The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting radium dials – watch dials and hands with self-luminous paint. The incidents occurred at three factories in the United States: one in Orange, New Jersey , beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois , beginning in the early 1920s; and one in Waterbury, Connecticut , also in the 1920s.
156-429: After being told that the paint was harmless, the women in each facility ingested deadly amounts of radium after being instructed to "point" their brushes on their lips in order to give them a fine tip; some also painted their fingernails, faces, and teeth with the glowing substance. The women were instructed to point their brushes in this way because using rags or a water rinse caused them to use more time and material, as
312-405: A fast heart rate . It is caused by cytokines released by the immune system in response to lipoproteins released from rupturing syphilis bacteria. Penicillin is an effective treatment for syphilis in pregnancy but there is no agreement on which dose or route of delivery is most effective. In 2012, about 0.5% of adults were infected with syphilis, with 6 million new cases. In 1999, it
468-666: A mercury cathode , producing radium–mercury amalgam . This amalgam was then heated in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas to remove the mercury, leaving pure radium metal. Later that same year, E. Ebler isolated radium metal by thermal decomposition of its azide , Ra(N 3 ) 2 . Radium metal was first industrially produced at the beginning of the 20th century by Biraco , a subsidiary company of Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK) in its Olen plant in Belgium. The metal became an important export of Belgium from 1922 up until World War II. The general historical unit for radioactivity,
624-764: A suffumigation . It was also treated by ingestion of mercury compounds. Once the disease had gained a strong foothold, however, the amounts and forms of mercury necessary to control its development exceeded the human body's ability to tolerate it, and the treatment became worse and more lethal than the disease. Nevertheless, medically directed mercury poisoning became widespread through the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries in Europe, North America, and India. Mercury salts such as mercury (II) chloride were still in prominent medical use as late as 1916, and considered effective and worthwhile treatments. The first-line treatment for uncomplicated syphilis (primary or secondary stages) remains
780-494: A French invasion ( Italian War of 1494–98 ). Since it was claimed to have been spread by French troops, it was initially called the "French disease" by the people of Naples. The disease reached London in 1497 and was recorded at St Bartholomew's Hospital as infecting 10 out of the 20 patients. In 1530, the pastoral name "syphilis" (the name of a character) was first used by the Italian physician and poet Girolamo Fracastoro as
936-416: A black surface layer of radium nitride (Ra 3 N 2 ). All isotopes of radium are radioactive , the most stable isotope being radium-226 with a half-life of 1,600 years. When radium decays, it emits ionizing radiation as a by-product, which can excite fluorescent chemicals and cause radioluminescence . For this property, it was widely used in self-luminous paints following its discovery. Of
1092-438: A diffuse rash occurs, which frequently involves the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. There may also be sores in the mouth or vagina. Latent syphilis has no symptoms and can last years. In tertiary syphilis, there are gummas (soft, non-cancerous growths), neurological problems, or heart symptoms. Syphilis has been known as " the great imitator " because it may cause symptoms similar to many other diseases. Syphilis
1248-661: A few strokes, so the USRC supervisors encouraged their workers to point the brushes with their lips ("lip, dip, paint"), or use their tongues to keep them sharp. Because the true nature of the radium had been kept from them, the Radium Girls also painted their nails, teeth, and faces for fun with the deadly paint produced at the factory. Many of the workers became sick; over 30 died from exposure to radiation by 1927. Several are buried in Orange's Rosedale Cemetery . Dentists were among
1404-400: A form of chemotherapy , elemental mercury had been used to treat skin diseases in Europe as early as 1363. As syphilis spread, preparations of mercury were among the first medicines used to combat it. Mercury is in fact highly anti-microbial: by the 16th century it was sometimes found to be sufficient to halt development of the disease when applied to ulcers as an inunction or when inhaled as
1560-538: A gas can enter the body far more readily than can its parent radium. The first published recommendations for protection against radium and radiation in general were made by the British X-ray and Radium Protection Committee and were adopted internationally in 1928 at the first meeting of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), following preliminary guidance written by
1716-502: A lawyer willing to take on USRC. Even after the women found a lawyer, the litigation process moved slowly. At their first appearance in court in January 1928, two women were bedridden, and none of them could raise their arms to take an oath. Five factory workers dubbed "the radium girls"– Grace Fryer, Edna Hussman, Katherine Schaub, and sisters Quinta McDonald and Albina Larice – joined the suit. The litigation and media sensation surrounding
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#17327867316161872-504: A mortal sin in medieval times. It remains mysterious why the authors of medieval medical treatises so uniformly refrained from describing syphilis or commenting on its existence in the population. Many may have confused it with other diseases such as leprosy ( Hansen's disease ) or elephantiasis . The great variety of symptoms of treponematosis, the different ages at which the various diseases appear, and its widely divergent outcomes depending on climate and culture, would have added greatly to
2028-399: A mortality rate of 8% to 58%, with a greater death rate among males. The symptoms of syphilis have become less severe over the 19th and 20th centuries, in part due to widespread availability of effective treatment, and partly due to virulence of the bacteria. With early treatment, few complications result. Syphilis increases the risk of HIV transmission by two to five times, and coinfection
2184-411: A result of the lawsuit, and an extensive study by the U.S. Public Health Service, the adverse effects of radioactivity became widely known, and radium-dial painters were instructed in proper safety precautions and provided with protective gear. Radium continued to be used in dials, especially in manufacturing during World War II , but from 1925 onward there were no further injuries to dial painters. From
2340-449: A result of the use of radium-containing medical products, and other groups of people who had been exposed to radium. Radium Radium is a chemical element ; it has symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table , also known as the alkaline earth metals . Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather than oxygen) upon exposure to air, forming
2496-449: A single dose of intramuscular benzathine benzylpenicillin . The bacterium is highly vulnerable to penicillin when treated early, and a treated individual is typically rendered non-infective in about 24 hours. Doxycycline and tetracycline are alternative choices for those allergic to penicillin; due to the risk of birth defects , these are not recommended for pregnant women. Resistance to macrolides , rifampicin , and clindamycin
2652-447: A skin lesion, suggesting the use of radium to attack cancerous tissue as it had attacked healthy tissue. Handling of radium has been blamed for Marie Curie's death, due to aplastic anemia , though analysis of her levels of radium exposure done after her death find them within accepted safe levels and attribute her illness and death to her use of radiography . A significant amount of radium's danger comes from its daughter radon, which as
2808-527: A slow doubling time of greater than 30 hours. The bacterium is known for its ability to evade the immune system and its invasiveness. Syphilis is transmitted primarily by sexual contact or during pregnancy from a mother to her baby; the bacterium is able to pass through intact mucous membranes or compromised skin. It is thus transmissible by kissing near a lesion, as well as manual , oral , vaginal , and anal sex . Approximately 30% to 60% of those exposed to primary or secondary syphilis will get
2964-496: A taboo. The magnitude of its morbidity and mortality in those centuries reflected that, unlike today, there was no adequate understanding of its pathogenesis and no truly effective treatments. Its damage was caused not so much by great sickness or death early in the course of the disease but rather by its gruesome effects decades after infection as it progressed to neurosyphilis with tabes dorsalis . Mercury compounds and isolation were commonly used, with treatments often worse than
