Biomedical subjects

W T Kaune

Publications and source records attributed to W T Kaune.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1998

Cosmic radiation and magnetic field exposure to airline flight crews.

BACKGROUND: Flight crews are exposed to elevated levels of cosmic radiation and to magnetic fields generated by the aircraft's electrical system. The purpose of this study was to quantify these two occupational exposures. METHODS: Magnetic fields were measured during 37 flights (23 in the cockpit and 14 in the cabin) using an Emdex Lite personal dosimeter. All cockpit measurements were taken on the B737/200. Cabin measurements were taken in several aircraft types, including the B737, B757, DC9, and L1011. Cosmic radiation was computer estimated for 206 flights using the Federal Aviation Administration's program CARI-3C. RESULTS: Magnetic field levels in the cockpit had a mean value of approximately 17 milliGauss (mG), while cabin measurements were lower (mean values of approximately 3 or less in economy, 6 in first class, 8 in front serving areas). Cosmic radiation equivalent dose rates to bone marrow and skeletal tissue ranged from 0.3 to 5.7 microsieverts per hour. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated magnetic field levels in front serving areas and the cockpit suggest the need for further study to evaluate long-term exposure to flight crew members who work in these areas. Cosmic radiation levels are well below occupational limits for adults, but may require some pregnant flight crew members to adjust their flying time or routes.

Aerospace Medicine↗

PubMed1998

Residential wire codes: reproducibility and relation with measured magnetic fields.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the reproducibility of wire codes to characterise residential power line configurations and to determine the extent to which wire codes provide a proxy measure of residential magnetic field strength in a case-control study of childhood leukaemia conducted in nine states within the United States. METHODS: Misclassification of wire codes was assessed with independent measurements by two technicians for 187 residences. The association between categories of wire code and measured level of magnetic field was evaluated in 858 residences with both a wire code measurement and a 24 hour measurement of the magnetic field in the bedroom. The strength of the association between category of wire code and risk of leukaemia was examined in two regions with different average levels of magnetic field in homes with high categories of wire code. RESULTS: The reproducibility of any of three different classifications of wire codes was excellent (kappa > or = 0.89). Mean and median magnetic fields, and the percentage of homes with high magnetic fields increased with increasing category for each of the wire code classification schemes. The size of the odds ratios for risk of leukaemia and high categories of wire code did not reflect the mean levels of the magnetic field in those categories in two study regions. CONCLUSION: Misclassification of categories of wire code is not a major source of bias in the study. Wire codes provide a proxy measure of exposure to residential magnetic fields. If magnetic fields were a risk factor for leukaemia, however, there would be some attenuation of risk estimates based on wire codes because of misclassification of exposure to magnetic fields at both extremes of the wire code range. The lack of an association between high categories of wire code and risk of leukaemia cannot be explained by a failure of the wire code classification schemes to estimate exposure to magnetic fields in the study area.

Bias↗

PubMed1998

Association between childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and use of electrical appliances during pregnancy and childhood.

As part of a comprehensive study of residential magnetic field exposure in nine midwestern and mid-Atlantic states, we evaluated the use of appliances by 640 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 0-14 years of age, diagnosed between 1989 and 1993, and 640 matched control children. Mothers were interviewed regarding use of electrical appliances during their pregnancy with the subject and the child's postnatal use. The risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia was elevated in children whose mothers reported use of an electric blanket or mattress pad during pregnancy [odds ratio (OR) = 1.59; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.11-2.29] but was reduced for use of sewing machines during pregnancy (OR = 0.76; 95% CI = 0.59-0.98). The risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia was increased with children's use of electric blankets or mattress pads (OR = 2.75; 95% CI = 1.52-4.98) and three other electrical appliances (hair dryers, video machines in arcades, and video games connected to a television), but the patterns of risk for duration in years of use and frequency of use were inconsistent for most appliances used by children. Risks rose with increasing number of hours per day children spent watching television, but risks were similar regardless of the usual distance from the television. The inconsistency in the dose-response patterns for many appliances, reporting and selection bias, and the lack of an effect for measured 60 Hertz magnetic fields or wire codes in our companion study must be considered before ascribing these associations to exposures from magnetic fields.

