Stem cell-derived systems in toxicology assessment.

PubMed

Suter-Dick, Laura; Alves, Paula M; Blaauboer, Bas J; Bremm, Klaus-Dieter; Brito, Catarina; Coecke, Sandra; Flick, Burkhard; Fowler, Paul; Hescheler, Jürgen; Ingelman-Sundberg, Magnus; Jennings, Paul; Kelm, Jens M; Manou, Irene; Mistry, Pratibha; Moretto, Angelo; Roth, Adrian; Stedman, Donald; van de Water, Bob; Beilmann, Mario

2015-06-01

Industrial sectors perform toxicological assessments of their potential products to ensure human safety and to fulfill regulatory requirements. These assessments often involve animal testing, but ethical, cost, and time concerns, together with a ban on it in specific sectors, make appropriate in vitro systems indispensable in toxicology. In this study, we summarize the outcome of an EPAA (European Partnership of Alternatives to Animal Testing)-organized workshop on the use of stem cell-derived (SCD) systems in toxicology, with a focus on industrial applications. SCD systems, in particular, induced pluripotent stem cell-derived, provide physiological cell culture systems of easy access and amenable to a variety of assays. They also present the opportunity to apply the vast repository of existing nonclinical data for the understanding of in vitro to in vivo translation. SCD systems from several toxicologically relevant tissues exist; they generally recapitulate many aspects of physiology and respond to toxicological and pharmacological interventions. However, focused research is necessary to accelerate implementation of SCD systems in an industrial setting and subsequent use of such systems by regulatory authorities. Research is required into the phenotypic characterization of the systems, since methods and protocols for generating terminally differentiated SCD cells are still lacking. Organotypical 3D culture systems in bioreactors and microscale tissue engineering technologies should be fostered, as they promote and maintain differentiation and support coculture systems. They need further development and validation for their successful implementation in toxicity testing in industry. Analytical measures also need to be implemented to enable compound exposure and metabolism measurements for in vitro to in vivo extrapolation. The future of SCD toxicological tests will combine advanced cell culture technologies and biokinetic measurements to support regulatory and

Systems Toxicology: The Future of Risk Assessment.

PubMed

Sauer, John Michael; Hartung, Thomas; Leist, Marcel; Knudsen, Thomas B; Hoeng, Julia; Hayes, A Wallace

2015-01-01

Risk assessment, in the context of public health, is the process of quantifying the probability of a harmful effect to individuals or populations from human activities. With increasing public health concern regarding the potential risks associated with chemical exposure, there is a need for more predictive and accurate approaches to risk assessment. Developing such an approach requires a mechanistic understanding of the process by which xenobiotic substances perturb biological systems and lead to toxicity. Supplementing the shortfalls of traditional risk assessment with mechanistic biological data has been widely discussed but not routinely implemented in the evaluation of chemical exposure. These mechanistic approaches to risk assessment have been generally referred to as systems toxicology. This Symposium Overview article summarizes 4 talks presented at the 35th Annual Meeting of the American College of Toxicology. © The Author(s) 2015.

Toxicological and ecotoxicological assessment of water tracers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behrens, H.; Beims, U.; Dieter, H.; Dietze, G.; Eikmann, T.; Grummt, T.; Hanisch, H.; Henseling, H.; Käß, W.; Kerndorff, H.; Leibundgut, C.; Müller-Wegener, U.; Rönnefahrt, I.; Scharenberg, B.; Schleyer, R.; Schloz, W.; Tilkes, F.

2001-06-01

Uncertainties regarding possible negative effects on the environment or on human health of authorizing tracing experiments in groundwater and surface waters led to the establishment of a Working Group at the German Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt - UBA) for conducting a toxicological and ecotoxicological assessment. A total of 17 water tracers was assessed by the Working Group on the basis of the results of toxicological tests, the available literature, and the group's expert knowledge. In the future, tracers that pose a risk to the environment or to human health should no longer be used. Nevertheless, there are a number of tracers that could be used in hydrogeological and hydrological investigations for water-pollution-control purposes with no adverse environmental impact.

Eco-efficiency Analysis of Furniture Product Using Life Cycle Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rinawati, Dyah Ika; Sriyanto; Sari, Diana Puspita; Prayodha, Andana Cantya

2018-02-01

Furniture is one of Indonesia's main commodities strategically role in economic growth and employment in Indonesia. In their production process there many wastes resulted, such as such as sawdust, cuttings - pieces of wood, components that do not conform to specifications and the edges of wood from a log. Contrast with requirement of timber for furniture industries, availability of raw material sources decrease because of limited forest areas. Beside that, using electricity and chemical material in furniture production process have impact to environment. This study aim to assess the eco-cost and eco-efficiency ratio of the product so strategic recommendations to improve the eco-efficiency of products can be designed. The results of data processing showed the environmental costs of the furniture production process amount Rp 30.887.84. Eco-efficiency index of furniture products studied was 4,79 with the eco-efficiency ratio of 79,12%. This result means that the measured furniture products already profitable and sustainable, as well as its production process is already fairly efficient. However, improved performance of the production process can still be done to improve the eco-efficiency by minimizing the use of raw materials.

THE USE OF STEM CELLS FOR TOXICOLOGY STUDIES AND RISK ASSESSMENTS

EPA Science Inventory

In general terms, toxicology studies are used in support of risk assessments of adverse health outcomes as a result of exposures to chemical and physical agents. In particular, toxicological data are used to provide information that aids in the assessment of disease outcomes at e...

Assessing eco-efficiency: A metafrontier directional distance function approach using life cycle analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beltrán-Esteve, Mercedes, E-mail: mercedes.beltran@uv.es; Reig-Martínez, Ernest; Estruch-Guitart, Vicent

Sustainability analysis requires a joint assessment of environmental, social and economic aspects of production processes. Here we propose the use of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), a metafrontier (MF) directional distance function (DDF) approach, and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), to assess technological and managerial differences in eco-efficiency between production systems. We use LCA to compute six environmental and health impacts associated with the production processes of nearly 200 Spanish citrus farms belonging to organic and conventional farming systems. DEA is then employed to obtain joint economic-environmental farm's scores that we refer to as eco-efficiency. DDF allows us to determine farms' globalmore » eco-efficiency scores, as well as eco-efficiency scores with respect to specific environmental impacts. Furthermore, the use of an MF helps us to disentangle technological and managerial eco-inefficiencies by comparing the eco-efficiency of both farming systems with regards to a common benchmark. Our core results suggest that the shift from conventional to organic farming technology would allow a potential reduction in environmental impacts of 80% without resulting in any decline in economic performance. In contrast, as regards farmers' managerial capacities, both systems display quite similar mean scores.« less

Assessing the Vulnerability of Eco-Environmental Health to Climate Change

PubMed Central

Tong, Shilu; Mather, Peter; Fitzgerald, Gerry; McRae, David; Verrall, Ken; Walker, Dylan

2010-01-01

There is an urgent need to assess the vulnerability of eco-environmental health to climate change. This paper aims to provide an overview of current research, to identify knowledge gaps, and to propose future research needs in this challenging area. Evidence shows that climate change is affecting and will, in the future, have more (mostly adverse) impacts on ecosystems. Ecosystem degradation, particularly the decline of the life support systems, will undoubtedly affect human health and wellbeing. Therefore, it is important to develop a framework to assess the vulnerability of eco-environmental health to climate change, and to identify appropriate adaptation strategies to minimize the impact of climate change. PMID:20616990

Evidence-Based Toxicology.

PubMed

Hoffmann, Sebastian; Hartung, Thomas; Stephens, Martin

Evidence-based toxicology (EBT) was introduced independently by two groups in 2005, in the context of toxicological risk assessment and causation as well as based on parallels between the evaluation of test methods in toxicology and evidence-based assessment of diagnostics tests in medicine. The role model of evidence-based medicine (EBM) motivated both proposals and guided the evolution of EBT, whereas especially systematic reviews and evidence quality assessment attract considerable attention in toxicology.Regarding test assessment, in the search of solutions for various problems related to validation, such as the imperfectness of the reference standard or the challenge to comprehensively evaluate tests, the field of Diagnostic Test Assessment (DTA) was identified as a potential resource. DTA being an EBM discipline, test method assessment/validation therefore became one of the main drivers spurring the development of EBT.In the context of pathway-based toxicology, EBT approaches, given their objectivity, transparency and consistency, have been proposed to be used for carrying out a (retrospective) mechanistic validation.In summary, implementation of more evidence-based approaches may provide the tools necessary to adapt the assessment/validation of toxicological test methods and testing strategies to face the challenges of toxicology in the twenty first century.

EcoEvo-MAPS: An Ecology and Evolution Assessment for Introductory through Advanced Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Summers, Mindi M.; Couch, Brian A.; Knight, Jennifer K.; Brownell, Sara E.; Crowe, Alison J.; Semsar, Katharine; Wright, Christian D.; Smith, Michelle K.

2018-01-01

A new assessment tool, Ecology and Evolution--Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science or EcoEvo-MAPS, measures student thinking in ecology and evolution during an undergraduate course of study. EcoEvo-MAPS targets foundational concepts in ecology and evolution and uses a novel approach that asks students to evaluate a series of…

[Assessment of eco-environmental vulnerability of Hainan Island, China].

PubMed

Huang, Bao-rong; Ouyang, Zhi-yun; Zhang, Hui-zhi; Zhang, Li-hua; Zheng, Hua

2009-03-01

Based on the assessment method of environmental vulnerability constructed by SOPAC and UNEP, this paper constructed an indicator system from three sub-themes including hazard, resistance, and damage to assess the eco-environmental vulnerability of Hainan Island. The results showed that Hainan Island was suffering a middling level eco-environmental hazard, and the main hazards came from some intensive human activities such as intensive agriculture, mass tourism, mining, and a mass of solid wastes thrown by islanders and tourists. Some geographical characters such as larger land area, larger altitude range, integrated geographical form, and abundant habitat types endowed Hainan Island higher resistance to environmental hazards. However, disturbed by historical accumulative artificial and natural hazards, the Island ecosystem had showed serious ecological damage, such as soil degradation and biodiversity loss. Comprehensively considered hazard, resistance, damage, and degradation, the comprehensive environmental vulnerability of the Island was at a middling level. Some indicators showed lower vulnerability, but some showed higher vulnerability.

EcoEvo-MAPS: An Ecology and Evolution Assessment for Introductory through Advanced Undergraduates.

PubMed

Summers, Mindi M; Couch, Brian A; Knight, Jennifer K; Brownell, Sara E; Crowe, Alison J; Semsar, Katharine; Wright, Christian D; Smith, Michelle K

2018-06-01

A new assessment tool, Ecology and Evolution-Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science or EcoEvo-MAPS, measures student thinking in ecology and evolution during an undergraduate course of study. EcoEvo-MAPS targets foundational concepts in ecology and evolution and uses a novel approach that asks students to evaluate a series of predictions, conclusions, or interpretations as likely or unlikely to be true given a specific scenario. We collected evidence of validity and reliability for EcoEvo-MAPS through an iterative process of faculty review, student interviews, and analyses of assessment data from more than 3000 students at 34 associate's-, bachelor's-, master's-, and doctoral-granting institutions. The 63 likely/unlikely statements range in difficulty and target student understanding of key concepts aligned with the Vision and Change report. This assessment provides departments with a tool to measure student thinking at different time points in the curriculum and provides data that can be used to inform curricular and instructional modifications.

Revision and extension of Eco-LCA metrics for sustainability assessment of the energy and chemical processes.

PubMed

Yang, Shiying; Yang, Siyu; Kraslawski, Andrzej; Qian, Yu

2013-12-17

Ecologically based life cycle assessment (Eco-LCA) is an appealing approach for the evaluation of resources utilization and environmental impacts of the process industries from an ecological scale. However, the aggregated metrics of Eco-LCA suffer from some drawbacks: the environmental impact metric has limited applicability; the resource utilization metric ignores indirect consumption; the renewability metric fails to address the quantitative distinction of resources availability; the productivity metric seems self-contradictory. In this paper, the existing Eco-LCA metrics are revised and extended for sustainability assessment of the energy and chemical processes. A new Eco-LCA metrics system is proposed, including four independent dimensions: environmental impact, resource utilization, resource availability, and economic effectiveness. An illustrative example of comparing assessment between a gas boiler and a solar boiler process provides insight into the features of the proposed approach.

INTEGRATING EPIDEMIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY IN NEUROTOXICITY RISK ASSESSMENT.

EPA Science Inventory

This manuscript provides an overview of the use of data from toxicology and epidemiology studies for neurotoxicity risk assessment. Parameters such as the use of subjects, study designs, exposures, and measured outcomes are compared and contrasted. The main concern for use of d...

Zebrafish as a model system to study toxicology.

PubMed

Dai, Yu-Jie; Jia, Yong-Fang; Chen, Na; Bian, Wan-Ping; Li, Qin-Kai; Ma, Yan-Bo; Chen, Yan-Ling; Pei, De-Sheng

2014-01-01

Monitoring and assessing the effects of contaminants in the aquatic eco-environment is critical in protecting human health and the environment. The zebrafish has been widely used as a prominent model organism in different fields because of its small size, low cost, diverse adaptability, short breeding cycle, high fecundity, and transparent embryos. Recent studies have demonstrated that zebrafish sensitivity can aid in monitoring environmental contaminants, especially with the application of transgenic technology in this area. The present review provides a brief overview of recent studies on wild-type and transgenic zebrafish as a model system to monitor toxic heavy metals, endocrine disruptors, and organic pollutants for toxicology. The authors address the new direction of developing high-throughput detection of genetically modified transparent zebrafish to open a new window for monitoring environmental pollutants. © 2013 SETAC.

Could ecological thresholds of toxicological concern (eco-TTCs) be used to support development of ambient water quality criteria?

EPA Science Inventory

The Threshold of Toxicologic Concern (TTC) is an approach used for a decades in human hazard assessment. A TTC establishes an exposure level for a chemical below which no appreciable risk to human health is expected based upon a de minimis value for toxicity identified for many ...

COMPUTATIONAL TOXICOLOGY

EPA Science Inventory

Over the last several years, there has been increased pressure to utilize novel technologies derived from computational chemistry, molecular biology and systems biology in toxicological risk assessment. This new area has been referred to as "Computational Toxicology". Our resear...

A framework for in vitro systems toxicology assessment of e-liquids

PubMed Central

Iskandar, Anita R.; Gonzalez-Suarez, Ignacio; Majeed, Shoaib; Marescotti, Diego; Sewer, Alain; Xiang, Yang; Leroy, Patrice; Guedj, Emmanuel; Mathis, Carole; Schaller, Jean-Pierre; Vanscheeuwijck, Patrick; Frentzel, Stefan; Martin, Florian; Ivanov, Nikolai V.; Peitsch, Manuel C.; Hoeng, Julia

2016-01-01

Abstract Various electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), of which electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are the most recognized prototype, have been quickly gaining ground on conventional cigarettes because they are perceived as less harmful. Research assessing the potential effects of ENDS exposure in humans is currently limited and inconclusive. New products are emerging with numerous variations in designs and performance parameters within and across brands. Acknowledging these challenges, we present here a proposed framework for an in vitro systems toxicology assessment of e-liquids and their aerosols, intended to complement the battery of assays for standard toxicity assessments. The proposed framework utilizes high-throughput toxicity assessments of e-liquids and their aerosols, in which the device-to-device variability is minimized, and a systems-level investigation of the cellular mechanisms of toxicity is an integral part. An analytical chemistry investigation is also included as a part of the framework to provide accurate and reliable chemistry data solidifying the toxicological assessment. In its simplest form, the framework comprises of three main layers: (1) high-throughput toxicity screening of e-liquids using primary human cell culture systems; (2) toxicity-related mechanistic assessment of selected e-liquids, and (3) toxicity-related mechanistic assessment of their aerosols using organotypic air–liquid interface airway culture systems. A systems toxicology assessment approach is leveraged to enable in-depth analyses of the toxicity-related cellular mechanisms of e-liquids and their aerosols. We present example use cases to demonstrate the suitability of the framework for a robust in vitro assessment of e-liquids and their aerosols. PMID:27117495

A framework for in vitro systems toxicology assessment of e-liquids.

PubMed

Iskandar, Anita R; Gonzalez-Suarez, Ignacio; Majeed, Shoaib; Marescotti, Diego; Sewer, Alain; Xiang, Yang; Leroy, Patrice; Guedj, Emmanuel; Mathis, Carole; Schaller, Jean-Pierre; Vanscheeuwijck, Patrick; Frentzel, Stefan; Martin, Florian; Ivanov, Nikolai V; Peitsch, Manuel C; Hoeng, Julia

2016-07-01

Various electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), of which electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are the most recognized prototype, have been quickly gaining ground on conventional cigarettes because they are perceived as less harmful. Research assessing the potential effects of ENDS exposure in humans is currently limited and inconclusive. New products are emerging with numerous variations in designs and performance parameters within and across brands. Acknowledging these challenges, we present here a proposed framework for an in vitro systems toxicology assessment of e-liquids and their aerosols, intended to complement the battery of assays for standard toxicity assessments. The proposed framework utilizes high-throughput toxicity assessments of e-liquids and their aerosols, in which the device-to-device variability is minimized, and a systems-level investigation of the cellular mechanisms of toxicity is an integral part. An analytical chemistry investigation is also included as a part of the framework to provide accurate and reliable chemistry data solidifying the toxicological assessment. In its simplest form, the framework comprises of three main layers: (1) high-throughput toxicity screening of e-liquids using primary human cell culture systems; (2) toxicity-related mechanistic assessment of selected e-liquids, and (3) toxicity-related mechanistic assessment of their aerosols using organotypic air-liquid interface airway culture systems. A systems toxicology assessment approach is leveraged to enable in-depth analyses of the toxicity-related cellular mechanisms of e-liquids and their aerosols. We present example use cases to demonstrate the suitability of the framework for a robust in vitro assessment of e-liquids and their aerosols.

A new method of regional eco-environmental quality assessment and its application.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaodan; Cao, Yingzi; Zhong, Xianghao; Gao, Pan

2012-01-01

Eco-environmental quality assessment (EQA) is an intricate and challenging task that must take into account numerous natural, economic, political, and social factors, which are subject to multiple conflicting criteria. In this paper, a methodological reference framework is developed for EQA that combines the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) with a geographic information system (GIS). The proposed method significantly improves the accuracy and reliability of evaluation results through the incorporation of fuzzy set theory. A GIS not only has the ability to store and analyze large amounts of spatial data from different sources but also provides a consistent visualization environment for displaying the input data and the results of EQA. Furthermore, unlike prior EQAs, the proposed method can support the dynamic estimation of regional eco-environmental quality by updating historical spatiotemporal data at little additional cost. A case study is presented for the western Tibetan Plateau. The study results show that worse, bad, and moderate eco-environmental quality classes comprised 16.58, 20.15, and 24.84% of the total area, respectively. Good and better eco-environmental quality classes accounted for 38.43%. This result indicates that nearly 62% of the total area is eco-environmentally vulnerable. The results verified the usefulness and feasibility of the proposed method. The EQA can also help local managers make scientifically based and effective decisions about Tibetan eco-environmental protection and land use. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Environmental toxicology and risk assessment: Standardization of biomarkers for endocrine disruption and environmental assessment: Eighth volume. Special technical publication 1364

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Henshel, D.S.; Black, M.C.; Harrass, M.C.

1999-07-01

This conference was held April 20--22, 1998 in Atlanta, Georgia. The purpose of this conference was to provide a multidisciplinary forum for exchange of state-of-the-art information on biological markers in toxicology and risk assessment, including endocrine disrupter screening assays. Attention is focused on the following: aquatic toxicology; behavioral toxicology; biochemical indicators; developmental indicators; endocrine indicators; biodegradation and fate of chemicals; quality assurance and quality control within laboratory and field studies; risk assessment and communication, and harmonization of standards development. Individual papers have been processed separately for inclusion in the appropriate data bases.

ESCAPE: Eco-Behavioral System for Complex Assessments of Preschool Environments. Research Draft.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carta, Judith J.; And Others

The manual details an observational code designed to track a child during an entire day in a preschool setting. The Eco-Behavioral System for Complex Assessments of Preschool Environments (ESCAPE) encompasses assessment of the following three major categories of variables with their respective subcategories: (1) ecological variables (designated…

Mapping eco-environmental vulnerability patterns: An assessment framework based on remote sensing, GIS, and AHP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anh, N. K.; Liou, Y. A.; Li, M. H.

2016-12-01

The motivation for this study is assessment of the eco-environment vulnerability based on four independent determinants: hydro-meteorology, topography, land resources, and human activities. An assessment framework is proposed to assess the vulnerable eco-environment by using 16 variables with 6 of them constructed from Landsat 8 satellite images. The remaining variables were extracted from digital maps. Each variable was evaluated and spatially mapped with the aid of an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and geographical information system (GIS). The Thua Thien - Hue Province that has been experiencing natural disasters and urbanization in the recent decades is selected as our study area. An eco-environmental vulnerability map is assorted into six vulnerable levels consisting of potential, slight, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy vulnerabilities, representing 14%, 27%, 17%, 26%, 13%, 3% of the study area, respectively. It is found that heavy and very heavy vulnerable areas appear mainly in the low and medium lands with high intensification of social-economic activities and often suffer from flooding. Tiny percentages of medium and heavy vulnerable levels occur in high land areas probably caused by agricultural practices in highlands, slash and burn cultivation and removal of natural forests with new plantation forests and these regions are usually influenced by landslides, flash flooding. Based on our results, three ecological zones requiring different development and protection solutions are proposed to restore local eco-environment toward sustainable development. Our findings support the idea that eco-environmental vulnerability is driven by anthropogenic processes and enhanced by natural disaster in the Thua Thien-Hue Province.

Analysis of transport eco-efficiency scenarios to support sustainability assessment: a study on Dhaka City, Bangladesh.

PubMed

Iqbal, Asif; Allan, Andrew; Afroze, Shirina

2017-08-01

The study focused to assess the level of efficiency (of both emissions and service quality) that can be achieved for the transport system in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. The assessment technique attempted to quantify the extent of eco-efficiency achievable for the system modifications due to planning or strategy. The eco-efficiency analysis was facilitated with a detailed survey data on Dhaka City transport system, which was conducted for 9 months in 2012-2013. Line source modelling (CALINE4) was incorporated to estimate the on-road emission concentration. The eco-efficiency of the transport systems was assessed with the 'multi-criteria analysis' (MCA) technique that enabled the valuation of systems' qualitative and quantitative parameters. As per the analysis, driving indiscipline on road can alone promise about 47% reductions in emissions, which along with the number of private vehicles were the important stressors that restrict achieving eco-efficiency in Dhaka City. Detailed analysis of the transport system together with the potential transport system scenarios can offer a checklist to the policy makers enabling to identify the possible actions needed that can offer greater services to the dwellers against lesser emissions, which in turn can bring sustainability of the system.

Application of Computational Toxicology to Prospective and Diagnostic Ecological Risk Assessment

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Application of Computational Toxicology to Prospective and Diagnostic Ecological Risk Assessment (Presented by: Dan Villeneuve, Ph.D., Research Toxicologist, US-EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division) (1/24/2013)

Nanostructured TiO2 and ZnO prepared by using pressurized hot water and their eco-toxicological evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Troppová, Ivana; Matějová, Lenka; Sezimová, Hana; Matěj, Zdeněk; Peikertová, Pavlína; Lang, Jaroslav

2017-06-01

The eco-toxicological effects of unconventionally prepared nanostructured TiO2 and ZnO were evaluated in this study, since both oxides are keenly investigated semiconductor photocatalysts in the last three decades. Unconventional processing by pressurized hot water was applied in order to crystallize oxide materials as an alternative to standard calcination. Acute biological toxicity of the synthesized oxides was evaluated using germination of Sinapis alba seed (ISO 11269-1) and growth of Lemna minor fronds (ISO 20079) and was compared to commercially available TiO2 Degussa P25. Toxicity results revealed that synthesized ZnO as well as TiO2 is toxic contrary to commercial TiO2 Degussa P25 which showled stimulation effect to L. minor and no toxicity to S. alba. ZnO was significantly more toxic than TiO2. The effect of crystallite size was considered, and it was revealed that small crystallite size and large surface area are not the toxicity-determining factors. Factors such as the rate of nanosized crystallites aggregation and concentration, shape and surface properties of TiO2 nanoparticles affect TiO2 toxicity to both plant species. Seriously, the dissolution of Ti4+ ions from TiO2 was also observed which may contribute to its toxicity. In case of ZnO, the dissolution of Zn2+ ions stays the main cause of its toxicity.

Assessing the scientific research productivity of a leading toxicology journal: A case study of Human & Experimental Toxicology from 2003 to 2012.

PubMed

Zyoud, Sa'ed H; Al-Jabi, Samah W; Sweileh, Waleed M; Awang, Rahmat

2014-01-01

Bibliometric studies are increasingly being used for research assessments. Bibliometric indicators involve the application of statistical methods to scientific publications to obtain the bibliographics for each journal. The main objective of this study was to conduct a bibliometric evaluation of Human & Experimental Toxicology retrieved from the Scopus database. This study obtained data from Scopus published from 1 January 2003 till 31 December 2012. The keywords entered in Scopus to accomplish the objective of this study were 'Human', 'Experimental' and 'Toxicology' as 'Source Title'. Research productivity was evaluated based on a methodology developed and used in other bibliometric studies by analysing (a) total and trends in Human & Experimental Toxicology contributions in research between 2003 and 2012; (b) Human & Experimental Toxicology authorship patterns and productivity; (c) collaboration patterns; and (d) the citations received by the publications. There were 1229 research articles published in Human & Experimental Toxicology. Of the articles included, 947 (77.1%) were original articles and 104 (8.5%) were review articles. The Hirsch-index of the retrieved documents was 35. The largest number of publications in Human & Experimental Toxicology was from the United States (19.6%), followed by India (12.8%) and Turkey (10.9%). The total number of citations was 9119, with a median (interquartile range) of 3 (1-9) in 6797 documents. The highest median (interquartile range) number of citations was 8 (2.7-12.7) for France, followed by 7.5 (2-22.5) for Iran and 6 (3-13.5) for the United Kingdom. The country most often citing articles that were published in Human & Experimental Toxicology was the United States, which made citations in 1508 documents, followed by India with citations in 792 documents. The documents in Human & Experimental Toxicology focus principally on original data, with very few review articles. Review articles tend to have higher citation rates

A UNIFYING CONCEPT FOR ASSESSING TOXICOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS: CHANGES IN SLOPE

EPA Science Inventory

Robust statistical methods are important to the evaluation of interactions among chemicals in a mixture. However, different concepts of interaction as applied to the statistical analysis of chemical mixture toxicology data or as used in environmental risk assessment often can ap...

A GIS-based decision support system for regional eco-security assessment and its application on the Tibetan Plateau.

PubMed

Xiaodan, Wang; Xianghao, Zhong; Pan, Gao

2010-10-01

Regional eco-security assessment is an intricate, challenging task. In previous studies, the integration of eco-environmental models and geographical information systems (GIS) usually takes two approaches: loose coupling and tight coupling. However, the present study used a full coupling approach to develop a GIS-based regional eco-security assessment decision support system (ESDSS). This was achieved by merging the pressure-state-response (PSR) model and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) into ArcGIS 9 as a dynamic link library (DLL) using ArcObjects in ArcGIS and Visual Basic for Applications. Such an approach makes it easy to capitalize on the GIS visualization and spatial analysis functions, thereby significantly supporting the dynamic estimation of regional eco-security. A case study is presented for the Tibetan Plateau, known as the world's "third pole" after the Arctic and Antarctic. Results verified the usefulness and feasibility of the developed method. As a useful tool, the ESDSS can also help local managers to make scientifically-based and effective decisions about Tibetan eco-environmental protection and land use. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toxicological risk assessment and prioritization of drinking water relevant contaminants of emerging concern.

PubMed

Baken, Kirsten A; Sjerps, Rosa M A; Schriks, Merijn; van Wezel, Annemarie P

2018-06-13

Toxicological risk assessment of contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) in (sources of) drinking water is required to identify potential health risks and prioritize chemicals for abatement or monitoring. In such assessments, concentrations of chemicals in drinking water or sources are compared to either (i) health-based (statutory) drinking water guideline values, (ii) provisional guideline values based on recent toxicity data in absence of drinking water guidelines, or (iii) generic drinking water target values in absence of toxicity data. Here, we performed a toxicological risk assessment for 163 CEC that were selected as relevant for drinking water. This relevance was based on their presence in drinking water and/or groundwater and surface water sources in downstream parts of the Rhine and Meuse, in combination with concentration levels and physicochemical properties. Statutory and provisional drinking water guideline values could be derived from publically available toxicological information for 142 of the CEC. Based on measured concentrations it was concluded that the majority of substances do not occur in concentrations which individually pose an appreciable human health risk. A health concern could however not be excluded for vinylchloride, trichloroethene, bromodichloromethane, aniline, phenol, 2-chlorobenzenamine, mevinphos, 1,4-dioxane, and nitrolotriacetic acid. For part of the selected substances, toxicological risk assessment for drinking water could not be performed since either toxicity data (hazard) or drinking water concentrations (exposure) were lacking. In absence of toxicity data, the Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC) approach can be applied for screening level risk assessment. The toxicological information on the selected substances was used to evaluate whether drinking water target values based on existing TTC levels are sufficiently protective for drinking water relevant CEC. Generic drinking water target levels of 37 μg/L for

Toxicology: a discipline in need of academic anchoring--the point of view of the German Society of Toxicology.

PubMed

Gundert-Remy, U; Barth, H; Bürkle, A; Degen, G H; Landsiedel, R

2015-10-01

The paper describes the importance of toxicology as a discipline, its past achievements, current scientific challenges, and future development. Toxicological expertise is instrumental in the reduction of human health risks arising from chemicals and drugs. Toxicological assessment is needed to evaluate evidence and arguments, whether or not there is a scientific base for concern. The immense success already achieved by toxicological work is exemplified by reduced pollution of air, soil, water, and safer working places. Predominantly predictive toxicological testing is derived from the findings to assess risks to humans and the environment. Assessment of the adversity of molecular effects (including epigenetic effects), the effects of mixtures, and integration of exposure and biokinetics into in vitro testing are emerging challenges for toxicology. Toxicology is a translational science with its base in fundamental science. Academic institutions play an essential part by providing scientific innovation and education of young scientists.

Eco-toxicological risk and impact of pesticides on important parasitoids of cabbage butterflies in cruciferous ecosystem.

PubMed

Firake, D M; Thubru, D P; Behere, G T

2017-02-01

Eco-toxicological risk and impact of pesticides was estimated on three important parasitoids of butterflies viz., Hyposoter ebeninus, Cotesia glomerata and Pteromalus puparum. Four commonly used pesticides were evaluated using standard protocol (of IOBC/WPRS-group). In laboratory tests, the survival of the female wasps decreased significantly on fresh contact and ingestion of deltamethrin, spinosad and azadirachtin; whereas Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki (Btk) was found harmless pesticide. Under semi-field conditions, parasitoid mortality decreased significantly on fresh contact with the pesticides. Although, at 72 h after treatment, spinosad and deltamethrin were found harmful (Class-IV) and azadirachtin was moderately harmful (Class-III), whereas Btk was harmless (Class-I). Furthermore, 15-day-old residues of pesticides (except deltamethrin) were harmless to all parasitoid species under semi-field conditions. Notably, adult emergence and pupal duration in pesticide-treated cocoons were not significantly affected; however, their survival decreased after emergence except in Btk. The contact and oral toxicity trends of the pesticides were almost similar for three species of parasitoid females and pupae; however little variability was observed in toxicity to the host caterpillars parasitized by H. ebeninus (HCPHE) and C. glomerata (HCPCG). In semi-field tests, fresh residues of all the pesticides were harmful to HCPHE and HCPCG. However, action of Btk was slightly delayed and toxicity was rather low for HCPCG. In 15-day-old residues, deltamethrin and azadirachtin were slightly harmful to the parasitized caterpillars, whereas those of Btk and spinosad were harmless. Since, Btk appeared to be safe for parasitoids; it could be used for managing cabbage butterflies in brassicaceous crops. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

EPA EcoBox

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This tool box of ecological risk assessment (Eco-box) includes over 400+ links to tools, models, and databases found within EPA and our Government partners designed that can aid risk assessors with performing exposure assessments.

Hydra as a model organism to decipher the toxic effects of copper oxide nanorod: Eco-toxicogenomics approach.

PubMed

Murugadas, Anbazhagan; Zeeshan, Mohammed; Thamaraiselvi, Kaliannan; Ghaskadbi, Surendra; Akbarsha, Mohammad Abdulkader

2016-07-15

Nanotechnology has emerged as a powerful field of applied research. However, the potential toxicity of nano-materials is a cause of concern. A thorough toxicological investigation is required before a nanomaterial is evaluated for application of any kind. In this context, there is concerted effort to find appropriate test systems to assess the toxicity of nanomaterials. Toxicity of a nanomaterial greatly depends on its physicochemical properties and the biological system with which it interacts. The present research was carried out with a view to generate data on eco-toxicological impacts of copper oxide nanorod (CuO NR) in Hydra magnipapillata 105 at organismal, cellular and molecular levels. Exposure of hydra to CuO NR resulted in severe morphological alterations in a concentration- as well as duration-dependent manner. Impairment of feeding, population growth, and regeneration was also observed. In vivo and in vitro analyses revealed induction of oxidative stress, genotoxicity, and molecular machinery of apoptotic cell death, accompanied by disruption of cell cycle progression. Taken together, CuO nanorod is potentially toxic to the biological systems. Also, hydra offers potential to be used as a convenient model organism for aquatic ecotoxicological risk assessment of nanomaterials.

Hydra as a model organism to decipher the toxic effects of copper oxide nanorod: Eco-toxicogenomics approach

PubMed Central

Murugadas, Anbazhagan; Zeeshan, Mohammed; Thamaraiselvi, Kaliannan; Ghaskadbi, Surendra; Akbarsha, Mohammad Abdulkader

2016-01-01

Nanotechnology has emerged as a powerful field of applied research. However, the potential toxicity of nano-materials is a cause of concern. A thorough toxicological investigation is required before a nanomaterial is evaluated for application of any kind. In this context, there is concerted effort to find appropriate test systems to assess the toxicity of nanomaterials. Toxicity of a nanomaterial greatly depends on its physicochemical properties and the biological system with which it interacts. The present research was carried out with a view to generate data on eco-toxicological impacts of copper oxide nanorod (CuO NR) in Hydra magnipapillata 105 at organismal, cellular and molecular levels. Exposure of hydra to CuO NR resulted in severe morphological alterations in a concentration- as well as duration-dependent manner. Impairment of feeding, population growth, and regeneration was also observed. In vivo and in vitro analyses revealed induction of oxidative stress, genotoxicity, and molecular machinery of apoptotic cell death, accompanied by disruption of cell cycle progression. Taken together, CuO nanorod is potentially toxic to the biological systems. Also, hydra offers potential to be used as a convenient model organism for aquatic ecotoxicological risk assessment of nanomaterials. PMID:27417574

Assessing the Student-Instructional Setting Interface Using an Eco-Behavioral Observation System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendrickson, Jo M.

1992-01-01

An eco-behavioral observation system was developed for use with students with behavior disorders or emotional disturbances. Discussed are the ecosystem definition, the student-instructional setting interface, and the assessment procedure, including evaluation of the quality of academic responding, program evaluation, staff development, and…

Spatial-temporal eco-environmental vulnerability assessment and its influential factors based on Landsat data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anh, N. K.; Liou, Y. A.; Ming-Hsu, L.

2016-12-01

Regional land use/land cover (LULC) changes lead to various changes in ecological processes and, in turn, alter regional micro-climate. To understand eco-environmental responses to LULC changes, eco-environmental evaluation is thus required with aims to identify vulnerable regions and influential factors, so that practical measures for environmental protection and management may be proposed. The Thua Thien - Hue Province has been experiencing urbanization at a rapid rate in both population and physical size. The urban land, agricultural land, and aquaculture activities have been invasively into natural space and caused eco-environment deterioration by land desertification, soil erosion, shrinking forest resources,…etc. In this study, an assessment framework that is composed by 11 variables with 9 of them constructed from Landsat time series is proposed to serve as basis to examine eco-environmental vulnerability in the Thua Thien - Hue Province in years 1989, 2003, and 2014. An eco-environmental vulnerability map is assorted into six vulnerability levels consisting of potential, slight, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy vulnerabilities. Result shows that there is an increasing trend in eco-environmental vulnerability in general with expected evolving distributions in heavy and very heavy vulnerability levels, which mainly lying on developed land, bare land, semi bare land, agricultural land, and poor and recovery forests. In contrast, there is a significant decline in potential vulnerability level. The contributing factors of an upward trend in medium, heavy, and very heavy levels include: (i) a large natural forest converted to plantation forest and agriculture land; and (ii) significant expansion of developed land leading to difference in thermal signatures in urban areas as compared with those of the surrounding areas. It is concluded that anthropogenic processes with transformation on LULC has amplified the vulnerability of eco-environment in the study

Eco-HAB as a fully automated and ecologically relevant assessment of social impairments in mouse models of autism.

