Exposure to 1.8 GHz electromagnetic fields affects morphology, DNA-related Raman spectra and mitochondrial functions in human lympho-monocytes

Electromagnetic field-mediated chitosan/gelatin/nano-hydroxyapatite and bone-derived scaffolds regulate the osteoblastic and chondrogenic phenotypes of adipose-derived stem cells to construct osteochondral tissue engineering niche in vitro

It is critical to explore the effects of electromagnetic field (EMF) on the construction of functional osteochondral tissue, which has shown certain clinical significance for the treatment of osteochondral injury. At present, there are few studies on the effect of the direction of EMF on cells. This study aimed to investigate the effects of EMF coupling on different parameters to control adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) proliferation and specific chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation at 2D level and 3D level. The proliferation and differentiation of EMF-induced ADSCs are jointly regulated by EMF and space structure. In this study, Cs7/Gel3/nHAP scaffolds were prepared with good degradation rate (86.75 ± 4.96 %) and absorb water (1100 %), and the pore size was 195.63 ± 54.72 μm. The bone-derived scaffold with a pore size of 267.17 ± 129.18 μm was obtained and its main component was hydroxyapatite. Cs7/Gel3/nHAP scaffolds and bone-derived scaffolds are suitable as 3D level materials. The optimal EMF intensity was 2 mT for chondrogenic differentiation and proliferation and 1 mT for osteogenic differentiation and proliferation. It is noteworthy that EMF has a negative correlation with ADSCs proliferation in the vertical direction at 2D level, while it has a positive correlation with ADSCs proliferation at 3D level. EMF mediated 3D osteochondral scaffold provide good strategy for osteochondral tissue engineering construction.

Effect of Exogenous Electric Stimulation on the Cardiac Tissue Function In Situ Monitored by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy

Cardiac tissue is sensitive to and can be easily damaged by exogenous electric stimulation. However, due to the thermal-electric coeffect and the limitation of in situ and quantitative information on the cardiac tissue function under electric stimulation, the detailed effect and the underlying mechanism of exogenous electric stimulation on the cardiac tissue remain elusive. To address this, in this work, we first constructed an in vitro cardiac tissue model and established a thermal-electric coupled theoretical model for simulating the electric field and temperature distributions around the cardiac tissue, from which we selected the electric field strengths (1.19, 2.37, and 3.39 kV cm^-1) and electrical energies (0.001, 0.005, and 0.011 J) for electric stimulations without inducing a thermal effect. Then, we applied electric field stimulations on the cardiac tissue using these parameters and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to in situ and quantitatively monitor the dynamic changes in the key parameters of the cardiac tissue function, including respiratory activity, membrane permeability, and contraction frequency, after electric field stimulations. The SECM results showed that the oxygen consumption, cell membrane permeability coefficient, and contraction frequency of the cardiac tissue were strongly dependent on electrical energy, especially when the electrical energy was higher than 0.001 J. Our work, for the first time, achieves the in situ and quantitative monitoring of the cardiac tissue function under electric stimulation using SECM, which would provide important references for designing an electric stimulation regime for cardiac tissue engineering and clinical application of electrotherapy.

Base transceiver station antennae exposure and workers' health

BACKGROUND

With the rapid development of technologies related to the communications industry, human exposure to electromagnetic fields has increased during recent decades. The study aimed at investigating the effect of exposure to waves emitted from the base transceiver stations (BTS) on workers' health.

METHODS

240 workers (120 BTS maintenance workers (case group) and 120 office staff (control group)) participated in the study. In order to determine the general health conditions in two groups, along with electromagnetic waves exposure measurement, the general health questionnaire (GHQ) was completed and the data on blood parameters were assessed.

RESULTS

The mean age and job experience in the case and control groups were 34.1 ± 4.8 and 10.1 ± 6 years and 31.6 ± 5.5 and 8.8 ± 7 years, respectively. According to the GHQ results, only anxiety and insomnia subscales showed a significant difference between the two groups. The white blood cell and red blood cell counts in the case and control groups were 6715.6 ± 1591 and 7594 ± 2416, 5.3×10⁶±4.6×10⁵ and 5.05×10⁶±5.39×10⁵ per ml, respectively. Analysis of the results showed that the difference between the two groups was significant.

CONCLUSION

The results revealed that blood parameters in the BTS operators showed more changes. Thus, it can be concluded that these health impacts result from occupational exposure to BTS waves.

