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After all the concern over possible damage to health from using mobile phones, scientists have found a potential benefit from radiation.
Their work has been carried out on mice, but it suggests mobiles might protect against Alzheimer's.
Florida scientists found that phone radiation actually protected the memories of mice programmed to get Alzheimer's disease.
They are now testing more frequencies to see if they can get better results.
The study by the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre is published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
Genetically altered mice
It involved 96 mice, most of which had been genetically altered to develop beta-amyloid plaques in their brains, which are a marker of Alzheimer's disease, as they aged.
The rest of the mice were non-demented.
All the mice were exposed to the electro-magnetic field generated by a standard phone for two one-hour periods each day for seven to nine months.
Their cages were arranged at the same distance around a centrally located antenna generating the phone signal.
The researchers, led by Professor Gary Arendash, said that if the phone exposure was started when the Alzheimer's mice were young adults, before signs of memory impairment were apparent, their cognitive ability was protected.
In fact, the Alzheimer's mice performed as well on tests measuring memory and thinking skills as aged mice without dementia.
If older Alzheimer's mice already showing memory problems were exposed to the electro-magnetic waves, their memory impairment disappeared.
Professor Arendash was the author of a previous study that said coffee could protect against Alzheimer's.
He said: "It will take some time to determine the exact mechanisms involved in these beneficial memory effects.
"One thing is clear, however - the cognitive benefits of long-term electro-magnetic exposure are real, because we saw them in both protection and treatment-based experiments involving Alzheimer's mice, as well as in normal mice."
Memory benefits
The memory benefits of phone exposure took months to show up, suggesting that a similar effect in humans would take years.
The researchers conclude that electro-magnetic field exposure could be an effective, non-invasive and drug-free way to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease in humans.
Rebecca Wood Alzheimer's Research Trust
They are currently testing whether different sets of frequencies and strengths might produce a more rapid and greater cognitive benefit.
Chuanhai Cao, another author of the study, said: "Since production and aggregation of beta-amyloid occurs in traumatic brain injury, particularly in soldiers during war, the therapeutic impact of our findings may extend beyond Alzheimer's disease."
The authors say previous studies have linked a possible increased risk of Alzheimer's with "low-frequency" electro-magnetic exposure like the energy waves generated by power and telephone lines.
They say mobile phones emit "high frequency" electro-magnetic waves that are very different because they can have beneficial effects on brain function, such as increasing brain cell activity.
Organs normal
They did carry out autopsies on the mice and found no evidence of abnormal growth in the brains of the Alzheimer's mice following months of exposure to the electro-magnetic waves.
They also found all the major peripheral organs, such as the liver and lungs, were normal.
Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "This research has been carried out in mice that mimic some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's in people, so we don't know if any similar effects will be seen in humans.
"Although the researchers hope their findings will translate to people, much more research is needed to find out if there could be any beneficial effects of long-term exposure to electro-magnetism, and to guarantee its safety.
"We don't recommend spending 24 hours a day on a mobile phone - we don't know the long-term effects, and bills could go through the roof."
Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said the results were "exciting and quite convincing".
"However, this research in mice is at an early stage and a lot more work is needed before we can say anything about the possible preventative or treatment effects of this type of radiation on people with Alzheimer's disease."
A spokesman for Mast Sanity said other studies had shown adverse effects of mobile phone radiation on the brain.
And the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) cautioned: "All isolated reports of health effects associated with low-level exposure to electromagnetic fields, regardless of whether they are beneficial or detrimental, should be treated with some caution."
Researchers in Sweden have found that radiation from mobile phone handsets damages areas of the brain associated with learning, memory and movement.
The study, which was carried out on rats, is the latest twist in the long-running debate over whether mobile phones are a health risk.
 We have good reason to believe that what happens in rat's brains also happens in humans Prof Leif Salford, Lund University |
This latest study was carried out by Professor Leif Salford and colleagues at Lund University in Malmo.
Lab tests
They experimented on rats aged between 12 and 26 weeks. Their brains are regarded as being in the same stage of development as teenagers.
The rats were exposed to two hours of radiation, equivalent to that emitted by mobile phones.
Their brains were examined under a microscope 50 days later.
The researchers found that rats which had been exposed to medium and high levels of radiation had an abundance of dead brain cells.
Professor Salford said there was good reason to believe that mobile phones could have the same effect on humans.
"A rat's brain is very much the same as a human's. They have the same blood-brain barrier and neurons," he told BBC News Online.
"We have good reason to believe that what happens in rat's brains also happens in humans."
