From owner-emf-bio@net.bio.net Fri Oct 04 23:00:00 1996 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: GAILEY P C Newsgroups: bionet.emf-bio Subject: Invitation to Workshop Date: 4 Oct 1996 19:29:01 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 35 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: afrey@uu.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <534h5d$lo1@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net The U.S. Department of Energy is sponsoring a workshop on nonlinear dynamics to be held Sunday, November 17, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. just before the Annual EMF Research Review in San Antonio, TX. The workshop is free and open to all interested participants. If you have any interest in the new field of nonlinear dynamics and its importance in biology, this is a workshop you will not want to miss. We will be featuring several excellent speakers who are leaders in this field. The talks will be cross-disciplinary and designed to provide a good introduction as well as to offer some of the most recent research results. Special note to Biologists: This is not just an arcane mathematical study. The field of nonlinear dynamics is beginning to provide a basis for understanding self-organizing systems. These concepts will be essential for understanding how organisms make the leap from a set of protein coding instructions (genes) to the complex organization seen in development and function. If you need information on hotels or the Annual EMF Review, pleas contact W/L Associates at (301) 663-1915. Hope to see you there! ****************************************** * Paul C. Gailey, Ph.D. * * ORNL EMF Bioeffects Research Program * * Oak Ridge National Laboratory * * PO Box 2008, MS 6070 * * Oak Ridge, TN 37831 * * Phone: (423) 574-0419 * * FAX: (423) 574-5227 * ****************************************** From owner-emf-bio@net.bio.net Mon Oct 07 23:00:00 1996 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: "Dan Wartenberg" Newsgroups: bionet.emf-bio Subject: Costs of Constructing New Power Lines Date: 8 Oct 1996 08:38:55 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 23 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: afrey@uu.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <53dsif$99d@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net Does anyone on this list have information about the cost of constructing high voltage, electric power, transmission lines? I am a member of a New Jersey Commission that is evaluating a proposal to restrict the ways in which utilities build new lines so that the configurations limit exposure to nearby populations, as long as the additional cost of so doing is not too great. There are programs available that enable us to determine the magnetic fields under alternative line configurations (e.g., horizontal versus vertical delta) but we have not been able to get comparable cost information. We have gotten overall relative costs from some published reports and from our utilities, but have been unable to get a breakdown of costs (i.e., what proportion of the cost are the towers, the land, the wires, the labor, etc.) nor the absolute cost for a sample line built with alternative configurations (I could provide design specifications). Does anyone know how or where I could obtain such information? -- Daniel Wartenberg Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute 681 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08855 voice: 908-445-0197 fax: 908-445-0784 email: dew@EOHSI.Rutgers.edu From owner-emf-bio@net.bio.net Mon Oct 07 23:00:00 1996 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: Phillip Dauben Newsgroups: bionet.emf-bio Subject: Health Effects of EMF Date: 8 Oct 1996 08:38:18 -0700 Organization: Netcom Lines: 12 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: afrey@uu.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <53dsha$98h@net.bio.net> Reply-To: philli11@ix.netcom.com NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net I have been assigned a research paper for my Environmental Science class on the health effects from EMF's. So far, all of the material I have found basically says, "Some studies say there are effect, some studies don't." I would appreciate any links or resource anyone might have. I have already found infoventures web page. Thanks in advanced. Phillip Dauben From owner-emf-bio@net.bio.net Thu Oct 10 23:00:00 1996 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: holson@california.com (Howard Olson) Newsgroups: bionet.emf-bio Subject: EMF Health Effects Date: 11 Oct 1996 07:32:22 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 10 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: afrey@uu.