3120-445: A technique called Coulomb excitation . Radium only exhibits the oxidation state of +2 in solution. It forms the colorless Ra cation in aqueous solution , which is highly basic and does not form complexes readily. Most radium compounds are therefore simple ionic compounds, though participation from the 6s and 6p electrons (in addition to the valence 7s electrons) is expected due to relativistic effects and would enhance
3276-419: A third of infected people develop tertiary disease. People with tertiary syphilis are not infectious. Gummatous syphilis or late benign syphilis usually occurs 1 to 46 years after the initial infection, with an average of 15 years. This stage is characterized by the formation of chronic gummas , which are soft, tumor-like balls of inflammation which may vary considerably in size. They typically affect
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#17327867316163432-576: A treatment that was administered to children to treat hearing loss and chronic otitis . The procedure was also administered to airmen and submarine crew to treat barotrauma . Early in the 1900s, biologists used radium to induce mutations and study genetics . As early as 1904, Daniel MacDougal used radium in an attempt to determine whether it could provoke sudden large mutations and cause major evolutionary shifts. Thomas Hunt Morgan used radium to induce changes resulting in white-eyed fruit flies. Nobel-winning biologist Hermann Muller briefly studied
3588-583: Is benzathine benzylpenicillin injected into a muscle . In those who have a severe penicillin allergy , doxycycline or tetracycline may be used. In those with neurosyphilis , intravenous benzylpenicillin or ceftriaxone is recommended. During treatment people may develop fever, headache, and muscle pains , a reaction known as Jarisch–Herxheimer . In 2015, about 45.4 million people had syphilis infections, of which six million were new cases. During 2015, it caused about 107,000 deaths, down from 202,000 in 1990. After decreasing dramatically with
3744-625: Is a notifiable disease in many countries, including Canada, the European Union , and the United States. This means health care providers are required to notify public health authorities, which will then ideally provide partner notification to the person's partners. Physicians may also encourage patients to send their partners to seek care. Several strategies have been found to improve follow-up for STI testing, including email and text messaging of reminders for appointments. As
3900-433: Is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum . The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent or tertiary. The primary stage classically presents with a single chancre (a firm, painless, non-itchy skin ulceration usually between 1 cm and 2 cm in diameter) though there may be multiple sores. In secondary syphilis,
4056-418: Is a colorless, luminescent compound. It becomes yellow after some time due to self-damage by the alpha radiation given off by radium when it decays. Small amounts of barium impurities give the compound a rose color . Its It is soluble in water, though less so than barium chloride , and its solubility decreases with increasing concentration of hydrochloric acid . Crystallization from aqueous solution gives
4212-599: Is also associated with miscarriage . The main dental defects seen in congenital syphilis are the peg-shaped, notched incisors known as Hutchinson's teeth and so-called mulberry molars (also known as Moon or Fournier molars), defective permanent molars with rounded, deformed crowns resembling a mulberry . Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum is a spiral-shaped, Gram-negative , highly mobile bacterium. Two other human diseases are caused by related Treponema pallidum subspecies, yaws (subspecies pertenue ) and bejel (subspecies endemicum ), and one further caused by
4368-570: Is believed to have infected 12 million additional people, with greater than 90% of cases in the developing world . It affects between 700,000 and 1.6 million pregnancies a year, resulting in spontaneous abortions , stillbirths , and congenital syphilis. During 2015, it caused about 107,000 deaths, down from 202,000 in 1990. In sub-Saharan Africa , syphilis contributes to approximately 20% of perinatal deaths . Rates are proportionally higher among intravenous drug users , those who are infected with HIV , and men who have sex with men. In
4524-528: Is common (30–60% in some urban centers). In 2015, Cuba became the first country to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of syphilis. Paleopathologists have known for decades that syphilis was present in the Americas before European contact. The situation in Europe and Afro-Eurasia has been murkier and caused considerable debate. According to the Columbian theory, syphilis was brought to Spain by
4680-506: Is divided into early latent and late latent stages. Early latent syphilis is defined by the World Health Organization as less than 2 years after original infection. Early latent syphilis is infectious as up to 25% of people can develop a recurrent secondary infection (during which bacteria are actively replicating and are infectious). Two years after the original infection the person will enter late latent syphilis and
4836-589: Is effective at reducing the transmission of syphilis. The CDC states, "The surest way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, including syphilis, is to abstain from sexual contact or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and is known to be uninfected." Congenital syphilis in the newborn can be prevented by screening mothers during early pregnancy and treating those who are infected. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) strongly recommends universal screening of all pregnant women, while
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4992-497: Is incorporated into biochemical processes because of its chemical mimicry of calcium . As of 2018, other than in nuclear medicine , radium has no commercial applications. Formerly, from the 1910s to the 1970s, it was used as a radioactive source for radioluminescent devices and also in radioactive quackery for its supposed curative power. In nearly all of its applications, radium has been replaced with less dangerous radioisotopes , with one of its few remaining non-medical uses being
5148-576: Is isolated by reducing radium oxide with aluminium metal in a vacuum at 1,200 °C. In 1954, the total worldwide supply of purified radium amounted to about 5 pounds (2.3 kg). Zaire and Canada were briefly the largest producers of radium in the late 1970s. As of 1997. the chief radium-producing countries were Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, and Russia. The annual production of radium compounds
5304-425: Is less costly and available in larger quantities, were usually used to replace the historical use of radium in this application, but factors including increasing costs of cobalt and risks of keeping radioactive sources on site have led to an increase in the use of linear particle accelerators for the same applications. In the U.S., from 1940 through the 1960s, radium was used in nasopharyngeal radium irradiation,
5460-405: Is more likely to cause cancer of the bone as the shorter half-life of radon-220 compared to radon-222 causes the daughter nuclides of radium-228 to deliver a greater dose of alpha radiation to the bones. It also considers the induction of several forms of cancer caused by internal exposure to radium and its daughter nuclides. The book used data from radium dial painters, people who were exposed as
5616-447: Is most commonly spread through sexual activity . It may also be transmitted from mother to baby during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis . Other diseases caused by Treponema bacteria include yaws ( T. pallidum subspecies pertenue ), pinta ( T. carateum ), and nonvenereal endemic syphilis ( T. pallidum subspecies endemicum ). These three diseases are not typically sexually transmitted. Diagnosis
5772-476: Is mostly Ra) emits mostly alpha particles , but other steps in its decay chain (the uranium or radium series ) emit alpha or beta particles , and almost all particle emissions are accompanied by gamma rays . Experimental nuclear physics studies have shown that nuclei of several radium isotopes, such as Ra, Ra and Ra, have reflection-asymmetric ("pear-like") shapes. In particular, this experimental information on radium-224 has been obtained at ISOLDE using
5928-430: Is not as infectious as the early phase. The latent phase of syphilis can last many years after which, without treatment, approximately 15-40% of people can develop tertiary syphilis. Tertiary syphilis may occur approximately 3 to 15 years after the initial infection and may be divided into three different forms: gummatous syphilis (15%), late neurosyphilis (6.5%), and cardiovascular syphilis (10%). Without treatment,
