No abstract

Because of their particular architectural characteristics, multicellular spheroids are demonstrated to be extremely useful in testing radiotherapeutic protocols, including dose rate and fractionation, radioimmunotherapy and the effects of combined treatments (e.g. radiation and anti-neoplastic drugs). Further studies should seek not only to continue testing these protocols, but also to investigate the more fundamental questions of radiation-induced apoptotic cell death, cell-cycle events, cell-cell interactions and cell adhesion phenomena.

The literature indicates that there is still no general agreement on the exact biological detrimental effects of ELF fields, on the physical mechanisms that may be behind these effects or on the extent to which these effects may be harmful to humans. Nonetheless, the majority of the in vitro experimental results indicate that ELF fields induce numerous types of changes in cells. Whether or not the perturbations observed at the cellular level can be directly extrapolated to negative effects in humans is still unknown. However, the myriad of effects that ELF fields have on biological systems should not be ignored when evaluating risk to humans from these fields and, consequently, in passing appropriate legislation to safeguard both the general public and professionally-exposed workers. With regard to the positive effects of these fields, the possibility of testing further their efficacy in therapeutic protocols should also not be overlooked.

No abstract

No abstract