• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

Objectives: To introduce to TKM scientific dose conversion methods of human to animal or animal to human for new drug investigations. Methods: We searched guidelines of the FDA and KFDA, and compared them with references for drug-dose conversion from various databases such as PubMed and Google. Then, we analyzed the potential issues and problems related to dose conversion in safety documentation of new herbal drugs based on our experiences during Investigational New Drug (IND) applications of TKM. Results: Dose conversion from human to animal or animal to human must be appropriately translated during new drug development. From time to time, investigators have some difficulty in determining the appropriate dose, because of misunderstandings of dose conversion, especially when they estimate starting dose in clinical or animal studies to investigate efficacy, toxicology and mechanisms. Therefore, education of appropriate dose calculation is crucial for investigators. The animal dose should not be extrapolated to humans by a simple conversion method based only on body weight, because many studies suggest the normalization method is based mainly on body surface area (BSA). In general, the body surface area seems to have good correlation among species with several parameters including oxygen utilization, caloric expenditure, basal metabolism, blood volume and circulating plasma protein. Likewise, a safety factor should be taken into consideration when deciding high dose in animal toxicology study. Conclusion: Herein, we explain the significance of dose conversion based on body surface area and starting dose estimation for clinical trials with safety factor.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2022

Background: After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) accident, a model was developed to estimate the external exposure doses for residents who were expected to return to their homes after evacuation orders were lifted. However, the model's accuracy and uncertainties in parameters used to estimate external doses have not been evaluated. Materials and Methods: The model estimates effective doses based on the integrated ambient dose equivalent (H^*(10)) and life patterns, considering a dose reduction factor to estimate the indoor H^*(10) and a conversion factor from H^*(10) to the effective dose. Because personal dose equivalent (H_p(10)) has been reported to agree well with the effective dose after the FDNPS accident, this study validates the model's accuracy by comparing the estimated effective doses with H_p(10). The H_p(10) and life pattern data were collected for 36 adult participants who lived or worked near the FDNPS in 2019. Results and Discussion: The estimated effective doses correlated significantly with H_p(10); however, the estimated effective doses were lower than H_p(10) for indoor sites. A comparison with the measured indoor H^*(10) showed that the estimated indoor H^*(10) was not underestimated. However, the H_p(10) to H^*(10) ratio indoors, which corresponds to the practical conversion factor from H^*(10) to the effective dose, was significantly larger than the same ratio outdoors, meaning that the conversion factor of 0.6 is not appropriate for indoors due to the changes in irradiation geometry and gamma spectra. This could have led to a lower effective dose than H_p(10). Conclusion: The estimated effective doses correlated significantly with H_p(10), demonstrating the model's applicability for effective dose estimation. However, the lower value of the effective dose indoors could be because the conversion factor did not reflect the actual environment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2010

This paper describes the methodology of calculating the internal dose conversion coefficient in order to assess the radiological impact on non-human species. This paper also presents the internal dose conversion coefficients of 25 radionuclides ($^3H,\;^7Be,\;^{14}C,\;^{40}K,\;^{51}Cr,\;^{54}Mn,\;^{59}Fe,\;^{58}Co,\;^{60}Co,\;^{65}Zn,\;^{90}Sr,\;^{95}Nb,\;^{99}Tc,\;^{106}Ru,\;^{129}I,\;^{131}I,\;^{136}Cs,\;^{137}Cs,\;^{140}Ba,\;^{140}La,\;^{144}Ce,\;^{238}U,\;^{239}Pu,\;^{240}Pu$) for domestic seven reference animals (roe deer, rat, frog, snake, Chinese minnow, bee, and earthworm) and one reference plant (pine tree). The uniform isotropic model was applied in order to calculate the internal dose conversion coefficients. The calculated internal dose conversion coefficient (${\mu}Gyd^{-1}$ per $Bqkg^{-1}$) ranged from $10^{-6}$ to $10^{-2}$ according to the type of radionuclides and organisms studied. It turns out that the internal does conversion coefficient was higher for alpha radionuclides, such as $^{238}U,\;^{239}Pu$, and $^{240}Pu$, and for large organisms, such as roe deer and pine tree. The internal dose conversion coefficients of $^{239}U,\;^{240}Pu,\;^{238}U,\;^{14}C,\;^3H$, and $^{99}Tc$ were independent of the organism.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.167-175
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate airborne radon and thoron levels and estimate the effective doses of workers who made household goods and mattresses using monazite. Methods: Airborne radon and thoron concentrations were measured using continuous monitors (Rad7, Durridge Company Inc., USA). Radon and thoron concentrations in the air were converted to radon doses using the dose conversion factor recommended by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission in Korea. External exposure to gamma rays was measured at the chest height of a worker from the source using real-time radiation instruments, a survey meter (RadiagemTM 2000, Canberra Industries, Inc., USA), and an ion chamber (OD-01 Hx, STEP Co., Germany). Results: When using monazite, the average concentration range of radon was $13.1-97.8Bq/m^3$ and thoron was $210.1-841.4Bq/m^3$. When monazite was not used, the average concentration range of radon was $2.6-10.8Bq/m^3$ and the maximum was $1.7-66.2Bq/m^3$. Since monazite has a higher content of thorium than uranium, the effects of thoron should be considered. The effective doses of radon and thoron as calculated by the dose conversion factor based on ICRP 115 were 0.26 mSv/yr and 0.76 mSv/yr, respectively, at their maximum values. The external radiation dose rate was $6.7{\mu}Sv/hr$ at chest height and the effective dose was 4.3 mSv/yr at the maximum. Conclusions: Regardless of the use of monazite, the total annual effective doses due to internal and external exposure were 0.03-4.42 mSv/yr. Exposures to levels higher than this value are indicated if dose conversion factors based on the recently published ICRP 137 are applied.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.297-311
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• 1996

