Recent Research on EMF and Health Risk, Twelfth report from SSM's Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields, 2017

Background: The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority's (SSM) Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields monitors current research on potential health risks with a correlation to exposure to electromagnetic fields, and provides the Authority with advice on assessing possible health risks. The Council gives guidance when the Authority must give an opinion on policy matters when scientific testing is necessary. The Council is required to submit a written report each year on the current research and knowledge situation. Objective: The report has the objective of covering the previous year's research in the area of electromagnetic fields (EMF). The report gives the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority an overview and provides an important basis for risk assessment. Results: The present annual report is the twelfth in this series and covers studies published from October 2015 up to and including March 2017. The report covers different areas of EMF (static, low frequency, intermediate, and radio frequency fields) and different types of studies such as biological, human and epidemiological studies. No new health risks have been identified. Whether mobile phone use causes brain tumours or not was mainly addressed using time trends studies in the last two years. The results were not entirely consistent but mainly point towards a lack of association. Some cell and animal studies indicate that EMF exposure may cause oxidative stress even at low exposure levels. It is unclear what relevance this may have when it comes to direct health effects in humans. A striking result was that some studies showed a stronger association between memory functions and radio wave exposure than other usage variables. The annual report also has a section covering other relevant scientific reports published recently

Decline in subarachnoid haemorrhage volumes associated with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased volumes of stroke admissions and mechanical thrombectomy were reported. The study\u27s objective was to examine whether subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions demonstrated similar declines. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study across 6 continents, 37 countries and 140 comprehensive stroke centres. Patients with the diagnosis of SAH, aneurysmal SAH, ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions and COVID-19 were identified by prospective aneurysm databases or by International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, codes. The 3-month cumulative volume, monthly volumes for SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling procedures were compared for the period before (1 year and immediately before) and during the pandemic, defined as 1 March-31 May 2020. The prior 1-year control period (1 March-31 May 2019) was obtained to account for seasonal variation. FINDINGS: There was a significant decline in SAH hospitalisations, with 2044 admissions in the 3 months immediately before and 1585 admissions during the pandemic, representing a relative decline of 22.5% (95% CI -24.3% to -20.7%, p\u3c0.0001). Embolisation of ruptured aneurysms declined with 1170-1035 procedures, respectively, representing an 11.5% (95%CI -13.5% to -9.8%, p=0.002) relative drop. Subgroup analysis was noted for aneurysmal SAH hospitalisation decline from 834 to 626 hospitalisations, a 24.9% relative decline (95% CI -28.0% to -22.1%, p\u3c0.0001). A relative increase in ruptured aneurysm coiling was noted in low coiling volume hospitals of 41.1% (95% CI 32.3% to 50.6%, p=0.008) despite a decrease in SAH admissions in this tertile. INTERPRETATION: There was a relative decrease in the volume of SAH hospitalisations, aneurysmal SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm embolisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings in SAH are consistent with a decrease in other emergencies, such as stroke and myocardial infarction

Subcutaneous soft tissue tumours at the site of implanted microchips in mice

An experiment using 4279 CBA/J mice of two generations was carried out to investigate the influence of parental preconceptual exposure to X-ray radiation or to chemical carcinogens. Mircochips were implanted subcutaneously in the dorsolateral back for unique identification of each animal. The animals were kept for lifespan under standard laboratory conditions. In 36 mice a circumscribed neoplasm occurred in the area of the implanted microchip. Females were significantly more affected than male mice. An influence of age or different treatment on the s.c. tumour incidence in two mice generation could be not observed. Macroscopically, firm, pale white nodules up to 25 mm in diameter with the microchip in its center were found. Microscopically, soft tissue tumours such as fibrosarcoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma were detected