Bortkiewicz A et al. · 2012
The study surveyed 181 men and 319 women from 500 households in five regions of Łódź, measuring electric fields in flats near base stations. Electric field strength above 0.8 V/m was found in 12 % of flats, and no significant correlation was observed between field strength and distance from the base stations. Headache was reported by 57 % of participants, most often by those living 100–150 m from a base station (p=0.013), while impaired memory was reported by 24.4 % of participants, mainly by those living farther than 150 m (p=0.004). The authors noted that the lack of correlation between measured electric field strength and symptoms, contrasted with distance-related symptom patterns, suggests new exposure metrics may be needed.
Asbridge M, Brubacher JR · 2012
The study compared 312 drivers in crashes with police-reported cell phone use to 936 propensity-matched drivers without cell phone use. Cell phone use was associated with an odds ratio of 1.70 for crash culpability. The association remained after adjustment for matching variables and other covariates. Subgroup analyses showed the association for male drivers, unimpaired drivers, injured and non-injured drivers, and drivers aged 26 to 65 years.
Vecchio F et al. · 2012
Eyes-closed resting EEG data were recorded in ten patients affected by focal epilepsy in real and sham exposure conditions and compared with 15 age-matched normal subjects from previous reference studies. The GSM device was turned on for 45 minutes in the GSM condition and off for 45 minutes in the sham condition, with the phone always on the left side. Spectral coherence evaluated inter-hemispheric synchronization across delta, theta, and alpha sub-bands. Compared with controls, epileptic patients showed significantly higher inter-hemispheric coherence of temporal and frontal alpha rhythms in the GSM condition versus sham. The authors suggest that GSM electromagnetic fields may affect inter-hemispheric alpha synchronization in epileptic patients.
Vecchio F et al. · 2012
Eleven healthy adults underwent two EEG sessions one week apart in a crossover, placebo-controlled, double-blind paradigm. In each session, participants performed a visual go/no-go task before the real GSM exposure or after the sham condition. During the real GSM session, the temporal cortex was continuously exposed to GSM-EMFs for 45 min. High-frequency alpha rhythm power decrease was reduced and reaction times to go stimuli were faster after GSM exposure compared to before.
Jing J, Yuhua Z, Xiao-qian Y, Rongping J, Dong-mei G, Xi C. · 2012
Thirty-two pregnant rats were divided into four groups, with three groups receiving microwave radiation for 10, 30, or 60 minutes three times daily from the first day of pregnancy for 20 days. In the 30-minute and 60-minute exposure groups, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase decreased while malondialdehyde increased compared with controls. Noradrenaline and dopamine levels increased in the 10-minute exposure group but decreased in the 60-minute exposure group. The authors concluded that prenatal microwave radiation from cellular phones has certain harm on fetal rat brains.
Divan HA, Kheifets L, Obel C, Olsen J · 2012
Researchers analyzed a new dataset of DNBC children to see if a larger group would produce similar results after considering additional confounders. The highest odds ratio for behavioral problems was observed in children with both prenatal and postnatal cell phone exposure compared to unexposed children, with an adjusted effect estimate of 1.5 (95% CI 1.4 to 1.7). The findings replicated earlier results showing an association between cell phone use and behavioral problems at age 7 years, not limited to early users. Although the association was weaker in the new dataset, it remained after further control for an extended set of potential confounders.
Sokolovic D et al. · 2012
Researchers exposed Wistar rats to microwave radiation for 4 hours per day and tested whether melatonin could counter any resulting changes in body mass or behaviour. A significant body mass reduction was noted in animals exposed to MW radiation when compared to controls after 20, 40 and 60 days (p<0.001). Exposed animals showed anxiety-related behaviour described as agitation and irritability after 10 days of exposure, and these changes became less noticeable after the radiation source was removed. Melatonin pretreatment significantly increased body weight in irradiated rats compared to irradiated rats without melatonin after 20 days (p<0.05), and melatonin administration caused a decrease in stress-induced behaviour.