Case-Control Studies↗

PubMed1998

Temporal characteristics of transmission-line loadings in the Swedish childhood cancer study.

A recent study conducted in Sweden reported that 1) leukemia risk in children who lived near 220 or 400 kV electric-power transmission lines was associated with calculated historical magnetic field levels; 2) children living within a distance of 50 m of transmission lines had an elevated risk of leukemia; and 3) there was no association between leukemia and residential magnetic fields measured many years after diagnosis. Subsequently, these investigators found through logistic regression analysis that disease was more strongly associated with calculated historical fields than with distance. Since the calculated historical fields in that study depended predominantly on distance and transmission-line load current, the logistic regression results suggest that historical load current plays an important role in the epidemiological results. Thus, we studied hourly 1974 load-current data for six transmission lines, and we examined 1958-1985 annual load-current data for 112 transmission lines. Most lines exhibited marked diurnal load-current rhythms during 1974, and all six showed systematic weekday-weekend differences. During 1958-1985, average loadings of Swedish 220 and 400 kV lines increased by about 1.3% year. Predictive-value and kappa-statistic analyses indicated that Swedish transmission-line load currents were not stable over long periods, so that contemporaneous load current (or a contemporary magnetic field measurement) was not a good surrogate for historical load current (or historical magnetic fields). The results provide a potential explanation of the failure of the Swedish Study to find an association between leukemia and contemporaneous magnetic field levels measured many years after the etiologic period, and suggest that the inclusion of load-current data could significantly improve the quality of historical field calculations.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1997

Residential exposure to magnetic fields and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies found associations between childhood leukemia and surrogate indicators of exposure to magnetic fields (the power-line classification since known as "wire coding"), but not between childhood leukemia and measurements of 60-Hz residential magnetic fields. METHODS: We enrolled 638 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who were under 15 years of age and were registered with the Children's Cancer Group and 620 controls in a study of residential exposure to magnetic fields generated by nearby power lines. In the subjects' current and former homes, data collectors measured magnetic fields for 24 hours in the child's bedroom and for 30 seconds in three or four other rooms and outside the front door. A computer algorithm assigned wire-code categories; based on the distance and configuration of nearby power lines, to the subjects' main residences (for 416 case patients and 416 controls) and to those where the family had lived during the mother's pregnancy with the subject (for 230 case patients and 230 controls). RESULTS: The risk of childhood ALL was not linked to summary time-weighted average residential magnetic-field levels, categorized according to a priori criteria. The odds ratio for ALL was 1.24 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.86 to 1.79) at exposures of 0.200 mu T or greater as compared with less than 0.065 mu T. The risk of ALL was not increased among children whose main residences were in the highest wire-code category (odds ratio as compared with the lowest category, 0.88; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.48 to 1.63). Furthermore, the risk was not significantly associated with either residential magnetic-field levels or the wire codes of the homes mothers resided in when pregnant with the subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide little evidence that living in homes characterized by high measured time-weighted average magnetic-field levels or by the highest wire-code category increases the risk of ALL in children.

Case-Control Studies↗

PubMed1997

Magnetic field exposure assessment in a case-control study of childhood leukemia.

Epidemiologic evaluation of the relation between magnetic field exposures and cancer depends critically on study design, particularly the methods used for exposure assessment. We incorporated a complex magnetic field exposure assessment protocol into a large incident case-control study of childhood leukemia. We measured residential magnetic fields using a standard protocol in current and former homes of 638 cases and 620 controls and determined wire codes for 414 case-control pairs. We chose a time-weighted average of magnetic field measurements in each eligible home, weighted by the time the subject lived in each home as the main exposure metric for each subject. We found that 24-hour bedroom magnetic field measurements adequately characterize children's residential exposure and that measuring other rooms contributes only slightly to the estimate of average residential exposure to magnetic fields. Front door measured fields provide useful exposure information when interior measurements are missing. If feasible, measuring multiple homes in which the subject has resided is preferable to measuring a single home. A similar distribution of wire codes for controls agreeing or refusing to participate in our study implies that risk estimates derived from wire code data will not be influenced by response bias.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1997

Comparison of coupling of humans to electric and magnetic fields with frequencies between 100 Hz and 100 kHz.

