Wireless phone use in childhood and adolescence and neuroepithelial brain tumours: Results from the international MOBI-Kids study

In recent decades, the possibility that use of mobile communicating devices, particularly wireless (mobile and cordless) phones, may increase brain tumour risk, has been a concern, particularly given the considerable increase in their use by young people. MOBI-Kids, a 14-country (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain) case-control study, was conducted to evaluate whether wireless phone use (and particularly resulting exposure to radiofrequency (RF) and extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic fields (EMF)) increases risk of brain tumours in young people. Between 2010 and 2015, the study recruited 899 people with brain tumours aged 10 to 24 years old and 1,910 controls (operated for appendicitis) matched to the cases on date of diagnosis, study region and age. Participation rates were 72% for cases and 54% for controls. The mean ages of cases and controls were 16.5 and 16.6 years, respectively; 57% were males. The vast majority of study participants were wireless phones users, even in the youngest age group, and the study included substantial numbers of long-term (over 10 years) users: 22% overall, 51% in the 20-24-year-olds. Most tumours were of the neuroepithelial type (NBT; n = 671), mainly glioma. The odds ratios (OR) of NBT appeared to decrease with increasing time since start of use of wireless phones, cumulative number of calls and cumulative call time, particularly in the 15-19 years old age group. A decreasing trend in ORs was also observed with increasing estimated cumulative RF specific energy and ELF induced current density at the location of the tumour. Further analyses suggest that the large number of ORs below 1 in this study is unlikely to represent an unknown causal preventive effect of mobile phone exposure: they can be at least partially explained by differential recall by proxies and prodromal symptoms affecting phone use before diagnosis of the cases. We cannot rule out, however, residual confounding from sources we did not measure. Overall, our study provides no evidence of a causal association between wireless phone use and brain tumours in young people. However, the sources of bias summarised above prevent us from ruling out a small increased risk

Occupational exposure to dusts and risk of renal cell carcinoma

Background: Occupational exposures to dusts have generally been examined in relation to cancers of the respiratory system and have rarely been examined in relation to other cancers, such as renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Although previous epidemiological studies, though few, have shown certain dusts, such as asbestos, to increase renal cancer risk, the potential for other occupational dust exposures to cause kidney damage and/or cancer may exist. We investigated whether asbestos, as well as 20 other occupational dust exposures, were associated with RCC risk in a large European, multi-center, hospital-based renal case-control study.Methods: General occupational histories and job-specific questionnaires were reviewed by occupational hygienists for subject-specific information. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) between RCC risk and exposures were calculated using unconditional logistic regression. Results: Among participants ever exposed to dusts, significant associations were observed for glass fibres (OR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.1-3.9), mineral wool fibres (OR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.2-5.1), and brick dust (OR: 1.5; 95% CI: 1.0-2.4). Significant trends were also observed with exposure duration and cumulative exposure. No association between RCC risk and asbestos exposure was observed. Conclusion: Results suggest that increased RCC risk may be associated with occupational exposure to specific types of dusts. Additional studies are needed to replicate and extend findings. © 2011 Cancer Research UK All rights reserved

Development and reproductive performance of Hereford heifers of different frame sizes up to mating at 14-15 months of age

ABSTRACT Body development and reproductive performance of a hundred forty-two 14 to 15-month-old heifers, classified at weaning according to frame size as small, medium, and large, were evaluated. The parameters evaluated were: body weight, hip height, body condition score, weight gain, ovarian activity, and pregnancy rate. At weaning, body weight and hip height were significantly different among frame scores, (small – 133.0 kg, 92.2 cm; medium – 158.5 kg, 96.6 cm; and large – 185.2 kg; 100.2 cm). After weaning, heifers grazed together on natural pastures during the autumn and on ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum La.) during the winter and spring. Frame score differences remained until the beginning of the breeding season (BS), starting on average at 14 months of age. Weight gain between weaning and the beginning of BS was not different among frame scores (0.740 kg/day, on average). Body weights at the beginning of the BS were significantly different, of 255.7 kg (53.3% of the mature weight) for small heifers, 285.0 kg (59.4%) for medium heifers, and 307.6 kg (64.1%) for large heifers. Ovarian activity at the beginning of the BS was not different among the three groups. The average weight gain values during the BS of 0.492, 0.472, and 0.421 kg/day for small, medium, and large heifers, respectively, were significantly different. Pregnancy rates were not different among groups (small, 71.4%; medium, 76.4%; and large, 76.5%). Frame score did not influence the reproductive performance of heifers, but the small and medium heifers conceived 29 and 20 days earlier, respectively, than the large heifers

Contact angle hysteresis: a review of fundamentals and applications

Contact angle hysteresis is an important physical phenomenon. It is omnipresent in nature and also plays a crucial role in various industrial processes. Despite its relevance, there is a lack of consensus on how to incorporate a description of contact angle hysteresis into physical models. To clarify this, starting from the basic definition of contact angle hysteresis, we introduce the formalism and models for implementing contact angle hysteresis into relevant physical phenomena. Furthermore, we explain the influence of the contact angle hysteresis in physical phenomena relevant for industrial applications such as sliding drops, coffee stain phenomenon (in general evaporative self-assembly), and curtain and wire coating techniques

Stick–Slip to Sliding Transition of Dynamic Contact Lines under AC Electrowetting

We show that at low velocities the dynamics of a contact line of a water drop moving over a Teflon-like surface under ac electrowetting must be described as stick–slip motion, rather than one continuous movement. At high velocities we observe a transition to a slipping regime. In the slipping regime the observed dependence of the contact angle is well described by a linearization of both the hydrodynamic and the molecular-kinetic model for the dynamic contact line behavior. The overall geometry of the drop also has a strong influence on the contact angle: if the drop is confined to a disk-like shape with radius <i>R</i>, much larger than the capillary length, and height <i>h</i>, smaller than the capillary length, the advancing angle increases steeper with velocity as the aspect ratio <i>h</i>/<i>R</i> is smaller. Although influence of the flow field near a contact line on the contact angle behavior has also been observed in other experiments, these observations do not fit either model. Finally, in our ac experiments no sudden increase of the hysteresis beyond a certain voltage and velocity was observed, as reported by other authors for a dc voltage, but instead we find with increasing voltage a steady decrease of the hysteresis