PubMed

Puścian, Alicja; Łęski, Szymon; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Winiarski, Maciej; Borowska, Joanna; Nikolaev, Tomasz; Boguszewski, Paweł M; Lipp, Hans-Peter; Knapska, Ewelina

2016-10-12

Eco-HAB is an open source, RFID-based system for automated measurement and analysis of social preference and in-cohort sociability in mice. The system closely follows murine ethology. It requires no contact between a human experimenter and tested animals, overcoming the confounding factors that lead to irreproducible assessment of murine social behavior between laboratories. In Eco-HAB, group-housed animals live in a spacious, four-compartment apparatus with shadowed areas and narrow tunnels, resembling natural burrows. Eco-HAB allows for assessment of the tendency of mice to voluntarily spend time together in ethologically relevant mouse group sizes. Custom-made software for automated tracking, data extraction, and analysis enables quick evaluation of social impairments. The developed protocols and standardized behavioral measures demonstrate high replicability. Unlike classic three-chambered sociability tests, Eco-HAB provides measurements of spontaneous, ecologically relevant social behaviors in group-housed animals. Results are obtained faster, with less manpower, and without confounding factors.

Human exposure assessment and the National Toxicology Program.

PubMed Central

Lucier, G W; Schecter, A

1998-01-01

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/National Toxicology Program (NIEHS/NTP) is developing a new interagency initiative in exposure assessment. This initiative involves the NIEHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through its National Center for Environmental Health, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the EPA, and other participating institutes and agencies of the NTP. This initiative will benefit public health and priority setting in a number of ways. First, as discussed above, it will strengthen the scientific foundation for risk assessments by the development of more credible exposure/response relationships in people by improving cross-species extrapolation, the development of biologically based dose-response models, and the identification of sensitive subpopulations and for "margin of exposure" based estimates of risk. Second, it will provide the kind of information necessary for deciding which chemicals should be studied with the limited resources available for toxicological testing. For example, there are 85,000 chemicals in commerce today, and the NTP can only provide toxicological evaluations on 10-20 per year. Third, we would use the information obtained from the exposure initiative to focus our research on mixtures that are actually present in people's bodies. Fourth, we would obtain information on the kinds and amount of chemicals in children and other potentially sensitive subpopulations. Determinations of whether additional safety factors need to be applied to children must rest, in part, upon comparative exposure analyses between children and adults. Fifth, this initiative, taken together with the environmental genome initiative, will provide the science base essential for meaningful studies on gene/environment interactions, particularly for strengthening the evaluation of epidemiology studies. Sixth, efficacy of public health policies aimed at reducing human exposure to chemical agents could be

Guidance on assessing the methodological and reporting quality of toxicologically relevant studies: A scoping review.

PubMed

Samuel, Gbeminiyi O; Hoffmann, Sebastian; Wright, Robert A; Lalu, Manoj Mathew; Patlewicz, Grace; Becker, Richard A; DeGeorge, George L; Fergusson, Dean; Hartung, Thomas; Lewis, R Jeffrey; Stephens, Martin L

2016-01-01

Assessments of methodological and reporting quality are critical to adequately judging the credibility of a study's conclusions and to gauging its potential reproducibility. To aid those seeking to assess the methodological or reporting quality of studies relevant to toxicology, we conducted a scoping review of the available guidance with respect to four types of studies: in vivo and in vitro, (quantitative) structure-activity relationships ([Q]SARs), physico-chemical, and human observational studies. Our aims were to identify the available guidance in this diverse literature, briefly summarize each document, and distill the common elements of these documents for each study type. In general, we found considerable guidance for in vivo and human studies, but only one paper addressed in vitro studies exclusively. The guidance for (Q)SAR studies and physico-chemical studies was scant but authoritative. There was substantial overlap across guidance documents in the proposed criteria for both methodological and reporting quality. Some guidance documents address toxicology research directly, whereas others address preclinical research generally or clinical research and therefore may not be fully applicable to the toxicology context without some translation. Another challenge is the degree to which assessments of methodological quality in toxicology should focus on risk of bias - as in clinical medicine and healthcare - or be broadened to include other quality measures, such as confirming the identity of test substances prior to exposure. Our review is intended primarily for those in toxicology and risk assessment seeking an entry point into the extensive and diverse literature on methodological and reporting quality applicable to their work. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Nanotechnology in agriculture: Opportunities, toxicological implications, and occupational risks.

PubMed

Iavicoli, Ivo; Leso, Veruscka; Beezhold, Donald H; Shvedova, Anna A

2017-08-15

Nanotechnology has the potential to make a beneficial impact on several agricultural, forestry, and environmental challenges, such as urbanization, energy constraints, and sustainable use of resources. However, new environmental and human health hazards may emerge from nano-enhanced applications. This raises concerns for agricultural workers who may become primarily exposed to such xenobiotics during their job tasks. The aim of this review is to discuss promising solutions that nanotechnology may provide in agricultural activities, with a specific focus on critical aspects, challenging issues, and research needs for occupational risk assessment and management in this emerging field. Eco-toxicological aspects were not the focus of the review. Nano-fertilizers, (nano-sized nutrients, nano-coated fertilizers, or engineered metal-oxide or carbon-based nanomaterials per se), and nano-pesticides, (nano-formulations of traditional active ingredients or inorganic nanomaterials), may provide a targeted/controlled release of agrochemicals, aimed to obtain their fullest biological efficacy without over-dosage. Nano-sensors and nano-remediation methods may detect and remove environmental contaminants. However, limited knowledge concerning nanomaterial biosafety, adverse effects, fate, and acquired biological reactivity once dispersed into the environment, requires further scientific efforts to assess possible nano-agricultural risks. In this perspective, toxicological research should be aimed to define nanomaterial hazards and levels of exposure along the life-cycle of nano-enabled products, and to assess those physico-chemical features affecting nanomaterial toxicity, possible interactions with agro-system co-formulants, and stressors. Overall, this review highlights the importance to define adequate risk management strategies for workers, occupational safety practices and policies, as well as to develop a responsible regulatory consensus on nanotechnology in agriculture

Gut microbiota in toxicological risk assessment of drugs and chemicals: The need of hour.

PubMed

Velmurugan, Ganesan

2018-03-06

The advent of industrial revolution caused a large inflow of synthetic chemicals for medical, agricultural, industrial and other purposes in the world. In general, these chemicals were subjected to toxicological risk assessment for human health and ecology before release for public use. But today we are witnessing a negative impact of some of these chemicals on human health and environment indicating an underestimation of toxic effects by current risk assessment protocol. Recent studies established gut microbiota as one of the key player in intercession of toxicity of drugs and synthetic chemicals. Hence, the need of the hour is to include the assessment for microbiota specifically gut microbiota in human toxicological risk assessment protocol. Herewith we are proposing a framework for assessment of gut microbiota upon exposure to drugs or chemicals.

Assessing the scientific research productivity of a leading toxicology journal: A case study of Human & Experimental Toxicology from 2003 to 2012

PubMed Central

Al-Jabi, Samah W; Sweileh, Waleed M; Awang, Rahmat

2014-01-01

Background: Bibliometric studies are increasingly being used for research assessments. Bibliometric indicators involve the application of statistical methods to scientific publications to obtain the bibliographics for each journal. The main objective of this study was to conduct a bibliometric evaluation of Human & Experimental Toxicology retrieved from the Scopus database. Methods: This study obtained data from Scopus published from 1 January 2003 till 31 December 2012. The keywords entered in Scopus to accomplish the objective of this study were ‘Human’, ‘Experimental’ and ‘Toxicology’ as ‘Source Title’. Research productivity was evaluated based on a methodology developed and used in other bibliometric studies by analysing (a) total and trends in Human & Experimental Toxicology contributions in research between 2003 and 2012; (b) Human & Experimental Toxicology authorship patterns and productivity; (c) collaboration patterns; and (d) the citations received by the publications. Results: There were 1229 research articles published in Human & Experimental Toxicology. Of the articles included, 947 (77.1%) were original articles and 104 (8.5%) were review articles. The Hirsch-index of the retrieved documents was 35. The largest number of publications in Human & Experimental Toxicology was from the United States (19.6%), followed by India (12.8%) and Turkey (10.9%). The total number of citations was 9119, with a median (interquartile range) of 3 (1–9) in 6797 documents. The highest median (interquartile range) number of citations was 8 (2.7–12.7) for France, followed by 7.5 (2–22.5) for Iran and 6 (3–13.5) for the United Kingdom. The country most often citing articles that were published in Human & Experimental Toxicology was the United States, which made citations in 1508 documents, followed by India with citations in 792 documents. Conclusion: The documents in Human & Experimental Toxicology focus principally on original data, with very few

Development and Feasibility of a Virtual Reality Task for the Cognitive Assessment of Older Adults: The ECO-VR.

PubMed

Oliveira, Camila R; Lopes Filho, Brandel José P; Sugarman, Michael A; Esteves, Cristiane S; Lima, Margarida Maria B M P; Moret-Tatay, Carmen; Irigaray, Tatiana Q; Argimon, Irani Iracema L

2016-12-13

Cognitive assessment with virtual reality (VR) may have superior ecological validity for older adults compared to traditional pencil-and-paper cognitive assessment. However, few studies have reported the development of VR tasks. The aim of this study was to present the development, feasibility, content validity, and preliminary evidence of construct validity of an ecological task of cognitive assessment for older adults in VR (ECO-VR). The tasks were prepared based on theoretical and clinical backgrounds. We had 29 non-expert judges identify virtual visual stimuli and three-dimensional scenarios, and five expert judges assisted with content analysis and developing instructions. Finally, six older persons participated in three pilot studies and thirty older persons participated in the preliminary study to identify construct validity evidence. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and partial correlation. Target stimuli and three-dimensional scenarios were judged adequate and the content analysis demonstrated that ECO-VR evaluates temporo-spatial orientation, memory, language and executive functioning. We made significant changes to the instructions after the pilot studies to increase comprehensibility and reduce the completion time. The total score of ECO-VR was positively correlated mainly with performance in executive function (r = .172, p < .05) and memory tests (r = .488, p ≤ .01). The ECO-VR demonstrated feasibility for cognitive assessment in older adults, as well as content and construct validity evidences.

Experimental designs and risk assessment in combination toxicology: panel discussion.

PubMed

Henschler, D; Bolt, H M; Jonker, D; Pieters, M N; Groten, J P

1996-01-01

Advancing our knowledge on the toxicology of combined exposures to chemicals and implementation of this knowledge in guidelines for health risk assessment of such combined exposures are necessities dictated by the simple fact that humans are continuously exposed to a multitude of chemicals. A prerequisite for successful research and fruitful discussions on the toxicology of combined exposures (mixtures of chemicals) is the use of defined terminology implemented by an authoritative international body such as, for example, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Toxicology Committee. The extreme complexity of mixture toxicology calls for new research methodologies to study interactive effects, taking into account limited resources. Of these methodologies, statistical designs and mathematical modelling of toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics seem to be most promising. Emphasis should be placed on low-dose modelling and experimental validation. The scientifically sound so-called bottom-up approach should be supplemented with more pragmatic approaches, focusing on selection of the most hazardous chemicals in a mixture and careful consideration of the mode of action and possible interactive effects of these chemicals. Pragmatic approaches may be of particular importance to study and evaluate complex mixtures; after identification of the 'top ten' (most risky) chemicals in the mixture they can be examined and evaluated as a defined (simple) chemical mixture. In setting exposure limits for individual chemicals, the use of an additional safety factor to compensate for potential increased risk due to simultaneous exposure to other chemicals, has no clear scientific justification. The use of such an additional factor is a political rather than a scientific choice.

Eco-HAB as a fully automated and ecologically relevant assessment of social impairments in mouse models of autism

PubMed Central

Puścian, Alicja; Łęski, Szymon; Kasprowicz, Grzegorz; Winiarski, Maciej; Borowska, Joanna; Nikolaev, Tomasz; Boguszewski, Paweł M; Lipp, Hans-Peter; Knapska, Ewelina

2016-01-01

Eco-HAB is an open source, RFID-based system for automated measurement and analysis of social preference and in-cohort sociability in mice. The system closely follows murine ethology. It requires no contact between a human experimenter and tested animals, overcoming the confounding factors that lead to irreproducible assessment of murine social behavior between laboratories. In Eco-HAB, group-housed animals live in a spacious, four-compartment apparatus with shadowed areas and narrow tunnels, resembling natural burrows. Eco-HAB allows for assessment of the tendency of mice to voluntarily spend time together in ethologically relevant mouse group sizes. Custom-made software for automated tracking, data extraction, and analysis enables quick evaluation of social impairments. The developed protocols and standardized behavioral measures demonstrate high replicability. Unlike classic three-chambered sociability tests, Eco-HAB provides measurements of spontaneous, ecologically relevant social behaviors in group-housed animals. Results are obtained faster, with less manpower, and without confounding factors. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19532.001 PMID:27731798

In silico toxicology protocols.

PubMed

Myatt, Glenn J; Ahlberg, Ernst; Akahori, Yumi; Allen, David; Amberg, Alexander; Anger, Lennart T; Aptula, Aynur; Auerbach, Scott; Beilke, Lisa; Bellion, Phillip; Benigni, Romualdo; Bercu, Joel; Booth, Ewan D; Bower, Dave; Brigo, Alessandro; Burden, Natalie; Cammerer, Zoryana; Cronin, Mark T D; Cross, Kevin P; Custer, Laura; Dettwiler, Magdalena; Dobo, Krista; Ford, Kevin A; Fortin, Marie C; Gad-McDonald, Samantha E; Gellatly, Nichola; Gervais, Véronique; Glover, Kyle P; Glowienke, Susanne; Van Gompel, Jacky; Gutsell, Steve; Hardy, Barry; Harvey, James S; Hillegass, Jedd; Honma, Masamitsu; Hsieh, Jui-Hua; Hsu, Chia-Wen; Hughes, Kathy; Johnson, Candice; Jolly, Robert; Jones, David; Kemper, Ray; Kenyon, Michelle O; Kim, Marlene T; Kruhlak, Naomi L; Kulkarni, Sunil A; Kümmerer, Klaus; Leavitt, Penny; Majer, Bernhard; Masten, Scott; Miller, Scott; Moser, Janet; Mumtaz, Moiz; Muster, Wolfgang; Neilson, Louise; Oprea, Tudor I; Patlewicz, Grace; Paulino, Alexandre; Lo Piparo, Elena; Powley, Mark; Quigley, Donald P; Reddy, M Vijayaraj; Richarz, Andrea-Nicole; Ruiz, Patricia; Schilter, Benoit; Serafimova, Rositsa; Simpson, Wendy; Stavitskaya, Lidiya; Stidl, Reinhard; Suarez-Rodriguez, Diana; Szabo, David T; Teasdale, Andrew; Trejo-Martin, Alejandra; Valentin, Jean-Pierre; Vuorinen, Anna; Wall, Brian A; Watts, Pete; White, Angela T; Wichard, Joerg; Witt, Kristine L; Woolley, Adam; Woolley, David; Zwickl, Craig; Hasselgren, Catrin

2018-07-01

The present publication surveys several applications of in silico (i.e., computational) toxicology approaches across different industries and institutions. It highlights the need to develop standardized protocols when conducting toxicity-related predictions. This contribution articulates the information needed for protocols to support in silico predictions for major toxicological endpoints of concern (e.g., genetic toxicity, carcinogenicity, acute toxicity, reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity) across several industries and regulatory bodies. Such novel in silico toxicology (IST) protocols, when fully developed and implemented, will ensure in silico toxicological assessments are performed and evaluated in a consistent, reproducible, and well-documented manner across industries and regulatory bodies to support wider uptake and acceptance of the approaches. The development of IST protocols is an initiative developed through a collaboration among an international consortium to reflect the state-of-the-art in in silico toxicology for hazard identification and characterization. A general outline for describing the development of such protocols is included and it is based on in silico predictions and/or available experimental data for a defined series of relevant toxicological effects or mechanisms. The publication presents a novel approach for determining the reliability of in silico predictions alongside experimental data. In addition, we discuss how to determine the level of confidence in the assessment based on the relevance and reliability of the information. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Formaldehyde (Interagency ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On June 2, 2010, the Toxicological Review of Formaldehyde and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Formaldehyde and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. The draft Toxicological Review of Formaldehyde-Inhalation Assessment provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic inhalation exposure to formaldehyde.

Genetic toxicology at the crossroads-from qualitative hazard evaluation to quantitative risk assessment.

PubMed

White, Paul A; Johnson, George E

2016-05-01

Applied genetic toxicology is undergoing a transition from qualitative hazard identification to quantitative dose-response analysis and risk assessment. To facilitate this change, the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) Genetic Toxicology Technical Committee (GTTC) sponsored a workshop held in Lancaster, UK on July 10-11, 2014. The event included invited speakers from several institutions and the contents was divided into three themes-1: Point-of-departure Metrics for Quantitative Dose-Response Analysis in Genetic Toxicology; 2: Measurement and Estimation of Exposures for Better Extrapolation to Humans and 3: The Use of Quantitative Approaches in Genetic Toxicology for human health risk assessment (HHRA). A host of pertinent issues were discussed relating to the use of in vitro and in vivo dose-response data, the development of methods for in vitro to in vivo extrapolation and approaches to use in vivo dose-response data to determine human exposure limits for regulatory evaluations and decision-making. This Special Issue, which was inspired by the workshop, contains a series of papers that collectively address topics related to the aforementioned themes. The Issue includes contributions that collectively evaluate, describe and discuss in silico, in vitro, in vivo and statistical approaches that are facilitating the shift from qualitative hazard evaluation to quantitative risk assessment. The use and application of the benchmark dose approach was a central theme in many of the workshop presentations and discussions, and the Special Issue includes several contributions that outline novel applications for the analysis and interpretation of genetic toxicity data. Although the contents of the Special Issue constitutes an important step towards the adoption of quantitative methods for regulatory assessment of genetic toxicity, formal acceptance of quantitative methods for HHRA and regulatory decision-making will require consensus regarding the

A modified eco-efficiency framework and methodology for advancing the state of practice of sustainability analysis as applied to green infrastructure.

PubMed

Ghimire, Santosh R; Johnston, John M

2017-09-01

We propose a modified eco-efficiency (EE) framework and novel sustainability analysis methodology for green infrastructure (GI) practices used in water resource management. Green infrastructure practices such as rainwater harvesting (RWH), rain gardens, porous pavements, and green roofs are emerging as viable strategies for climate change adaptation. The modified framework includes 4 economic, 11 environmental, and 3 social indicators. Using 6 indicators from the framework, at least 1 from each dimension of sustainability, we demonstrate the methodology to analyze RWH designs. We use life cycle assessment and life cycle cost assessment to calculate the sustainability indicators of 20 design configurations as Decision Management Objectives (DMOs). Five DMOs emerged as relatively more sustainable along the EE analysis Tradeoff Line, and we used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a widely applied statistical approach, to quantify the modified EE measures as DMO sustainability scores. We also addressed the subjectivity and sensitivity analysis requirements of sustainability analysis, and we evaluated the performance of 10 weighting schemes that included classical DEA, equal weights, National Institute of Standards and Technology's stakeholder panel, Eco-Indicator 99, Sustainable Society Foundation's Sustainable Society Index, and 5 derived schemes. We improved upon classical DEA by applying the weighting schemes to identify sustainability scores that ranged from 0.18 to 1.0, avoiding the nonuniqueness problem and revealing the least to most sustainable DMOs. Our methodology provides a more comprehensive view of water resource management and is generally applicable to GI and industrial, environmental, and engineered systems to explore the sustainability space of alternative design configurations. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:821-831. Published 2017. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Integrated Environmental Assessment and

Emerging approaches in predictive toxicology.

PubMed

Zhang, Luoping; McHale, Cliona M; Greene, Nigel; Snyder, Ronald D; Rich, Ivan N; Aardema, Marilyn J; Roy, Shambhu; Pfuhler, Stefan; Venkatactahalam, Sundaresan

2014-12-01

Predictive toxicology plays an important role in the assessment of toxicity of chemicals and the drug development process. While there are several well-established in vitro and in vivo assays that are suitable for predictive toxicology, recent advances in high-throughput analytical technologies and model systems are expected to have a major impact on the field of predictive toxicology. This commentary provides an overview of the state of the current science and a brief discussion on future perspectives for the field of predictive toxicology for human toxicity. Computational models for predictive toxicology, needs for further refinement and obstacles to expand computational models to include additional classes of chemical compounds are highlighted. Functional and comparative genomics approaches in predictive toxicology are discussed with an emphasis on successful utilization of recently developed model systems for high-throughput analysis. The advantages of three-dimensional model systems and stem cells and their use in predictive toxicology testing are also described. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Emerging Approaches in Predictive Toxicology

PubMed Central

Zhang, Luoping; McHale, Cliona M.; Greene, Nigel; Snyder, Ronald D.; Rich, Ivan N.; Aardema, Marilyn J.; Roy, Shambhu; Pfuhler, Stefan; Venkatactahalam, Sundaresan

2016-01-01

Predictive toxicology plays an important role in the assessment of toxicity of chemicals and the drug development process. While there are several well-established in vitro and in vivo assays that are suitable for predictive toxicology, recent advances in high-throughput analytical technologies and model systems are expected to have a major impact on the field of predictive toxicology. This commentary provides an overview of the state of the current science and a brief discussion on future perspectives for the field of predictive toxicology for human toxicity. Computational models for predictive toxicology, needs for further refinement and obstacles to expand computational models to include additional classes of chemical compounds are highlighted. Functional and comparative genomics approaches in predictive toxicology are discussed with an emphasis on successful utilization of recently developed model systems for high-throughput analysis. The advantages of three-dimensional model systems and stem cells and their use in predictive toxicology testing are also described. PMID:25044351

Water ecosystem service function assessment based on eco-hydrological process in Luanhe Basin,China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, C.; Hao, C.; Qin, T.; Wang, G.; Weng, B.

2012-12-01

At present, ecological water are mainly occupied by a rapid development of social economic and population explosion, which seriously threat the ecological security and water security in watershed and regional scale. Due to the lack of a unified standard of measuring the benefit of water resource, social economic and ecosystem, the water allocation can't take place in social economic and ecosystem. The function which provided by water in terrestrial, aquatic and social economic system can be addressed through water ecosystem service function research, and it can guide the water allocation in water resource management. The function which provided by water in terrestrial, aquatic and social economic system can be addressed through water ecosystem service function research, and it can guide the water allocation in water resource management. Throughout the researches of water ecosystem service, a clear identification of the connection of water ecosystem service function has not been established, and eco-economic approach can't meet the practical requirement of water allocation. Based on "nature-artificiality" dual water cycle theory and eco-hydrological process, this paper proposes a connection and indicator system of water ecosystem service function. In approach, this paper establishes an integrated assessment approach through prototype observation technology, numerical simulation, physical simulation and modern geographic information technology. The core content is to couple an eco-hydrological model, which involves the key processes of distributed hydrological model (WEP), ecological model (CLM-DGVM), in terms of eco-hydrological process. This paper systematically evaluates the eco-hydrological process and evolution of Luanhe Basin in terms of precipitation, ET, runoff, groundwater, ecosystem's scale, form and distribution. According to the results of eco-hydrological process, this paper assesses the direct and derived service function. The result indicates that the

Toxicological Assessment of ISS Air Quality: December 2011 to May 2012

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

James, John T.

2012-01-01

The toxicological assessment of 17 GSCs returned aboard Soyuz 28 and 29 from the ISS is shown in Table 1. The average recoveries of the 3 surrogate standards from the GSCs were as follows: (C-13)-acetone, 110%; fluorobenzene, 107%; and chlorobenzene, 99%. Recoveries from formaldehyde badges, which were returned on 29S, averaged 101%.

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA's assessment of the noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of Beryllium was added to the IRIS database in 1998. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for Beryllium. This update will incorporate health effects information published since the last assessment was prepared as well as new risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for Beryllium will consist of an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physicochemical and toxicokinetic properties of the chemical and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference values for noncancer effects of Beryllium (RfD and RfC) and a cancer assessment. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary will be subject to internal peer consultation, Agency and Interagency review, and external scientific peer review. The final products will constitute the Agency's opinion on the toxicity of Beryllium. Beryllium is a light alkaline earth metal used in metal alloys and in high-performance products in the metallurgical, aerospace, and nuclear industries. According to the Superfund database, beryllium is found in over 300 NPL sites

Using Computational Toxicology to Enable Risk-Based ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

presentation at Drug Safety Gordon Research Conference 2016 on research efforts in NCCT to enable Computational Toxicology to support risk assessment. Slide presentation at Drug Safety Gordon Research Conference 2016 on research efforts in NCCT to enable Computational Toxicology to support risk assessment.

Proceedings of the Conference on Toxicology: Applications of Advances in Toxicology to Risk Assessment. Held at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio on 19-21 May 1992

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

animals in toxicology research, the application of pharmacokinetics and physiologically based pharmacokinetic mdels in chemical risk assessment, selected...metaplasia Neurotoxicity Nonmutagenic carcinogens Ozone P450 PBPK modeling Perfluorohexane Peroxisome proliferators Pharmacokinetics Pharmacokinetic models...Physiological modeling Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling Polycyclic organic matter Quantitative risk assessment RAIRM model Rats

Environmental impact assessment and eco-friendly decision-making in civil structures.

PubMed

Kim, Sang-Hyo; Choi, Moon-Seock; Mha, Ho-Seong; Joung, Jung-Yeun

2013-09-15

This study develops two useful procedures in performing an environmental-impact assessment. One is the advanced life-cycle assessment (LCA) method, which effectively tracks the flow of materials and considers the recycling and demolition of a civil structure. The other is an eco-friendly decision-making procedure, which may effectively apply when determining the prototype of a civil structure. The advanced LCA method differs from traditional LCA procedure, as it classifies the input material prior to the impact assessment. Classification work is performed to establish independent life-cycle stages for each material. The processes of recycling and demolition are appropriately added to the life-cycle stages. The impact assessment is performed separately for the materials, and results are aggregated at the end of the analysis. The eco-friendly decision-making procedure enables designers to choose an economical, and environmentally friendly, alternative during the planning phase of the construction project. This procedure rationally amalgamates economical value and environmental effects into a single indicator. The life cycle cost (LCC) of a structure can be analysed by using conventional LCC tools, whereas the environmental impact is estimated by LCA. The results from LCC and LCA are then integrated by using either a CO2 conversion method or an analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The CO2 conversion method presents the result as a monetary value, whereas the AHP presents the result as a non-dimensional value. A practical example using a steel box girder bridge and a pre-stressed concrete (PSC) box-girder bridge is also given in order to aid the understanding of the presented procedure. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toxicological assessment of 3-chloropropane-1,2-diol and glycidol fatty acid esters in food.

PubMed

Bakhiya, Nadiya; Abraham, Klaus; Gürtler, Rainer; Appel, Klaus Erich; Lampen, Alfonso

2011-04-01

Fatty acid esters of 3-chloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) and glycidol are a newly identified class of food process contaminants. They are widespread in refined vegetable oils and fats and have been detected in vegetable fat-containing products, including infant formulas. There are no toxicological data available yet on the 3-MCPD and glycidol esters, and the primary toxicological concern is based on the potential release of 3-MCPD or glycidol from the parent esters by lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis in the gastrointestinal tract. Although 3-MCPD is assessed as a nongenotoxic carcinogen with a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 2 μg/kg body weight (bw), glycidol is a known genotoxic carcinogen, which induces tumors in numerous organs of rodents. The initial exposure estimates, conducted by Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) under the assumption that 100% of the 3-MPCD and glycidol are released from their esters, revealed especially that infants being fed commercial infant formula could ingest harmful amounts of 3-MCPD and glycidol. However, the real oral bioavailability may be lower. As this gives rise for toxicological concern, the currently available toxicological data of 3-MCPD and glycidol and their esters are summarized in this review and discussed with regard to data gaps and further research needs. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

COMPUTATIONAL TOXICOLOGY: AN IN SILLICO DOSIMETRY MODEL FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF AIR POLLUTANTS

EPA Science Inventory

To accurately assess the threat to human health presented by airborne contaminants, it is necessary to know the deposition patterns of particulate matter (PM) within the respiratory system. To provide a foundation for computational toxicology, we have developed an in silico model...

Advances in exposure and toxicity assessment of particulate matter: An overview of presentations at the 2009 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gunasekar, Palur G., E-mail: palur.gunasekar@wpafb.af.mil; Stanek, Lindsay W., E-mail: Stanek.Lindsay@epa.gov

2011-07-15

The 2009 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference (TRAC) session on 'Advances in Exposure and Toxicity Assessment of Particulate Matter' was held in April 2009 in West Chester, OH. The goal of this session was to bring together toxicology, geology and risk assessment experts from the Department of Defense and academia to examine issues in exposure assessment and report on recent epidemiological findings of health effects associated with particulate matter (PM) exposure. Important aspects of PM exposure research are to detect and monitor low levels of PM with various chemical compositions and to assess the health risks associated with these exposures.more » As part of the overall theme, some presenters discussed collection methods for sand and dust from Iraqi and Afghanistan regions, health issues among deployed personnel, and future directions for risk assessment research among these populations. The remaining speakers focused on the toxicity of ultrafine PM and the characterization of aerosols generated during ballistic impacts of tungsten heavy alloys.« less

Advances in exposure and toxicity assessment of particulate matter: an overview of presentations at the 2009 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference.

PubMed

Gunasekar, Palur G; Stanek, Lindsay W

2011-07-15

The 2009 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference (TRAC) session on "Advances in Exposure and Toxicity Assessment of Particulate Matter" was held in April 2009 in West Chester, OH. The goal of this session was to bring together toxicology, geology and risk assessment experts from the Department of Defense and academia to examine issues in exposure assessment and report on recent epidemiological findings of health effects associated with particulate matter (PM) exposure. Important aspects of PM exposure research are to detect and monitor low levels of PM with various chemical compositions and to assess the health risks associated with these exposures. As part of the overall theme, some presenters discussed collection methods for sand and dust from Iraqi and Afghanistan regions, health issues among deployed personnel, and future directions for risk assessment research among these populations. The remaining speakers focused on the toxicity of ultrafine PM and the characterization of aerosols generated during ballistic impacts of tungsten heavy alloys. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Vanadium Pentoxide ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 30, 2011, the draft Toxicological Review of Vanadium Pentoxide and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process (May 2009), introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Vanadium Pentoxide and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. EPA is reassessing its IRIS toxicological review of vanadium pentoxide (CASRN 1314-62-1). This vanadium pentoxide reassessment consists of an oral reference dose (RfD), an inhalation reference concentration (RfC), an inhalation unit risk (IUR) and a cancer weight of evidence descriptor. This is the first assessment developing an RfC or IUR for this compound. This assessment is intended to provide human health data to support agency regulatory decisions.

Special-purpose fiber type 475--toxicological assessment.

PubMed

Bernstein, D M

2007-02-01

Type 475 special-purpose glass fiber is rather unique among the family of synthetic mineral fibers. It is used not for insulation but for "high-end" filtration products designed for high and ultra-high purity filtration of air and liquids. The designation for these types of filters varies with country and includes HEPA, ULPA, EU 10-13, EN1822, and S3. In its evaluation, type 475 has been grouped together with E-glass another special-purpose fibre often with little distinction made in terms of its chemistry and corresponding toxicological response. The detailed review of the available toxicology data on type 475 glass fibers clearly shows that following inhalation of this fiber even at relatively high doses, which likely exceed that at which lung overload in the rat is known to occur, type 475 glass fibers are not fibrogenic and do not cause tumors. These data clearly show an important differentiation in potency between type 475 glass fibers and E-glass and support treating these two types of fibers independently and not equating them though the term "special-purpose fibers." Analysis of the intraperitoneal studies taking into account fibre dimensions shows that at 109 fibers injected, there was a 0.3 tumor incidence. While these studies indicate according to the European Commission (EC) classification criteria that 475 should not be fully exonerated as a carcinogen, the results of the inhalation study fully support classification in category 3. The IP results are more difficult to interpret, however, the IP study itself provides no toxicological basis for determining what range of dose-response should correspond to EU category 3 or 2. Following the EC classification criteria, the toxicological data clearly indicate that 475 fibers are appropriately classified in EC category 3.

Use of automated monitoring to assess behavioral toxicology in fish: Linking behavior and physiology

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brewer, S.K.; DeLonay, A.J.; Beauvais, S.L.; Little, E.E.; Jones, S.B.

1999-01-01

We measured locomotory behaviors (distance traveled, speed, tortuosity of path, and rate of change in direction) with computer-assisted analysis in 30 day posthatch rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) exposed to pesticides. We also examined cholinesterase inhibition as a potential endpoint linking physiology and behavior. Sublethal exposure to chemicals often causes changes in swimming behavior, reflecting alterations in sensory and motor systems. Swimming behavior also integrates functions of the nervous system. Rarely are the connections between physiology and behavior made. Although behavior is often suggested as a sensitive, early indicator of toxicity, behavioral toxicology has not been used to its full potential because conventional methods of behavioral assessment have relied on manual techniques, which are often time-consuming and difficult to quantify. This has severely limited the application and utility of behavioral procedures. Swimming behavior is particularly amenable to computerized assessment and automated monitoring. Locomotory responses are sensitive to toxicants and can be easily measured. We briefly discuss the use of behavior in toxicology and automated techniques used in behavioral toxicology. We also describe the system we used to determine locomotory behaviors of fish, and present data demonstrating the system's effectiveness in measuring alterations in response to chemical challenges. Lastly, we correlate behavioral and physiological endpoints.

Application of Computational Toxicological Approaches in Supporting Human Health Risk Assessment, Project Summary

EPA Science Inventory

Summary

Toxicological Risks During Human Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

James, John T.; Limero, T. F.; Lam, C. W.; Billica, Roger (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The goal of toxicological risk assessment of human space flight is to identify and quantify significant risks to astronaut health from air pollution inside the vehicle or habitat, and to develop a strategy for control of those risks. The approach to completing a toxicological risk assessment involves data and experience on the frequency and severity of toxicological incidents that have occurred during space flight. Control of these incidents depends on being able to understand their cause from in-flight and ground-based analysis of air samples, crew reports of air quality, and known failures in containment of toxic chemicals. Toxicological risk assessment in exploration missions must be based on an evaluation of the unique toxic hazards presented by the habitat location. For example, lunar and Martian dust must be toxicologically evaluated to determine the appropriate control measures for exploration missions. Experience with near-earth flights has shown that the toxic products from fires present the highest risk to crew health from air pollution. Systems and payload leaks also present a significant hazard. The health risk from toxicity associated with materials offgassing or accumulation of human metabolites is generally well controlled. Early tests of lunar and Martian dust simulants have shown that each posses the potential to cause fibrosis in the lung in a murine model. Toxicological risks from air pollutants in space habitats originate from many sources. A number of risks have been identified through near-earth operations; however, the evaluation of additional new risks present during exploration missions will be a challenge.

A regulatory gene (ECO-orf4) required for ECO-0501 biosynthesis in Amycolatopsis orientalis.

PubMed

Shen, Yang; Huang, He; Zhu, Li; Luo, Minyu; Chen, Daijie

2014-02-01

ECO-0501 is a novel linear polyene antibiotic, which was discovered from Amycolatopsis orientalis. Recent study of ECO-0501 biosynthesis pathway revealed the presence of regulatory gene: ECO-orf4. The A. orientalis ECO-orf4 gene from the ECO-0501 biosynthesis cluster was analyzed, and its deduced protein (ECO-orf4) was found to have amino acid sequence homology with large ATP-binding regulators of the LuxR (LAL) family regulators. Database comparison revealed two hypothetical domains, a LuxR-type helix-turn-helix (HTH) DNA binding motif near the C-terminal and an N-terminal nucleotide triphosphate (NTP) binding motif included. Deletion of the corresponding gene (ECO-orf4) resulted in complete loss of ECO-0501 production. Complementation by one copy of intact ECO-orf4 restored the polyene biosynthesis demonstrating that ECO-orf4 is required for ECO-0501 biosynthesis. The results of overexpression ECO-orf4 on ECO-0501 production indicated that it is a positive regulatory gene. Gene expression analysis by reverse transcription PCR of the ECO-0501 gene cluster showed that the transcription of ECO-orf4 correlates with that of genes involved in polyketide biosynthesis. These results demonstrated that ECO-orf4 is a pathway-specific positive regulatory gene that is essential for ECO-0501 biosynthesis. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

3-D nasal cultures: Systems toxicological assessment of a candidate modified-risk tobacco product.

PubMed

Iskandar, Anita R; Mathis, Carole; Martin, Florian; Leroy, Patrice; Sewer, Alain; Majeed, Shoaib; Kuehn, Diana; Trivedi, Keyur; Grandolfo, Davide; Cabanski, Maciej; Guedj, Emmanuel; Merg, Celine; Frentzel, Stefan; Ivanov, Nikolai V; Peitsch, Manuel C; Hoeng, Julia

2017-01-01

In vitro toxicology approaches have evolved from a focus on molecular changes within a cell to understanding of toxicity-related mechanisms in systems that can mimic the in vivo environment. The recent development of three dimensional (3-D) organotypic nasal epithelial culture models offers a physiologically robust system for studying the effects of exposure through inhalation. Exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) is associated with nasal inflammation; thus, the nasal epithelium is relevant for evaluating the pathophysiological impact of CS exposure. The present study investigated further the application of in vitro human 3-D nasal epithelial culture models for toxicological assessment of inhalation exposure. Aligned with 3Rs strategy, this study aimed to explore the relevance of a human 3-D nasal culture model to assess the toxicological impact of aerosols generated from a candidate modified risk tobacco product (cMRTP), the Tobacco Heating System (THS) 2.2, as compared with smoke generated from reference cigarette 3R4F. A series of experimental repetitions, where multiple concentrations of THS2.2 aerosol and 3R4F smoke were applied, were conducted to obtain reproducible measurements to understand the cellular/molecular changes that occur following exposure. In agreement with "Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century - a Vision and a Strategy", this study implemented a systems toxicology approach and found that for all tested concentrations the impact of 3R4F smoke was substantially greater than that of THS2.2 aerosol in terms of cytotoxicity levels, alterations in tissue morphology, secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators, impaired ciliary function, and increased perturbed transcriptomes and miRNA expression profiles.

