Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. Smoking causes 80-90% of cases of lung cancer. In this study, an attempt was made to assess the impact of cigarette smoking on the risk of lung cancer by the so-called threshold-specific energy model. This model allows to analyse the biological effects of radon daughter products on the lung tissue, and is based on the assumption that the biological effect (i.e. cell inactivation) will manifest itself after the threshold-specific energy z0 deposited in the sensitive volume of the cell is exceeded. Cigarette smoking causes, among others, an increase in the synthesis of the survivin protein that protects cells from apoptosis and thereby reduces their radiosensitivity. Based on these facts, an attempt was made to estimate the shape of the curves describing the increase in the oncological effect of radiation as a function of daily cigarette consumption.

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222Rn (radon) is an ever-present radioactive component of the surface layer of the atmosphere. The knowledge of the shape of radon activity concentration (RAC) time series has several important applications in atmospheric studies. This study presents the results of RAC analysis according to Garzon et al. approach during the years 1991–2009, as well as attempts to reconstruct the shape of composite diurnal RAC cycles using either Garzon et al. original approach or other methods. From this study, it follows that in order to accurately reconstruct the mean diurnal RAC cycles for individual months in our locality (Central European region), the parameters have to be calibrated by local RAC and measured global solar radiation data. The original Garzon et al. approach underestimates the amplitude of mean diurnal RAC cycles during April–August by up to 10%, and overestimates the amplitude during September–March by up to 25%.

Abstract. Radon activity concentration (RAC) in the outdoor atmosphere was monitored in four localities of Slovakia. The distance between the localities were up to 130 km. The localities had a diverse orography, ranging from fl atland to hilly terrain. A signifi cant infl uence of orography and 226 Ra and 222 Rn content in soil on diurnal time series of RAC was found. A simple approach of determining radon exhalation rate from soil based on the increase of RAC from daily minima to maxima and removal characteristic of radon is presented. A linear dependency between radon exhalation rate from the soil and RAC in the soil gas at a depth of 0.8 m was found for sandy soils.