6084-559: Is not generally possible to contract syphilis through toilet seats, daily activities, hot tubs, or sharing eating utensils or clothing. This is mainly because the bacteria die very quickly outside of the body, making transmission by objects extremely difficult. Syphilis is difficult to diagnose clinically during early infection. Confirmation is either via blood tests or direct visual inspection using dark field microscopy . Blood tests are more commonly used, as they are easier to perform. Diagnostic tests are unable to distinguish between
6240-399: Is often present. Ceftriaxone , a third-generation cephalosporin antibiotic , may be as effective as penicillin-based treatment. It is recommended that a treated person avoid sex until the sores are healed. In comparison to azithromycin for treatment in early infection, there is lack of strong evidence for superiority of azithromycin to benzathine penicillin G. For neurosyphilis, due to
6396-467: Is one of the less biologically dangerous radium compounds. The large ionic radius of Ra (148 pm) results in weak ability to form coordination complexes and poor extraction of radium from aqueous solutions when not at high pH. All isotopes of radium have half-lives much shorter than the age of the Earth , so that any primordial radium would have decayed long ago. Radium nevertheless still occurs in
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6552-524: Is poorly characterized, as the reaction of radium with air results in the formation of radium nitride . Radium hydroxide (Ra(OH) 2 ) is formed via the reaction of radium metal with water, and is the most readily soluble among the alkaline earth hydroxides and a stronger base than its barium congener, barium hydroxide . It is also more soluble than actinium hydroxide and thorium hydroxide : these three adjacent hydroxides may be separated by precipitating them with ammonia . Radium chloride (RaCl 2 )
6708-420: Is radium-205m with a half-life between 130~230 milliseconds; this is still shorter than twenty-four ground-state radium isotopes. Ra is the most stable isotope of radium and is the last isotope in the (4 n + 2) decay chain of uranium-238 with a half-life of over a millennium; it makes up almost all of natural radium. Its immediate decay product is the dense radioactive noble gas radon (specifically
6864-407: Is the most common isotope of the element, making up about one part per trillion of the Earth's crust; essentially all natural radium is Ra. Thus, radium is found in tiny quantities in the uranium ore uraninite and various other uranium minerals , and in even tinier quantities in thorium minerals. One ton of pitchblende typically yields about one seventh of a gram of radium. One kilogram of
7020-416: Is usually made by using blood tests ; the bacteria can also be detected using dark field microscopy . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) recommends for all pregnant women to be tested. The risk of sexual transmission of syphilis can be reduced by using a latex or polyurethane condom . Syphilis can be effectively treated with antibiotics . The preferred antibiotic for most cases
7176-519: The Earth's crust contains about 900 picograms of radium, and one liter of sea water contains about 89 femtograms of radium. Radium was discovered by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre Curie on 21 December 1898 in a uraninite (pitchblende) sample from Jáchymov . While studying the mineral earlier, the Curies removed uranium from it and found that the remaining material
7332-670: The Radium Dial Company (which was unaffiliated with the United States Radium Corporation) sued their employer under Illinois law, winning damages in 1938. From 1917 to 1926, United States Radium Corporation (USRC), originally called the Radium Luminous Material Corporation, was engaged in the extraction and purification of radium from carnotite ore to produce luminous paints , which were marketed under
7488-1192: The Republic of Korea , the nation's radiation safety standards are managed by the Korea Radioisotope Institute, established in 1985, and the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, established in 1990 – and the IAEA leads efforts in establishing governing bodies in locations that do not have government regulations on radioactive materials. Beryllium Be Atomic Number: 4 Atomic Weight: 9.012182 Melting Point: 1560.15 K Boiling Point: 2742 K Specific mass: 1.85 g/cm Electronegativity: 1.57 Magnesium Mg Atomic Number: 12 Atomic Weight: 24.3050 Melting Point: 923.15 K Boiling Point: 1363 K Specific mass: 1.738 g/cm Electronegativity: 1.31 Calcium Ca Atomic Number: 20 Atomic Weight: 40.078 Melting Point: 1112.15 K Boiling Point: 1757 K Specific mass: 1.54 g/cm Electronegativity: 1 Syphilis Syphilis ( / ˈ s ɪ f ə l ɪ s / )
7644-602: The Röntgen Society . This meeting led to further developments of radiation protection programs coordinated across all countries represented by the commission. Exposure to radium is still regulated internationally by the ICRP, alongside the World Health Organization . The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) publishes safety standards and provides recommendations for the handling of and exposure to radium in its works on naturally occurring radioactive materials and
7800-640: The Waterbury Clock Company . Following the termination of President Joseph Kelly from the company, Kelly established a competing firm in the town named Luminous Process Company, which also employed women in the same fashion and in the same conditions as the other firms. Employees at Radium Dial began showing signs of radium poisoning in 1926–1927 and were unaware of the hearings and trials in New Jersey. Furthermore, Radium Dial leadership authorized physicals and other tests designed to determine
7956-425: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all women be tested at their first antenatal visit and again in the third trimester . If they are positive, it is recommended their partners also be treated. Congenital syphilis is still common in the developing world, as many women do not receive antenatal care at all, and the antenatal care others receive does not include screening. It still occasionally occurs in
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#17327867316168112-557: The body-centered cubic structure at standard temperature and pressure : the radium–radium bond distance is 514.8 picometers . Radium has a density of 5.5 g/cm , higher than that of barium, and the two elements have similar crystal structures ( bcc at standard temperature and pressure). Radium has 33 known isotopes with mass numbers from 202 to 234, all of which are radioactive . Four of these – Ra ( half-life 11.4 days), Ra (3.64 days), Ra (1600 years), and Ra (5.75 years) – occur naturally in
8268-596: The cerebrospinal fluid in the setting of a known syphilis infection. Dark field microscopy of serous fluid from a chancre may be used to make an immediate diagnosis. Hospitals do not always have equipment or experienced staff members, and testing must be done within 10 minutes of acquiring the sample. Two other tests can be carried out on a sample from the chancre: direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. DFA uses antibodies tagged with fluorescein , which attach to specific syphilis proteins, while PCR uses techniques to detect
8424-438: The covalent character of radium compounds such as RaF 2 and Ra At 2 . For this reason, the standard electrode potential for the half-reaction Ra (aq) + 2e → Ra (s) is −2.916 V , even slightly lower than the value −2.92 V for barium, whereas the values had previously smoothly increased down the group (Ca: −2.84 V; Sr: −2.89 V; Ba: −2.92 V). The values for barium and radium are almost exactly
8580-436: The curie , is based on the radioactivity of Ra. it was originally defined as the radioactivity of one gram of radium-226, but the definition was later refined to be 3.7 × 10 disintegrations per second . Radium was formerly used in self-luminous paints for watches, aircraft switches, clocks, and instrument dials and panels. A typical self-luminous watch that uses radium paint contains around 1 microgram of radium. In
8736-459: The decay chains of primordial thorium-232 , uranium-235 , and uranium-238 ( Ra from uranium-235, Ra from uranium-238, and the other two from thorium-232). These isotopes nevertheless still have half-lives too short to be primordial radionuclides , and only exist in nature from these decay chains. Together with the mostly artificial Ra (15 d), which occurs in nature only as a decay product of minute traces of neptunium-237 , these are
8892-443: The radioactive elements that occur in quantity, radium is considered particularly toxic , and it is carcinogenic due to the radioactivity of both it and its immediate decay product radon as well as its tendency to accumulate in the bones . Radium, in the form of radium chloride , was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898 from ore mined at Jáchymov . They extracted the radium compound from uraninite and published
