A REVIEW OF PROTOCOLS AND GUIDELINES ADDRESSING THE EXPOSURE OF OCCUPANTS TO ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD RADIATION (EMFR) IN BUILDINGS

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-81
Author(s):  
Shabnam Monadizadeh ◽  
Charles J. Kibert ◽  
Jiaxuan Li ◽  
Junghoon Woo ◽  
Ashish Asutosh ◽  
...  

HIGHLIGHTS ABSTRACT A significant share of the technology that has emerged over the past several decades produces electromagnetic field (EMFR) radiation. Communications devices, household appliances, industrial equipment, and medical equipment and devices all produce EMFR with a variety of frequencies, strengths, and ranges. Some EMFR, such as Extremely Low Frequency (ELF), Radio Frequency (RF), and Ionizing Range (IR) radiation have been shown to have harmful effects on human health. Depending on the frequency and strength of the radiation, EMFR can have health effects at the cellular level as well as at brain, nervous, and cardiovascular levels. Health authorities have enacted regulations locally and globally to set critical values to limit the adverse effects of EMFR. By introducing a more comprehensive field of EMFR study and practice, architects and designers can design for a safer electromagnetic (EM) indoor environment, and, as building and construction specialists, will be able to monitor and reduce EM radiation. This paper identifies the nature of EMFR in the built environment, the various EMFR sources, and its human health effects. It addresses European and US regulations for EMFR in buildings and provides a preliminary action plan. The challenges of developing measurement protocols for the various EMFR frequency ranges and determining the effects of EMFR on building occupants are discussed. This paper argues that a mature method for measuring EMFR in building environments and linking these measurements to human health impacts will foster occupant health and lead to the adequate development of safeguards for occupants of buildings in future research.

Author(s):  
Tanwi Trushna ◽  
Amit K. Tripathi ◽  
Sindhuprava Rana ◽  
Rajnarayan R. Tiwari

: Air pollution, especially particulate matter pollution adversely affects human health. A growing pool of evidence has emerged which underscores the potential of individual-level nutritional interventions in attenuating the adverse health impact of exposure to PM2.5. Although controlling emission and reducing the overall levels of air pollution remains the ultimate objective globally, the sustainable achievement of such a target and thus consequent protection of human health will require a substantial amount of time and concerted efforts worldwide. In the meantime, smaller-scale individual-level interventions that can counter the inflammatory or oxidative stress effects triggered by exposure to particulate matter may be utilized to ameliorate the health effects of PM2.5 pollution. One such intervention is incorporation of nutraceuticals in the diet. Here, we present a review of the evidence generated from various in vitro, in vivo and human studies regarding the effects of different anti-inflammatory and antioxidant nutraceuticals in ameliorating the health effects of particulate matter air pollution. The studies discussed in this review suggest that these nutraceuticals when consumed as a part of the diet, or as additional supplementation, can potentially negate the cellular level adverse effects of exposure to particulate pollution. The potential benefits of adopting a non-pharmacological diet-based approach to air pollution-induced disease management have also been discussed. We argue that before a nutraceuticals-based approach can be used for widespread public adoption, further research, especially human clinical trials, is essential to confirm the beneficial action of relevant nutraceuticals and to explore the safe limits of human supplementation and the risk of side effects. Future research should focus on systematically translating bench-based knowledge regarding nutraceuticals gained from in-vitro and in-vivo studies into clinically usable nutritional guidelines.


2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Guseva Canu ◽  
Paul A Schulte ◽  
Michael Riediker ◽  
Liliya Fatkhutdinova ◽  
Enrico Bergamaschi

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) raise questions among the scientific community and public health authorities about their potential risks to human health. Studying a prospective cohort of workers exposed to ENMs would be considered the gold standard for identifying potential health effects of nanotechnology and confirming the ‘no effect’ levels derived from cellular and animal models. However, because only small, cross-sectional studies have been conducted in the past 5 years, questions remain about the health risks of ENMs. This essay addresses the scientific, methodological, political and regulatory issues that make epidemiological research in nanotechnology-exposed communities particularly complex. Scientific challenges include the array of physicochemical parameters and ENM production conditions, the lack of universally accepted definitions of ENMs and nanotechnology workers, and the lack of information about modes of action, target organs and likely dose–response functions of ENMs. Standardisation of data collection and harmonisation of research protocols are needed to eliminate misclassification of exposures and health effects. Forming ENM worker cohorts from a combination of smaller cohorts and overcoming selection bias are also challenges. National or international registries for monitoring the exposures and health of ENM workers would be helpful for epidemiological studies, but the creation of such a registry and ENM worker cohorts will require political support and dedicated funding at the national and international levels. Public authorities and health agencies should consider carrying out an ENM awareness campaign to educate and engage all stakeholders and concerned communities in discussion of such a project.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 475-475
Author(s):  
Gabriel Simmons ◽  
Fanny Lee ◽  
Minseung Kim ◽  
Roberta Holt ◽  
Ilias Tagkopoulos

