ee
-
dei rie cee mea
58
the blood volumesandthered cell volumesof the
Caucasiansliving in the Islands and the Caucasians
of the Siri and Moore groups; furthermore, dura-
tion of residency in the Islands has no significant
effect. Earlier data had suggested that Caucasians
living in the Marshall Islands might have reduced
blood volumes and red blood cell volumes. Though
this may be true for certain individuals, it does
riot seem to hold true for the group as a whole.
Test for Australia Antigen
The Australia antigen, a serum protein first
detected in the serum of the Australian aborigines,
was searched for in the Rongelap population. *
Details of these studies are presented in Appendix
16. Samplesof sera from 250 Rongelap people
were examined between 1958 and 1965. Of these,
237 were consistently negative, 11 were consistently
positive (4.4%), and 2 were inconsistent. Family
studies indicated that positive subjects were homozygous for the genes. This antigen has been found
to be relatively common in some formsof leukemia.
*These studies were carried out by Dr. B.S. Blumberg,Insti-
tute for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, Pa.
Since the Rongelap people will be medically
examined for many years, it will be interesting to
see whetherthe presence of this antigen is related
substantially to disease, particularly leukemia.
ESTIMATION OF INTERNAL BODY BURDENS
OF RADIONUCLIDES
In the 1965 survey, the body burdensof radionuclides were determined by use of a portable
shadow-shield type of whole-body counter and by
radiochemical analysis of 24-hr urine specimens.
Whole-Body Counting
The use of the shadow-shield type of whole-
body counter represents a departure from previous surveys, in which a 21-ton steel room had been
transported to Rongelap andusedfor this purpose.
Correlations between the two techniques wereestablished by standardizations using the permanent
steel room and a duplicate of the shadowshield at
Brookhaven National Laboratory. The body '°K
values of the Rongelapese provide another means
of correlation.
The shadow-shield counter (Figure 68)is very
similar to the one. described by Palmer and
i
q
sini {
|
of
REGRESSION LiNES
Roesch’® and to the Hanford whole-body counter.’* It was installed on Rongelap in one of the
newly acquired air-conditioned trailers. The de-
T
BV =0.9! +0.090 (Taw)
RCV = 0.06 +0.0474 (TBW)
BY
MOORE { RCV
BV
| MARSHALLESE { RCV
6
caucasiaNns { BV
= 0.158 +0.05296 [TBW)
=05337+00767 (TAW)
© -01749+ 0.044) (TBW)
= 1.2101+0.0792 (TAW)
RCV -019947+00419(TBW)
IN PACIFIC
tector, an 11%4-in.-diameter Nal (T1) crystal 4 in.
-=0.647+01'15 (TBW})
W. SIRI, 7
f
+
s
ff
Z
s
—_
ber cushion in the trough between the twowalls of
lead bricks, and is movedto a position under the
VOLUME, LITERS
b
]
7
detector by a motor-driven worm-screwdrive. The
3
7
>
—
|
Ibe
|
'
5
thick (Harshaw), is housed in a lead shielding
supported by a steel plate about 14 in. above the
bed. The subject to be counted lies on a foam rub-
W. SIRI
oe
7-7"
eee
Part
wee MARSHALLESE
—-— CAUCASIANS
EMOORE
L
id
20
|
30
L
40
TOTAL BODY WATER, LITERS
Figure 67.
2008342
“|
IN PACIFIC
50
60
system was Calibrated with a plastic phantom
man, both in a stationary position beneath the
counter and with movement equivalent to the
length of the body during the count.
The signal from the detector was picked up by 7
photomultiplier tubes mounted on the crystal, and
the gamma-ray spectrum was analyzed with a
400-channel pulse-height analyzer (RIDL). The
gammia-ray spectral data were read outonrolls of
adding-machine paper for immediate evaluation,
and on punched paper tape for subsequent data
processing which involved transfer of the data
from the punched paper tape to magnetic tape
and subsequent analysis in termsof radioisotopes
by a spectral stripping program on an IBM-7094
ney
OT