Recent laboratory and epidemiological results have stimulated interest in the hypothesis that human beings may exhibit biological responses to magnetic and/or electric field transients with frequencies in the range between 100 Hz and 100 kHz. Much can be learned about the response of a system to a transient stimulation by understanding its response to sinusoidal disturbances over the entire frequency range of interest. Thus, the main effort of this paper was to compare the strengths of the electric fields induced in homogeneous ellipsoidal models by uniform 100 Hz through 100 kHz electric and magnetic fields. Over this frequency range, external electric fields of about 25-2000 V/m (depending primarily on the orientation of the body relative to the field) are required to induce electric fields inside models of adults and children that are similar in strength to those induced by an external 1 microT magnetic field. Additional analysis indicates that electric fields induced by uniform external electric and magnetic fields and by the nonuniform electric and magnetic fields produced by idealized point sources will not differ by more than a factor of two until the sources are brought close to the body. Published data on electric and magnetic field transients in residential environments indicate that, for most field orientations, the magnetic component will induce stronger electric fields inside adults and children than the electric component. This conclusion is also true for the currents induced in humans by typical levels of 60 Hz electric and magnetic fields in U.S. residences.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Childhood exposure to magnetic fields: residential area measurements compared to personal dosimetry.

We examined the relation between area measurements of residential magnetic fields and personal dosimetry measurements among 64 control children age 2-14 years from the National Cancer Institute-Children's Cancer Group's nine-state case-control study of childhood leukemia. During a typical weekday, an activity diary was completed, and a 24-hour measurement was obtained in each child's bedroom. According to the activity diaries, children spent more than 40% of the 24 hours in their bedrooms, and 68% of their time at home. We found that at-home personal dosimetry levels were highly correlated with total personal dosimetry levels in children under 9 years (Spearman correlation coefficient, R = 0.94), whereas the correlation was lower in older children (R = 0.59). For all children combined, bedroom 24-hour measurements correlated well with at-home personal dosimetry levels (R = 0.76). The 24-hour bedroom measurement was a useful predictor of both at-home and total personal dosimetry measurements. Particularly for younger children, our data suggest that in-home area measurements predict both current residential and current total magnetic field exposures. This information will be valuable for assessing the validity of exposure assessment in previous and ongoing studies and for developing measurement protocols for future studies.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Estimating exposure in studies of residential magnetic fields and cancer: importance of short-term variability, time interval between diagnosis and measurement, and distance to power line.

Validity of exposure assessment methods has been a major concern in epidemiologic studies of magnetic field exposure and cancer. We conducted a study to evaluate the relative importance of distance to power lines and calculated historical magnetic fields when estimating past magnetic field exposure. Another goal was to compare results based on various estimates of magnetic field exposure, to assess the importance of short-term variability in magnetic fields, time between diagnosis and measurement, and sources of magnetic field exposure. We used data from a Swedish case-control study of residential exposure to magnetic fields and cancer. Childhood leukemia risk was associated with calculated historical annual average magnetic fields regardless of distance, and the association with distance disappeared when both variables were entered into the same logistic regression model. Relative risks for measurements at the time of the study (contemporary annual average fields, spot calculations, and spot measurements) were all close to or below unity. The results support the hypothesis that the difference between results using historical calculations and spot measurements is explained by the time interval between diagnosis and contemporary magnetic field estimates.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Comment on "designing EMF experiments: what is required to characterize 'exposure'?".