Electromagnetic stimulation increases mitochondrial function in osteogenic cells and promotes bone fracture repair

Bone fracture is a growing public health burden and there is a clinical need for non-invasive therapies to aid in the fracture healing process. Previous studies have demonstrated the utility of electromagnetic (EM) fields in promoting bone repair; however, its underlying mechanism of action is unclear. Interestingly, there is a growing body of literature describing positive effects of an EM field on mitochondria. In our own work, we have previously demonstrated that differentiation of osteoprogenitors into osteoblasts involves activation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos). Therefore, it was reasonable to propose that EM field therapy exerts bone anabolic effects via stimulation of mitochondrial OxPhos. In this study, we show that application of a low intensity constant EM field source on osteogenic cells in vitro resulted in increased mitochondrial membrane potential and respiratory complex I activity and induced osteogenic differentiation. In the presence of mitochondrial inhibitor antimycin A, the osteoinductive effect was reversed, confirming that this effect was mediated via increased OxPhos activity. Using a mouse tibial bone fracture model in vivo, we show that application of a low intensity constant EM field source enhanced fracture repair via improved biomechanical properties and increased callus bone mineralization. Overall, this study provides supporting evidence that EM field therapy promotes bone fracture repair through mitochondrial OxPhos activation.

21st Century Early Adult (55-74) Deaths from Brain-Disease-Deaths Compared to All Other Cause Mortality in the Major Western Countries - Exposing a Hidden Epidemic

OBJECTIVES

To examine early adult deaths (EAD) - people aged 55-74 due to brain disease deaths (BDD) compared to all other causes (AOC) in the 21st century in 21 major Western countries (MWC).

METHOD

EAD are below MWCc average life expectancy. All mortality drawn from the latest WHO data. The three global BDD categories consist of mental and behaviour disorder, nervous diseases and Alzheimer and other dementias. Mortality rates per million are analysed for people 55-74 years and total age-standardised death rates (ASDR). BDD rates between 2000-2015 compared against AOC of deaths for EAD and ASDR. Confidence Intervals determine any significant difference AOC and BDD over the period 2000-15, plus an examination of EAD in six separate global mortality categories.

RESULTS

EAD: The separate BDD categories for EAD significantly positively correlated, validating their combination as BDD. Every country's AOC 55-74 rates fell substantially, but fourteen country's BDD rose substantially (>20%) and all MWC countries BDD rose significantly more than AOC. ASDR: All nations total AOC fell substantially, whereas seventeen BDD rates rose substantially and every country's BDD significantly increased compared to AOC deaths. Six other EAD mortalities, circulatory, cancer, respiratory, compared to BDD produced Odds Ratios ranging from 1:1.54 to 1:2.36 such were the marked differences over the period.

DISCUSSION

Positive news is that AOC are down across all investigated countries in the 21st century. However, the extent of the EAD rises in just 16 years indicates that these BDD conditions are starting earlier suggesting multiple interactive environmental factors impacting upon brain related diseases.

Manmade Electromagnetic Fields and Oxidative Stress-Biological Effects and Consequences for Health

Concomitant with the ever-expanding use of electrical appliances and mobile communication systems, public and occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) in the extremely-low-frequency and radiofrequency range has become a widely debated environmental risk factor for health. Radiofrequency (RF) EMF and extremely-low-frequency (ELF) MF have been classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), potentially leading to cellular or systemic oxidative stress, was frequently found to be influenced by EMF exposure in animals and cells. In this review, we summarize key experimental findings on oxidative stress related to EMF exposure from animal and cell studies of the last decade. The observations are discussed in the context of molecular mechanisms and functionalities relevant to health such as neurological function, genome stability, immune response, and reproduction. Most animal and many cell studies showed increased oxidative stress caused by RF-EMF and ELF-MF. In order to estimate the risk for human health by manmade exposure, experimental studies in humans and epidemiological studies need to be considered as well.

Mode of Action of Disinfection Chemicals on the Bacterial Spore Structure and Their Raman Spectra

Contamination of toxic spore-forming bacteria is problematic since spores can survive a plethora of disinfection chemicals and it is hard to rapidly detect if the disinfection chemical has inactivated the spores. Thus, robust decontamination strategies and reliable detection methods to identify dead from viable spores are critical. In this work, we investigate the chemical changes of Bacillus thuringiensis spores treated with sporicidal agents such as chlorine dioxide, peracetic acid, and sodium hypochlorite using laser tweezers Raman spectroscopy. We also image treated spores using SEM and TEM to verify if we can correlate structural changes in the spores with changes to their Raman spectra. We found that over 30 min, chlorine dioxide did not change the Raman spectrum or the spore structure, peracetic acid showed a time-dependent decrease in the characteristic DNA/DPA peaks and ∼20% of the spores were degraded and collapsed, and spores treated with sodium hypochlorite showed an abrupt drop in DNA and DPA peaks within 20 min and some structural damage to the exosporium. Structural changes appeared in spores after 10 min, compared to the inactivation time of the spores, which is less than a minute. We conclude that vibrational spectroscopy provides powerful means to detect changes in spores but it might be problematic to identify if spores are live or dead after a decontamination procedure.

