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High levels of natural radiation areas are found in different parts of the world like Yangjiang in China, Guarapari in Brazil, Ramsar in Iran and Kerala in India. These areas are considered as appropriate places for the study regarding health risks as a result of continuous exposure to elevated level of radiation, if any, on the inhabitants there. Karunagappally, lying on the south west coast of Kerala in India is known for HBR due to natural deposit of monazite sand containing thorium (8-10%), uranium (0.3%) and its decay products. The present study analysed the chromosomes in peripheral lymphocytes from the female inhabitants of HBRAs of Karunagappally and compared their results with female inhabitants of adjacent normal background radiation areas (NBRAs). Peripheral blood samples from 110 female inhabitants of HBRA of Karunagappally and 100 samples from NBRAs were collected in heparinized vials and cultures were set up employing standard microculture techniques, slides were prepared, coded and stained with giemsa. Well spreaded metaphases were analysed for chromosome aberrations. Fluoroscence in-situ hybridization (FISH) using whole chromosome probe (WCP) 1, 2, 4 and X was performed in representative samples. The frequencies of chromosomal aberrations in HBRAs and NBRAs were 5.85±3.7 and 0.27± 0.58 per hundred cells respectively. All statistical analysis were done using SPSS version 21 to assess the Group statistics in experimentals for mean age, mean cumulative dose and chromosomal aberration frequency. FISH does not reveal any translocation among the chromosomes 1, 2, 4 and X. Background radiation had effect on the frequencies of chromosomal aberration in the inhabitants of HBRA and was found significant compared to inhabitants from NBRAs. The lack of any stable aberrations/translocations in chromosomes can be considered as one of the reasons for not having any serious ill effects or increased cancer incidence due to the radiation exposure in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of additional chromosomal abnormalities (ACAs) in Philadelphia chromosome/ BCR-ABL1 positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), is considered to be a feature of disease evolution. However, their frequency of incidence, impact on prognosis and treatment response effect in CML is not conclusive. In the present study, we performed a chromosome analysis of 489 patients in different clinical stages of CML, using conventional GTG-banding, Fluorescent in situ Hybridization and Spectral Karyotyping. Among the de novo CP cases, ACAs were observed in 30 patients (10.20%) with lowest incidence, followed by IM resistant CP (16.66%) whereas in AP and BC, the occurrence of ACAs were higher, and was about 40.63 and 50.98%, respectively. The frequency of occurrence of ACAs were compared between the study groups and it was found that the incidence of ACAs was higher in BC compared to de novo and IM resistant CP cases. Likewise, it was higher in AP patients when compared between de novo and IM resistant CP cases, mirroring the fact of cytogenetic evolution with disease progression in CML. In addition, we observed 10 novel and 10 rare chromosomal aberrations among the study subjects. This study pinpoints the fact that the genome of advanced phase patients was highly unstable, and this environment of genomic instability is responsible for the high occurrence of ACAs. Treatment response analysis revealed that compared to initial phases, ACAs were associated with an adverse prognostic effect during the progressive stages of CML. This study further portrayed the cytogenetic mechanism of disease evolution in CML.