Analyzing digital vector waveforms of 0-3000 Hz magnetic fields for health studies.
To improve the assessment of magnetic field exposures for occupational health studies, the Multiwave System III (MW3) was developed to capture personal exposures to the three-dimensional magnetic field vector B(t) in the 0-3000 Hz band. To process hundreds of full-shift MW3 measurements from epidemiologic studies, new computer programs were developed to calculate the magnetic field's physical properties and its interaction with biological systems through various mechanisms (magnetic induction, radical pair interactions, ion resonance, etc.). For automated calculations in the frequency domain, the software uses new algorithms that remove artifacts in the magnetic field's Fourier transform due to electronic noise and the person's motion through perturbations in the geomagnetic field from steel objects. These algorithms correctly removed the Fourier transform artifacts in 92% of samples and have improved the accuracy of frequency-dependent metrics by as much as 3300%. The output of the MwBatch software is a matrix of 41 exposure metrics calculated for each 2/15 s sample combined with 8 summary metrics for the person's full-period exposure, giving 294 summary-exposure metrics for each person monitored. In addition, the MwVisualizer software graphically explores the magnetic field's vector trace, its component waveforms, and the metrics over time. The output was validated against spreadsheet calculations with pilot data. This software successfully analyzed full-shift MW3 monitoring with 507 electric utility workers, comprising over 1 million vector waveforms. The software's output can be used to test hypotheses about magnetic field biology and disease with biophysical models and also assess compliance with exposure limits.
Bowman
Joseph D
JD
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226, USA. jbowman@cdc.gov
Miller
Christian K
CK
Krieg
Edward F
EF
Song
Ruiguang
R
D016477:Artifacts; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008280:Magnetics; D009068:Movement; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software