Análise crítica da metodologia experimental e da produção científica em radiobiologia de baixas doses: uma avaliação quantitativa e paradigmática

Abstract

Contemporary civilization has rendered exposure to ionizing radiation acceptable, commonplace, and even advisable. Its applications are widespread in medicine, industry, agriculture, and nuclear energy, providing undeniable benefits such as cancer treatment and medical imaging diagnostics. However, catastrophic events like Chernobyl and Fukushima, along with the wartime use in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, demonstrate its potentially devastating risks. The scientific community remains divided regarding carcinogenic risk models for low-level radiation exposure. Carcinogenic risk models differ when it comes to low levels of exposure. The Linear No-Threshold model assumes a continuously increasing risk of harm with increasing dose, regardless of how small the dose is, whereas the linear-quadratic model proposes a biphasic effect—beneficial at low doses and harmful at high doses—with a defined threshold. Despite undeniable technological advances, radiobiology remains at a crossroads between these competing models, due in part to the low reproducibility of scientific experiments. This thesis aims to critically investigate the methods and variables used in experiments within the field of low-dose radiobiology, as well as the scientific dissemination of their findings. A scoping review and bibliometric analysis were employed as methodological tools. The results indicate a strong diversity of independent variables and investigated effects; the field appears to be heavily influenced by a small number of authors who form an epistemic community.