The Pathogenesis of Radio Wave-Induced Brain Injury
Abstract
Our laboratory found that elevated levels of catecholamines, i.e., stress hormones such as adrenaline, worsen outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Furthermore, it is suggested from our work that drugs (e.g., alpha methyl-tyrosine) that prevent the synthesis of excess adrenaline will prove healthful to men and women with TBI. There are different types of TBI; some are caused by direct impact, and others result from blast pressures, and it is important to know whether these contrasting types of brain injury will respond similarly to therapies that reduce stress hormones. As a result, our laboratory also investigates whether the outcomes from impact- or blast-induced head injuries evolve differently. Recently, it has been suggested that military Service Members and personnel within the Department of State and Intelligence community are susceptible to another form of TBI. United States government officials working in our Embassies in Havana, Cuba, and China have been diagnosed with acquired neurosensory syndrome, commonly referred to as the Havana Syndrome. They have symptoms and clinical findings resembling someone who has had a concussive head injury. A large percentage of these men and women with Havana Syndrome have reported first hearing unusual sounds and having difficult-to-describe auditory sensations and consequently experiencing long-term and disabling problems with balance (71%), hearing (68%), sleep impairment (86%), headaches (76%), and vision (86%). Several theories were put forward to explain why these personnel have signs and symptoms of concussive brain injury when no impact or blast trauma to the brain has been experienced. It has been suggested that these men and women are having: (1) mass hysteria, i.e., the spontaneous development of identical physical or emotional symptoms among a close group of individuals, as in a classroom of schoolchildren; (2) surreptitious exposure to ultrasound waves above the range of detectable hearing; (3) exposure to Jamaican field crickets, Gryllus assimilis; (4) exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors—the active ingredient of many pesticides; and (5) exposure to weaponized directed energy. For several reasons, these five theories can be discounted. On the other hand, there is strong rationale that this acquired neurosensory syndrome is due to the occult exposure to radio frequency (RF) waves. The use of radio waves to clandestinely eavesdrop on U.S. government personnel has been undertaken since the Cold War, when it was known as the Moscow Signal. Subsequent examination of individuals exposed to the Moscow Signal were inconclusive. Today, there are no laboratory models available to study the chronic effect of these radio frequency waves on human cognitive, behavioral, vestibular (balance) or cochlear (hearing) health. We propose an accelerated, 1-year research initiative to determine whether RF waves induce changes in the brain similar to those induced by repetitive, mild, concussive head injury resulting from impact or blast exposure. As a necessary first step, we must validate a laboratory method to study the acquired neurosensory syndrome. We propose to subject ferrets, an animal that has a brain most similar to humans, to RF waves or sham exposure over 2 months. Subsequently, we will perform cognitive measurements (i.e., testing memory, learning, and anxiety) and assessments of vestibular (balance) and cochlear (hearing) function to determine whether RF exposure induces a neurosensory syndrome similar to that which has been found for men and women. Ferrets are unique among the smaller laboratory animals; their brains are gyrencephalic and have the ridges and valleys of their brain tissue that resembles human brains—unlike mice and rats, which are lissence-phalic (smooth and smaller surface area). Although chimpanzees and other higher-order primates are also gyrencephalic, their costs and husbandry requirements would allow
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 28, 2022
- Source ID
- W81XWH2211105
Entities
People
- Warren Lockette
Organizations
- United States Army
- Wayne State University