Evolving Perspectives on the Concept of Dose in Radiobiology and Radiation Protection

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Abstract
Since the discovery of the x ray more than 90 y ago, the biological effects of radiation have been a subject of intensive and continuing study. At the outset, such study was severely hampered by the lack of a suitable method of dosimetry. More than a quarter of a century elapsed before the introduction of a quantitative system for measuring exposure, and another quarter of a century elapsed before the introduction of quantitative units of absorbed dose. In the meantime, the effects of a given dose had long since been found to depend on its distribution in space and time; that is, on the precise spatial and temporal patterns of energy deposition within absorbing tissues and cells. Study of the biological effects of radiation thus led to elaboration of the concept of dose, to take into account relevant microdosimetric parameters. Advances in ongoing research on the molecular mechanisms of radiation effects can be expected to result in further evolution of such coNcepts.

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