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tMost of the treatment with antibiotics is successful, but tie mn who does not respond becomes areal problem and his treatment requires the culture of t h e pathogen involved. the pathogen. The antibiotics will take care of most of the patients. Tnis work will assist in treating those few who do not respond to the while. Dr. Clark moved t h a t the Council recorsnend approval; seconded by At that time it is difficult to find Colonel Kraus stated he believed the work to be worthThe vote t o reconnnend approval was a s follows: Colonel Hdson Yes P L t Colonel Kraus Yes 3. - D r . Gerstner and Captain Dowben presented a proposal from Dr: Levin, University of Texas, entitled "TO Study the Effects of Total Body Irradiation and Local Irradiation on the Metabolism of the Hematopoietic System i n Humans", for1 year ata cost of $21,226.&0. was present on the invitation of the Director of Research. stated that this proposal had been presented to the Research Council on 15 May 1956 and asked the Recorder to read the Mlnutes of taat meting; this was done. Dr. Gerstner stated that the Air Force applicability of this problem should be emphasized. effects of 50Gr on an individual but what are the effects of exposure t o lOOr t o 2oOr i n terms of how long is a man sick as a result of such exposure; how long is h i s recovery, when should he be returned t o flying status,etc.Dr.b v in is involved inow work a t the Radiobiological hb oratory at Austin as a consultant where chronic low dose studies i n monkeys a r e being carried out. being able to coordinate the data from OUT monkey experimentation and the data which will be gathered i n the human experimentation. stated that the propose1 was origin d ly tabled by the Research Council brcsuse of the lack of informtion a s t o the number of patients t o be who states that in the first year we can only expect t o have data on six we may get tine data on a s many cs 12 people, but Dr.kvin cormits himself t o a study of 6 patients only. for this is that in the therapy of the patients they will have t o work up t o 2oOr studying the effect of increasing dosages of radiation. They may start perhaps with IOOr, tken work up t o exposures of l5Or and then 20Or. 1n addition, 20 controls who have been exposed t o local t m a r radiation doses will a l s o be studied dming tinis period. tilere is in truth a paucity of informtion on the pffects in hums c,xposed to this ranze of radi at i ol. From hown data we can be sure of the This puts him i n the unique position of Since that time that matter has been discussed with Dr. Levin It i s possible that if everything goes correctly Dr. Gerstner pointed out that the reason Captain Dow'cen stated that Lkny pxpers have been trcitten on t h i s subject
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where only 1patient was studied. controlled study would be worthwhile, regardless of the number of patients. Dr. Gerstner pointed out that there isa tremendous amount of material on the effects of lC& and 2C& O n people who were exposed t o atomic bombs i n Hiroshima and Nagasaki, however this data i s on the effects perhaps two weeks after the bomb drop. The reason for this is that in the treatment immediately following the bombings patients rec eiv iq up t o 2oOr were treated on an out-patient b a s i s and also immediately following the bombings the Medical Service of the cities were too disorganized to treat or study the because it appears that further study will have to be made. Dr. Gerstner stated that we m y not even get data on patients receiving 2OOr if treat - ment contraindicates the use of t h a t amount of radiation, hawever it is presumed that 20Or can be tolerated without injury to the patient. Pickering emphasized the military need for this work by minting out that both the people &eveloping the nuclear powered aircraft, and pessonnel i n SAC needed and desire informtion on what dose crews can tolerate. infornation i s needed so that they m y be able t o determine the "turnaround" time of the crews and for the purpose of planning operational missions. This proposal should result in information which we can correlate t o the "mo.?key data" and perhaps we can come up with a realistic schedule of exposure of crews t o nuclear ener&Y. presently there i s an aircraft flying with a reactor aboard. we are supposed t o furnish data as t o the pernissible doses of exposure allowable toa rescue crew if this aircraft were to crash. data is lacking i n the immediate effect of radiation on humans. The performince aspect of radiation was discussed briefly