For magnetic field exposures at extremely low frequencies, the electrostimulatory response with the lowest threshold is the magnetophosphene, a response that corresponds to an adult exposed to a 20 Hz magnetic field of nominally 8.14 mT. In the IEEE standard C95.6 (2002), the corresponding in situ field in the retinal locus of an adult-sized ellipsoidal was calculated to be 53 mV m(-1). However, the associated dose in the retina and brain at a high level of resolution in anatomically correct human models is incompletely characterized. Furthermore, the dose maxima in tissue computed with voxel human models are prone to staircasing errors, particularly for the low-frequency dosimetry. In the analyses presented in this paper, analytical and quasi-static finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solutions were first compared for a three-layer sphere exposed to a uniform 50 Hz magnetic field. Staircasing errors in the FDTD results were observed at the tissue interface, and were greatest at the skin-air boundary. The 99th percentile value was within 3% of the analytic maximum, depending on model resolution, and thus may be considered a close approximation of the analytic maximum. For the adult anatomical model, TARO, exposed to a uniform magnetic field, the differences in the 99th percentile value of in situ electric fields for 2 mm and 1 mm voxel models were at most several per cent. For various human models exposed at the magnetophosphene threshold at three orthogonal field orientations, the in situ electric field in the brain was between 10% and 70% greater than the analytical IEEE threshold of 53 mV m(-1), and in the retina was lower by roughly 50% for two horizontal orientations (anterior-posterior and lateral), and greater by about 15% for a vertically oriented field. Considering a reduction factor or safety factors of several folds applied to electrostimulatory thresholds, the 99th percentile dose to a tissue calculated with voxel human models may be used as an estimate of the tissue's maximum dose.
Several epidemiological studies have been based on wire codes (i.e., categories of electrical wiring configurations near residences) or on in-home spot measurements of magnetic flux density (MFD) as surrogates for short- and long-term exposure of children and adults to residential magnetic fields. We used wire code and MFD measurements that were made in 81 Colorado homes in 1985 and again in 1990 to assess their repeatability over periods of 0-24 h and 5 years. These homes, a subset of those lived in by subjects from the case-control study of Savitz et al. [Am J Epidemiol 128:21-38, 1988], were divided into four approximately equally sized groups that were differentiated by wire code and by case-control status. Eight homes were assigned wire codes in 1990 that differed from the 1985 coding of Savitz and colleagues [1988]; of these, seven were coded as high-current configuration (HCC) and one as low-current configuration (LCC) in 1985. Overall, 37 homes were coded as HCC in 1990 compared with 38 homes in 1985. Coding differences were due to differing distance measurements (four homes), differing "thick" vs. "thin" categorization of primary-distribution line-conductor sizes (two homes), differing "first-span" vs. "second-span" categorization of secondary wires (one home), and physical changes in proximate electrical wiring (one home). Coefficients of correlation between MFD spot measurements that were separated in time by 0-24 h range between 0.70 and 0.90. The coefficient between spot measurements made in 1985 and then again in 1990 is 0.70. These coefficients are similar for HCC and LCC homes and do not depend on whether residential appliances were turned on or off. The data show (at least for the portion of Colorado studied) that residential wire code and, more surprisingly, spot MFD measurements, are fairly reliable over 0-24-h and 5-year periods.
An epidemiological study conducted by Savitz et al. reported that residential wire codes were more strongly associated with childhood cancer than were measured magnetic fields, a peculiar result because wire codes were originally developed to be a surrogate for residential magnetic fields. The primary purpose of the study reported here, known as the Back to Denver (BTD) study, was to obtain data to help in the interpretation of the original results of Savitz et al. The BTD study included 81 homes that had been occupied by case and control subjects of Savitz et al., stratified by wire code as follows: 18 high current configuration (HCC) case homes; 20 HCC control homes; 20 low current configuration (LCC) case homes; and 23 LCC control homes. Analysis of new data acquired in these homes led to the following previously unpublished conclusions. The home-averaged (i.e., mean of fields measured in subjects' bedrooms, family/living rooms, and rooms where meals normally eaten) spot 60 Hz, 180 Hz, and harmonic (i.e., 60-420 Hz) magnetic fields were associated with wire codes. The 180 Hz and harmonic components, but not the 60 Hz component, were associated with case/control status. Measured static magnetic fields were only weakly correlated (rapproximately 0.2) between rooms in homes. The BTD data provide little support for, but are too sparse to definitively test, the 1995 resonance hypothesis proposed by Bowman et al. Case and control homes had similar concentrations of copper in their tap water. Copper concentration was not associated with wire codes nor with the level of electric current carried by a home's water pipe. These results of the BTD study suggest that future case/control studies investigating power frequency magnetic fields might wish to include measurements of 180 Hz or harmonic magnetic fields in order to examine their associations (if any) with disease status.
Electric and magnetic field exposure limits published by International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers are aimed at protection against adverse electrostimulation, which may occur by direct coupling to excitable tissue and, in the case of electric fields, through indirect means associated with surface charge effects (e.g. hair vibration, skin sensations), spark discharge and contact current. For direct coupling, the basic restriction (BR) specifies the not-to-be-exceeded induced electric field. The key results of anatomically based electric and magnetic field dosimetry studies and the relevant characteristics of excitable tissue were first identified. This permitted us to assess the electric and magnetic field exposure levels that induce dose in tissue equal to the basic restrictions, and the relationships of those exposure levels to the limits now in effect. We identify scenarios in which direct coupling of electric fields to peripheral nerve could be a determining factor for electric field limits.
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