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA's assessment of the noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) was added to the IRIS database in 1990. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for TCP. This update will incorporate health effects information published since the last assessment was prepared as well as new risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for TCP will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physicochemical and toxicokinetic properties of the chemical and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference values for noncancer effects of TCP (RfD and RfC) and a cancer assessment. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary will be subject to internal peer consultation, Agency review, and external scientific peer review. The final products will constitute the Agency's opinion on the toxicity of TCP. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for 1,2,3-trichloropropane. IRIS is an EPA database containing the Agency's consensus scientific positions on potential adverse human effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment process, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in

IRIS Toxicological Review of Urea (Interagency Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 28, 2010, the Toxicological Review of Urea and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Urea and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. The draft Toxicological Review of Urea provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to Urea.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid (TCA) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 24, 2009, the Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid (TCA) and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. The draft Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard identification and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to trichloroacetic acid.

Analysis and Assessment of Environmental Load of Vending Machines by a LCA Method, and Eco-Improvement Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kimura, Yukio; Sadamichi, Yucho; Maruyama, Naoki; Kato, Seizo

These days the environmental impact due to vending machines'(VM) diffusion has greatly been discussed. This paper describes the numerical evaluation of the environmental impact by using the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) scheme and then proposes eco-improvements' strategy toward environmentally conscious products(ECP). A new objective and universal consolidated method for the LCA-evaluation, so-called LCA-NETS(Numerical Eco-load Standardization ) developed by the authors is applied to the present issue. As a result, the environmental loads at the 5years' operation and the material procurement stages are found to dominate others over the life cycle. Further eco-improvement is realized by following the order of the LCA-NETS magnitude; namely, energy saving, materials reducing, parts' re-using, and replacing with low environmental load material. Above all, parts' re-using is specially recommendable for significant reduction of the environmental loads toward ECP.

Eco-environmental vulnerability assessment for large drinking water resource: a case study of Qiandao Lake Area, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Qing; Li, Jun; Deng, Jinsong; Lin, Yi; Ma, Ligang; Wu, Chaofan; Wang, Ke; Hong, Yang

2015-09-01

The Qiandao Lake Area (QLA) is of great significance in terms of drinking water supply in East Coast China as well as a nationally renowned tourist attraction. A series of laws and regulations regarding the QLA environment have been enacted and implemented throughout the past decade with the aim of negating the harmful effects associated with expanding urbanization and industrialization. In this research, an assessment framework was developed to analyze the eco-environmental vulnerability of the QLA from 1990-2010 by integrating fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and geographical information systems (GIS) in an attempt to gain insights into the status quo of the QLA so as to review and evaluate the effectiveness of the related policies. After processing and analyzing the temporal and spatial variation of eco-environmental vulnerability and major environmental issues in the QLA, we found that the state of eco-environmental vulnerability of the QLA was acceptable, though a moderate deterioration was detected during the study period. Furthermore, analysis of the combination of vulnerability and water quality indicated that the water quality showed signs of declination, though the overall status remained satisfactory. It was hence concluded that the collective protection and treatment actions were effective over the study period, whereas immediately stricter measures would be required for protecting the drinking water quality from domestic sewage and industrial wastewater. Finally, the spatial variation of the eco-environmental vulnerability assessment also implied that specifically more targeted measures should be adopted in respective regions for long-term sustainable development of the QLA.

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY DOCUMENTS FOR 2-HEXANONE

EPA Science Inventory

EPA will conduct an assessment of the noncancer health effects of 2-hexanone. The IRIS program will prepare an IRIS assessment for 2-hexanone. The IRIS assessment for 2-hexanone will consist of a Toxicological Review and an IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical ...

Ecological Risk Assessment of Land Use Change in the Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone, China

PubMed Central

Xie, Hualin; Wang, Peng; Huang, Hongsheng

2013-01-01

Land use/land cover change has been attracting increasing attention in the field of global environmental change research because of its role in the social and ecological environment. To explore the ecological risk characteristics of land use change in the Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone of China, an eco-risk index was established in this study by the combination of a landscape disturbance index with a landscape fragmentation index. Spatial distribution and gradient difference of land use eco-risk are analyzed by using the methods of spatial autocorrelation and semivariance. Results show that ecological risk in the study area has a positive correlation, and there is a decreasing trend with the increase of grain size both in 1995 and 2005. Because the area of high eco-risk value increased from 1995 to 2005, eco-environment quality declined slightly in the study area. There are distinct spatial changes in the concentrated areas with high land use eco-risk values from 1995 to 2005. The step length of spatial separation of land use eco-risk is comparatively long—58 km in 1995 and 11 km in 2005—respectively. There are still nonstructural factors affecting the quality of the regional ecological environment at some small-scales. Our research results can provide some useful information for land eco-management, eco-environmental harnessing and restoration. In the future, some measures should be put forward in the regions with high eco-risk value, which include strengthening land use management, avoiding unreasonable types of land use and reducing the degree of fragmentation and separation. PMID:23343986

IRIS Toxicological Review of 2-Hexanone (Interagency ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 25, 2009, the IRIS Summary and Toxicological Review of 2-hexanone was finalized and loaded onto the IRIS database. The Toxicological Review of 2-hexanone was reviewed internally by EPA, by other federal agencies and White House Offices, by expert external peer reviewers, and by the public. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency draft of the 2-hexanone IRIS assessment are posted on this site. The draft Toxicological Review of 2-hexanone provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard identification and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to 2-hexanone.

Occurrence and preliminarily environmental risk assessment of selected pharmaceuticals in the urban rivers, China

PubMed Central

Zhou, Haidong; Ying, Tianqi; Wang, Xuelian; Liu, Jianbo

2016-01-01

Twelve selected pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, analgesics, antiepileptics and lipid regulators were analysed and detected in water samples collected from 18 sampling sections along the three main urban rivers in Yangpu District of Shanghai, China during four sampling campaigns. Besides, algal growth inhibition test was conducted to preliminarily assess the eco-toxicology induced by the target pharmaceuticals in the rivers. Mean levels for most of target compounds were generally below 100 ng/L at sampling sections, with the exception of caffeine and paracetamol presenting considerably high concentration. The detected pharmaceuticals in the urban rivers ranged from eco-toxicological risk assessment showed that the presence of azithromycin, clarithromycin and caffeine may present an ecotoxicological risk in the urban rivers. For other tested pharmaceuticals the inhibition effects of single substances in the urban aquatic environment, based on the algae inhibition tests, were very imperceptible. PMID:27713558

Occurrence and preliminarily environmental risk assessment of selected pharmaceuticals in the urban rivers, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Haidong; Ying, Tianqi; Wang, Xuelian; Liu, Jianbo

2016-10-01

Twelve selected pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, analgesics, antiepileptics and lipid regulators were analysed and detected in water samples collected from 18 sampling sections along the three main urban rivers in Yangpu District of Shanghai, China during four sampling campaigns. Besides, algal growth inhibition test was conducted to preliminarily assess the eco-toxicology induced by the target pharmaceuticals in the rivers. Mean levels for most of target compounds were generally below 100 ng/L at sampling sections, with the exception of caffeine and paracetamol presenting considerably high concentration. The detected pharmaceuticals in the urban rivers ranged from eco-toxicological risk assessment showed that the presence of azithromycin, clarithromycin and caffeine may present an ecotoxicological risk in the urban rivers. For other tested pharmaceuticals the inhibition effects of single substances in the urban aquatic environment, based on the algae inhibition tests, were very imperceptible.

The Impact of Novel Assessment Methodologies in Toxicology on Green Chemistry and Chemical Alternatives.

PubMed

Rusyn, Ivan; Greene, Nigel

2018-02-01

The field of experimental toxicology is rapidly advancing by incorporating novel techniques and methods that provide a much more granular view into the mechanisms of potential adverse effects of chemical exposures on human health. The data from various in vitro assays and computational models are useful not only for increasing confidence in hazard and risk decisions, but also are enabling better, faster and cheaper assessment of a greater number of compounds, mixtures, and complex products. This is of special value to the field of green chemistry where design of new materials or alternative uses of existing ones is driven, at least in part, by considerations of safety. This article reviews the state of the science and decision-making in scenarios when little to no data may be available to draw conclusions about which choice in green chemistry is "safer." It is clear that there is no "one size fits all" solution and multiple data streams need to be weighed in making a decision. Moreover, the overall level of familiarity of the decision-makers and scientists alike with new assessment methodologies, their validity, value and limitations is evolving. Thus, while the "impact" of the new developments in toxicology on the field of green chemistry is great already, it is premature to conclude that the data from new assessment methodologies have been widely accepted yet. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Translational toxicology: a developmental focus for integrated research strategies.

PubMed

Hughes, Claude; Waters, Michael; Allen, David; Obasanjo, Iyabo

2013-09-30

Given that toxicology studies the potential adverse effects of environmental exposures on various forms of life and that clinical toxicology typically focuses on human health effects, what can and should the relatively new term of "translational toxicology" be taken to mean? Our assertion is that the core concept of translational toxicology must incorporate existing principles of toxicology and epidemiology, but be driven by the aim of developing safe and effective interventions beyond simple reduction or avoidance of exposure to prevent, mitigate or reverse adverse human health effects of exposures.The field of toxicology has now reached a point where advances in multiple areas of biomedical research and information technologies empower us to make fundamental transitions in directly impacting human health. Translational toxicology must encompass four action elements as follows: 1) Assessing human exposures in critical windows across the lifespan; 2) Defining modes of action and relevance of data from animal models; 3) Use of mathematical models to develop plausible predictions as the basis for: 4) Protective and restorative human health interventions. The discussion focuses on the critical window of in-utero development. Exposure assessment, basic toxicology and development of certain categories of mathematical models are not new areas of research; however overtly integrating these in order to conceive, assess and validate effective interventions to mitigate or reverse adverse effects of environmental exposures is our novel opportunity. This is what we should do in translational toxicology so that we have a portfolio of interventional options to improve human health that include both minimizing exposures and specific preventative/restorative/mitigative therapeutics.

Benchmarking wastewater treatment plants under an eco-efficiency perspective.

PubMed

Lorenzo-Toja, Yago; Vázquez-Rowe, Ian; Amores, María José; Termes-Rifé, Montserrat; Marín-Navarro, Desirée; Moreira, María Teresa; Feijoo, Gumersindo

2016-10-01

The new ISO 14045 framework is expected to slowly start shifting the definition of eco-efficiency toward a life-cycle perspective, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as the environmental impact assessment method together with a system value assessment method for the economic analysis. In the present study, a set of 22 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Spain were analyzed on the basis of eco-efficiency criteria, using LCA and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) as a system value assessment method. The study is intended to be useful to decision-makers in the wastewater treatment sector, since the combined method provides an alternative scheme for analyzing the relationship between environmental impacts and costs. Two midpoint impact categories, global warming and eutrophication potential, as well as an endpoint single score indicator were used for the environmental assessment, while LCC was used for value assessment. Results demonstrated that substantial differences can be observed between different WWTPs depending on a wide range of factors such as plant configuration, plant size or even legal discharge limits. Based on these results the benchmarking of wastewater treatment facilities was performed by creating a specific classification and certification scheme. The proposed eco-label for the WWTPs rating is based on the integration of the three environmental indicators and an economic indicator calculated within the study under the eco-efficiency new framework. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessing eco-toxicological effects of industrial 2,4-D acid iso-octylester herbicide on rat pancreas and liver.

PubMed

Kalipci, E; Ozdemir, C; Oztas, H

2013-05-01

We studied the eco-toxic and carcinogenic effects of a commonly used 2,4-D acid iso-octylester herbicide on rat liver and pancreas. The rats in Group 1 were fed a standard feed and the rats in Group 2 were fed with standard feed to which was added 200 mg/kg/day 2,4-D acid iso-octylester for 16 weeks. Azaserine, 30 mg/kg/body weight, was injected into rats of Groups 3 and 4 to investigate the effects of 2,4-D acid iso-octylester on the development of neoplasms. After feeding the rats with neoplasms in Group 4 with food including 200 mg/kg/day 2,4-D acid iso-octylester for 16 weeks, an autopsy was carried out on all animals. We found that 2,4-D acid iso-octylester caused the formation of atypical cell foci (ACF) in the pancreata and livers of rats. ACF that were formed experimentally by exposure to azaserine had increased diameter, volume and number of atypical cell foci/mm(2) and mm(3) after exposure to 2,4-D acid iso-octylester. Our observations indicated that this herbicide potentially is a cancer initiator.

[Vulnerability assessment of eco-environment in Yimeng mountainous area of Shandong Province based on SRP conceptual model].

PubMed

Liu, Zheng-jia; Yu, Xing-xiu; Li, Lei; Huang, Mei

2011-08-01

Based on the ecological sensitivity-resilience-pressure (SRP) conceptual model, and selecting 13 indices including landscape diversity index, soil erosion, and elevation, etc. , the vulnerability of the eco-environment in Yimeng mountainous area of Shandong Province was assessed under the support of GIS and by using principal component analysis and hierarchy analytical method. According to the eco-environmental vulnerability index (EVI) values, the eco-environment vulnerability of study area was classified into 5 levels, i.e., slight (<1.8), light (1.8-2.8), moderate (2.8-3.5), heavy (3.5-4.0), and extreme vulnerability (>4.0). In the study area, moderately vulnerable area occupied 43.3% of the total, while the slightly, lightly, heavily, and extremely vulnerable areas occupied 6.1%, 33.8%, 15.9%, and 0.9%, respectively. The heavily and extremely vulnerable areas mainly located in the topographically complicated hilly area or the hill-plain ecotone with frequent human activities.

The assessment of eco-design with a comprehensive index incorporating environmental impact and economic profit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Shuo; Fu, Yun; Wang, Xiuteng; Xu, Bingsheng; Li, Zheng

2017-11-01

Eco-design is an advanced design approach which plays an important part in the national innovation project and serves as a key point for the successful transformation of the supply structure. However, the practical implementation of the pro-environmental designs and technologies always faces a dilemma situation, where some processes can effectively control their emissions to protect the environment at relatively high costs, while others pursue the individual interest in making profit by ignoring the possible adverse environmental impacts. Thus, the assessment on the eco-design process must be carried out based on the comprehensive consideration of the economic and environmental aspects. Presently, the assessment systems in China are unable to fully reflect the new environmental technologies regarding their innovative features or performance. Most of the assessment systems adopt scoring method based on the judgments of the experts, which are easy to use but somewhat subjective. The assessment method presented in this paper includes the environmental impact (EI) assessment based on LCA principal and willingness-to-pay theory, and economic profit (EP) assessment mainly based on market price. The results from the assessment are in the form of EI/EP, which evaluate the targeted process from a combined perspective of environmental and economic performance. A case study was carried out upon the utilization process of coal fly ash, which indicates the proposed method can compare different technical processes in an effective and objective manner, and provide explicit and insightful suggestions for decision making.

EPA EcoBox Tools by Stressors

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Phases of ERA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Effects

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Receptors

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

IRIS Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies and White House Offices are provided below with external peer review panel comments. The draft Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to dichloromethane.

Status of characterization techniques for carbon nanotubes and suggestions towards standards suitable for toxicological assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schweinberger, Florian F.; Meyer-Plath, Asmus

2011-07-01

Nanotechnologies promise to contribute significantly to major technological challenges of the upcoming century. Despite profound scientific progress in the last decades, only minor advances have been made in the field of nanomaterial toxicology. The International Team in Nanosafety (TITNT) is an international and multidisciplinary group of scientists, which aims at better understanding the risks of nanomaterials. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) account for one of the most promising nanomaterials and have therefore been chosen as representative material for nanoscaled particles. They are currently investigated by the different platforms of TITNT. As a starting point, the present report summarizes a literature-based study on the physico-chemical properties of CNT, as they are closely linked with toxicological properties. A brief introduction to synthesis, purification and material properties is given. Characterization methods for CNT are discussed with respect to their reliability and the information content on chemical properties. Recommendations for a set of standard characterizations mandatory for toxicological assessment are derived.

Space Toxicology: Human Health during Space Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khan-Mayberry, Noreen; James, John T.; Tyl, ROchelle; Lam, Chiu-Wing

2010-01-01

Space Toxicology is a unique and targeted discipline for spaceflight, space habitation and occupation of celestial bodies including planets, moons and asteroids. Astronaut explorers face distinctive health challenges and limited resources for rescue and medical care during space operation. A central goal of space toxicology is to protect the health of the astronaut by assessing potential chemical exposures during spaceflight and setting safe limits that will protect the astronaut against chemical exposures, in a physiologically altered state. In order to maintain sustained occupation in space on the International Space Station (ISS), toxicological risks must be assessed and managed within the context of isolation continuous exposures, reuse of air and water, limited rescue options, and the need to use highly toxic compounds for propulsion. As we begin to explore other celestial bodies in situ toxicological risks, such as inhalation of reactive mineral dusts, must also be managed.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trichloroethylene (TCE) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is conducting a peer review and public comment of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of Trichloroethylene (TCE) that when finalized will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. The purpose of this Toxicological Review is to provide scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment in IRIS pertaining to chronic exposure to trichloroethylene. It is not intended to be a comprehensive treatise on the chemical or toxicological nature of trichloroethylene.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Interagency ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On August 21, 2013, the draft Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene and the draft charge to external peer reviewers were released for public review and comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene and the charge to external peer reviewers, are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for BaP that will be entered into the IRIS database.

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Trichloroacetic acid is a crystalline solid with sharp, pungent odor. It is used as a soil sterilizer; and as a laboratory intermediate or reagent in the synthesis of a variety of medicinal products and organic chemicals. Trichloroacetic acid is also used industrially as an etching and pickling agent for the surface treatment of metals and as a solvent in the plastics industry. Trichloroacetic acid can be formed as a combustion byproduct of organic compounds in the presence of chlorine. It is also formed as a disinfection byproduct during water chlorination. The existing IRIS entry was added to the IRIS data base between 1994 and 1996. No RfD was developed. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for Trichloroacetic Acid. This update will incorporate health effects information published since the last assessment was prepared as well as new risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for Trichloroacetic Acid will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physicochemical and toxicokinetic properties of the chemical and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference value for noncancer effects of Trichloroacetic Acid (RfD) and a cancer assessment. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary will be subject to internal peer consultation, Agency review and external scientific peer review. The final products will constitute the Agency's opinion on the

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trimethylbenzenes (Final Report ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA has finalized the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Assessment of Trimethylbenzenes (TMBs). This assessment addresses the potential non-cancer and cancer human health effects from long-term exposure to TMBs. Now final, this assessment will be the first IRIS assessment for TMBs that may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health. The IRIS Toxicological Review of Trimethylbenzenes was originally released for a 60-day public comment period on June 29, 2012. EPA revised the toxicological review in response to the public comments received and released the finalized TMB assessment.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Interagency ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In January 2017, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Benzo[a]pyrene. The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science discussion materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for BaP that will be entered into the IRIS database.

IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane (with Inhalation ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 9, 2011, the Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane (inhalation) (External Review Draft) was posted for external peer review and public comment. Subsequently, the Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and Executive Office of the President before final public release. Based on the 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and the Executive Office of the President will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments with EPA's response and the interagency science discussion draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,4-dioxane (with inhalation update) and the draft IRIS Summary are posted on this site. The Toxicological Review of 1,4-dioxane provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to 1,4-dioxane.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Urea (Final Report) | Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Urea: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health. The draft Toxicological Review of Urea provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to Urea.

Implications of gender differences for human health risk assessment and toxicology

EPA Science Inventory

This paper from The Human Health working group of SGOMSEC 16 examines a broad range of issues on gender effects in toxicology. Gender differences in toxicology begin at the gamete and embryo stage, continuing through development and maturation and into old age. Sex influences exp...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On March 31, 2010, the draft IRIS Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride) external review draft document and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for public review and comment. The draft document and the charge to external peer reviewers were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride) and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. The draft Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to dichloromethane.

IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane (Interagency ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 9, 2011, the Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane (with inhalation update) (External Review Draft) was posted for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments with EPA's response and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,4-dioxane and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. The Toxicological Review of 1,4-dioxane provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to 1,4-dioxane.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Acrylamide (External Review ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA has conducted a peer review by EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of acrylamide that once finalized will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. Peer review is meant to ensure that the science is used credibly and appropriately in derivation of the dose-response assessments and toxicological characterization. The draft Toxicological Review of Acrylamide provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard identification and dose-response assessment pertaining to a chronic exposure to acrylamide.

IRIS Toxicological Review and Summary Documents for N ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA's assessment of the noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of n-hexane was last prepared and added to the IRIS data base in 1990. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for n-hexane; this update will incorporate health effects information published since the last assessment was prepared as well as new risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for n-hexane will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physicochemical and toxicokinetic properties of the chemical and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference values for noncancer effects of n-hexane (RfD and RfC) and a cancer assessment, where supported by available data. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary will be subject to internal peer consultation, Agency review, and external scientific peer review. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for n-hexane. The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for n-Hexane that will be entered into the IRIS database. IRIS is an EPA data base containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment

Eco-approach and Eco-departure planning study : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-01-31

A long term (10 year) research roadmap is proposed to guide the development and potential deployment of Eco-Approach and Departure (Eco A/D) functionality at signalized intersections, with a focus on commercialization of initial system concepts in 5+...

Evaluation of the ToxRTool's ability to rate the reliability of toxicological data for human health hazard assessments

EPA Science Inventory

Regulatory agencies often utilize results from peer reviewed publications for hazard assessments.A problem in doing so is the lack of well-accepted tools to objectively, efficiently and systematically assess the quality of published toxicological studies. Herein, we evaluated the...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Urea (Interagency Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Urea,, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies and White House Offices are provided below with external peer review panel comments. The draft Toxicological Review of Urea provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to Urea.

EPA EcoBox Tools by Stressors - Biological

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Stressors - Physical

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Effects - Aquatic

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Exposure Pathways

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Effects - References

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Stressors - References

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Stressors - Chemical

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Receptors - Biota

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox: Phases of ERA - References

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Receptors - References

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Effects - Terrestrial

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

Developing an eco-routing application.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-01-01

The study develops eco-routing algorithms and investigates and quantifies the system-wide impacts of implementing an eco-routing system. Two eco-routing algorithms are developed: one based on vehicle sub-populations (ECO-Subpopulation Feedback Assign...

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF WORLD TRADE CENTER FINE PARTICULATE MATTER FOR USE IN TOXICOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Chemical Analysis of World Trade Center Fine Particulate Matter for Use in Toxicological Assessment
John K. McGee1, Lung Chi Chen2, Mitchell D. Cohen2, Glen R. Chee2, Colette M. Prophete2, Najwa Haykal-Coates1, Shirley J. Wasson3, Teri L. Conner4, Daniel L. Costa1, and Steph...

FutureTox: building the road for 21st century toxicology and risk assessment practices.

PubMed

Rowlands, J Craig; Sander, Miriam; Bus, James S

2014-02-01

This article reports on the outcome of FutureTox, a Society of Toxicology (SOT) Contemporary Concepts in Toxicology (CCT) workshop, whose goal was to address the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing 21st century technologies for toxicity testing, hazard identification, and risk assessment. One goal of the workshop was to facilitate an interactive multisector and discipline dialog. To this end, workshop invitees and participants included stakeholders from governmental and regulatory agencies, research institutes, academia, and the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in Europe and the United States. The workshop agenda was constructed to collectively review and discuss the state-of-the-science in these fields, better define the problems and challenges, outline their collective goals for the future, and identify areas of common agreement key to advancing these technologies into practice.

FutureTox: Building the Road for 21st Century Toxicology and Risk Assessment Practices

PubMed Central

Rowlands, J. Craig; Bus, James S.

2014-01-01

This article reports on the outcome of FutureTox, a Society of Toxicology (SOT) Contemporary Concepts in Toxicology (CCT) workshop, whose goal was to address the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing 21st century technologies for toxicity testing, hazard identification, and risk assessment. One goal of the workshop was to facilitate an interactive multisector and discipline dialog. To this end, workshop invitees and participants included stakeholders from governmental and regulatory agencies, research institutes, academia, and the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in Europe and the United States. The workshop agenda was constructed to collectively review and discuss the state-of-the-science in these fields, better define the problems and challenges, outline their collective goals for the future, and identify areas of common agreement key to advancing these technologies into practice. PMID:24204016

[Ecological demonstration activity and eco-civilization construction mode: review and prospects].

PubMed

Mao, Hui-ping; He, Xuan; He, Jia; Niu, Dong-jie; Bao, Cun-kuan

2013-04-01

Ecological civilization is to normalize human development behaviors to harmonize the relationships between social and ecological development and eco-environment protection. In this paper, a comparative analysis was made on the ecological demonstration activities of ecological demonstration areas led by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, exemplar cities of national environmental protection, and ecological provinces, cities, and counties. It was considered that all the ecological demonstration activities had the problems of lacking pertinence of construction goals, disordered construction subjects, inefficient construction processes, and lacking continuous incentive mechanisms of assessment. In the meantime, through the analysis of the connotations of eco-civilization, the relationships between eco-civilization and eco-demonstration constructions were approached, and the eco-civilization construction mode was put forward in terms of construction goal, construction subject, and construction processes and assessment. The construction mode included the construction goal based on regional characteristics; the synergistic cooperation of construction subjects, the expanding ways of public participation, and the establishment of evaluation system for comprehensively measuring the 'actions and results'.

Eco-design pilot project in China - Monsoon offer 2 upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thai, Roselyne; Liu, Guoguo

2017-11-01

During COP21, Schneider Electric has committed that 100% of our new products would be eco-designed to tackle climate change. Launched in 2015, this initiative ecoDesign WayTM was tested on some pilot projects. This project covers the first ecoDesign WayTM pilot in China on an overvoltage or under voltage protective device used in both residential and industrial sectors, called Monsoon. Under the name ecoDesign WayTM, a method and a process have been deployed. The 3 main ecoDesign WayTM phases are: phase 1 - Marketing & Technique handshake, Phase 2 - ecoDesign WayTM follow-up and Phase 3 - Marketing communication. During the project, EIME from Bureau Veritas CODDE and ecoDesign WayTM scorecard from EVEA consulting are two core tools for eco-design implementation. They are respectively used for life cycle assessment and eco-design performance comparison. Thanks to the approach, compared to previous range, pollution emissions and resource depletion along the whole life cycle of product have decreased (reduction of 55% for energy depletion and 85% for water depletion). Global warming potential has dramatically decreased by 98.4% and air pollution by 33%. Meanwhile, the recycling rate has been improved by 18%, and recycled PA is used. The ecoDesign WayTM scorecard is stored as referent document for any customer request. Moreover, customers can access RoHS certificate, REACh declaration, PEP and EoLI in Check a product, an online environmental data repository, available 24/7.

Risks, risk assessment and risk competence in toxicology.

PubMed

Stahlmann, Ralf; Horvath, Aniko

2015-01-01

Understanding the toxic effects of xenobiotics requires sound knowledge of physiology and biochemistry. The often described lack of understanding pharmacology/toxicology is therefore primarily caused by the general absence of the necessary fundamental knowledge. Since toxic effects depend on exposure (or dosage) assessing the risks arising from toxic substances also requires quantitative reasoning. Typically public discussions nearly always neglect quantitative aspects and laypersons tend to disregard dose-effect-relationships. One of the main reasons for such disregard is the fact that exposures often occur at extremely low concentrations that can only be perceived intellectually but not by the human senses. However, thresholds in the low exposure range are often scientifically disputed. At the same time, ignorance towards known dangers is wide-spread. Thus, enhancing the risk competence of laypersons will have to be initially restricted to increasing the awareness of existing problems.

Latin America's present and future challenges in toxicology education

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rojas, M.

2005-09-01

Industrialization that Latin America has experienced during the past 50 years, the increase of population and the growth of chemical-related industries has generated a variety of environmental problems that must be addressed. After assessing these profound changes, greater emphasis should be placed on the study of environmental health and toxicology. Latin American countries face many problems that are common to other developing nations. Therefore, there is a demand for safety assessment and regulatory control of chemicals that create a need for increasing numbers of toxicologists. To meet this demand, educational programs in toxicology have to be designed. This paper utilizesmore » a consultation questionnaire that includes toxicology-network members, scientists and educational institutions where toxicology is taught. An analysis of the information collected is made, with an emphasis on what we currently lack and on future challenges for toxicology professionals. Although the response from the study institutions was 65% (13 countries out of 20), the paper aims to assess the present situation of toxicology. The convenience for a certification/recognition for toxicologists is also evaluated. Action needs to be taken to promote scientific development based on regional specific needs that require increasing at the number of toxicology programs, and promoting of cooperation between academics and researchers. Among the limitations we have are the variability of curricula, objectives and priorities. The increasing globalization of markets and regulations requires the harmonization of graduate/postgraduate programs to ensure that risk assessment and management are dealt with uniformly. Cooperation among our countries and international assistance should play a more prominent role in the promotion of regional integration and the more efficient utilization of international experience in defining educational policies.« less

Green toxicology.

PubMed

Maertens, Alexandra; Anastas, Nicholas; Spencer, Pamela J; Stephens, Martin; Goldberg, Alan; Hartung, Thomas

2014-01-01

Historically, early identification and characterization of adverse effects of industrial chemicals was difficult because conventional toxicological test methods did not meet R&D needs for rapid, relatively inexpensive methods amenable to small amounts of test material. The pharmaceutical industry now front-loads toxicity testing, using in silico, in vitro, and less demanding animal tests at earlier stages of product development to identify and anticipate undesirable toxicological effects and optimize product development. The Green Chemistry movement embraces similar ideas for development of less toxic products, safer processes, and less waste and exposure. Further, the concept of benign design suggests ways to consider possible toxicities before the actual synthesis and to apply some structure/activity rules (SAR) and in silico methods. This requires not only scientific development but also a change in corporate culture in which synthetic chemists work with toxicologists. An emerging discipline called Green Toxicology (Anastas, 2012) provides a framework for integrating the principles of toxicology into the enterprise of designing safer chemicals, thereby minimizing potential toxicity as early in production as possible. Green Toxicology`s novel utility lies in driving innovation by moving safety considerations to the earliest stage in a chemical`s lifecycle, i.e., to molecular design. In principle, this field is no different than other subdisciplines of toxicology that endeavor to focus on a specific area - for example, clinical, environmental or forensic toxicology. We use the same principles and tools to evaluate an existing substance or to design a new one. The unique emphasis is in using 21st century toxicology tools as a preventative strategy to "design out" undesired human health and environmental effects, thereby increasing the likelihood of launching a successful, sustainable product. Starting with the formation of a steering group and a series of workshops

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid (TCA) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid (TCA), that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies and White House Offices are provided below with external peer review panel comments. The draft Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard identification and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to trichloroacetic acid.

Assessing Preschools Using the Eco-Schools Program in Terms of Educating for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korkmaz, Aysel; Guler Yildiz, Tulin

2017-01-01

This study assesses the practices and environmental properties of preschools implementing the Eco-Schools program, targeting education for sustainable development (ESD) in terms of the program's environmental, sociocultural, and economic pillars. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The sample group, determined through criterion…

Bridging the gap between life cycle inventory and impact assessment for toxicological assessments of pesticides used in crop production.

PubMed

van Zelm, Rosalie; Larrey-Lassalle, Pyrène; Roux, Philippe

2014-04-01

In Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) provides emission data to the various environmental compartments and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) determines the final distribution, fate and effects. Due to the overlap between the Technosphere (anthropogenic system) and Ecosphere (environment) in agricultural case studies, it is, however, complicated to establish what LCI needs to capture and where LCIA takes over. This paper aims to provide guidance and improvements of LCI/LCIA boundary definitions, in the dimensions of space and time. For this, a literature review was conducted to provide a clear overview of available methods and models for both LCI and LCIA regarding toxicological assessments of pesticides used in crop production. Guidelines are provided to overcome the gaps between LCI and LCIA modeling, and prevent the overlaps in their respective operational spheres. The proposed framework provides a starting point for LCA practitioners to gather the right data and use the proper models to include all relevant emission and exposure routes where possible. It is also able to predict a clear distinction between efficient and inefficient management practices (e.g. using different application rates, washing and rinsing management, etc.). By applying this framework for toxicological assessments of pesticides, LCI and LCIA can be directly linked, removing any overlaps or gaps in between the two distinct LCA steps. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Forensic toxicology.

PubMed

Davis, Gregory G

2012-01-01

Toxicologic analysis is an integral part of death investigation, and the use or abuse of an unsuspected substance belongs in the differential diagnosis of patients who have a sudden, unexpected change in their condition. History and physical findings may alter suspicion that intoxication played a role in a patient's decline or death, but suspicions cannot be confirmed and is performed, analysis unless toxicologic no toxicologic analysis is possible unless someone collects the proper specimens necessary for analysis. In a hospital autopsy the only specimens that can rightfully be collected are those within the restrictions stated in the autopsy permit. Autopsies performed by the medical examiner do not have these restrictions. Sometimes the importance of toxicologic testing in a case is not evident until days or weeks after the change in the patient's status, thus retaining the appropriate specimens until investigation of that case has ended is important. Proper interpretation of toxicologic findings requires integrating the clinical setting and findings with the toxicologic results in a way that makes medical sense. If called upon to testify concerning findings, answer the questions truthfully, politely, and in a way that is understandable to someone who has no special training in toxicology.

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as an integrated toxicological tool to assess water quality and pollution.

PubMed

Clavijo, Araceli; Kronberg, María Florencia; Rossen, Ariana; Moya, Aldana; Calvo, Daniel; Salatino, Santa Esmeralda; Pagano, Eduardo Antonio; Morábito, José Antonio; Munarriz, Eliana Rosa

2016-11-01

Determination of water quality status in rivers is critical to establish a sustainable water management policy. For this reason, over the last decades it has been recommended to perform integrated water assessments that include water quantities and physicochemical, ecological and toxicological tests. However, sometimes resources are limited and it is not possible to perform large-scale chemical determinations of pollutants or conduct numerous ecotoxicological tests. To overcome this problem we use and measure the growth, as a response parameter, of the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to assess water quality in rivers. The C. elegans is a ubiquitous organism that has emerged as an important model organism in aquatic and soil toxicology research. The Tunuyán River Basin (Province of Mendoza, Argentina) has been selected as a representative traditional water monitoring system to test the applicability of the C. elegans toxicological bioassay to generate an integrated water quality evaluation. Jointly with the C. elegans toxic assays, physicochemical and bacteriological parameters were determined for each monitoring site. C. elegans bioassays help to identify different water qualities in the river basin. Multivariate statistical analysis (PCA and linear regression models) has allowed us to confirm that traditional water quality studies do not predict potential toxic effects on living organisms. On the contrary, physicochemical and bacteriological analyzes explain <62% of the C. elegans growth response variability, showing that ecotoxicological bioassays are important to obtain a realistic scenario of water quality threats. Our results confirm that the C. elegans bioassay is a sensible and suitable tool to assess toxicity and should be implemented in routine water quality monitoring. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Spatial patterns of eco-environmental vulnerability in Daqing City].

PubMed

Li, Jing; Zhang, Ping-Yu; Li, He; Su, Fei

2011-12-01

This paper established an index system for the assessment of eco-environmental vulnerability in Daqing City, from the aspects of sensitivity and response capability, and aiming at the major disturbances from crude oil exploitation and production activities. The improved entropy method was adopted to evaluate the weights of the indices, and the spatial patterns of eco-environment vulnerability in the City were analyzed, according to the model functions. In 2009, the more sensitive areas of the eco-environment in the City were mainly concentrated in the intensive regions of crude oil exploitation, processing, and petrochemical industry, and the ecological problems such as land salinization were the secondary causes for this higher sensitivity. The overall response capability of the eco-environment to unfavorable disturbances was relatively high, which reduced the eco-environment vulnerability to some extent. There was a great spatial difference in the eco-environment vulnerability in the City. The vulnerability was comparatively higher in the districts of Honggang, Sartu and Longfeng, with the degree being 0.80, 0.71 and 0.68, but lower in Ranghulu and Datong, with the degree of 0.20 and 0.04, respectively.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tetrachloroethylene ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA conducted a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of tetrachloroethylene that will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. Peer review is meant to ensure that science is used credibly and appropriately in derivation of the toxicological characterization and dose-response assessments. This draft health assessment addresses both non-cancer and cancer human health effects that may result from chronic exposure to tetrachloroethylene (also called Perchloroethylene or Perc) . This is an update of an existing assessment posted on IRIS in 1988. This draft Toxicological Review includes a chronic Reference Concentration (RfC) and carcinogenicity assessment, which are not currently available on IRIS, as well as an update of the 1988 IRIS Reference Dose (RfD). Tetrachloroethylene is a chemical solvent that is widely used for dry cleaning of fabrics, metal degreasing, and in making some consumer products and other chemicals.

