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Dr. Beanes being held captive by the British was the incident that led to Francis Scott Key being held offshore of Fort McHenry and writing a poem that became the Star Spangled Banner.
The title of each photo in this series is a translated line from a poem found in the Chapel of Bones. See the full poem in the original language here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capela_dos_Ossos#Poem .
From our tour guide - the Franciscan monks who used the bones of approximately 5000 corpses, built this to send a message to the nobles that in death, no one can tell the difference between the rich and the poor, royal or common.
Sign spotted in front of a kidney dialysis center off Westport Road, Louisville, KY. The foul odor emanating from the HVAC system exhaust behind this dialysis center sickened my dog - she began to gag and vomit. I feel sorry for the surrounding businesses (restaurants, grocery stores, etc...).. There is a broken water/sewer riser next to this facility. Whoever owns this property does not maintain it.
Fresenius Kidney Care Louisville Northeast
3701 Chamberlain Ln,
Louisville, KY 40241
(800) 881-5101
Brown Park, Kresge Way, St. Matthews, Kentucky
(Behind Norton Suburban Hospital)
Nearly any public park (and property) in Louisville, Kentucky with a stream, tributary, brook or river has raw human sewage dumped into it after a "rain event". People, children and pets are fishing, boating, swimming, skiing, kids playing in the water, kayaking, dogs romping in it, domestic, farm and wild animals drink and wade through it - it defies imagination. Louisville and MSD did receive Federal "stimulus monies" to replace their antiquated CSO (combined sewer overlow) systems years ago but the work has not been completed.
Louisville is one of the few remaining municipalities in the Nation to have kept this system in place. Hopefully priorities will change soon. www.whitehouse.gov/recovery/
And this is a list of the Top 100 Water Polluters, many of which are located here or have stakes in Louisville: www.peri.umass.edu/toxicwaterindex/
Pancake has respect for these. This pretty tractor was seen sunning itself enroute to/from Florida. Possibly just "away from".
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Controlled burn across the street from my home in 2011. Caused extensive smoke damage here & the surrounding area. Smoke inhalation, leukemia, COPD, respiratory distress & lung cancer bought to you by Middletown Fire Department, Louisville Metro Government, Mayor Greg Fischer, Jefferson County, The Commonwealth of Kentucky & Thieneman Realty. Entire video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WC9ol3aEtQ
Photo taken at Aldi Food Market. Taken using the Google Maps app and uploaded to as part of the Local Guides program. #LetsGuide
Pancake (my service dog) barfed in my driveway, but a portion of it was in the street. My homeowners association called the bomb squad. At least they did not attempt to tow the car this time.
JK. Actually one neighbor said another neighbor, who is a doctor, saw a package left on his porch that had "foreign writing on it", and they called the bomb squad - one said Hebrew, another said Arabic writing. For real. Dunno 'bout the rest of y'all but as a teen I had many penpals from all over the world, as well as friends and relatives, some of whom did not write english, and many from the Middle East. Yet this is life every day around here.
I'd heard from someone else, though, a few hours before this occurred, that this was a drill.
This particulr resident was fortunate the package arrived, albeit with writing they did not understand. Most packages delivered to this neighborhood are stolen from their porches as well as porch ornaments and landscaping items, especially during the "holidays" - this is their busiest time. As always, be hypervigilant and be sober. Your package might depend on it!
Today was the Thunder Air Show, part of "Thunder Over Louisville" which kicks off festivities prior to the Kentucky Derby on May 7. We did not go down to the river this year to watch the air show but were fortunate to happen upon a wonderful group of Veterans (at Vintage Warbirds Hangar 5) at Bowman Airfield staging for the show with their aircraft - and they were nice enough to permit me to get comfortable in this wonderful plane (used to fly single engine aircraft a long time ago and it felt wonderful to be back in the pilot's seat again) - I do believe I had the best seat in the house. : )
Can park between the lines, on the pavement, all tires same distance from the edge. Lots of stickers. Shiny! Very good. The blue & yellow flag on the side appears to be a flag of Bosnia and Herzegovin
FIRST CLASS XPRESS INC
Attn: MARK J. DADABBO, PRES.
Address: 34200 MOUND RD.
