Lost opportunities for cancer prevention: historical evidence on early warnings with emphasis on radiofrequency radiation

Some historical aspects on late lessons from early warnings on cancer risks with lost time for prevention are discussed. One current example is the cancer-causing effect from radiofrequency (RF) radiation. Studies since decades have shown increased human cancer risk. The fifth generation, 5G, for wireless communication is about to be implemented world-wide despite no comprehensive investigations of potential risks to human health and the environment. This has created debate on this technology among concerned people in many countries. In an appeal to EU in September 2017, currently endorsed by more than 400 scientists and medical doctors, a moratorium on the 5G deployment was required until proper scientific evaluation of negative consequences has been made (www.5Gappeal.eu). That request has not been taken seriously by EU. Lack of proper unbiased risk evaluation of the 5G technology makes adverse effects impossible to be foreseen. This disregard is exemplified by the recent report from the International Commission on non-ionizing radiation protection (ICNIRP) whereby only thermal (heating) effects from RF radiation are acknowledged despite a large number of reported non-thermal effects. Thus, no health effects are acknowledged by ICNIRP for non-thermal RF electromagnetic fields in the range of 100 kHz–300 GHz. Based on results in three case-control studies on use of wireless phones we present preventable fraction for brain tumors. Numbers of brain tumors of not defined type were found to increase in Sweden, especially in the age group 20–39 years in both genders, based on the Swedish Inpatient Register. This may be caused by the high prevalence of wireless phone use among children and in adolescence taking a reasonable latency period and the higher vulnerability to RF radiation among young persons.

The Short, Unhappy Life of a High Roller

In this chapter we find Patrick conflicted between his new wife, Stephanie, and his desire to make more money to support his family. Tensions arise and Patrick gives up his wildlife career to become a stockbroker and start a business selling wireless phones. He lives the high life for a while until his world comes crashing down. His PTSD is acting up and his wife files for divorce.

Mobile Communication in Hospitals

Mobile communication for healthcare workers is a critical part of hospitals infrastructure. Many of these systems do not work well together, leading to difficulties regarding multiple communication devices with different usage area, unavailable or missing equipment, and alarm fatigue. Physicians and nurses often need information fast, and any delay between the decision and the action taken could cause medical errors. One suggested solution for this problem is to implement wireless phone systems. However, psychological theory and empirical evidence, both suggest that wireless phones have the potential of creating additional problems related to interruptions. The fact that hospital workers prefer interruptive communication methods before non-interruptive methods, amplifies the risk of overloading staff. The key is how to handle the balance between increased availability and increased interruptions. In this chapter, the authors present solutions and possibilities based on context aware communication systems that aim to reduce interruptions and thereby also alarm fatigue.

Evaluation of Mobile Phone and Cordless Phone Use and Glioma Risk Using the Bradford Hill Viewpoints from 1965 on Association or Causation

Objective.Bradford Hill’s viewpoints from 1965 on association or causation were used on glioma risk and use of mobile or cordless phones.Methods.All nine viewpoints were evaluated based on epidemiology and laboratory studies.Results.Strength: meta-analysis of case-control studies gave odds ratio (OR) = 1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.31–2.76 with highest cumulative exposure. Consistency: the risk increased with latency, meta-analysis gave in the 10+ years’ latency group OR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.20–2.19. Specificity: increased risk for glioma was in the temporal lobe. Using meningioma cases as comparison group still increased the risk. Temporality: highest risk was in the 20+ years’ latency group, OR = 2.01, 95% CI =1.41–2.88, for wireless phones. Biological gradient: cumulative use of wireless phones increased the risk. Plausibility: animal studies showed an increased incidence of glioma and malignant schwannoma in rats exposed to radiofrequency (RF) radiation. There is increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from RF radiation. Coherence: there is a change in the natural history of glioma and increasing incidence. Experiment: antioxidants reduced ROS production from RF radiation. Analogy: there is an increased risk in subjects exposed to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields.Conclusion.RF radiation should be regarded as a human carcinogen causing glioma.