Cornerstones of Toxicology.

PubMed

Hayes, A Wallace; Dixon, Darlene

2017-01-01

The 35th Annual Society of Toxicologic Pathology Symposium, held in June 2016 in San Diego, California, focused on "The Basis and Relevance of Variation in Toxicologic Responses." In order to review the basic tenants of toxicology, a "broad brush" interactive talk that gave an overview of the Cornerstones of Toxicology was presented. The presentation focused on the historical milestones and perspectives of toxicology and through many scientific graphs, data, and real-life examples covered the three basic principles of toxicology that can be summarized, as dose matters (as does timing), people differ, and things change (related to metabolism and biotransformation).

EcoGene 3.0

PubMed Central

Zhou, Jindan; Rudd, Kenneth E.

2013-01-01

EcoGene (http://ecogene.org) is a database and website devoted to continuously improving the structural and functional annotation of Escherichia coli K-12, one of the most well understood model organisms, represented by the MG1655(Seq) genome sequence and annotations. Major improvements to EcoGene in the past decade include (i) graphic presentations of genome map features; (ii) ability to design Boolean queries and Venn diagrams from EcoArray, EcoTopics or user-provided GeneSets; (iii) the genome-wide clone and deletion primer design tool, PrimerPairs; (iv) sequence searches using a customized EcoBLAST; (v) a Cross Reference table of synonymous gene and protein identifiers; (vi) proteome-wide indexing with GO terms; (vii) EcoTools access to >2000 complete bacterial genomes in EcoGene-RefSeq; (viii) establishment of a MySql relational database; and (ix) use of web content management systems. The biomedical literature is surveyed daily to provide citation and gene function updates. As of September 2012, the review of 37 397 abstracts and articles led to creation of 98 425 PubMed-Gene links and 5415 PubMed-Topic links. Annotation updates to Genbank U00096 are transmitted from EcoGene to NCBI. Experimental verifications include confirmation of a CTG start codon, pseudogene restoration and quality assurance of the Keio strain collection. PMID:23197660

EcoGene 3.0.

PubMed

Zhou, Jindan; Rudd, Kenneth E

2013-01-01

EcoGene (http://ecogene.org) is a database and website devoted to continuously improving the structural and functional annotation of Escherichia coli K-12, one of the most well understood model organisms, represented by the MG1655(Seq) genome sequence and annotations. Major improvements to EcoGene in the past decade include (i) graphic presentations of genome map features; (ii) ability to design Boolean queries and Venn diagrams from EcoArray, EcoTopics or user-provided GeneSets; (iii) the genome-wide clone and deletion primer design tool, PrimerPairs; (iv) sequence searches using a customized EcoBLAST; (v) a Cross Reference table of synonymous gene and protein identifiers; (vi) proteome-wide indexing with GO terms; (vii) EcoTools access to >2000 complete bacterial genomes in EcoGene-RefSeq; (viii) establishment of a MySql relational database; and (ix) use of web content management systems. The biomedical literature is surveyed daily to provide citation and gene function updates. As of September 2012, the review of 37 397 abstracts and articles led to creation of 98 425 PubMed-Gene links and 5415 PubMed-Topic links. Annotation updates to Genbank U00096 are transmitted from EcoGene to NCBI. Experimental verifications include confirmation of a CTG start codon, pseudogene restoration and quality assurance of the Keio strain collection.

The Toxicology Education Summit: Building the Future of Toxicology Through Education

PubMed Central

Barchowsky, Aaron; Buckley, Lorrene A.; Carlson, Gary P.; Fitsanakis, Vanessa A.; Ford, Sue M.; Genter, Mary Beth; Germolec, Dori R.; Leavens, Teresa L.; Lehman-McKeeman, Lois D.; Safe, Stephen H.; Sulentic, Courtney E. W.; Eidemiller, Betty J.

2012-01-01

Toxicology and careers in toxicology, as well as many other scientific disciplines, are undergoing rapid and dramatic changes as new discoveries, technologies, and hazards advance at a blinding rate. There are new and ever increasing demands on toxicologists to keep pace with expanding global economies, highly fluid policy debates, and increasingly complex global threats to public health. These demands must be met with new paradigms for multidisciplinary, technologically complex, and collaborative approaches that require advanced and continuing education in toxicology and associated disciplines. This requires paradigm shifts in educational programs that support recruitment, development, and training of the modern toxicologist, as well as continued education and retraining of the midcareer professional to keep pace and sustain careers in industry, government, and academia. The Society of Toxicology convened the Toxicology Educational Summit to discuss the state of toxicology education and to strategically address educational needs and the sustained advancement of toxicology as a profession. The Summit focused on core issues of: building for the future of toxicology through educational programs; defining education and training needs; developing the “Total Toxicologist”; continued training and retraining toxicologists to sustain their careers; and, finally, supporting toxicology education and professional development. This report summarizes the outcomes of the Summit, presents examples of successful programs that advance toxicology education, and concludes with strategies that will insure the future of toxicology through advanced educational initiatives. PMID:22461448

The Toxicology Education Summit: building the future of toxicology through education.

PubMed

Barchowsky, Aaron; Buckley, Lorrene A; Carlson, Gary P; Fitsanakis, Vanessa A; Ford, Sue M; Genter, Mary Beth; Germolec, Dori R; Leavens, Teresa L; Lehman-McKeeman, Lois D; Safe, Stephen H; Sulentic, Courtney E W; Eidemiller, Betty J

2012-06-01

Toxicology and careers in toxicology, as well as many other scientific disciplines, are undergoing rapid and dramatic changes as new discoveries, technologies, and hazards advance at a blinding rate. There are new and ever increasing demands on toxicologists to keep pace with expanding global economies, highly fluid policy debates, and increasingly complex global threats to public health. These demands must be met with new paradigms for multidisciplinary, technologically complex, and collaborative approaches that require advanced and continuing education in toxicology and associated disciplines. This requires paradigm shifts in educational programs that support recruitment, development, and training of the modern toxicologist, as well as continued education and retraining of the midcareer professional to keep pace and sustain careers in industry, government, and academia. The Society of Toxicology convened the Toxicology Educational Summit to discuss the state of toxicology education and to strategically address educational needs and the sustained advancement of toxicology as a profession. The Summit focused on core issues of: building for the future of toxicology through educational programs; defining education and training needs; developing the "Total Toxicologist"; continued training and retraining toxicologists to sustain their careers; and, finally, supporting toxicology education and professional development. This report summarizes the outcomes of the Summit, presents examples of successful programs that advance toxicology education, and concludes with strategies that will insure the future of toxicology through advanced educational initiatives.

Developmental toxicology: adequacy of current methods.

PubMed

Peters, P W

1998-01-01

Toxicology embraces several disciplines such as carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and reproductive toxicity. Reproductive toxicology is concerned with possible effects of substances on the reproductive process, i.e. on sexual organs and their functions, endocrine regulation, fertilization, transport of the fertilized ovum, implantation, and embryonic, fetal and postnatal development, until the end-differentiation of the organs is achieved. Reproductive toxicology is divided into areas related to male and female fertility, and developmental toxicology. Developmental toxicology can be further broken down into prenatal and postnatal toxicology. Today, much new information is available about the origins of developmental disorders resulting from chemical exposure. While these findings seem to promise important new developments in methodology and research, there is a danger of losing sight of the precepts and principles established in the light of existing knowledge. There is also a danger that we may fail to correct shortcomings in our existing procedures and practice. The aim of this presentation is to emphasize the importance of testing substances for their impact in advance of their use and to underline that we must use the best existing tools for carrying out risk assessments. Moreover, it needs to be stressed that there are many substances that are never assessed with respect to reproductive and developmental toxicity. Similarly, our programmes for post-marketing surveillance with respect to developmental toxicology are grossly inadequate. Our ability to identify risks to normal development and reproduction would be much improved, first if a number of straightforward precepts were always followed and second, if we had a clearer understanding of what we mean by risk and acceptable levels of risk in the context of development. Other aims of this paper are: to stress the complexity of the different stages of normal prenatal development; to note the principles that are

IRIS Toxicological Review of Thallium and Compounds ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Thallium compounds are used in the semiconductor industry, the manufacture of optic lenses and low-melting glass, low-temperature thermometers, alloys, electronic devices, mercury lamps, fireworks, and imitation germs, and clinically as an imaging agent in the diagnosis of certain tumors. EPA's assessment of noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of thallium compounds was last prepared and added to the IRIS database between 1988 and 1990. The IRIS program is preparing an assessment that will incorporate current health effects information available for thallium and compounds, and current risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for thallium compounds will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physiochemical and toxicokinetic properties of a chemical, and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference values for the noncancer effects of thallium compounds (RfD and Rfc), and a cancer assessment. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary have been subject to Agency review, Interagency review, and external scientific peer review. The final product will reflect the Agency opinion on the overall toxicity of thallium and compounds. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for thallium and compounds. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effec

IRIS Toxicological Review of Cerium Oxide and Cerium ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 29, 2009, the IRIS Summary and Toxicological Review of Cerium Oxide and Cerium Compounds was finalized and loaded onto the IRIS database. The Toxicological Review of Cerium Oxide and Cerium Compounds was reviewed internally by EPA, by other federal agencies and White House Offices, by expert external peer reviewers, and by the public. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency draft of the Cerium Oxide and Cerium Compounds IRIS assessment are posted on this site. The draft Toxicological Review of Cerium Oxide and Cerium Compounds provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard identification and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to cerium oxide and cerium compounds.

Assessment of soil heavy metals for eco-environment and human health in a rapidly urbanization area of the upper Yangtze Basin.

PubMed

Jia, Zhongmin; Li, Siyue; Wang, Li

2018-02-19

Soil pollution with heavy metals (HMs) has been attracting more and more interests, however, assessment of eco-environmental and human risks particularly in a rapidly urbanization area (the upper Yangtze) remains limited. Multiple modern indices were firstly performed for complete risk assessment of eco-environment and human health based on a high-spatial-resolution sampling. Averages of HMs were far below grade II threshold level of the Chinese Environmental Quality standards for soils, whereas Cd, As and Hg considerably exceeded the local background values. EF suggested overall moderate enrichments of Cd and Se, resulting in soils uncontaminated to moderately contaminated with them. Potential ecological risk index showed significant differences among Counties that were characterized by moderate risk. However, several sites were moderately to heavily contaminated with As, Cd and Hg by Igeo, resulting in that these sites were categorized as "considerable risk", or "high risk". Moreover, children were more susceptible to the potential health risk irrespective of the carcinogenic or non - carcinogenic risk. There were no significant carcinogenic and non - carcinogenic risks for adults, children however showed significant non - carcinogenic effect. Our first assessment provided important information for policy making to reduce the potential effects of soil contamination on human and eco-environment.

Cornerstones of Toxicology

PubMed Central

Hayes, A. Wallace; Dixon, Darlene

2016-01-01

The 35th Annual Society of Toxicologic Pathology Symposium, held in June 2016 in San Diego, CA, focused on “The Basis and Relevance of Variation in Toxicologic Responses. In order to review the basic tenants of toxicology a ‘broad brush” interactive talk was presented that gave an overview of the Cornerstones of Toxicology. The presentation focused on the historical milestones and perspectives of toxicology and through many scientific graphs, data, and real-life examples covered the three basic principles of toxicology that can be summarized as dose matters (as does timing), people differ, and things change (related to metabolism and biotransformation). PMID:28068892

[Review on enterprises'eco-innovation].

PubMed

Liao, Zhong Ju; Huang, Chao

2017-12-01

Eco-innovation is an important way to realize sustainable development. It has the dual positive externality of "knowledge spillover" and "environmental spillover", which has attracted much attention from theory and practice. In order to systematically grasp the current situation of eco-innovation, this study collected the relevant foreign literatures on eco-innovation in the past ten years, and made a systematic review of the definition, characteristics and dimensions of eco-innovation. Focusing on the theory of institutional theory, stakeholder theory and resource-based view, this paper explored the antecedents of eco-innovation. Then, this paper also demonstrated the positive and negative effects of eco-innovation on corporate financial performance, and the meditating and moderating mechanisms between eco-innovation and financial performance. Finally, based on the limitations of existing research, the future research direction was put forward.

Immunological and toxicological risk assessment of e-cigarettes.

PubMed

Kaur, Gagandeep; Pinkston, Rakeysha; Mclemore, Benathel; Dorsey, Waneene C; Batra, Sanjay

2018-03-31

Knowledge of the long-term toxicological and immunological effects of e-cigarette (e-cig) aerosols remains elusive due to the relatively short existence of vaping. Therefore, we performed a systematic search of articles published in public databases and analysed the research evidence in order to provide critical information regarding e-cig safety. Electronic nicotine delivery systems (or e-cigs) are an alternative to traditional cigarettes for the delivery of nicotine and are typically filled with glycerol or propylene glycol-based solutions known as e-liquids. Though present in lower quantities, e-cig aerosols are known to contain many of the harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke. However, due to the paucity of experimental data and contradictory evidence, it is difficult to draw conclusive outcomes regarding toxicological, immunological and clinical impacts of e-cig aerosols. Excessive vaping has been reported to induce inflammatory responses including mitogen-activated protein kinase, Janus tyrosine kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription and nuclear factor-κB signalling, similar to that induced by tobacco smoke. Based on recent evidence, prolonged exposure to some constituents of e-cig aerosols might result in respiratory complications such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and inflammation. Future studies are warranted that focus on establishing correlations between e-cig types, generations and e-liquid flavours and immunological and toxicological profiles to broaden our understanding about the effects of vaping. Copyright ©ERS 2018.

Risks, risk assessment and risk competence in toxicology

PubMed Central

Stahlmann, Ralf; Horvath, Aniko

2015-01-01

Understanding the toxic effects of xenobiotics requires sound knowledge of physiology and biochemistry. The often described lack of understanding pharmacology/toxicology is therefore primarily caused by the general absence of the necessary fundamental knowledge. Since toxic effects depend on exposure (or dosage) assessing the risks arising from toxic substances also requires quantitative reasoning. Typically public discussions nearly always neglect quantitative aspects and laypersons tend to disregard dose-effect-relationships. One of the main reasons for such disregard is the fact that exposures often occur at extremely low concentrations that can only be perceived intellectually but not by the human senses. However, thresholds in the low exposure range are often scientifically disputed. At the same time, ignorance towards known dangers is wide-spread. Thus, enhancing the risk competence of laypersons will have to be initially restricted to increasing the awareness of existing problems. PMID:26195922

Expansion of environmental impact assessment for eco-efficiency evaluation of China's economic sectors: An economic input-output based frontier approach.

PubMed

Xing, Zhencheng; Wang, Jigan; Zhang, Jie

2018-09-01

Due to the increasing environmental burdens caused by dramatic economic expansion, eco-efficiency indicating how efficient the economic activity is with respect to its environmental impacts has become a topic of considerable interest in China. In this context, Economic Input-output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) are combined to assess the environmental impacts and eco-efficiency of China's 26 economic sectors. The EIO-LCA results indicate that Electricity Production and Supply sector is the largest net exporter in energy usage, CO 2 emission and exhaust emission categories, while Construction sector is the largest net importer for five impact categories except for water withdrawal. Moreover, Construction sector is found to be the destination of the largest sector-to-sector environmental impact flows for the five impact categories and make the most contributions to the total environmental impacts. Another key finding is that Agriculture sector is both the largest net exporter and the greatest contributor for water withdrawal category. DEA results indicate that seven sectors are eco-efficient while over 70% of China's economic sectors are inefficient and require significant improvements. The average target improvements range between 23.30% and 35.06% depending on the impact category. Further sensitivity analysis reveals that the average sensitivity ratios vary from 7.7% to 15.7% among the six impact categories, which are found to be negatively correlated with their improvement potentials. Finally, several policy recommendations are made to mitigate environmental impacts of China's economic sectors and improve their eco-efficiency levels. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Towards a Fuzzy Expert System on Toxicological Data Quality Assessment.

PubMed

Yang, Longzhi; Neagu, Daniel; Cronin, Mark T D; Hewitt, Mark; Enoch, Steven J; Madden, Judith C; Przybylak, Katarzyna

2013-01-01

Quality assessment (QA) requires high levels of domain-specific experience and knowledge. QA tasks for toxicological data are usually performed by human experts manually, although a number of quality evaluation schemes have been proposed in the literature. For instance, the most widely utilised Klimisch scheme1 defines four data quality categories in order to tag data instances with respect to their qualities; ToxRTool2 is an extension of the Klimisch approach aiming to increase the transparency and harmonisation of the approach. Note that the processes of QA in many other areas have been automatised by employing expert systems. Briefly, an expert system is a computer program that uses a knowledge base built upon human expertise, and an inference engine that mimics the reasoning processes of human experts to infer new statements from incoming data. In particular, expert systems have been extended to deal with the uncertainty of information by representing uncertain information (such as linguistic terms) as fuzzy sets under the framework of fuzzy set theory and performing inferences upon fuzzy sets according to fuzzy arithmetic. This paper presents an experimental fuzzy expert system for toxicological data QA which is developed on the basis of the Klimisch approach and the ToxRTool in an effort to illustrate the power of expert systems to toxicologists, and to examine if fuzzy expert systems are a viable solution for QA of toxicological data. Such direction still faces great difficulties due to the well-known common challenge of toxicological data QA that "five toxicologists may have six opinions". In the meantime, this challenge may offer an opportunity for expert systems because the construction and refinement of the knowledge base could be a converging process of different opinions which is of significant importance for regulatory policy making under the regulation of REACH, though a consensus may never be reached. Also, in order to facilitate the implementation

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia (Interagency Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On June 1, 2012, the draft Toxicological Review of Ammonia and the draft charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia and the charge to external peer reviewers, are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for ammonia. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

Non-precautionary aspects of toxicology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Grandjean, Philippe

2005-09-01

Empirical studies in toxicology aim at deciphering complex causal relationships, especially in regard to human disease etiologies. Several scientific traditions limit the usefulness of documentation from current toxicological research, in regard to decision-making based on the precautionary principle. Among non-precautionary aspects of toxicology are the focus on simplified model systems and the effects of single hazards, one by one. Thus, less attention is paid to sources of variability and uncertainty, including individual susceptibility, impacts of mixed and variable exposures, susceptible life-stages, and vulnerable communities. In emphasizing the need for confirmatory evidence, toxicology tends to penalize false positives more than falsemore » negatives. An important source of uncertainty is measurement error that results in misclassification, especially in regard to exposure assessment. Standard statistical analysis assumes that the exposure is measured without error, and imprecisions will usually result in an underestimation of the dose-effect relationship. In testing whether an effect could be considered a possible result of natural variability, a 5% limit for 'statistical significance' is usually applied, even though it may rule out many findings of causal associations, simply because the study was too small (and thus lacked statistical power) or because some imprecision or limited sensitivity of the parameters precluded a more definitive observation. These limitations may be aggravated when toxicology is influenced by vested interests. Because current toxicology overlooks the important goal of achieving a better characterization of uncertainties and their implications, research approaches should be revised and strengthened to counteract the innate ideological biases, thereby supporting our confidence in using toxicology as a main source of documentation and in using the precautionary principle as a decision procedure in the public policy arena.« less

Risk, Uncertainty and Precaution in Science: The Threshold of the Toxicological Concern Approach in Food Toxicology.

PubMed

Bschir, Karim

2017-04-01

Environmental risk assessment is often affected by severe uncertainty. The frequently invoked precautionary principle helps to guide risk assessment and decision-making in the face of scientific uncertainty. In many contexts, however, uncertainties play a role not only in the application of scientific models but also in their development. Building on recent literature in the philosophy of science, this paper argues that precaution should be exercised at the stage when tools for risk assessment are developed as well as when they are used to inform decision-making. The relevance and consequences of this claim are discussed in the context of the threshold of the toxicological concern approach in food toxicology. I conclude that the approach does not meet the standards of an epistemic version of the precautionary principle.

EPA EcoBox Tools by Exposure Pathways - Soil

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Exposure Pathways - References

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Exposure Pathways - Air

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

Fire toxicology program. JSC methodology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, H.; Bafus, D.

1978-01-01

Toxicological testing of spacecraft materials was initiated in 1965. Toxicological evaluations of the pyrolysis/combustion products of candidate spacecraft materials were performed using a modified 142 liter Bethlehem Chamber equipped with a Linberg Model 55031 furnace external to the chamber. In all of the assessments, lethality was chosen as the endpoint. A new pyrolysis/combustion chamber was developed for toxicological testing and ranking of both spacecraft and aircraft materials. The pyrolysis/combustion chamber permits the use of both behavior and physiological measurements as indicators of incapacitation. Methods were developed which employ high resolution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to generate chamber atmospheric profiles which indicate the reproductibility of pyrolysate concentrations. The atmospheric volatile profiles in combination with CO, CO2, and O2 analysis indicates that small chamber equipped with an internal furnace will give reproducible results.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Biphenyl (Interagency Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 30, 2011, the draft Toxicological Review of Biphenyl and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process (May 2009), introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Biphenyl and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking a new health assessment for biphenyl for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The outcome of this project will be a Toxicological Review and IRIS and IRIS Summary of biohenyl that will be entered on the IRIS database. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information to evaluate potential public health risks associated with exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risks associated with environmental contaminants. The IRIS database is relied on for the development of risk ass

Toxicodynetics: A new discipline in clinical toxicology.

PubMed

Baud, F J; Houzé, P; Villa, A; Borron, S W; Carli, P

2016-05-01

Regarding the different disciplines that encompass the pharmacology and the toxicology, none is specifically dedicated to the description and analysis of the time-course of relevant toxic effects both in experimental and clinical studies. The lack of a discipline devoted to this major field in toxicology results in misconception and even in errors by clinicians. Review of the basic different disciplines that encompass pharmacology toxicology and comparing with the description of the time-course of effects in conditions in which toxicological analysis was not performed or with limited analytical evidence. Review of the literature clearly shows how misleading is the current extrapolation of toxicokinetic data to the description of the time-course of toxic effects. A new discipline entitled toxicodynetics should be developed aiming at a more systematic description of the time-course of effects in acute human and experimental poisonings. Toxicodynetics might help emergency physicians in risk assessment when facing a poisoning and contribute to a better assessment of quality control of data collected by poison control centres. Toxicodynetics would also allow a quantitative approach to the clinical effects resulting from drug-drug interaction. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

National Toxicology Program

MedlinePlus

... develops and applies tools of modern toxicology and molecular biology to identify substances in the environment that may ... application of new technologies for modern toxicology and molecular biology. A world leader in toxicology research, NTP has ...

lazar: a modular predictive toxicology framework

PubMed Central

Maunz, Andreas; Gütlein, Martin; Rautenberg, Micha; Vorgrimmler, David; Gebele, Denis; Helma, Christoph

2013-01-01

lazar (lazy structure–activity relationships) is a modular framework for predictive toxicology. Similar to the read across procedure in toxicological risk assessment, lazar creates local QSAR (quantitative structure–activity relationship) models for each compound to be predicted. Model developers can choose between a large variety of algorithms for descriptor calculation and selection, chemical similarity indices, and model building. This paper presents a high level description of the lazar framework and discusses the performance of example classification and regression models. PMID:23761761

Toxicology profiles of chemical and radiological contaminants at Hanford

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harper, B.L.; Strenge, D.L.; Stenner, R.D.

1995-07-01

This document summarizes toxicology information required under Section 3.3 (Toxicity Assessment) of HSRAM, and can also be used to develop the short toxicology profiles required in site assessments (described in HSRAM, Section 3.3.5). Toxicology information is used in the dose-response step of the risk assessment process. The dose-response assessment describes the quantitative relationship between the amount of exposure to a substance and the extent of toxic injury or disease. Data are derived from animal studies or, less frequently, from studies in exposed human populations. The risks of a substance cannot be ascertained with any degree of confidence unless dose-response relationsmore » are quantified. This document summarizes dose-response information available from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The contaminants selected for inclusion in this document represent most of the contaminants found at Hanford (both radiological and chemical), based on sampling and analysis performed during site investigations, and historical information on waste disposal practices at the Hanford Site.« less

Postmortem diagnosis and toxicological validation of illicit substance use

PubMed Central

Lehrmann, E; Afanador, ZR; Deep-Soboslay, A; Gallegos, G; Darwin, WD; Lowe, RH; Barnes, AJ; Huestis, MA; Cadet, JL; Herman, MM; Hyde, TM; Kleinman, JE; Freed, WJ

2008-01-01

The present study examines the diagnostic challenges of identifying ante-mortem illicit substance use in human postmortem cases. Substance use, assessed by clinical case history reviews, structured next-of-kin interviews, by general toxicology of blood, urine, and/or brain, and by scalp hair testing, identified 33 cocaine, 29 cannabis, 10 phencyclidine and 9 opioid cases. Case history identified 42% cocaine, 76% cannabis, 10% phencyclidine, and 33% opioid cases. Next-of-kin interviews identified almost twice as many cocaine and cannabis cases as Medical Examiner (ME) case histories, and were crucial in establishing a detailed lifetime substance use history. Toxicology identified 91% cocaine, 68% cannabis, 80% phencyclidine, and 100% opioid cases, with hair testing increasing detection for all drug classes. A cocaine or cannabis use history was corroborated by general toxicology with 50% and 32% sensitivity, respectively, and with 82% and 64% sensitivity by hair testing. Hair testing corroborated a positive general toxicology for cocaine and cannabis with 91% and 100% sensitivity, respectively. Case history corroborated hair toxicology with 38% sensitivity for cocaine and 79% sensitivity for cannabis, suggesting that both case history and general toxicology underestimated cocaine use. Identifying ante-mortem substance use in human postmortem cases are key considerations in case diagnosis and for characterization of disorder-specific changes in neurobiology. The sensitivity and specificity of substance use assessments increased when ME case history was supplemented with structured next-of-kin interviews to establish a detailed lifetime substance use history, while comprehensive toxicology, and hair testing in particular, increased detection of recent illicit substance use. PMID:18201295

IRIS Toxicological Review of n-Butanol (Interagency Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 8, 2011, the Toxicological Review of n-Butanol (External Review Draft) was released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments with EPA's response and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of n-Butanol and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for n-butanol. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

Eco-Evo PVAs: Incorporating Eco-Evolutionary Processes into Population Viability Models

EPA Science Inventory

We synthesize how advances in computational methods and population genomics can be combined within an Ecological-Evolutionary (Eco-Evo) PVA model. Eco-Evo PVA models are powerful new tools for understanding the influence of evolutionary processes on plant and animal population pe...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Libby Amphibole Asbestos ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On August 25, 2011, the draft Toxicological Review of Libby Amphibole Asbestos and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process (May 2009), introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Libby Amphibole Asbestos and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. The project supports OSWER and Region 8 site clean-up and related risk management initiatives at this Superfund site. As with all IRIS assessments, the draft document will undergo agency review, OMB/interagency review and independent external peer review before being included on the IRIS data base.

[Integrated assessment of eco-environmental vulnerability in Pearl River Delta based on RS and GIS].

PubMed

Xu, Qing-Yong; Huang, Mei; Liu, Hong-Sheng; Yan, Hui-Min

2011-11-01

Based on the remote sensing data and with the help of geographic information system, an integrated assessment was conducted on the eco-environmental vulnerability of Pearl River Delta in 2004-2008. Spatial principal component analysis was used to generate the evaluation indicators, and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to determine the weights of the evaluation factors. The reasons causing the vulnerability of the eco- environment in Pearl River Delta were discussed. In the study area, its middle part was the most vulnerable region, occupying 34.0% of the total, eastern part was the moderately vulnerable region, accounting for 25.5%, and western part was the lightly and slightly vulnerable areas, accounting for 28.7 and 11.8%, respectively. Totally, the moderately and lightly vulnerable areas occupied 54.2%, indicating that a majority of the Delta was under moderate and light vulnerability. The natural factors affecting the eco-environmental vulnerability of the Delta were altitude, heavy rain days, water and soil erosion rate, flooded infield rate, normalized difference vegetation index (ND VI) and landscape diversity index, whereas the human factors were population density, waste discharge per unit area, exhaust emission per unit area, land use change, chemical fertilization intensity, pesticide application intensity, amount of motor vehicles possessed by ten thousands people, and index of environmental protection investment. The main characteristics of the extremely and heavily vulnerable regions were low altitude, high frequency of flood disaster, large flooded infield, serious vegetation degradation, high pollution level and low environment protection investment index.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Final Report) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA has finalized the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of benzo[a]pyrene. This assessment addresses the potential cancer and noncancer human health effects from long-term exposure to benzo[a]pyrene. Now final, this assessment will update the toxicological information on benzo[a]pyrene posted in 1987. EPA’s program and regional offices may use this assessment to inform decisions to protect human health. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for BaP that will be entered into the IRIS database.

Aviation combustion toxicology: an overview.

PubMed

Chaturvedi, Arvind K

2010-01-01

Aviation combustion toxicology is a subspecialty of the field of aerospace toxicology, which is composed of aerospace and toxicology. The term aerospace, that is, the environment extending above and beyond the surface of the Earth, is also used to represent the combined fields of aeronautics and astronautics. Aviation is another term interchangeably used with aerospace and aeronautics and is explained as the science and art of operating powered aircraft. Toxicology deals with the adverse effects of substances on living organisms. Although toxicology borrows knowledge from biology, chemistry, immunology, pathology, physiology, and public health, the most closely related field to toxicology is pharmacology. Economic toxicology, environmental toxicology, and forensic toxicology, including combustion toxicology, are the three main branches of toxicology. In this overview, a literature search for the period of 1960-2007 was performed and information related to aviation combustion toxicology collected. The overview included introduction; combustion, fire, and smoke; smoke gas toxicity; aircraft material testing; fire gases and their interactive effects; result interpretation; carboxyhemoglobin and blood cyanide ion levels; pyrolytic products of aircraft engine oils, fluids, and lubricants; and references. This review is anticipated to be an informative resource for aviation combustion toxicology and fire-related casualties.

Data governance in predictive toxicology: A review

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Due to recent advances in data storage and sharing for further data processing in predictive toxicology, there is an increasing need for flexible data representations, secure and consistent data curation and automated data quality checking. Toxicity prediction involves multidisciplinary data. There are hundreds of collections of chemical, biological and toxicological data that are widely dispersed, mostly in the open literature, professional research bodies and commercial companies. In order to better manage and make full use of such large amount of toxicity data, there is a trend to develop functionalities aiming towards data governance in predictive toxicology to formalise a set of processes to guarantee high data quality and better data management. In this paper, data quality mainly refers in a data storage sense (e.g. accuracy, completeness and integrity) and not in a toxicological sense (e.g. the quality of experimental results). Results This paper reviews seven widely used predictive toxicology data sources and applications, with a particular focus on their data governance aspects, including: data accuracy, data completeness, data integrity, metadata and its management, data availability and data authorisation. This review reveals the current problems (e.g. lack of systematic and standard measures of data quality) and desirable needs (e.g. better management and further use of captured metadata and the development of flexible multi-level user access authorisation schemas) of predictive toxicology data sources development. The analytical results will help to address a significant gap in toxicology data quality assessment and lead to the development of novel frameworks for predictive toxicology data and model governance. Conclusions While the discussed public data sources are well developed, there nevertheless remain some gaps in the development of a data governance framework to support predictive toxicology. In this paper, data governance is

Data governance in predictive toxicology: A review.

PubMed

Fu, Xin; Wojak, Anna; Neagu, Daniel; Ridley, Mick; Travis, Kim

2011-07-13

Due to recent advances in data storage and sharing for further data processing in predictive toxicology, there is an increasing need for flexible data representations, secure and consistent data curation and automated data quality checking. Toxicity prediction involves multidisciplinary data. There are hundreds of collections of chemical, biological and toxicological data that are widely dispersed, mostly in the open literature, professional research bodies and commercial companies. In order to better manage and make full use of such large amount of toxicity data, there is a trend to develop functionalities aiming towards data governance in predictive toxicology to formalise a set of processes to guarantee high data quality and better data management. In this paper, data quality mainly refers in a data storage sense (e.g. accuracy, completeness and integrity) and not in a toxicological sense (e.g. the quality of experimental results). This paper reviews seven widely used predictive toxicology data sources and applications, with a particular focus on their data governance aspects, including: data accuracy, data completeness, data integrity, metadata and its management, data availability and data authorisation. This review reveals the current problems (e.g. lack of systematic and standard measures of data quality) and desirable needs (e.g. better management and further use of captured metadata and the development of flexible multi-level user access authorisation schemas) of predictive toxicology data sources development. The analytical results will help to address a significant gap in toxicology data quality assessment and lead to the development of novel frameworks for predictive toxicology data and model governance. While the discussed public data sources are well developed, there nevertheless remain some gaps in the development of a data governance framework to support predictive toxicology. In this paper, data governance is identified as the new challenge in

Advancing adverse outcome pathways for integrated toxicology and regulatory applications

EPA Science Inventory

Recent regulatory efforts in many countries have focused on a toxicological pathway-based vision for human health assessments relying on in vitro systems and predictive models to generate the toxicological data needed to evaluate chemical hazard. A pathway-based vision is equally...

The Role of Interaction Patterns with Hybrid Electric Vehicle Eco-Features for Drivers' Eco-Driving Performance.

PubMed

Arend, Matthias G; Franke, Thomas

2017-03-01

The objective of the present research was to understand drivers' interaction patterns with hybrid electric vehicles' (HEV) eco-features (electric propulsion, regenerative braking, neutral mode) and their relationship to fuel efficiency and driver characteristics (technical system knowledge, eco-driving motivation). Eco-driving (driving behaviors performed to achieve higher fuel efficiency) has the potential to reduce CO 2 emissions caused by road vehicles. Eco-driving in HEVs is particularly challenging due to the systems' dynamic energy flows. As a result, drivers are likely to show diverse eco-driving behaviors, depending on factors like knowledge and motivation. The eco-features represent an interface for the control of the systems' energy flows. A sample of 121 HEV drivers who had constantly logged their fuel consumption prior to the study participated in an online questionnaire. Drivers' interaction patterns with the eco-features were related to fuel efficiency. A common factor was identified in an exploratory factor analysis, characterizing the intensity of actively dealing with electric energy, which was also related to fuel efficiency. Driver characteristics were not related to this factor, yet they were significant predictors of fuel efficiency. From the perspective of user-energy interaction, the relationship of the aggregated factor to fuel efficiency emphasizes the central role of drivers' perception of and interaction with energy conversions in determining HEV eco-driving success. To arrive at an in-depth understanding of drivers' eco-driving behaviors that can guide interface design, authors of future research should be concerned with the psychological processes that underlie drivers' interaction patterns with eco-features.

EPA EcoBox Tools by Exposure Pathways - Food Chains

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Receptors - Habitats and Ecosystems

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Effects - Effects In ERA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Stressors - Stressors in ERA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

EPA EcoBox Tools by Receptors - Receptors in ERA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

Toxicology ontology perspectives.

PubMed

Hardy, Barry; Apic, Gordana; Carthew, Philip; Clark, Dominic; Cook, David; Dix, Ian; Escher, Sylvia; Hastings, Janna; Heard, David J; Jeliazkova, Nina; Judson, Philip; Matis-Mitchell, Sherri; Mitic, Dragana; Myatt, Glenn; Shah, Imran; Spjuth, Ola; Tcheremenskaia, Olga; Toldo, Luca; Watson, David; White, Andrew; Yang, Chihae

2012-01-01

The field of predictive toxicology requires the development of open, public, computable, standardized toxicology vocabularies and ontologies to support the applications required by in silico, in vitro, and in vivo toxicology methods and related analysis and reporting activities. In this article we review ontology developments based on a set of perspectives showing how ontologies are being used in predictive toxicology initiatives and applications. Perspectives on resources and initiatives reviewed include OpenTox, eTOX, Pistoia Alliance, ToxWiz, Virtual Liver, EU-ADR, BEL, ToxML, and Bioclipse. We also review existing ontology developments in neighboring fields that can contribute to establishing an ontological framework for predictive toxicology. A significant set of resources is already available to provide a foundation for an ontological framework for 21st century mechanistic-based toxicology research. Ontologies such as ToxWiz provide a basis for application to toxicology investigations, whereas other ontologies under development in the biological, chemical, and biomedical communities could be incorporated in an extended future framework. OpenTox has provided a semantic web framework for the implementation of such ontologies into software applications and linked data resources. Bioclipse developers have shown the benefit of interoperability obtained through ontology by being able to link their workbench application with remote OpenTox web services. Although these developments are promising, an increased international coordination of efforts is greatly needed to develop a more unified, standardized, and open toxicology ontology framework.

