The radiation literature survey provides updates on published literature related to radiation (both ionising and non-ionising) and health.

Published literature includes articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, scientific-body reports, conference proceedings, etc.

The updates on new radiation literature that are of high quality and of public interest will be published as they arise. For each update, a short summary and a link to the abstract or to the full document (if freely available) are provided. The update may also include a commentary from ARPANSA and links to external websites for further information. The links may be considered useful at the time of preparation of the update however ARPANSA has no control over the content or currency of information on external links. Please see the ARPANSA website disclaimer.

Explanations of the more common terms used in the updates are found in the glossary.

The radiation literature that is listed in the updates is found by searching various databases and is not exhaustive.

Find out more about how you can search for scientific literature.

The intention of the radiation literature survey is to provide an update on new literature related to radiation and health that may be of interest to the general public. ARPANSA does not take responsibility for any of the content in the scientific literature and is not able to provide copies of the papers that are listed.


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Exposure to 900 MHz electromagnetic fields activates the mkp-1/ERK pathway and causes blood-brain barrier damage and cognitive impairment in rats

Authored By:

Tang J, et al
Summary:

p>This animal study investigated the effects of exposure to radiofrequency (RF) radiation on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and cognitive changes in rats. A total of 108 male rats were exposed to RF at 900MHz, 1 mW/cm² or sham for 14 or 28 days (3 hours per day). The specific energy absorption rate (SAR) varied between 0.016 watts per kilogram (W/kg) for the whole body and 2 W/kg locally in the head. The authors found that the 28-day exposure impairs spatial memory and damages BBB permeability in rats.

 

Published In:

Brain Res 2015: in press

Validation of self-reported start year of mobile phone use in a Swedish case-control study on radiofrequency fields and acoustic neuroma risk

Authored By:

Pettersson D, Bottai M, Mathiesen T, Prochazka M, Feychting M
Summary:

This study aimed at validating the mobile phone use history reported by study participants in a large Swedish population-based case-control study that investigated the association between mobile phone use and acoustic neuroma risk. The self-reported start year of mobile phone use was validated from a total of 96 out of 326 cases and 111 out of 505 controls, using the network operator data. About 60% of subjects were able to correctly identify the start year of mobile phone use. The authors concluded that recall bias could not be excluded in this study.

Published In:

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 2015; 25 (1): 72 - 79
Commentary by ARPANSA:

One of the biggest problems with epidemiological studies investigating the relationship between mobile phone use and tumour risk is the validity of data on self-reported mobile phone use obtained from the study participants. Recall bias is often the cause and as cases over-report and controls under-report their mobile phone use, bias in results may occur and interpretation of results becomes difficult. The INTERPHONE project, which is a large case-control study looking into association between mobile phone use and cancer risks from 13 different countries including Australia, also cites that recall bias is one of the limitations of the study that prevent conclusions of causality being drawn. Interestingly, in this study there was no significant difference between cases and controls in estimating start year.

Behavioral in-effectiveness of high frequency electromagnetic field in mice

Authored By:

Salunke BP, Umathe SN, Chavan JG
Summary:

The aim of this animal study was to investigate whether exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields can cause behavioural changes. Mice were exposed to a 2.45 Gigahertz (GHz) RF field at 10-100 milliwatts for 60 min/day, up to 120 days. After the exposure, mice were assessed for anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression-like behaviour. The authors concluded that up to 120 days of RF exposure does not cause any behavioural changes in mice.

Published In:

Physiol Behav 2014; 140 : 32 - 37

Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation Exposure on Stress-Related Behaviors and Stress Hormones in Male Wistar Rats

Authored By:

Mahdavi SM, Sahraei H, Yaghmaei P, Tavakoli H
Summary:

This is an animal study that looked into the effect of extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MF) on behavioural, hormonal, and metabolic changes in rats. In the study, rats were exposed to a 0.1 mT magnetic field at frequencies of 1 and 5 Hertz (Hz), for a period of up to 21 days. ELF-MF exposure did not alter body weight, or food and water intake. There were different effects observed between the exposure at 1 and 5 Hz on two stress hormones. The exposure at 5 Hz also showed increased activities in dopamine-related behaviour. The authors concluded that the effects of ELF-MF on hormonal and behavioural responses may differ depending on the frequency and time of exposure.

Published In:

Biomol Ther (Seoul) 2014; 22 (6): 570 - 576
Commentary by ARPANSA:

In animals, the possibility that exposure to ELF fields may affect neurobehavioral function has been explored by a number of different studies and these have been reviewed by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2007). The review by WHO found no consistent effects of ELF fields in stress-related hormones of the pituitary-adrenal axis in mammals, with the possible exception of transient (minutes duration) stress following the onset of ELF electric field exposure at levels significantly above perception thresholds. Furthermore most studies that investigated the effects of ELF fields in hormones involved in controlling metabolic activity found no effect.