with Colonel Payne pointim out that it appears that in exposure up to 20& there i s no decrement i n performance. Colonel Kraus asked, what type of hospital i s it where tiis work will be carried on, pointing out that this may effect their ability to get sufficient patients. Dr. Gerstner answered that the nmber of patients available was no proble2, but rather the facilities available was the limiting factor. For example, each patient t o be studied requires extensive hem?tological studies 2nd even with the s d l number they plan on studying a full time hematologist will have all he can do t o keep up with the work. Dr. Clark rgised the question asto whether this proposal should be supported for more than one year. Colonel Kossuth answered t h a t i n many ways this first year work is a pilot study and it m y be that the contractcr Colonel Pickering added that he would like to see it approved for one year and a t the end of that time evzluate the work accomplished. who claim sa, b u t only two places are doing such work under carefully controlled experimental conditions. a ",bird facility ; why not support one of the other two? answered that the things that make Dr. Levin's proposal so attractive i s the fact that he i s elso uorking a t Austin on our nonkey experimentations allowing us to readily correlate and extrapolate tne findings from t.he ceam:s t h - t no one else is following, znd Cestain Dowben answered i n tne Knowledge isso meager that any we= Major Schwartz asked, i s one year enough for this work, As an illustration, he stated that At this tine ourselves nay not wish t o continue. Colonel Sweensy asked, are there others Captain Dowben answered there are m y Colonel Sweeney asked, why establish
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affirm ti ve, adbiW that Dr. Levin‘s end points of study ere specifically chosen so a s t o elucidate tine effects of exTosure to low doses of radiation. D:. Gerstner added t h a t present therapy procedures do not unequivocally recomend the use of 2OOr. reviewing the literature only e few 106,cases have kcen studied world-wide where e qo sure s Were a t the 2001- level, and therefore put of tnis work i s i n any respects pioneering work. Colonel Sweeney asked about the microscope rsquired by D r . Levin and Captain Dowben stzted tiicy presently have microscopes, b u t i n tinat our work will require aiother technician an additiod dcroscope i s required. could probably be made available by th? School of .‘lviation hledicine. D r . Clark moved that the Council recornend approval; seconded by Dr. Danr’ord. Colonel Sweeney asked, i s it plamed t o place performnce studies i n the pro gra at this time ? Colonel Payne stated that at a later date this could be considered if the controls and yocedures could be worked out. The vote t o recornend approval was as follows: Most therapy doses are a t the 5Or level. I n Discussion b rox ht out thata microscope Colonel Sweeney Ye s Colonel Kossuth Yes Colonel Hudson Yes L t Colonel Payne Yes 4. Captain Dowben presented a proposal submitted under Purchase ReStudy of Radiation Action Which is Caused by Diffusible Agents”, f o r 1 year a t a cost of $34,340.00. of this presentation. work the people a t the Cambridge Research Center determined t h a t the da?m.ge from radiation was caused by the formation of the f r e e radicals i n the water of the cells when exposed to radiation, but beyond the fact of the form tion of free radicals nothing has been done in this line of study. When radiation strikes the water of the cell free radicals are formed; they then recombine to re-form water or they rfactwith.substances i n the water of the c e l l forming new chemical substances which m y or ray not be h3rrLul. “hey form, reform and combine almost simultaneously. Tne formation of Tree radicals in the cell is in some ways proportional to tie time of ewosurc t o radiation and the time it takes f o r the free radical t o forn and reform. It has been found that by exposin6 cells to intermittent x-radiation and studying the tire of formation and combination of free redi cz ls it is possible t o determine the life spen of the free radical. It i s p-eswed that the mount of kce done by the free radical is related t o its life span. l e t 3 contyect Kith MIT t o study thi.5 phenomenon using an intermittent of Aviation PIcdicinc and has since been closed out because tfieir studies did Colonel Kossuth left the meeting a t the Skrt Captain Dowben stated that as a background t o this To follow up oil t h i s premise the Cambridge Resesrch Center This con tr xt was subsequently trznsferred t o the School