THE FUTURE OF TOXICOLOGY-PREDICTIVE TOXICOLOGY ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A chemistry approach to predictive toxicology relies on structure−activity relationship (SAR) modeling to predict biological activity from chemical structure. Such approaches have proven capabilities when applied to well-defined toxicity end points or regions of chemical space. These approaches are less well-suited, however, to the challenges of global toxicity prediction, i.e., to predicting the potential toxicity of structurally diverse chemicals across a wide range of end points of regulatory and pharmaceutical concern. New approaches that have the potential to significantly improve capabilities in predictive toxicology are elaborating the “activity” portion of the SAR paradigm. Recent advances in two areas of endeavor are particularly promising. Toxicity data informatics relies on standardized data schema, developed for particular areas of toxicological study, to facilitate data integration and enable relational exploration and mining of data across both historical and new areas of toxicological investigation. Bioassay profiling refers to large-scale high-throughput screening approaches that use chemicals as probes to broadly characterize biological response space, extending the concept of chemical “properties” to the biological activity domain. The effective capture and representation of legacy and new toxicity data into mineable form and the large-scale generation of new bioassay data in relation to chemical toxicity, both employing chemical stru

Reproductive Toxicology Testing with EDCS

EPA Science Inventory

An introduction to reproductive toxicology: the basic approaches to testing chemicals for adverse effects using multigenerational studies with rats and how the regulatory agencies used the data in risk assessments. Case studies were presented of how endocrine or genomic data were...

Toxicology in Australia: a key component of environmental health.

PubMed

Priestly, Brian G; Di Marco, Peter; Sim, Malcolm; Moore, Michael R; Langley, Andrew

2007-10-01

Managing public concerns relating to chemical exposures can consume substantial public health resources, particularly as the scientific basis around these issues is often contentious. Toxicology remains underrecognized as a public health discipline in Australia, although Australian toxicologists are making significant contributions from academia, government, and the commercial sector toward assessing the level of risk and protecting the community from environmental hazards. Internationally, the growth of environmental toxicology and the promotion of sound science in risk assessment as a basis for making regulatory decisions have been, to some extent, driven by the outcomes of the 1992 UNCED Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio Summit) and its Chapter 19 Agenda 21 activities. The promotion of safe chemical management practices and the need for global strengthening of capabilities in toxicology are among the initiatives of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS), which was formed after the Rio Summit to manage these programs. This article describes some of the initiatives in capacity building that marked the development of environmental toxicology in Australia since 1992 in response to these international environmental health initiatives.

Type II thioesterase gene (ECO-orf27) from Amycolatopsis orientalis influences production of the polyketide antibiotic, ECO-0501 (LW01).

PubMed

Shen, Yang; Huang, He; Zhu, Li; Luo, Minyu; Chen, Daijie

2012-11-01

ECO-orf27 associated with the cluster of ECO-0501 (LW01) from Amycolatopsis orientalis is deduced to encode a type II thioesterase. Disruption of ECO-orf27 reduced LW01 production by 95 %. Complementation of the disrupted mutant with intact ECO-orf27 restored the production of LW01 suggesting that ECO-orf27 is crucial for LW01 biosynthesis. ECO-TE I, the gene encoding type I thioesterase from LW01 polyketide synthases, cannot complement ECO-orf27 deficient mutant distinguishing ECO-orf27 from type I thioesterase gene. Type II thioesterase gene pikAV from Streptomyces venezuelae could complement ECO-orf27 in A. orientalis indicating that the two genes are equivalent in their function. Overexpression of ECO-orf27 resulted in a 20 % increase in LW01 production providing an alternative approach for yield improvement.

Forensic Toxicology: An Introduction.

PubMed

Smith, Michael P; Bluth, Martin H

2016-12-01

This article presents an overview of forensic toxicology. The authors describe the three components that make up forensic toxicology: workplace drug testing, postmortem toxicology, and human performance toxicology. Also discussed are the specimens that are tested, the methods used, and how the results are interpreted in this particular discipline. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Eco-Efficiency Analysis of biotechnological processes.

PubMed

Saling, Peter

2005-07-01

Eco-Efficiency has been variously defined and analytically implemented by several workers. In most cases, Eco-Efficiency is taken to mean the ecological optimization of overall systems while not disregarding economic factors. Eco-Efficiency should increase the positive ecological performance of a commercial company in relation to economic value creation--or to reduce negative effects. Several companies use Eco-Efficiency Analysis for decision-making processes; and industrial examples of best practices in developing and implementing Eco-Efficiency have been reviewed. They clearly demonstrate the environmental and business benefits of Eco-Efficiency. An instrument for the early recognition and systematic detection of economic and environmental opportunities and risks for production processes in the chemical industry began use in 1997, since when different new features have been developed, leading to many examples. This powerful Eco-Efficiency Analysis allows a feasibility evaluation of existing and future business activities and is applied by BASF. In many cases, decision-makers are able to choose among alternative processes for making a product.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tert-Butyl Alcohol (Tert-Butanol) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On April 29, 2016, the Toxicological Review of tert-Butyl Alcohol (tert-Butanol) (Public Comment Draft) was released for public comment. The draft Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and the Executive Office of the President during Step 3 (Interagency Science Consultation) before public release. As part of the IRIS process, all written interagency comments on IRIS assessments will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments with EPA's response and the interagency science consultation drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of tert-Butanol and charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking a new health assessment for t-butyl alcohol (tert-butanol) for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The outcome of this project will be a Toxicological Review and IRIS and IRIS Summary of TBA that will be entered on the IRIS database. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information to evaluate potential public health risks associated with environmental contaminants. The IRIS database is relied on for the development of risk assessments, site-specific environmental decisions, and rule making.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (Etbe) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) was released for external peer review in June 2017. EPA’s Science Advisory Board’s (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) will conduct a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the ETBE assessment and release a final report of their review. Information regarding the peer review can be found on the SAB website. EPA is conducting an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE). The outcome of this project is a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for ETBE that will be entered into the IRIS database.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tert-Butyl Alcohol (Tert-Butanol) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The IRIS Toxicological Review of tert-Butyl Alcohol (tert-Butanol) was released for external peer review in June 2017. EPA’s Science Advisory Board’s (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) will conduct a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the tert-butanol assessment and release a final report of their review. Information regarding the peer review can be found on the SAB website. EPA is conducting an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for tert-butanol. The outcome of this project is a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for tert-butanol that will be entered into the IRIS database.

Operational Toxicology Research

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-08-01

Activity Relationships CQSARs) assessments of Air Force chemicals. Assay samples Completed collected for biochemical and molecular endpoints and...techniques for perchlorate in water, groundwater, soil and biological matrices such as blood, urine , milk. thyroid and other tissues required for...in vivo laboratory animal experiments with a l710D70ll Toxicological Response in Urine Using variety of known target organ toxicants, collect urine

Assessing eco-efficiency and the determinants of horticultural family-farming in southeast Spain.

PubMed

Godoy-Durán, Ángeles; Galdeano-Gómez, Emilio; Pérez-Mesa, Juan C; Piedra-Muñoz, Laura

2017-12-15

Eco-efficiency is currently receiving ever increasing interest as an indicator of sustainability, as it links environmental and economic performances in productive activities. In agriculture these indicators and their determinants prove relevant due to the close ties in this activity between the use of often limited natural resources and the provision of basic goods for society. The present paper analyzes eco-efficiency at micro-level, focusing on small-scale family farms as the principal decision-making units (DMUs) of horticulture in southeast Spain, which represents over 30% of fresh vegetables produced in the country. To this end, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) framework is applied, computing several combinations of environmental pressures (water usage, phytosanitary contamination, waste management, etc.) and economic value added. In a second stage we analyze the influence of family farms' socio-economic and environmental features on eco-efficiency indicators, as endogenous variables, by using truncated regression and bootstrapping techniques. The results show major inefficiency in aspects such as waste management, among others, while there is relatively minor inefficiency in water usage and nitrogen balance. On the other hand, features such as product specialization, adoption of quality certifications, and belonging to a cooperative all have a positive influence on eco-efficiency. These results are deemed to be of interest to agri-food systems structured on small-scale producers, and they may prove useful to policy-makers as regards managing public environmental programs in agriculture. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

IRIS Toxicological Review and Summary Documents for Chloroethane (Peer Review Plan)

EPA Science Inventory

Toxicological data in the published literature on Chloroethane (CE) will be assimilated, reviewed, and integated into a Toxicological Review of CE (assessment document), which seeks to characterize the key cancer, and non cancer health effect hazards from environmental exposures...

Distance learning in toxicology: Australia's RMIT program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ahokas, Jorma; Donohue, Diana; Rix, Colin

2005-09-01

RMIT University was the first to offer a comprehensive Masters of Toxicology in Australasia 19 years ago. In 2001 the program was transformed into two stages, leading to a Graduate Diploma and Master of Applied Science in Toxicology. Now, these programs are fully online and suitable for graduates living and working anywhere in the world. The modular distance-learning courses are specifically designed to equip students with essential skills for entering fields such as chemical and drug evaluation; risk assessment of chemicals in the workplace; environmental and food toxicology. RMIT's online course delivery system has made it possible to deliver themore » toxicology programs, both nationally and internationally. The learning material and interactive activities (tests and quizzes, discussion boards, chat sessions) use Blackboard and WebBoard, each with a different educational function. Students log in to a Learning Hub to access their courses. The Learning Hub enables students to extend their learning beyond the classroom to the home, workplace, library and any other location with Internet access. The teaching staff log in to the Learning Hub to maintain and administer the online programs and courses which they have developed and/or which they teach. The Learning Hub is also a communication tool for students and staff, providing access to email, a diary and announcements. The early experience of delivering a full toxicology program online is very positive. However this mode of teaching continues to present many interesting technical, educational and cultural challenges, including: the design and presentation of the material; copyright issues; internationalisation of content; interactive participation; and the assessment procedures.« less

Emerging contaminants: Presentations at the 2009 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murnyak, George, E-mail: George.murnyak@us.army.mil; Vandenberg, John, E-mail: Vandenberg.John@epamail.epa.gov; Yaroschak, Paul J., E-mail: Paul.Yaroschak@osd.mil

2011-07-15

A session entitled 'Emerging Contaminants' was held in April 2009 in Cincinnati, OH at the 2009 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference. The purpose of the session was to share information on both programmatic and technical aspects associated with emerging contaminants. Emerging contaminants are chemicals or materials that are characterized by a perceived or real threat to human health or environment, a lack of published health standards or an evolving standard. A contaminant may also be 'emerging' because of the discovery of a new source, a new pathway to humans, or a new detection method or technology. The session included fivemore » speakers representing the Department of Defense (DoD), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and each of the military services. The DoD created the Emerging Contaminant Directorate to proactively address environmental, health, and safety concerns associated with emerging contaminants. This session described the scan-watch-action list process, impact assessment methodology, and integrated risk management concept that DoD has implemented to manage emerging contaminants. EPA presented emerging trends in health risk assessment. Researchers made technical presentations on the status of some emerging contaminates in the assessment process (i.e. manganese, RDX, and naphthalene).« less

Bio-oils from biomass slow pyrolysis: a chemical and toxicological screening.

PubMed

Cordella, Mauro; Torri, Cristian; Adamiano, Alessio; Fabbri, Daniele; Barontini, Federica; Cozzani, Valerio

2012-09-15

Bio-oils were produced from bench-scale slow-pyrolysis of three different biomass samples (corn stalks, poplar and switchgrass). Experimental protocols were developed and applied in order to screen their chemical composition. Several hazardous compounds were detected in the bio-oil samples analysed, including phenols, furans and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A procedure was outlined and applied to the assessment of toxicological and carcinogenic hazards of the bio-oils. The following hazardous properties were considered: acute toxicity; ecotoxicity; chronic toxicity; carcinogenicity. Parameters related to these properties were quantified for each component identified in the bio-oils and overall values were estimated for the bio-oils. The hazard screening carried out for the three bio-oils considered suggested that: (i) hazards to human health could be associated with chronic exposures to the bio-oils; (ii) acute toxic effects on humans and eco-toxic effects on aquatic ecosystems could also be possible in the case of loss of containment; and (iii) bio-oils may present a marginal potential carcinogenicity. The approach outlined allows the collection of screening information on the potential hazards posed by the bio-oils. This can be particularly useful when limited time and analytical resources reduce the possibility to obtain detailed specific experimental data. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ECO-DRIVING MODELING ENVIRONMENT

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-11-01

This research project aims to examine the eco-driving modeling capabilities of different traffic modeling tools available and to develop a driver-simulator-based eco-driving modeling tool to evaluate driver behavior and to reliably estimate or measur...

Assessment of toxicology knowledge in the fourth-year medical students: Three years of data.

PubMed

Buchanan, Jennie; Windels, Daniel; Druck, Jeffrey; Heard, Kennon

2018-01-01

Pharmacology and toxicology are core content knowledge for physicians. Medical students should demonstrate understanding of general pharmacology and basic treatment of poisoning. The objective of this study was to measure the knowledge of the 4th-year medical students (MS4) on these topics over 3 years. A multiple-choice exam (15 questions) was administered to MS4 students in spring of 2010, 2011, and 2012. Questions were developed by medical toxicologists to evaluate basic knowledge in three areas: pharmacologic effects (PE), treatment of poisoning (TOP), and pharmacokinetics (PK). The students were grouped by intended specialties into pharmacologic intense (anesthesia, emergency medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry), less pharmacologic intense specialties (dermatology, OB/GYN, ophthalmology, pathology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, radiology, and surgery) and by completion of a pharmacology or toxicology elective. Mean group scores were compared using ANOVA. Totally 332 of 401 (83%) students completed the survey. Mean scores were stable over the three years, higher for students completing a toxicology rotation and for students entering a pharmacologically intense specialty. The external validity is limited to a single medical school with incomplete participation and content was limited by the survey length. Consistent results over the three-year period and correlation of performance with completing a toxicology rotation and intent to enter a pharmacology intensive specialty suggest this survey may correlate with toxicology knowledge. Implementation of required core courses focused on toxicology may improve core content knowledge in fourth year medical students.

In silico toxicology for the pharmaceutical sciences

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Valerio, Luis G., E-mail: Luis.Valerio@fda.hhs.go

2009-12-15

The applied use of in silico technologies (a.k.a. computational toxicology, in silico toxicology, computer-assisted tox, e-tox, i-drug discovery, predictive ADME, etc.) for predicting preclinical toxicological endpoints, clinical adverse effects, and metabolism of pharmaceutical substances has become of high interest to the scientific community and the public. The increased accessibility of these technologies for scientists and recent regulations permitting their use for chemical risk assessment supports this notion. The scientific community is interested in the appropriate use of such technologies as a tool to enhance product development and safety of pharmaceuticals and other xenobiotics, while ensuring the reliability and accuracy ofmore » in silico approaches for the toxicological and pharmacological sciences. For pharmaceutical substances, this means active and impurity chemicals in the drug product may be screened using specialized software and databases designed to cover these substances through a chemical structure-based screening process and algorithm specific to a given software program. A major goal for use of these software programs is to enable industry scientists not only to enhance the discovery process but also to ensure the judicious use of in silico tools to support risk assessments of drug-induced toxicities and in safety evaluations. However, a great amount of applied research is still needed, and there are many limitations with these approaches which are described in this review. Currently, there is a wide range of endpoints available from predictive quantitative structure-activity relationship models driven by many different computational software programs and data sources, and this is only expected to grow. For example, there are models based on non-proprietary and/or proprietary information specific to assessing potential rodent carcinogenicity, in silico screens for ICH genetic toxicity assays, reproductive and developmental toxicity

Developing eco-adaptive cruise control systems.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-01-01

The study demonstrates the feasibility of two eco-driving applications which reduces vehicle fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, the study develops an eco-drive system that combines eco-cruise control logic with state-of-the...

CUMULATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT: GETTING FROM TOXICOLOGY TO QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

EPA Science Inventory

INTRODUCTION: GETTING FROM TOXICOLOGY TO QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS FOR CUMULATIVE RISK

Hugh A. Barton1 and Carey N. Pope2
1US EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, NC
2Department of...

Advancing alternatives analysis: The role of predictive toxicology in selecting safer chemical products and processes.

PubMed

Malloy, Timothy; Zaunbrecher, Virginia; Beryt, Elizabeth; Judson, Richard; Tice, Raymond; Allard, Patrick; Blake, Ann; Cote, Ila; Godwin, Hilary; Heine, Lauren; Kerzic, Patrick; Kostal, Jakub; Marchant, Gary; McPartland, Jennifer; Moran, Kelly; Nel, Andre; Ogunseitan, Oladele; Rossi, Mark; Thayer, Kristina; Tickner, Joel; Whittaker, Margaret; Zarker, Ken

2017-09-01

Alternatives analysis (AA) is a method used in regulation and product design to identify, assess, and evaluate the safety and viability of potential substitutes for hazardous chemicals. It requires toxicological data for the existing chemical and potential alternatives. Predictive toxicology uses in silico and in vitro approaches, computational models, and other tools to expedite toxicological data generation in a more cost-effective manner than traditional approaches. The present article briefly reviews the challenges associated with using predictive toxicology in regulatory AA, then presents 4 recommendations for its advancement. It recommends using case studies to advance the integration of predictive toxicology into AA, adopting a stepwise process to employing predictive toxicology in AA beginning with prioritization of chemicals of concern, leveraging existing resources to advance the integration of predictive toxicology into the practice of AA, and supporting transdisciplinary efforts. The further incorporation of predictive toxicology into AA would advance the ability of companies and regulators to select alternatives to harmful ingredients, and potentially increase the use of predictive toxicology in regulation more broadly. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:915-925. © 2017 SETAC. © 2017 SETAC.

IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies and White House Offices are provided below with external peer review panel comments. The draft Toxicological Review of 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to subchronic and chronic exposure to 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane.

EPA EcoBox Tools by Exposure Pathways - Water and Sediment

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

Respiratory Toxicology: 1981

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-08-01

AFAMRL-TR-81-81 D /a , 𔄁 RESPIRATORY TOXICOLOGY Annual Technical Report: 1981 P. E. NEWTON, Ph.D. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE OVERLOOK BRANCH...OF REPORT & PERIOD COVERED RESPIRATORY TOXICOLOGY: 1981 Annual Technical June 1980 through May 198 Ś. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 7. AUTHOR(s) 8...ABSTRACT (Continue on reverse side if necessary and Identify by block number) The Respiratory Toxicology research programs conducted at the Toxic Hazards

IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,2,3-trichloropropane ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 30, 2009, the IRIS Summary and Toxicological Review of 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) was finalized and loaded onto the IRIS database. The Toxicological Review of TCP was reviewed internally by EPA, by other federal agencies and White House Offices, by expert external peer reviewers, and by the public. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency draft of the TCP IRIS assessment are posted on this site. This Tox Review provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to 1,2,3-trichloropropane.

Engineering epithelial-stromal interactions in vitro for toxicology assessment.

PubMed

Belair, David G; Abbott, Barbara D

2017-05-01

Crosstalk between epithelial and stromal cells drives the morphogenesis of ectodermal organs during development and promotes normal mature adult epithelial tissue homeostasis. Epithelial-stromal interactions (ESIs) have historically been examined using mammalian models and ex vivo tissue recombination. Although these approaches have elucidated signaling mechanisms underlying embryonic morphogenesis processes and adult mammalian epithelial tissue function, they are limited by the availability of tissue, low throughput, and human developmental or physiological relevance. In this review, we describe how bioengineered ESIs, using either human stem cells or co-cultures of human primary epithelial and stromal cells, have enabled the development of human in vitro epithelial tissue models that recapitulate the architecture, phenotype, and function of adult human epithelial tissues. We discuss how the strategies used to engineer mature epithelial tissue models in vitro could be extrapolated to instruct the design of organotypic culture models that can recapitulate the structure of embryonic ectodermal tissues and enable the in vitro assessment of events critical to organ/tissue morphogenesis. Given the importance of ESIs towards normal epithelial tissue development and function, such models present a unique opportunity for toxicological screening assays to incorporate ESIs to assess the impact of chemicals on mature and developing epidermal tissues. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Engineering epithelial-stromal interactions in vitro for toxicology assessment

PubMed Central

Belair, David G.; Abbott, Barbara D.

2018-01-01

Crosstalk between epithelial and stromal cells drives the morphogenesis of ectodermal organs during development and promotes normal mature adult epithelial tissue homeostasis. Epithelial-stromal interactions (ESIs) have historically been examined using mammalian models and ex vivo tissue recombination. Although these approaches have elucidated signaling mechanisms underlying embryonic morphogenesis processes and adult mammalian epithelial tissue function, they are limited by the availability of tissue, low throughput, and human developmental or physiological relevance. In this review, we describe how bioengineered ESIs, using either human stem cells or co-cultures of human primary epithelial and stromal cells, have enabled the development of human in vitro epithelial tissue models that recapitulate the architecture, phenotype, and function of adult human epithelial tissues. We discuss how the strategies used to engineer mature epithelial tissue models in vitro could be extrapolated to instruct the design of organotypic culture models that can recapitulate the structure of embryonic ectodermal tissues and enable the in vitro assessment of events critical to organ/tissue morphogenesis. Given the importance of ESIs towards normal epithelial tissue development and function, such models present a unique opportunity for toxicological screening assays to incorporate ESIs to assess the impact of chemicals on mature and developing epidermal tissues. PMID:28285100

TOXNET (TOXICOLOGY DATA NETWORK)

EPA Science Inventory

TOXNET (Toxicology Data Network) is a computerized system of files oriented to toxicology and related areas. It is managed by the National Library of Medicines Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) and runs on a series of microcomputers in a networked cl...

78 FR 45253 - National Toxicology Program Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-26

... Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods; Announcement of Meeting; Request for... Toxicological Methods (SACATM). SACATM advises the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM), the National Toxicology Program (NTP) Interagency Center for the Evaluation of...

Comparative BioInformatics and Computational Toxicology

EPA Science Inventory

Reflecting the numerous changes in the field since the publication of the previous edition, this third edition of Developmental Toxicology focuses on the mechanisms of developmental toxicity and incorporates current technologies for testing in the risk assessment process.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (Etbe) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In September 2016, EPA released the draft IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) for public comment and discussion. The draft assessment was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an new health assessment for ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE) for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The outcome of this project will be a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary of ETBE that will be entered on the IRIS database. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment process, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used nationally and internationally in combination with specific situational exposure assessment infor

Food for thought ... A toxicology ontology roadmap.

PubMed

Hardy, Barry; Apic, Gordana; Carthew, Philip; Clark, Dominic; Cook, David; Dix, Ian; Escher, Sylvia; Hastings, Janna; Heard, David J; Jeliazkova, Nina; Judson, Philip; Matis-Mitchell, Sherri; Mitic, Dragana; Myatt, Glenn; Shah, Imran; Spjuth, Ola; Tcheremenskaia, Olga; Toldo, Luca; Watson, David; White, Andrew; Yang, Chihae

2012-01-01

Foreign substances can have a dramatic and unpredictable adverse effect on human health. In the development of new therapeutic agents, it is essential that the potential adverse effects of all candidates be identified as early as possible. The field of predictive toxicology strives to profile the potential for adverse effects of novel chemical substances before they occur, both with traditional in vivo experimental approaches and increasingly through the development of in vitro and computational methods which can supplement and reduce the need for animal testing. To be maximally effective, the field needs access to the largest possible knowledge base of previous toxicology findings, and such results need to be made available in such a fashion so as to be interoperable, comparable, and compatible with standard toolkits. This necessitates the development of open, public, computable, and standardized toxicology vocabularies and ontologies so as to support the applications required by in silico, in vitro, and in vivo toxicology methods and related analysis and reporting activities. Such ontology development will support data management, model building, integrated analysis, validation and reporting, including regulatory reporting and alternative testing submission requirements as required by guidelines such as the REACH legislation, leading to new scientific advances in a mechanistically-based predictive toxicology. Numerous existing ontology and standards initiatives can contribute to the creation of a toxicology ontology supporting the needs of predictive toxicology and risk assessment. Additionally, new ontologies are needed to satisfy practical use cases and scenarios where gaps currently exist. Developing and integrating these resources will require a well-coordinated and sustained effort across numerous stakeholders engaged in a public-private partnership. In this communication, we set out a roadmap for the development of an integrated toxicology ontology

Computational Toxicology at the US EPA

EPA Science Inventory

Computational toxicology is the application of mathematical and computer models to help assess chemical hazards and risks to human health and the environment. Supported by advances in informatics, high-throughput screening (HTS) technologies, and systems biology, EPA is developin...

The Annapolis Accords on the use of toxicology in decision-making. Annapolis Center Workshop Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gray, G.M.; Baskin, S.I.; Charnley, G.

2000-12-01

The science of toxicology plays an important role in identifying safe conditions of use or exposure for many different kinds of environmental agents. The use of toxicologic information in risk assessment requires careful analysis, evaluation of data, and scientific judgment. These Annapolis Accords are intended to guide appropriate use in risk assessment of the scientific information from toxicology. We believe that application of these principles will improve the scientific credibility of risk assessment and the quality of decisions aimed at reducing and eliminating risks to human health and the environment.

Metabonomics and toxicology.

PubMed

Zhao, Liang; Hartung, Thomas

2015-01-01

Being an emerging field of "omics" research, metabonomics has been increasingly used in toxicological studies mostly because this technology has the ability to provide more detailed information to elucidate mechanism of toxicity. As an interdisciplinary field of science, metabonomics combines analytical chemistry, bioinformatics, statistics, and biochemistry. When applied to toxicology, metabonomics also includes aspects of patho-biochemistry, systems biology, and molecular diagnostics. During a toxicological study, the metabolic changes over time and dose after chemical treatment can be monitored. Therefore, the most important use of this emerging technology is the identification of signatures of toxicity-patterns of metabolic changes predictive of a hazard manifestation. This chapter summarizes the current state of metabonomics technology and its applications in various areas of toxicological studies.

Overview of the "epigenetic end points in toxicologic pathology and relevance to human health" session of the 2014 Society Of Toxicologic Pathology Annual Symposium.

PubMed

Hoenerhoff, Mark J; Hartke, James

2015-01-01

The theme of the Society of Toxicologic Pathology 2014 Annual Symposium was "Translational Pathology: Relevance of Toxicologic Pathology to Human Health." The 5th session focused on epigenetic end points in biology, toxicity, and carcinogenicity, and how those end points are relevant to human exposures. This overview highlights the various presentations in this session, discussing integration of epigenetics end points in toxicologic pathology studies, investigating the role of epigenetics in product safety assessment, epigenetic changes in cancers, methodologies to detect them, and potential therapies, chromatin remodeling in development and disease, and epigenomics and the microbiome. The purpose of this overview is to discuss the application of epigenetics to toxicologic pathology and its utility in preclinical or mechanistic based safety, efficacy, and carcinogenicity studies. © 2014 by The Author(s).

Landscape ecological assessment and eco-tourism development in the South Dongting Lake Wetland, China.

PubMed

He, Ping; Wang, Bao-zhong

2003-03-01

As an important resource and the living environment of mankind, wetland has become gradually a highlight, strongly concerned and intensively studied by scientists and sociologists. The governments in the world and the whole society have been paying more and more attention on it. The Dongting Lake of China is regarded as an internationally important wetland. For a rational development and protection of the wetland, an investigation and studied on its resources and its value to tourism in the South Dongting Lake was conducted, to create an assessment system of the ecological landscapes, and to evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively the value of wetland landscape to the ecotourism. The results showed that the scenic value of the South Dongting Lake Wetland satisfied the criterion of AAAA grade of China national scenic attraction. The eco-tourism value of the landscape cultures in the South Dongting Lake Wetland was discussed with emphasis. It were formulated that a principle and frame of sustainable exploitation of the wetland landscapes and it was proposed as well that establishing a Wetland Park and developing eco-tourism in the South Dongting Lake Wetland is a fragile ecosystem with low resistance to the impact of the exploitation. Thus, we must pay intensively attention to the influence of exploitation on the landscape, take the ecological risk in account to employ a right countermeasure and avoid the negative affection.

Computational toxicology as implemented by the U.S. EPA: providing high throughput decision support tools for screening and assessing chemical exposure, hazard and risk.

PubMed

Kavlock, Robert; Dix, David

2010-02-01

Computational toxicology is the application of mathematical and computer models to help assess chemical hazards and risks to human health and the environment. Supported by advances in informatics, high-throughput screening (HTS) technologies, and systems biology, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA is developing robust and flexible computational tools that can be applied to the thousands of chemicals in commerce, and contaminant mixtures found in air, water, and hazardous-waste sites. The Office of Research and Development (ORD) Computational Toxicology Research Program (CTRP) is composed of three main elements. The largest component is the National Center for Computational Toxicology (NCCT), which was established in 2005 to coordinate research on chemical screening and prioritization, informatics, and systems modeling. The second element consists of related activities in the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) and the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL). The third and final component consists of academic centers working on various aspects of computational toxicology and funded by the U.S. EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program. Together these elements form the key components in the implementation of both the initial strategy, A Framework for a Computational Toxicology Research Program (U.S. EPA, 2003), and the newly released The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Strategic Plan for Evaluating the Toxicity of Chemicals (U.S. EPA, 2009a). Key intramural projects of the CTRP include digitizing legacy toxicity testing information toxicity reference database (ToxRefDB), predicting toxicity (ToxCast) and exposure (ExpoCast), and creating virtual liver (v-Liver) and virtual embryo (v-Embryo) systems models. U.S. EPA-funded STAR centers are also providing bioinformatics, computational toxicology data and models, and developmental toxicity data and models. The models and underlying data are being made publicly

Eco-compensation in China: Theory, practices and suggestions for the future.

PubMed

Shang, Wenxiu; Gong, Yicheng; Wang, Zhongjing; Stewardson, Michael J

2018-03-15

Eco-compensation is the most important form of compensatory conservation in China. However, this compensatory mechanism is criticized for vague definition and massive government participation. For better understanding of eco-compensation in China, this paper compares theories and practices of compensatory mechanisms in China and abroad. The analysis of theoretical backgrounds shows that eco-compensation in China is a combination of 'ecological compensation' and 'payments for ecosystem services'. Ten compensatory projects in China and abroad are assessed to reveal characteristics and problems of eco-compensation in China. The results show that compensatory projects in China lagged behind mature foreign compensatory projects in clarity of property rights, responsibility fulfillment, executive efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and equality. The massive participation of the government is the major reason for the poor performance of compensatory projects in China. However, government participation is necessary at the present stage in China for the income gap and beneficiaries' low willingness to pay. For the improvement of eco-compensation in China, suggestions are given on the choice of non-market valuation methods, the creation of property rights and the establishment of market mechanisms. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toxicology and Epidemiology: Improving the Science with a Framework for Combining Toxicological and Epidemiological Evidence to Establish Causal Inference

PubMed Central

Adami, Hans-Olov; Berry, Sir Colin L.; Breckenridge, Charles B.; Smith, Lewis L.; Swenberg, James A.; Trichopoulos, Dimitrios; Weiss, Noel S.; Pastoor, Timothy P.

2011-01-01

Historically, toxicology has played a significant role in verifying conclusions drawn on the basis of epidemiological findings. Agents that were suggested to have a role in human diseases have been tested in animals to firmly establish a causative link. Bacterial pathogens are perhaps the oldest examples, and tobacco smoke and lung cancer and asbestos and mesothelioma provide two more recent examples. With the advent of toxicity testing guidelines and protocols, toxicology took on a role that was intended to anticipate or predict potential adverse effects in humans, and epidemiology, in many cases, served a role in verifying or negating these toxicological predictions. The coupled role of epidemiology and toxicology in discerning human health effects by environmental agents is obvious, but there is currently no systematic and transparent way to bring the data and analysis of the two disciplines together in a way that provides a unified view on an adverse causal relationship between an agent and a disease. In working to advance the interaction between the fields of toxicology and epidemiology, we propose here a five-step “Epid-Tox” process that would focus on: (1) collection of all relevant studies, (2) assessment of their quality, (3) evaluation of the weight of evidence, (4) assignment of a scalable conclusion, and (5) placement on a causal relationship grid. The causal relationship grid provides a clear view of how epidemiological and toxicological data intersect, permits straightforward conclusions with regard to a causal relationship between agent and effect, and can show how additional data can influence conclusions of causality. PMID:21561883

IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5 ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On March 10, 2016, the public comment draft Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine and the draft charge to external peer reviewers were released for public review and comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine and the charge to external peer reviewers, are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for RDX. The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for RDX that will be entered into the IRIS database.

Toxicological and immunomodulatory assessments of botryosphaeran (β-glucan) produced by Botryosphaeria rhodina RCYU 30101.

PubMed

Weng, Brian Bor-Chun; Lin, Yu-Chih; Hu, Chia-Wen; Kao, Ming-Yuan; Wang, Shih-Hao; Lo, Dan-Yuan; Lai, Tzu-Yuan; Kan, Lou-Sing; Chiou, Robin Yih-Yuan

2011-04-01

Toxicological and immunomodulatory activities of botryosphaeran (BR), a newly emerged β-glucan that comprises a β-(1 → 3) backbone and β-(1 → 6) branched glucose residues were assessed. BR was 1.82 × 10(6) Da (M.W.) estimated by reversely-linear equation constructed by regression of logarithms of standard polysaccharides and their retention times of gel permeation chromatography. Sprague-Dawley rats were daily gavage-administered with BR at doses of 0, 1.25, 12.5, and 125 mg/kg body weight (BW) for 28 d. Serum hematological and biochemical analysis of all treatment were all within normal ranges. Mitogen-stimulated lymphoblastogenesis of spleno-lymphocytes was enhanced by BR at doses of 1.25 and 12.5 mg/kg BW. Through in vitro comparative assessments, RAW 264.7 macrophage (RAW) cells were treated with BR and two commercial β-glucans, zymosan (ZY) and barley β-glucan (GB), to characterize their relative immunomodulatory properties. All three β-glucans stimulated phagocytosis on fluorescence-labeled Escherichia coli. At dose levels from 5 to 200 μg/mL for 24h, nitric oxide produced by BR- and ZY-treated cells were higher than those produced by GB-treated and control groups. BR, ZY but GB also stimulated RAW cells in producing TNF-α. The results demonstrate that BR is toxicologically accepted and features as a potent immunomodulator. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toxicological Review of Cyanobacterial Toxins: Cylindrospermopsin (External Review Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

The National Center for Environmental Assessment has prepared the Toxicological Reviews of Cyanobacterial Toxins: Anatoxin-a, Cylindrospermopsin and Microcystins (LR, RR, YR and LA) as a series of dose-response assessments to support the health assessment of unregulated contamina...

Genetic toxicology assessment of HI-6 dichloride

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Putman, D.; San, R.H.; Bigger, C.A.

1996-08-01

The oxime HI-6 dichloride (1-(2 hydroxyiminomethyl- 1-pyridino)-3- (4-carbamoyl-1- pyridino)-2-oxapropane dichloride monohydrate) has shown to be a potent reactivator of cholinesterase activity and may have efficacy for the treatment of organo-phosphate intoxication (SIPRI, 1976; Schenk et al.; Arch Toxicol 36:71-81, 1976). As part of a pre-clinical safety assessment program, the genetic toxicology of HI-6 dichloride was evaluated in a series of assays designed to measure induction of gene mutations and chromosomal aberrations. HI-6 dichloride gave negative responses in the Salmonella mutagenicity assay and in the CHO/HGPRT gene mutation assay. Dose-dependent increases in the frequency of chromosomal aberrations when HI-6 dichloride wasmore » tested in cultured CHO cells and in cultured human peripheral blood lymphocytes. The mouse lymphoma gene mutation assay, reputed to measure both gene mutations and chromosomal deletions, was negative in the absence of metabolic activation. Depending on the criteria employed, a negative or equivocal response was seen in the presence of rat liver-derived S-9 mix. An in vivo rat bone marrow metaphase assay performed to further investigate the in vitro clastogenic responses was negative. The results from these studies indicate that HI-6 dichloride does not induce gene mutations in vitro; however, it is clastogenic in vitro but does not appear to be clastogenic in vivo.« less

IRIS Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is conducting a peer review and public comment of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of Dichloromethane that when finalized will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. The draft Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to dichloromethane.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia Noncancer Inhalation ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In September 2016, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Ammonia (Noncancer Inhalation). The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release in June 2016. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science discussion materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia (Noncancer Inhalation) are posted on this site. Note: No major science comments were received on the Interagency Science Discussion Draft. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for ammonia. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

Perspective on Eco-Hydrology Developing Strategy in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, J.

2017-12-01

China is one of developing countries with higher eco-environmental press in the world due to large population and its socio-economic development. In China, water is not only the sources for life, but also the key for production, and the foundation for eco-system. Thus, Eco-hydrology becomes a fundamental also an applied sciences related to describe the hydrologic mechanisms that underlie ecologic patterns and processes. This paper addresses the issue of Eco-hydrology Developing Strategy in China, supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Major contents include four aspects, namely: (1) Demands and frontier of eco-hydrology in the world; (2) Major theories and approaches of Eco-hydrology; (3) Perspective of future development on Eco-hydrology; (4) Enacting and proposal for China development strategy on Eco-hydrology. Application fields involves urban, rural area, wetland, river & lake, forest and special regions in China, such as the arid and semi-arid region and so on. The goal is to promote the disciplinary development of eco-hydrology, and serve for national demands on ecological civilization construction in China.

