Non-thermal effects of EMF upon the mammalian brain: the Lund experience

The environment in which biology exists has dramatically changed during the last decades. Life was formed during billions of years, exposed to, and shaped by the original physical forces such as gravitation, cosmic irradiation and the terrestrial magnetism. The existing organisms are created to function in harmony with these forces. However, in the late 19th century mankind introduced the use of electricity and during the very last decades, microwaves of the modern communication society spread around the world. Today one third of the world’s population is owner of the microwave-producing mobile phones. The question is: to what extent are living organisms affected by these ubiquitous radio frequency fields? Since 1988 our group has studied the effects upon the mammalian blood-brain barrier (BBB) by non-thermal radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). These have been revealed to cause significantly increased leakage of albumin through the BBB of exposed rats as compared to non-exposed animals—in a total series of about two thousand animals. One remarkable observation is the fact that the lowest energy levels give rise to the most pronounced albumin leakage. If mobile communication, even at extremely low energy levels, causes the users’ own albumin to leak out through the BBB, also other unwanted and toxic molecules in the blood, may leak into the brain tissue and concentrate in and damage the neurons and glial cells of the brain. In later studies we have shown that a 2-h exposure to GSM 915 MHz at non-thermal levels, gives rise to significant neuronal damage, seen 28 and 50 days after the exposure. In our continued research, the non-thermal effects (histology, memory functions) of long-term exposure for 13 months are studied as well as the effects of short term GSM 1,800 MHz upon gene expression. Most of our findings support that living organisms are affected by the non-thermal radio frequency fields. Studies from other laboratories in some cases find effects, while in other cases effects are not seen. Our conclusion is that all researchers involved in this field have the obligation to intensify this research in order to reduce, or avoid, the possible negative effects of the man made microwaves!     

Quality control of waste to incineration--waste composition analysis in Lidk?ping, Sweden.

In order to decrease environmental impacts in waste management the choice of treatment method must be based on the characteristics of the waste. Present sampling procedures do not provide statistically representative samples of solid waste and this provides difficulties in characterization. The objective of this study was to develop a procedure for waste component analysis and sampling of waste after collection and at plant level. A further objective was to characterize the waste delivered to an incineration plant for physical and chemical properties and to determine the amounts of delivered waste that could be classified as biofuels and fossil fuels. The proportions of recyclables and hazardous waste were also examined. Samples were taken randomly from waste trucks and divided by square implementation. Statistical analysis of the results showed that the number of sub-samples could be decreased with only a moderate increase in the confidence interval. This means that future waste composition analyses could be made more efficient and thereby less expensive. The analysis of the waste delivered to the Lidk?ping incineration plant (Central Sweden) showed that 66.4% of the household waste was composed of biofuels and 21.3% of non-renewable combustibles, of which 40.3% were recyclables. In addition, 11.6% of the household waste was non-combustible and 0.6% hazardous waste. The heat value for the biofuels was 18.0-19.7 MJ kg(-1) dry mass (DM) and for the fossil fuels 28.2-33.9 MJ kg(-1) DM. The industrial waste consisted of 35.9% biofuels, 62.0% fossil fuels, 1.6% non-combustible and 0.5% hazardous waste. The heat value was 19.5 MJ kg(-1) DM for the biofuels and 31.4 MJ kg(-1) DM for the fossil fuels.     

Revealing Preferences for Reductions of Public Risks: An Application of the CV Approach

In this paper the contingent valuation method (CVM) is applied to public risk reduction. Theory suggests that the size of the stated willingness to pay (WTP) for risk reduction depends on private activities aimed at reducing the risk level for the individual. The empirical results suggest that considering private averting activities increases the explanatory power of the estimated WTP function significantly. Thus, WTP passes the scope test which proposes that larger reductions from a larger baseline risk should be valued higher than lower risk reductions from a lower baseline risk. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the follow-up response format induces anchoring effects.     

Feeding rates of the jellyfish Aurelia aurita on fish larvae

We quantified feeding rates of field caught Aurelia aurita feeding on yolk sac cod (Gadus morhua) larvae in a series of incubation experiments. A short-time (~1 h) functional response experiment with a wide range of prey concentrations (0.5–16 prey l⁻¹, initial concentration) revealed that ingestion rates increased linearly over this range, such that clearance rates were similar between the different prey concentrations. This suggests that A. aurita is capable of efficiently utilizing dense prey patches. This indication was further supported by a linear increase of prey captured by A. aurita during 2.5 h of feeding at extremely high prey concentration (>200 prey l⁻¹). Clearance rate in darkness scaled with jellyfish diameter to a power of ~1.7 for jellyfish 3.9–9.5 cm in diameter. The jellyfish did not alter their umbrella pulse frequency in response to presence of fish larvae. There were no significant differences between A. aurita feeding rates in light and darkness for yolk sac prey ages 0–7 days (at 7.5°C). Although prey vision and escape abilities of fish may develop rapidly during early larval ontogeny, these factors apparently have little impact on interactions with predators such as A. aurita during the yolk sac stage.     

Small enterprise owners’ accident causation attribution and prevention

Small enterprises have difficulty in the systematic prevention of accidents. This study explores how owners of small enterprises attribute accident causation and what they learn about accident prevention after an accident. Interviews were carried out with owners of 22 small (1–19 employees) construction and metal industry enterprises that recently had reported an accident with an expected injury absence of over two weeks. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The results reveal that after a relatively serious accident the owners predominantly attribute the incident to unforeseeable circumstances, and secondarily to worker faults. A possible explanation is both self- and group-defensive attributions in order to avoid responsibility and blame. The reciprocal and close social relations between owners and workers make it difficult for the owners to be solely responsible for the accident. The study presents a paradox: learning from the accidents seems to be negative as the owners need to abstain from accident prevention in order to maintain that accidents are unforeseeable, and the injured worker returns to work under the same unsafe conditions as before the accident. The study indicates that efforts to improve accident prevention in small enterprises need to find ways to avoid defensive attribution in order to attain successful outcomes.     

Crown density assessments, control surveys and reproducibility

This study aims to evaluate the quality of crown density data, based on independent, pairwise tree assessments. The data originates from monitoring of forest health (crown condition) in Norway; 250 plots, comprising 12 000 individual trees of Norway spruce, have been reassessed by a single observer during 1990–95. Of the trees, 2300 were controlled more than twice, providing the possibility of evaluating the quality of assessed temporal changes of crown density. True errors (standard deviation) are estimated to be about 10% for single trees and 5% for plot means, while the real standard deviation of the differences were slightly higher. The errors of the temporal changes of crown density were of similar magnitude. Systematic differences in crown density were found between sites and plot types, partly resulting from observer bias. However, the results suggest that observer bias is really the result of each observer's personal style in assessment.