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Concentration of uranium in human cancerous tissues of Southern Iraqi patients using fission track analysis

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Abstract

The technique of nuclear fission track analysis with solid state nuclear track detectors CR-39 has been applied to determine concentrations of uranium in cancerous samples of human tissues that excised from patients in the three key southern Iraqi governorates namely, Basrah, Dhi-Qar, and Muthanna. These provinces were the sites of intensive military events during the Gulf Wars in 1991 and 2003. The investigation was based on the study of 24 abnormal samples and 12 normal samples for comparing the results. These samples include four types of soft tissues (kidney, breast, stomach and uterus). The results show that uranium concentrations in the normal tissues ranged between (1.42–4.76 μg kg−1), whereas in the cancerous tissues ranged between (3.37–7.22 μg kg−1). The uranium concentrations in the normal tissues were significantly lower than in the abnormal tissues (P < 0.001).

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their hearty thanks to Dr. S.S. Al-Haroon, College of Medicine, Basrah University, for providing the tissues samples. The authors also acknowledge the financial support of the School of Physics Universiti Sains Malaysia through Research Grant No. 1001/PFIZIK/845012.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia

    Anees A. Al-Hamzawi & M. S. Jaafar

  2. Department of Physics, College of Education, Al-Qadisiyah University, 88, Diwania, Qadisiyah, Iraq

    Anees A. Al-Hamzawi

  3. Department of Physics, College of Science, Al-Nahrain University, 64055, Baghdad, Iraq

    Nada F. Tawfiq

Authors
  1. Anees A. Al-Hamzawi
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  2. M. S. Jaafar
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  3. Nada F. Tawfiq
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Correspondence to Anees A. Al-Hamzawi.

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Al-Hamzawi, A.A., Jaafar, M.S. & Tawfiq, N.F. Concentration of uranium in human cancerous tissues of Southern Iraqi patients using fission track analysis. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 303, 1703–1709 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3682-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3682-0

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