ANSI decided PMMA slab phantom as a calibration phantom and introduced a conversion coefficient calculation method for it. For photon, the conversion coefficient can be obtained by using backscatter factor and conversion coefficient of the ICRU tissue cube and backscatter factor of the PMMA slab. For neutron, however, the ANSI has not introduced any conversion coefficient calculation method for the PMMA slab. In this work, the ANSI method for the photon conversion coefficient calculation was applied to the neutron conversion coefficient calculation of the PMMA slab. Quality weighted tissue kerma of neutron was applied to calculate the backscatter factors on the ICRU cube and the PMMA slab. The dose conversion coefficient of the ICRU cube was also calculated by using MCNP code. Then, the dose conversion coefficient of the PMMA slab was calculated from two backscatter factors and the dose conversion coefficient of the ICRU cube. The discrepancies of the dose conversion coefficients of the PMMA slab and the ICRU cube were less than 10% except 1eV(20%), 1keV(17%), and 4 MeV(16%).

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.243-249
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• 2018

The indoor radon concentration was measured in the lecture room of the university and the radon concentration was converted to the amount related to the radon exposure using the dose conversion convention and compared with the reference levels for the radon concentration control. The effect of indoor radon inhalation was evaluated by estimating the life effective dose and the risk of exposure. To measure the radon concentration, measurements were made with a radon meter and a dedicated analysis Capture Ver. 5.5 program in a university lecture room from January to February 2018. The radon concentration measurement was carried out for 5 consecutive hours for 24 hours after keeping the airtight condition for 12 hours before the measurement. Radon exposure risk was calculated using the radon dose and dose conversion factor. Indoor radon concentration, radon exposure risk, and annual effective dose were found within the 95% confidence interval as the minimum and maximum boundary ranges. The radon concentration in the lecture room was $43.1-79.1Bq/m^3$, and the maximum boundary range within the 95% confidence interval was $77.7Bq/m^3$. The annual effective dose was estimated to be 0.20-0.36 mSv/y (mean 0.28 mSv/y). The life-time effective dose was estimated to be 0.66-1.18 mSv (mean $0.93{\pm}0.08mSv$). Life effective doses were estimated to be 0.88-0.99 mSv and radon exposure risk was estimated to be 12.4 out of 10.9 per 100,000. Radon concentration was measured, dose effective dose was evaluated using dose conversion convention, and degree of health hazard by indoor radon exposure was evaluated by predicting radon exposure risk using nominal hazard coefficient. It was concluded that indoor living environment could be applied to other specific exposure situations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.249-252
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• 1999

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.249-253
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• 2001

Neutron dose assessment in criticality accidents using Whole Body Counter (WBC) was proved to be an effective method as rapid neutron dose estimation at the JCO criticality accident in Tokai-mura. The 1.36MeV gamma-ray of $^{24}Na$ in a body can be detected easily by a germanium detector. The Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) of $^{24}Na$ is approximately 50Bq for 10miniute measurement by the germanium-type whole body counter at JNC Tokai Works. Neutron energy spectra at the typical shielding conditions in criticality accidents were calculated and the conversion factor, whole body activity-to-organ mass weighted neutron absorbed dose, corresponding to each condition were determined. The conversion factor for uncollied fission spectrum is 7.7 $[(Bq^{24}Na/g^{23}Na)/mGy]$.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.460-467
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• 2007

Dose rate conversion factor was calculated to estimate the absorbed effective annual doses for soils for the beta-rays and gamma-rays, which were emitted from $^{238,235}U$, $^{232}Th$, and $^{40}K$ isotopes. The most recent data of the emitted energies per decay, half-lifes, and branching ratios, which were obtained from National Nuclear Data Center, were used. When this factor and the effective annual doses for the beta-rays and the gamma-rays of natural radioisotopes were compared with those of Aitken, these of $^{238}U$, $^{232}Th$ and $^{40}K$ are estimated to have good agreements but a large difference is shown in this for $^{235}U$. Through the calculations of effective annual doses by using these factor and the measurements of gamma-ray spectra for soils, which were extracted from prehistoric remains (Mansuri) on Osong, Chungchengbuk-do, The annual effective doses were obtained to be 3.8~5.9 mGy/yr. Also, when these doses including decay elements upper Rn were compared with those on all isotopes, the differences within 9~30 % were obtained. The analysis method of the annual effective doses for the beta-rays and the gamma-rays of the natural isotopes of soils was established by this dose rate conversion factor.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 1991

MCNP code was used to calculate conversion factor H(d)ma at the depths of 0.07 and 10mm within a water phantom recommended by IAEA and within a PMMA phantom required by the US dosimeter proficiency testing programmes. The calculations were performed for an expanded parrallel beam of monoenergetic photons of perpendicular incidence on one faces of the phantom. The results can be used as conversion factor in calibrating individual dosemeters in terms of the dose equivalent quantities defined directly in the phantom.