~2—
(b)
Growth and development studies in the children should be continued particu
larly in view of suggestive findings of some impairment in the exposed children,
Such studies would include anthropometric measurements and x-ray of wrists and
tibia for bone development,
(c)
Studies of residual beta lesions of the skin will be continued,
These will
include gross observations with color photography and biopsy with histological
study of selected cases,
The added burden of the smatl doses of radiation in the people necessary in
doing bone x-ray and possible tracer rbe uptake studies is not considered to
be much of an incrimental hazard since the technique used would insure minimum dosages,
(d)
Evaluation of body burdens of radioisotopes,
It is planned that a whole body
counter (steel room with 4 inch thick walls, floor and ceiling, equipped with
erystal and 100 channel analyzer) will be installed on the LST to be used for
the survey, Gamma spectroscopy will be carried out on exposed and non-exposed
Rongelap people, In addition concerted effort will be made to obtain sufficient
urine collections on individuals to be brought back for radiochemical analyses,
It is hoped also that some correlation may be drawn between body burden (evaluated from gamma spectroscopy) and urinary excretion rates of isotopes (from
radiochemical analysis of the urine),
This study is of increased importance
in view of the fact that the people have been moved back to their home island
which is slightly contaminated,
2.
In the second category ie, long term effects of radiation,
fields of study should be considered,
(a)
Premature aging and shortening of life span,
the following
,
Studies of longevity will in
the long run give the most definite answer on the effects of radiation on aging,
but such information will take years,
In the meantime it would be desirable to
evaluate premature aging by attempting to estimate the biological age of the in-
dividuals compared with their actual age,
We are faced here with the difficulty
that some of the ages, particularly of the older people are not precisely known
(maybe off by several years), Even so, such studies should be attempted if possible, Studies to determine biological age are extremely difficult to plan since
quantification of biological effects associated with aging are far from precise,
I am not aware of any single biological end point that can be used to bracket
an individual's age at all closely,
Therefore, in arriving at an estimate of
biological age I wonder if it would be possible to establish an overall “score”
for various endpoints in an individual weighted according to relative importance,
Weighted scores might be established for such characteristics of aging as: re-~
tinal and general arteriosclerosis, cataracts, arcus senilis, accommodation, skin
elasticity, senile keratoses, greying of the hair, blood pressure, cardiac function, kidney function, degree of agility (or fragility), osteoarthritis, mental
agility, reflexes etc,
I pian to investigate the feasibility of this approach,
Do you know ef any specific tests for aging that might be considered? Consid~
eration might be given to studies of hexosamine to collagen ratio of skin, ratio
of ketosteroids to corticoids in the urine, vitamin B-12 levels as indices of age,
Cb)
Studies for leukemoid tendencies will be repeated,
These include alkaline
phosphatase determination on neutrophiles (by Dr, Moloney) and basophile counts
on 4000 white cells,
1181951