Dr. Peter Valberg has written an excellent and clear paper describing our current understanding of the many facets of characterizing exposure to extremely-low-frequency (ELF) electric and magnetic fields. Dr. Valberg has directed his paper to the characterization of exposures used in laboratory experimentation. In this context, it seems to me that Valberg's program of exposure characterization can be accomplished with currently available instrumentation and with relatively modest effort. Thus, I have no fundamental problems with his recommendations and, really, have only a few minor comments to make. However, if one argues that Valberg's recommendations should be extended to the characterization of exposure in epidemiological research, I have serious reservations, which I will mention briefly at the end of this commentary.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Childhood cancer occurrence in relation to power line configurations: a study of potential selection bias in case-control studies.

Several case-control studies have reported positive associations between childhood cancer and proximity to high-current residential power lines as defined by the Wertheimer-Leeper code. We conducted a study to evaluate whether or not differential nonparticipation of controls as a function of socioeconomic status is likely to account for the observed associations. We assessed the relation of annual family income to the Wertheimer-Leeper code in a sample of 392 households in western Washington state, and we evaluated the magnitude of bias that could occur from differential participation of low- and high-income eligible controls. Very-high-current configurations were most frequently located among households with self-reported family income of less than +15,000 per year, and very-low-current configurations were most frequently located among those with self-reported family income of more than +45,000 per year. In a hypothetical case-control study in which: (1) it was assumed that there is no true etiologic relation between power line configurations and cancer occurrence, and (2) controls with very low income were less likely to participate than others, observed (biased) odds ratios ranged from 1.03 to 1.24. If these results are applicable to other areas where case-control studies of cancer in relation to power lines have been conducted, they suggest that relatively lower participation among exposed controls (as a function of very low income) is not likely to account for the elevated risks of 1.5- to 3-fold that have been observed in these previous studies.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Development of a protocol for assessing time-weighted-average exposures of young children to power-frequency magnetic fields.

A study was carried out in 1990 to guide the development of a protocol for assessing residential exposures of children to time-weighted-average (TWA) power-frequency magnetic fields. The principal goal of this dosimetry study was to determine whether area (i.e., spot and/or 24 h) measurements of power-frequency magnetic fields in the residences and in the schools and daycare centers of 29 children (4 months through 8 years of age) could be used to predict their measured personal 24-h exposures. TWA personal exposures, measured with AMEX-3D meters worn by subjects, were approximately log-normally distributed with both residential and nonresidential geometric means of 0.10 microT (1.0 mG). Between-subjects variability in residential personal exposure levels (geometric standard deviation of 2.4) was substantially greater than that observed for nonresidential personal exposure levels (1.4). The correlation between log-transformed residential and total personal exposure levels was 0.97. Time-weighted averages of the magnetic fields measured in children's bedrooms, family rooms, living rooms, and kitchens were highly correlated with residential personal exposure levels (r = 0.90). In general, magnetic field levels measured in schools and daycare centers attended by subjects were smaller and less variable than measured residential fields and were only weakly correlated with measured nonresidential personal exposures. The final measurement protocol, which will be used in a large US study examining the relationship between childhood leukemia and exposure to magnetic fields, contains the following elements: normal- and low-power spot magnetic field measurements in bedrooms occupied by subjects during the 5 years prior to the date of diagnosis for cases or the corresponding date for controls; spot measurements under normal and low power-usage conditions at the centers of the kitchen and the family room; 24-h magnetic-field recordings near subjects' beds; and wire coding using the Wertheimer-Leeper method.

Child↗

PubMed1994

Simplification of the Wertheimer-Leeper wire code.

Wire codes, introduced by Wertheimer and Leeper as a surrogate for residential magnetic fields, divide imputed exposure into several categories based on the configurations of electrical wiring within 40 m of homes. Using the data set gathered by Savitz et al. in the Denver, Colorado, area of the United States, we determined which of the wiring attributes that contribute to Wertheimer-Leeper coding are actually associated with low-power magnetic fields measured in bedrooms of subjects. The results led us to propose a considerably simplified three-category form of the Wertheimer-Leeper code that 1) drops the distinctions between thick and thin primary wires and between first-span and other secondary lines, 2) adds a new distinction between open (i.e., conductors not in physical contact) and spun secondaries, and 3) explains as much of the between-home variability in log-transformed bedroom fields as does the five categories of the original Wertheimer-Leeper code. The data necessary to classify residences using the modified code are considerably simpler to obtain and should lead to more reliable results. A separate reanalysis of the Denver data set of Savitz et al, shows that the modified code yields risk estimates that are both precise and markedly elevated for the highest exposure category, suggesting that this code may be useful in other studies.