STERLING HEIGHTS, MI US 48310
Telephone: (800) 201 - 0450
Fax: (810) 795 - 3130
safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/query.asp?query_type=queryCarrierSnap... -
Crashes reported to FMCSA by states for 24 months prior to: 02/20/2018
Note: Crashes listed represent a motor carrier’s involvement in reportable crashes, without any determination as to responsibility.
Crashes:
TypeFatalInjuryTowTotal
Crashes0000
Insuance History:
li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_carrquery.prc_insuranc...^CLASS^XPRESS^INC&pv_pref_docket=MC491875&pv_usdot_no=1266449&pv_vpath=LIVIEW%2091136
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA140142
$0
$1,000,000
07/01/2015
07/31/2015
Cancelled
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA140141
$0
$1,000,000
07/01/2015
07/31/2015
Cancelled
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA140141
$0
$1,000,000
07/01/2015
07/21/2015
Replaced
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA140142
$0
$1,000,000
07/01/2015
07/01/2015
Replaced
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA120115
$0
$1,000,000
07/06/2012
07/06/2015
Cancelled
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA120115
$0
$1,000,000
07/06/2012
07/01/2015
Replaced
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA090140
$0
$1,000,000
05/03/2010
07/06/2012
Cancelled
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA080160
$0
$1,000,000
09/08/2008
05/30/2010
Cancelled
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA080160
$0
$1,000,000
09/08/2008
05/03/2010
Replaced
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA060168
$0
$1,000,000
03/05/2007
10/03/2008
Cancelled
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA060168
$0
$1,000,000
03/05/2007
09/08/2008
Replaced
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA060168
$0
$1,000,000
07/06/2006
04/04/2007
Name Changed
91X
BIPD/Primary
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
CA060168
$0
$1,000,000
07/06/2006
03/05/2007
Replaced
91X
BIPD/Primary
AMERISURE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
CA2021907
$0
$1,000,000
03/11/2006
07/06/2006
Cancelled
91X
BIPD/Primary
AMERISURE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
CA2021907
$0
$1,000,000
07/06/2005
03/11/2006
Cancelled
91X
BIPD/Primary
AMERISURE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
CA2021907
$0
$1,000,000
08/12/2004
07/06/2005
Cancelled
91X
BIPD/Primary
AMERISURE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
CA2021907
$0
$750,000
07/06/2004
08/12/2004
Replaced
34
CARGO
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
MC090099
$0
$5,000*
05/03/2010
05/05/2011
Cancelled
34
CARGO
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
MC080118
$0
$5,000*
09/08/2008
05/30/2010
Cancelled
34
CARGO
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
MC080118
$0
$5,000*
09/08/2008
05/03/2010
Replaced
34
CARGO
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
MC060122
$0
$5,000*
03/05/2007
10/03/2008
Cancelled
34
CARGO
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
MC060122
$0
$5,000*
03/05/2007
09/08/2008
Replaced
34
CARGO
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
MC060122
$0
$5,000*
07/06/2006
04/04/2007
Name Changed
34
CARGO
CHEROKEE INSURANCE COMPANY
MC060122
$0
$5,000*
07/06/2006
03/05/2007
Replaced
34
CARGO
CLARENDON NATIONAL INS. CO.
DSHN00002163
$0
$5,000*
08/17/2005
08/17/2006
Cancelled
34
CARGO
CLARENDON NATIONAL INS. CO.
DSHN00002163
$0
$5,000*
08/17/2005
07/06/2006
Replaced
34
CARGO
CLARENDON NATIONAL INS. CO.
DSHN00001483
$0
$5,000*
02/16/2005
08/17/2005
Cancelled
34
CARGO
ADRIATIC INSURANCE COMPANY
MC6634
$0
$5,000*
07/06/2004
03/18/2005
Cancelled
34
CARGO
ADRIATIC INSURANCE COMPANY
MC6634
$0
$5,000*
07/06/2004
02/16/2005
Replaced
Rezoning for massive East End project endorsed
Sheldon S. Shafer, @sheldonshafer Published 5:09 p.m. ET www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2017/01/20/rezon... Jan. 20, 2017
Sign in front says funded by Stock Yards Bank & Trust. Totally wiped out a natural area & migratory path.
A rezoning request to put around 1,800 apartments as well as some major office, retail, parking, and other development on a 107-acre site near Old Henry Road has drawn an initial favorable review from a city panel.
