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Specific electromagnetic radiation in the wireless signal range increases wakefulness in mice
China Created: 5 Aug 2021
Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in the environment has increased sharply in recent decades.

The effect of environmental EMR on living organisms remains poorly characterized.

Here, we report the impact of wireless-range EMR on the sleep architecture of mouse.

Prolonged exposure to 2.4-GHz EMR modulated by 100-Hz square pulses at a nonthermal output level results in markedly increased time of wakefulness in mice.

These mice display corresponding decreased time of nonrapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM).

In contrast, prolonged exposure to unmodulated 2.4-GHz EMR at the same time-averaged output level has little impact on mouse sleep.

These observations identify alteration of sleep architecture in mice as a specific physiological response to prolonged wireless-range EMR exposure.

Read the entire study via the source link below...
Click here to view the source article.
Source: PNAS, Liu et al., 03 Aug 2021

China bans children from using mobile phones at school
China Created: 3 Feb 2021
Children in China are to be banned from using their phones in school, the Ministry of Education has ruled.

Pupils will not be allowed to bring mobiles to school without written parental consent.

The authorities say they want to protect young people's eyesight, improve their concentration and prevent internet addiction.

Schools are being encouraged to find other ways for parents to communicate with children during the school day.

According to one of the country's newspapers, China Daily, there has been heated debate among parents over the whether the ruling is practical.

The vast majority of children and teenagers in China access the internet via their own smartphones - 74% of under-18s, according to the government-affiliated China Internet Network Information Centre.

But the authorities are concerned about how internet use is affecting the health of the nation's youth.

There have been rising levels of nearsightedness among children in China and in 2018, the authorities announced plans to regulate the gaming industry which was partially blamed for the problem. They also cited concerns that gaming addiction was damaging mental health.

The following year a curfew was imposed on under-18s, who were restricted to 90 minutes of gaming on weekdays and three hours on weekends and holidays.
French ban

Many schools in China already restrict the use of mobile phones on their premises. In some extreme cases, phones have been smashed in front of students who have broken the rules.

The topic of a ban has become a major news item in China and on social media, with thousands discussing it on social media site Weibo.

Some 27,000 people voted in an online Sina News poll, with most saying there was no need for the new rules because of the widespread ban during school hours. Some pointed out that children may continue to over-use their phones when not in school.

A plan to stop schools setting homework tasks via phone has also been criticised. One teacher told state broadcaster CCTV that "not allowing phones to contact someone, or to arrange homework, that will take some getting used to. They all get so much homework, so that's been convenient."

French lawmakers voted in 2018 to ban the use of phones in primary and middle schools, ruling that children under 15 have to keep their mobile phones out of sight while on school premises.

A survey conducted in the UK by price comparison site uSwitch last year suggested that just under half of UK parents thought their child's school should ban mobile phones.

The use of phones in the UK is generally left up to individual schools. One head teacher, from Anglesey in Wales, told the BBC that teachers could find themselves spending too much time challenging children for using phones, which took time away from actually teaching them.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: BBC News, Jane Wakefield, 03 Feb 2021

China Unicom deactivating 5G masts overnight due to power consumption
China Created: 29 Sep 2020
When people talk about 5G, they’re often talking about the enormous boost in speed you’ll get from using the new mobile network technology. What many people don’t realise, though, is that it’s also expending a lot more energy for Chinese telecom companies.

At the beginning of August, a China Unicom branch announced that it would put some of its ZTE 5G base stations to sleep between 9pm and 9am to reduce electricity costs in the city of Luoyang.

A recent white paper from telecom equipment maker Huawei illustrates the problem: 5G base stations use up to three-and-a-half times more energy than 4G infrastructure. Part of the problem is that this new generation of mobile connectivity requires more densely placed base stations.

So as China has been rapidly rolling out new 5G base stations, reaching 410,000 nationwide in June, some cities are putting the ones they have to sleep to save energy because there aren’t enough users yet.

But Unicom, one of the country’s three state-owned telecom companies, is trying to assure users that they aren’t likely to see any change in service. “There’s no need to make a fuss,” said China Unicom CEO Wang Xiaochu.

“Shutting down base stations is not a manual shutdown, but an automatic adjustment made at a certain time, which has no impact on consumers and is good for investors,” Wang said, according to local media reports.

Wang’s comments came after news of the base station hibernation had some people questioning whether it was worth it to pay for 5G subscriptions if the stations won’t be accessible at certain hours. Unicom maintains that it isn’t a problem because hibernation schedules change according to need.

