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Biomedical subjects

R I Kavet

Publications and source records attributed to R I Kavet.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Study of high- and low-current-configuration homes from the 1988 Denver Childhood Cancer Study.

An epidemiological study conducted by Savitz et al. reported that residential wire codes were more strongly associated with childhood cancer than were measured magnetic fields, a peculiar result because wire codes were originally developed to be a surrogate for residential magnetic fields. The primary purpose of the study reported here, known as the Back to Denver (BTD) study, was to obtain data to help in the interpretation of the original results of Savitz et al. The BTD study included 81 homes that had been occupied by case and control subjects of Savitz et al., stratified by wire code as follows: 18 high current configuration (HCC) case homes; 20 HCC control homes; 20 low current configuration (LCC) case homes; and 23 LCC control homes. Analysis of new data acquired in these homes led to the following previously unpublished conclusions. The home-averaged (i.e., mean of fields measured in subjects' bedrooms, family/living rooms, and rooms where meals normally eaten) spot 60 Hz, 180 Hz, and harmonic (i.e., 60-420 Hz) magnetic fields were associated with wire codes. The 180 Hz and harmonic components, but not the 60 Hz component, were associated with case/control status. Measured static magnetic fields were only weakly correlated (rapproximately 0.2) between rooms in homes. The BTD data provide little support for, but are too sparse to definitively test, the 1995 resonance hypothesis proposed by Bowman et al. Case and control homes had similar concentrations of copper in their tap water. Copper concentration was not associated with wire codes nor with the level of electric current carried by a home's water pipe. These results of the BTD study suggest that future case/control studies investigating power frequency magnetic fields might wish to include measurements of 180 Hz or harmonic magnetic fields in order to examine their associations (if any) with disease status.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed1986

Emerging issues in extremely-low-frequency electric and magnetic field health research.

Concern has increased over potential consequences of exposure to electric and magnetic fields of extremely low frequency (0-100 Hz), particularly from power transmission and distribution. Also at issue are electrical environments in homes and workplaces. Until recently, research focused on the electric, rather than the magnetic, field; now, both are under extensive investigation. A review of research to date indicates the following: Electric and magnetic fields can produce effects in vitro, with the locus of field interaction believed to be at the cell membrane. Chronic in vivo electric field exposure fails to produce effects except in behavior, neurophysiology, endocrinology, and, possibly, fetal development. The extrapolation of these animal data to humans requires further research. The epidemiological literature has, in some cases, reported an association between increased cancer rates and putative field exposure. Exposure assessments indicate that, in all likelihood, human exposures to 60-Hz electric fields of the magnitudes found under transmission lines are very infrequent; assessments are continuing to characterize exposure to 60-Hz magnetic fields and to measure the field frequency spectra found in residential and workplace settings. The public health issues emerging from this research focus on fetal development and on the initiation or promotion of cancer. It is critical to reduce existing uncertainties in order to enable valid risk assessment.

Electricity↗
PubMed1984

Airway macrophages. The importance of the fixation method.

Two methods of fixation, intravascular perfusion and intratracheal instillation, were compared with regard to the number, distribution, and appearance of airway and alveolar macrophages. With instillation of fixative, the number of airway macrophages present was reduced to only 32.6% of that seen after intravascular perfusion. Macrophages may have important physiologic and pathologic roles in the airways. The method of fixation is crucial for preservation of their numbers and location.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Phagocytosis: quantification of rates and intercellular heterogeneity.

We present a method which permits analysis of phagocytic behavior in small samples of macrophages. Both overall phagocytic kinetics and intercellular variability in particle uptake were measured. Macrophages lavaged from Syrian golden hamster lungs were incubated (5 min at 37 degrees C) with 2- to 4-mum plastic particles at 4.6, 6.9, 9.1, and 16.0 X 10(6) part./ml. Harvested macrophages ranged from 0.6 to 4.0 X 10(6) cells per animal. To concentrate the cells and separate them from cell-free substrate after termination of phagocytosis, 30-60% of each flask's contents were centrifuged (400 X g, 20 min) atop a Metrizamide subphase (34% wt/vol, rho = 1.18). Cells were collected from the interface, fixed, and visually scored for number of particles phagocytized. Phagocytic rates followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics with Vmax = 0.63 +/- 0.18 (SEM) part./viable cell per min and Km = 8.5 +/- 2.7 (SEM) X 10(6) part./ml. In every case (23/23 flasks from 6 animals) particle uptake exhibited greater (P less than 0.01) cell-to-cell variability in avidity for substrate than the Poisson distribution would predict from mean number of particles phagocytized per viable cell.

Animals↗