Ella B. Tyree | |
|---|---|
 Tyree in 1949 at Argonne Lab | |
| Born | c. 1920 |
| Nationality |  |
| Alma mater | Spelman College |
| Known for | Radiation research |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields |
|
| Institutions | Metallurgical Laboratory |
Ella B. Tyree (born c. 1920) [1] was an American medical researcher. She worked in the mid-twentieth century investigating effects of radiation poisoning in animals and potential treatments.
Tyree attended Spelman College. [1] She trained in biology. [2]
In 1941, Executive Order 8802 was passed to prevent discriminatory hiring practices in defense and many Black Americans sought work in government projects related to the Manhattan Project. The type of position varied according to education and training, but there were scientists, technicians, construction workers, domestic workers and janitors. In the Jim Crow era, these positions were an opportunity for higher, stable pay and for advancement. However, segregation and racist practices in housing were still common. [3]
Tyree became a laboratory technician at the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago during the Manhattan Project. She worked in the Health Division and managed the animal farm which supplied the researchers with subjects for radiation experiments. [4] In 1949, her team, led by Dr. Harvey M. Patt, reported that preemptively treating mice with cysteine provided protection from normally-lethal radiation doses. [5] They theorized that the amino acid could prevent damage to cells exposed to X-rays. The treatment could be delivered orally or by injection in the hour preceding radiation exposure, and led to approximate survival rates of 80% compared to 20% when untreated. It did not help after exposure. [6] In addition to the growing interest in radiation research from the perspective of atomic weapons, it was also seen as a potential aid in cancer treatments to protect surrounding areas from radiation damage when administering high radiation doses. [7]
Food irradiation is the process of exposing food and food packaging to ionizing radiation, such as from gamma rays, x-rays, or electron beams. Food irradiation improves food safety and extends product shelf life (preservation) by effectively destroying organisms responsible for spoilage and foodborne illness, inhibits sprouting or ripening, and is a means of controlling insects and invasive pests.
Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning, is a collection of health effects that are caused by being exposed to high amounts of ionizing radiation in a short period of time. Symptoms can start within an hour of exposure, and can last for several months. Early symptoms are usually nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. In the following hours or weeks, initial symptoms may appear to improve, before the development of additional symptoms, after which either recovery or death follow.
Irradiation is the process by which an object is exposed to radiation. An irradiator is a device used to expose an object to radiation, notably gamma radiation, for a variety of purposes. Irradiators may be used for sterilizing medical and pharmaceutical supplies, preserving foodstuffs, alteration of gemstone colors, studying radiation effects, eradicating insects through sterile male release programs, or calibrating thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs).
Radioresistance is the level of ionizing radiation that organisms are able to withstand.
Microstructured optical arrays (MOAs) are instruments for focusing x-rays. MOAs use total external reflection at grazing incidence from an array of small channels to bring x-rays to a common focus. This method of focusing means that MOAs exhibit low absorption. MOAs are used in applications that require x-ray focal spots in the order of few micrometers or below, such as radiobiology of individual cells. Current MOA-based focusing optics designs have two consecutive array components in order to reduce comatic aberration.
The radiation-induced bystander effect is the phenomenon in which unirradiated cells exhibit irradiated effects as a result of signals received from nearby irradiated cells. In November 1992, Hatsumi Nagasawa and John B. Little first reported this radiobiological phenomenon.
The ringworm affair refers to circumstances involving an alleged number of 20,000 to 200,000 Jews who were treated between 1948 and 1960 for tinea capitis (ringworm) with ionizing radiation to the head and neck area within Israel. The population suffering from the disease in Israel at the time was composed primarily of newly-arrived immigrants and populations who were expected to emigrate, mostly from North Africa, as well as some from Middle East and elsewhere, but many Jewish children were irradiated in their home countries regardless of their intent to emigrate.
A microbeam is a narrow beam of radiation, of micrometer or sub-micrometer dimensions. Together with integrated imaging techniques, microbeams allow precisely defined quantities of damage to be introduced at precisely defined locations. Thus, the microbeam is a tool for investigators to study intra- and inter-cellular mechanisms of damage signal transduction.
