Re: Glass-Based Radon Measurements (fwd)

[epirad@mchsi.com]

Dr. Long,



The glass-based radon measurement technigue was not 

originated by Dr. Becker.



Please read these papers and enclosed references.



Steck DJ, Alavanja MC, Field RW, Parkhurst MA, Bates DJ, 

Mahaffey JA. 210Po implanted in glass surfaces by long 

term exposure to indoor radon. Health Physics. 83(2): 

261-71, Aug 2002 



Steck, D,J. J.A. Berglund, J.A., and Field, R.W.. 210Po 

Implanted in Glass Surfaces: Calibration and Improved 

Performance for Retrospective Radon Gas and Radon 

Progeny Reconstruction. Proceedings of the Natural 

Radiation Environment (NRE-VII). Rhodes, Greece, 2002 



Field RW, Steck DJ, Parkhurst MA, Mahaffey JA, Alavanja 

MC. Intercomparison of retrospective radon detectors. 

Environmental Health Perspectives. 107(11): 905-10, Nov 

1999



Cornelis J., Landsheere C., Van Trier A., Vanmarke, H., 

and Poffin A. (1992). Experiments on glass-adsorbed 

Polonium-210. Appl. Rad. Inst. 43, 127-138.



Lively, R.S. and Steck, D.J. (1993) Long-term radon 

concentrations estimated from 210Po embedded in glass. 

Health Phys. 64, 485-490.



Mahaffey, J. A., Parkhurst, M.A., James, A.C., Cross, 

F.T., Alvanja, M.C.R., Boice, J.D., Ezrine, S., 

Henderson, P., and Brownson, R.C. (1993) Estimating past 

exposure to indoor radon from household glass. Health 

Phys. 64, 381-391.



Samuelsson C. (1988) Retrospective determination of 

radon in houses. Nature 334, 338-340.



Steck, D.J., Field, R.W., Brus, C.P., and Allnutt, K.A 

(1993).  Embedded surface radioactivity, radon, and 

radon progeny in domestic atmospheres. Proc. of the 

Sixth International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and 

Climate, Helsinki, 1993



Health Phys 2001 Aug;81(2):110-3 Uncertainties in 

retrospective radon exposure of glass: possible effects 

of hydration and of leaching.  Fleischer RL, Doremus RH.



Radiat Prot Dosimetry 2001;97(3):251-8 Personal radon 

dosimetry from eyeglass lenses. Fleischer RL, Meyer NR, 

Hadley SA, MacDonald J,  Cavallo A. Department of 

Geology, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308, USA.



Science 1972 Oct 20;178(58):255-63 

Particle track etching. Fleischer RL, Alter HW, Furman 

SC, Price PB, Walker RM.



> Radsafers,

> Kai's graph of Lagarde's data for radon in air shows RR 1 @ 80-140 Bq(m-3) and

> 1.3 @ 50-80 (suggesting threshold). Lagarde's graph shows 1.4 and 1.3 for those,

> like LNT. I was unable to download raw data.

> 

> Neither shows the benefit Becker reports from European studies (RR or odds ratio

> below 1.0) for radon at twice to 4 times the average USA radon level in USA

> homes.

> 

> I hope Becker can find the raw data and comment. Becker originated the glass

> radon-measuring device while at ORNL.

> 

> Howard Long

> 

> Kai Kaletsch wrote:

> 

> > Friends,

> >

> > Dr. Lagarde, one of the authors of the Glass-Based Radon-Exposure Assessment

> > and Lung Cancer Risk paper, has kindly commented on my previous posting. His

> > comment is given below. I wonder if any RadSafers would care to comment?

> >

> > Personally, I don't see why one can calculate a relative risks of a combined

> > data set, but not odds ratios. I always thought that, given a relative risk,

> > one can predict what the odds ratio should be. Then the question becomes: If

> > the relative risk is so large, why is the odds ratio so low for high radon

> > exposure categories?

> >

> > Best Regards,

> > Kai

> >

> > ----- Original Message -----

> > From: "Frederic Lagarde" <Frederic.Lagarde@imm.ki.se>

> > To: <epirad@mchsi.com>; "Kai Kaletsch" <info@eic.nu>; "RadSafe"

> > <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

> > Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2002 4:42 AM

> > Subject: Re: Glass-Based Radon Measurements (fwd)

> >

> > > Dear Kai,

> > >

> > > Thank you for your interest in our study and for calculated the odds

> > ratios

> > > from the raw table data.

> > > However such calculations do not make sense when different studies (data

> > > from different centres) are combined, as is presently the case.

> > >     Please, transmit a copy of this to previous recipients of your message,

> > and  specify this anywhere else your previous comments appear.

> > >

> > > Sincerely,

> > >

> > > Frederic Lagarde

> > >

> > > At 15:25 2002-10-11 +0000, you wrote:

> > > >For your interest.  This was posted on the Radsafe

> > > >Radiaiton list tody.

> > > >----------------------  Forwarded Message:  ---------------------

> > > >From:    Kai Kaletsch <info@eic.nu>

> > > >To:      RadSafe <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

> > > >Subject: Re: Glass-Based Radon Measurements

> > > >Date:    Thu, 10 Oct 2002 15:16:50 -0600

> > > >

> > > >Friends,

> > > >

> > > >For those interested in Radon, I have calculated the odds ratios from the

> > > >data given in the first 2 rows of Table 4 of the Lagarde et al. paper and

> > > >graphed them. These rows give the number of cases and controls as a

> > function

> > > >of radon concentrations as assessed by air based and surface based

> > > >measurements respectively. The graph can be seen at

> > > >http://members.shaw.ca/eic/odds.pdf

> > > >Also shown on the graph (dashed lines) are the relative risks as reported

> > by the authors.

> > > >To me at least, it seems that the raw odds tell a different story than

> > the RR values.

> > > >

> > > >Please let me know if I made any mistakes in calculating the odds ratios.

> > > >

> > > >Kai

> > > >http://www.eic.nu

> > > >and http://www.gammawatch.com/

> >

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