After years of being told that cell phone use is bad for you here is some good news
I justread cell phone exposure may prevent and reverser Alzheimer’s disease
onscitech-news (one of my research junkie sites.) Here is the link and thearticle.
What doyou think? t
Etiquetas:Medicine
The millions of people who spend hours every day on a cell phone may have a newexcuse for yakking. A surprising new study in mice provides the first evidencethat long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves associated with cell phone usemay actually protect against, and even reverse, Alzheimer's disease.
The study, led by University of South Florida researchers at the FloridaAlzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC), was published in the Journal ofAlzheimer's Disease.
"It surprised us to find that cell phone exposure, begun in earlyadulthood, protects the memory of mice otherwise destined to developAlzheimer's symptoms," said lead author Gary Arendash, PhD, USF ResearchProfessor at the Florida ADRC. "It was even more astonishing that theelectromagnetic waves generated by cell phones actually reversed memoryimpairment in old Alzheimer's mice."
The researchers showed that exposing old Alzheimer's mice to electromagneticwaves generated by cell phones erased brain deposits of the harmful proteinbeta-amyloid, in addition to preventing the protein's build-up in youngerAlzheimer's mice. The sticky brain plaques formed by the abnormal accumulationof beta amyloid are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Most treatments againstAlzheimer's try to target beta-amyloid.
The highly-controlled study allowed researchers to isolate the effects of cellphone exposure on memory from other lifestyle factors such as diet andexercise. It involved 96 mice, most of which were genetically altered todevelop beta-amyloid plaques and memory problems mimicking Alzheimer's diseaseas they aged. Some mice were non-demented, without any genetic predispositionfor Alzheimer's, so researchers could test the effects of electromagnetic waveson normal memory as well.
Both the Alzheimer's and normal mice were exposed to the electromagnetic fieldgenerated by standard cell phone use for two 1-hour periods each day for sevento nine months. The mice didn't wear tiny headsets or have scientists holdingcell phones up to their ears; instead, their cages were arranged around acentrally-located antenna generating the cell phone signal. Each animal was housedthe same distance from the antenna and exposed to electromagnetic wavestypically emitted by a cell phone pressed up against a human head.
If cell phone exposure was started when the genetically-programmed mice wereyoung adults -- before signs of memory impairment were apparent -- theircognitive ability was protected. In fact, the Alzheimer's mice performed aswell on tests measuring memory and thinking skills as aged mice withoutdementia. If older Alzheimer's mice already exhibiting memory problems wereexposed to the electromagnetic waves, their memory impairment disappeared.Months of cell phone exposure even boosted the memories of normal mice toabove-normal levels. The memory benefits of cell phone exposure took months toshow up, suggesting that a similar effect in humans would take years if cellphone-level electromagnetic exposure was provided.
Based on their promising and unexpected findings in mice, the researchersconcluded that electromagnetic field exposure could be an effective, non-invasiveand drug-free way to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease in humans. They arecurrently evaluating whether different sets of electromagnetic frequencies andstrengths will produce more rapid and even greater cognitive benefits thanthose found in their current study.
"If we can determine the best set of electromagnetic parameters toeffectively prevent beta-amyloid aggregation and remove pre-existing betaamyloid deposits from the brain, this technology could be quickly translated tohuman benefit against AD" said USF's Chuanhai Cao, PhD, the other majorstudy author. "Since production and aggregation of β-amyloid occurs intraumatic brain injury, particularly in soldiers during war, the therapeuticimpact of our findings may extend beyond Alzheimer's disease."
The memory test used to evaluate the effects of cell phone exposure in mice wasclosely designed from a sensitive test used to determine if Alzheimer'sdisease, or its very early signs (mild cognitive impairment), are present inhumans. "Since we selected electromagnetic parameters that were identicalto human cell phone use and tested mice in a task closely analogous to a humanmemory test, we believe our findings could have considerable relevance tohumans," Arendash said.
The researchers found a slight increase in brain temperature during the twoone-hour periods when mice were exposed to electromagnetic waves each day. Thisincrease in brain temperature was seen only in the Alzheimer's mice, and onlyafter months of exposure. The researchers suggest the increase in braintemperature helped the Alzheimer's brain to remove newly-formed beta-amyloid bycausing brain cells to release it.
The researchers were particularly surprised to discover that months of cellphone exposure actually boosted the memory of non-demented (normal mice) toabove-normal levels. They suspect that the main reason for this improvementinvolves the ability of electromagnetic exposure to increase brain activity,promoting greater blood flow and increased energy metabolism in the brain."Our study provides evidence that long-term cell phone use is not harmfulto brain," Dr. Cao said. "To the contrary, the electromagnetic wavesemitted by cell phones could actually improve normal memory and be an effectivetherapy against memory impairment"
"It will take some time to determine the exact mechanisms involved inthese beneficial memory effects," Arendash said. "One thing is clear,however - the cognitive benefits of long-term electromagnetic exposure arereal, because we saw them in both protection- and treatment-based experimentsinvolving Alzheimer's mice, as well as in normal mice."
Previous human studies of electromagnetic waves from cell phones involved onlybrief exposures given to normal humans. While some studies reported smallimprovements in attention or memory (not enough to impact daily life), othersreported no memory effects from short-term exposure. The new study by Arendash,Cao, and their colleagues is the first to investigate the effects of long-termelectromagnetic exposure over many months on memory function in either humansor animals. The findings indicate that "long-term" exposure to cellphone level electromagnetic waves is needed to observe enhanced memory innormal or memory-impaired mice.
The USF researchers began investigating the effects of cell phone use onAlzheimer's disease several years ago, after several observational studies inhumans linked a possible increased risk of Alzheimer's with"low-frequency" electromagnetic exposure -- like the energy wavesgenerated by power and telephone lines. However, cell phones emit"high-frequency" electromagnetic waves, which are very differentbecause they can have beneficial effects on brain cell function, such asincreasing brain cell activity, Arendash said.
There has been recent controversy about whether electromagnetic waves from cellphones cause brain cancer. Some researchers argue that the risk of glioma (40percent of all brain tumors) doubles after 10 or more years of cell phone use.However, others argue that since the overall lifetime risk of developing abrain tumor of any type is less than 1 percent, any doubling of this risk wouldstill be very low. Groups such as the World Health Organization, the AmericanCancer Society, and the National Institutes of Health, have all concluded thatscientific evidence to date does not support any adverse health effectsassociated with the use of cell phones. Consistent with the view of theseorganizations, the researchers found no autopsy evidence of abnormal growth inbrains of the Alzheimer's mice following many months of exposure to cellphone-level electromagnetic waves. They also found all major peripheral organs,such as the liver and lungs, to be normal.
(Photo: USF)
University of South Florida
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder