Febrero 2007

New section on the Interphone study

Our site now has a completely new section on the Interphone study. It can be found under "Research Programs". It contains Tables summarizing the results of the papers that have been published from the centres participating in the study. It is expected that the main results of the Interphone study, including the summary of the results from all 13 participating countries, will be published in the next 6 to 12 months.

A review of the validity of epidemiological studies on health effects of cell phones

Auvinen and colleagues have published a paper that reviews the factors that can affect the validity of epidemiological studies on health effects of cell phones. They emphasize the imprecision of exposure assessment in the studies. The authors also point out that this is particularly likely to occur in case-control studies, and that prospective studies afford the best opportunity to improve the quality of evidence.

Reference: Auvinen A, Toivo T, Tokola K. Epidemiological risk assessment of mobile phones and cancer: where can we improve? European Journal of Cancer Prevention 2006;15:516-523.

RFR exposure and gene expression - danger of false positives

Whitehead and colleagues have published previously on the subject of gene expression. In the current experiment they exposed C3H 10T 1/2 cells to RFR for 24 hours at a SAR of 5 W/kg. FDMA or CDMA RF was used. The number of gene expression changes induced by RFR was not greater than the number of false positives expected based on a sham versus sham comparison. In contrast, the X-irradiated samples showed higher number of changed expression level than in the sham versus sham comparison.

Zeng et al. also investigated gene responses to RFR exposure, and concluded that the exposure did not produce distinct effects on gene and protein expression.

References:
Whitehead T, Moros EG, Brownstein BH, Roti Roti JL. The number of genes changing expression after chronic exposure to code division multiple access or frequency DMA radiofrequency radiation does not exceed the false-positive rate. Proteomics 2006;6:4739-44.

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Zeng Q, Chen G, Weng Y, Wang L, et al. Effects of global system for mobile communications 1800 MHz radiofrequency electromagnetic fields on gene and protein expression in MCF-7 cells. Proteomics 2006;6:4732-8.

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EMF research in Europe

James Lin, in his latest paper in Radio Science Bulletin, discusses bioelectromagnetic research in Europe. He points out that the European Union is probably the leader in this area, with the total amount of funding of US$53.74 million for current projects.

For more, see www.ursi.org and, on our site, "Research Programs".

Reference: Lin JC. Current bioelectromagnetics research activities in Europe. Radio Science Bulletin 2007;319:67-68.

RF plastic sealer operators and heart rate variability

Wilen and colleagues reported in an earlier study that RF plastic sealer operators had lower heart rates and more episodes of disturbed heart rhythm than controls. They now report that this might be due to a compensatory increase in the parasympathetic nervous system.

For more, see "Research - Clinical - cardiovascular".

Reference: Wilen J, Wiklund U, Hornsten R, Sandstrom M. Changes in heart variability among RF plastic sealer operators. Bioelectromagnetics 2007;28:76-79.