9048-541: The standard model . Some radium isotopes, such as radium-225, have octupole deformed parity doublets that enhance sensitivity to charge parity violating new physics by two to three orders of magnitude compared to Hg. Radium is also a promising candidate for trapped ion optical clocks . The radium ion has two subhertz-linewidth transitions from the 7 s 2 S 1 / 2 {\displaystyle \ \mathrm {7s^{2}S_{1/2}} \ } ground state that could serve as
9204-511: The 1960s has tarnished to yellow over time. The radiation dose from an intact device is usually only a hazard when many devices are grouped together or if the device is disassembled or tampered with. Radium was once an additive in products such as cosmetics, soap, razor blades, and even beverages due to its supposed curative powers. Many contemporary products were falsely advertised as being radioactive. Such products soon fell out of vogue and were prohibited by authorities in many countries after it
9360-450: The 1960s the use of radium paint was discontinued. In many cases luminous dials were implemented with non-radioactive fluorescent materials excited by light; such devices glow in the dark after exposure to light, but the glow fades. Where long-lasting self-luminosity in darkness was required, safer radioactive promethium -147 (half-life 2.6 years) or tritium (half-life 12 years) paint was used; both continue to be used as of 2018. These had
9516-595: The 1960s, examples of probable treponematosis —the parent disease of syphilis, bejel , and yaws —in skeletal remains shifted the opinion of some towards a "pre-Columbian" origin. When living conditions changed with urbanization, elite social groups began to practice basic hygiene and started to separate themselves from other social tiers. Consequently, treponematosis was driven out of the age group in which it had become endemic. It then began to appear in adults as syphilis. Because they had never been exposed as children, they were not able to fend off serious illness. Spreading
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#17327867316169672-405: The 2010s, annual production of radium, mainly via extraction from spent nuclear fuel , was less than 100 grams. In nature, radium is found in uranium ores in quantities as small as a seventh of a gram per ton of uraninite, and in thorium ores in trace amounts. Radium is not necessary for living organisms , and its radioactivity and chemical reactivity make adverse health effects likely when it
9828-660: The IAEA and ICRP. For example, in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency -defined Maximum Contaminant Level for radium is 5 pCi/L for drinking water; at the time of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, the "tolerance level" for workers was set at 0.1 micrograms of ingested radium. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not specifically set exposure limits for radium, and instead limits ionizing radiation exposure in units of roentgen equivalent man based on
9984-421: The U.S. and Canada to paint watch faces with radium. At USRC, each of the painters mixed her own paint in a small crucible , and then used camel hair brushes to apply the glowing paint onto dials. The rate of pay was about a penny and a half per dial (equivalent to $ 0.357 in 2023), earning the girls $ 3.75 (equivalent to $ 89.18 in 2023) for painting 250 dials per shift. The brushes would lose shape after
10140-643: The US, Canada, the UK, Australia and Europe, primarily among men who have sex with men. Rates of syphilis among US women have remained stable during this time, while rates among UK women have increased, but at a rate less than that of men. Increased rates among heterosexuals have occurred in China and Russia since the 1990s. This has been attributed to unsafe sexual practices, such as sexual promiscuity, prostitution, and decreasing use of barrier protection. Left untreated, it has
10296-498: The United States about 55,400 people are newly infected each year as of 2014 . African Americans accounted for almost half of all cases in 2010. As of 2014, syphilis infections continue to increase in the United States. In the United States as of 2020, rates of syphilis have increased by more than threefold; in 2018 approximately 86% of all cases of syphilis in the United States were in men. In 2021, preliminary CDC data illustrated that 2,677 cases of congenital syphilis were found in
10452-561: The absolute number of cases is not large, new ones are continually discovered, most recently in 2015. At least fifteen cases of acquired treponematosis based on evidence from bones, and six examples of congenital treponematosis based on evidence from teeth, are now widely accepted. In several of the twenty-one cases the evidence may also indicate syphilis. In 2020, a group of leading paleopathologists concluded that enough evidence had been collected to prove that treponemal disease, almost certainly including syphilis, had existed in Europe prior to
10608-404: The added advantage of not degrading the phosphor over time, unlike radium. Tritium as it is used in these applications is considered safer than radium, as it emits very low-energy beta radiation (even lower-energy than the beta radiation emitted by promethium) which cannot penetrate the skin, unlike the gamma radiation emitted by radium isotopes. Clocks, watches, and instruments dating from
10764-421: The air, making it glow. The alpha particles emitted by radium quickly gain two electrons to become neutral helium , which builds up inside and weakens radium bromide crystals. This effect sometimes causes the crystals to break or even explode. Radium nitrate (Ra(NO 3 ) 2 ) is a white compound that can be made by dissolving radium carbonate in nitric acid . As the concentration of nitric acid increases,
10920-480: The availability of penicillin in the 1940s, rates of infection have increased since the turn of the millennium in many countries, often in combination with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This is believed to be partly due to unsafe drug use, increased prostitution , and decreased use of condoms . Syphilis can present in one of four different stages: primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary, and may also occur congenitally . There may be no symptoms . It
11076-555: The bacterium responsible for treponematosis is rare in skeletal remains and fragile, making it notoriously difficult to recover and analyze. Precise dating to the medieval period is not yet possible but work by Kettu Majander et al. uncovering the presence of several different kinds of treponematosis at the beginning of the early modern period argues against its recent introduction from elsewhere. Therefore, they argue, treponematosis—possibly including syphilis—almost certainly existed in medieval Europe. Despite significant progress in tracing
11232-408: The biological effects of radium include the first case of "radium-dermatitis", reported in 1900, two years after the element's discovery. The French physicist Antoine Becquerel carried a small ampoule of radium in his waistcoat pocket for six hours and reported that his skin became ulcerated . Pierre Curie attached a tube filled with radium to his arm for ten hours, which resulted in the appearance of
11388-429: The bones. This is because the body treats radium as calcium and deposits it in the bones , where radioactivity degrades marrow and can mutate bone cells . Exposure to radium, internal or external, can cause cancer and other disorders, because radium and radon emit alpha and gamma rays upon their decay, which kill and mutate cells. Radium is generally considered the most toxic of the radioactive elements. Some of
11544-701: The brand name " Undark ". The ore was mined from the Paradox Valley in Colorado and other "Undark mines" in Utah . As a defense contractor , USRC was a major supplier of radioluminescent watches to the military. Their plant in Orange, New Jersey , employed as many as 300 workers, mainly women, to paint radium-lit watch faces and instruments, misleading them that it was safe. USRC hired approximately 70 women to perform various tasks including handling radium, while
11700-418: The broader International Basic Safety Standards, which are not enforced by the IAEA but are available for adoption by members of the organization. In addition, in efforts to reduce the quantity of old radiotherapy devices that contain radium, the IAEA has worked since 2022 to manage and recycle disused Ra sources. In several countries, further regulations exist and are applied beyond those recommended by
11856-402: The case established legal precedents and triggered the enactment of regulations governing labor safety standards, including a baseline of "provable suffering". In Illinois, employees began asking for compensation for their medical and dental bills as early as 1927 but were refused by management. The demand for money by sick and dying former employees continued into the mid-1930s before a suit
12012-454: The center was providing medical examinations for living dial painters. The project also focused on the collection of information and, in some cases, tissue samples from the radium dial painters. When the project ended in 1993, detailed information of 2,403 cases had been collected. This led to a book on the effects of radium on humans. The book suggests that radium-228 exposure is more harmful to health than exposure to radium-226. Radium-228
12168-442: The clock transition in an optical clock. A Ra+ trapped ion atomic clock has been demonstrated on the 7 s 2 S 1 / 2 {\displaystyle \ \mathrm {7s^{2}S_{1/2}} \ } to 6 d 2 D 5 / 2 {\displaystyle \ \mathrm {6d^{2}D_{5/2}} \ } transition, which has been considered for
12324-418: The companies not to release their data. In 1923, the first dial painter died, and before her death, her jaw fell away from her skull. By 1924, 50 women who had worked at the plant were ill, and a dozen had died. At the urging of the companies, medical professionals attributed worker deaths to other causes. Syphilis , a notorious sexually transmitted infection at the time, was often cited in attempts to smear
12480-579: The confusion of medical practitioners, as indeed they did right down to the middle of the 20th century. In addition, evidence indicates that some writers on disease feared the political implications of discussing a condition more fatal to elites than to commoners. Historian Jon Arrizabalaga has investigated this question for Castile with startling results revealing an effort to hide its association with elites. The first written records of an outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1495 in Naples, Italy , during
12636-517: The creation of a transportable optical clock as all transitions necessary for clock operation can be addressed with direct diode lasers at common wavelengths. Some of the few practical uses of radium are derived from its radioactive properties. More recently discovered radioisotopes , such as cobalt-60 and caesium-137 , are replacing radium in even these limited uses because several of these isotopes are more powerful emitters, safer to handle, and available in more concentrated form. The isotope Ra
12792-607: The developed world, as those most likely to acquire syphilis are least likely to receive care during pregnancy. Several measures to increase access to testing appear effective at reducing rates of congenital syphilis in low- to middle-income countries. Point-of-care testing to detect syphilis appeared to be reliable, although more research is needed to assess its effectiveness and into improving outcomes in mothers and babies. The CDC recommends that sexually active men who have sex with men be tested at least yearly. The USPSTF also recommends screening among those at high risk. Syphilis
12948-412: The dihydrate RaCl 2 ·2H 2 O, isomorphous with its barium analog. Radium bromide (RaBr 2 ) is also a colorless, luminous compound. In water, it is more soluble than radium chloride. Like radium chloride, crystallization from aqueous solution gives the dihydrate RaBr 2 ·2H 2 O, isomorphous with its barium analog. The ionizing radiation emitted by radium bromide excites nitrogen molecules in
13104-616: The discovery at the French Academy of Sciences five days later. Radium was isolated in its metallic state by Marie Curie and André-Louis Debierne through the electrolysis of radium chloride in 1910, and soon afterwards the metal started being produced on larger scales in Austria , the United States , and Belgium . However, the amount of radium produced globally has always been small in comparison to other elements, and by
13260-499: The disease and has a limited effect on damage which has already occurred. Serologic cure can be measured when the non-treponemal titers decline by a factor of 4 or more in 6–12 months in early syphilis or 12–24 months in late syphilis. One of the potential side effects of treatment is the Jarisch–Herxheimer reaction . It frequently starts within one hour and lasts for 24 hours, with symptoms of fever, muscle pains, headache, and
13416-399: The disease via sexual contact also led to victims being infected with a massive bacterial load from open sores on the genitalia. Adults in higher socioeconomic groups then became very sick with painful and debilitating symptoms lasting for decades. Often, they died of the disease, as did their children who were infected with congenital syphilis. The difference between rural and urban populations
13572-463: The disease. The causative organism, Treponema pallidum , was first identified by Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann , in 1905. The first effective treatment for syphilis was arsphenamine , discovered by Sahachiro Hata in 1909, during a survey of hundreds of newly synthesized organic arsenical compounds led by Paul Ehrlich . It was manufactured and marketed from 1910 under the trade name Salvarsan by Hoechst AG . This organoarsenic compound
13728-505: The disease. Its infectivity is exemplified by the fact that an individual inoculated with only 57 organisms has a 50% chance of being infected. Most new cases in the United States (60%) occur in men who have sex with men; and in this population 20% of syphilis cases were due to oral sex alone. Syphilis can be transmitted by blood products , but the risk is low due to screening of donated blood in many countries. The risk of transmission from sharing needles appears to be limited. It
13884-475: The effects of radium on fruit fly mutations before turning to more affordable x-ray experiments. Uranium had no large scale application in the late 19th century and therefore no large uranium mines existed. In the beginning, the silver mines in Jáchymov , Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic ) were the only large sources for uranium ore. The uranium ore was only a byproduct of the mining activities. In
14040-402: The environment , as the isotopes Ra, Ra, Ra, and Ra are part of the decay chains of natural thorium and uranium isotopes; since thorium and uranium have very long half-lives, these daughters are continually being regenerated by their decay. Of these four isotopes, the longest-lived is Ra (half-life 1600 years), a decay product of natural uranium. Because of its relative longevity, Ra
14196-459: The exception of the carbonate, all of these are less soluble in water than the corresponding barium salts, but they are all isostructural to their barium counterparts. Additionally, radium phosphate , oxalate , and sulfite are probably also insoluble, as they coprecipitate with the corresponding insoluble barium salts. The great insolubility of radium sulfate (at 20 °C, only 2.1 mg will dissolve in 1 kg of water) means that it
14352-576: The exposed area of the body. Radium sources themselves, rather than worker exposures, are regulated more closely by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission , which requires licensing for anyone possessing Ra with activity of more than 0.01 μCi. The particular governing bodies that regulate radioactive materials and nuclear energy are documented by the Nuclear Energy Agency for member countries – for instance, in
14508-485: The fearsome and sordid status of sexually transmitted infections in those centuries. According to a 2020 study, more than 20% of individuals in the age range 15–34 years in late 18th-century London were treated for syphilis. At the time the causative agent was unknown but it was well known that it was spread sexually and also often from mother to child. Its association with sex, especially sexual promiscuity and prostitution , made it an object of fear and revulsion and
14664-412: The first extraction of radium, Curie used the residues after extraction of uranium from pitchblende. The uranium had been extracted by dissolution in sulfuric acid leaving radium sulfate, which is similar to barium sulfate but even less soluble in the residues. The residues also contained rather substantial amounts of barium sulfate which thus acted as a carrier for the radium sulfate. The first steps of
14820-428: The first half of the 20th century, often in military applications, may have been painted with radioactive luminous paint. They are usually no longer luminous; this is not due to radioactive decay of the radium (which has a half-life of 1600 years) but to the fluorescence of the zinc sulfide fluorescent medium being worn out by the radiation from the radium. Originally appearing as white, most radium paint from before
14976-504: The first measurements of exhaled radon and radium excretion from a former dial painter in 1933. At MIT he gathered dependable body content measurements from 27 dial painters. This information was used in 1941 by the National Bureau of Standards to establish a tolerance level for radium at 0.1 μ Ci (3.7 k Bq ). The Center for Human Radiobiology was established at Argonne National Laboratory in 1968. The primary purpose of