Colorado↗

PubMed1993

Childhood cancer in relation to a modified residential wire code.

Several studies have found associations between wire configuration codes, a proxy for historical residential magnetic field exposure, and childhood cancer. The Wertheimer-Leeper coding method was modified by eliminating the distinction between thick and thin primaries, distinguishing only between open and spun secondaries, and reducing the number of categories from five to three. The association between the modified code and measured magnetic fields was similar to the association with the original wire code. The modified code was used to reanalyze data from a case-control study of childhood cancer in the Denver metropolitan area. In the original study, cases were diagnosed from 1976 to 1983 among children under age 15 and compared to controls selected through random digit dialing. Wire codes for the residence at diagnosis yielded imprecise elevations of two and above for very high current configuration homes or modest 1.5-fold elevations for a dichotomous wire code. In contrast, the modified Wertheimer-Leeper code generated risk estimates that were both precise and markedly elevated for the high wire code (HWC) compared to low wire code (LWC) classifications, with medium wire code (MWC) showing little or no increase in risk. High wire code yielded odds ratios of 1.9 for total cancers (95% CI: 1.1-3.2), 2.9 for leukemias (95% CI: 1.5-5.5), and 2.5 for brain cancer (95% CI: 1.1-5.5) that were not confounded by measured potential risk factors for childhood cancer. These risk estimates are larger than the dichotomized results and more precise than those from the original five-level wire code, though limitations in the original study remain, particularly potential control selection bias.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Repeatability of measurements of residential magnetic fields and wire codes.

Several epidemiological studies have been based on wire codes (i.e., categories of electrical wiring configurations near residences) or on in-home spot measurements of magnetic flux density (MFD) as surrogates for short- and long-term exposure of children and adults to residential magnetic fields. We used wire code and MFD measurements that were made in 81 Colorado homes in 1985 and again in 1990 to assess their repeatability over periods of 0-24 h and 5 years. These homes, a subset of those lived in by subjects from the case-control study of Savitz et al. [Am J Epidemiol 128:21-38, 1988], were divided into four approximately equally sized groups that were differentiated by wire code and by case-control status. Eight homes were assigned wire codes in 1990 that differed from the 1985 coding of Savitz and colleagues [1988]; of these, seven were coded as high-current configuration (HCC) and one as low-current configuration (LCC) in 1985. Overall, 37 homes were coded as HCC in 1990 compared with 38 homes in 1985. Coding differences were due to differing distance measurements (four homes), differing "thick" vs. "thin" categorization of primary-distribution line-conductor sizes (two homes), differing "first-span" vs. "second-span" categorization of secondary wires (one home), and physical changes in proximate electrical wiring (one home). Coefficients of correlation between MFD spot measurements that were separated in time by 0-24 h range between 0.70 and 0.90. The coefficient between spot measurements made in 1985 and then again in 1990 is 0.70. These coefficients are similar for HCC and LCC homes and do not depend on whether residential appliances were turned on or off. The data show (at least for the portion of Colorado studied) that residential wire code and, more surprisingly, spot MFD measurements, are fairly reliable over 0-24-h and 5-year periods.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Assessing human exposure to power-frequency electric and magnetic fields.