Computational Toxicology as Implemented by the US EPA ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Computational toxicology is the application of mathematical and computer models to help assess chemical hazards and risks to human health and the environment. Supported by advances in informatics, high-throughput screening (HTS) technologies, and systems biology, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA is developing robust and flexible computational tools that can be applied to the thousands of chemicals in commerce, and contaminant mixtures found in air, water, and hazardous-waste sites. The Office of Research and Development (ORD) Computational Toxicology Research Program (CTRP) is composed of three main elements. The largest component is the National Center for Computational Toxicology (NCCT), which was established in 2005 to coordinate research on chemical screening and prioritization, informatics, and systems modeling. The second element consists of related activities in the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) and the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL). The third and final component consists of academic centers working on various aspects of computational toxicology and funded by the U.S. EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program. Together these elements form the key components in the implementation of both the initial strategy, A Framework for a Computational Toxicology Research Program (U.S. EPA, 2003), and the newly released The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Strategic Plan for Evaluating the T

The French eco-neighbourhood evaluation model: Contributions to sustainable city making and to the evolution of urban practices.

PubMed

Chastenet, Cédissia About-de; Belziti, Daniela; Bessis, Bruno; Faucheux, Franck; Le Sceller, Thibaut; Monaco, François-Xavier; Pech, Pierre

2016-07-01

In this article we discuss whether the French eco-neighbourhood policy tool may be considered as an original experimentation in sustainable urban planning. From scientific literature across a number of countries and especially in European context, we present what kind of policies may achieve eco-neighbourhoods. Then we present what the French framework is, and what tools to promote and elaborate eco-neighbourhoods there are in France. Thirdly, in fact, both French policies, national and local, concerning eco-neighbourhood projects, seem to integrate means of assessing urban projects and this assessment achieves a kind of certification. While the Ministry in charge of Urban Planning has developed the national EcoQuartier ("EcoNeighbourhood" in English) certification, the City of Paris and other local authorities have designed similar tools, which integrate a large number of parameters dealing with urban sustainability and which are designed to evolve over time. Finally, we discuss whether the French tool is really original and whether it prefigures new practices in the field of sustainable urban development. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

EPA EcoBox Tools by Exposure Pathways - Exposure Pathways In ERA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of benzo[a]pyrene. This assessment addresses the potential cancer and noncancer human health effects from long-term exposure to benzo[a]pyrene. Now final, this assessment will update the toxicological info...

Mass Spectrometry Applications for Toxicology

PubMed Central

Mbughuni, Michael M.; Jannetto, Paul J.

2016-01-01

Toxicology is a multidisciplinary study of poisons, aimed to correlate the quantitative and qualitative relationships between poisons and their physiological and behavioural effects in living systems. Other key aspects of toxicology focus on elucidation of the mechanisms of action of poisons and development of remedies and treatment plans for associated toxic effects. In these endeavours, Mass spectrometry (MS) has become a powerful analytical technique with a wide range of application used in the Toxicological analysis of drugs, poisons, and metabolites of both. To date, MS applications have permeated all fields of toxicology which include; environmental, clinical, and forensic toxicology. While many different analytical applications are used in these fields, MS and its hyphenated applications such as; gas chromatography MS (GC-MS), liquid chromatography MS (LC-MS), inductively coupled plasma ionization MS (ICP-MS), tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS and MSn) have emerged as powerful tools used in toxicology laboratories. This review will focus on these hyphenated MS technologies and their applications for toxicology. PMID:28149262

DEMONSTRATION BULLETIN: THE ECO LOGIC THERMAL DESORPTION UNIT - MIDDLEGROUND LANDFILL - BAY CITY, MI - ELI ECO LOGIC INTERNATIONAL, INC.

EPA Science Inventory

ECO Logic has developed a thermal desorption unit 0"DU) for the treatment of soils contaminated with hazardous organic contaminants. This TDU has been designed to be used in conjunction with Eco Logic's patented gas-phase chemical reduction reactor. The Eco Logic reactor is the s...

Human Environmental Disease Network: A computational model to assess toxicology of contaminants.

PubMed

Taboureau, Olivier; Audouze, Karine

2017-01-01

During the past decades, many epidemiological, toxicological and biological studies have been performed to assess the role of environmental chemicals as potential toxicants associated with diverse human disorders. However, the relationships between diseases based on chemical exposure rarely have been studied by computational biology. We developed a human environmental disease network (EDN) to explore and suggest novel disease-disease and chemical-disease relationships. The presented scored EDN model is built upon the integration of systems biology and chemical toxicology using information on chemical contaminants and their disease relationships reported in the TDDB database. The resulting human EDN takes into consideration the level of evidence of the toxicant-disease relationships, allowing inclusion of some degrees of significance in the disease-disease associations. Such a network can be used to identify uncharacterized connections between diseases. Examples are discussed for type 2 diabetes (T2D). Additionally, this computational model allows confirmation of already known links between chemicals and diseases (e.g., between bisphenol A and behavioral disorders) and also reveals unexpected associations between chemicals and diseases (e.g., between chlordane and olfactory alteration), thus predicting which chemicals may be risk factors to human health. The proposed human EDN model allows exploration of common biological mechanisms of diseases associated with chemical exposure, helping us to gain insight into disease etiology and comorbidity. This computational approach is an alternative to animal testing supporting the 3R concept.

Eco-logical successes : January 2011

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-01-01

This document identifies and explains each Eco-Logical signatory agency's strategic environmental programs, projects, and efforts that are either directly related to or share the vision set forth in Eco-Logical. A brief description of an agency's key...

ACToR-AGGREGATED COMPUTATIONAL TOXICOLOGY ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

One goal of the field of computational toxicology is to predict chemical toxicity by combining computer models with biological and toxicological data. predict chemical toxicity by combining computer models with biological and toxicological data

Using zebrafish in systems toxicology for developmental toxicity testing.

PubMed

Nishimura, Yuhei; Inoue, Atsuto; Sasagawa, Shota; Koiwa, Junko; Kawaguchi, Koki; Kawase, Reiko; Maruyama, Toru; Kim, Soonih; Tanaka, Toshio

2016-01-01

With the high cost and the long-term assessment of developmental toxicity testing in mammals, the vertebrate zebrafish has become a useful alternative model organism for high-throughput developmental toxicity testing. Zebrafish is also very favorable for the 3R perspective in toxicology; however, the methodologies used by research groups vary greatly, posing considerable challenges to integrative analysis. In this review, we discuss zebrafish developmental toxicity testing, focusing on the methods of chemical exposure, the assessment of morphological abnormalities, housing conditions and their effects on the production of healthy embryos, and future directions. Zebrafish as a systems toxicology model has the potential to elucidate developmental toxicity pathways, and to provide a sound basis for human health risk assessments. © 2015 Japanese Teratology Society.

Human exposure to chemical mixtures: Challenges for the integration of toxicology with epidemiology data in risk assessment.

PubMed

Hernández, Antonio F; Tsatsakis, Aristidis M

2017-05-01

Little is known about the potential adverse effects from longterm exposure to complex mixtures at low doses, close to health-based reference values. Traditional chemical-specific risk assessment based on animal testing may be insufficient and the lack of toxicological studies on chemical mixtures remains a major regulatory challenge. Hence, new methodologies on cumulative risk assessment are being developed but still present major limitations. Evaluation of chemical mixture effects requires an integrated and systematic approach and close collaboration across different scientific fields, particularly toxicology, epidemiology, exposure science, risk assessment and statistics for a proper integration of data from all these disciplines. Well designed and conducted epidemiological studies can take advantage of this new paradigm and can provide insight to support the correlation between humans low-dose exposures and diseases, thus avoiding the uncertainty associated with extrapolation across species. In this regard, human epidemiology studies may play a significant role in the new vision of toxicity testing. However, this type of information has not been fully considered in risk assessment, mainly due to the inherent limitations of epidemiologic studies. An integrated approach of in vivo, in vitro and in silico data, together with systematic reviews or meta-analysis of high quality epidemiological studies will improve the robustness of risk assessment of chemical mixtures and will provide a stronger basis for regulatory decisions. The ultimate goal is that experimental and mechanistic data can lend support and biological plausibility to the human epidemiological observations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Inorganic Arsenic (Cancer) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On February 19, 2010, the draft IRIS Toxicological Review of Inorganic Arsenic (Cancer) external review draft document and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for public review and comment. The draft document and the charge to external peer reviewers were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the Toxicological Review of Inorganic Arsenic and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. This draft IRIS health assessment addresses only cancer human health effects that may result from chronic exposure to this chemical. An assessment of noncancer health effects of inorganic arsenic will be released for external peer review and public comment at a later date.

A case-based toxicology elective course to enhance student learning in pharmacotherapy.

PubMed

Brown, Stacy D; Pond, Brooks B; Creekmore, Kathryn A

2011-08-10

To assess the impact of a case-based toxicology elective course on student learning in related required courses and student performance on the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA) examination. A case-based clinical toxicology elective course that contained topics from 2 required courses, Pharmacology III and Pharmacotherapy II, was offered in the spring 2009 to second- and third-year pharmacy students. Scores on the Toxicology subsection of the PCOA of students enrolled in the elective were higher than those of students not enrolled (91.3% ± 4.1 vs. 67.2% ± 5.7). Enrollment in the elective was related to increased examination scores among Pharmacotherapy II students (89.5% ± 2.0 vs. 83.9% ± 1.8). Students indicated on course survey instruments that they were satisfied with the new elective offering. A toxicology elective provided a clinically relevant, active-learning experience for pharmacy students that addressed a curricular need within the college and increased examination scores.

National Toxicology Program: Review of current DHHS, DOE, and EPA research related to toxicology, Fiscal Year 1991

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1991-06-01

The report represents responses by agencies of DHHS, and by DOE and EPA, to requests by the Director of NTP for information on agency programs in basic toxicology research, toxicology testing, and toxicology methods development. Information on dollar and manpower support for agency activities in basic toxicology research, toxicology testing, and toxicology methods development, by DHHS, DOE and EPA, is summarized on pages 4 to 10. All agencies were requested to provide summary information on their programs related to toxicology methods development, whether essential or peripheral to their missions. The information provided in response to the request is summarized inmore » tables on pages 48 to 81. Information was provided on chemical compounds currently being studied for their toxicological properties in intramural laboratories, or on contracts, or through grants.« less

Spaceflight Toxicology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyers, Valerie

2008-01-01

This viewgraph presentation provides a review of NASA Johnson Space Center's Toxicology program. The mission of this program is to protect crews from toxic exposures during spaceflight. The presentation reviews some of the health hazards. A toxicological hazard level chart is presented that reviews the rating of hazard level, irritancy, systemic effects and containability. The program also participates in the Lunar Airborne Dust Toxicity Advisory Group.

Toxicological characteristics of edible insects in China: A historical review.

PubMed

Gao, Yu; Wang, Di; Xu, Meng-Lei; Shi, Shu-Sen; Xiong, Jin-Feng

2018-04-10

Edible insects are ideal food sources, which contain important nutrients and health-promoting compounds. With a rapid development of industrial insect farming, insect-derived food is a novel and emerging food industry. Edible insects have been traditionally consumed in various communities, while continuously gaining relevance in today's society; however, they currently remain underutilized. Although there are a large number of literature on edible insects, these literature primarily focus on the nutritional value edible insects. The toxicity assessment data of edible insects remain incomprehensive, especially for the new national standard that is currently in effect; and many data and conclusions are not accurately specified/reported. Therefore, we performed a literature review and summarized the data on the toxicological assessment of edible insects in China. The review first describes the research progress on safety toxicological assessment, and then offers references regarding the development of 34 edible insect species in China. These data can be a platform for the development of future toxicological assessment strategies, which can be carried out by a multidisciplinary team, possibly consisting of food engineers, agronomists, farmers, and so on, to improve the acceptability of edible insects. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Eco-innovations in the functioning of companies.

PubMed

Ociepa-Kubicka, A; Pachura, P

2017-07-01

The development of entrepreneurships in the 21st century cannot occur without taking care of the natural environment. The article presents issues related to eco-innovation. Despite the opportunities offered by eco-innovations, implementation of such initiatives remains to lead to various difficulties. They vary across countries and sectors. The insufficient number of enterprises in Poland and other European countries implement adequate level of eco-innovations. The main aim of this paper is to indicate the causes of this status and activities aimed to develop eco-innovativeness. The benefits and risks connected with implementation of innovative products and technologies were also discussed. Furthermore, the advantages of and barriers to their implementation into companies were analysed. The entrepreneurs from the least eco-innovative countries emphasize serious barriers, including uncertain demand from the market, uncertain return on investment or too long a payback period for eco-innovation, lack of funds within the enterprise, insufficient access to existing subsidies and fiscal incentive. They are especially afraid of the financial risks, which raises uncertainty and leads to refraining from innovative initiatives. The possibilities were indicated for the entrepreneurs who face problems with the implementation of innovative solutions. Particular attention was paid to the European Union activities for the development of eco-innovations. Numerous programs supporting their implementation were indicated. The article also presents examples of eco-innovation in water and sewage enterprises. It was emphasized that planning of eco-innovative solutions should be based on comprehensive information about actual benefits and possibility of threats to the environment which can be caused by implementation of eco-innovations. The study presents the example of threats resulting from different methods of sewage sludge management. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights

Progress in computational toxicology.

PubMed

Ekins, Sean

2014-01-01

Computational methods have been widely applied to toxicology across pharmaceutical, consumer product and environmental fields over the past decade. Progress in computational toxicology is now reviewed. A literature review was performed on computational models for hepatotoxicity (e.g. for drug-induced liver injury (DILI)), cardiotoxicity, renal toxicity and genotoxicity. In addition various publications have been highlighted that use machine learning methods. Several computational toxicology model datasets from past publications were used to compare Bayesian and Support Vector Machine (SVM) learning methods. The increasing amounts of data for defined toxicology endpoints have enabled machine learning models that have been increasingly used for predictions. It is shown that across many different models Bayesian and SVM perform similarly based on cross validation data. Considerable progress has been made in computational toxicology in a decade in both model development and availability of larger scale or 'big data' models. The future efforts in toxicology data generation will likely provide us with hundreds of thousands of compounds that are readily accessible for machine learning models. These models will cover relevant chemistry space for pharmaceutical, consumer product and environmental applications. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Military deployment toxicology: a program manager's perspective.

PubMed

Knechtges, P L

2000-02-01

The Persian Gulf War drew attention to the potential hazards of chemicals that personnel may encounter during military operations and deployments overseas. During the War, the oil well fires of Kuwait highlighted the military threat of industrial chemicals in the area of operations. Following the War, the occurrence of Gulf War Illnesses brought home concerns and suspicions regarding "low level" and "mixed" exposures to chemicals. The public's concern and attention resulted in numerous institutional responses to the real and perceived problems of health risks during military deployments. These institutional responses ranged in scope from a Presidential Review Directive to the initiative known as the Deployment Toxicology Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation (RDT&E) Program. Most institutions, however, seem to agree that additional research is needed to assess the health risks from chemical exposures during military deployments. Establishing and managing an effective RDT&E program in risk assessment for deployed forces is a challenging enterprise. The Deployment Toxicology RDT&E Program was conceived utilizing the military's acquisition framework, an effective methodology with a proven record of fielding of new technologies. Based on a series of structured meetings with military representatives that would utilize new risk assessment tools, a hierarchical set of plans was developed to identify and prioritize end products. The challenge ahead for the Deployment Toxicology RDT&E Program is to execute these plans, provide the necessary oversight, and transition the results into successful product development.

Pathophysiological Progression Model for Selected Toxicological Endpoints

EPA Science Inventory

The existing continuum paradigms are effective models to organize toxicological data associated with endpoints used in human health assessments. A compendium of endpoints characterized along a pathophysiological continuum would serve to: weigh the relative importance of effects o...

Industrial applications using BASF eco-efficiency analysis: perspectives on green engineering principles.

PubMed

Shonnard, David R; Kicherer, Andreas; Saling, Peter

2003-12-01

Life without chemicals would be inconceivable, but the potential risks and impacts to the environment associated with chemical production and chemical products are viewed critically. Eco-efficiency analysis considers the economic and life cycle environmental effects of a product or process, giving these equal weighting. The major elements of the environmental assessment include primary energy use, raw materials utilization, emissions to all media, toxicity, safety risk, and land use. The relevance of each environmental category and also for the economic versus the environmental impacts is evaluated using national emissions and economic data. The eco-efficiency analysis method of BASF is briefly presented, and results from three applications to chemical processes and products are summarized. Through these applications, the eco-efficiency analyses mostly confirm the 12 Principles listed in Anastas and Zimmerman (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2003, 37(5), 94A), with the exception that, in one application, production systems based on bio-based feedstocks were not the most eco-efficient as compared to those based on fossil resources. Over 180 eco-efficiency analyses have been conducted at BASF, and their results have been used to support strategic decision-making, marketing, research and development, and communication with external parties. Eco-efficiency analysis, as one important strategy and success factor in sustainable development, will continue to be a very strong operational tool at BASF.

Safety pharmacology investigations in toxicology studies: an industry survey.

PubMed

Authier, Simon; Vargas, Hugo M; Curtis, Michael J; Holbrook, Mark; Pugsley, Michael K

2013-01-01

The Safety Pharmacology (SP) Society (SPS) conducted an industry survey in 2012 in an attempt to define current industry practices as they relate to inclusion of safety pharmacology (SP) endpoints into Toxicology studies. A total of 361 participants from Asia (9.1%), Europe (19.4%) and North America (71.4%) responded to the survey. The preponderance of respondents were toxicologists (53.2%) followed by safety pharmacologists (27.2%) and scientists involved in the conduct of both disciplines (19.6%). Most participants (58.6%) were from pharmaceutical companies employing more than 500 employees. A majority (68.2%) reported having experience in designing, performing or interpreting the SP component of a study when performed as part of a toxicology study. Some participants (42.0%) had submitted data to a regulatory agency where ICHS7 studies were performed as part of a toxicology study rather than as a standalone study. When comparing species that were used in studies in which SP was added to toxicology studies, canines were the most frequently reported animals used for new chemical entities (NCE) whereas non-human (NH) primates were the most frequent for the assessment of biological agents. The most frequent primary motivator for adding ICHS7 SP endpoints to regulatory toxicology studies was to generate additional data to allow for determination of an integrated risk assessment thereby testing Confidence in Safety (CIS) to better manage and/or mitigate risk. The current ability to add safety pharmacology endpoints into regulatory toxicology studies was used to address a specific concern (by 42.1% of respondents) to allow management of risk more effectively (36.8%) or to generate data that contributes to cessation of the progression of a compound (21.1%). For an NCE, SP measurements in toxicology studies were conducted in addition to standalone SP studies (by 40.6% of respondents) or in addition/instead of standalone safety pharmacology studies (by 39.8% of respondents

[Environment capacity of eco-tourism resort].

PubMed

Sun, Y; Wang, R

2000-08-01

The results of quantitative analysis on the amount of tourist, service-environment capacity, eco-environment capacity, and their relations in Five-finger Mountain eco-tourism resort indicate that the amount of tourist in common situation and in its extreme was 1918 and 2301 visitor-hour per day, and the service-environment capacity and eco-environment capacity were 6000 and 2400 visitor-hour per day, respectively. The eco-environment capacity was smaller than its service-environment capacity, and would become the first limiting factor to the increase of tourist amount, which was mainly due to the ecological fragility of resort, the lower resistance of biological communities to the disturbance, and the slower speed of ecosystem restoration after its being destroyed.

Toxicological Review of Cyanobacterial Toxins: Anatoxin-a (External Review Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

The National Center for Environmental Assessment has prepared the Toxicological Reviews of Cyanobacterial Toxins: Anatoxin-a, Cylindrospermopsin and Microcystins (LR, RR, YR and LA) as a series of dose-response assessments to support the health assessment of unregulated contamina...

Toxicological perspectives of inhaled therapeutics and nanoparticles.

PubMed

Hayes, Amanda J; Bakand, Shahnaz

2014-07-01

The human respiratory system is an important route for the entry of inhaled therapeutics into the body to treat diseases. Inhaled materials may consist of gases, vapours, aerosols and particulates. In all cases, assessing the toxicological effect of inhaled therapeutics has many challenges. This article provides an overview of in vivo and in vitro models for testing the toxicity of inhaled therapeutics and nanoparticles implemented in drug delivery. Traditionally, inhalation toxicity has been performed on test animals to identify the median lethal concentration of airborne materials. Later maximum tolerable concentration denoted by LC0 has been introduced as a more ethically acceptable end point. More recently, in vitro methods have been developed, allowing the direct exposure of airborne material to cultured human target cells on permeable porous membranes at the air-liquid interface. Modifications of current inhalation therapies, new pulmonary medications for respiratory diseases and implementation of the respiratory tract for systemic drug delivery are providing new challenges when conducting well-designed inhalation toxicology studies. In particular, the area of nanoparticles and nanocarriers is of critical toxicological concern. There is a need to develop toxicological test models, which characterise the toxic response and cellular interaction between inhaled particles and the respiratory system.

QUANTITATIVE TOXICOLOGIC PATHOLOGY-METHODS AND INTERPRETATION' SESSION AT THE JOINT MEETING OF SOCIETY OF TOXICOLOGIC PATHOLOGISTS AND THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF SOCIETIES OF TOXICOLOGIC PATHOLOGISTS

EPA Science Inventory

Report of the 'Quantitative Toxicologic Pathology - Methods and Interpretation' session at the Joint meeting of Society of Toxicologic Pathologists and the International Federation of Societies of Toxicologic Pathologists, Orlando, Florida, USA, June 24-28, 2001. Douglas C. Wolf,...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexachloroethane (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Hexachloroethane: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Urea (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Urea: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Pentachlorophenol (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Pentachlorophenol: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Biphenyl (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EEPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Biphenyl: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health.

21 CFR 862.3200 - Clinical toxicology calibrator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Clinical toxicology calibrator. 862.3200 Section... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY DEVICES Clinical Toxicology Test Systems § 862.3200 Clinical toxicology calibrator. (a) Identification. A clinical toxicology calibrator is...

21 CFR 862.3200 - Clinical toxicology calibrator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Clinical toxicology calibrator. 862.3200 Section... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY DEVICES Clinical Toxicology Test Systems § 862.3200 Clinical toxicology calibrator. (a) Identification. A clinical toxicology calibrator is...

21 CFR 862.3200 - Clinical toxicology calibrator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Clinical toxicology calibrator. 862.3200 Section... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY DEVICES Clinical Toxicology Test Systems § 862.3200 Clinical toxicology calibrator. (a) Identification. A clinical toxicology calibrator is...

21 CFR 862.3200 - Clinical toxicology calibrator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Clinical toxicology calibrator. 862.3200 Section... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY DEVICES Clinical Toxicology Test Systems § 862.3200 Clinical toxicology calibrator. (a) Identification. A clinical toxicology calibrator is...

Adaptation of the ToxRTool to Assess the Reliability of Toxicology Studies Conducted with Genetically Modified Crops and Implications for Future Safety Testing.

PubMed

Koch, Michael S; DeSesso, John M; Williams, Amy Lavin; Michalek, Suzanne; Hammond, Bruce

2016-01-01

To determine the reliability of food safety studies carried out in rodents with genetically modified (GM) crops, a Food Safety Study Reliability Tool (FSSRTool) was adapted from the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods' (ECVAM) ToxRTool. Reliability was defined as the inherent quality of the study with regard to use of standardized testing methodology, full documentation of experimental procedures and results, and the plausibility of the findings. Codex guidelines for GM crop safety evaluations indicate toxicology studies are not needed when comparability of the GM crop to its conventional counterpart has been demonstrated. This guidance notwithstanding, animal feeding studies have routinely been conducted with GM crops, but their conclusions on safety are not always consistent. To accurately evaluate potential risks from GM crops, risk assessors need clearly interpretable results from reliable studies. The development of the FSSRTool, which provides the user with a means of assessing the reliability of a toxicology study to inform risk assessment, is discussed. Its application to the body of literature on GM crop food safety studies demonstrates that reliable studies report no toxicologically relevant differences between rodents fed GM crops or their non-GM comparators.

Caenorhabditis elegans: An Emerging Model in Biomedical and Environmental Toxicology

PubMed Central

Leung, Maxwell C. K.; Williams, Phillip L.; Benedetto, Alexandre; Au, Catherine; Helmcke, Kirsten J.; Aschner, Michael; Meyer, Joel N.

2008-01-01

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged as an important animal model in various fields including neurobiology, developmental biology, and genetics. Characteristics of this animal model that have contributed to its success include its genetic manipulability, invariant and fully described developmental program, well-characterized genome, ease of maintenance, short and prolific life cycle, and small body size. These same features have led to an increasing use of C. elegans in toxicology, both for mechanistic studies and high-throughput screening approaches. We describe some of the research that has been carried out in the areas of neurotoxicology, genetic toxicology, and environmental toxicology, as well as high-throughput experiments with C. elegans including genome-wide screening for molecular targets of toxicity and rapid toxicity assessment for new chemicals. We argue for an increased role for C. elegans in complementing other model systems in toxicological research. PMID:18566021

An approach to holistically assess (dairy) farm eco-efficiency by combining Life Cycle Analysis with Data Envelopment Analysis models and methodologies.

PubMed

Soteriades, A D; Faverdin, P; Moreau, S; Charroin, T; Blanchard, M; Stott, A W

2016-11-01

Eco-efficiency is a useful guide to dairy farm sustainability analysis aimed at increasing output (physical or value added) and minimizing environmental impacts (EIs). Widely used partial eco-efficiency ratios (EIs per some functional unit, e.g. kg milk) can be problematic because (i) substitution possibilities between EIs are ignored, (ii) multiple ratios can complicate decision making and (iii) EIs are not usually associated with just the functional unit in the ratio's denominator. The objective of this study was to demonstrate a 'global' eco-efficiency modelling framework dealing with issues (i) to (iii) by combining Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) data and the multiple-input, multiple-output production efficiency method Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). With DEA each dairy farm's outputs and LCA-derived EIs are aggregated into a single, relative, bounded, dimensionless eco-efficiency score, thus overcoming issues (i) to (iii). A novelty of this study is that a model providing a number of additional desirable properties was employed, known as the Range Adjusted Measure (RAM) of inefficiency. These properties altogether make RAM advantageous over other DEA models and are as follows. First, RAM is able to simultaneously minimize EIs and maximize outputs. Second, it indicates which EIs and/or outputs contribute the most to a farm's eco-inefficiency. Third it can be used to rank farms in terms of eco-efficiency scores. Thus, non-parametric rank tests can be employed to test for significant differences in terms of eco-efficiency score ranks between different farm groups. An additional DEA methodology was employed to 'correct' the farms' eco-efficiency scores for inefficiencies attributed to managerial factors. By removing managerial inefficiencies it was possible to detect differences in eco-efficiency between farms solely attributed to uncontrollable factors such as region. Such analysis is lacking in previous dairy studies combining LCA with DEA. RAM and the 'corrective

Distance learning in toxicology: Resident and remote; Scotland, IPCS, IUPAC, and the world

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Duffus, John H.

2005-09-01

Globally, very few college or university chemistry courses incorporate toxicology although public perception of chemicals and the chemical industry as threats to health and the environment has had an adverse effect on chemistry and on the use of its products. The International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) through its Commission on Toxicology recognized this and, with the support of the Committee on the Teaching of Chemistry has used the IUPAC web site to promote distance learning in toxicology for chemists. After preparation of a thoroughly refereed consensus Glossary of Terms for Chemists of Terms Used in Toxicology, amore » textbook Fundamental Toxicology for Chemists and a set of educational modules entitled Essential Toxicology were compiled and put through the normal thorough review procedure of IUPAC before being approved by the organization. There is now an additional Glossary of Terms Used in Toxicokinetics. The modules are freely downloadable in Adobe PDF format and are designed to be used both by educators and by students. Educators are asked to select whatever is appropriate to their students and to use the material as they wish, adding content specifically relevant to their circumstances. For self-study, the web modules have self-assessment questions and model answers. Currently the original Glossary for Chemists of Terms Used in Toxicology is being revised and it is expected that this will lead to further developments. The currently available components of the IUPAC programme may be accessed through the IUPAC website at the Subcommittee on Toxicology and Risk Assessment page: http://www.iupac.org/divisions/VII/VII.C.2/index.html.« less

Toxicology research for precautionary decision-making and the role of Human & Experimental Toxicology.

PubMed

Grandjean, P

2015-12-01

A key aim of toxicology is the prevention of adverse effects due to toxic hazards. Therefore, the dissemination of toxicology research findings must confront two important challenges: one being the lack of information on the vast majority of potentially toxic industrial chemicals and the other being the strict criteria for scientific proof usually required for decision-making in regard to prevention. The present study ascertains the coverage of environmental chemicals in four volumes of Human & Experimental Toxicology and the presentation and interpretation of research findings in published articles. Links in SciFinder showed that the 530 articles published in four selected volumes between 1984 and 2014 primarily dealt with metals (126 links) and other toxicants that have received substantial attention in the past. Thirteen compounds identified by US authorities in 2006 as high-priority substances, for which toxicology documentation is badly needed, were not covered in the journal issues at all. When reviewing published articles, reliance on p values was standard, and non-significant findings were often called 'negative.' This tradition may contribute to the perceived need to extend existing research on toxic hazards that have already been well characterized. Several sources of bias towards the null hypothesis can affect toxicology research, but are generally not considered, thus adding to the current inclination to avoid false positive findings. In this regard, toxicology is particularly prone to bias because of the known paucity of false positives and, in particular, the existence of a vast number of toxic hazards which by default are considered innocuous due to lack of documentation. The Precautionary Principle could inspire decision-making on the basis of incomplete documentation and should stimulate a change in toxicology traditions and in toxicology research publication. © The Author(s) 2015.

Safety assessment of mushrooms in dietary supplements by combining analytical data with in silico toxicology evaluation.

PubMed

VanderMolen, Karen M; Little, Jason G; Sica, Vincent P; El-Elimat, Tamam; Raja, Huzefa A; Oberlies, Nicholas H; Baker, Timothy R; Mahony, Catherine

2017-05-01

Despite growing popularity in dietary supplements, many medicinal mushrooms have not been evaluated for their safe human consumption using modern techniques. The multifaceted approach described here relies on five key principles to evaluate the safety of non-culinary fungi for human use: (1) identification by sequencing the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region (commonly referred to as ITS barcoding), (2) screening an extract of each fungal raw material against a database of known fungal metabolites, (3) comparison of these extracts to those prepared from grocery store-bought culinary mushrooms using UHPLCPDA-ELS-HRMS, (4) review of the toxicological and chemical literature for each fungus, and (5) evaluation of data establishing presence in-market. This weight-of-evidence approach was used to evaluate seven fungal raw materials and determine safe human use for each. Such an approach may provide an effective alternative to conventional toxicological animal studies (or more efficiently identifies when studies are necessary) for the safety assessment of fungal dietary ingredients. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

An assessment of the genetic toxicology of novel boron-containing therapeutic agents.

PubMed

Ciaravino, Vic; Plattner, Jacob; Chanda, Sanjay

2013-06-01

Boron-containing compounds are being studied as potential therapeutic agents. As part of the safety assessment of these therapeutic agents, a battery of genetic toxicology studies was conducted. The battery included a bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) assay, an in vitro chromosome aberration assay in peripheral human lymphocytes, and an in vivo rat micronucleus study. The following compounds represent some of the boron-containing compounds that have been advanced to human clinical trials in various therapeutic areas. The borinic picolinate, AN0128, is an antibacterial compound with anti-inflammatory activity that has been studied in clinical trials for acne and the treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis. AN2690 (tavaborole) is a benzoxaborole in Phase 3 clinical trials for the topical treatment of onychomycosis, a fungal infection of the toenails and fingernails. Another benzoxaborole derivative, AN2728, a phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibitor, is in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of atopic dermatitis. AN2898, also a PDE4 inhibitor, has been studied in clinical trials for atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. AN3365 is a leucyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitor that has been in clinical development for the treatment of various Gram-negative bacterial infections. These five representative compounds were negative in the three genotoxicity assays. Furthermore, AN2690 has been studied in mouse and rat 2-year bioassays and was not found to have any carcinogenic potential. These results demonstrate that it is possible to design boron-based therapeutic agents with no genetic toxicology liabilities. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Assessment and comparison of three high-aluminum fly ash utilization scenarios in Inner Mongolia, China using an eco-efficiency indicator.

PubMed

Yang, Shuo; Lin, Ling; Li, Shao Peng; Li, Qiang; Wang, Xiu Teng; Sun, Liang

2017-05-01

Utilization of fly ash is of great importance in China in the context of resource and environmental crises. Different fly ash utilization processes are proposed, and some have been practically applied. However, none of these fly ash utilization pathways has been evaluated comprehensively by integrating both environmental and economic perspectives. In this study, three high-aluminum fly ash utilization methods in Mongolia were assessed and compared based on the concept of eco-efficiency. The environmental assessment was conducted in accordance with life-cycle assessment principles, and a monetization-weighting approach was applied to obtain social willingness-to-pay as a reflection of environmental impact. The environmental assessment results revealed that the reuse of fly ash had significant advantage for saving primary resource, while solid waste, depletion of water, and global warming were the three highest environmental impacts from the life cycle perspective. The economic performance assessment showed positive net profits for fly ash utilization, but high value-added products were not necessarily indicative of better economic performance due to the relatively high operation cost. Comparison of the eco-efficiency indicators (EEIs) implied that the process of scenario 1#, which produced mullite ceramic and active calcium silicate, was the most recommended out of the three scenarios on the present scale. This judgment was consistent with the evaluation of the resource utilization rate. The present study showed that the EEI could be used to compare different fly ash utilization processes in a comprehensive and objective manner, thus providing definitive and insightful suggestions for decision-making and technical improvement.

Pilot study: Assessing repeatability of the EcoWalk platform resistive pressure sensors to measure plantar pressure during barefoot standing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zequera, Martha; Perdomo, Oscar; Wilches, Carlos; Vizcaya, Pedro

2013-06-01

Plantar pressure provides useful information to assess the feet's condition. These systems have emerged as popular tools in clinical environment. These systems present errors and no compensation information is presented by the manufacturer, leading to uncertainty in the measurements. Ten healthy subjects, 5 females and 5 males, were recruited. Lateral load distribution, antero-posterior load distribution, average pressure, contact area, and force were recorded. The aims of this study were to assess repeatability of the EcoWalk system and identify the range of pressure values observed in the normal foot. The coefficient of repeatability was less than 4% for all parameters considered.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trimethylbenzenes (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

In September 2016, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Trimethylbenzenes. The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release in June 2016. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development pr...

The International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX): history and its role in information on toxicology.

PubMed

Schou, Jens S; Hodel, Christian M

2003-08-21

The International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX) was founded in 1980 in Brussels. The initiative was started by the Society of Toxicology (SOT), USA, and the European Society of Toxicology in 1975 (EST), and the foundation prepared by an Inter Society Liason Committee. Eight National Societies of Toxicology were founding members of IUTOX besides SOT and EST. It now comprises 43 national/regional Societies from all over the world, representing over 20,000 toxicologists. Information has always been a key element in toxicology. Information exchange in IUTOX has evolved from letters and phone calls to fax, e-mail and the use of the Internet. Initially, newsletters were created which were mailed and later displayed on the Web. The website has been developed as a major information tool with many useful links, thereby providing information for the scientific community, the media and the lay public.

ACToR A Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

We are developing the ACToR system (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource) to serve as a repository for a variety of types of chemical, biological and toxicological data that can be used for predictive modeling of chemical toxicology. We are developing the ACToR system (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource) to serve as a repository for a variety of types of chemical, biological and toxicological data that can be used for predictive modeling of chemical toxicology.

Databases applicable to quantitative hazard/risk assessment-Towards a predictive systems toxicology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Waters, Michael; Jackson, Marcus

2008-11-15

The Workshop on The Power of Aggregated Toxicity Data addressed the requirement for distributed databases to support quantitative hazard and risk assessment. The authors have conceived and constructed with federal support several databases that have been used in hazard identification and risk assessment. The first of these databases, the EPA Gene-Tox Database was developed for the EPA Office of Toxic Substances by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and is currently hosted by the National Library of Medicine. This public resource is based on the collaborative evaluation, by government, academia, and industry, of short-term tests for the detection of mutagens andmore » presumptive carcinogens. The two-phased evaluation process resulted in more than 50 peer-reviewed publications on test system performance and a qualitative database on thousands of chemicals. Subsequently, the graphic and quantitative EPA/IARC Genetic Activity Profile (GAP) Database was developed in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A chemical database driven by consideration of the lowest effective dose, GAP has served IARC for many years in support of hazard classification of potential human carcinogens. The Toxicological Activity Profile (TAP) prototype database was patterned after GAP and utilized acute, subchronic, and chronic data from the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. TAP demonstrated the flexibility of the GAP format for air toxics, water pollutants and other environmental agents. The GAP format was also applied to developmental toxicants and was modified to represent quantitative results from the rodent carcinogen bioassay. More recently, the authors have constructed: 1) the NIEHS Genetic Alterations in Cancer (GAC) Database which quantifies specific mutations found in cancers induced by environmental agents, and 2) the NIEHS Chemical Effects in Biological Systems (CEBS) Knowledgebase that integrates genomic and other biological data

Determinants of eco-efficiency in the Chinese industrial sector.

