NEUROMENTAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN IRRADIATED IN UTERO AS A RESULT OF THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER

Title: NEUROMENTAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN IRRADIATED IN UTERO AS A RESULT OF THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER

Author: Nyagu A I, Loganovskaja T K, Loganovsky K N

Reference: Укр. мед. часопис. (Ukrainian Medical Journal) , №2 (16) III – IV 2000 г.

Keywords: brain damage in utero, Chernobyl accident, neuromental health, etiopathogenesis, prenatal irradiation

Abstract: An integrated estimation of neuromental health of children acutely exposed to prenatal irradiation was performed. One hundred children, who were born between 26 April 1986 and 26 February 1987 from pregnant at the moment of the Chernobyl disaster women evacuated from the city of Pripyat after the accident were examined (main group). Doses of fetus irradiation were 10,7–92,5 mSv and doses of fetus thyroid irradiation were 0,2–2 Gy. Comparison group included 50 children from Kiev of the same age which mother’s pregnancies took place in Kiev (doses of fetus irradiation were 0–2,7 mSv and doses of fetus thyroid irradiation were 0–0,04 Gy).

URL:http://www.umj.com.ua/article/2187/nejropsixicheskoe-zdorove-vnutriutrobno-obluchennyx-detej-vsledstvie-chernobylskoj-katastrofy#en

The dependence of incidence rates of non-cancer thyroid diseases in the post-natal period at the Kaluga oblast children from term gestation, on which has taken place them in utero irradiation owing to technogenic iodine-131 incorporation

Title: The dependence of incidence rates of non-cancer thyroid diseases in the post-natal period at the Kaluga oblast children from term gestation, on which has taken place them in utero irradiation owing to technogenic iodine-131 incorporation

Author: Gorobets V.F

Reference: Radiation and Risk (Bulletin of the National Radiation and Epidemiological Registry) Year: 2011 Volume: 20 Issue: 1

Keywords: children, incidence of non-cancer thyroid diseases, irradiation in utero, technogenic iodine-131, cohort study

Abstract: The results of investigation of non-cancer thyroid diseases incidence rates, relative risks and etio-logic fractions by cohort study at 420 children from southwest region of the Kaluga oblast for the 12-year’s period after irradiation in utero on various terms of gestation at the expense of the technogenic iodine-131 incorporation are presented. Also 150 not exposed children as the control group was observed. It was established that incidence rates of thyroid diseases in the children irradiated in utero was at 2.6 times more than in the control group. The incidence of thyroid diseases among the children irradiated in utero was depended on the period of gestation at which irradiation was occurred. The highest level of the thyroid diseases incidence rate was in two subgroups of irradiated children: in the first subgroup every member was irradiated at the expense of iodine-131 from 4-th to 12-th week of gestation, in the second subgroup – from 16-th to 22-th week of gestation. It is known from radiobiological investigations that at these periods of gestation thyroid of foetus intensively accumulates radioactive iodine.

URL:http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/zavisimost-urovney-zabolevaemosti-neonkologicheskimi-zabolevaniyami-schitovidnoy-zhelezy-v-postnatalnom-periode-u-detey-iz-kaluzhskoy

Comparative analysis of thyroid diseases incidence in prepubertal children of Kaluga oblast, exposed to iodine-131 in utero and resided in areas with different level of radioactive contamination after the Chernobyl accident

Title: Comparative analysis of thyroid diseases incidence in prepubertal children of Kaluga oblast, exposed to iodine-131 in utero and resided in areas with different level of radioactive contamination after the Chernobyl accident

Author: Gorobets V.F

Reference: Radiation and Risk (Bulletin of the National Radiation and Epidemiological Registry) Year: 2012 Volume: 21 Issue: 4

Keywords: children, in utero exposure to radiation, pollution of territories by iodine-131 and caesium-137, iodine supplementation, thyroid diseases incidence.

Abstract: Incidence of non-cancer thyroid diseases among prepubertal children exposed to radiation from Chernobyl in utero and resided in Zhizdra, Ulyanovo and Khvastovichi rayons of Kaluga oblast with different level of radioactive contamination was studied. It was shown that the rate of thyroid diseases incidence depended on natural iodine insufficiency in the areas of residence and radioiodine dose. The relative contribution of each of these factors can be estimated by difference between the incidence rate in exposed and unexposed children of the same age and the same area of residence.

URL:http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/sravnitelnyy-analiz-zabolevaemosti-tireopatiyami-v-dopubertatnom-vozraste-detey-iz-kaluzhskoy-oblasti-obluchyonnyh-vnutriutrobno-za

Fetal irradiation interferes with adult cognition in the nonhuman primate.

Author: Friedman H.R., Selemon L.D.