This paper reviews published literature and current problems relating to the assessment of occupational and residential human exposures to power-frequency electric and magnetic fields. Available occupational exposure data suggest that the class of job titles known as electrical workers may be an effective surrogate for time-weighted-average (TWA) magnetic-field (but not electric-field) exposure. Current research in occupational-exposure assessment is directed to the construction of job-exposure matrices based on electric- and magnetic-field measurements and estimates of worker exposures to chemicals and other factors of interest. Recent work has identified five principal sources of residential magnetic fields: electric power transmission lines, electric power distribution lines, ground currents, home wiring, and home appliances. Existing residential-exposure assessments have used one or more of the following techniques: questionnaires, wiring configuration coding, theoretical field calculations, spot electric- and magnetic-field measurements, fixed-site magnetic-field recordings, personal- exposure measurements, and geomagnetic-field measurements. Available normal-power magnetic-field data for residences differ substantially between studies. It is not known if these differences are due to geographical differences, differences in measurement protocols, or instrumentation differences. Wiring codes and measured magnetic fields (but not electric fields) are associated weakly. Available data suggest, but are far from proving, that spot measurements may be more effective than wire codes as predictors of long-term historical magnetic-field exposure. Two studies find that away-from-home TWA magnetic-field exposures are less variable than at-home exposures. The importance of home appliances as contributors to total residential magnetic-field exposure is not known at this time. It also is not known what characteristics (if any) of residential electric and magnetic fields are determinants of human health effects.

Electric Wiring↗

PubMed1993

Introduction to power-frequency electric and magnetic fields.

This paper introduces the reader to electric and magnetic fields, particularly those fields produced by electric power systems and other sources using frequencies in the power-frequency range. Electric fields are produced by electric charges; a magnetic field also is produced if these charges are in motion. Electric fields exert forces on other charges; if in motion, these charges will experience magnetic forces. Power-frequency electric and magnetic fields induce electric currents in conducting bodies such as living organisms. The current density vector is used to describe the distribution of current within a body. The surface of the human body is an excellent shield for power-frequency electric fields, but power-frequency magnetic fields penetrate without significant attenuation; the electric fields induced inside the body by either exposure are comparable in magnitude. Electric fields induced inside a human by most environmental electric and magnetic fields appear to be small in magnitude compared to levels naturally occurring in living tissues. Detection of such fields thus would seem to require the existence of unknown biological mechanisms. Complete characterization of a power-frequency field requires measurement of the magnitudes and electrical phases of the fundamental and harmonic amplitudes of its three vector components. Most available instrumentation measures only a small subset, or some weighted average, of these quantities. Hand-held survey meters have been used widely to measure power-frequency electric and magnetic fields. Automated data-acquisition systems have come into use more recently to make electric- and magnetic-field recordings, covering periods of hours to days, in residences and other environments.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Electromagnetic Fields↗

PubMed1992

Rats are not aversive when exposed to 60-Hz magnetic fields at 3.03 mT.

Thirty-two male rats were tested in two replicates of an experiment to determine whether body currents induced by 60-Hz magnetic fields might lead to avoidance behavior comparable to that which results from exposure to strong 60-Hz electric fields. The test apparatus was a two-compartment Plexiglas shuttlebox enclosed in a sound-attenuating plywood chamber, which in turn was encompassed by two copper bus bars that, when energized, served as a source of 60-Hz magnetic fields. Location of the rat, and traverse activity in the shuttlebox were monitored by nine infra-red photo detectors equally spaced along the length of the apparatus. Rats were divided into 2 groups: 1 group of rats (n = 8 per group per replicate) was sham exposed while rats in the other group (n = 8 per group per replicate) were exposed to a 3.03 mT (30.3 G), 60-Hz magnetic field whenever they traversed to or were located on the side (L or R) predetermined as the exposed side. To control artifact incident to side preference, the side exposed (L or R) was alternated over the exposed rats. Each rat was tested individually in a 1-h session. A 2-factor ANOVA (exposed vs. control, replicate 1 vs. replicate 2) failed to reveal any significant effects due to either factor or to an interaction between factors. These data demonstrate that rats do not avoid exposure to 60-Hz magnetic fields at a flux density of 3.03 mT and further imply that the avoidance by rats of high level 60-Hz electric fields is mediated by something other than the internal body currents induced by the exposure.

Animals↗