15132-535: The first to see numerous problems among dial painters. Dental pain, loose teeth, lesions, and ulcers, and the failure of tooth extractions to heal were some of these conditions. Many of the women developed anemia , bone fractures , and necrosis of the jaw, a condition now known as radium jaw . The women also experienced suppression of menstruation and sterility . It is thought that the X-ray machines used by these medical investigators may have contributed to some of
15288-420: The five most stable isotopes of radium. All other 27 known radium isotopes have half-lives under two hours, and the majority have half-lives under a minute. Of these, Ra (half-life 28 s) also occurs as a Np daughter, and Ra and Ra would be produced by the still-unobserved double beta decay of natural radon isotopes . At least 12 nuclear isomers have been reported, the most stable of which
15444-550: The form of radium chloride or radium bromide ) was used in medicine to produce radon gas, which in turn was used as a cancer treatment. Several of these radon sources were used in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. However, many treatments that were used in the early 1900s are not used anymore because of the harmful effects radium bromide exposure caused. Some examples of these effects are anaemia , cancer, and genetic mutations . As of 2011, safer gamma emitters such as Co , which
15600-423: The formation of radium nitride (Ra 3 N 2 ). Its melting point is either 700 °C (1,292 °F) or 960 °C (1,760 °F) and its boiling point is 1,737 °C (3,159 °F); however, this is not well established. Both of these values are slightly lower than those of barium, confirming periodic trends down the group 2 elements. Like barium and the alkali metals , radium crystallizes in
15756-459: The fractionation. If the barium content of the uranium ore is not high enough, additional barium can be added to carry the radium. These processes were applied to high grade uranium ores but may not have worked well with low grade ores. Small amounts of radium were still extracted from uranium ore by this method of mixed precipitation and ion exchange as late as the 1990s, but as of 2011, it is extracted only from spent nuclear fuel. Pure radium metal
15912-456: The genitals (2–7%). The most common location in women is the cervix (44%), the penis in heterosexual men (99%), and anally and rectally in men who have sex with men (34%). Lymph node enlargement frequently (80%) occurs around the area of infection, occurring seven to 10 days after chancre formation. The lesion may persist for three to six weeks if left untreated. Secondary syphilis occurs approximately four to ten weeks after
16068-515: The green barium lines), and the electroscope . After the isolation of radium by Marie and Pierre Curie from uranium ore from Jáchymov , several scientists started to isolate radium in small quantities. Later, small companies purchased mine tailings from Jáchymov mines and started isolating radium. In 1904, the Austrian government nationalised the mines and stopped exporting raw ore. Until 1912, when radium production increased, radium availability
16224-437: The high number of neutrons they emit (1.84×10 neutrons per second) in favour of Am –Be sources. As of 2011 , the isotope Ra is mainly used to form Ac by neutron irradiation in a nuclear reactor. Radium is highly radioactive, as is its immediate decay product, radon gas. When ingested, 80% of the ingested radium leaves the body through the feces , while the other 20% goes into the bloodstream , mostly accumulating in
16380-537: The infection. It may occur early, being either asymptomatic or in the form of syphilitic meningitis ; or late as meningovascular syphilis, manifesting as general paresis or tabes dorsalis . Meningovascular syphilis involves inflammation of the small and medium arteries of the central nervous system. It can present between 1–10 years after the initial infection. Meningovascular syphilis is characterized by stroke, cranial nerve palsies and spinal cord inflammation . Late symptomatic neurosyphilis can develop decades after
16536-404: The isotope Rn ), which is responsible for much of the danger of environmental radium. It is 2.7 million times more radioactive than the same molar amount of natural uranium (mostly uranium-238), due to its proportionally shorter half-life. A sample of radium metal maintains itself at a higher temperature than its surroundings because of the radiation it emits. Natural radium (which
16692-399: The litigation, it was determined that the company's scientists and management had taken considerable precautions to protect themselves from the effects of radiation, but it did not seem to protect their employees. Additionally, for several years the companies had attempted to cover up the effects and avoid liability by insisting that the Radium Girls were instead suffering from syphilis . As
16848-408: The men who sailed with Christopher Columbus in 1492 and spread from there, with a serious epidemic in Naples beginning as early as 1495. Contemporaries believed the disease sprang from American roots, and in the 16th century physicians wrote extensively about the new disease inflicted on them by the returning explorers. Most evidence supports the Columbian origin hypothesis. However, beginning in
17004-529: The mid-1920s, a lawsuit was filed against the United States Radium Corporation by five dying " Radium Girls " – dial painters who had painted radium-based luminous paint on the components of watches and clocks. The dial painters were instructed to lick their brushes to give them a fine point, thereby ingesting radium. Their exposure to radium caused serious health effects which included sores, anemia , and bone cancer . During
17160-464: The most typical deformities, for example, is a collapsed nasal bridge called saddle nose . Salmon discovered that it appeared often in medieval illuminations , especially among the men tormenting Christ in scenes of the crucifixion. The association of saddle nose with men perceived to be so evil they would kill the son of God indicates the artists were thinking of syphilis, which is typically transmitted through sexual intercourse with promiscuous partners,
17316-499: The optic nerve , uveitis , and interstitial keratitis . The acute symptoms usually resolve after three to six weeks; about 25% of people may present with a recurrence of secondary symptoms. Many people who present with secondary syphilis (40–85% of women, 20–65% of men) do not report previously having had the classical chancre of primary syphilis. Latent syphilis is defined as having serologic proof of infection without symptoms of disease. It develops after secondary syphilis and
17472-488: The original infection and includes 2 types; general paresis and tabes dorsalis. General paresis presents with dementia, personality changes, delusions, seizures, psychosis and depression. Tabes dorsalis is characterized by gait instability, sharp pains in the trunk and limbs, impaired positional sensation of the limbs as well as having a positive Romberg's sign . Both tabes dorsalis and general paresis may present with Argyll Robertson pupil which are pupils that constrict when
17628-611: The owners and the scientists familiar with the effects of radium carefully avoided any exposure to it themselves. Chemists at the plant used lead screens , tongs, and masks. USRC had distributed literature to the medical community describing the "injurious effects" of radium. Despite this knowledge, a number of similar deaths had occurred by 1925, including USRC's chief chemist, Dr. Edwin E. Leman and several female workers. The similar circumstances of their deaths prompted investigations by Dr. Harrison Martland, county physician of Newark . An estimated 4,000 workers were hired by corporations in
17784-504: The paint was made from powdered radium, zinc sulfide (a phosphor ), gum arabic , and water. Five of the women in New Jersey challenged their employer in a case over the right of individual workers who contract occupational diseases to sue their employers under New Jersey's occupational injuries law, which at the time had a two-year statute of limitations, but they settled out of court in 1928. Five women in Illinois who were employees of
17940-673: The person focuses on near objects ( accommodation reflex ) but do not constrict when exposed to bright light ( pupillary reflex ). Congenital syphilis is that which is transmitted during pregnancy or during birth. Two-thirds of syphilitic infants are born without symptoms. Common symptoms that develop over the first couple of years of life include enlargement of the liver and spleen (70%), rash (70%), fever (40%), neurosyphilis (20%), and lung inflammation (20%). If untreated, late congenital syphilis may occur in 40%, including saddle nose deformation, Higouménakis' sign , saber shin , or Clutton's joints among others. Infection during pregnancy
18096-456: The poor penetration of benzathine penicillin into the central nervous system , those affected are given large doses of intravenous penicillin G for a minimum of 10 days. If a person is allergic to penicillin, ceftriaxone may be used or penicillin desensitization attempted. Other late presentations may be treated with once-weekly intramuscular benzathine penicillin for three weeks. Treatment at this stage solely limits further progression of