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <53llpm$p2m@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net The basic effects of EMF that are strongly established are effects on the Pineal organ by earth strength EMF fields. See Semm P (1980) in NATURE 228: 226 The same author has published more recently in Nature. You should also read CROSS CURRENTS by Robert O. Becker, MD. The latter is in many libraries. From owner-emf-bio@net.bio.net Thu Oct 17 23:00:00 1996 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: "Bowman, Joseph D." Newsgroups: bionet.emf-bio Subject: Medical magnets?? Date: 18 Oct 1996 08:24:16 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 15 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: afrey@uu.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <5487f0$s6c@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net I have been asked about "medical" magnets, permanent magnets which are being used to relieve pain and inflammation. According to a recent article in my local newspaper, small unipolar magnets are being sold in back braces, bracelts, etc. with the north pole directed towards the sore body part. Does anyone know of any scientific studies of their effectiveness and/or mechanism? Joseph Bowman U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health jdb0@niobbs1.em.cdc.gov From owner-emf-bio@net.bio.net Thu Oct 17 23:00:00 1996 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: Ben Greenebaum Newsgroups: bionet.emf-bio Subject: Bioelectromagnetics Vol. 17, No. 4, 1996 Table of Contents (fwd) Date: 18 Oct 1996 08:26:21 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 76 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: afrey@uu.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <5487it$sc1@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net BIOELECTROMAGNETICS VOLUME 17, No. 4, 1996 Table of Contents ============================================================================== NOTE: Please contact your library or the authors for reprints or further information about specific articles, NOT the Editor, Society or Publisher! For information about the journal, contact the Editor. For member subscription information, contact the Society at 7519 Ridge Road, Frederick, MD 21702-3519. For library or other non-member subscription information, contact the publisher, Wiley/Liss, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012, Attn.: Subscription Dept., 9th Floor. Ben Greenebaum, Editor Unversity of Wisconsin-Parkside, Box 2000, Kenosha, WI 53141-2000 414-595-2065; Fax 414-595-2056 Internet: bems@cs.uwp.edu ============================================================================== Bioelectromagnetics Journal of the Bioelectromagnetics Society, the Society for Physical Regulation in Biology and Medicine, and the European Bioelectromagnetics Association Volume 17, Number 4, 1996 (c) Wiley-Liss, Inc. Articles 253 In Vivo 3-D Distributions of Electric Fields in Pig Skin with Rectangular Pulse Electrical Current Stimulation (RPECS) K Cheng, P P Tarjan, Y C Thio and P M Mertz 263 Nocturnal Melatonin Levels in Human Volunteers Exposed to Intermittent 60 Hz Magnetic Fields Charles Graham, Mary R. Cook, Donald W. Riffle, Mary M. Gerkovich and Harvey D. Cohen 274 Human Performance and Physiology: A Statistical Power Analysis of ELF Electromagnetic Field Research Craig J. Whittington and John V. Podd 279 Exposure to Combined Static and 60 Hz Magnetic Fields: Failure to Replicate a Reported Behavioral Effect Sander Stern. Victor G. Laties, Quang A. Nguyen and Christopher Cox 293 Effects of Pulsed Magnetic Fields on Neurite Outgrowth from Chick Embryo Dorsal Root Ganglia Ben Greenebaum, Carl H. Sutton, Maithili Subramanian Vadula, Joseph H. Battocletti, Thomas Swiontek, James DeKeyser and Betty F. Sisken 303 Stimulation of Ca++ Influx in Rat Pituitary Cells under Exposure to a 50 Hz Magnetic Field Elisabeth Barbier, Bernard Dufy and Bernard Veyret 312 Resonance Effect of Millimeter Waves in the Power Range of 10^-19 to 3 x 10^-3 W/cm^2 on Escherichia coli Cells at Different Concentrations I. Y. Belyaev, V. S. Shcheglov, Y. D. Alipov and V. A. Polunin 322 Environmental Magnetic Fields Change Complementary DNA Synthesis in Cell-Free Systems Eiichio Hirakawa, Masaki Ohmori and Wendell D. Winters 327 Effects of microwave and radio frequency electromagnetic fields on lichens M Urech, B Eicher and J Siegenthaler Brief Communication 335 Orientation of Glutaraldehyde-Fixed Erythrocytes in Strong Static Magnetic Fields Terumasa Higashi, Setsuko Sagawa, Nobuyuki Ashida and Tetsuya Takeuchi (c) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc. From owner-emf-bio@net.bio.net Wed Oct 23 23:00:00 1996 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: "Bowman, Joseph D." Newsgroups: bionet.emf-bio Subject: RE: medical magnets?? Date: 24 Oct 1996 10:24:10 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 326 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: afrey@uu.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <54o8nq$jm7@net.bio.