Study and Characterization of Natural Radioactivity Levels and Radiological Hazards of Soil in Wasit Governorate

In this paper studied and measured the natural radioactive for agricultural soil samples surrounding Kut as well as gardens, home, casinos and others. Eighteen samples of agricultural land were taken on three deep depths the first depth 10 cm and the second 20 cm and the third 30 cm. Twenty-five samples were taken from public parks, parks, casinos and other parks. They are all measured using a system NaI (Tl) 3″ × 3″. The results that the radioactive effectiveness of uranium for all samples are ranged 17.19 to 38.68 Bq/Kg and at a rate of 30.55 Bq/Kg for all samples. Thorium series values were between 56.45 to 13.26 Bq/Kg with average 38.60 Bq/Kg. With regard to potassium, values were ranged 537.20 to 118.30 Bq/Kg at a rate of 250.25 Bq/Kg. The values of radioactive effectiveness for potassium are within the globally allowed compared with the radioactive effectiveness of the Thorium. The radium equivalent and the rate absorbed dose in air and the external and internal hazard index and the annual effective dose has been calculated and that all values are within the globally allowed limits.

Quantitative assessment of dry mouth in scrub typhus using salivary scintigraphy

Scrub typhus is an acute febrile illness caused by the intracellular pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi. The clinical features include fever, myalgia, lymphadenopathy, and dry mouth. However, no studies have assessed the symptom of dry mouth in patients with scrub typhus. We investigated the pattern of salivary scintigraphy during the acute febrile state and compared it with any changes after treatment. Fourteen patients underwent both pre- and post-treatment salivary scintigraphy. Imaging analysis was conducted using radioactivity in the oral cavity, parotid glands, and submandibular glands. During the acute phase, the radioactivity in the oral cavity markedly decreased, while that in the parotid and submandibular glands was preserved. After treatment, radioactivity in the oral cavity showed a significant increase at 20-min, 40-min, and after wash-out. The ejection fraction (%) of the parotid glands also increased after treatment. In contrast, the radioactivity levels of the parotid and submandibular glands were not statistically different after treatment. Salivary scintigraphy indicated that insufficient saliva excretion from the salivary glands into the oral cavity was one reason for the dry mouth reported by patients with scrub typhus. In the future, salivary scintigraphy imaging could contribute to the evaluation of dry mouth in patients with scrub typhus.