Word: radiophosphorus
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...needs another shot of atomic medicine. When he goes to a Gulf port on business, a local doctor watches his blood counts and reports back to San Francisco. If the white-cell count begins to go up ominously, there is still plenty of time for a dose of radiophosphorus to be flown to the Gulf Coast. The shipping man drives himself hard and feels fine...
...radiophosphorus is good for these leukemias, in which the white cells become predominant, it is even better for polycythemia vera, in which the red cells get too numerous. This is because the radioactive atoms act on the bone marrow, where both types of blood cells are made. If either red or white cells are increasing too fast, the radioactivity cuts down their birth rate. For simple polycythemia (uncomplicated by disease of the heart or lungs), radioactive phosphorus is the best medication known today. Some patients are still getting along well 15 years after beginning this treatment, and their number...
...made into phosphorus compounds and fed to plants or experimental animals. Wherever it goes it betrays its presence by telltale radioactivity. Thus, biologists can use it to measure the amount of phosphorus-containing protein which moves out of the nucleus of a microscopic living cell. Without radiophosphorus, such an experiment would be impossible. Many researchers, hoping to learn how disease germs enter the body and how they do their damage, are tagging living bacteria with radioactive phosphorus...
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