Schmid MR et al. · 2012
Twenty-five young healthy men took part in a randomized double-blind crossover design, exposed at weekly intervals to different conditions for 30 minutes before sleep. The conditions were a 2-Hz pulse-modulated radio frequency field, a 2-Hz pulsed magnetic field, and sham. Radio frequency exposure increased electroencephalogram power in the spindle frequency range. Delta and theta activity during non-rapid eye movement sleep, and alpha and delta activity during rapid eye movement sleep, were affected following both exposure conditions. No effect on sleep architecture and no clear impact of exposure on cognition was observed.
Schmid MR et al. · 2012
Thirty young healthy men were exposed, at weekly intervals, for 30 minutes directly before an 8-hour sleep period to a 900-MHz RF EMF pulse-modulated at 14 Hz, at 217 Hz, or to a sham control. EEG power in the spindle frequency range was increased during non-rapid eye movement sleep after the 14-Hz pulse-modulated condition, while a similar but non-significant increase was also observed after the 217-Hz condition. No clear exposure-related effects on cognitive performance were seen, and the exposure-induced effect showed considerable individual variability.
Mortazavi SM et al. · 2012
Researchers measured visual reaction time in 160 right-handed university students aged 18 to 31 before and after a 10-minute real or sham exposure to electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones. The mean reaction time after real exposure was 286.78 ms and after sham exposure was 295.86 ms (P < 0.001). The researchers also compared reaction times across low-level, moderate, and frequent mobile phone users to assess possible chronic exposure effects. Male students showed shorter reaction times than female students in both talk and standby modes.
Loughran SP, McKenzie RJ, Jackson ML, Howard ME, Croft RJ. · 2012
Twenty volunteers each underwent two experimental nights in which they were randomly exposed to either an active or sham condition before a full night of sleep. EEG spectral power was increased in the sleep spindle frequency range in the first 30 minutes of non-REM sleep after active exposure. The increase was more prominent in participants who had already shown an increase in the original study, suggesting the effect is sensitive to individual variability.
Li Y, Shi C, Lu G, Xu Q, Liu S. · 2012
Researchers exposed 8-week-old Wistar rats to near-field radiation at 0.52–1.08 W/kg for 2 hours per day for 1 month. Behavioral changes were examined using the Morris water maze, and the irradiated rats exhibited impaired performance compared with the sham-irradiated rats. The morphological changes included mitochondrial degenerations, fewer synapses, and shorter postsynaptic densities in the radiated rats.
Fragopoulou AF et al. · 2012
Researchers investigated the effects of two sources of electromagnetic fields on the proteome of the cerebellum, hippocampus, and frontal lobe in Balb/c mice following long-term whole body irradiation. Across both exposure types, 143 proteins showed significantly altered expression, ranging from as low as 0.003 fold downregulation up to 114 fold overexpression. The altered proteins included neural function related proteins, heat shock proteins, cytoskeletal proteins, and proteins of brain metabolism across nearly all brain regions studied.
Calabrò E et al. · 2012
Bouji M, Lecomte A, Hode Y, de Seze R, Villégier AS · 2012
Researchers assessed the effects of a single GSM exposure at 900 MHz with a specific absorption rate of 6 W/kg on young adult (6-week-old) and middle-aged (12-month-old) rats. The study measured brain IL-1β and IL-6, plasmatic corticosterone levels, and emotional memory. Results showed an IL-1β increase in the olfactory bulb and enhanced contextual emotional memory in GSM-exposed middle-aged rats, while plasmatic corticosterone levels increased in GSM-exposed young adults. Acute GSM exposure did not induce astrocyte activation, in contrast to previously published work.
Valentini E, Ferrara M, Presaghi F, De Gennaro L, Curcio G. · 2011
Lindholm H et al. · 2011
Each exposure and sham period lasted 15 minutes and took place in a climatic chamber under controlled thermoneutral conditions. They measured ear canal temperature, skin temperature at multiple sites, local cerebral blood flow via near-infrared spectroscopy, and autonomic nervous system function via ECG and continuous blood pressure. During the short-term RF exposure, local cerebral blood flow did not change, ear canal temperature did not increase significantly, and autonomic nervous system function was not interfered with.