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net In reply to my October 11 questions on medical uses of permanent magnets, I received many interesting replies, which I've edited to meet the standards of this listserver and strung together below. From reading them, I would say that the scientific evidence does support some neurologic effects from arrays of permanent magnets, but not relief from pain or inflammation. Do people agree with those conclusions? DISCLAIMER: These are my private opinions, not those of NIOSH nor the U.S. government. Joe Bowman U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health jdb0@niobbs1.em.cdc.gov ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________ I can point you to two publications from my group on the subject and they are: 1. Hong, Lin, Bender et al., Magnetic necklace: its therapeutic effectiveness on neck and shoulder pain. Arch. Phy. Med and Rehabilitation, 63;462-466, 1982. ABSTRACT AB - The effect of the magnetic necklace on chronic neck and shoulder pain was studied on 101 volunteers, 46 males and 55 females. A double-blind method was applied on 4 divided groups (with pain vs without pain matched with magnetic vs nonmagnetic necklace). All the subjects wore the necklace 24 hours per day for 3 weeks. Subjective evaluation from the subjects with pain, either with magnetic or nonmagnetic treatment, was performed before and 3 weeks after the necklace treatment, and revealed a significant placebo effect in terms of decrease in intensity or frequency of pain. The objective tests with electrodiagnostic procedures were done before the treatment and at 3 weekly intervals. The proximal conduction time of the ulnar nerve was significantly reduced by magnetic treatment in the subjects without pain but was not changed in the subjects with pain. There was no significant change in the excitation threshold of the suprascapular nerve in all subjects. The possible mechanism of magnetic effects on pain and the prospect of magnetotherapy for pain relief in physical medicine are discussed. 2. Lin, Singlerton, Schaeffer, et al., Magnetic necklace: Its therapeutic effectiveness on neck and shoulder pain: 2. Psychological assessment, Psychological Reports, 56:639-649, 1985. NO ABSTRACT AVAILABLE ONLINE. The strength of magnets we studied was 3000 gauss. I understand for other applications some of the magnetis are as high as 6000 gauss. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance. JCL ***************************************** James C. Lin, Ph.D. Professor University of Illinois at Chicago M/C 154 851 S. Morgan Street Chicago, IL 60607 Phone: 312-413-1052 line 70Fax: 312-413-0024 ****************************************** ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________ Date: Saturday, October 19, 1996 1:32PM Joe: About three months ago I had a letter published in the NY Times complaining about Nikken of Japan, which earned $1.5 billion in 1993 selling magnets to gullible people, mostly those who had various pain problems. Three times in the past 12 years I have been approached by such firms seeking endorsements from me -- the first was Japan Life in 1984, the second a Swiss firm a few years later, and the third the Nikken people. In each case, I made a strong pitch for additional research (not necessarily for myself...at one point I had convinced some friends in the Harvard medical school, when all of a sudden the magnet purveyers bailed out). I was told on a number of occasions that why should they bother with research--since their sales are so successful, then obviously their products work . Recently some graduate students in Physical Therapy here at Oakland got the same answer from Nikken when they asked why there was nothing in the scientific literature to back uo the claims made about these magnets. Esquire magazine (November) is publishing an article on this business in which they promised to give my objections a full airing. This coming Tuesday the local NBC Tv station in Detroit, WDIV< will also feature my criticisms in a story on magnet therapy. This will follow up on stories in both the Detroit Free Press and the Los Angeles Times in which I was quoted as calling the approach of the Nikken Corporation hardly different from the snake-oil salesmen of the 19th century. One minor tragedy connected to all of this is that when I participated in the 5-person electromedicine research panel arranged by the OAM a couple of years ago, to make research recommendations in the bioelectromagnetics area we made a point of specifically omitting magnet therapy, mainly because noone could find any published work on this subject. One could have anticipated the weird, Kafka-like response of the OAM: It was announced this year that 1.1 Million dollars was awarded to a Nurse-practitioner, Ann Gill in Virginia, to study magnet therapy.One does not have to wait to predict the outcome of this study. What will happen is that a larger-than-expected