18252-404: The population of 332 million in the United States. Syphilis was very common in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. Flaubert found it universal among 19th-century Egyptian prostitutes. In the developed world during the early 20th century, infections declined rapidly with the widespread use of antibiotics , until the 1980s and 1990s. Since 2000, rates of syphilis have been increasing in
18408-499: The possibility of false positives with nontreponemal tests, confirmation is required with a treponemal test, such as Treponema pallidum particle agglutination assay (TPHA) or fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption test (FTA-Abs). Treponemal antibody tests usually become positive two to five weeks after the initial infection and remain positive for many years. Neurosyphilis is diagnosed by finding high numbers of leukocytes (predominately lymphocytes ) and high protein levels in
18564-417: The presence of specific syphilis genes . These tests are not as time-sensitive, as they do not require living bacteria to make the diagnosis. As of 2018 , there is no vaccine effective for prevention. Several vaccines based on treponemal proteins reduce lesion development in an animal model but research continues. Condom use reduces the likelihood of transmission during sex, but does not eliminate
18720-415: The presence of syphilis in past historic periods, definitive findings from paleopathology and aDNA studies are still lacking for the medieval period. Evidence from art is therefore helpful in settling the issue. Research by Marylynn Salmon has demonstrated that deformities in medieval subjects can be identified by comparing them to those of modern victims of syphilis in medical drawings and photographs. One of
18876-747: The primary infection. While secondary disease is known for the many different ways it can manifest, symptoms most commonly involve the skin , mucous membranes , and lymph nodes . There may be a symmetrical, reddish-pink, non-itchy rash on the trunk and extremities, including the palms and soles. The rash may become maculopapular or pustular . It may form flat, broad, whitish, wart-like lesions on mucous membranes, known as condyloma latum . All of these lesions harbor bacteria and are infectious. Other symptoms may include fever , sore throat , malaise , weight loss , hair loss , and headache . Rare manifestations include liver inflammation , kidney disease, joint inflammation , periostitis , inflammation of
19032-495: The production of actinium in nuclear reactors . Radium is the heaviest known alkaline earth metal and is the only radioactive member of its group. Its physical and chemical properties most closely resemble its lighter congener , barium . Pure radium is a volatile , lustrous silvery-white metal, even though its lighter congeners calcium , strontium , and barium have a slight yellow tint. Radium's lustrous surface rapidly becomes black upon exposure to air, likely due to
19188-588: The purpose of the studio in Ottawa was to paint dials for clocks, their largest client being Westclox Corporation in Peru, Illinois . Dials painted in Ottawa appeared on Westclox's popular Big Ben, Baby Ben, and travel clocks; and Radium Dial hired young women to paint the dials, using the same "lip, dip, paint" approach as the women in New Jersey and by another unaffiliated plant in Waterbury, Connecticut, that supplied
19344-553: The radioactive compounds to be very similar to the barium compounds, except they were less soluble. This discovery made it possible for the Curies to isolate the radioactive compounds and discover a new element in them. The Curies announced their discovery to the French Academy of Sciences on 26 December 1898. The naming of radium dates to about 1899, from the French word radium , formed in Modern Latin from radius ( ray ): this
19500-416: The radium extraction process involved boiling with sodium hydroxide, followed by hydrochloric acid treatment to minimize impurities of other compounds. The remaining residue was then treated with sodium carbonate to convert the barium sulfate into barium carbonate (carrying the radium), thus making it soluble in hydrochloric acid. After dissolution, the barium and radium were reprecipitated as sulfates; this
19656-627: The reputations of the women. The inventor of radium dial paint, Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky, died in November 1928, becoming the 16th known victim of poisoning by radium dial paint. He had gotten sick from radium in his hands, not the jaw, but the circumstances of his death helped the Radium Girls in court. The Radium Dial Company was established in Ottawa, Illinois, in 1922. Like the United States Radium Corporation,
19812-453: The risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states, "Correct and consistent use of latex condoms can reduce the risk of syphilis only when the infected area or site of potential exposure is protected. However, a syphilis sore outside of the area covered by a latex condom can still allow transmission, so caution should be exercised even when using a condom." Abstinence from intimate physical contact with an infected person
19968-406: The same as those of the heavier alkali metals potassium , rubidium , and caesium . Solid radium compounds are white as radium ions provide no specific coloring, but they gradually turn yellow and then dark over time due to self- radiolysis from radium's alpha decay . Insoluble radium compounds coprecipitate with all barium, most strontium , and most lead compounds. Radium oxide (RaO)
20124-405: The sickened workers' ill-health by subjecting them to additional radiation. It turned out at least one of the examinations was a ruse, part of a campaign of disinformation started by the defense contractor. USRC and other watch-dial companies rejected claims that the affected workers were suffering from exposure to radium. For some time, doctors, dentists, and researchers complied with requests from
20280-442: The skin, bone, and liver, but can occur anywhere. Cardiovascular syphilis usually occurs 10–30 years after the initial infection. The most common complication is syphilitic aortitis , which may result in aortic aneurysm formation. Neurosyphilis refers to an infection involving the central nervous system . Involvement of the central nervous system in syphilis (either asymptomatic or symptomatic) can occur at any stage of
20436-417: The solubility of radium nitrate decreases, an important property for the chemical purification of radium. Radium forms much the same insoluble salts as its lighter congener barium: it forms the insoluble sulfate (RaSO 4 , the most insoluble known sulfate), chromate (RaCrO 4 ), carbonate (RaCO 3 ), iodate (Ra(IO 3 ) 2 ), tetrafluoroberyllate (RaBeF 4 ), and nitrate (Ra(NO 3 ) 2 ). With
20592-493: The spring of 1938, the IIC ruled in favor of the women. The attorney representing the interests of Radium Dial appealed hoping to get the verdict overturned, and again the commission judge, George B. Marvel, found for the women. Radium Dial appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and on October 23, 1939, the court decided not to hear the appeal, and the lower ruling was upheld. In the end, this case had been won eight times before Radium Dial
20748-517: The stages of the disease. Blood tests are divided into nontreponemal and treponemal tests. Nontreponemal tests are used initially and include venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL) and rapid plasma reagin (RPR) tests. False positives on the nontreponemal tests can occur with some viral infections, such as varicella (chickenpox) and measles . False positives can also occur with lymphoma , tuberculosis , malaria , endocarditis , connective tissue disease , and pregnancy . Because of
20904-485: The time) a single, firm, painless, non-itchy skin ulceration with a clean base and sharp borders approximately 0.3–3.0 cm in size. The lesion may take on almost any form. In the classic form, it evolves from a macule to a papule and finally to an erosion or ulcer . Occasionally, multiple lesions may be present (~40%), with multiple lesions being more common when coinfected with HIV. Lesions may be painful or tender (30%), and they may occur in places other than
21060-492: The title of his Latin poem in dactylic hexameter Syphilis sive morbus gallicus ( Syphilis or The French Disease ) describing the ravages of the disease in Italy. In Great Britain it was also called the "Great Pox". In the 16th through 19th centuries, syphilis was one of the largest public health burdens in prevalence , symptoms, and disability, although records of its true prevalence were generally not kept because of
21216-447: The toxicity of radium paint to its employees, but the company did not make the records or results available to employees. In an attempt to end the use of the camel hair brushes, management introduced glass pens with a fine point; however, the workers found that the pens slowed their productivity (they were paid by the piece), and they reverted to using brushes. When word of the New Jersey women and their suits appeared in local newspapers,
