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Re: uranium accumulation in testicles
Please consider the ratio of DNA transcription in the spleen,
mostly white blood cell-related, versus the testes: millions of
sperm produced on a regular basis. If uranium soft-tissue
accumulation is measured at 5.4 ng/g in the testes and 102.8 ng/g
in the spleen, then what was the baseline for unexposed
populations when uranium assays were first established as forensic
for nuclear power plant operators' autopsies?
Are we getting two or three concentration measures of everyone
who dies of bone cancer, or has had children with more than one
serious birth defect, or who had lived near a uranium plant or
the use of uranium munitions? We also probably need something
like N=12*(2..3)/year of unrelated accidental death measurements.
If it were up to me, we would offer free breath tests for radon
upon border crossing. That's only a shielded chamber Geiger
counter with a calculator and a few paragraphs of instruction;
less moving parts than a breathalyser. I think radon counting has
a pretty high correlation with U.K.'s urine spectrograph, and
would detect some exposures earlier but maybe not as high as the
U.S. urine chromatography.
And while 232U and 238U might not have good enough magnetic
moments for direct tomographical NMRI, are we sure that they don't
have a well-defined set of detectable harmonics in the detectable
range? There's always room for another Fourier series in modern
NMRI computers, I hope. It would be great to be able to tell the
antidote synthesis people exactly what kind of tissue they might
want to chelate from.
If we were in favor of genetic modification, we might try to
figure out how to install a detection-chelation system in white
blood cell RNA. We could start with a protein structure change
that only uranium would be likely to catalyze, and then use a
feature of the resulting structure to activate local antidote
synthesis, or other preventative measures. Who knows whether an
inoculation would be possible, but if we could do that in other
animals, then there might be a way to do it in humans. On the
other hand, that seems pretty far fetched to me. It would
require dozens of generations of animals' tests before it would
be likely to be worth testing on people, and trying to speed up
the process would likely pull too many resources from more
pressing concerns. It's just human nature to imagine better antidotes.
There is no reason to believe that better imaging in vivo wouldn't
directly lead to better antidotes. If we can't image it directly,
maybe we can image U235 in animals. There is certainly no shortage
of people who know how to neuter dogs and cats.
Sincerely,
James Salsman
John R Johnson wrote:
> All
>
> Tony's response to me regarding USTUR was that they "published an account of
> USTUR Case 1002 in Health Phys. 86(3):273-284; 2004 (March). Table 3 of
> this paper gives the systemic soft tissue uranium concentrations. The
> measured concentration in the testis was 5.4 ng/g, c.f., 102.8 ng/g in the
> spleen, 7.5 ng/g in hair, etc."
>
> John
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Salsman [mailto:james@bovik.org]
> Sent: December 16, 2004 1:42 PM
> To: Axt, Gordon; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
> Cc: John R Johnson; frantaj@AECL.CA; Anthony C. James;
> du-list@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: uranium accumulation in testicles
>
>
> Although I appreciate the need for humor on this bleak topic, I
> am concerned about the proportion of international readers who
> might not know that "nuts" is a euphemism for "testicles." And
> so here are some quotes with their full citations from "A review
> of the effects of uranium and depleted uranium exposure on
> reproduction and fetal development," in _Toxicology and Industrial
> Health_, vol. 17, pp. 180-191 (2001), which is temporarily at:
> http://www.bovik.org/du/reproduction-review-2001.pdf
>
> "In rats, there is strong evidence of DU accumulation in tissues
> including testes, bone, kidneys, and brain." Pellmar, T.C.,
> Fuciarelli, A.F., Ejnik, J.W., Hamilton, M., Hogan, J., Strocko, S.,
> Edmond, C., Mottaz, H.M. and Landauer, M.R. "Distribution of uranium
> in rats implanted with depleted uranium pellets," _Toxicol Sci_,
> vol. 49, pp. 29-39 (1999.)
>
> "Degenerative changes in the testes resulting in aspermia in the
> testes and epididymis ... apparently a result of uranyl nitrate"
> Maynard, E.A., Downs, W.L. and Hodge, H.C., "Oral toxicity of
> uranium compounds," in Voegtlin, C. and Hodge, H.C., editors,
> _Pharmacology and Toxicology of Uranium_, Volume 3 (New York:
> McGraw-Hill, 1953), pp. 1221-1369.
>
> "uranium exposure causes morphologic changes in the rat testes
> possibly as the result of a uranium-induced autoimmune response.
> ... Average testes weight was significantly (P<0.05) decreased
> in rats exposed to uranyl nitrate.... Titers of testicular
> autoantibodies were described as fairly high for rats with chronic
> exposure to uranium and the authors relate this finding to the
> possibility that the observed testicular changes are an autoimmune
> response to protein confirmation changes as a result of
> uranium–protein interactions. Four other references are cited ...
> as evidence of an interaction between uranium and the testes or
> thyroid but are not reviewed here." Malenchenko, A.F., Barkun, N.A.
