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Simulation of energy absorption and dose of ionizing radiation on spike of SARS-CoV-2 and comparing it with human mortality statistics, using Geant4-DNA toolkit

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Abstract

In this study, variant of concern alpha, gamma and omicron and variant of interest kappa SARS-CoV-2 were simulated by Geant4 tool. Electron, alpha and X-ray beams with different energies hit spike protein, which were located in a box filled with water, and the absorbed energy and dose values were extracted by these proteins. By comparing the amount of energy and absorbed dose spikes with the prevalence rate and statistical analysis of countries affected by the mentioned variants, our study has indicated that there is a reverse relation between absorbed dose and prevalence rate of studied variants. Moreover, the number of protein chains in the spike could play an important role in the amount of energy and absorbed dose. The greater the number of protein chains present in the spike, the less energy and absorbed dose it contains, and the more widespread the variant is likely to be.

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Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors on realistic demand.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge staff of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran (ARUMS), for giving access to their computer and their intellectual cooperation in this study.

Funding

The current study was financially supported by University of Mohaghegh Ardabili Ardabil, Iran (UMA) by ethics code (IR.UMA.REC.1402.085).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

    Mehrdad Jalili Torkamani, Farhad Zolfagharpour, Pooneh Sayyah-Koohi & Maryam Moradi

  2. Department of Microbiology, Parasitology and Immunology, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran

    Chiman Karami

Authors
  1. Mehrdad Jalili Torkamani
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  2. Farhad Zolfagharpour
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  3. Pooneh Sayyah-Koohi
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Correspondence to Chiman Karami.

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Jalili Torkamani, M., Zolfagharpour, F., Sayyah-Koohi, P. et al. Simulation of energy absorption and dose of ionizing radiation on spike of SARS-CoV-2 and comparing it with human mortality statistics, using Geant4-DNA toolkit. Eur. Phys. J. Plus 139, 103 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-04928-3

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