21372-471: The treponemal diseases is pinta , a skin disease and therefore unrecoverable through paleopathology.) Ancient DNA (aDNA) holds the answer, because just as only aDNA suffices to distinguish between syphilis and other diseases that produce similar symptoms in the body, it alone can differentiate spirochetes that are 99.8 percent identical with absolute accuracy. Progress on uncovering the historical extent of syndromes through aDNA remains slow, however, because
21528-406: The very closely related Treponema carateum , pinta . Unlike subspecies pallidum , they do not cause neurological disease. Humans are the only known natural reservoir for subspecies pallidum . It is unable to survive more than a few days without a host . This is due to its small genome (1.14 Mbp ) failing to encode the metabolic pathways necessary to make most of its macronutrients. It has
21684-504: The voyages of Columbus. There is an outstanding issue, however. Damaged teeth and bones may seem to hold proof of pre-Columbian syphilis, but there is a possibility that they point to an endemic form of treponemal disease instead. As syphilis, bejel, and yaws vary considerably in mortality rates and the level of human disease they elicit, it is important to know which one is under discussion in any given case, but it remains difficult for paleopathologists to distinguish among them. (The fourth of
21840-474: The women were told that the radium was safe and that employees in New Jersey were showing signs of viral infections. Assured by their employers that the radium was safe, they returned to work as usual. In Orange, New Jersey, the story of the abuse perpetrated against the workers is distinguished from most such cases by the fact that the ensuing litigation was covered widely by the media. Plant worker Grace Fryer decided to sue, but it took two years for her to find
21996-424: Was a factor in the establishment of occupational disease labor law . Radium dial painters were instructed in proper safety precautions and provided with protective gear; in particular, they no longer shaped paint brushes by lip and avoided ingesting or breathing the paint. Radium paint was still used in dials as late as the 1970s. The last factory manufacturing radium paint shut down in 1978. Robley D. Evans made
22152-569: Was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2013 for use in medicine as a cancer treatment of bone metastasis in the form of a solution including radium-223 chloride. The main indication of treatment is the therapy of bony metastases from castration-resistant prostate cancer. Ra has also been used in experiments concerning therapeutic irradiation, as it is the only reasonably long-lived radium isotope which does not have radon as one of its daughters. Radium
22308-507: Was brought before the Illinois Industrial Commission (IIC). In 1937, five women found attorney Leonard Grossman who would represent them in front of the commission, but by then, Radium Dial had closed and moved to New York. The IIC did retain a $ 10,000 deposit left by Radium Dial when it disclosed to the IIC that they could not find any insurance to cover the cost of indemnifying the company against employee suits. In
22464-475: Was confirmed in trials in 1943, at which time it became the main treatment. Many famous historical figures, including Franz Schubert , Arthur Schopenhauer , Édouard Manet , Charles Baudelaire , and Guy de Maupassant are believed to have had the disease. Friedrich Nietzsche was long believed to have gone mad as a result of tertiary syphilis , but that diagnosis has recently come into question. The earliest known depiction of an individual with syphilis
22620-493: Was discovered they could have serious adverse health effects. (See, for instance, Radithor or Revigator types of "radium water" or "Standard Radium Solution for Drinking".) Spas featuring radium-rich water are still occasionally touted as beneficial, such as those in Misasa, Tottori , Japan, though the sources of radioactivity in these spas vary and may be attributed to radon and other radioisotopes. Radium (usually in
22776-430: Was finally forced to pay. The Radium Girls' saga holds an important place in the history of both the field of health physics and the labor rights movement. The right of individual workers to sue for damages from corporations due to labor abuse was established as a result of the Radium Girls' case. In the wake of the case, industrial safety standards were demonstrably enhanced for many decades. The Radium Girls' case
22932-507: Was first noted by Ellis Herndon Hudson, a clinician who published extensively about the prevalence of treponematosis, including syphilis, in times past. The importance of bacterial load was first noted by the physician Ernest Grin in 1952 in his study of syphilis in Bosnia. The most compelling evidence for the validity of the pre-Columbian hypothesis is the presence of syphilitic-like damage to bones and teeth in medieval skeletal remains. While
23088-463: Was in recognition of radium's emission of energy in the form of rays. The gaseous emissions of radium, radon, were recognized and studied extensively by Friedrich Ernst Dorn in the early 1900s, though at the time they were characterized as "radium emanations". In September 1910, Marie Curie and André-Louis Debierne announced that they had isolated radium as a pure metal through the electrolysis of pure radium chloride (RaCl 2 ) solution using
23244-469: Was low. The formation of an Austrian monopoly and the strong urge of other countries to have access to radium led to a worldwide search for uranium ores. The United States took over as leading producer in the early 1910s, producing 70 g total from 1913 to 1920 in Pittsburgh alone. The Curies' process was still used for industrial radium extraction in 1940, but mixed bromides were then used for
23400-463: Was only about 100 g in total as of 1984; annual production of radium had reduced to less than 100 g by 2018. Radium is seeing increasing use in the field of atomic, molecular, and optical physics . Symmetry breaking forces scale proportional to Z 3 , {\displaystyle \ Z^{3}\ ,} which makes radium, the heaviest alkaline earth element, well suited for constraining new physics beyond
23556-403: Was referred to as "the great imitator" by Sir William Osler due to its varied presentations. Primary syphilis is typically acquired by direct sexual contact with the infectious lesions of another person. Approximately 2–6 weeks after contact (with a range of 10–90 days) a skin lesion, called a chancre , appears at the site and this contains infectious bacteria. This is classically (40% of
23712-433: Was settled in the autumn of 1928, before the trial was deliberated by the jury, and the settlement for each of the Radium Girls was $ 10,000 (equivalent to $ 177,000 in 2023) and a $ 600 per year annuity (equivalent to $ 10,600 in 2023) paid $ 12 per week (equivalent to $ 200 in 2023) for all of their lives, and all medical and legal expenses incurred would also be paid by the company. The lawsuit and resulting publicity
23868-409: Was still radioactive. In July 1898, while studying pitchblende, they isolated an element similar to bismuth which turned out to be polonium . They then isolated a radioactive mixture consisting of two components: compounds of barium , which gave a brilliant green flame color, and unknown radioactive compounds which gave carmine spectral lines that had never been documented before. The Curies found
24024-480: Was still used in 2007 as a radiation source in some industrial radiography devices to check for flawed metallic parts, similarly to X-ray imaging . When mixed with beryllium , radium acts as a neutron source . Up until at least 2004, radium-beryllium neutron sources were still sometimes used, but other materials such as polonium and americium have become more common for use in neutron sources. RaBeF 4 -based (α, n) neutron sources have been deprecated despite
24180-449: Was the first modern chemotherapeutic agent . During the 20th century, as both microbiology and pharmacology advanced greatly, syphilis, like many other infectious diseases, became more of a manageable burden than a scary and disfiguring mystery, at least in developed countries among those people who could afford to pay for timely diagnosis and treatment. Penicillin was discovered in 1928, and effectiveness of treatment with penicillin
24336-469: Was then repeated to further purify the mixed sulfate. Some impurities that form insoluble sulfides were removed by treating the chloride solution with hydrogen sulfide , followed by filtering. When the mixed sulfates were pure enough, they were once more converted to mixed chlorides; barium and radium thereafter were separated by fractional crystallisation while monitoring the progress using a spectroscope (radium gives characteristic red lines in contrast to
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