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The new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been emerged as a rapidly spreading pandemic. The disease is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. The pathogen of COVID-19 is the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It infects the cells binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor (ACE2) which is expressed by cells throughout the airways as targets for cellular entry. Although the majority of persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 experience symptoms of mild upper respiratory tract infection, in some people infections of the peripheral airways result in severe, potentially fatal pneumonia. However, the induction of COVID-19 pneumonia requires that SARS-CoV-2 reaches the peripheral airways. While huge efforts have been made to understand the spread of the disease as well as the pathogenesis following cellular entry, much less attention is paid how SARS-CoV-2 from the environment reach the receptors of the target cells. The aim of the present study is to characterize the deposition distribution of SARS-CoV-2 in the airways upon exposure to cough-generated aerosol. For this purpose, the Stochastic Lung Deposition Model has been applied. Aerosol size distribution and breathing parameters were taken from the literature supposing normal breathing through the nose. We found that the probability of direct infection of the peripheral airways due to inhalation of aerosol generated by a bystander cough is very low. As the number of pathogens deposited in the extrathoracic airways is ~10 times higher than in the peripheral airways, we concluded that in most cases COVID-19 pneumonia must be preceded by SARS-CoV-2 infection of the upper airways. Our results suggest that without the enhancement of viral load in the upper airways, COVID-19 would be much less dangerous..., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

In the case of radon exposure, the spatial distribution of deposited radioactive particles is highly inhomogeneous in the central airways. The objective of this research is to investigate the consequences of this heterogeneity regarding cellular burdens in the bronchial epithelium and to study the possible biological effects on tissue level. Applying a computational fluid dynamics program, the deposition distribution of inhaled radon daughters has been determined in a bronchial airway model for 23 minutes of work in the New Mexico uranium mine corresponding to 0.0129 WLM exposure. A numerical epithelium model based on experimental data has been utilized in order to quantify cellular hits and doses. Finally, a carcinogenesis model considering cell death induced cell cycle shortening has been applied to assess the biological responses. Computations present, that cellular dose may reach 1.5 Gy, which is several orders of magnitude higher than tissue dose. The results are in agreement with the histological finding that the uneven deposition distribution of radon progenies may lead to inhomogeneous spatial distribution of tumours in the bronchial airways. In addition, on macroscopic level, the relationship between cancer risk and radiation burden seems to be non-linear., Comment: paper presented in the 15th International Symposium on Microdosimetry (MICROS 2009 - Verona, Italy, 25-30 October, 2009), 5 pages, 7 figures

Cellular hit probabilities of alpha particles emitted by inhaled radon progenies in sensitive bronchial epithelial cell nuclei were simulated at low exposure levels to obtain useful data for the rejection or in support of the linear-non-threshold (LNT) hypothesis. In this study, local distributions of deposited inhaled radon progenies in airway bifurcation models were computed at exposure conditions, which are characteristic of homes and uranium mines. Then, maximum local deposition enhancement factors at bronchial airway bifurcations, expressed as the ratio of local to average deposition densities, were determined to characterize the inhomogeneity of deposition and to elucidate their effect on resulting hit probabilities. The results obtained suggest that in the vicinity of the carinal regions of the central airways the probability of multiple hits can be quite high even at low average doses. Assuming a uniform distribution of activity there are practically no multiple hits and the hit probability as a function of dose exhibits a linear shape in the low dose range. The results are quite the opposite in the case of hot spots revealed by realistic deposition calculations, where practically all cells receive multiple hits and the hit probability as a function of dose is non-linear in the average dose range of 10-100 mGy., Comment: Copyright 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd, 18 pages, 7 figures