PubMed

Fujii, Hidemichi; Managi, Shunsuke

2013-12-01

This study measures productive inefficiency within the context of multi-environmental pollution (eco-efficiency) in the Chinese industrial sector. The weighted Russell directional distance model is applied to measure eco-efficiency using production technology. The objective is to clarify how external factors affect eco-efficiency. The major findings are that both foreign direct investment and investment for pollution abatement improve eco-efficiency as measured by air pollutant substances. A levy system for wastewater discharge improves eco-efficiency as measured by wastewater pollutant substances. However, an air pollutant levy does not significantly affect eco-efficiency as measured by air pollutants. Copyright © 2013 The Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

COMPUTATIONAL TOXICOLOGY-WHERE IS THE DATA? ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This talk will briefly describe the state of the data world for computational toxicology and one approach to improve the situation, called ACToR (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource). This talk will briefly describe the state of the data world for computational toxicology and one approach to improve the situation, called ACToR (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource).

Aquatic toxicology: fact or fiction?

PubMed Central

Macek, K J

1980-01-01

A brief history of the development of the field of aquatic toxicology is provided. In order to provide a perspective on the state-of-the-art in aquatic toxicology relative to classical toxicology, the two fields are compared from the standpoint of the type of scientist practicing each field, the respective objectives of each, the forces which drive the activity in each field, and the major advantages and disadvantages accruing to the practitioner of aquatic toxicology as a result of the differences in objectives and driving forces. PMID:6993200

Measuring and explaining eco-efficiencies of wastewater treatment plants in China: An uncertainty analysis perspective.

PubMed

Dong, Xin; Zhang, Xinyi; Zeng, Siyu

2017-04-01

In the context of sustainable development, there has been an increasing requirement for an eco-efficiency assessment of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Data envelopment analysis (DEA), a technique that is widely applied for relative efficiency assessment, is used in combination with the tolerances approach to handle WWTPs' multiple inputs and outputs as well as their uncertainty. The economic cost, energy consumption, contaminant removal, and global warming effect during the treatment processes are integrated to interpret the eco-efficiency of WWTPs. A total of 736 sample plants from across China are assessed, and large sensitivities to variations in inputs and outputs are observed for most samples, with only three WWTPs identified as being stably efficient. Size of plant, overcapacity, climate type, and influent characteristics are proven to have a significant influence on both the mean efficiency and performance sensitivity of WWTPs, while no clear relationships were found between eco-efficiency and technology under the framework of uncertainty analysis. The incorporation of uncertainty quantification and environmental impact consideration has improved the liability and applicability of the assessment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Postmortem aviation forensic toxicology: an overview.

PubMed

Chaturvedi, Arvind K

2010-05-01

An overview of the subtopic aviation combustion toxicology of the field of aerospace toxicology has been published. In a continuation of the overview, the findings associated with postmortem aviation forensic toxicology are being summarized in the present overview. A literature search for the period of 1960-2007 was performed. The important findings related to postmortem toxicology were evaluated. In addition to a brief introduction, this overview is divided into the sections of analytical methods; carboxyhemoglobin and blood cyanide ion; ethanol; drugs; result interpretation; glucose and hemoglobin A(1c); and references. Specific details of the subject matter were discussed. It is anticipated that this overview will be an outline source for aviation forensic toxicology within the field of aerospace toxicology.

A Critical Review of Mode of Action (MOA) Assignment Classifications for Ecotoxicology

EPA Science Inventory

There are various structure-based classification schemes to categorize chemicals based on mode of action (MOA) which have been applied for both eco and human health toxicology. With increasing calls to assess thousands of chemicals, some of which have little available informatio...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Chloroprene (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

The final Toxicological Review of Chloroprene provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to chloroprene. Chloroprene (C4H5Cl) is a volatile, flammable liquid used primarily in the manufacture of poly...

TOXLINE (TOXICOLOGY INFORMATION ONLINE)

EPA Science Inventory

TOXLINE? (TOXicology information onLINE) are the National Library of Medicines extensive collection of online bibliographic information covering the pharmacological, biochemical, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other chemicals. TOXLINE and TOXLINE65 together...

Toxicological assessment of Ashitaba Chalcone.

PubMed

Maronpot, Robert R

2015-03-01

The plant Angelica keiskei contains two main physiologically active flavonoid chalcones, 4-hydroxyderricin and xanthoangelol. Known as ashitaba in Japan, powder from the sap is widely consumed for its medicinal properties in Asia as a dietary supplement. Limited previously reported mammalian studies were without evidence of toxicity. GLP studies reported here, including a bacterial reverse mutation assay, a chromosome aberration assay, and an in vivo micronucleus assay are negative for genotoxicity. A GLP- compliant 90-day repeated oral gavage study of ashitaba yellow sap powder containing 8.45% chalcones in Sprague Dawley rats resulted in expected known physiological effects on coagulation parameters and plasma lipids at 300 and 1000 mg/kg/day. Ashitaba-related pathology included a dose-related male rat-specific alpha 2-urinary globulin nephropathy at 100, 300, and 1000 mg/kg/day and jejunal lymphangiectasia in both sexes at 1000 mg/kg/day. All other study parameters and histopathological changes were incidental or not of toxicological concern. Based on these studies ashitaba chalcone powder is not genotoxic with a NOAEL of 300 mg/kg in male and female rats. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Evolution of Toxicology and Chemical Regulation ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Presentation for lecture for the 17th Annual Sitlington Lecture in Toxicology at Oklahoma State University Interdisciplinary Toxicology Symposium Presentation for lecture for the 17th Annual Sitlington Lecture in Toxicology at Oklahoma State University Interdisciplinary Toxicology Symposium

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid (TCA) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is conducting a peer review and public comment of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of Trichloroacetic acid (TCA) that when finalized will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. The draft Toxicological Review of trichloroacetic acid provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to trichloroacetic acid.

THE ATHENS LAB'S ROLE IN EPA'S COMPUTATIONAL TOXICOLOGY PROGRAM WITH AN EMPHASIS ON METABOLOMICS AS A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR TOXICOLOGY

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation gives a brief introduction to EPA's computational toxicology program and the Athens Lab's role in it. The talk also covered a brief introduction to metabolomics; advantages/disadvanage of metabolomics for toxicity assessment; goals of the EPA Athens metabolomics...

A GIS technology based potential eco-risk assessment of metals in urban soils in Beijing, China.

PubMed

Wang, Meie; Bai, Yanying; Chen, Weiping; Markert, Bernd; Peng, Chi; Ouyang, Zhiyun

2012-02-01

Ecological risks of heavy metals in urban soils were evaluated using Beijing, China as an example. Cadmium, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr and Ni contents of 233 surface soils sampled by 1 min latitude × 1 min longitude grid were used to identify their spatial distribution patterns and potential emission sources. Throughout the city, longer the duration of urbanization greater was the accumulations of heavy metals especially, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn. The soil Zn mainly came from the wears of vehicular tires. Point source emissions of heavy metals were few and far in the downwind south-east quadrant of Beijing. The calculated risk indices showed potential median eco-risks in the ancient central city. No potential high eco-risk due to soil-borne heavy metals was found. The potential medium eco-risk areas in Beijing would expand from the initial 24 to 110 km(2) if soil pH were to reduce by 0.5 units in anticipation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advanced Antenna Design for NASA's EcoSAR Instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Du Toit, Cornelis F.; Deshpande, Manohar; Rincon, Rafael F.

2016-01-01

Advanced antenna arrays were designed for NASA's EcoSAR airborne radar instrument. EcoSAR is a beamforming synthetic aperture radar instrument designed to make polarimetric and "single pass" interferometric measurements of Earth surface parameters. EcoSAR's operational requirements of a 435MHz center frequency with up to 200MHz bandwidth, dual polarization, high cross-polarization isolation (> 30 dB), +/- 45deg beam scan range and antenna form-factor constraints imposed stringent requirements on the antenna design. The EcoSAR project successfully developed, characterized, and tested two array antennas in an anechoic chamber. EcoSAR's first airborne campaign conducted in the spring of 2014 generated rich data sets of scientific and engineering value, demonstrating the successful operation of the antennas.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (Etbe) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In September 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) released the draft Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE). Consistent with the 2013 IRIS Enhancements, draft IRIS assessments are released prior to external peer review for a 60-day public comment period and discussed at an upcoming public science meeting. Accordingly, the toxicological review, supplementary information, and other materials pertaining to this draft assessment are posted on this site. This material is being released for public viewing and comment prior to a public meeting, providing an opportunity for the IRIS Program to engage in early discussions with stakeholders and the public on data that may be used to identify adverse health effects and characterize exposure-response relationships.

Using High-Content Imaging to Analyze Toxicological Tipping ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Presentation at International Conference on Toxicological Alternatives & Translational Toxicology (ICTATT) held in China and Discussing the possibility of using High Content Imaging to Analyze Toxicological Tipping Points Slide Presentation at International Conference on Toxicological Alternatives & Translational Toxicology (ICTATT) held in China and Discussing the possibility of using High Content Imaging to Analyze Toxicological Tipping Points

IRIS Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride): In support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health. This document presents background information and justification for the Intergrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Summary of the hazard and dose-response assessment of dichloromethane. IRIS Summaries may include oral reference dose (RfD) and inhalation reference concentration (RfC) values for chronic and other exposure durations, and a carcinogencity assessment. Internet/NCEA web site

Biomarkers in Computational Toxicology

EPA Science Inventory

Biomarkers are a means to evaluate chemical exposure and/or the subsequent impacts on toxicity pathways that lead to adverse health outcomes. Computational toxicology can integrate biomarker data with knowledge of exposure, chemistry, biology, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and e...

Metabolomics in Toxicology and Preclinical Research

PubMed Central

Ramirez, Tzutzuy; Daneshian, Mardas; Kamp, Hennicke; Bois, Frederic Y.; Clench, Malcolm R.; Coen, Muireann; Donley, Beth; Fischer, Steven M.; Ekman, Drew R.; Fabian, Eric; Guillou, Claude; Heuer, Joachim; Hogberg, Helena T.; Jungnickel, Harald; Keun, Hector C.; Krennrich, Gerhard; Krupp, Eckart; Luch, Andreas; Noor, Fozia; Peter, Erik; Riefke, Bjoern; Seymour, Mark; Skinner, Nigel; Smirnova, Lena; Verheij, Elwin; Wagner, Silvia; Hartung, Thomas; van Ravenzwaay, Bennard; Leist, Marcel

2013-01-01

Summary Metabolomics, the comprehensive analysis of metabolites in a biological system, provides detailed information about the biochemical/physiological status of a biological system, and about the changes caused by chemicals. Metabolomics analysis is used in many fields, ranging from the analysis of the physiological status of genetically modified organisms in safety science to the evaluation of human health conditions. In toxicology, metabolomics is the -omics discipline that is most closely related to classical knowledge of disturbed biochemical pathways. It allows rapid identification of the potential targets of a hazardous compound. It can give information on target organs and often can help to improve our understanding regarding the mode-of-action of a given compound. Such insights aid the discovery of biomarkers that either indicate pathophysiological conditions or help the monitoring of the efficacy of drug therapies. The first toxicological applications of metabolomics were for mechanistic research, but different ways to use the technology in a regulatory context are being explored. Ideally, further progress in that direction will position the metabolomics approach to address the challenges of toxicology of the 21st century. To address these issues, scientists from academia, industry, and regulatory bodies came together in a workshop to discuss the current status of applied metabolomics and its potential in the safety assessment of compounds. We report here on the conclusions of three working groups addressing questions regarding 1) metabolomics for in vitro studies 2) the appropriate use of metabolomics in systems toxicology, and 3) use of metabolomics in a regulatory context. PMID:23665807

Toxicological assessment of polyhexamethylene biguanide for water treatment

PubMed Central

Mahmood, Abdulai Seidu; Awortwe, Charles; Nyarko, Alexander K.

2015-01-01

Polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) is an antiseptic with antiviral and antibacterial properties used in a variety of products including wound care dressings, contact lens cleaning solutions, perioperative cleansing products, and swimming pool cleaners. There are regulatory concerns with regard to its safety in humans for water treatment. We decided to assess the safety of this chemical in Sprague-Dawley rats. PHMB was administered in a single dose by gavage via a stomach tube as per the manufacturer's instruction within a dose range of 2 mg/kg to 40 mg/kg. Subchronic toxicity studies were also conducted at doses of 2 mg/kg, 8 mg/kg and 32 mg/kg body weight and hematological, biochemical and histopathological findings of the major organs were assessed. Administration of a dose of 25.6 mg/kg, i.e. 1.6 mL of 0.4% PHMB solution (equivalent to 6.4x103 mg/L of 0.1% solution) resulted in 50% mortality. Histopathological analysis in the acute toxicity studies showed that no histopathological lesions were observed in the heart and kidney samples but 30% of the animals had mild hydropic changes in zone 1 of their liver samples, while at a dosage of 32 mg/kg in the subchronic toxicity studies, 50% of the animals showed either mild hepatocyte cytolysis with or without lymphocyte infiltration and feathery degeneration. Lymphocyte infiltration was, for the first time, observed in one heart sample, whereas one kidney sample showed mild tubular damage. The acute studies showed that the median lethal dose (LD50) is 25.6 mg/kg (LC50 of 1.6 mL of 0.4% PHMB. Subchronic toxicological studies also revealed few deleterious effects on the internal organs examined, as seen from the results of the biochemical parameters evaluated. These results have implications for the use of PHMB to make water potable. PMID:27486381

Toxicology in Addiction Medicine.

PubMed

Schwarz, Daniel A; George, M P; Bluth, Martin H

2016-12-01

Toxicology testing in addiction medicine varies across the spectrum, yet remains a powerful tool in monitoring addictive patients. There are many reference laboratories offering toxicology testing, and physicians should have some understanding of laboratory, methodology, testing portfolio, and customer support structure to aid them in selecting the best toxicology laboratory for their patients. Consultation with a clinical pathologist/toxicologist in conjunction with the consideration of monitoring large numbers of illicit and psychoactive drugs in the addictive patient may provide important clinical information for their treatment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Green Toxicology-Know Early About and Avoid Toxic Product Liabilities.

PubMed

Maertens, Alexandra; Hartung, Thomas

2018-02-01

Toxicology uniquely among the life sciences relies largely on methods which are more than 40-years old. Over the last 3 decades with more or less success some additions to and few replacements in this toolbox took place, mainly as alternatives to animal testing. The acceptance of such new approaches faces the needs of formal validation and the conservative attitude toward change in safety assessments. Only recently, there is growing awareness that the same alternative methods, especially in silico and in vitro tools can also much earlier and before validation inform decision-taking in the product life cycle. As similar thoughts developed in the context of Green Chemistry, the term of Green Toxicology was coined to describe this change in approach. Here, the current developments in the alternative field, especially computational and more organo-typic cell cultures are reviewed, as they lend themselves to front-loaded chemical safety assessments. The initiatives of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing Green Toxicology Collaboration are presented. They aim first of all for forming a community to promote this concept and then for a cultural change in companies with the necessary training of chemists, product stewards and later regulators. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Toxicological studies on silver nanoparticles: challenges and opportunities in assessment, monitoring and imaging

PubMed Central

Stensberg, Matthew Charles; Wei, Qingshan; McLamore, Eric Scott; Porterfield, David Marshall; Wei, Alexander; Sepúlveda, Marĺa Soledad

2012-01-01

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are becoming increasingly prevalent in consumer products as antibacterial agents. The increased use of Ag NP-enhanced products may lead to an increase in toxic levels of environmental silver, but regulatory control over the use or disposal of such products is lagging due to insufficient assessment on the toxicology of Ag NPs and their rate of release into the environment. In this article we discuss recent research on the transport, activity and fate of Ag NPs at the cellular and organismic level, in conjunction with traditional and recently established methods of nanoparticle characterization. We include several proposed mechanisms of cytotoxicity based on such studies, as well as new opportunities for investigating the uptake and fate of Ag NPs in living systems. PMID:21793678

FutureTox II: in vitro data and in silico models for predictive toxicology.

PubMed

Knudsen, Thomas B; Keller, Douglas A; Sander, Miriam; Carney, Edward W; Doerrer, Nancy G; Eaton, David L; Fitzpatrick, Suzanne Compton; Hastings, Kenneth L; Mendrick, Donna L; Tice, Raymond R; Watkins, Paul B; Whelan, Maurice

2015-02-01

FutureTox II, a Society of Toxicology Contemporary Concepts in Toxicology workshop, was held in January, 2014. The meeting goals were to review and discuss the state of the science in toxicology in the context of implementing the NRC 21st century vision of predicting in vivo responses from in vitro and in silico data, and to define the goals for the future. Presentations and discussions were held on priority concerns such as predicting and modeling of metabolism, cell growth and differentiation, effects on sensitive subpopulations, and integrating data into risk assessment. Emerging trends in technologies such as stem cell-derived human cells, 3D organotypic culture models, mathematical modeling of cellular processes and morphogenesis, adverse outcome pathway development, and high-content imaging of in vivo systems were discussed. Although advances in moving towards an in vitro/in silico based risk assessment paradigm were apparent, knowledge gaps in these areas and limitations of technologies were identified. Specific recommendations were made for future directions and research needs in the areas of hepatotoxicity, cancer prediction, developmental toxicity, and regulatory toxicology. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

EPA EcoBox Tools by Receptors - Endangered, Threatened or Other Species of Concern

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Eco-Box is a toolbox for exposure assessors. Its purpose is to provide a compendium of exposure assessment and risk characterization tools that will present comprehensive step-by-step guidance and links to relevant exposure assessment data bases

Computational Toxicology at the US EPA | Science Inventory ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Computational toxicology is the application of mathematical and computer models to help assess chemical hazards and risks to human health and the environment. Supported by advances in informatics, high-throughput screening (HTS) technologies, and systems biology, EPA is developing robust and flexible computational tools that can be applied to the thousands of chemicals in commerce, and contaminant mixtures found in America’s air, water, and hazardous-waste sites. The ORD Computational Toxicology Research Program (CTRP) is composed of three main elements. The largest component is the National Center for Computational Toxicology (NCCT), which was established in 2005 to coordinate research on chemical screening and prioritization, informatics, and systems modeling. The second element consists of related activities in the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) and the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL). The third and final component consists of academic centers working on various aspects of computational toxicology and funded by the EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program. Key intramural projects of the CTRP include digitizing legacy toxicity testing information toxicity reference database (ToxRefDB), predicting toxicity (ToxCast™) and exposure (ExpoCast™), and creating virtual liver (v-Liver™) and virtual embryo (v-Embryo™) systems models. The models and underlying data are being made publicly available t

HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF NANOTECHNOLOGY: TOXICOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF MANUFACTURED NANOPARTICLES

EPA Science Inventory

The microtechnology of the second half of the 20th century has produced a technical revolution that has lead to the production of computers, the Internet and taken us into a new emerging era of nanotechnology. This issue of Toxicological Sciences includes two articles, "Pulmonar...

Educational Challenges in Toxicology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixon, Robert L.

1984-01-01

Issues and topics related to educational challenges in toxicology at all levels are discussed. They include public awareness and understanding, general approach to toxicology, quality structure-activity relationships, epidemiological studies, quantification of risk, and the types of toxicants studied. (JN)

A practice analysis of toxicology.

PubMed

Wood, Carol S; Weis, Christopher P; Caro, Carla M; Roe, Amy

2016-12-01

In 2015, the American Board of Toxicology (ABT), with collaboration from the Society of Toxicology (SOT), in consultation with Professional Examination Service, performed a practice analysis study of the knowledge required for general toxicology. The purpose of this study is to help assure that the examination and requirements for attainment of Diplomate status are relevant to modern toxicology and based upon an empirical foundation of knowledge. A profile of the domains and tasks used in toxicology practice was developed by subject-matter experts representing a broad range of experiences and perspectives. An on-line survey of toxicologists, including Diplomates of the ABT and SOT members, confirmed the delineation. Results of the study can be used to improve understanding of toxicology practice, to better serve all toxicologists, and to present the role of toxicologists to those outside the profession. Survey results may also be used by the ABT Board of Directors to develop test specifications for the certifying examination and will be useful for evaluating and updating the content of professional preparation, development, and continuing education programs. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5 ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) was released for external peer review in September 2016. The EPA’s Science Advisory Board’s (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) will conduct a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the RDX assessment and release a final report of their review. Information regarding the peer review can be found on the SAB website. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for RDX. The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for RDX that will be entered into the IRIS database.

Functional toxicology: tools to advance the future of toxicity testing

PubMed Central

Gaytán, Brandon D.; Vulpe, Chris D.

2014-01-01

The increased presence of chemical contaminants in the environment is an undeniable concern to human health and ecosystems. Historically, by relying heavily upon costly and laborious animal-based toxicity assays, the field of toxicology has often neglected examinations of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of toxicity for the majority of compounds—information that, if available, would strengthen risk assessment analyses. Functional toxicology, where cells or organisms with gene deletions or depleted proteins are used to assess genetic requirements for chemical tolerance, can advance the field of toxicity testing by contributing data regarding chemical mechanisms of toxicity. Functional toxicology can be accomplished using available genetic tools in yeasts, other fungi and bacteria, and eukaryotes of increased complexity, including zebrafish, fruit flies, rodents, and human cell lines. Underscored is the value of using less complex systems such as yeasts to direct further studies in more complex systems such as human cell lines. Functional techniques can yield (1) novel insights into chemical toxicity; (2) pathways and mechanisms deserving of further study; and (3) candidate human toxicant susceptibility or resistance genes. PMID:24847352

High Throughput Transcriptomics @ USEPA (Toxicology ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The ideal chemical testing approach will provide complete coverage of all relevant toxicological responses. It should be sensitive and specific It should identify the mechanism/mode-of-action (with dose-dependence). It should identify responses relevant to the species of interest. Responses should ideally be translated into tissue-, organ-, and organism-level effects. It must be economical and scalable. Using a High Throughput Transcriptomics platform within US EPA provides broader coverage of biological activity space and toxicological MOAs and helps fill the toxicological data gap. Slide presentation at the 2016 ToxForum on using High Throughput Transcriptomics at US EPA for broader coverage biological activity space and toxicological MOAs.

Mode of Action (MOA) Assignment Classifications for Ecotoxicology: Evaluation of Available Methods

EPA Science Inventory

There are various structure-based classification schemes to categorize chemicals based on mode of action (MOA) which have been applied for both eco and human toxicology. With increasing calls to assess 1000s of chemicals, some of which have little available information other tha...

The Emergence of Systematic Review in Toxicology.

PubMed

Stephens, Martin L; Betts, Kellyn; Beck, Nancy B; Cogliano, Vincent; Dickersin, Kay; Fitzpatrick, Suzanne; Freeman, James; Gray, George; Hartung, Thomas; McPartland, Jennifer; Rooney, Andrew A; Scherer, Roberta W; Verloo, Didier; Hoffmann, Sebastian

2016-07-01

The Evidence-based Toxicology Collaboration hosted a workshop on "The Emergence of Systematic Review and Related Evidence-based Approaches in Toxicology," on November 21, 2014 in Baltimore, Maryland. The workshop featured speakers from agencies and organizations applying systematic review approaches to questions in toxicology, speakers with experience in conducting systematic reviews in medicine and healthcare, and stakeholders in industry, government, academia, and non-governmental organizations. Based on the workshop presentations and discussion, here we address the state of systematic review methods in toxicology, historical antecedents in both medicine and toxicology, challenges to the translation of systematic review from medicine to toxicology, and thoughts on the way forward. We conclude with a recommendation that as various agencies and organizations adapt systematic review methods, they continue to work together to ensure that there is a harmonized process for how the basic elements of systematic review methods are applied in toxicology. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tetrahydrofuran (THF) (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has released the Toxicological Review of Tetrahydrofuran: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Carbon Tetrachloride (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Carbon Tetrachloride: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health.

FutureTox II: In vitro Data and In Silico Models for Predictive Toxicology

PubMed Central

Knudsen, Thomas B.; Keller, Douglas A.; Sander, Miriam; Carney, Edward W.; Doerrer, Nancy G.; Eaton, David L.; Fitzpatrick, Suzanne Compton; Hastings, Kenneth L.; Mendrick, Donna L.; Tice, Raymond R.; Watkins, Paul B.; Whelan, Maurice

2015-01-01

FutureTox II, a Society of Toxicology Contemporary Concepts in Toxicology workshop, was held in January, 2014. The meeting goals were to review and discuss the state of the science in toxicology in the context of implementing the NRC 21st century vision of predicting in vivo responses from in vitro and in silico data, and to define the goals for the future. Presentations and discussions were held on priority concerns such as predicting and modeling of metabolism, cell growth and differentiation, effects on sensitive subpopulations, and integrating data into risk assessment. Emerging trends in technologies such as stem cell-derived human cells, 3D organotypic culture models, mathematical modeling of cellular processes and morphogenesis, adverse outcome pathway development, and high-content imaging of in vivo systems were discussed. Although advances in moving towards an in vitro/in silico based risk assessment paradigm were apparent, knowledge gaps in these areas and limitations of technologies were identified. Specific recommendations were made for future directions and research needs in the areas of hepatotoxicity, cancer prediction, developmental toxicity, and regulatory toxicology. PMID:25628403

21 CFR 862.3280 - Clinical toxicology control material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Clinical toxicology control material. 862.3280... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY DEVICES Clinical Toxicology Test Systems § 862.3280 Clinical toxicology control material. (a) Identification. A clinical toxicology control...

21 CFR 862.3280 - Clinical toxicology control material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Clinical toxicology control material. 862.3280... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY DEVICES Clinical Toxicology Test Systems § 862.3280 Clinical toxicology control material. (a) Identification. A clinical toxicology control...

21 CFR 862.3280 - Clinical toxicology control material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Clinical toxicology control material. 862.3280... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY DEVICES Clinical Toxicology Test Systems § 862.3280 Clinical toxicology control material. (a) Identification. A clinical toxicology control...

21 CFR 862.3280 - Clinical toxicology control material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Clinical toxicology control material. 862.3280... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY DEVICES Clinical Toxicology Test Systems § 862.3280 Clinical toxicology control material. (a) Identification. A clinical toxicology control...

21 CFR 862.3280 - Clinical toxicology control material.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Clinical toxicology control material. 862.3280... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY DEVICES Clinical Toxicology Test Systems § 862.3280 Clinical toxicology control material. (a) Identification. A clinical toxicology control...

"Seeing is believing": perspectives of applying imaging technology in discovery toxicology.

PubMed

Xu, Jinghai James; Dunn, Margaret Condon; Smith, Arthur Russell

2009-11-01

Efficiency and accuracy in addressing drug safety issues proactively are critical in minimizing late-stage drug attritions. Discovery toxicology has become a specialty subdivision of toxicology seeking to effectively provide early predictions and safety assessment in the drug discovery process. Among the many technologies utilized to select safer compounds for further development, in vitro imaging technology is one of the best characterized and validated to provide translatable biomarkers towards clinically-relevant outcomes of drug safety. By carefully applying imaging technologies in genetic, hepatic, and cardiac toxicology, and integrating them with the rest of the drug discovery processes, it was possible to demonstrate significant impact of imaging technology on drug research and development and substantial returns on investment.

History of Japanese Society of Toxicology.

PubMed

Satoh, Tetsuo

2016-01-01

Founded in 1981, the Japanese Society of Toxicology (JSOT) has grown into an organization of nearly 3,000 members working together to advance the nation's scientific knowledge and understanding of toxicology through the implementation of planning that ensures a systematic and efficient expenditure of energies and resources, and is closely aligned with a strategy for accomplishing the Society's long-range plans. To promote public education in toxicology, the Society organizes public lectures during each year's annual meeting. Other activities include hosting scientific conferences, promoting continuing education, and facilitating international collaboration. Internally, the JSOT operates five standing committees: General Affairs, Educational, Editorial, Finance, and Science and Publicity to handle its necessary relationships. To bestow official recognition, the Society established its Toxicologist Certification Program in 1997, and has certified 536 members as Diplomat Toxicologists (DJSOT) as of May 1, 2016. Furthermore, on the same date, 43 JSOT members were certified as Emeritus Diplomats of the JSOT (EDJSOT). The Society has launched two official journals, the "Journal of Toxicological Sciences (JTS)" in 1981 and "Fundamental Toxicological Sciences (Fundam. Toxicol. Sci.)" in 2014. As for participation in the international organizations, the JSOT (then known as the Toxicological Research Group) joined the International Union of Toxicology as a charter member in 1980, and became a founding member of the Asian Society of Toxicology at its inauguration in 1994. Into the future, the JSOT will continue working diligently to advance knowledge and understanding of toxicology and secure its place among the interdisciplinary fields of science, humane studies, and ethics.

Applying Evolutionary Genetics to Developmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment

PubMed Central

Leung, Maxwell C. K.; Procter, Andrew C.; Goldstone, Jared V.; Foox, Jonathan; DeSalle, Robert; Mattingly, Carolyn J.; Siddall, Mark E.; Timme-Laragy, Alicia R.

2018-01-01

Evolutionary thinking continues to challenge our views on health and disease. Yet, there is a communication gap between evolutionary biologists and toxicologists in recognizing the connections among developmental pathways, high-throughput screening, and birth defects in humans. To increase our capability in identifying potential developmental toxicants in humans, we propose to apply evolutionary genetics to improve the experimental design and data interpretation with various in vitro and whole-organism models. We review five molecular systems of stress response and update 18 consensual cell-cell signaling pathways that are the hallmark for early development, organogenesis, and differentiation; and revisit the principles of teratology in light of recent advances in high-throughput screening, big data techniques, and systems toxicology. Multiscale systems modeling plays an integral role in the evolutionary approach to cross-species extrapolation. Phylogenetic analysis and comparative bioinformatics are both valuable tools in identifying and validating the molecular initiating events that account for adverse developmental outcomes in humans. The discordance of susceptibility between test species and humans (ontogeny) reflects their differences in evolutionary history (phylogeny). This synthesis not only can lead to novel applications in developmental toxicity and risk assessment, but also can pave the way for applying an evo-devo perspective to the study of developmental origins of health and disease. PMID:28267574

42 CFR 493.1213 - Condition: Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Condition: Toxicology. 493.1213 Section 493.1213 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES....1213 Condition: Toxicology. If the laboratory provides services in the subspecialty of Toxicology, the...

42 CFR 493.1213 - Condition: Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Condition: Toxicology. 493.1213 Section 493.1213 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES....1213 Condition: Toxicology. If the laboratory provides services in the subspecialty of Toxicology, the...

42 CFR 493.1213 - Condition: Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Condition: Toxicology. 493.1213 Section 493.1213 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES....1213 Condition: Toxicology. If the laboratory provides services in the subspecialty of Toxicology, the...

42 CFR 493.1213 - Condition: Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Condition: Toxicology. 493.1213 Section 493.1213 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES....1213 Condition: Toxicology. If the laboratory provides services in the subspecialty of Toxicology, the...

42 CFR 493.1213 - Condition: Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Condition: Toxicology. 493.1213 Section 493.1213 Public Health CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES....1213 Condition: Toxicology. If the laboratory provides services in the subspecialty of Toxicology, the...

Toxicology in Asia--Past, present, and future.

PubMed

Satoh, T

2015-12-01

The Asian Society of Toxicology (ASIATOX), which consists of the seven national toxicology member societies of Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Iran, now boasts of more than 3,000 members from a variety of industries, academia, and regulatory organizations. ASIATOX congresses are spaced three years apart and rotated among the member societies. In 1995, ASIATOX joined the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX) as a regional society, and now serves as the scientific voice of toxicology in Asia under the IUTOX umbrella. Since its inauguration, the society has worked diligently to handle matters deemed essential to promoting the vision set fourth by its founders. Future perspectives of ASIATOX include the establishment of education and training programs, and the certification and accreditation of toxicologists. As the leading voice of toxicology in Asia, the society seeks to extend knowledge of toxicological issues to developing nations in Asia based on the following missions and goals: (1) to provide leadership as a worldwide scientific organization that objectively addresses global issues involving the toxicological sciences, (2) to broaden the geographical base of toxicology as a discipline and profession to all countries of the world, and (3) to pursue capacity building in toxicology, particularly in developing countries, while utilizing its global perspective and network to contribute to the enhancement of toxicology education and the career development of young toxicologists. © The Author(s) 2015.

Nanotechnology: toxicologic pathology.

PubMed

Hubbs, Ann F; Sargent, Linda M; Porter, Dale W; Sager, Tina M; Chen, Bean T; Frazer, David G; Castranova, Vincent; Sriram, Krishnan; Nurkiewicz, Timothy R; Reynolds, Steven H; Battelli, Lori A; Schwegler-Berry, Diane; McKinney, Walter; Fluharty, Kara L; Mercer, Robert R

2013-02-01

Nanotechnology involves technology, science, and engineering in dimensions less than 100 nm. A virtually infinite number of potential nanoscale products can be produced from many different molecules and their combinations. The exponentially increasing number of nanoscale products will solve critical needs in engineering, science, and medicine. However, the virtually infinite number of potential nanotechnology products is a challenge for toxicologic pathologists. Because of their size, nanoparticulates can have therapeutic and toxic effects distinct from micron-sized particulates of the same composition. In the nanoscale, distinct intercellular and intracellular translocation pathways may provide a different distribution than that obtained by micron-sized particulates. Nanoparticulates interact with subcellular structures including microtubules, actin filaments, centrosomes, and chromatin; interactions that may be facilitated in the nanoscale. Features that distinguish nanoparticulates from fine particulates include increased surface area per unit mass and quantum effects. In addition, some nanotechnology products, including the fullerenes, have a novel and reactive surface. Augmented microscopic procedures including enhanced dark-field imaging, immunofluorescence, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and confocal microscopy are useful when evaluating nanoparticulate toxicologic pathology. Thus, the pathology assessment is facilitated by understanding the unique features at the nanoscale and the tools that can assist in evaluating nanotoxicology studies.

Nanotechnology: Toxicologic Pathology

PubMed Central

Hubbs, Ann F.; Sargent, Linda M.; Porter, Dale W.; Sager, Tina M.; Chen, Bean T.; Frazer, David G.; Castranova, Vincent; Sriram, Krishnan; Nurkiewicz, Timothy R.; Reynolds, Steven H.; Battelli, Lori A.; Schwegler-Berry, Diane; McKinney, Walter; Fluharty, Kara L.; Mercer, Robert R.

2015-01-01

Nanotechnology involves technology, science, and engineering in dimensions less than 100 nm. A virtually infinite number of potential nanoscale products can be produced from many different molecules and their combinations. The exponentially increasing number of nanoscale products will solve critical needs in engineering, science, and medicine. However, the virtually infinite number of potential nanotechnology products is a challenge for toxicologic pathologists. Because of their size, nanoparticulates can have therapeutic and toxic effects distinct from micron-sized particulates of the same composition. In the nanoscale, distinct intercellular and intracellular translocation pathways may provide a different distribution than that obtained by micron-sized particulates. Nanoparticulates interact with subcellular structures including microtubules, actin filaments, centrosomes, and chromatin; interactions that may be facilitated in the nanoscale. Features that distinguish nanoparticulates from fine particulates include increased surface area per unit mass and quantum effects. In addition, some nanotechnology products, including the fullerenes, have a novel and reactive surface. Augmented microscopic procedures including enhanced dark-field imaging, immunofluorescence, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and confocal microscopy are useful when evaluating nanoparticulate toxicologic pathology. Thus, the pathology assessment is facilitated by understanding the unique features at the nanoscale and the tools that can assist in evaluating nanotoxicology studies. PMID:23389777

Avian models in teratology and developmental toxicology.

PubMed

Smith, Susan M; Flentke, George R; Garic, Ana

2012-01-01

The avian embryo is a long-standing model for developmental biology research. It also has proven utility for toxicology research both in ovo and in explant culture. Like mammals, avian embryos have an allantois and their developmental pathways are highly conserved with those of mammals, thus avian models have biomedical relevance. Fertile eggs are inexpensive and the embryo develops rapidly, allowing for high-throughput. The chick genome is sequenced and significant molecular resources are available for study, including the ability for genetic manipulation. The absence of a placenta permits the direct study of an agent's embryotoxic effects. Here, we present protocols for using avian embryos in toxicology research, including egg husbandry and hatch, toxicant delivery, and assessment of proliferation, apoptosis, and cardiac structure and function.

Collection of biological samples in forensic toxicology.

PubMed

Dinis-Oliveira, R J; Carvalho, F; Duarte, J A; Remião, F; Marques, A; Santos, A; Magalhães, T

2010-09-01

Forensic toxicology is the study and practice of the application of toxicology to the purposes of the law. The relevance of any finding is determined, in the first instance, by the nature and integrity of the specimen(s) submitted for analysis. This means that there are several specific challenges to select and collect specimens for ante-mortem and post-mortem toxicology investigation. Post-mortem specimens may be numerous and can endow some special difficulties compared to clinical specimens, namely those resulting from autolytic and putrefactive changes. Storage stability is also an important issue to be considered during the pre-analytic phase, since its consideration should facilitate the assessment of sample quality and the analytical result obtained from that sample. The knowledge on degradation mechanisms and methods to increase storage stability may enable the forensic toxicologist to circumvent possible difficulties. Therefore, advantages and limitations of specimen preservation procedures are thoroughfully discussed in this review. Presently, harmonized protocols for sampling in suspected intoxications would have obvious utility. In the present article an overview is given on sampling procedures for routinely collected specimens as well as on alternative specimens that may provide additional information on the route and timing of exposure to a specific xenobiotic. Last, but not least, a discussion on possible bias that can influence the interpretation of toxicological results is provided. This comprehensive review article is intented as a significant help for forensic toxicologists to accomplish their frequently overwhelming mission.