Li Fuchang, deputy director of the wireless networks research department at China Unicom’s Network Technology Research Institute, said that the hibernation function of the active array units (AAU) turns off the power supply when a base station is idle. This happens when there are no 5G users connected.
By adjusting the hibernation according to real-time data, operators can significantly reduce electricity and maintenance costs, Li recently told
Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

“When the base station is normally enabled, compared with the peak period, the energy consumption of the base station in the latter half of the night is not much reduced,” he said “However, most of the energy consumption is ‘ineffective energy consumption’.”

China first launched what it called the world’s largest 5G network at the end of last year
with subsidised plans. The technology is meant to herald the arrival of ultra-fast wireless broadband internet, but availability remains limited.

As 5G connectivity spreads, some researchers argue that the technology’s environmental impact, which includes energy and waste problems, is being overlooked.

Thanks to its wide roll-out, China is one of the first countries that will have to tackle this issue. But eventually the problem will be global.

Telecommunications equipment giant Ericsson warned in a report published in March that the communications technology industry will need to lower total mobile network energy consumption while facing massive traffic growth. Energy-saving software, replacing old equipment and using artificial intelligence can help achieve this, according to the report.

But operators will also have to change how they did business in the past.

“Energy consumption is set to increase dramatically if 5G is deployed in the same way as 3G and 4G were,” Ericsson CTO Erik Ekudden said in the report.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Abacus Tech, Masha Borak, 27 Aug 2020

Father sells his baby son for £2,100 to a stranger on social media so he and his girlfriend could buy new phones
China Created: 9 Jun 2017
A Chinese couple have sold their two-month-old son for 19,000 yuan (£2,166) after putting him up for an auction on social media, according to a report.

The couple, both said to be in their 20s, claimed in a social media post that they were 'too poor' to raise the baby and would 'give' him to the person who would pay them the most.

They spent the income on two new phones and clothes, the father said.

According to Jiangxi Broadcasting Station, the incident occurred in Ganzhou, China's Jiangxi Province, in late May.

The Ganzhou police were informed by people who saw the advertisement posted by the couple on WeChat, the Chinese equivalent to Whatsapp.

The police immediately dispatched officers to track down the couple.

After they found the father, he admitted that he had already sold the baby to a family living in a small village in Shashi Town, Ganzhou.

The father is identified by his surname Zou. His girlfriend is not identified.

Lai Taotao, an officer from the Ganzhou police, said the village is not accessible by car. He and his colleague found the boy after walking for more than an hour and asking around in the village.

Footage from a police camera shows that the baby was being looked after by a middle-aged woman when the officers found him.

The woman attempted to convince the officers that the baby had been given to her by an acquaintance.

After being interrogated, the woman admitted that the baby had been purchased from Mr Zou for 19,000 yuan (£2,166).

Mr Zou admitted that the boy is his son. He also claimed that he and his live-in girlfriend didn't have money to raise their child.

The man said after they received the money, they spent 'several hundred yuan' on food.

He also said they spent more than 4,000 yuan (£455) on two mobile phones.

He said he bought a phone for his girlfriend because she didn't have a phone, and he bought one for himself because his phone was old.

The couple also purchased one set of new clothes each, said the man.

Mr Zou has been arrested on suspicion of illegal buying and selling of babies.

It remains unclear whether or not his girlfriend would be arrested.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Daily Mail, Tracy You, 08 Jun 2017

Hong Kong residents urge government to tighten rules on electromagnetic radiation
China Created: 15 Mar 2017
They claim to be adversely affected by such emissions from rooftop transmitters, blaming it for headaches and even cancer.

Dozens of residents have called on the government to tighten regulations and standards for electromagnetic radiation, claiming to be adversely affected by such radiation from rooftop telecommunications transmitters.
Pastor Mike Liu was shocked when his younger sister was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour at the age of 30 in 2012. She died just a year later as the cancer was aggressive. He was dealt two furtherblows – his father was diagnosed and later died of oesophageal cancer in 2015, and his mother was diagnosed with early stage lung cancer a year later.
Liu, 38, claimed this was no coincidence. He blamed it on transmitters, which reside on the roof of the family home, a Tenants Purchase Scheme estate in Sheung Shui. Half of the 24 sets installed at the estate are above their unit on the 27th floor, the top level.

“The government says no studies have been able to prove there is any link to human health but no one has been able to prove there is no effect either,” Liu said.
He is not alone in his views. Democratic Party lawmaker Andrew Wan Siu-kin, who is assisting Liu and 31 other residents concerned or affected by rooftop base stations, said the government was “gambling with lives” by doing nothing to address such concerns. Some residents complain of chronic headaches and poor sleep, while others highlight weaker immune systems and irregular blood pressure after the stations were installed.

