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The identification and quantitation of environmental risk in humans is one of the main problems to be solved in order to improve the protection of individuals and of human populations against phys ical and chemical pollutants. Epidemiology plays a central role in the evaluation of health risk directly in human populations. In this volume are collected 33 lectures presented at the AS! course on "Epidemiology and quanti tat ion of environmental risk in humans from radiation and other agents: potential and limitations", sponsored by NATO and Italian Association of Radiobiology and or ganized by ENEA. The course has been devoted to a number of aspects of environ mental risk analysis and evaluation based on epidemiological in vestigation. Basic epidemiological concepts and methods have been reviewed. Fundamentals of dosimetry and microdosimetry were presented in re lation to the contribution of epidemiology in defining the dose effect relationships for radiation carcinogenesis and its relation with age, sex and ethnicity. The mechanisms of carcinogenesis as a multi-stage process were illustrated. One of the main topics was 'cancer epidemiology' and its cor relation with: - occupational and non-occupational exposure to ra diation - diagnostic and therapeutic irradiation - cancer proneness - hereditary and familiar diseases - abnormal response to carcino gens - environmental pollution in air and water - exposure to radon in mines and in building material - atomic bomb explosion - chemo therapy - dioxin and related compounds.
List of contents
Radiation Carcinogenesis.- Strategy of Assessment of Health Risks in Environmental and Occupational Health.- Choice of Comparison Groups in Environmental Studies and Dealing with Background Morbidity in Various Subpopulations.- The Probability of Causation: An Approach to the Problem of Toxic Torts, Especially with Respect to Exposures to Ionizing Radiation.- The Carcinogenic Effects of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Irradiation.- Dose-Response in Radiation Carcinogenesis: Animal Studies.- Dose-Response in Radiation Carcinogenesis: Human Studies.- Fundamentals of Dosimetry and Microdosimetry and the Relative Biological Effectiveness of Ionizing Radiations.- Critical Review of Case-Control and Cohort Study Methodologies.- In Vitro Malignant Transformation - a Multi-Stepped Process.- Problems in Dose Response and Risk Assessment: The Example of Asbestos.- Role of DNA Damage and Repair in the Mutagenesis of Human Cells by Carcinogens.- Variations in DNA Repair Among People.- Cancer-Prone Families: A Resource for Etiologic Studies.- The Role of Human RAS Proto-Oncogenes in Cancer.- Hereditary and Familial Disorders Linking Cancer Proneness with Abnormal Carcinogen Response and Faulty DNA Metabolism.- Application of Statistical Methods to Experimental Radiation Studies and to Radiation Epidemiology.- Biological Monitoring Studies in Occupational and Environmental Health.- The Recognition of New Kinds of Occupational Toxicity.- Occupational Exposure to Ionizing Radiation.- Non-Occupational Exposure to Ionizing Radiation.- Risk Assessment of Low Doses of Radiation and Chemicals.- Genetic Effects of Radiation.- On the Effects of Exposure to Radon Daughters in Metal Mines and in Homes.- Atomic Bomb Survivors: Epidemiology and Dose Estimation.- Epidemiology of Microwave RadiationEffects in Humans.- Establishing the Link between Human Proto-Oncogenes and Growth Factors.- Melanoma and Other Skin Cancers: A Contrast in Solar Radiation Carcinogenesis.- Epidemiological Approach to Breast Cancer Etiology.- Epidemiologic Studies of Chemotherapy-Related Acute Leukemia.- The Central Nervous System and in Utero Exposure to Ionizing Radiation: The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Experiences.- Unanswered Issues in Low-Level Chemical Pollution: The Case of Dioxins and Related Compounds.- Radiation Exposure and Levels of Occupational Safety.