The Metro Planning Commission voted on Thursday to recommend that the Louisville Metro Council approve a requested change from single-family and Planned Employment Center zoning to new office and commercial zoning on the property, most of which is owned by the St. Joseph Catholic Orphanage Society.
A group, JDG 1849 LLC, headed by local investor Kevin Cogan, plans to develop the property over the long haul with extensive construction. However, at this point, the plans for developing 11 separate lots on the site are conceptual and generally are proposed to include: apartments, retailing, vehicle sales, restaurants, a theater, and a grocery.
Planning Commission spokesman Will Ford said that the developers, if they secure the needed rezoning, will later have to submit detailed plans for each of the 11 lots to the commission for subsequent approval, when they are ready to proceed.
The developers have agreed to numerous conditions intended to minimize any detrimental impact on surrounding property. They have agreed, for instance, to provide extensive buffering at the site, to extend Bush Farm Road and Terra Crossing Boulevard to serve the development, and to install sidewalks, drainage controls, and extensive tree plantings.
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Ford said that no one spoke in opposition at the Thursday public hearing held by the Planning Commission at the Old Jail Building. But a letter in opposition was submitted by Peter Bodnar III, co-president of the Floyds Fork Environmental Association.
It contended that the development would accelerate "the environmental damage from sprawl that our community will be forced to deal with for years to come."
It added, "The developers maintain that this is simply infill development, land for which this is its highest use. Rather, it should be viewed as a corridor for vegetation and wildlife connectivity to the larger city. The developers should be required to present some pressing need, some over-riding benefit to be gained by the loss of this critical open space
"This is another instance of the larger community subsidizing commercial real estate development by extending infrastructure that we all pay for — all the while endangering our quality of life."
Bodnar said gridlock will result at the Gene Snyder Freeway interchanges in the area and that "a transportation nightmare is unfolding."
He concluded that "pushing for dense development like this in a relatively rural area, while large swaths of Louisville go wanting for any kind of investment is a disgrace for our city."
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Cogan, who has a handful of other large projects in the pipeline, has a contract to acquire the parcel. A trust years ago left the Catholic organization about 230 acres in the 13500 block of Factory Lane. The society recently sold 122 acres — or roughly the northern half of the property — to Ball Homes, which is developing a 405-lot subdivision.
Cogan now intends to develop roughly the southern half of the property, but would surely phase the massive development over many years.
A recent detailed plan filed with the city for the site showed: 160,000 square feet of offices; a 112,000-square-foot health club; a vehicle sales outlet; a 203-unit senior living facility; nearly 30,000 square feet of commercial space; more than 1,800 apartments; and more than 4,000 parking spaces.
The site was where federal officials several years ago fleetingly considered constructing the Robley Rex V.A. Medical Center replacement hospital — a nearly $1 billion facility now slated to go near Brownsboro Road and the Watterson Expressway.
Cogan has several major commercial ventures in the pipeline. His plan for the Willow Grande condominium tower in Cherokee Triangle is bogged down in litigation with neighbors. And he plans highrise residential towers at Grinstead Drive and Lexington Road.
Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at 502-582-7089, or via email at sshafer@courier-journal.com.
Spotted next to a kidney dialysis center, Louisville, KY 40241 USA.
Very few commercial property owners maintain their drainage outlets or they were not correctly installed and/or designed, hence overflowing and flooding abounds here, or stagnant standing water leading to mosquito and other insect infestations.
The plastic credit card is for perspective. I've been told by many locals they are flushing them down toilet.
Meet Sammy. Sammy was a rescue. His name was Marty when I'd originally adopted him (he had one crooked eye). I changed his name as I didn't catch the reason for the name Marty. He was named for Marty Feldman, the actor with one crooked eye. So it got changed to Sammy after USA's "Uncle Sam".
This photo was actually taken in 2010 (camera date incorrect).
Sammy was my first mobility service dog and he was phenomenal. He was part Jack Russell. We had encountered numerous difficulties with him at McDonalds, Thorntons, Krogers & in airports when TSA agents insisted on picking him up and ordered us to take off his jacket which caused quite a fuss at Standiford Airport (aka Louisville International, Louisville Regional, SDF, KSDF, KYANG and Muhammad Ali International Airport) here in Kentucky. (Louisville has an identity crisis). Sammy tended to snap when he felt endangered or frightened. He'd snapped at his previous owners' grandkids and they were forced to get rid of him. Sammy eventually went on to win "Canine Idol of the Year" at the Animal Care Society's "Bark in the Park"" event held every year here in Louisville.
