTSD as an official diagnostic category in 1980, and to notions of civilian resilience developed in the 1990s and 2000s. This article seeks to historicize and relativize modern-day conceptions of resilience by exploring an earlier mid-twentieth century iteration which is anti-militaristic, non-institutional, and profoundly humanist. This version of resilience is rooted in the experiences of the Second World War and early Cold War generations as they attempted to cope retrospectively with their own traumatic memories. To develop this argument the article draws on recent critiques of resilience by Brett T Litz and Anne Boyar, on Jens Brockmeier’s notion of ‘subjunctive thinking’, and on a case study of the Anglo-Hungarian documentarist Robert Vas (1931–78). Of particular interest is To Die – To Live: The Survivors of Hiroshima (1975), Vas’s film collaboration with Robert and Mary Lifton, in which the director speaks with some of the hibakusha – survivors of the 1945 nuclear explosions – to better understand how they survived and continued to live.

Screening for M-proteinemia consisting of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and multiple myeloma for 30years among atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima.

Monoclonal gammopathy (M-proteinemia) is a premalignant plasma cell disorder. The prevalence of M-proteinemia increases with age and is affected by genetic or environmental factors. Atomic bomb (A-bomb) survivors in Hiroshima are in an age range when they are susceptible to M-proteinemia. The prevalence and incidence of M-proteinemia in Hiroshima A-bomb survivors were investigated for 30years (1989-2018) to examine the influence of radiation exposure. The overall prevalence of M-proteinemia among 38,602 A-bomb survivors was 2.4%. M-proteinemia prevalence at age 70years and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) incidence were not associated with radiation exposure category. Males had a 2.30-fold higher prevalence and a 2.08-fold higher incidence than females. The risk of incidence for MGUS was 4.32-fold higher in persons aged < 10years at the time of the A-bombing and 2.56-fold higher in those aged 10-19years compared with those aged over 30years. IgG type M-proteinemia was common and the IgM type developed 5-8years later than other immunoglobulin types. Exposure to radiation was not clearly associated with the prevalence of M-proteinemia or incidence of MGUS in Hiroshima A-bomb survivors. However, males and those aged < 20years at A-bombing had higher susceptibility to MGUS.

Прогноз пожизненных радиационных рисков заболеваемости злокачественными новообразованиями российских участников ликвидации последствий чернобыльской аварии

As stated in the Basic sanitary rules of radiation safety, radiation risk is one of the main character-istics of radiation safety. Before the work persons involved in cleanup operations after radiation accidents should be informed about subsequent risks to their health. However, mathematical models for radiation risk prediction and methods for its calculation are currently at the stage of scientific research and have not yet been standardized for solving practical problems of risk pre-diction. At the international level, UNSCEAR, ICRP and WHO developed radiation risk models on the basis of radiation-epidemiological data on survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings in August 1945. In recent decades, data on radiation-epidemiological follow-up of co-horts contained people exposed to radiation after the Chernobyl accident in 1986, in particular NRER data, have been used to identify and assess radiation risks. The radiation risk models iden-tified from the Chernobyl cohorts of exposed individuals differ from the models identified from the Japanese cohort, which leads, respectively, to different projections of lifetime radiation risk. The purpose of this work is to compare quantitatively the possible lifetime radiation risks of can-cer for a cohort of Russian liquidators of the Chernobyl accident, evaluated with radiation risk models developed by UNSCEAR, WHO and NRER. It is shown that after 2020, 1297 cases of cancer are expected in the cohort of Russian liquidators, this figure is 2.4 times higher than esti-mates obtained with the international models. The radiation risk model of leukemia, built on the basis of NRER follow-up data, predicts 145 cases of leukemia in the observed cohort of liquida-tors, which is 8 times higher than the values estimated with the use of international models. Since the liquidators of the considered cohort are generally over 50 years old, the results obtained may indicate the need to adjust the dose limits established by the current radiation safety standards based on ICRP risk models for people over 50 years old.

In Memoriam: Mortimer L. Mendelsohn: (1 December, 1925-8 January, 2020).

In Memoriam: Mortimer L. Mendelsohn: (1 December, 1925-8 January, 2020).

On Becoming Witnessing Professionals

I came to view my work with Hiroshima survivors in 1962 as not only a scientific study but a form of bearing witness to what the bomb did to human beings in that city. I tried to bring professional knowledge and experience to that effort, to become what I later called a witnessing professional. Nuclear and climate issues interacted in that early study, and have continued to be inseparable for all of us. I draw upon examples of witnessing professionals over the course of our struggles with these two planetary threats. In each case, they had to expose and combat the malignant normality, the dangerous prevailing assumptions and narratives, of their time. In that way, these professionals have contributed to important social movements. They have also deepened–as we too can–the ethical dimensions of professional work.

The Power of Documentary Theatre to Promote Cross-National Understanding: Personal Impact of Performing With Their Voices Raised by Japanese and American Youth Actors.

The purpose of this article is to share descriptions of the personal impact for cross-national youth actors (Japanese, American) who performed With Their Voices Raised (Voices), a documentary theater script that shares the stories of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima survivors who lived through the bombings of December 7, 1941, and August 6, 1945, respectively. This was a descriptive exploratory focus group study conducted immediately after student-actors from Funairi High School in Hiroshima (n = 15) and Farrington High School in Oahu, Hawaii (n = 8), performed Voices. Data were content analyzed by a cross-national research team to address the question "What was the personal impact of performing Voices for Japanese and American youth actors?" There were three themes that crossed national boundaries: sense of power of the message from real-life people, new cross-national awareness, and moving beyond familiar history to engage and learn. The fourth theme distinguished the youth groups: for Japanese youth, performing Voices inspired an awareness of their local focus; for American youth, it enlivened youth-to-youth engagement as a learning approach. Documentary theater script is a creative, holistic approach with the potential to bridge divisiveness and promote cross-national understanding.