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Isotopes for Medicine and the Life Sciences
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Both radioisotopes and enriched stable isotopes are essential to a wide variety of applications in medicine, where they are used in the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. In addition, extensive application of isotopes in biomedical research finds wide parallel uses in research in chemistry, physics, biology, and geosciences, with additional needs existing in the commercial sector. Isotopes provide tools to do certain jobs better, easier, quicker, more simply, or more cheaply than any other method. In some cases the job could not be done at all without the use of isotopes. They are ideal tools for making measurements: a single atom can be detected using radioactive isotopes, whereas chemical methods often require a million or more atoms for detection. Because radiation detection can be done at a distance, measurement and analyses of processes, biological, chemical, or mechanical can be done ''on-line" without disturbing the process itself. Although this report focuses primarily on medicine and the life sciences, Table 1-1 illustrates the breadth of isotope applications and conveys the importance of the topics addressed for nearly every field of modern science. Nonmedical applications of radioisotopes have also become an integral part of the daily life of every American and countless people around the world (Table 1-2). Among such prevalent uses and applications of radioisotopes are, in smoke detectors; to detect flaws in steel sections used for bridge and jet airliner construction; to check the integrities of welds on pipes (such as the Alaska pipeline), tanks, and structures such as jet engines; in equipment used to gauge thickness of paper and plastic; to control the density of mixtures as diverse as ice cream or concrete; to assess the degree of filling of cans and bottles in manufacturing lines; to sterilize contact lens cleaning solution, diapers, cosmetics, powders, ointments, medical instruments, and bandages; to scan luggage to detect explosives or weapons; and to detect lead in paint.
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS - Organizational Body
0-309-58764-6
NONE
Computer Science
English
1995
1-145
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