Building sustainable health and education partnerships: stories from local communities.

Background: Growing health disparities have a negative impact on young people's educational achievement. Community schools that involve deep relationships with partners across multiple domains address these disparities by providing opportunities and services that promote healthy development of young people, and enable them to graduate from high school ready for college, technical school, on-the-job training, career, and citizenship.

Methods: Results from Milwaukie High School, North Clackamas, OR; Oakland Unified School District, Oakland, CA; and Cincinnati Community Learning Centers, Cincinnati, OH were based on a review of local site documents, web-based information, interviews, and e-mail communication with key local actors.

Cell biology and EMF safety standards.

Living cells react defensively and start to synthesize stress proteins when exposed to potentially harmful stimuli. Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are among the many different environmental stimuli that initiate stress protein synthesis. Although there is greater energy transfer and heating due to EMF at higher frequencies, there is no greater stress response.

Electromagnetic fields and health: DNA-based dosimetry.

We propose a biologically based measure of EMF radiation to replace the energy-based "specific absorption rate" (SAR). A wide range of EMF frequencies has been linked to an increased risk of cancer. The SAR value used to measure the EMF dose and set the safety standard in the radiofrequency (RF) range fails as a standard for predicting cancer risk in the ELF power frequency range.

Expanding the learning day: an essential component of the community schools strategy.

Community schools expand learning time and opportunities as one important dimension of a comprehensive strategy to ensure that students are ready for college, career, and citizenship.

DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields.

Purpose: To review the responses of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to electromagnetic fields (EMF) in different frequency ranges, and characterise the properties of DNA as an antenna.

Materials And Methods: We examined published reports of increased stress protein levels and DNA strand breaks due to EMF interactions, both of which are indicative of DNA damage. We also considered antenna properties such as electronic conduction within DNA and its compact structure in the nucleus.

Prostaglandin E2 inhibits migration of colonic lamina propria fibroblasts.

Background: Migration of colonic lamina propria fibroblasts (CLPF) is an important mechanism during wound healing in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The concentration of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is increased in the intestinal mucosa of IBD patients. We therefore investigated the role of PGE2 in CLPF migration.

Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields activate the ERK cascade, increase hsp70 protein levels and promote regeneration in Planaria.

Purpose: To use regenerating Planaria Dugesia dorotocethala as a model to determine whether an intermittent modulated extremely low frequency electro-magnetic field (ELF-EMF) produces elevated levels of the heat shock protein hsp70 and stimulates intracellular pathways known to be involved in injury and repair. We focused on serum response element (SRE) binding through the extra-cellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) cascade.

Materials And Methods: Planaria were transected equidistant between the tip of the head and the tip of the tail.

Electromagnetic fields stress living cells.

Electromagnetic fields (EMF), in both ELF (extremely low frequency) and radio frequency (RF) ranges, activate the cellular stress response, a protective mechanism that induces the expression of stress response genes, e.g., HSP70, and increased levels of stress proteins, e.

Myocardial function improved by electromagnetic field induction of stress protein hsp70.

Studies on myocardial function have shown that hsp70, stimulated by an increase in temperature, leads to improved survival following ischemia-reperfusion (I-R). Low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) also induce the stress protein hsp70, but without elevating temperature. We have examined the hemodynamic changes in concert with EMF pre-conditioning and the induction of hsp70 to determine whether improved myocardial function occurs following I-R injury in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Protein and DNA reactions stimulated by electromagnetic fields.

The stimulation of protein and DNA by electromagnetic fields (EMF) has been problematic because the fields do not appear to have sufficient energy to directly affect such large molecules. Studies with electric and magnetic fields in the extremely low-frequency range have shown that weak fields can cause charge movement. It has also been known for some time that redistribution of charges in large molecules can trigger conformational changes that are driven by large hydration energies.

A mechanism for stimulation of biosynthesis by electromagnetic fields: charge transfer in DNA and base pair separation.

Electrons have been shown to move in DNA, and a specific DNA sequence is associated with the response to EM fields. In addition, there is evidence from biochemical reactions that EM fields can accelerate electron transfer. Interaction with electrons could displace electrons in H-bonds that hold DNA together leading to chain separation and initiating transcription.

The Precautionary Principle must be guided by EMF research.

Regulatory action based on the Precautionary Principle is generally guided by the results of epidemiology studies. Even though laboratory research on electromagnetic fields (EMF) has supplied much relevant information and continues to do so, it is often overlooked. Laboratory research has shown that EMF of many frequencies stimulate many biological systems, and at low thresholds of both field strength and duration.

Do electromagnetic fields interact with electrons in the Na,K-ATPase?

The effects of low frequency electric and magnetic fields on several biochemical systems, including the Na,K-ATPase, indicate that electromagnetic (EM) fields interact with electrons. The frequency optima for two enzymes in response to EM fields are very close to their turnover numbers, suggesting that these interactions directly affect reaction rates. Nevertheless, generally accepted ideas about Na,K-ATPase function and ion transport mechanisms do not consider interactions with electrons.

Comment: a biological guide for electromagnetic safety: the stress response.

Questions of safety of electromagnetic (EM) fields should be based on relevant biological properties, i.e., specific cellular reactions to potentially harmful stimuli.

Initial interactions in electromagnetic field-induced biosynthesis.

Low frequency electromagnetic (EM) fields induce gene expression, and recent insights into physical interactions of EM fields with model systems suggest a mechanism that could initiate this process. The consistently low thresholds at which EM fields stimulate biological processes indicate that they require little energy. Since it has been shown that such weak fields accelerate electron transfer reactions, they could stimulate transcription by interacting with electrons in DNA to destabilize the H-bonds holding the two DNA strands together.

Electromagnetic acceleration of the Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction.

Acceleration of the Belousov-Zhabotinski (BZ) reaction, in stirred homogeneous solutions, by low frequency electromagnetic (EM) fields has provided new insights into EM interaction mechanisms. The acceleration varies inversely with the basal reaction rate, indicating that the applied magnetic field and the intrinsic chemical driving forces affect the same electron transfer reaction. The amplitude and frequency dependence of the EM field interactions are also consistent with interaction during electron transfer.

Community as text: using the community as a resource for learning in community schools.

The community can serve as a resource to help students become more engaged in learning and strengthen connections between schools and community.

Effects of mobile phone radiation on reproduction and development in Drosophila melanogaster.

In this report we examined the effects of a discontinuous radio frequency (RF) signal produced by a GSM multiband mobile phone (900/1,900 MHz; SAR approximately 1.4 W/kg) on Drosophila melanogaster, during the 10-day developmental period from egg laying through pupation. As found earlier with low frequency exposures, the non-thermal radiation from the GSM mobile phone increased numbers of offspring, elevated hsp70 levels, increased serum response element (SRE) DNA-binding and induced the phosphorylation of the nuclear transcription factor, ELK-1.

Insights into electromagnetic interaction mechanisms.

Low frequency (< 300 Hz) electromagnetic (EM) fields induce biological changes that include effects ranging from increased enzyme reaction rates to increased transcript levels for specific genes. The induction of stress gene HSP70 expression by exposure to EM fields provides insight into how EM fields interact with cells and tissues. Insights into the mechanism(s) are also provided by examination of the interaction of EM fields with moving charges and their influence on enzyme reaction rates in cell-free systems.