Advances in Biological and Medical Physics, Volume VIII is a collection of papers that deals with chemical elements of blood, neutron activation analysis, and low level gamma-ray scintillation spectrometry. One paper describes the analysis of a large number of chemical elements in a single sample of human blood serum that includes the mean values gathered for 66 chemical elements. Another paper reviews the application of neutron activation analysis to biological and medical research, particularly in the detection and quantitation of trace elements in biological tissues. Some papers discuss the use of heavy ions in molecular and cellular radiobiology, the physics of space radiation, and carcinogenesis mechanisms. One paper discusses the radio-biological consequences of the ionizing radiation on a biological system that depends on the spatial distribution of the energy the system absorbs. The paper notes that the efficiency of heavy ions to inactivate dried enzymes kept at various constant temperatures during the exposure differs significantly from results obtained from that of sparsely ionizing radiations. Results gathered from comparisons of model and experiments, show that indirect energy transfers, such as those made by intermediary free radicals or other secondary reaction products, can play a role in carcinogenesis. The collection can prove beneficial for biochemists, micro-biologists, cellular researchers, and academicians involved in medical physics, radiological physics, or in the study of cellular biology and oncology.
