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Concentrations of gases and particulate matter have been proven to be affected by meteorological and geographical variables from urban locations to high mountain clean air sites. Following our previous research in Vienna, we summarize here new findings about concentration levels of iodine isotopes in aerosols collected at two Alpine meteorological stations, Sonnblick (Austria) and Zugspitze (Germany) during 2001. The present study mainly focuses on the effect of altitude on the anthropogenic concentration of (129)I and on the isotopic ratio (129)I/(127)I. Iodine was separated from matrix elements by using either an anion exchange method or solvent extraction, and was analyzed by ICP-MS and AMS. Over the altitude change from Vienna to Zugspitze and Sonnblick (202 m to 2962 m and 3106 m above sea level), stable iodine level decreased from an average of 0.94 ng m(-3) to 0.52 ng m(-3) and 0.62 ng m(-3), respectively. Similarly, (129)I concentrations at both Alpine stations were about 1 order of magnitude lower (10(4) atoms m(-3)) than values obtained for Vienna (10(5) atoms m(-3)) and reveal a strong vertical concentration gradient of (129)I. A high degree of variability is observed, which is due to wide variation in the origin of air masses. Furthermore, air trajectory analysis demonstrates the importance of large scale air transport mostly from southeast Europe for influencing Sonnblick whereas influence from northwest Europe is strong at Zugspitze. In contrast to (129)I, a higher concentration of (7)Be was found at higher altitude stations compared to Vienna which probably results from its production in the upper atmosphere.

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External exposure to environmental gamma ray sources is an important component of exposure to the public. A survey was carried out to determine activity concentration levels and associated doses from (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs by means of high-resolution gamma ray spectrometry in the Swat district, famous for tourism. The mean concentrations for (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K were found to be 50.4 +/- 0.7, 34.8 +/- 0.7 and 434.5 +/- 7.4 Bq kg(-1), respectively, in soil samples, which are slightly more than the world average values. However, (137)Cs was only found in the soil sample of Barikot with an activity concentration of 34 +/- 1.2 Bq kg(-1). Only (40)K was determined in vegetation samples with an average activity of 172.2 +/- 1.7 Bq kg(-1), whereas in water samples, all radionuclides were found below lower limits of detection. The radium equivalent activity in all soil samples is lower than the limit set in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development report (370 Bq kg(-1)). The value of the external exposure dose has been determined from the content of these radionuclides in soil. The average terrestrial gamma air absorbed dose rate was observed to be 62.4 nGy h(-1), which yields an annual effective dose of 0.08 mSv. The average value of the annual effective dose lies close to the global range of outdoor radiation exposure given in United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. However, the main component of the radiation dose to the population residing in the study area arises from cosmic ray due to high altitude.

Kanamycin is an antibiotic, isolated from Streptomyces kanamyceticus, which is used to treat serious bacterial infections. The fact that the present radioligand Tc-kanamycin used for diagnosis is short-lived, raised a need to label and study kanamycin with one of the most important beta (β) radiation emitting isotope Lu. Labeling yield of Lu-kanamycin was confirmed by different chromatography techniques such as paper chromatography, TLC, HPLC. Several experiments were performed to optimize labeling with changing reaction conditions such as pH, temperature, amount of ligand, and reaction time. In vitro stability analysis was performed incubation with human serum. Electrophoresis analysis was also conducted to determine the charge on Lu-kanamycin. The biodistribution and scintigraphy were performed in normal mice and rabbit, respectively, at different time intervals of postinjection. Lu-kanamycin was prepared with very high yield (~100%), with excellent stability in vivo and in vitro (>99% 6 hr postprep.), at pH 7. Maximum labeling was achieved at less reaction time (15 min), with maximum conjugation of the ligand (12.5 mg) with Lu. Electrophoresis analysis showed net neutral charge. The radioligand showed rapid clearance from body in biodistribution and scintigraphy studies. The preparation Lu-kanamycin could be used as a radio-pharmaceutical for infection imaging purpose, especially when transporting the radioligand to long-range distances.

A semiautomated extraction protocol of HCV-RNA using Favorgen RNA extraction kit has been developed. The kit provided protocol was modified by replacing manual spin steps with vacuum filtration. The assay performance was evaluated by real-time qPCR based on Taqman technology. Assay linearity was confirmed with the serial dilutions of RTA (Turkey) containing 1 × (106, 105, 104, and 103) IU mL−1. Comparison of test results obtained by two extraction methods showed a good correlation (r = 0.95, n = 30) with detection limit of 102 IU mL−1. The semiautomated vacuum filtration based protocol demonstrated high throughput: 35 minutes for the extraction of a batch of 30 samples (150 µL each) with reduced labor, time, waste, and cost. Performance characteristics of semiautomated system make it suitable for use in diagnostic purpose and viral load determinations.