Wan believed the government was adopting too loose a standard for a city with such a high urban density. Such relaxed rules also made it possible for operators and occupants to install systems inside homes and violate leasing and building regulations, he said.
The authorities currently adopt radiation standards laid out by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). These are far less strict than those of several European countries and even the mainland, Wan added.
But he said the government needed to consider that large clusters of transmitters would have a much higher impact on residents than just one or two. “We hope the government faces the problem square [in the face],” Wan said.
The Office of the Communications Authority said it would continue to add more base stations on top of the current 47,000, as local demand for mobile communications continues to grow.
Several tests conducted at base stations in the past three years showed no violation of radiation safety standards, a spokeswoman said. “The ICNIRP is an independent scientific committee, whose development guidelines are approved by the World Health Organisation.”

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, under the Who, classifies such electromagnetic fields under “group 2B”, which means they are “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.
However, there has been no conclusive evidence to date of any related adverse health effects from EM field exposure.
Other group 2B carcinogens include coffee and pickled vegetables.

Dr Mamie Lau May-ming, a former principal environmental protection officer with the government and a radioactive health expert, believed it was “definitely possible” for electromagnetic waves to affect human health.
“EM waves can cause our body to form free radicals, which are very strong oxidising agents that can damage cells, DNA and affect nervous systems,” she said. “It’s similar to how metal rusts or oil turns rancid with oxidation. It can cause cell mutations and this can cause cancers.”

Lau, director of non-profit group RadHealth, noted the health impact or lack of impact from EM exposure depended on how well an individual’s body repaired itself.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: South China Morning Post, Ernest Kao, 05 Mar 2017

Microwaves and Alzheimer's disease
China Created: 10 Oct 2016
Conclusion: The impact of wireless communication on human health is a mater of debate - Since there are widespread concerns regarding the deleterious effects of the exposure to microwaves on human tissues and the subsequent potential threat of carcinogenesis, we can conclude that the current exposure to microwaves during the use of cell phones is not safe for long-term exposure, despite the current scientific opinion.

Absorption of the cell phone signal into the brain of children does not exclude serious neuronal damage, as evidenced in rat studies (50). In addition, the increased risk of tumors of the head associated with long-term cell phone use is evident since radiofrequency may cause the blood-brain barrier to leak and to favor the damage of genetic material which consists of common precursors to cancer (51).

Accordingly, poor fertility and the increased chance of miscarriage and childhood cancer have been associated with cell phone storage in front pockets. Notably, the data suggested that the hippocampus can be injured by long-term microwave exposure (52), which may result in the impairment of cognitive function due to neurotransmitter disruption.

These results suggest that precautionary approach underlying the restrictive use of cell phones constitutes essential appropriate guidelines to follow although additional studies are needed.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: PubMed, Xia Zhang / Wen-Juan Huang / Wei-Wei Chen, 04 Aug 2016

Microwaves impair microvascular bloodflow
China Created: 28 Aug 2015
Abstract; Objective: The study aimed to investigate the effect of microwave radiation on microvasculature as well as the underlying mechanisms.

Methods
Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to microwave radiation. Microvascular diameters, flow velocity, blood perfusion, and permeability were measured. Cultured endothelial cells from microvessels were subjected to microwave radiation. Cytoskeleton, apoptosis, protein synthesis, and the markers of endoplasmic reticulum stress including 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein and calreticulin in endothelial cells were examined.

Results
Microwave radiation decreased microvascular diameters and blood perfusion, and increased the permeability of microvessles. And microwave radiation induced the formation of stress fibers, apoptosis, and LDH leakage from microvascular endothelial cells. Also, when microvascular endothelial cells were exposed to microwaves, protein synthesis was significantly elevated. We found that upon microwave radiation, the expression of 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein and calreticulin were greatly upregulated in microvascular endothelial cells. We also investigated possible signaling pathways for endoplasmic reticulum stress-initiated apoptosis. C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) pathway was activated in microvascular endothelial cells exposed to microwaves.

Conclusions
Microwave radiation induces microvascular injury by triggering the apoptotic pathway of endoplasmic reticulum stress.


Li Y, Qu X, Wang X, Liu M, Wang C, Lv Z, Li W, Tao T, Song D, Liu X. Microwave radiation injures microvasculature through inducing endoplasmic reticulum stress. Microcirculation 21: 490–498, 2014.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Microvasculature Journal, Li et al., 06 Aug 2015

Blood-Brain-Barrier damage from 900 MHz confirmed and explained by Chinese Scientists
China Created: 19 May 2015
Exposure to 900 MHz electromagnetic fields activates the mkp-1/ERK pathway and causes blood-brain barrier damage and cognitive impairment in rats.

Abstract

With the rapid increase in the number of mobile phone users, the potential adverse effects of the electromagnetic field radiation emitted by a mobile phone has become a serious concern. This study demonstrated, for the first time, the blood-brain barrier and cognitive changes in rats exposed to 900 MHz electromagnetic field (EMF) and aims to elucidate the potential molecular pathway underlying these changes.