Abstract Objectives Food/residue waste streams may be a significant source of bioactive compounds that benefit human health. Dietary intervention trials demonstrate the health benefits of such residues, but they are resource and time intensive. Bioinformatics meta-analyses can elucidate putative pathways, genes and chemicals that are relevant to human health, hence guiding further experimentation and intervention trials. To this end, we integrated publicly available phytochemical datasets related to general grape marc from different varieties (GM) and Chardonnay grape marc (CM) to investigate their differences and potential implications to human health through a network-based meta-analysis. Methods To characterize the phytochemical profile of grape marc, compositional data was aggregated from publicly available literature. To identify potential health effects based on this chemical information, associations between disease states and the chemical profiles of GM/CM were extracted from the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). Disease associative networks were constructed for a) marc products, b) all marc-related phenolics, c) compounds that are differentially abundant in CM. Results The union of available marc composition datasets from 14 articles contained 66 phenolic compounds; 29 of these were associated with at least 1 disease state in the CTD. There were 5 differentially over-abundant compounds in CM versus other grape marcs (red varietals n = 75, white varietals n = 57). These were flavan-3-ols catechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, gallocatechin, and proanthocyanidin C1 (P < 0.001); with gallocatechin unique to CM. Studies investigating marc products indicated associations to 15 diseases. CTD evidence from 934 studies associated the phenolic profile of GM to 358 diseases of 34 disease classes. Network-based meta-analysis suggested associations between GM and CM phenolics and several disease targets. This includes confirmatory associations between flavan-3-ols and cardiovascular disease outcomes. Conclusions Chardonnay marc is not widely studied; however, the developed framework of network-based meta-analysis utilizing composition information provides a holistic view of the knowledge space for grape marc, and highlights suggested health effects that can guide future research programs. Funding Sources Sonomaceuticals, LLC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (7) ◽  
pp. 485-492
Author(s):  
Monalisha Sahu ◽  
Shyambhavee Behera ◽  
Biswadip Chattopadhyay

Objective: Recent technological advances have exponentially expanded globally; harbouring upon Electromagnetic fields (EMF). The utilization of Electromagnetic field has become universal from everyday usage of electronic appliances such as micro wave ovens, tablets and portable computers to telecommunication systems mobile phone towers, radio- television broadcast systems and electronic power transmission systems resulting in electromagnetic field and associated radiations. EMF can have biological effects on cell at microlevel and have the potential ability to cause cell dysfunction manifesting in various biological effects. This review tried to gather evidence from the existing literature about the biological effects of EMF on human health. Materials and Methods: We did extensive literature search using PubMed and Cochrane database using key words, “electromagnetic fields”, “Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs)”, “biological effects”, “health effects”, “public health”. We included 20 studies conducted from Dec 2009 to Dec 2019 in our systematic review. Data from each study was extracted by two independent researchers and discrepancies were resolved by consensus. Results: Significant biological effects of EMF exposure were reported on human health ranging from anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), hypersensitivity to infertility and increased risk of multiple carcinomas. Conclusion: Application of preventive measures in order to minimize the exposure becomes the need of the hour especially so in occupational settings.


2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 191-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzannah K. Helps ◽  
Samantha J. Broyd ◽  
Christopher J. James ◽  
Anke Karl ◽  
Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke

Background: The default mode interference hypothesis ( Sonuga-Barke & Castellanos, 2007 ) predicts (1) the attenuation of very low frequency oscillations (VLFO; e.g., .05 Hz) in brain activity within the default mode network during the transition from rest to task, and (2) that failures to attenuate in this way will lead to an increased likelihood of periodic attention lapses that are synchronized to the VLFO pattern. Here, we tested these predictions using DC-EEG recordings within and outside of a previously identified network of electrode locations hypothesized to reflect DMN activity (i.e., S3 network; Helps et al., 2008 ). Method: 24 young adults (mean age 22.3 years; 8 male), sampled to include a wide range of ADHD symptoms, took part in a study of rest to task transitions. Two conditions were compared: 5 min of rest (eyes open) and a 10-min simple 2-choice RT task with a relatively high sampling rate (ISI 1 s). DC-EEG was recorded during both conditions, and the low-frequency spectrum was decomposed and measures of the power within specific bands extracted. Results: Shift from rest to task led to an attenuation of VLFO activity within the S3 network which was inversely associated with ADHD symptoms. RT during task also showed a VLFO signature. During task there was a small but significant degree of synchronization between EEG and RT in the VLFO band. Attenuators showed a lower degree of synchrony than nonattenuators. Discussion: The results provide some initial EEG-based support for the default mode interference hypothesis and suggest that failure to attenuate VLFO in the S3 network is associated with higher synchrony between low-frequency brain activity and RT fluctuations during a simple RT task. Although significant, the effects were small and future research should employ tasks with a higher sampling rate to increase the possibility of extracting robust and stable signals.


1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Konrad ◽  
I. A. Tsukerman

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