Mobile Communication in Hospitals

The work setting in hospitals is communication intensive and can lead to significant difficulties related to interruptions from co-workers. Physicians often need information fast, and any delay between the decision made and the action taken could cause medical errors. One suggested solution for this problem is to implement wireless phone systems. However, psychological theory and empirical evidence, both suggest that wireless phones have the potential of creating additional problems related to interruptions, compared to traditional paging systems. The fact that hospital workers prefer interruptive communication methods before non-interruptive methods, amplifies the risk of overloading people when phones are widely deployed. This challenge causes some hospital staff to resist the diffusion of wireless phones, and one key is how to handle the balance between increased availability, and increased interruptions. In this chapter we will present solutions based on context aware communication systems which aims to reduce interruptions.

Mobile Communication in Hospitals

The work setting in hospitals is communication intensive and can lead to significant difficulties related to interruptions from co-workers. Physicians often need information fast, and any delay between the decision made and the action taken could cause medical errors. One suggested solution for this problem is to implement wireless phone systems. However, psychological theory and empirical evidence, both suggest that wireless phones have the potential of creating additional problems related to interruptions, compared to traditional paging systems. The fact that hospital workers prefer interruptive communication methods before non-interruptive methods, amplifies the risk of overloading people when phones are widely deployed. This challenge causes some hospital staff to resist the diffusion of wireless phones, and a key is how to handle the balance between increased availability, and increased interruptions. In this chapter, the authors present solutions based on context aware communication systems, aiming to reduce interruptions.

The Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics

This volume offers new ways to read the audiovisual. In the media landscapes of today, conglomerates jockey for primacy and the Internet increasingly places media in the hands of individuals-producing the range of phenomena from movie blockbuster to YouTube aesthetics. Media forms and genres are proliferating and interpenetrating, from movies, music, and other entertainments streaming on computers and iPods to video games and wireless phones. The audiovisual environment of everyday life, too-from street to stadium to classroom-would at times be hardly recognizable to the mid-twentieth-century subject. The Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics provides powerful ways to understand these changes. Earlier approaches tended to consider sound and music as secondary to image and narrative. These remained popular even as practices from theater, cinema, and television migrated across media. However, the traversal, or “remediation,” from one medium to another has also provided practitioners and audiences the chance to rewrite the rules of the audiovisual contract. Whether viewed from the vantage of televised mainstream culture, the Hollywood film industry, the cinematic avant-garde, or the participatory discourses of “cyberspace,” audiovisual expression has changed dramatically. The book provides a definitive cross-section of current ways of thinking about sound and image. Its authors-leading scholars and promising younger ones, audiovisual practitioners and nonacademic writers (both mainstream and independent)-open the discussion on audiovisual aesthetics in new directions. Our contributors come from fields including film, visual arts, new media, cultural theory, and sound and music studies, and they draw variously from economic, political, institutional, psychoanalytic, genre-based, auteurist, internationalist, reception-focused, technological, and cultural approaches to questions concerning today’s sound and image. All consider the aural dimension, and what Michel Chion calls “audio-vision:” the sensory and semiotic result of sound placed with vision, an encounter greater than their sum.

Are frequent dental x-ray examinations associated with increased risk of vestibular schwannoma?

Object The authors evaluated the potential role of environmental risk factors, including exposure to diagnostic or therapeutic radiation and to wireless phones that emit nonionizing radiation, in the etiology of vestibular schwannoma (VS). Methods A total of 343 patients with VSs who underwent Gamma Knife surgery performed between 1997 and 2007 were age and sex matched to 343 control patients from the outpatient degenerative spinal disorders service at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The authors obtained information on previous exposure to medical radiation, use of wireless phone technologies, and other environmental factors thought to be associated with the development of a VS. Conditional multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results After adjusting for race, education, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, occupational exposure to noise, use of cell phones, and family history of cancer, the authors identified only a single factor that was associated with a higher risk of VS: individuals exposed to dental x-rays once a year (aOR = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.01–5.09) or once every 2–5 years (aOR = 2.65, 95% CI = 1.20–5.85), compared with those exposed less than once every 5 years. Of interest, a history of exposure to radiation related to head or head-and-neck computed tomography was associated with a reduced risk of VS (aOR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.30–0.90). No relationship was found between the use of cell phones or cordless phones and VS. Conclusions Patients with acoustic neuromas reported significantly more exposure to dental x-rays than a matched cohort control group. Reducing the frequency of dental x-ray examinations may decrease the potential risk of VS.