Word: thyroidal
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Nuclear detonations release a hail of charged particles, common among them radioactive iodine. This is bad news for the human thyroid, which soaks up iodine like a sponge. One way to prevent the problem is to dose the body with potassium iodide, which saturates the gland and prevents the nastier form of the stuff from being absorbed. It's simple--but of limited value. First, little if any iodine is given off by a so-called dirty bomb--radioactive waste wrapped around a conventional explosive--which is the device a terrorist would be most likely to manage. Second, even...
Nonetheless, potassium iodide has had its successes. Following Chernobyl, which released a giant plume of radiation, the Polish government distributed tablets to the population, while neighboring Belarus didn't. Fifteen years later, the incidence of thyroid cancer has not changed in Poland, while it has jumped an alarming 100-fold among some Belarussian children. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now giving states the option of stocking up on potassium iodide for communities near the nation's 103 nuclear power plants. Still, the NRC emphasizes that the drug is not the next Cipro. Says NRC spokesman William Beecher...
...goes away, but there comes a time when people don't feel paralyzed by it at every moment. Karl and Sue Snepp of Tucson, Ariz., make a point of being with their daughter Karen every year on the anniversary of the death of their son Dave, who died of thyroid cancer in 1988 at 32. "Last year we went to Hawaii," says Karl, 70. "That was where Dave wanted his ashes scattered, so it has become a special place for us." Much as the Aldermans did after Peter's death, the Snepps celebrated their son's life. "We remembered Dave...
...December 1999, Spencer was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent intensive treatment, though she is now cancer-free, the website said...
...Some physicians wonder why it would be tried at all. "Theoretically, if you pressed hard enough on the thyroid, you possibly could affect secretion," says Dr. Yank Coble, an endocrinologist at the University of Florida. "But it's pretty rare. And the adrenal glands are carefully protected above the kidneys, deep inside the body. To my knowledge, there is no evidence that you can manipulate the adrenals with body positions. That...