A. Rindi - Böcker

This volume contains the formal record of the lectures presented at the 9th Course of the International School of Radiation Damage and Protection held at the "E . Majorana" International Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice (Italy) from May 9 to May 20, 1989. This course was the last of a series of 4 courses, started in 1981, that were dedicated to the assessment of risk hazard from non-ionizing radiation. The proceedings of these courses were all published by Plenum Press with the following headings: 1) M. Grandolfo, S. M. Michaelson and A. Rindi, Eds. : "Biological Effects and Dosimetry of Nonionizing Radiation; Radiofrequency and Microwave Energy", Plenum Press, New York, NATO ASI Series A Life Sciences, Vo1. 49 (1983); 2) M. Grandolfo, S. M. Michaelson and A. Rindi, Eds. : "Biological Effects and Dosimetry of Static and ELF Electromagnetic Fields", Plenum Press, New York, E. Majorana International Science Series, Life Sciences, Vol. 19 (1985) ; 3) M. H. Repacholi, M. Grandolfo and A. Rindi, Eds. : "Ultrasound; medical applications, biological effects and hazard potential", Plenum Press, New York (1987). We hope that all these volumes together may represent a complete textbook and a reference for the students and scientists interested in the physics, biology, measurement and dosimetry, health effects and standard setting, in short, the risk assessment of that wide field of radiation presently classified as non-ionizing radiation. We are indebted to the Associa?ione Italiana Protezione dalle Radiazioni (AIRP), The Internat:l.

For ten days at the end of September, 1987, a group of about 75 scientists from 21 different countries gathered in a restored monastery on a 750 meter high piece of rock jutting out of the Mediterranean Sea to discuss the simulation of the transport of electrons and photons using Monte Carlo techniques. When we first had the idea for this meeting, Ralph Nelson, who had organized a previous course at the "Ettore Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture, suggested that Erice would be the ideal place for such a meeting. Nahum, Nelson and Rogers became Co-Directors of the Course, with the help of Alessandro Rindi, the Director of the School of Radiation Damage and Protection, and Professor Antonino Zichichi, Director of the "Ettore Majorana" Centre. The course was an outstanding success, both scientifically and socially, and those at the meeting will carry the marks of having attended, both intellectually and on a personal level where many friendships were made. The scientific content of the course was at a very high caliber, both because of the hard work done by all the lecturers in preparing their lectures (e. g. , complete copies of each lecture were available at the beginning of the course) and because of the high quality of the "students", many of whom were accomplished experts in the field. The outstanding facilities of the Centre contributed greatly to the success. This volume contains the formal record of the course lectures.

This volume contains the lectures presented at the International School of Radiation Damage and Protection at the "Ettore Majorana" Centre for Sci­ entific Culture in Erice, Italy, September 6-15, 1985. The sixth course of the School, entitled "Advances in Applications, Biological Effects, and Dosimetry of Ultrasound," provided an in-depth review of all facets of ultra­ sound interactions and their biological effects on living systems, allowing an assessment of the hazard potential of the various applications of ultra­ sound. Particular reference was made to possible health risks associated with medical ultrasound exposure since this use is by far the most prevalent. Since the initial application of ultrasound to submarine detection, medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications have become predominant over the past 20 years. The question of safety of this physical agent is an extremely important one. In many industrialized countries most pregnant women receive at least one diagnostic ultrasound examination before the birth of the child. Thus, potential hazards to the fetus are of prime concern. This problem has been aggravated by the fact that the medical diagnostic applications of ultrasound have far outpaced research efforts on biological effects. A further compounding factor of concern to clinicians and scientists has been the use of higher and higher intensities by the manufacturers of ultrasound equipment, particularly higher peak pulse intensities.

The editors are pleased to present these Proceedings of the V Course of the "International School of Radiation Damage and Pro- tection" of the "E. Majorana Centre", held in Erice (Italy) in No- vember 1983. The lectures and discussions among leading scientists in various disciplines of physics, engineering, biophysics, cellular biology, physiology and medicine from 11 countries are included in this compilation. In this volume we have attempted to explore all aspects of the interaction of static and Extremely Low Frequency (ELF: 0-300 Hz) electric and magnetic fields with biological tissue, systems and whole organisms; we considered dosimetry and what is known or pre- sumed concerning basic interactions, responses from the cellular and molecular level to the whole organism. Discussions of medical appli- cations as well as epidemiologic investigations related to high volt- age transmission were held with critiques of methodologies used and recommendations for future approaches. Consideration was also given to the necessity and principles of setting protection standards for man and the environment.We believe this is the first attempt to put all this informa- tion together into one volume to provide perspective for understand- ing the influence of static and ELF electric and magnetic fields on biological systems. We hope our attempts were successful. Martino Grandolfo Sol M. Michaelson Alessandro Rindi v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is the Fifth Course of the International School of Radia- tion Damage and Protection of the "Ettore Majorana" Centre for Sci- entific Culture directed by Professor A. Zichichi.