DNA-Related Modifications in a Mixture of Human Lympho-Monocyte Exposed to Radiofrequency Fields and Detected by Raman Microspectroscopy Analysis

Human exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) has risen considerably during the last decades, because of the industrial and technical development and the consequent increase of artificial EMFs sources. In particular, blood is largely involved in the environmental EMF exposure, because it is located everywhere in the human body. Lympho-monocyte cells are blood components that protect the human organism against infections. In this study, we investigate biochemical changes in lympho-monocyte cells extracted from human peripheral blood after exposure to EMFs at 1.8 GHz frequency and 200 V/m electric field strength for times ranging from 5 to 20 h inside a reverberation chamber. Some mixtures of cells, coming from many human subjects, were exposed and successively investigated by means of Raman micro-spectroscopy technique and principal components analysis. The spectral analysis was able to detect variations of the biochemical composition of the nucleus of exposed cells. Such modifications are mainly detectable as an intensity decrease of some DNA and nucleic acid Raman peaks with respect to the intensity of some protein peaks and they were most evident in the case of 20 h exposed samples. These results were in agreement with the increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, observed in the exposed cells. Overall, the obtained results point out that EMFs exposure may induce modifications of the DNA in some blood cells of long-term exposed people.

Are rises in Electro-Magnetic Field in the human environment, interacting with multiple environmental pollutions, the tripping point for increases in neurological deaths in the Western World?

Whilst humans evolved in the earth's Electro-Magnetic-Field (EMF) and sun-light, both being essential to life but too much sun and we burn. What happens if background EMF rise to critical levels, coinciding with increasing environmental pollutants? Two of the authors can look back over 50 clinical years and appreciate the profound changes in human morbidity across a range of disparate conditions - autoimmune diseases, asthma, earlier cancer incidence and reduced male sperm counts. In particular have been increased autism, dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and neurological diseases, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Early Onset Dementia, Multiple System Atrophy and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. What might have caused these changes-whilst genetic factors are taken as given, multiple environmental pollutants are associated with neurological disease although the mechanisms are unclear. The pace of increased neurological deaths far exceeds any Gompertzian explanation - that because people are living longer they are more likely to develop more age-related problems such as neurological disease. Using WHO global mortality categories of Neurological Disease Deaths (NDD) and Alzheimer's and Dementia deaths (Alz), updated June 2018, together they constitute Total Neurological Mortality (TNM), to calculate mortality rates per million for people aged 55-74 and for the over-75's in twenty-one Western countries. Recent increases in American people aged over-75's rose 49% from 1989 to 2015 but US neurological deaths increased five-fold. In 1989 based on Age-Standardised-Deaths-Rates America USA was 17th at 324 pm but rising to 539 pm became second highest. Different environmental/occupational factors have been found to be associated with neuro-degenerative diseases, including background EMF. We briefly explore how levels of EMF interact upon the human body, which can be described as a natural antennae and provide new evidence that builds upon earlier research to propose the following hypothesis. Based upon recent and new evidence we hypothesise that a major contribution for the relative sudden upsurge in neurological morbidity in the Western world (1989-2015), is because of increased background EMF that has become the tipping point-impacting upon any genetic predisposition, increasing multiple-interactive pollutants, such as rises in petro-chemicals, hormone disrupting chemicals, industrial, agricultural and domestic chemicals. The unprecedented neurological death rates, all within just twenty-five years, demand a re-examination of long-term EMF safety related to the increasing background EMF on human health. We do not wish to 'stop the modern world', only make it safer.

The cellular effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on osteoblasts: A review

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) have long been known to interact with living organisms and their cells and to bear the potential for therapeutic use. Among the most extensively investigated applications, the use of Pulsed EMFs (PEMFs) has proven effective to ameliorate bone healing in several studies, although the evidence is still inconclusive. This is due in part to our still-poor understanding of the mechanisms by which PEMFs act on cells and affect their functions and to an ongoing lack of consensus on the most effective parameters for specific clinical applications. The present review has compared in vitro studies on PEMFs on different osteoblast models, which elucidate potential mechanisms of action for PEMFs, up to the most recent insights into the role of primary cilia, and highlight the critical issues underlying at least some of the inconsistent results in the available literature. Bioelectromagnetics. 2019;9999:XX-XX. © 2019 Bioelectromagnetics Society.

Correction: Exposure to 1.8 GHz electromagnetic fields affects morphology, DNA-related Raman spectra and mitochondrial functions in human lympho-monocytes

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192894.].