Intellectual development, mental and behavioural disorders in the children whose mothers were exposed to pathogenic radioecological and psychosocial factors as a result of Chernobyl accident at the different stages of pregnancy

Title: Intellectual development, mental and behavioural disorders in the children whose mothers were exposed to pathogenic radioecological and psychosocial factors as a result of Chernobyl accident at the different stages of pregnancy

Author: Igumnov S.A., Drozdovitch V.V.

Reference: Journal: Radiation and Risk (Bulletin of the National Radiation and Epidemiological Registry), Year: 1999 Issue: 11

Keywords: intellectual development, mental disorders, behavioral disorders, children, mothers, the impact of pathogenic factors, the impact of radio-ecological factors, the impact of psychosocial factors, pregnancy

Abstract: The study examined psychological development in 187 children at the age of 6-7 and 10-11, who had suffered prenatal radiation exposure at the time of the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

URL:http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/intellektualnoe-razvitie-osobennosti-psihicheskih-i-povedencheskih-rasstroystv-u-detey-materi-kotoryh-podverglis-vozdeystviyu

Radiocontamination of the environment and its effects on the mother and fetuses – III. Part II – Retention of cesium 137 by pregnant women, placentae and infants.

Title: Radiocontamination of the environment and its effects on the mother and fetuses – III. Part II – Retention of cesium 137 by pregnant women, placentae and infants.

Author: Nagai T, Iinuma TA, Uchiyama M, Ishimara T, Yashiro S, Sternberg J.

Reference: Int J Appl Radiat Isot 1970; 21: 363–374.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0020-708X(70)90148-1

Keywords: radiocontamination, cesium 137, pregnancy

Abstract: In the mature placenta, concns. of stable K and 137Cs were 1.61 g/kg and 22 pCi/kg, resp. In pregnant women, the K content, determined by whole-body counting, followed the accumulation by the fetus, with the amount of 137Cs-remaining approx. constant at 3.4-4.7 nCi/kg. in the last 5 months before delivery. In infants, a linear relation was noted between total K and body weight, with a constant amount of K/kg. The 137Cs body burden was irregular. Doses from 137Cs in Osaka during the last trimester were 0.032, 0.02, and 0.016 millirem to mother, placenta, and fetus, resp., only ~1% of that received from naturally occurring 40K. Thus, the radiation received by the placenta from 137Cs is negligible.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0020708X70901481

Radiocontamination of the Environment and its Effects on the Mother and Fetus III, PART I–RETENTION OF CESIUM 137 DURING PREGNANCY: AN INTER-LABORATORIES STUDY

Title: Radiocontamination of the Environment and its Effects on the Mother and Fetus III, PART I–RETENTION OF CESIUM 137 DURING PREGNANCY: AN INTER-LABORATORIES STUDY

Author: Sternberg J, Nagai T, Fujimori H, Kimura Y.

Reference: International Journal of Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 1970, Vol. 21, pp. 351-362.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0020-708X(70)90147-X

Keywords: radiocontamination, environment, cesium 137, strontium 90, pregnancy

Abstract: The determination of cesium 137 and strontium 90 in human placments was carried out in different laboratories in Japan and Canada, in order to standardize the radioassay procedures. Placentas from normal term deliveries were collected and measured for a period of 12–16 months in the Tokyo and Osaka areas in Japan and in the Montreal area in Canada.

Two procedures required the ashing of the entire placenta prior to radioassay. In the Tokyo group, the ashed organ was placed in a two NaI crystal system, in an almost 4π geometry, and the γ radiation was measured. The Osaka group continues the chemical separation of cesium by precipitation with chloroplatinate; the β radiation is then further measured with an anticoincidence system.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0020708X7090147X#

ICRP Publication 84: Pregnancy and medical radiation

Reference: Annals of the ICRP Vol. 30/1. — Amsterdam: Elsevier (Pergamon), 2000. — 56 p.

Keywords: pregnancy

Abstract: ICRP Publication 84 concerns the management of pregnant patients as well as pregnant workers in medical establishments where ionising radiation is used. Thousands of pregnant patients and medical radiation workers are exposed to radiation each year. Lack of knowledge is responsible for great anxiety and probably unnecessary termination of many pregnancies. This report discusses how to deal with these problems. It is written primarily for physicians, but will also be useful for medical and health physicists, nurses, technologists, and administrators. It is not intended as a complete reference work, but rather to provide a practical approach that can be used in varying situations.

URL: http://www.icrp.org/publication.asp?id=ICRP%20Publication%2084

Chernobyl exposure as stressor during pregnancy and hormone levels in adolescent offspring

Author: A.C. Huizink, M. Bartels, R.J. Rose et al.

Reference: J. Epidemiol. Community Health. — 2008. — Vol. 62, № 4. — P. e5

Keywords: Adolescent; Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; Glucocorticoids; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects;

Testosterone

Abstract: Background—Animal research suggests a programming effect of prenatal stress in the fetal period, resulting in disruptions in behavioral and neuromotor development. Physiological changes that mediate these effects include alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and in testosterone levels. This human study focuses on changes related to these physiological systems after prenatal stress exposure.