placebo effect will be found that will undoubtedly confound the results of whatever they find. Regards, Abe A.R, Liboff Professor of POhysics Oakland University Rochester, MI 48309 liboff@oakland.edu (810) 370-3412 ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________ In regarding to the question of "medical" magnet, there was a somewhat related paper presented in the conference last week sponsored by the Society for Physical Regulation in Biology and Medicine in Chicago. I vaguely remember the title : Influence of weak magnetic fields on the regeneration rate in Planaria ... or something like that. The paper was presented by some scientists from Russia. I can e-mail you the info. on conference sponsor if you think this is a good trail to follow up. Chia-Lie Chang SAIC, MS 2-3-1 1710 Goodridge Drive McLean, VA 22102 changc@mclapo.apo.saic.com ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________ From: Donald Earl Knowlton To: jdb0 Subject: Re: Medical magnets?? Date: Saturday, October 19, 1996 10:10AM I have encountered some references to this, as to their veracity, or science, I reserve my opinions, but for whatever they are worth, here they are: Davis, albert roy and rawls, walter c. (several volumes) esposition press, smithtown, NY: Miomagnetic Handbook, Philpott,william H, M.D. and Taplin, sharon, EnviroTech Products, Choctaw,OK 1990. Smith, cyril w and Best, simon. (several volumes) St. Martins Press, NY. There are also several articles, papers, listed in the H.E.A.L. published bibliography (about 450 listings) of biologic effects of emf on living organisms. Philpot is an M.D. who uses magnets heavily, his book lists problems and "cures" using magnets. He also sells magnets via mail. If I can be of any further help, please e-mail me. BTW, I have, and have read all the ref's I gave you. regards donknow@datasync.com If you e-mail, please use the above address, it's easier for me to access than the University isp. X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950515BETA PL0] ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________ From: rseaman line 162To: Bowman, Joseph D. Subject: Re: Medical magnets?? Date: Friday, October 18, 1996 2:33PM Priority: High I saw a show on cable, perhaps the Discovery channel or The Learning Channel, on the veterinary use of such magnets. I can't remember how long ago the show appeared. Unless I'm mistaken, the narration was British or British-like, e.g., Australian. More specifically, permanent magnets (no power source was included) were used to reduce pain and inflammation in horses. Configurations varied but were primarily aimed at leg and back applications. Success This form of therapy was covered along with a number of others. I'll send more information if I come across my notes. Ron Seaman ______________________________ Reply Separator ___________________________ Date: Friday, October 18, 1996 11:04AM Jim Lin did a study years ago. His address is james.c.lin@uic.edu. Prof. Zhang of Shenzhen University In China is using rotating 6000 gauss static magnetic field for treating a few diseases. C.K. Chou ______________________________ Reply Separator ___________________________ From: Wenzl, Thurman To: Bowman, Joseph D. Subject: RE: Medical magnets?? Date: Friday, October 18, 1996 3:02PM These were also mentioned in a NY Times piece on the NIH's program for extramurally evaluating the effectiveness of alternate therapies - about 2 months ago - but I didn't save it; I suppose that cite could be found via a NYT index search, which was once done via 'index books', but I don't know if that's still the way. Thurman ______________________________ Reply Separator ___________________________ Date: Friday, October 18, 1996 2:22PM These papers are on cultured neurons, but they have a some references to this group's reports of clinical use of their devices, mostly on pain (arrays of small disc permanent magnets of alternating polarity). Though the first article talks a lot about field strength, the second makes it pretty clear that it is field gradient that's important. This is not inconsistent with some old work of Tenforde's. MJ McLean, RR Holcomb, AW Wamil, JD Pickett and AV Cavopol (1996a) Blockade of sensory neuron potential by a static magnetic field in the 10 mT range. Bioelectromagnetics 16: 20-32. ABSTRACT AB - To characterize the inhibitory effect of a static magnetic field, action potentials (AP) were elicited by intracellular application of 1 ms depolarizing current pulses of constant amplitude to the somata of adult mouse dorsal root ganglion neurons in monolayer dissociated line 231 cell culture. During the control period, < 5% of stimuli failed to elicit AP. During exposure to an approximately 11 mT static magnetic field at the cell position produced by an array of four permanent center-charged neodymium magnets of alternating polarity (MAG-4A), 66% of stimuli failed to elicit AP. The