Photofission is a process in which a nucleus, after absorbing a gamma ray, undergoes nuclear fission and splits into two or more fragments.
Neutron capture therapy (NCT) is a type of radiotherapy for treating locally invasive malignant tumors such as primary brain tumors, recurrent cancers of the head and neck region, and cutaneous and extracutaneous melanomas. It is a two-step process: first, the patient is injected with a tumor-localizing drug containing the stable isotope boron-10 (10B), which has a high propensity to capture low energy "thermal" neutrons. The neutron cross section of 10B is 1,000 times more than that of other elements, such as nitrogen, hydrogen, or oxygen, that occur in tissue. In the second step, the patient is radiated with epithermal neutrons, the sources of which in the past have been nuclear reactors and now are accelerators that produce higher energy epithermal neutrons. After losing energy as they penetrate tissue, the resultant low energy "thermal" neutrons are captured by the 10B atoms. The resulting decay reaction yields high-energy alpha particles that kill the cancer cells that have taken up enough 10B.
Studies with protons and HZE nuclei of relative biological effectiveness for molecular, cellular, and tissue endpoints, including tumor induction, demonstrate risk from space radiation exposure. This evidence may be extrapolated to applicable chronic conditions that are found in space and from the heavy ion beams that are used at accelerators.
Travel outside the Earth's protective atmosphere, magnetosphere, and gravitational field can harm human health, and understanding such harm is essential for successful manned spaceflight. Potential effects on the central nervous system (CNS) are particularly important. A vigorous ground-based cellular and animal model research program will help quantify the risk to the CNS from space radiation exposure on future long distance space missions and promote the development of optimized countermeasures.
Radiation exposure is a measure of the ionization of air due to ionizing radiation from photons. It is defined as the electric charge freed by such radiation in a specified volume of air divided by the mass of that air. As of 2007, "medical radiation exposure" was defined by the International Commission on Radiological Protection as exposure incurred by people as part of their own medical or dental diagnosis or treatment; by persons, other than those occupationally exposed, knowingly, while voluntarily helping in the support and comfort of patients; and by volunteers in a programme of biomedical research involving their exposure. Common medical tests and treatments involving radiation include X-rays, CT scans, mammography, lung ventilation and perfusion scans, bone scans, cardiac perfusion scan, angiography, radiation therapy, and more. Each type of test carries its own amount of radiation exposure. There are two general categories of adverse health effects caused by radiation exposure: deterministic effects and stochastic effects. Deterministic effects are due to the killing/malfunction of cells following high doses; and stochastic effects involve either cancer development in exposed individuals caused by mutation of somatic cells, or heritable disease in their offspring from mutation of reproductive (germ) cells.
Grigoriev Institute for Medical Radiology (GIMR) is a medical radiology and oncology research institution in Kharkiv, Ukraine, founded in 1920. GIMR works in the areas of radiation oncology, radiology, radiotherapy, clinical radiobiology, radiation dosimetry in medicine and radiation safety of patients and medical personnel. The main campus is located at 82 Pushkinska St., Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Allen Lein was an endocrinologist and medical school professor. He was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1958–1959.
Willie White Smith was an American physiologist specialized in radiobiology. She researched the effects of radiation on bone marrow and the production of white blood cells at the National Institutes of Health.
Clarence Chancelum Lushbaugh, Jr. was an American physician and pathologist. He was considered an expert in radiological accidents and injuries, as well as a pioneer in radiation safety research, and he is known for his controversial research involving human subjects.
Harvey Milton Patt was an American physiologist, radiation biologist, and cell biologist, who made "important scientific contributions in cell cycle kinetics and tissue repopulation."
John Lafayette Magee was an American chemist known for his work on kinetic models of radiation chemistry, especially the Samuel-Magee model for describing radiolysis in solution.
Hugo Fricke was a Danish-American physicist who studied the chemical (radiolysis) and biological effects of X-ray and electron beams and who also invented the Fricke dosimeter named after him. He also made important contributions to the theory of impedance measurements.