Word: aet
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...facts, reported by Dr. David G. Doherty of the Atomic Energy Commission's famed Oak Ridge National Laboratory: several compounds built around S, 2-aminoethylisothiuronium (or AET) have been given to rats and mice, monkeys and dogs. Then the animals have been exposed to radiation. Figuring that 400 r. (see SCIENCE) will kill half the animals or human beings exposed to it, Researchers Doherty and Raymond Shapira doubled the dose. Whereas all untreated animals died, nearly all those given a suitable dose of AET survived...
Main trouble: AET is not yet ready even for testing on humans, let alone for the bathroom medicine chest, because it causes too many undesirable side effects-including nausea and a drop in blood pressure. How soon trials in human volunteers can begin, no man knows. (First subjects would be cancer patients who might be able to take higher and more curative doses of radiation.) Other snags: AET must be taken at least 15 minutes before exposure to radiation, gives full protection for only about an hour. It may take years to find related chemicals that will be less toxic...
...Searching for a preventive for radiation sickness, Richard R. Overman of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine announced that a drug called amino-ethylisothiuronium (AET for short), a sulfhydryl-related compound, has been 100% effective in protecting monkeys from the immediate effects of lethal radiation. AET was developed at the Atomic Energy Commission's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Still to be determined: the drug's long-term effect on the treated monkeys and any possible application to humans. Working on another AEC project, Overman is testing the effect of bone marrow injections on radiation damage. High doses...