This photo was autographed by Tony Davis (while we were having lunch at Firehouse Subs one day) who'd played one season for Kentucky's UK basketball team. He now plays for the New Orleans Pelicans and played for Team USA in the 2012 Olympics. It was fun meeting him and he was a wonderful person! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Davis
There are conflicting stories about the development, purpose and breeding of the shih-tzu (often called the Lion Dog) and their history is indeed fascinating. www.theshihtzuclub.co.uk/shih-tzu/breed-history
And, of course, for those guided by the Chinese Zodiac nonsense and manipulation - www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/
Our Local Fire Department Yesterday.
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin and the President of the United States directed flags to be flown at half mast. Is this an oversight or statement? Yet the board of advisors for the Middletown Fire Department have stated cell phone cameras are a threat to the department according to the chart in their new strategic plan report.
Note: The new strategic plan report has since been taken down from their website.
Pancake is a trained Medical Service Dog - she helps with balance and disequilibrium as I am unable to detect changes in grades on the ground nor at times walk in a straight line, so I am able to hike with her now more confidently in places I would have been unable to before. Also keeps me from knocking shelves over in stores etc...due an intermittent neurological disorder. She also alerts me when the oven timer sounds, alarm clock sounds, etc...She is an amazing animal. At Long Run Park, Louisville, kY
February 23, 2011
Effects of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Signal Exposure on Brain Glucose Metabolism
Nora D. Volkow, MD; Dardo Tomasi, PhD; Gene-Jack Wang, MD; et al Paul Vaska, PhD; Joanna S. Fowler, PhD; Frank Telang, MD; Dave Alexoff, BSE; Jean Logan, PhD; Christopher Wong, MS
Article Information
JAMA. 2011;305(8):808-813. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.186
CONCLUSIONS:
Conclusions In healthy participants and compared with no exposure, 50-minute cell phone exposure was associated with increased brain glucose metabolism in the region closest to the antenna. This finding is of unknown clinical significance.
The dramatic worldwide increase in use of cellular telephones has prompted concerns regarding potential harmful effects of exposure to radiofrequency-modulated electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs). Of particular concern has been the potential carcinogenic effects from the RF-EMF emissions of cell phones. However, epidemiologic studies of the association between cell phone use and prevalence of brain tumors have been inconsistent (some, but not all, studies showed increased risk), and the issue remains unresolved.1
RF-EMFs emitted by cell phones are absorbed in the brain2 within a range that could influence neuronal activity.3 Although the intensity of RF-EMFs is very low, the oscillatory frequencies correspond to some of the oscillation frequencies recorded in neuronal tissue and could interfere with neuronal activity.4 Thermal effects from RF-EMFs have also been invoked as a mechanism that could affect neuronal activity, although temperature changes produced by current cell phone technology are likely minimal.5 Studies performed in humans to investigate the effects of RF-EMF exposures from cell phones have yielded variable results.6 For example, imaging studies that used positron emission tomography (PET) to measure changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) with RF-EMF exposures from cell phones have reported increases,7,8 decreases and increases,9,10 or no changes11 in CBF. The discrepancies among these imaging studies likely reflect their relatively small sample sizes (9-14 participants), and the potential confounding of CBF measures reflecting vascular rather than neuronal signals.12-14 This highlights the need for studies to document whether RF-EMFs from cell phone use affects brain function in humans.
The objective of this study was to assess if acute cell phone exposure affected regional activity in the human brain. For this purpose we evaluated the effects in healthy participants (N = 47) of acute cell phone exposures on brain glucose metabolism, measured using PET with injection of (18F)fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG). Brain glucose metabolic activity is a more proximal marker of neuronal activity than measures of CBF, which reflects vascular as well as neuronal components.15 Also, because brain glucose metabolic measures obtained with 18FDG reflect the averaged brain activity occurring over a 30-minute period,16 this method allowed assessment of the cumulative effects of cell phone exposure on resting brain metabolism. Because exposure to RF-EMFs from cell phones is well localized and is highest in brain regions closest to the antenna,2 we hypothesized that the effects on brain metabolism would be greatest in inferior and anterior brain regions, the regions that would be exposed to the highest RF-EMF amplitude for the cell phone model used in this study.