radiation protection

Define absorbed dose and its SI unit

The quantity of ionising radiation absorbed matter

Gray

Define dose equivalent and its SI unit

An assessment of how much biological damage is expected from the absorbed dose across different radiation types

Sievert

What is the difference between direct and indirect radiation damage to cells?

Direct: radiation directly hits and ionises molecules within DNA, RNA or a protein chain, which can cause lethal single strand or double strand breaks

Indirect: radiation ionises water molecules, creating free radicals that interact to produce cytotoxic hydrogen peroxide r hydroperoxyl radicals, causing biological damage

What are the three main types of radiation-induced cellular damage?

1> division delay: mitosis rate drops temporarily before returning to normal

2>interphase death: cells break down early due to structural cell membrane damage

3> reproductive failure: cells completely fail to divide or divide into non-viable daughter cells

Define Stochastic effects of radiation

Randomly occurring late effects that have no threshold dose

Define deterministic effects of radiation

Effects determined by dose that definetly occur once a specific threshold is crossed

What are the tags of acute radiation syndrome from total body exposure

Prodromal syndrome

Latent

Manifest illness

Death or recovery

What do the acronyms ALARA and ALARP stand for?

ALARA: as low as reasonably achievable

ALARP: as low as reasonably practical