Radiation fears spark panic buying, evacuations in Tokyo | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Commuters stand in line to board other trains at Yokohama Station, southwest of Tokyo, March 14, 2011

Radiation wafted from an earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant toward Tokyo on Tuesday, sparking panic in one of the world’s biggest and most densely populated cities.
Women and children packed into the departure lounge at an airport, supermarkets ran low on rice and other supplies and frightened residents, tourists and expatriates either stayed indoors or simply left the city.
"I’m not too worried about another earthquake. It’s radiation that scares me," said Masashi Yoshida, cradling his 5-month-old daughter Hana
The nail-biting eased in the afternoon after Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano appeared on national television saying radiation levels at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power complex had fallen dramatically since morning.
But confidence in the government is shaken and many decided not to take chances, especially after radiation levels in Saitama, near Tokyo, were 40 times normal – not enough to cause human damage but enough to stoke fears in the ultra-modern and hyper-efficient metropolis of 12 million people.
Many hoarded food and other supplies and stayed indoors. Don Quixote, a multistory, 24-hour general store in Tokyo’s Roppongi district, was sold out of radios, flashlights, candles, fuel cans and sleeping bags on Tuesday.
At another market near Tokyo’s Yotsuya station, an entire aisle was nearly empty on both sides, its instant noodles, bread and pastry gone since Friday’s earthquake and tsunami killed at least 10,000 people nationwide and plunged Japan into a twin nuclear and humanitarian crisis.
At Haneda Airport, hundreds of young mothers lined up with children, boarding flights out of Tokyo.
"We are getting out of Tokyo and going to our home town because of the situation. For the time being we have bought a one way ticket and will wait and see what happens," said a Japanese woman with an eight-month-old baby and four-year-old son, who declined to be identified by name.
Tourists such as Christy Niver, of Egan, Minnesota, said they had enough. Her 10-year-old daughter, Lucy, was more emphatic. "I’m scared. I’m so scared I would rather be in the eye of a tornado," she said. "I want to leave."
Winds over the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power complex, about 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, blew slowly southwesterly toward Tokyo for much of the day before shifting westerly later, a weather official said.
Some scientists, however, urged Tokyo to stay calm.
"Radioactive material will reach Tokyo but it is not harmful to human bodies because it will be dissipated by the time it gets to Tokyo," said Koji Yamazaki, professor at Hokkaido University graduate school of environmental science.
"If the wind gets stronger, it means the material flies faster but it will be even more dispersed in the air."
University of Tokyo professor of bioengineering Hiroyuki Takahashi added: "If the nuclear fuel remains contained, there will be very little health risk."
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Cutting- Edge Technology at Bangkok Hospital Offers Hope to Patients With Tumors

Until recently, patients with inoperable tumors had little recourse to improve their conditions. But Bangkok Hospital Medical Center now offers advanced technology that literally provides a ray of hope.
(I-Newswire) - Bangkok, Thailand ( NetSweets ) June 30, 2008 – Patients with brain tumors for decades have had limited options for treatment, but the latest cutting-edge technology at the Bangkok Hospital Medical Center now offers hope.Previously, many patients could not be treated with radiotherapy because their tumors were too close to critical brain structures. Bangkok Hospital Medical Center ( BMC ) has acquired Novalis technology that involves shaped-beam radiation surgery, meaning many of these tumors can now be treated.Novalis shapes the radiation beams to match the exact shape of the tumor or lesion. The result is the tumor or lesion receives its prescribed dose of radiation, while avoiding critical tissues and organs. The primary advantages of stereotactic radiosurgery are its precision and minimal risk. Equipped with highly sophisticated computer-based imaging techniques, Novalis delivers the radiation beam with high precision and produces a sharp radiation dose gradient at the tumor and normal tissue boundary.It is the most clinically advanced cancer treatment option for patients often considered to have inoperable tumors,” says Jason Chandler, Novalis’ national sales manager.The Novalis procedure is non-invasive, painless and eliminates the risks associated with major surgery. Many patients are able to have shaped-beam surgery as a day treatment procedure.The actual treatment session typically takes less than 30 minutes. This involves the movement of the Novalis machine around the head or body as the focused beams converge on the target. Multiple radiation beams radiate the tumor from different angles. The invisible radiation is not felt at all.Novalis technology was initially used to treat tumors and lesions in the brain, head and neck. The latest upgrades have increased the accuracy and reliability, allowing its use on inoperable tumors in the spine, lungs, liver, breast, prostate and other areas in the body.Novaris may be the treatment of choice for patients whose doctors cannot perform traditional surgery because of the increased risk of harming critical structures inside the brain, BMC says. According to the Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, the latest cutting-edge technology gives patients a fighting chance to overcome their illnesses and a better quality of life after treatment.