33 Table 16 Correlation of Criteria With Age and Radiation Exposure (D=decrease; [=increase) Unexposed group Exposed group Change Correlation Percentdif. Significance Criterion with age with age (r value) from unexposed ( p value) Lymphocyte transformauon D 0.89 — il 0.68 4 Serum proteins Total serum proteins I 35 ~ 15 Albumen D 45 + 15.0 Alpha-1 Alpha-2 Beta Gamma I I I I 37 43 32 ao Total globulins Immunoglobulins A (IgA) D (IgD} M (IgM) G (IgG) Kappalight chains Lambdalight chains K/L ratio Blood findings HematocritSedimentation rate Total leukocytes Lymphocvtes Neutrophils Platelets I 01 38 —17.1 1 I 49 —17.0 05 I I I .20 78 .96 — 40 - 8.0 — 3.0 74 22 69 37 72 43 IL 44 65 + 29 +114 — 2.5 — O01 —13.8 — 84 07 08 39 J] O04 04 I I I D I D D I D 20 .24 41 —31.0 — 20.0 — 6.0 — 18.3 — 3.0 — 14.0 + 0.4 O1 O01 .03 OL 98 15 74 function of age in Figures 34 to 37. Most of the changesgenerally reached a maximum inthe 40 to 50-year age group withlittle further change in the older groups. Therefore most of the agedependentcorrelation was dueto differences between the younger (15 to 50 years) and older age groups (> 50 years). . exposed population the decrease in lymphocyte levels showed the greatest correlation with age (r =0.91) and appeared to reach a maximum in the 50 to 60-year age group. Slight depressions in Stimulation. The transformation of lymphocytes into blast forms as a result of PHA stimulation in peripheral blood cultures showed a decreasingresponse with increasing age (Figure 34) which was well correlated with age (r=0.89). Lymphocyte cultures in the exposed group showednosignificant differences from those in the unexposed group in exposed population the meanlevels of neutrophils Response of Lymphocytes to Phytohemagglutinin response to PHAstimulation ( p >0.68). Peripheral Blood Elements. The changes in various blood elements as a function of age are presented in Table 16 and Figure 35. In the un- platelet counts, white blood counts, and hemato- crit were noted but were less strongly correlated with age. An increase in sedimentation rate, how- ever, was fairly well correlated with age. In the andplatelets were significantly depressed ( p< 0.04) below levels of the unexposed population, particularly in the older age groups. The other blood findings were not notably different. Serum Protein Patterns. The results for serum proteins determined by electrophoretic analysis are shownin Figure 36 and Table 16. A slight increase was noted with increasing age in the unexposed Marshallese, but it was notstatistically significant. The gammaglobulins increased signifi-