Re: $2500 award

["H.Wade Patterson" <hwade@talltown.com>]

Wes Van Pelt wrote:
> 
> Bernie,
> 
> It seems to me that a second grand radiation epidemiology experiment
> might be done with background photon and muon radiation instead of
> radon.
> 
> That is, correlate average county external dose rate with cancer rate by
> county.  The external background dose rates might be obtained from
> several large dosimetry services (e.g. Landauer, ICN, etc.) whereby
> their background dosimeters are assumed to represent the average dose
> rate in that county. I would think that there are 1e+5 or more
> background dosimeter readings available. Perhaps one would have to
> correct for extra dose if they were shipped by air.
> 
> Of course, the first step would be to assess if this study would have
> the statistical power to show a correlation if there were one.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Wes
> 
> PS  As to my $2500 award, just put it in escrow, because I'm sure a
> better idea will come along.   ;-)
> 
> --
> Wesley R. Van Pelt, Ph.D., CIH, CHP                   KF2LG
> President, Van Pelt Assoc., Inc.      vanpeltw@mail.idt.net
> Consulting in radiological health and safety.
> "TIME, its what keeps everything from happening at once."

Wes:
A similar study was done by Craig and Seidman. Here's the citation.

Craig, L.; Seidman, H. Leukemia and lymphoma mortality in relation to
cosmic radiation. Blood 17 pp 319-327, 1961

Quoting from the paper:
"Manos (12) prepared mortality ratios of observed to expected deaths for
102 causes of deaths among 163 United States metropolitan areas for the
years 1949-1951. The expected deaths were computed by multiplying the
1950 age-sex specific population of an area by total United States
1949-1951 age-sex-disease specific death rates and summing over age and
disease by sex. The figures for leukemia and lymphoma deaths were taken
from this source."
"Table 3 exhibits the observed mortality versus the expected mortality
by elevation by sex for leukemias and lymphomas. Here the expected
deaths were adjusted to equal the observed deaths, or in other words the
rates of the total metropolitan areas are the expected rates rather than
the rates of the whole country. From this table there appears to be an
inverse relationship between elevation and mortality from leukemias and
lymphomas."

Table 5, gives OE data normalized for city size as a function of four
elevation ranges. These are, in feet, 0-500, 501-1000, 1001-2000,
2001-5310. In every case the OE ratio is significantly less for the
2001-5310 range than for the lesser elevations.


-- 
Best wishes,

Wade

<hwade@talltown.com>

H.Wade Patterson
1116 Linda Lane
Lakeview OR 97630
ph 541 947-4974

I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable.  There is
something unfair about it.  It is hitting below the intellect.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, iii, 1891