> and Guseva, G.F., "Effect of uranium on the induction and course of
> experimental autoimmune orchitis and thyroiditis," _J Hyg Epidemiol
> Microbiol Immunol_, vol. 22, pp. 268-277 (1978.)
>
> "The number of female mice impregnated successfully was
> significantly reduced at all levels of uranium exposure as
> compared with negative controls." Hu, Q. and Zhu, S., "Induction
> of chromosomal aberrations in male mouse germ cells by uranyl
> fluoride containing enriched uranium," _Mutat Res_, vol. 244,
> pp. 209-214 (1990.)
>
> Testicular injection with ... uranyl fluoride ... resulted in a
> dose-dependent increase in chromosomal aberrations (i.e., DNA
> breakage, SCEs) in spermatogonia, primary spermatocytes, and
> mature sperm of adult mice." Zhu, S.P., Hu, Q.Y. and Lun, M.Y.,
> "Studies on reproductive toxicity induced by enriched uranium,"
> _Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi_, vol. 28, pp. 219-222 (1994.)
>
> "existing data indicate that implanted DU translocates to the
> rodent testes and ovary, the placenta, and fetus.... DU has
> been shown to be genotoxic...." Benson, K.A., _Evaluation of
> the health risks of embedded depleted uranium (DU) shrapnel on
> pregnancy and offspring development_, Annual Report No. 19981118
> 065 (October 1998.) -- DOES ANYONE HAVE A BETTER CITATION FOR THIS???
> That quote also cites Pellmar, et al., as above, and A. Miller et
> al., from the U.S. Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute,
> whose work can be found on MEDLINE.
>
> Anyone interested in the topic should read these Bob Evans articles:
> http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du-day1super,0,588771.htmlstory
> http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du1,0,4619431.story
> http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du2,0,4684968.story
> http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du3,0,4750505.story
> http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du4,0,4816042.story
> http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du5,0,4881579.story
> and this Helen Thomas column:
> http://www.thebostonchannel.com/helenthomas/3989401/detail.html
>
> As Bill Prestwich pointed out in off-list email, my suggestion
> that uranium might be detectable with NMRI is very questionable,
> because U235 is the only uranium isotope with a nonzero nuclear
> magnetic moment. As Bill wrote, "detecting 232 U in vivo is
> virtually impossible," without invasive tissue sampling, I would
> add (and, on this subject, I would also add: OUCH!)
>
> However, Part Five of the Bob Evans series above --
> http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du5,0,4881579.story
> -- explains in detail how the U.K. spectrographic test of urine
> is about three orders of magnitude more sensitive than the urine
> test presently being used with U.S. troops. But since our
> (U.S.) cation tests have good correlation at the levels being
> detected, I'm not entirely sure we need to upgrade. Of course
> the levels are "higher than expected" if you only consider the
> uranium oxide ash combustion products to the exclusion of the
> much more slowly precipitating uranyl nitrate.
>
> Sincerely,
> James Salsman
>
> Gordon Axt wrote:
>
>
>>Uranium concentrating in testicles? That's just nuts!!
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
>>[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu] On Behalf Of John R Johnson
>>Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 4:00 PM
>>To: James Salsman; frantaj@AECL.CA; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
>>Cc: Anthony C. James
>>Subject: RE: Gardner Sellafield cluster [was : reply to Cedervall ]
>>
>>James, Jaro et al
>>
>>I have never seen a study about uranium concentration in testicles but
>>then I doubt if it has ever been measured. A source of information could
>>be the USTUR. By copy I'm asking Tony James if he knows.
>>
>>John
>> _________________
>>John R Johnson, Ph.D.
>>*****
>>President, IDIAS, Inc
>>4535 West 9-Th Ave
>>Vancouver B. C.
>>V6R 2E2
>>(604) 222-9840
>>idias@interchange.ubc.ca
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
>>[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On Behalf Of James Salsman
>>Sent: December 15, 2004 11:54 AM
>>To: frantaj@AECL.CA; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
>>Subject: RE: Gardner Sellafield cluster [was : reply to Cedervall ]
>>
>>
>>Jaro,
>>
>>Thank you for the information regarding leukemia and lymphoma among
>>young people born and living near the Sellafield nuclear power plant in
>>West Cumbria, U.K.:
>>
>>
>>
>>>The cancer cluster in children at Seascale in Cumbria is not related
>>>to their fathers' exposure to radiation while working in the nearby
>>>Sellafield nuclear plant, the government's committee on the medical
>>>aspects of radiation, Comare, concluded yesterday. Comare's finding
>>>came 12 years after a department of health report caused a sensation
>>>by saying there was a link. The finding is a relief to the nuclear
>>>industry - but does not answer the question of why there is a cluster.
>>
>> -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,2763,774825,00.html
>>
>>If you recall my message context, I was suggesting that uranium
>>accumulation in testicles explains the cancer incidence increase in
>>children of exposed fathers.
>>
>>Does anyone know if Comare/UKDoH/etc. have looked at uranium
>>contamination of the workers involved?
>>
>>Sincerely,
>>James Salsman
>
>
>
>
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