Frei P et al. · 2011
Researchers investigated the risk of central nervous system tumours among Danish mobile phone subscribers. The cohort included 58 403 subscription holders with 3.8 million person years of follow-up from 1990-2007, during which 10 729 tumour cases occurred. The overall risk was close to unity for both men and women. For those with 13 or more years of subscription, incidence rate ratios were 1.03 in men and 0.91 in women. No dose-response relation was found by years of use or tumour location near the handset.
Aydin D et al. · 2011
The CEFALO study included children and adolescents aged 7–19 years diagnosed with brain tumors between 2004 and 2008 in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland. Researchers interviewed 352 case patients and 646 control subjects matched by age, sex, and geographical region. Regular mobile phone users did not have a statistically significant increase in brain tumor risk compared with nonusers. No increased risk was found for brain areas receiving the highest exposure, and no exposure–response relationship was observed.
Watilliaux A, Edeline JM, Lévêque P, Jay TM, Mallat M · 2011
Researchers exposed young rats on postnatal days 5, 15, or 35 to a GSM 1,800 MHz signal for 2 hours at 1.7–2.5 W/kg SAR and compared them to pseudo-exposed littermates. Western blotting measured heat shock proteins HSP60, HSC70, HSP90, serine racemase, glutamate transporters GLT1 and GLAST, and glial fibrillary acidic protein GFAP in total and soluble extracts. The GSM signal had no significant effect on any of these proteins, and immunohistochemical staining for CD68 showed no differences in microglial morphology or distribution.
Sauter C et al. · 2011
Researchers tested 30 healthy young men exposed to GSM 900, WCDMA, and sham signals over nine study days. After correction for multiple testing, only time-of-day effects remained significant in two tests, resulting in faster reactions in the afternoon trials. Univariate comparisons revealed significant changes for GSM 900 only in the vigilance test. WCDMA exposure altered one parameter in vigilance and one in divided attention, while selective attention and the n-back task were not affected by either exposure.
Divan HA, Kheifets L, Olsen J · 2011
Researchers used data from the Danish National Birth Cohort to examine prenatal cell phone use and developmental milestone delays in offspring up to 18 months of age. At 6 months the adjusted odds ratio for cognitive/language delay was 0.8 (95% CI 0.7-1.0) and for motor delay was 0.9 (95% CI 0.8-1.1). At 18 months the adjusted odds ratio for cognitive/language delay was 1.1 (95% CI 0.9-1.3) and for motor delay was 0.9 (95% CI 0.8-1.0). The researchers observed no evidence of an association and dose-response associations were also null.
Yuan K et al. · 2011
Researchers examined brain structure in 18 adolescents with internet addiction disorder using voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging. Voxel-based morphometry showed reduced gray matter volume in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, orbitofrontal cortex, cerebellum, and left rostral anterior cingulate cortex. Diffusion tensor imaging revealed increased fractional anisotropy in the left posterior limb of the internal capsule and decreased fractional anisotropy in the right parahippocampal gyrus white matter.
Thomée S, Härenstam A, Hagberg M. · 2011
The study included 4156 young adults aged 20-24 who completed questionnaires at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Mobile phone exposure variables included frequency of use and qualitative aspects such as demands on availability, perceived stressfulness of accessibility, being awakened at night, and personal overuse. Cross-sectionally, high mobile phone use was linked to stress, sleep disturbances, and depression symptoms in both sexes; prospectively, high use predicted sleep disturbances and depression symptoms in men and depression symptoms in women, while overuse predicted stress and sleep disturbances in women and high accessibility stress predicted stress, sleep disturbances, and depression symptoms in both sexes.
Mortazavi SM et al. · 2011
Participants were exposed to microwave radiation from a mobile phone for 10 minutes in a real or sham condition and asked if they could sense the exposure. Heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure were monitored during exposure, and no statistically significant differences were found between real and sham conditions. The authors concluded that the findings confirm other provocative studies and suggest a possible role of psychological factors in electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
