Zika fever is a self-limiting and acute infectious disease caused by Zika virus infection. It is mainly transmitted through the bite of mosquitoes of the Aedes type. It can also be spread through verti-cal transmission. There is evidence that it can also be sexually transmitted from a man to his sex partners due to the presence of the virus in semen. The re-emergence of the virus in 2015 as a major endemic in the South American countries ( which may spread further) warrants better understanding of Zika virus. The outbreaks, transmission routes, virological characteristics and the diagnosis and treatment of Zika virus infection will be summarized in this review. Moreover, the potential correlations between newborn microcephaly and Zika vi-rus infection as well as the possible molecular mechanisms for causing microcephaly such as cell autophagy will also be discussed.

Objective To study the method of dose reconstruction in human body under the photon external radiation accident condition,and to verify the accuracy of the method for the local dose distribution.Methods Based on the open source Monte Carlo tool kit Geant 4 and using the human voxel phantom recommended by ICRP Publication 103,the dose reconstruction method under the condition of external radiation accident was studied to evaluate the average absorbed dose,organ absorbed dose and local dose distribution.To validate the code,several irradiation experiments were implemented in some standard radiation fields by putting TLDs in the tissue equivalent physical phantom ART.A voxel phantom was used to reconstruct the radiation doses,which was created based on the CT scan image of the ART phantom with resolution of 1.57 mm× 1.57 mm× 10.00 mm.The result of experiment were compared with those of dose reconstruction simulation.Results The relative uncertainty of the measured values was 10.9％.The relative uncertainty of the dose reconstruction simulation values was 7.10％ at the non-tissueinterface area and 16.6％ at the tissue-interface area.For 451 measuring points,the average of the simulated value divided by the measured value was 0.972,with the standard deviation of 0.083 8.In the range of 0.95-1.05,0.90-1.10 and 0.80-1.20,and the proportions were 49.2％,79.4％ and 96.4％,respectively.Conclusions The method of Monte Carlo dose reconstruction based on human voxel phantom meets the accuracy requirement of actual uses both at the whole body or organ level and at the local dose distribution level.It can be used as a powerful tool for dose assessment of the exposed people in an external radiation accidents and provide support for diagnosis and treatment.

Objective Based on the measurement of the ambient dose equivalent rate of points around the novel self-shielding Zap-X radiotherapy system, its self-shielding effect was evaluated and analyzed, and suggestions were proposed for the revision and improvement of related standards in China. Methods The ambient dose equivalent rates were measured at 15 points around the Zap-X system under 6 system operating conditions. The radiation shielding effect of the Zap-X system was evaluated according to the domestic and international radiation protection standards of radiotherapy equipment. Results Measurement of ambient dose equivalent rate and dose evaluation showed that the shielding effect of the Zap-X system met the requirements of international standards, but the dose rates at some points failed to satisfy the reference control levels in the domestic standards. Conclusion Without the shielded treatment room, the self-shielding effect of the Zap-X radiotherapy system is insufficient to meet the requirements of domestic standards for radiation safety and protection. The system should be operated in the treatment room to meet domestic standards.

Objective Based on the lanthanum bromide scintillator detector, the calculation method of G(E) function was developed to measure the air absorbed dose rate. Methods Firstly, the gamma energy spectrumof the lanthanum bromide detector were simulated and the response functions with different energies were determined with Monte Carlo simulation method. Then, the G(E) function was calculated by the least square method. Finally, the air absorbed dose rate measured by the lanthanum bromide detector using G(E) function conversion method was compared with the theoretical calculation value based on the point source experiments. Results The experimental verification results showed that the relative deviation between thecalculated value with G(E) function and the theoretical calculation value wasmostly controlled within ± 6%, which verified the accuracy of G(E) function. Conclusion The results showed that the method of G(E) function could be applied to calculate the gamma radiation dose rate based on the in-situ the gamma spectrum with LaBr₃ detector.