In former So\jet Union countries there are currently underway or being planned, several major ocular follow-up studies of populations exposed to radiation from reactor accidents, contamination from nuclear weapons manufacturing or fall-out from nuclear testing. The importance of such studies lies in their potential to provide the data necessary to: 1) help define the true extent of the impact of environmental contamination in affected regions 2) allow for a better appreciation of the degree of morbidity arising from such contamination 3) establish acceptable standards for ocular risk guidelines, 4) develop the necessary database to allow cataract to meet its potential in retrospective dose reconstruction, S) assess the contribution of environmental radiation exposure to the incidence of senile cataract development in populations at large. Given the complexity of such studies, the potential confounders, and the myriad of possible methods of assessment, it is in the interest of the global scientific and medical communities to, insofar as possible, standardize methodologies and agree upon minimum criteria to make inter-study comparisons possible. With this in mind the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on "Ocular Radiation Risk Assessment in Populations Exposed to Environmental Radiation Contamination", 29 July - 1 August 1997 -Puscha Ozyorna, Kiev, Ukraine, was organized to establish minimum and standardized criteria for the acquisition, archiving, evaluating, and dissemination of data on the ocular risk of populations to environmental radiation exposure.

Inhalt
The Ukrainian/American Chernobyl Ocular Study.- Cataractous Changes Related To Radiation and Aging Among The Atomic Bomb Survivors in Hiroshima.- Quantification of Lens Opacities With Digital Scheimpflug Imaging.- A Control Group for Radiation Induced Lens Opacities Using an Electronic Scheimpflug System.- Posterior Subcapsular Cataract and Dry Eye Syndrome After Radiation Exposure By The Chernobyl Accident.- The Incidence of Eye Disorders Among Chernobyl Clean-up Workers.- Radiation Cataracts in High Dose Liquidators Who Developed Acute Radiation Syndrome.- Ophthalmo-pathology in Victims of The Chernobyl Catastrophy-results of Clinical Epidemiological Study.- Condition of Eye and Parameters of Free Radical Processes in Organism in The Liquidators After The Chernobyl Accident.- Physical and Chemical Changes in Murine Lens At Early Stage of Cataract Development Induced By Total Gamma-irradiation.- Overview on Existing Approaches To Dose Reconstruction - Recommendations For The Ukrainian American Chernobyl Ocular Study (uacos).- Physical and Radiobiological Considerations in Eye Dosimetry.- Dosimetry, Dose Reconstruction and Epidemiology:lessons From Radpath, Radtest and Related Studies.- Methodologies - Strengths and Weaknesses: A View On The Dosimetric Support For The Chernobyl Liquidator Eye Cataract Study.- Estimation of Environmental Burdens By Radiation: Radiological Units: From Gray To Sievert.- In Vitro Biocompatibility Testing of Intraocular Biomaterials.- X-ray Sensitivity and Dna Damage in Bovine Lens Epithelial Cells in Vitro.- Induction and Repair of Dna Strand Breaks in Bovine Lens Epithelial Cells After High Let Irradiation.- Laser Scanning Focal Length Variability Is A Measure of Damage in Rat Lens in Model Astronaut Cataracts Treated With Vitamin E (ve) Or R-?-Lipoic Acid (RLA).- Overview of The Epidemiology of Radiation Cataracts.- Prevalence of Lens Opacity in Population With Chronic Low-dose Gamma-radiation Exposure From Radioactive Apartments in Taiwan.- The Experiences of Surveys for an Epidemiological Database of Different Occupational Groups of Rural Workers in Ukraine.- 4. Final Recommendations Of The Nato Advanced Research Workshop On ocular Radiation Risk Assessment In Populations Exposed To Environmental Radiation Contamination, Kiev 1997.- Author's Index.