Reference: Biol. Psychiatry. — 2010. — Vol. 68, № 1. — P. 108–111

Keywords: early gestation exposure, schizophrenia, fetally irradiated macaque monkeys

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Exposure to x-irradiation in early gestation has been shown to disrupt normal thalamocortical development in the monkey and thereby model one key feature of the neuropathology of schizophrenia. However, the effect of fetal irradiation on cognitive functions that are vulnerable in schizophrenia (e.g., working memory) has not been examined.

METHODS: Four fetally irradiated macaque monkeys (FIMs) and four age-matched controls (CONs) were tested as juveniles (12-30 months) and again as adults ( approximately 5 years) on delayed spatial response (DR), a working memory task that is dependent on intact prefrontal cortical circuitry.

RESULTS: As juveniles, seven of eight monkeys learned DR; one FIM refused to test. Performance in the two groups was not different. As adults, only one FIM achieved criterion on DR. Three of four FIMs did not reach criterion at the 0-sec delay interval of the DR task, whereas all four CONs mastered DR at the maximum tested delay of 10 sec. FIMs completed fewer DR test sessions compared with CONs. In contrast, all FIMs and three of four CONs learned an associative memory task, visual pattern discrimination.

CONCLUSIONS: Fetal exposure to irradiation resulted in an adult-onset cognitive impairment in the working memory domain that is relevant to understanding the developmental etiology of schizophrenia.

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20399419

Chernobyl exposure as stressor during pregnancy and behaviour in adolescent offspring

Title: Chernobyl exposure as stressor during pregnancy and behaviour in adolescent offspring

Author:　Huizink AC, Dick DM, Sihvola E, Pulkkinen L, Rose RJ, Kaprio J

Reference: Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica [2007, 116(6):438-446]

DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2007.01050.x

Keywords: stressor, pregnancy, utero exposure

Abstract: Research in animals has shown that exposure to stressors during pregnancy is associated with offspring behavioural disorders. We aimed to study the effect of in utero exposure to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, and maternal anxiety presumably associated with that exposure, on behaviour disorder observed at age 14.

URL:http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/17997723/reload=0;jsessionid=hGAqsKrHmmv8rx35ys6y.12

Testicular steroidogenesis is not altered by 137 cesium Chernobyl fallout, following in utero or post-natal chronic exposure

Title: Testicular steroidogenesis is not altered by 137 cesium Chernobyl fallout, following in utero or post-natal chronic exposure

Author: Grignard E, Guéguen Y, Grison S, Dublineau I, Gourmelon P, Souidi M

Reference: Comptes Rendus Biologies, Volume 333, Issue 5, May 2010, Pages 416–423

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2010.02.003

Keywords: Steroidogenesis, Cesium, Chronic contamination, Chernobyl, utero exposure, postnatal chronic exposure

Abstract: The testis is especially sensitive to pollutants, including radionuclides. Following the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, several of these radionuclides were emitted and spread in the environment. Subsequently, children presented some disruptions of the endocrine system. To determine whether these disruptions were due to 137 cesium (¹³⁷Cs) exposure, the effects of chronic contamination with low doses of ¹³⁷Cs in utero or from birth on testicular steroidogenesis in rats were studied. Contamination was continued for 9 months. No modification was observed in circulating level of hormones (17β-estradiol, testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone) following in utero or post-natal contamination. Expression of several genes involved in testicular steroidogenesis was affected (cyp19a1, fxr, sf-1), without modification of protein expression or activity. Our results suggest that growing organisms may be affected at the molecular level by ¹³⁷Cs contamination at this post-accidental dose.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1631069110000466

In utero exposure to A-bomb radiation and mental retardation; a reassessment

Title: In utero exposure to A-bomb radiation and mental retardation; a reassessment

Author: Masanori Otake, Ph.D. and William J. Schull, Ph.D.

Reference: British Journal of Radiology (1984) 57, 409-414

doi: 10.1259/0007-1285-57-677-409

Keywords: utero exposure, A-bomb, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, mental retardation

Abstract: The prevalence of mental retardation in children exposed in utero to the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been re-evaluated in reference to gestational age and tissue dose in the fetus. There was no risk at 0–8 weeks postconception. The highest risk of forebrain damage occurred at 8–15 weeks of gestational age, the time when the most rapid proliferation of neuronal elements and when most, if not all, neuroblast migration to the cerebral cortex from the proliferative zones is occurring. Overall, the risk is five or more times greater in these weeks than in subsequent ones. In the critical period, damage expressed as the frequency of subsequent mental retardation appears to be linearly related to the dose received by the fetus. A linear model is not equally applicable to radiation-related mental retardation after the 15th week, the observed values suggesting that there a threshold may exist. The data are consistent with a probability of occurrence of mental retardation of 0.40% per cGy or 40% per gray.

URL: http://bjr.birjournals.org/content/57/677/409