A total of 108 male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to a 900 MHz, 1 mW/cm(2) EMF or sham (unexposed) for 14 or 28 days (3h per day). The specific energy absorption rate (SAR) varied between 0.016 (whole body) and 2 W/kg (locally in the head). In addition, the Morris water maze test was used to examine spatial memory performance determination.

Morphological changes were investigated by examining ultrastructural changes in the hippocampus and cortex, and the Evans Blue assay was used to assess blood brain barrier (BBB) damage. Immunostaining was performed to identify heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)-positive neurons and albumin extravasation detection. Western blot was used to determine HO-1 expression, phosphorylated ERK expression and the upstream mediator, mkp-1 expression.

We found that the frequency of crossing platforms and the percentage of time spent in the target quadrant were lower in rats exposed to EMF for 28 days than in rats exposed to EMF for 14 days and unexposed rats. Moreover, 28 days of EMF exposure induced cellular edema and neuronal cell organelle degeneration in the rat. In addition, damaged BBB permeability, which resulted in albumin and HO-1 extravasation were observed in the hippocampus and cortex.

Thus, for the first time, we found that EMF exposure for 28 days induced the expression of mkp-1, resulting in ERK dephosphorylation. Taken together, these results demonstrated that exposure to 900 MHz EMF radiation for 28 days can significantly impair spatial memory and damage BBB permeability in rat by activating the mkp-1/ERK pathway.

Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS:
Blood brain barrier; Electromagnetic field; albumin extravasation; mkp-1/ERK pathway; spatial memory
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Pubmed, Tang et al., 19 Mar 2015

Exposure to 900 MHz electromagnetic fields causes blood-brain barrier damage and cognitive impairment in rats
China Created: 29 Jan 2015
Abstract: With the rapid increase in the number of mobile phone users, the potential adverse effects of the electromagnetic field radiation emitted by a mobile phone has become a serious concern.

This study demonstrated, for the first time, the blood-brain barrier and cognitive changes in rats exposed to 900 MHz electromagnetic field (EMF) and aims to elucidate the potential molecular pathway underlying these changes.
A total of 108 male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to a 900 MHz, 1 mW/cm2 EMF or sham (unexposed) for 14 or 28 days (3 h per day).

The specific energy absorption rate (SAR) varied between 0.016 (whole body) and 2 W/kg (locally in the head). In addition, the Morris water maze test was used to examine spatial memory performance determination. Morphological changes were investigated by examining ultrastructural changes in the hippocampus and cortex, and the Evans Blue assay was used to assess blood brain barrier (BBB) damage. Immunostaining was performed to identify heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)-positive neurons and albumin extravasation detection. Western blot was used to determine HO-1 expression, phosphorylated ERK expression and the upstream mediator, mkp-1 expression.

We found that the frequency of crossing platforms and the percentage of time spent in the target quadrant were lower in rats exposed to EMF for 28 days than in rats exposed to EMF for 14 days and unexposed rats. Moreover, 28 days of EMF exposure induced cellular edema and neuronal cell organelle degeneration in the rat. In addition, damaged BBB permeability, which resulted in albumin and HO-1 extravasation were observed in the hippocampus and cortex. Thus, for the first time, we found that EMF exposure for 28 days induced the expression of mkp-1, resulting in ERK dephosphorylation.

Taken together, these results demonstrated that exposure to 900 MHz EMF radiation for 28 days can significantly impair spatial memory and damage BBB permeability in rat by activating the mkp-1/ERK pathway.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Science Direct, Tang et al. 15 Jan 2015

Inside an internet addiction treatment centre in China
China Created: 17 Dec 2014
IN CHINA, if you are a kid who spends a long time online, you had better watch out - Your parents may send you off for "treatment".

At the Internet Addiction Treatment Centre in Beijing, children must take part in military-style activities, including exercise drills and the singing of patriotic songs. They are denied access to the internet. One of the first experiences internees undergo is brain monitoring through electroencephalography (EEG). The programme is run by psychologist Tao Ran, who claims the brains of internet and heroin addicts display similarities.

The rise of such centres has, in some cases, been coupled with reports of brutality. One camp in Henan province was recently criticised after it was alleged that a 19-year-old girl died following corporal punishment doled out by officers.

These photographs [see source link] were taken by Fernando Morales during a four-day visit to the Beijing centre in June with journalist Zigor Aldama.

"We had heard stories about electroshocks, physical torture and confinement, but we found none of those," says Aldama.

"The children usually get angry when they know that they'll be locked in the centre, where parents put them without prior notice. They deny suffering an addiction. But as time goes by, I believe they are more sociable and calm. They get in better physical shape thanks to the sports training," Aldama says.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Hooked on the web"
Click here to view the source article.
Source: New Scientist, Chris Baraniuk, 15 Dec 2014

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