Methods— We examined the potential effect of prenatal stress associated with the Chernobyl disaster in an ongoing genetic epidemiological study in Finland. One birth cohort of twins (n= 121 twin pairs) was exposed in utero to maternal stress, and their saliva cortisol and testosterone levels at age 14 were compared with twins (n = 157 twin pairs) born one year later.

Results—Cortisol levels in both sexes and testosterone levels among females were significantly elevated after prenatal exposure to maternal stress from the second trimester onwards, compared to reference groups of non-exposed adolescents. Exposure explains 3 percent of variance (p<0.05) in cortisol levels and 18 percent of variance in testosterone levels (p< 0.001). No significant differences were found for exposure from either first or third trimester onwards.

Conclusion—Our results suggest that prenatal exposure to maternal stress in the second trimester of pregnancy may have resulted in prenatal programming of physiological systems relating to cortisol and testosterone levels. (full text available on web)

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2562331/pdf/nihms34067.pdf

Outcome of Pregnancy in one Norwegian County 3 Years Prior to and 3 Years Subsequent to the Chernobyl Accident

Title: Outcome of Pregnancy in one Norwegian County 3 Years Prior to and 3 Years Subsequent to the Chernobyl Accident

Author: Magnar Ulstein,　Tone Skeie Jensen, Lorentz M. Irgens, Rolv Terje Lie, Erling Sivertsen

Reference: Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, Volume 69, Issue 4, pages 277–280, January 1990

DOI: 10.3109/00016349009036146

Keywords:pregnancy, Norway

Abstract: Pregnancy outcome was studied in a county in Norway 3 years prior to and 3 years subsequent to the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident on 26th April 1986. More detailed analyses have been performed for the 12 months prior to and subsequent to the accident. A significant increase in the spontaneous abortion rate the first year after the accident was followed by a slight decrease during the second and third years, but figures were still higher than the period prior to the accident. the rate of legal abortions was unchanged. During the entire observation period the number of births increased continuously, with the exception of a decrease in the last 2 months of 1986 and the first month of 1987. A higher incidence of spontaneous abortions was found for pregnancies conceived during the first 3 months after the accident. This increase in the spontaneous abortion rate is noteworthy, and more especially its long-term persistence, which cannot be the result of external radiation. the internal radiation from food polluted by radioactive fallout is a possible explanation. Changes in nutrition in order to avoid polluted food may also be of importance.

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3109/00016349009036146/abstract

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

Pregnancy outcome in Finland after the Chernobyl accident

Title: Pregnancy outcome in Finland after the Chernobyl accident

Author: T Harjulehto, T Rahola, M Suomela, H Arvela, L Saxén

Reference: Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, Volume 45, Issue 6, 1991, Pages 263–266

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0753-3322(91)90027-Q

Keywords: Pregnancy, Finland

Abstract: The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant caused radioactive fallout in Finland in April–May 1986. The fallout was unevenly distributed geographically, and, accordingly, the country was divided into 3 fallout zones. Wholebody radioactivity measurements of randomly chosen persons showed that the regional differences prevailed throughout the following 2 years. Data for legal abortions, registered congenital malformations as well as preterm births and stillbirths of malformed children were collected. The corresponding expected figures were obtained from statistics for 1984 and 1985. No differences in the expected/observed rates of the above parameters were detected.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/075333229190027Q

Pregnancy outcome in Sweden after the Chernobyl accident

Title: Pregnancy outcome in Sweden after the Chernobyl accident

Author: Ericson A, Källén B.

Reference: Environ Res. 1994 Nov;67(2):149–159

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/enrs.1994.1070

Keywords: pregnancy, Sweden

Abstract: To study pregnancy outcome including development of childhood cancer in areas within Sweden with the highest radioactive fallout after the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

URL:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393518471070X

Selective monitoring for a Chernobyl effect on pregnancy outcome in Kiev, 1969-1989

Title: Selective monitoring for a Chernobyl effect on pregnancy outcome in Kiev, 1969-1989

Author: Buzhievskaya TI, Tchaikovskaya TL, Demidova GG, Koblyanskaya GN.

Reference: Hum Biol. 1995 Aug; 67(4):657–672

Keywords: Pregnancy, Ukraine

Abstract: The aim of this investigation was to determine the frequency of adverse pregnancy outcomes in Kiev during the period surrounding the Chernobyl accident on April 26, 1986. Additional effective equivalent doses resulting from the catastrophic irradiation in 1986-1991 was 8.04 mSv for Kiev inhabitants. We retrospectively analyzed the archives of the two largest obstetric hospitals between 1969 and 1990. Spontaneous miscarriages, congenital anomalies, and perinatal mortality varied during the two decades without any pronounced changes in any direction. Additional longterm follow-up is needed to determine mutagenic or carcinogenic effects.

URL:http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/41465414?uid=25665&uid=3738328&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=67&uid=25664&uid=62&uid=5911992&sid=21102514197077