Skin radiation exposure occurs during planned or unplanned radiation events, such as radiotherapy or nuclear radiation accidents, respectively, resulting into acute and chronic effects depending upon the extent of the radiation exposure or contamination. Radioactive nuclide-induced contaminations severely affect the human skin as skin is the largest organ of the body. Skin radioactive contamination may result into radiation-induced burns that may significantly cause morbidity without any medical intervention. In such scenario, it is necessary to provide priority to severe and life-threatening injuries. The current review provides a holistic picture about the mode of occurrence of radiation injuries, types of radiation burns, local skin effects and pathophysiology, prognosis, diagnosis and treatment, and challenges in the management of radiation wounds. Further, the review also includes the dressings used for irradiated wounds and comparison of amniotic and silver dressings, which possess potential bactericidal and wound-healing properties.

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The sampling and measurement of airborne tritium is an essential component of workplace monitoring at heavy water handling facilities and nuclear reactors using heavy water as coolant and moderator. Tritium being an internal hazard, its workplace monitoring and assessment of internal exposure of workers is a regulatory requirement for the facility. The conventional tritium air sample collection methods are condensation, bubbling, and trapping with appropriate media such as dry ice, water, and desiccants, respectively. A novel method for rapid collection of moisture in the air for the estimation of tritium is presented and discussed in this article. It involves condensation of tritium oxide in the air using a commercially available thermoelectric cooling module which has removed uncertainty in the availability of dry ice or desiccant. The instrument is capable of collecting 2–3 ml of sample in 30 min at a relative humidity level of about 60% and temperature of about 25.5°C. The quantity of sample collected is sufficient for the estimation of tritium concentration in air. The Peltier module-based low-cost, simple, and reliable system has been successfully implemented for workplace tritium in air sampling at radiological facilities.

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The present study is an attempt to assess the heavy metal contamination in the water sources of Thaliparamaba Municipality, Kannur district, Kerala. The concentration of heavy metals, namely As, Cr, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd, Hg, and Pb in water samples was measured using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The physicochemical parameters, namely pH, electrical conductivity, and salinity of the water samples were also measured. The results indicate that the concentration of most of the heavy metals in water samples collected from the study area is much higher than the permissible limits. The anthropogenic activities may influence the enhanced level of heavy metal concentration in the study area. The results of these systematic investigations are presented and discussed in detail in the manuscript.

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The methodology for personnel monitoring of neutrons in the intermediate and fast energy range using CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) is well established. This study presents the dosimetric response of boron-doped (carborane) CR-39 detector for the measurement of thermal neutrons. It includes optimization of etching process, minimum detection limit (MDL), and thermal neutron sensitivity. Duration of low frequency (100 Hz) and high frequency (3.5 kHz) for elevated temperature electrochemical etching was optimized as 4 h and 50 minutes respectively, and used for the response characteristic study. The measured thermal neutron sensitivity and MDL were 743 ± 13 tracks cm⁻² mSv⁻¹ and 0.02 mSv, respectively. This study is useful for thermal neutron monitoring in reactor, accelerator, and all other nuclear facility environment.

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Fano factor is a quantity used to measure the departure of the observed variance in the number of charge carriers produced from that predicted using poison statistics. Fano factor varies with the detector type. In case of proportional counters and semiconductor detectors, it is substantially less than unity, whereas, for scintillator detectors, it would be unity. Even in case of semiconductor detectors, it varies with the type and the shape of the detector. Another source of fluctuations that gives the overall resolution of the detector is preamplifier noise. Oversquare coaxial HPGe detectors are a recent development in the field. Literature on the Fano factor of oversquare large volume coaxial detector is not available. In this work, the Fano factor and the electronic noise of an oversquare HPGe coaxial detector are estimated after optimizing the shaping parameters. The Fano factor for the oversquare HPGe detector is estimated as 0.1291 keV, which agrees with the ideal value of 0.13 by 99.98%. The preamplifier noise was found to be 0.048 keV which is 35% lesser than the reported value.

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Monitoring the background levels from petroleum products is essential because of the everyday use and the increasing number of fuel, diesel, kerosene, and gas stations in Delta State, Nigeria. The study aims to determine the background ionizing radiation (BIR) in milli-Roentgen per hour (mR/h), absorbed dose rate (ADR) (nGy/h), and annual effective dose rate (AED) (mSv/year) in selected fuel, diesel, kerosene, and cooking gas-dispensing stations in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State. The study was carried out using a calibrated Geiger Muller detector (Radiation Alert Inspector) in count per minute mode for point measurements and a geographical positioning system for determining the longitude and latitude of each point where measurements were taken from. The mean outdoor BIR, ADR, and AED were 0.011 ± 0.002 mR/h, 91.6 ± 19.5 nGy/h, and 0.11 ± 0.02 mSv/year, respectively, with 84% of the BIR below the world average. The mean BIR was below the world average while the ADR and AED were above it. Kerosene stations had the highest BIR. The outdoor measurements from this study were comparable to similar articles with slight variation. The study shows that the attendant and customers were safe in the areas where this study was conducted.

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Dosimetry forms an inseparable part of radiation processing. Many dosimeters are available to cover wide range of doses used in radiation processing. These include the Fricke, ceric-cerous, alanine ESR Alanine (Electron Spin Resonance Technique), dichromate, and radiochromic films. Low-dose radiation processing applications (<2 kGy) such as insect disinfestation, shelf-life extension, and sprout inhibition use imported dosimeters. At present, radiochromic films/waveguides are used for low-dose applications; however, the dosimeters are costly and subject to sanctions and supply restrictions from country of origin. The present work discusses the development of system that can be used as a routine dosimeter for radiation processing facilities in the dose range of 200–2500 Gy. Iodine is generated by the action of radiolysis products of water on iodide and iodate present. Generated iodine halogenates fluorescein to erythrosine with the help of bicarbonate. Increase in absorbance due to the formation of erythrosine can be related to the absorbed dose and used in routine dosimetric applications. As the change is radiochromic, it advantageously provides a visual indication of dose received.

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In this study, the weak alpha radiation sources and the beta radiation by the effect of them on the electrical conductivity of air inside the ionization chamber are studied by measuring the produced current. The aim of this study is to make an ionization chamber to measure the ionization caused by weak radioactive sources which produce the electrical current at the order of femto- to pico-amperes and try to estimate the ion recombination coefficient at low ion densities. A parallel-plate ionization chamber with proper shielding and noise reduction circuits are made which measure data and sent them to a personal computer by USB port. The current-voltage characteristics of the ion chamber are measured when different radioactive sources are placed inside the chamber at the different separation of electrodes. The recombination constant obtained is estimated equal to 1.18 × 10⁻⁶ cm³/s. It is shown that current-voltage characteristic for ion chamber with different electrode separation lies on a unique curve by a proper normalization in the pico- and femto-ampere current range.

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