Iodine-125 is preferred for this purpose, due to better radiation penetration and shorter half-life (13 hours). I-125 is useful for Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) testing in the diagnosis or monitoring of patients with kidney disease. I-125 is used in Iodine-125 is used "therapeutically" in brachytherapy treatments of tumors. For radiotherapy ablation of tissues that absorb iodine (such as the thyroid), or that absorb an iodine-containing radiopharmaceutical, the beta-emitter iodine-131 is the preferred isotope. I is created by the electron capture decay of Xe, which is a synthetic isotope of xenon, itself created by neutron capture of the slightly radioactive Xe, which
Iodine lack of the element. The addition of iodine to table salt has largely eliminated this problem in the wealthier nations, but iodine deficiency remains a serious public health problem today in the developing world. Iodine deficiency is also a problem in certain areas of Europe. Information processing, fine motor skills, and visual problem solving are improved by iodine repletion in moderately iodine-deficient children. Elemental iodine (I) is toxic if taken orally undiluted. The lethal dose for an adult human is 30 mg/kg, which is about 2.1–2.4 grams for a human weighing 70 to 80 kg (even if experiments on rats