Professor Salford said that there was also a chance exposure to mobile phone radiation could trigger Alzheimer's disease in some people.
"What we are saying is those neurons that are already prone to Alzheimer's disease may be stimulated earlier in life.
"However, this theory is hypothetical. We do not have evidence yet that the human brain is affected in this way."
The study is published in Environmental Health Perspectives - the journal of the US government's National Health Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Writing in the journal, the researchers concluded: "We cannot exclude that after some decades of often daily use, a whole generation of users may suffer negative effects maybe already in their middle age."
Further research
Professor Salford said mobile phone users should not be alarmed by the findings.
"This is a negative finding and yes it doesn't seem to be particularly good.
"But this is one observation, in one laboratory with a small number of animals. This study will have to be repeated before we get alarmed.
"Nevertheless, it is strong enough to merit more research into this area."
But he added: "Perhaps putting a mobile phone repeatedly to your head is something that might not be good in the long term.
"Maybe we should think about restricting our use of mobile phones."
A UK-government funded study, published three years ago, found no evidence to suggest mobile phones affect health.
However, the report by the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones recommended that teenagers should only make essential calls and that these should be as short as possible.
A spokeswoman for the Mobile Operators Association dismissed this latest study.
She said: "Independent scientific review bodies in the UK and around the world have consistently concluded that the weight of scientific evidence to date suggests that exposure to radio waves from mobile phones operating within the international exposure guidelines do not cause health problems."
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From Italy (sorry I can not help with the translation)
"LOTTA INQUINAMENTO ELETTROM.TICO
PER LA TUTELA DELL'AMBIENTE
VOLTURINO _ Onlus"
prot. n.03
T e F 0881550498_3477215642 Volturino 07/01/2010
Via Oberdan, 36 71030 Volturino_FG
http://elettrosmogvolturino.interfree.it
elettrosmogvolturino@interfree.it
Ministeri
Salute
Via G. Ribotta 5 - 00144 Roma
Ambiente, Tutela Territorio e Mare
Viale Colombo, 44 - 00147 ROMA
Infrastrutture e Trasporti
P.le Porta Pia, 1 - 00198 ROMA
Procura Repubblica
P.le Clodio, 12
00195 R O M A
Oggetto: Body scanner.
Sicurezza ai voli, Danni ai passeggeri.
I provvedimenti intrapresi con l'introduzione del body scanner sono sicuramente efficaci nell'obiettivo per la sicurezza aeroportuale, ma non certo per quella degli abituali passeggeri.
Occasionalmente una esposizione alle onde radio ad altissima frequenza può anche essere dissipabile e inoffensiva, certamente più elevata di una esposizione a quella di un telefonino, ma desta seria preoccupazione l'emissione dei raggi X che ionizzano, vale a dire capacità di rompere il DNA…
E se i passeggeri assidui sono bambini, malati ed elettrosensibili ?
Dire che non si conoscono gli effetti a lungo termine è una grossa bugia cavalcata da decenni per non turbare i planetari interessi economici dei produttori di onde….e di insonnia, ansia, depressione, aggressività, infertilità, impotenza, deficienza visiva, ipertensione, tumori che hanno portato gli esseri viventi in una condizione di handicap permanente di cui godono solo le alleate industrie farmaceutiche con la produzione di psicofarmaci, stimolatori sessuali, occhiali e integratori d'ogni genere.
Dall'avvento del cellulare, nuovo compagno di letto, hanno imbottito di psicofarmaci anche le pancine dei bambini e nascondendo pure, dietro occhialini colorati ma brutti, le loro inespressive faccine.
Via il body e mani avanti.
L'ispezione manuale umana è quella più sicura, estenderla a tutti risolve certamente il problema sanitario e anche quello occupazionale, fornendo adeguate istruzioni a tanta forza giovanile dispersa.
Antonio Gagliardi
presidente
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In almost a humorous sense of irony, AT&T is asking the FCC to kill landlines for good, despite having troubles maintaining their current cell phone network, according to Cult of Mac. AT&T's past arguments have been the large influx of iPhone users has had a negative impact on data congestion.
"With each passing day, more and more communications services migrate to broadband and IP-based services, leaving the public switched telephone network and plain-old telephone service as relics of a by-gone era," AT&T stated. "It makes no sense to require service providers to operate and maintain two distinct networks when technology and consumer preferences have made one of them increasingly obsolete," they continued.
While AT&T certainly has a point, one still has to wonder what it would mean for their cell phone network, if all landline users had to make the jump to the cell phone.