Power frequency magnetic fields induced reactive oxygen species-related autophagy in mouse embryonic fibroblasts

Authored By:

Chen Y, Hong L, Zeng Y, Shen Y, Zeng Q
Summary:

This is an in vitro study that investigated whether ELF magnetic fields resulting from electricity use can affect several cellular functions, such as cell proliferation and apoptosis. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) were exposed to 50 Hz ELF magnetic fields at 2 mT for 0.5h, 2h, 6h, 12h, and 24h. The authors found significant increases in some cellular and molecular mechanisms.

Published In:

Int J Biochem Cell Biol 2014; 57 : 108 - 114

Synoptic Analysis of Epidemiologic Evidence of Brain Cancer Risks from Mobile Communication

Authored By:

Leitgeb N
Summary:

This is a pooled analysis of all the epidemiological studies investigating the association between mobile phone use and brain cancer. The authors report a reduced cancer risk (odds ratio = 0.8).They found that individual study design causes the major difference in published results among the studies. The authors concluded that the results of the pooled analysis support reassuring rather than alarming conclusions on long-term health risks from mobile phone use.

Published In:

J Electromagn Anal 2014; 6 (14): 413 - 424

The effect of 2100 MHz radiofrequency radiation of a 3G mobile phone on the parotid gland of rats

Authored By:

Aydogan F, Unlu I, Aydin E, Yumusak N, Devrim E, Samim EE, Ozgur E, Unsal V, Tomruk A, Ozturk GG, Seyhan N
Summary:

This animal study investigated the effects of exposure to third generation (3G) mobile phone to the parotid gland of rats. Rats were exposed to a 2100 megahertz (MHz) 3G RF signal, at a specific absorption rate of 0.4 Watts per kilogram, for 6 hours/day, 5 days/week, for 10 or 40 days. The parotid glands were analysed for histopathological and biochemical changes. The two exposure groups showed numerous histopathological changes and more prominent in the 40-day exposed group. The cell size between the exposed group and the control group showed statistically significant difference. The authors concluded that exposure to 2100 MHz RF radiation causes salivary gland damage to some extent and especially with longer exposure duration.

Published In:

Am J Otolaryngol 2015; 36 (1): 39 - 46

Distinct Epidermal Keratinocytes Respond to Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields Differently

Authored By:

Huang CY, Chuang CY, Shu WY, Chang CW, Chen CR, Fan TC, Hsu IC
Summary:

This in vitro study investigated whether exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields (at 1.5 microtesla) affects the cell growth of human epidermal keratinocytes. The authors found that two different types of epidermal keratinocytes responded to ELF magnetic fields differently, after simultaneous exposure, i.e. ELF exposure affected one type of cell but not the other. The authors suggested that the biological effects of ELF magnetic fields in epidermal keratinocytes are cell type specific.

Published In:

PLoS One 2014; 9 (11): e113424-1 - e113424-7

Effects of fetal microwave radiation exposure on offspring behavior in mice

Authored By:

Zhang Y, Li Z, Gao Y, Zhang C
Summary:

This animal study looked into any effects in the behaviour of mice due to in utero exposure to 9.417 GHz microwave radiation (type of radiofrequency, RF, radiation) during gestation. In some tests, the mice demonstrated less mobility indicating increased anxiety-related behaviour. Whilst in other tests less immobility was observed which correlates to decreased depression-related behaviour. It was also observed that male offspring showed decreased learning and memory, which was not observed in the female offspring. The authors suggested that microwaves may have gender-dependent effects on behaviour.

Published In:

J Radiat Res 2014: in press
Commentary by ARPANSA:

To date there is still no established evidence that microwave radiation exposure during gestational period causes any neurobehavioural issues in animals. Although there are some studies such as this one showing possible effects other studies do not corroborate these findings. In this study the exposure was at a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 2 Watts per kilogram (W/kg), which is at the public exposure limit in the current Australian Standard. The frequency used in this experiment is typically used for satellite communication and radar and is not normally encountered by the public in the everyday environment.

Effects of Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure of Wi-Fi on Development of Teeth and Changes in Teeth Element Concentration in Rats: Wi-Fi (2.45 GHz) and Teeth Element Concentrations

Authored By:

Ciftci ZZ, Kirzioğlu Z, Naziroğlu M, Ozmen O
Summary:

This animal study investigated the effects of Wi-Fi RF exposure on tooth development in growing rats. In the study rats were exposed to either RF radiation at 2.45 GHz (SAR = 0.009 W/kg) or sham for 2 hours per day during the periods of pregnancy (21 days) and lactation (21 days). The offspring were also exposed for up to 21 days after birth. Examination of the offspring’s teeth found no effect on the development of the teeth and surrounding tissues. However there were alterations in the teeth’s elemental composition especially in iron, copper and zinc suggesting that short-term exposure to Wi-Fi may cause an imbalance in the oxidative stress condition in the teeth of growing rats.

Published In:

Biol Trace Elem Res 2014: in press

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