3.5 GHz radiofrequency radiation may affect biomechanics of bone and muscle of diabetics

Figures & data

Figure 1. Radiological evaluation: (a) Lateral cortex thickness, (b) Medulla width, (c) Medial cortex thickness.

Figure 2. Equipment used in the three-point bending tests (a, b); tibia that was fractured with the pictured equipment (c).

Figure 3. SAR simulation results at 3.5 GHz: 1 g average frontal plane (a) and 10 g average sagittal plane (b).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics and results of comparisons for biochemical characteristics.

	Group	Sham				RFR
		Mean	St. Dev.	Min.	Max.	Mean	St. Dev.	Min.	Max.	p
Young Modulus (GPa)	Diabetes	0.59	0.21	0.35	0.92	1.08	0.43	0.51	1.60	0.036
	Healthy	2.17	0.80	1.43	3.43	1.01	0.40	0.77	1.92	0.006
	p	0.001				0.786
Maximum Load (N)	Diabetes	47.66	13.12	25.80	62.61	51.76	8.07	41.58	59.69	0.560
	Healthy	67.60	19.47	41.09	94.31	73.27	6.16	61.10	79.28	0.479
	p	0.064				0.001
Maximum Stress (MPa)	Diabetes	47.41	13.04	25.67	62.28	51.48	8.03	41.36	59.37	0.560
	Healthy	67.24	19.36	40.87	93.81	72.88	6.13	60.78	78.86	0.479
	p	0.064				0.001
Duration (s)	Diabetes	79.18	36.83	41.53	140.22	62.32	16.89	39.83	91.13	0.197
	Healthy	109.74	35.68	69.12	158.90	97.47	18.82	58.43	112.62	0.005
	p	0.015				0.282
Yield Point (MPa)	Diabetes	32.53	14.70	20.31	54.49	26.73	24.16	2.02	57.95	0.651
	Healthy	69.85	6.47	56.56	74.99	36.21	29.94	0.22	73.63	0.014
	p	0.001				0.559
Displacement (mm)	Diabetes	1.16	0.27	0.84	1.55	2.88	0.62	1.53	3.39	0.017
	Healthy	3.11	0.92	1.96	3.98	2.09	1.26	1.21	4.27	0.005
	p	0.001				0.183

Table 2. Descriptive statistics and results of comparisons for radiological characteristics.

		Median	Mean	Std. Dev.	Min.	Max.	p
Lateral cortex (mm)	Diabetes Sham	2.45	2.29^b	0.48	1.63	2.94	0.004
	Healthy Sham	3.31	3.55^a	0.41	3.26	4.08
	Diabetes RFR	2.08	2.23^b	0.69	1.63	3.26
	Healthy RFR	3.26	3.52^a	1.03	2.45	4.96
Medial cortex (mm)	Diabetes Sham	2.51	2.29^b	0.56	1.15	2.58	0.001
	Healthy Sham	3.31	3.31^a	0.54	2.45	4.16
	Diabetes RFR	2.45	2.41^b	0.48	1.63	2.97
	Healthy RFR	4.08	3.62^a	0.65	2.45	4.16
Medulla (mm)	Diabetes Sham	8.18	8.35^c	0.59	7.52	9.12	0.001
	Healthy Sham	9.81	9.67^b	1.30	8.20	11.90
	Diabetes RFR	7.35	7.36^c	0.60	6.53	8.25
	Healthy RFR	12.27	11.96^a	1.22	9.79	13.46

a, b, c: Different lowercase letters represent statistically significant differences (p < 0.05).

Table 3. Measurements of GSH, CAT, IMA, and MDA in skeletal muscle.

	Healthy Sham Mean ± SD	Healthy RFR Mean ± SD	Diabetes Sham Mean ± SD	Diabetes RFR Mean ± SD	p
GSH (mmol/mL)	0.021 ± 0.001^b	0.041 ± 0.002^a	0.0001 ± 0.000^d	0.005 ± 0.002^c	0.001
CAT (U/L)	1.058 ± 0.023^a	0.792 ± 0.017^b	0.8286 ± 0.051^b	0.851 ± 0.062^b	0.001
IMA (ABSU)	0.068 ± 0.015^b	0.685 ± 0.017^a	0.0014 ± 0.000^d	0.044 ± 0.015^c	0.001
MDA (nmol/L)	10.172 ± 0.038^b	18.461 ± 0.326^a	10.3543 ± 0.245^b	10.515 ± 0.28^b	0.001

a, b, c: Different lowercase letters signify statistically significant differences (p < 0.05), SD: Standard Deviation.

Data availability statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.