The possible risks of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields for the human body is a growing concern for our society. We have previously shown that weak pulsed microwaves give rise to a significant leakage of albumin through the blood-brain barrier. In this study we investigated whether a pathologic leakage across the blood-brain barrier might be combined with damage to the neurons. Three groups each of eight rats were exposed for 2 hr to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) mobile phone electromagnetic fields of different strengths. We found highly significant (p< 0.002) evidence for neuronal damage in the cortex, hippocampus, and basal ganglia in the brains of exposed rats.

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A boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) facility has been constructed at Studsvik, Sweden. It includes two filter/moderator configurations. One of the resulting neutron beams has been optimized for clinical irradiations with a filter/moderator system that allows easy variation of the neutron spectrum from the thermal to the epithermal energy range. The other beam has been designed to produce a large uniform field of thermal neutrons for radiobiological research. Scientific operations of the Studsvik BNCT project are overseen by the Scientific Advisory Board comprised of representatives of major universities in Sweden. Furthermore, special task groups for clinical and preclinical studies have been formed to facilitate collaboration with academia. The clinical Phase II trials for glioblastoma are sponsored by the Swedish National Neuro-Oncology Group and, presently, involve a protocol for BNCT treatment of glioblastoma patients who have not received any therapy other than surgery. In this protocol, p-boronophenylalanine (BPA), administered as a 6-h intravenous infusion, is used as the boron delivery agent. As of January 2002, 17 patients were treated. The 6-h infusion of 900 mg BPA/kg body weight was shown to be safe and resulted in the average blood-boron concentration of 24 microg/g (range: 15-32 microg/g) at the time of irradiation (approximately 2-3 h post-infusion). Peak and average weighted radiation doses to the brain were in the ranges of 8.0-15.5 Gy(W) and 3.3-6.1 Gy(W), respectively. So far, no severe BNCT-related acute toxicities have been observed. Due to the short follow-up time, it is too early to evaluate the efficacy of these studies.

Biological effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) can be studied in sensitive and specific models. In a previous investigation of the permeability of the blood-brain barrier after exposure to the various EMF-components of proton magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we found that the exposure to MRI induced leakage of Evans Blue labeled proteins normally not passing the BBB of rats [Salford et al. (1992), in: Resonance Phenomena in Biology, Oxford University Press, pp. 87-91]. In the present investigation we exposed male and female Fischer 344 rats in a transverse electromagnetic transmission line chamber to microwaves of 915 MHz as continuous wave (CW) and pulse-modulated with repetition rates of 8, 16, 50, and 200 s-1. The specific energy absorption rate (SAR) varied between 0.016 and 5 W/kg. The rats were not anesthetized during the 2-hour exposure. All animals were sacrificed by perfusion-fixation of the brains under chloral hydrate anesthesia about 1 hour after the exposure. The brains were perfused with saline for 3-4 minutes, and thereafter fixed in 4% formaldehyde for 5-6 minutes. Central coronal sections of the brains were dehydrated and embedded in paraffin and sectioned at 5 microns. Albumin and fibrinogen were demonstrated immunohistochemically. The results show albumin leakage in 5 of 62 of the controls and in 56 of 184 of the animals exposed to 915 MHz microwaves. Continuous wave resulted in 14 positive findings of 35, which differ significantly from the controls (P = 0.002).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The data on biologic effects of nonthermal microwaves (MWs) from mobile telephones are diverse, and these effects are presently ignored by safety standards of the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). In the present study, we investigated effects of MWs of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) at different carrier frequencies on human lymphocytes from healthy persons and from persons reporting hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields (EMFs). We measured the changes in chromatin conformation, which are indicative of stress response and genotoxic effects, by the method of anomalous viscosity time dependence, and we analyzed tumor suppressor p53-binding protein 1 (53BP1) and phosphorylated histone H2AX (γ-H2AX), which have been shown to colocalize in distinct foci with DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), using immunofluorescence confocal laser microscopy. We found that MWs from GSM mobile telephones affect chromatin conformation and 53BP1/γ-H2AX foci similar to heat shock. For the first time, we report here that effects of MWs from mobile telephones on human lymphocytes are dependent on carrier frequency. On average, the same response was observed in lymphocytes from hypersensitive and healthy subjects.