number of failures was maximal after about 200-250 s in the field and returned gradually to baseline over 400-600 s. A direct or indirect effect on the conformation of AP generating sodium channels could account for these results because 1) failure was preceded often by reduction of maximal rate of rise, an indirect measure of sodium current; 2) recovery was significantly prolonged in more than one-half of neurons that were not stimulated during exposure to the MAG-4A field; and 3) resting membrane potential, input resistance, and chronaxie were unaffected by the field. The effect was diminished or prevented by moving the MAG-4A array along the X or Z axis away from the neuron under study and by increasing the distance between magnets in the XY plane. Reduction of AP firing during exposure to the approximately 0.1 mT field produced by a MAG-4A array of micromagnets was about the same as that produced by a MAG-4A array of the large magnets above. The approximately 28 mT field produced at cell position by two magnets of alternating polarity and the approximately 88 mT field produced by a single magnet had no significant effect on AP firing. These findings suggest that field strength alone cannot account for AP blockade. AV Cavopol , AW Wamil RR Holcomb and MJ McLean (1996b) Meausrement and analysis of static magnetic fields that block action potentials in cultured neurons. Bioelectromagnetics 19: 197-206. ABSTRACT AB - To characterize the properties of static magnetic fields on firing of action potentials (AP) by sensory neurons in cell culture, we developed a mathematical formalism based on the expression for the magnetic field of a single circular current loop. The calculated fields fit closely the field measurements taken with a Hall effect gaussmeter. The biological effect induced by different arrays of permanent magnets depended principally on the spatial variation of the fields, quantified by the value of the gradient of the field magnitude. Magnetic arrays of different sizes (macroarray: four center-charged neodymium magnets of approximately 14 mm diameter; microarray; four micromagnets of the same material but of approximately 0.4 mm diameter) allowed comparison of fields with similar gradients but different intensities at the cell position. These two arrays had a common gradient value of approximately 1 mT/mm and blocked > 70% of AP. Alternatively, cells placed in a field strength of approximately 0.2 mT and a gradient of approximately 0.02 mT/mm produced by the macroarray resulted in no significant reduction of firing; a microarray field of the same strength but with a higher gradient of approximately 1.5 mT/mm caused approximately 80% AP blockade. The experimental threshold gradient and the calculated threshold field intensity for blockade of action potentials by these arrays were estimated to be approximately 0.02 mT/mm and approximately 0.02 mT, respectively, In conclusion, these findings suggest that spatial variation of the magnetic field is the principal cause of AP blockade in dorsal root ganglia in vitro. ******************************** Ben Greenebaum Professor of Physics University of Wisconsin-Parkside Kenosha WI 53141 greeneba@cs.uwp.edu 414-595-2065(voice), -2056(fax) ******************************* ______________________________ Reply Separator __________________________ From: Tim Oliver To: jdb0 Subject: Re: Medical magnets?? Date: Friday, October 18, 1996 12:29PM http://www.xmission.com/~total/health.html is a vendor of same. ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ From owner-emf-bio@net.bio.net Wed Oct 30 22:00:00 1996 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: jmoulder@post.its.mcw.edu (John Moulder) Newsgroups: bionet.emf-bio Subject: NAS report on powerline fields & health Date: 31 Oct 1996 11:11:47 -0800 Organization: Medical College of Wisconsin Lines: 22 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Approved: afrey@uu.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <55atlj$6nt@net.bio.net> Reply-To: jmoulder@post.its.mcw.edu (John Moulder) NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net The National Academy of Science Report on human health effects from residential exposure to powerline fields has been released. >From the chair of the committee that wrote the report: "The findings to date do not support claims that electromagnetic fields are harmful to a person's heath... Research has not shown in any convincing way that electromagnetic fields common in homes can cause health problems, and extensive laboratory tests have not shown that EMFs can damage the cell in way that is harmful to health" The text of the press release can be found at: http://www2.nas.edu/whatsnew/25ba.html Also in the above is ordering information for the actual report. Neither the actual text of the report nor its executive summary is available on the net at the moment. John Moulder (jmoulder@its.mcw.edu)