A simple method to monitor the dose rate of secondary cosmic radiation at altitude.

Monitoring the ambient dose equivalent rate at aviation altitudes is an ambitious task, which requires sophisticated dosemeter systems and the possibility to carry out such measurements on board aircraft. A rather simple approach has been investigated in this study: soundings with weather balloons up to an altitude of 30 km. This paper summarises the measurements carried out between 2011 and 2016.

Dosimetry of secondary cosmic radiation up to an altitude of 30 km.

Dosimetric measurements in the field of secondary cosmic radiation were extensively made during the last years. Since the majority of these measurements were performed on-board passenger aircraft at altitudes between 10 and 12 km, measurements at higher altitudes are desirable for the verification of the legal dose assessment procedures for aircrew. A simple solution is to use a high-altitude balloon that reaches altitudes as high as 30 km.

Field calibration of dosemeters used for routine measurements at flight altitudes.

Intercomparisons of dosemeters used in radiation protection are performed routinely in reference radiation fields under well-defined conditions. In the case of the radiation protection of aircrew members, such reference fields either do not exist or they can be partially simulated by accelerator-based fields. Another method is to perform simultaneous measurements on board an aircraft under constant flight conditions, i.

Microdosimetric measurements in the secondary radiation field produced in (12)C-therapy irradiations.

The ambient dose equivalent from the secondary radiation produced during irradiation of a cylindrical water phantom with 200 MeV/u (12)C-ions was investigated at the biophysics cave at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany. Pencil-like ion beams were delivered by the heavy-ion synchrotron SIS18 using the slow extraction mode. Since the secondary radiation field outside the phantom is complex in its particle composition and particle energy distribution, microdosimetric methods developed for the dosimetry of the cosmic radiation field at flight altitudes, which is similar in terms of complexity, were applied.

Psychotic phenomena in 257 young children and adolescents with bipolar I disorder: delusions and hallucinations (benign and pathological).

Objectives: In contrast to studies of adult bipolar I disorder (BP-I), there is a paucity of data on psychotic phenomena in child BP-I. Therefore, the aim of this work was to describe delusions and hallucinations in pediatric BP-I.

Methods: Subjects were 257 participants, aged 6-16, in either of two large, ongoing, NIMH-funded studies, 'Phenomenology and Course of Pediatric Bipolar Disorders' or 'Treatment of Early Age Mania (TEAM)'.

Controlled study of encopresis and enuresis in children with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar-I disorder phenotype.

Objective: To examine the prevalence of encopresis/enuresis, relationship between maternal hostility and encopresis, parent-child concordance of reporting encopresis/enuresis, and familial aggregation of enuresis in subjects with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar-I disorder phenotype (PEA-BP), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and healthy controls (HC).

Method: There were 268 consecutively ascertained subjects (93 PEA-BP, 81 ADHD, and 94 HC). PEA-BP was defined as DSM-IV BP-I (manic or mixed phase) with elation and/or grandiosity.

Children with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype from pediatric versus psychiatric facilities.

Objective: To examine characteristics between subjects with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype from pediatric versus psychiatric venues.

Method: Subjects (N = 93) with a prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder phenotype were obtained through consecutive new case ascertainment from designated pediatric and psychiatric sites from 1995 to 1998. Children needed DSM-IV bipolar I disorder (manic or mixed phase) with elation and/or grandiosity as one criterion to avoid diagnosing mania only by symptoms that overlapped with those of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.