ACToR A Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource (S) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

We are developing the ACToR system (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource) to serve as a repository for a variety of types of chemical, biological and toxicological data that can be used for predictive modeling of chemical toxicology. We are developing the ACToR system (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource) to serve as a repository for a variety of types of chemical, biological and toxicological data that can be used for predictive modeling of chemical toxicology.

Evidence-based toxicology for the 21st century: opportunities and challenges.

PubMed

Stephens, Martin L; Andersen, Melvin; Becker, Richard A; Betts, Kellyn; Boekelheide, Kim; Carney, Ed; Chapin, Robert; Devlin, Dennis; Fitzpatrick, Suzanne; Fowle, John R; Harlow, Patricia; Hartung, Thomas; Hoffmann, Sebastian; Holsapple, Michael; Jacobs, Abigail; Judson, Richard; Naidenko, Olga; Pastoor, Tim; Patlewicz, Grace; Rowan, Andrew; Scherer, Roberta; Shaikh, Rashid; Simon, Ted; Wolf, Douglas; Zurlo, Joanne

2013-01-01

The Evidence-based Toxicology Collaboration (EBTC) was established recently to translate evidence-based approaches from medicine and health care to toxicology in an organized and sustained effort. The EBTC held a workshop on "Evidence-based Toxicology for the 21st Century: Opportunities and Challenges" in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA on January 24-25, 2012. The presentations largely reflected two EBTC priorities: to apply evidence-based methods to assessing the performance of emerging pathway-based testing methods consistent with the 2007 National Research Council report on "Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century" as well as to adopt a governance structure and work processes to move that effort forward. The workshop served to clarify evidence-based approaches and to provide food for thought on substantive and administrative activities for the EBTC. Priority activities include conducting pilot studies to demonstrate the value of evidence-based approaches to toxicology, as well as conducting educational outreach on these approaches.

Evaluating Eco-Innovation of OECD Countries with Data Envelopment Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mavi, Reza Kiani; Standing, Craig

2016-01-01

Government regulations require businesses to improve their processes and products/services in a green and sustainable manner. For being environmentally friendly, businesses should invest more on eco-innovation practices. Firms eco-innovate to promote eco-efficiency and sustainability. This paper evaluates the eco-innovation performance of…

Eco-logical successes : third edition, September 2012

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-09-01

Eco-Logical: An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects outlines an ecosystem-scale approach to prioritizing, developing, and delivering infrastructure projects. Eco-Logical emphasizes interagency collaboration in order to create inf...

Science: Aquatic Toxicology Matures, Gains Importance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dagani, Ron

1980-01-01

Reviews recent advances in aquatic toxicology, whose major goal is to protect diverse aquatic organisms and whole ecological communities from the dire effects of man-made chemicals. Current legislation is reviewed. Differences in mammalian and aquatic toxicology are listed, and examples of research in aquatic toxicology are discussed. (CS)

The Global Educational Toxicology Uniting Project (GETUP): an Analysis of the First Year of a Novel Toxicology Education Project.

PubMed

Wong, Anselm; Vohra, Rais; Ruha, Anne-Michelle; Koutsogiannis, Zeff; Graeme, Kimberlie; Dargan, Paul I; Wood, David M; Greene, Shaun L

2015-09-01

The international boundaries to medical education are becoming less marked as new technologies such as multiuser videoconferencing are developed and become more accessible to help bridge the communication gaps. The Global Educational Toxicology Uniting Project (GETUP) is aimed at connecting clinicians in countries with established clinical toxicology services to clinicians in countries without clinical toxicologists around the globe. Centers that manage or consult on toxicology cases were registered through the American College of Medical Toxicology website via Survey Monkey®. Data was analyzed retrospectively from February 2014 to January 2015. Google hangouts® was used as the main conferencing software, but some sites preferred the use of Skype®. Registration data included contact details and toxicology background and qualifications. Thirty sites in 19 different countries in Australasia, Europe, Africa, and America were registered. Twenty-eight (93 %) sites were located in a major urban center, one (3.5 %) site in a major rural center and one (3.5 %) a private practice. Expectations of GETUP included sharing toxicology cases and education (30, 100 % of sites), assistance with toxicology management guidelines (2, 7 %), assistance with providing a toxicology teaching curriculum in languages other than English (2, 7 %), and managing toxicology presentations in resource-poor settings, international collaboration, and toxicovigilance (2 sites, 7 %). Twenty-two conferences were performed during the first 12 months with a mean of 3 cases per conference. GETUP has connected countries and clinical units with and without toxicology services and will provide a platform to improve international collaboration in clinical toxicology.

Opportunity for Collaboration Between Radiation Injury Treatment Network Centers and Medical Toxicology Specialists.

PubMed

Davlantes, Elizabeth; Shartar, Samuel; Venero, Jennifer; Steck, Alaina; Langston, Amelia; Kazzi, Ziad N

2017-08-01

The Radiation Injury Treatment Network (RITN) comprises >50 centers across the United States that are poised to care for victims of a radiation emergency. The network is organized around bone marrow transplant centers because these facilities excel in both radiation medicine and the care of patients with severe bone marrow depression. A radiation emergency may cause not only irradiation from an external source but also internal contamination with radioactive material. Because medical toxicologists are trained in radiation injury management and have expertise in the management of internal contamination, RITN centers may benefit from partnerships with medical toxicology resources, which may be located at academic medical centers, hospital inpatient clinical services, outpatient clinics, or poison control centers. We determined the locations of existing RITN centers and assessed their proximity to various medical toxicology resources, including medical toxicology fellowship programs, inpatient toxicology services, outpatient toxicology clinics, and poison control centers. Data were derived from publicly available Internet sources in March 2015. The majority of RITN centers do not have a medical toxicology fellowship, an inpatient toxicology service, or an outpatient toxicology clinic within the same institution. Fifty-seven percent of RITN centers have at least one of these resources located in the same city, however, and 73% of centers have at least one of these resources or a poison control center within the same city. Ninety-five percent of RITN centers have at least one medical toxicology resource within the state. Most RITN centers are located in the same city as at least one medical toxicology resource. Establishing relationships between RITN centers and medical toxicologists needs to be explored further.

Recent advances in materials toxicology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russo, D. M.

1979-01-01

An overview of the fire toxicology program, its principal objectives and approach, is outlined. The laboratory methods of assessing pyrolysis product toxicity for two experiments are presented. The two experiments are: a comparison of test end points; and an evaluation of operant techniques. A third experiment is outlined for a comparison of full-scale and laboratory toxicity tests, with the purpose of determining animal survivability in full-scale tests. Future research plans are also outlined.

Utilization of Genograms and Eco-Maps To Assess American Indian Families Who Have a Member with a Disability (Making Visible the Invisible). Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodluck, Charlotte T.

The purpose of this research project was to investigate the utility of the genogram and eco-map as family assessment tools for working with American Indian vocational rehabilitation (VR) clients who are referred for rehabilitation services, and to describe changes in the family system after VR services have been delivered by evaluating information…

Eco-Material Selection for Auto Bodies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mayyas, Ahmad T; Omar, Mohammed; Hayajneh, Mohammed T.

In the last decades, majority of automakers started to include lightweight materials in their vehicles to meet hard environmental regulations and to improve fuel efficiency of their vehicles. As a result, eco-material selection for vehicles emerged as a new discipline under design for environment. This chapter will summarize methods of eco-material selections for automotive applications with more emphasis into auto-bodies. A set of metrics for eco-material selection that takes into account all economic, environmental and social factors will be developed using numerical and qualitative methods. These metrics cover products' environmental impact, functionality and manufacturability, in addition to the economic andmore » societal factors.« less

APPLICATION OF GENOMICS TO REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY: WORKING FROM RESEARCH TOWARDS RISK ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Genomic technologies are available to examine the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. These technologies represent a paradigm shift from single-gene approaches fundamentally altering the practice of toxicology. The goal of toxicogenomic studies is to improve human ...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethylene Glycol Mono Butyl ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Ethylene Glycol Mono Butyl Ether: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health. N/A

Implementing Eco-Logical 2014-2015 Annual Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-01

The Eco-Logical approach offers an ecosystem-based framework for integrated infrastructure and natural resource planning, project development, and delivery. The 2014/2015 Implementing Eco-Logical Program Annual Report provides updates on the Federal ...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Public ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is developing an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of benzo[a]pyrene and has released the draft assessment for public comment and external peer review. When final, the assessment will appear on the IRIS database. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for BaP that will be entered into the IRIS database.

42 CFR 493.937 - Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... a laboratory's responses for quantitative toxicology tests or analytes, the program must compare the... sample in toxicology is the score determined under paragraph (c)(2) of this section. (2) For quantitative...

42 CFR 493.937 - Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... a laboratory's responses for quantitative toxicology tests or analytes, the program must compare the... sample in toxicology is the score determined under paragraph (c)(2) of this section. (2) For quantitative...

42 CFR 493.937 - Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... a laboratory's responses for quantitative toxicology tests or analytes, the program must compare the... sample in toxicology is the score determined under paragraph (c)(2) of this section. (2) For quantitative...

42 CFR 493.937 - Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... a laboratory's responses for quantitative toxicology tests or analytes, the program must compare the... sample in toxicology is the score determined under paragraph (c)(2) of this section. (2) For quantitative...

42 CFR 493.937 - Toxicology.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... a laboratory's responses for quantitative toxicology tests or analytes, the program must compare the... sample in toxicology is the score determined under paragraph (c)(2) of this section. (2) For quantitative...

Imaging mass spectrometry in drug development and toxicology.

PubMed

Karlsson, Oskar; Hanrieder, Jörg

2017-06-01

During the last decades, imaging mass spectrometry has gained significant relevance in biomedical research. Recent advances in imaging mass spectrometry have paved the way for in situ studies on drug development, metabolism and toxicology. In contrast to whole-body autoradiography that images the localization of radiolabeled compounds, imaging mass spectrometry provides the possibility to simultaneously determine the discrete tissue distribution of the parent compound and its metabolites. In addition, imaging mass spectrometry features high molecular specificity and allows comprehensive, multiplexed detection and localization of hundreds of proteins, peptides and lipids directly in tissues. Toxicologists traditionally screen for adverse findings by histopathological examination. However, studies of the molecular and cellular processes underpinning toxicological and pathologic findings induced by candidate drugs or toxins are important to reach a mechanistic understanding and an effective risk assessment strategy. One of IMS strengths is the ability to directly overlay the molecular information from the mass spectrometric analysis with the tissue section and allow correlative comparisons of molecular and histologic information. Imaging mass spectrometry could therefore be a powerful tool for omics profiling of pharmacological/toxicological effects of drug candidates and toxicants in discrete tissue regions. The aim of the present review is to provide an overview of imaging mass spectrometry, with particular focus on MALDI imaging mass spectrometry, and its use in drug development and toxicology in general.

The Emergence of Systematic Review in Toxicology

PubMed Central

Stephens, Martin L.; Betts, Kellyn; Beck, Nancy B.; Cogliano, Vincent; Dickersin, Kay; Fitzpatrick, Suzanne; Freeman, James; Gray, George; Hartung, Thomas; McPartland, Jennifer; Rooney, Andrew A.; Scherer, Roberta W.; Verloo, Didier; Hoffmann, Sebastian

2016-01-01

The Evidence-based Toxicology Collaboration hosted a workshop on “The Emergence of Systematic Review and Related Evidence-based Approaches in Toxicology,” on November 21, 2014 in Baltimore, Maryland. The workshop featured speakers from agencies and organizations applying systematic review approaches to questions in toxicology, speakers with experience in conducting systematic reviews in medicine and healthcare, and stakeholders in industry, government, academia, and non-governmental organizations. Based on the workshop presentations and discussion, here we address the state of systematic review methods in toxicology, historical antecedents in both medicine and toxicology, challenges to the translation of systematic review from medicine to toxicology, and thoughts on the way forward. We conclude with a recommendation that as various agencies and organizations adapt systematic review methods, they continue to work together to ensure that there is a harmonized process for how the basic elements of systematic review methods are applied in toxicology. PMID:27208075

Development and Application of a Method for Toxicological Assessment of Occupational Exposures to Chemicals in Marine Operations. Addendum.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-09-01

AD-Ai63 316 DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF A METHOD FOR 1 /3 TOXICOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF 0 (U) SOUTHUEST RESEARCH INST SAN ANTONIO TX H L KAPLAN ET RL...I ~s ll11 i PA 1 16 02 ............................. WN SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE Post Office Drawer 28510, 6220 Culebra Road San Antonio, Texas...to Final Report - U. S. Coast November 1983-September 1985 2100 Second Street, S.W. 1 . Spnsoring Agency Cede Washington, D.C. 20593 15. Supplementary

2013/2014 Eco-Logical program annual report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

The Eco-Logical approach offers an ecosystem-based framework for integrated infrastructure and natural resource planning, project development, and delivery. The 2013/2014 Eco-Logical Program Annual Report provides updates on the Federal Highway Admin...

Aerospace Toxicology and Microbiology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

James, John T.; Parmet, A. J.; Pierson, Duane L.

2007-01-01

Toxicology dates to the very earliest history of humanity with various poisons and venom being recognized as a method of hunting or waging war with the earliest documentation in the Evers papyrus (circa 1500 BCE). The Greeks identified specific poisons such as hemlock, a method of state execution, and the Greek word toxos (arrow) became the root of our modern science. The first scientific approach to the understanding of poisons and toxicology was the work during the late middle ages of Paracelsus. He formulated what were then revolutionary views that a specific toxic agent or "toxicon" caused specific dose-related effects. His principles have established the basis of modern pharmacology and toxicology. In 1700, Bernardo Ramazzini published the book De Morbis Artificum Diatriba (The Diseases of Workers) describing specific illnesses associated with certain labor, particularly metal workers exposed to mercury, lead, arsenic, and rock dust. Modern toxicology dates from development of the modern industrial chemical processes, the earliest involving an analytical method for arsenic by Marsh in 1836. Industrial organic chemicals were synthesized in the late 1800 s along with anesthetics and disinfectants. In 1908, Hamilton began the long study of occupational toxicology issues, and by WW I the scientific use of toxicants saw Haber creating war gases and defining time-dosage relationships that are used even today.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Urea (External Review Draft) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA conducted a peer review and public comment of the scientific basis of a draft report supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of Urea that when finalized will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. The draft Toxicological Review of Urea provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to Urea.

Precision toxicology based on single cell sequencing: an evolving trend in toxicological evaluations and mechanism exploration.

PubMed

Zhang, Boyang; Huang, Kunlun; Zhu, Liye; Luo, Yunbo; Xu, Wentao

2017-07-01

In this review, we introduce a new concept, precision toxicology: the mode of action of chemical- or drug-induced toxicity can be sensitively and specifically investigated by isolating a small group of cells or even a single cell with typical phenotype of interest followed by a single cell sequencing-based analysis. Precision toxicology can contribute to the better detection of subtle intracellular changes in response to exogenous substrates, and thus help researchers find solutions to control or relieve the toxicological effects that are serious threats to human health. We give examples for single cell isolation and recommend laser capture microdissection for in vivo studies and flow cytometric sorting for in vitro studies. In addition, we introduce the procedures for single cell sequencing and describe the expected application of these techniques to toxicological evaluations and mechanism exploration, which we believe will become a trend in toxicology.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia (Revised External ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In August 2013, EPA submitted a revised draft IRIS assessment of ammonia to the agency's Science Advisory Board (SAB) and posted this draft on the IRIS website. EPA had previously released a draft of the assessment for public comment, held a public meeting about the draft, and then revised it based on the comments received. The SAB CAAC-Ammonia panel will review this draft assessment. Details about the meeting dates, times, and location are available via the Federal Register Notice posted on March 25, 2014. The SAB provided information on how the public can participate in the external peer review meetings, as well as instructions about how to provide comments to the SAB in the notice. Additional information on the SAB review of ammonia is on the SAB website. Report Information: The Toxicological Review of Ammonia was originally released for a 60-day public comment period on June 8, 2012. [Federal Register Notice Jun 8, 2012] EPA revised the toxicological review in response to the public comments received. EPA has released the revised external review draft ammonia assessment and the SAB CAAC is conducting a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the assessment that will appear in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. Information regarding the peer review can be found at the SAB review of ammonia website. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for ammonia. IRIS is an EPA database cont

The Eco-Club: A Place for the Becoming Active Citizen?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Elsa Ukanyezi

2017-01-01

This paper makes a twofold contribution. Firstly it presents a typology of eco-clubs that can be used to contextualise eco-club observations by researchers and can support management of eco-clubs by practitioners. Secondly it explains how participation in eco-clubs provides a space for a child to both enact and develop as a citizen, a place for…

Regulatory issues in accreditation of toxicology laboratories.

PubMed

Bissell, Michael G

2012-09-01

Clinical toxicology laboratories and forensic toxicology laboratories operate in a highly regulated environment. This article outlines major US legal/regulatory issues and requirements relevant to accreditation of toxicology laboratories (state and local regulations are not covered in any depth). The most fundamental regulatory distinction involves the purposes for which the laboratory operates: clinical versus nonclinical. The applicable regulations and the requirements and options for operations depend most basically on this consideration, with clinical toxicology laboratories being directly subject to federal law including mandated options for accreditation and forensic toxicology laboratories being subject to degrees of voluntary or state government–required accreditation.

AERIS : eco-driving application development and testing.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-01

This exploratory study investigates the potential of developing an Eco-Driving application that utilizes an eco-cruise control (ECC) system within state-of-the-art car-following models. The research focuses on integrating predictive cruise control an...

Eco-logical successes : second edition, January 2012

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

In 2006, leaders from eight Federal agencies signed the interagency document EcoLogical: An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects. Eco-Logical is a document that outlines a shared vision of how to develop infrastructure projects in...

Computational Toxicology as Implemented by the U.S. EPA: Providing High Throughput Decision Support Tools for Screening and Assessing Chemical Exposure, Hazard and Risk

EPA Science Inventory

Computational toxicology is the application of mathematical and computer models to help assess chemical hazards and risks to human health and the environment. Supported by advances in informatics, high-throughput screening (HTS) technologies, and systems biology, the U.S. Environ...

Eco-environmental impact assessment of pre-leisure beach nourishment on the benthic invertebrate community at Anping coast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shih, Chun-Han; Kuo, Yi-Yu; Chu, Ta-Jen; Chou, Wen-Chieh; Chang, Wei-Tse; Lee, Ying-Chou

2011-06-01

In recent years, owing to global warming and the rising sea levels, beach nourishment and groin building have been increasingly employed to protect coastal land from shoreline erosion. These actions may degrade beach habitats and reduce biomass and invertebrate density at sites where they were employed. We conducted an eco-environmental evaluation at the Anping artificial beach-nourishment project area. At this site, sand piles within a semi-enclosed spur groin have been enforced by use of eco-engineering concepts since 2003. Four sampling sites were monitored during the study period from July 2002 to September 2008. The environmental impact assessment and biological investigations that we conducted are presented here. The results from this study indicate that both biotic (number of species, number of individual organisms, and Shannon-Wiener diversity) and abiotic parameters (suspended solids, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, dissolved inorganic nitrogen, dissolved inorganic phosphorus, total phosphorus, total organic carbon, median diameter, and water content) showed significant differences before and after beach engineering construction. Biological conditions became worse in the beginning stages of the engineering but improved after the restoration work completion. This study reveals that the composition of benthic invertebrates changed over the study period, and two groups of organisms, Bivalvia and Gastropoda, seemed to be particularly suitable to this habitat after the semi-enclosed artificial structures completion.

76 FR 57739 - Draft Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane: In Support of Summary Information on the Integrated...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-16

... Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane: In Support of Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System... review draft human health assessment titled, ``Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane: In Support of Summary... regarding the toxicity of 1,4-dioxane are now included in the 1,4-dioxane assessment. EPA is extending the...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Pentabromodiphenyl Ether (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

The purpose of this Toxicological Review is to provide scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment in IRIS pertaining to chronic exposure to 2,2',4,4',5-pentabromodiphenyl ether. It is not intended to be a comprehensive treatise on the chemical...

EcoCyc: a comprehensive database resource for Escherichia coli

PubMed Central

Keseler, Ingrid M.; Collado-Vides, Julio; Gama-Castro, Socorro; Ingraham, John; Paley, Suzanne; Paulsen, Ian T.; Peralta-Gil, Martín; Karp, Peter D.

2005-01-01

The EcoCyc database (http://EcoCyc.org/) is a comprehensive source of information on the biology of the prototypical model organism Escherichia coli K12. The mission for EcoCyc is to contain both computable descriptions of, and detailed comments describing, all genes, proteins, pathways and molecular interactions in E.coli. Through ongoing manual curation, extensive information such as summary comments, regulatory information, literature citations and evidence types has been extracted from 8862 publications and added to Version 8.5 of the EcoCyc database. The EcoCyc database can be accessed through a World Wide Web interface, while the downloadable Pathway Tools software and data files enable computational exploration of the data and provide enhanced querying capabilities that web interfaces cannot support. For example, EcoCyc contains carefully curated information that can be used as training sets for bioinformatics prediction of entities such as promoters, operons, genetic networks, transcription factor binding sites, metabolic pathways, functionally related genes, protein complexes and protein–ligand interactions. PMID:15608210

IRIS Toxicological Review for Carbon Tetrachloride ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA released the draft report,Toxicological Review for Carbon Tetrachloride(Interagency Science Discussion Draft), that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies and White House Offices are provided below with external peer review panel comments. EPA is conducting a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of carbon tetrachloride that will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trichloroethylene (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Trichloroethylene, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies ...

Impact of online toxicology training on health professionals: the Global Educational Toxicology Uniting Project (GETUP).

PubMed

Wong, Anselm; Vohra, Rais; Dawson, Andrew H; Stolbach, Andrew

2017-11-01

The Global Educational Toxicology Uniting Project (GETUP), supported by the American College of Medical Toxicology, links countries with and without toxicology services via distance education with the aim to improve education. Due to the lack of toxicology services in some countries there is a knowledge gap in the management of poisonings. We describe our experience with the worldwide delivery of an online introductory toxicology curriculum to emergency doctors and other health professionals treating poisoned patients. We delivered a 15-module introductory Internet-based toxicology curriculum to emergency doctors and health professionals, conducted from August to December 2016. This Internet-based curriculum was adapted from one used to teach emergency residents toxicology in the United States. Modules covered themes such as pharmaceutical (n = 8), toxidromes (n = 2) and agrochemicals (n = 5) poisoning. Participants completed pre-test and post-test multiple choice questions (MCQs) before and after completing the online module, respectively, throughout the course. We collected information on participant demographics, education and training, and perception of relevance of the curriculum. Participants gave feedback on the course and how it affected their practice. One hundred and thirty-six health professionals from 33 countries participated in the course: 98 emergency doctors/medical officers, 25 physicians, eight pharmacists/poisons information specialists, two toxicologists, two medical students and one nurse. Median age of participants was 34 years. Median number of years postgraduate was seven. Ninety (65%) had access to either a poisons information centre over the phone or toxicologist and 48 (35%) did not. All participants expected the course to help improve their knowledge. Overall median pre-module MCQ scores were 56% (95%CI: 38, 75%) compared to post-module MCQ scores median 89% (95% CI: 67, 100%) (p < .0001). Our participants demonstrated an

ACToR A Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource

EPA Science Inventory

We are developing the ACToR system (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource) to serve as a repository for a variety of types of chemical, biological and toxicological data that can be used for predictive modeling of chemical toxicology.

The Role of Toxicology in the Pharmacy Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Autian, John; Wood, George

1976-01-01

The past history of toxicology courses, recent trends, departments or divisions of toxicology, undergraduate and graduate courses, and residency programs are described. The emphasis of clinical toxicology in the University of Tennessee program is discussed, along with the school's Drug and Toxicology Information Center. (LBH)

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia Noncancer Inhalation (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

In September 2016, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Ammonia (Noncancer Inhalation). The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release in June 2016. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment d...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

In January 2017, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Benzo[a]pyrene. The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written...

The role of toxicological science in meeting the challenges and opportunities of hydraulic fracturing.

PubMed

Goldstein, Bernard D; Brooks, Bryan W; Cohen, Steven D; Gates, Alexander E; Honeycutt, Michael E; Morris, John B; Orme-Zavaleta, Jennifer; Penning, Trevor M; Snawder, John

2014-06-01

We briefly describe how toxicology can inform the discussion and debate of the merits of hydraulic fracturing by providing information on the potential toxicity of the chemical and physical agents associated with this process, individually and in combination. We consider upstream activities related to bringing chemical and physical agents to the site, on-site activities including drilling of wells and containment of agents injected into or produced from the well, and downstream activities including the flow/removal of hydrocarbon products and of produced water from the site. A broad variety of chemical and physical agents are involved. As the industry expands this has raised concern about the potential for toxicological effects on ecosystems, workers, and the general public. Response to these concerns requires a concerted and collaborative toxicological assessment. This assessment should take into account the different geology in areas newly subjected to hydraulic fracturing as well as evolving industrial practices that can alter the chemical and physical agents of toxicological interest. The potential for ecosystem or human exposure to mixtures of these agents presents a particular toxicological and public health challenge. These data are essential for developing a reliable assessment of the potential risks to the environment and to human health of the rapidly increasing use of hydraulic fracturing and deep underground horizontal drilling techniques for tightly bound shale gas and other fossil fuels. Input from toxicologists will be most effective when employed early in the process, before there are unwanted consequences to the environment and human health, or economic losses due to the need to abandon or rework costly initiatives.

[Study on eco-climatic applicability of Angelica sinensis].

PubMed

Deng, Zhen-Yong; Yin, Xian-Zhi; Yin, Dong; Yang, Qi-Guo; Zhu, Guo-Qing; Liu, Ming-Chun

2005-06-01

In the interest of establish planting base of Angelica sinensis on a large scale, enhance economic benefit, and improve decision-making reasons, the eco-climatic applicability of A. sinensis was studied. Using integral regression, eco-climatic applicability and the effect of meteorological conditions for the yield of A. sinensis' were analysed by field experimental data. Selected > or =0 degrees C accumulated temperature and annual precipitation as leading index, altitude as assistant index, yield and rate of finished products as reference index, the integrated eco-climatic division index and the planting division applicability of A. sinensis was confirmed. Accordancing to theory of climate similitude and leading index summarisation, combining with assistant index and reference index, the integrated division index of eco-climate was confirmed. The planting division of co-climate applicability was divided into 5 grades as best suitable, suitable hypo-suitable, just suitable and no suitable regions. At the same time,the way to enhanced utilizing efficiency of eco-climate resources was brought forward.

Who needs cream and sugar when there is eco-labeling? Taste and willingness to pay for "eco-friendly" coffee.

PubMed

Sörqvist, Patrik; Hedblom, Daniel; Holmgren, Mattias; Haga, Andreas; Langeborg, Linda; Nöstl, Anatole; Kågström, Jonas

2013-01-01

Participants tasted two cups of coffee, decided which they preferred, and then rated each coffee. They were told (in lure) that one of the cups contained "eco-friendly" coffee while the other did not, although the two cups contained identical coffee. In Experiments 1 and 3, but not in Experiment 2, the participants were also told which cup contained which type of coffee before they tasted. The participants preferred the taste of, and were willing to pay more for, the "eco-friendly" coffee, at least those who scored high on a questionnaire on attitudes toward sustainable consumer behavior (Experiment 1). High sustainability consumers were also willing to pay more for "eco-friendly" coffee, even when they were told, after their decision, that they preferred the non-labeled alternative (Experiment 2). Moreover, the eco-label effect does not appear to be a consequence of social desirability, as participants were just as biased when reporting the taste estimates and willingness to pay anonymously (Experiment 3). Eco labels not only promote a willingness to pay more for the product but also lead to a more favorable perceptual experience of it.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexachloroethane (Interagency Science Consultation Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Hexachloroethane, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies a...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Biphenyl (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Biphenyl, that was distributed to other federal agencies and the Executive Office of the President for comment during Interagency Science Discussion (IASD) (Step 6b) of the IRIS assessment development process. Interagenc...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid (Tca) (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Trichloroacetic Acid: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health.

Toxicological assessment of silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles in human astrocytes.

PubMed

Fernández-Bertólez, Natalia; Costa, Carla; Brandão, Fátima; Kiliç, Gözde; Duarte, José Alberto; Teixeira, Joao Paulo; Pásaro, Eduardo; Valdiglesias, Vanessa; Laffon, Blanca

2018-04-27

Iron oxide nanoparticles (ION) have great potential for an increasing number of medical and biological applications, particularly those focused on nervous system. Although ION seem to be biocompatible and present low toxicity, it is imperative to unveil the potential risk for the nervous system associated to their exposure, especially because current data on ION effects on human nervous cells are scarce. Thus, in the present study potential toxicity associated with silica-coated ION (S-ION) exposure was evaluated on human A172 glioblastoma cells. To this aim, a complete toxicological screening testing several exposure times (3 and 24 h), nanoparticle concentrations (5-100 μg/ml), and culture media (complete and serum-free) was performed to firstly assess S-ION effects at different levels, including cytotoxicity - lactate dehydrogenase assay, analysis of cell cycle and cell death production - and genotoxicity - H2AX phosphorylation assessment, comet assay, micronucleus test and DNA repair competence assay. Results obtained showed that S-ION exhibit certain cytotoxicity, especially in serum-free medium, related to cell cycle disruption and cell death induction. However, scarce genotoxic effects and no alteration of the DNA repair process were observed. Results obtained in this work contribute to increase the knowledge on the impact of ION on the human nervous system cells. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Eco Assist Techniques through Real-time Monitoring of BEV Energy Usage Efficiency

PubMed Central

Kim, Younsun; Lee, Ingeol; Kang, Sungho

2015-01-01

Energy efficiency enhancement has become an increasingly important issue for battery electric vehicles. Even if it can be improved in many ways, the driver’s driving pattern strongly influences the battery energy consumption of a vehicle. In this paper, eco assist techniques to simply implement an energy-efficient driving assistant system are introduced, including eco guide, eco control and eco monitoring methods. The eco guide is provided to control the vehicle speed and accelerator pedal stroke, and eco control is suggested to limit the output power of the battery. For eco monitoring, the eco indicator and eco report are suggested to teach eco-friendly driving habits. The vehicle test, which is done in four ways, consists of federal test procedure (FTP)-75, new european driving cycle (NEDC), city and highway cycles, and visual feedback with audible warnings is provided to attract the driver’s voluntary participation. The vehicle test result shows that the energy usage efficiency can be increased up to 19.41%. PMID:26121611

IRIS Toxicological Review and Summary Documents for ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Carbon tetrachloride is a volatile haloalkane with a wide range of industrial and chemical applications. It is produced commercially from chlorination of a variety of low molecular weight hydrocarbons such as carbon disulfide, methanol, methane, propane, and ethylene dichloride. It is also produced by thermal chlorination in the production of tetrachloroethylene. Major uses of carbon tetrachloride have been in the recovery of tin from tin plating waste, in formulation of petrol additives and refrigerants, in metal degreasing and agricultural fumigants, in chlorination of organic compounds, in the production of semiconductors, in the reduction of fire hazard, as a solvent for rubber cement, and as a catalyst in polymer technology. Its production has been decreasing and it is no longer permitted in products intended for home use. Despite this ban, carbon tetrachloride has been detected at 314 hazardous waste sites. EPA's assessment of noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of carbon tetrachloride was last prepared and added to the IRIS database in 1991. The IRIS program is preparing an assessment that will incorporate health effects information available for carbon tetrachloride, and current risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for carbon tetrachloride will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physiochemical and toxicokinetic properties of a chemical, and its toxicity

Predictive Toxicology: Current Status and Future Outlook (EBI ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Slide presentation at the EBI-EMBL Industry Programme Workshop on Predictive Toxicology and the currently status of Computational Toxicology activities at the US EPA. Slide presentation at the EBI-EMBL Industry Programme Workshop on Predictive Toxicology and the currently status of Computational Toxicology activities at the US EPA.

Environmental toxicology: Interconnections between human ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This presentation will discuss what has made a career in environmental toxicology rewarding, environmental and scientific challenges for the 21st century, paradigm shift in regulatory toxicology, adverse outcome framework, interconnections between human health and ecological integrity, SOT-SETAC Pellston Workshop findings, concepts for systems thinking in environmental toxicology The Eminent Toxicologist Lectures are historically relevant, high-quality presentations appropriate for senior undergraduate students, graduate students, or the scientifically oriented general public. This series of lectures is produced by the SOT Undergraduate Subcommittee of the Education Committee in conjunction with the Eminent Toxicologist Working Group.

IRIS Toxicological Review of 2-Hexanone (External Review ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is conducting a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of 2-hexanone that will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. Peer review is meant to ensure that science is used credibly and appropriately in derivation of the dose-response assessments and toxicological characterization. 2-Hexanone was nominated for IRIS assessment because of its frequent detection at sites nation-wide and its occurrence as a byproduct of certain industrial processes.

Resource Guide to Careers in Toxicology, 3rd Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Society of Toxicology, Reston, VA.

This resource guide was prepared by the Tox 90's Educational Issues Task Force of the Society of Toxicology. The introduction provides information on the Society of Toxicology and financial support for graduate students in toxicology. Other sections include career opportunities in toxicology, academic and postdoctoral programs in toxicology, and…

Advanced scoring method of eco-efficiency in European cities.

PubMed

Moutinho, Victor; Madaleno, Mara; Robaina, Margarita; Villar, José

2018-01-01

This paper analyzes a set of selected German and French cities' performance in terms of the relative behavior of their eco-efficiencies, computed as the ratio of their gross domestic product (GDP) over their CO 2 emissions. For this analysis, eco-efficiency scores of the selected cities are computed using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique, taking the eco-efficiencies as outputs, and the inputs being the energy consumption, the population density, the labor productivity, the resource productivity, and the patents per inhabitant. Once DEA results are analyzed, the Malmquist productivity indexes (MPI) are used to assess the time evolution of the technical efficiency, technological efficiency, and productivity of the cities over the window periods 2000 to 2005 and 2005 to 2008. Some of the main conclusions are that (1) most of the analyzed cities seem to have suboptimal scales, being one of the causes of their inefficiency; (2) there is evidence that high GDP over CO 2 emissions does not imply high eco-efficiency scores, meaning that DEA like approaches are useful to complement more simplistic ranking procedures, pointing out potential inefficiencies at the input levels; (3) efficiencies performed worse during the period 2000-2005 than during the period 2005-2008, suggesting the possibility of corrective actions taken during or at the end of the first period but impacting only on the second period, probably due to an increasing environmental awareness of policymakers and governors; and (4) MPI analysis shows a positive technological evolution of all cities, according to the general technological evolution of the reference cities, reflecting a generalized convergence of most cities to their technological frontier and therefore an evolution in the right direction.

Advancing Toxicology Research Using In Vivo High Throughput Toxicology with Small Fish Models

PubMed Central

Planchart, Antonio; Mattingly, Carolyn J.; Allen, David; Ceger, Patricia; Casey, Warren; Hinton, David; Kanungo, Jyotshna; Kullman, Seth W.; Tal, Tamara; Bondesson, Maria; Burgess, Shawn M.; Sullivan, Con; Kim, Carol; Behl, Mamta; Padilla, Stephanie; Reif, David M.; Tanguay, Robert L.; Hamm, Jon

2017-01-01

Summary Small freshwater fish models, especially zebrafish, offer advantages over traditional rodent models, including low maintenance and husbandry costs, high fecundity, genetic diversity, physiology similar to that of traditional biomedical models, and reduced animal welfare concerns. The Collaborative Workshop on Aquatic Models and 21st Century Toxicology was held at North Carolina State University on May 5-6, 2014, in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Participants discussed the ways in which small fish are being used as models to screen toxicants and understand mechanisms of toxicity. Workshop participants agreed that the lack of standardized protocols is an impediment to broader acceptance of these models, whereas development of standardized protocols, validation, and subsequent regulatory acceptance would facilitate greater usage. Given the advantages and increasing application of small fish models, there was widespread interest in follow-up workshops to review and discuss developments in their use. In this article, we summarize the recommendations formulated by workshop participants to enhance the utility of small fish species in toxicology studies, as well as many of the advances in the field of toxicology that resulted from using small fish species, including advances in developmental toxicology, cardiovascular toxicology, neurotoxicology, and immunotoxicology. We also review many emerging issues that will benefit from using small fish species, especially zebrafish, and new technologies that will enable using these organisms to yield results unprecedented in their information content to better understand how toxicants affect development and health. PMID:27328013

Cytotoxic, phytotoxic, and mutagenic appraisal to ascertain toxicological potential of particulate matter emitted from automobiles.

PubMed

Anwar, Khaleeq; Ejaz, Sohail; Ashraf, Muhammad; Altaf, Imran; Anjum, Aftab Ahmad

2013-07-01

Vehicular air pollution is a mounting health issue of the modern age, particularly in urban populations of the developing nations. Auto-rickshaws are not considered eco-friendly as to their inefficient engines producing large amount of particulate matter (PM), thus posing significant environmental threat. The present study was conducted to ascertain the cytotoxic, phytotoxic, and mutagenic potential of PM from gasoline-powered two-stroke auto-rickshaws (TSA) and compressed natural gas-powered four-stroke auto-rickshaws (FSA). Based on the increased amount of aluminum quantified during proton-induced X-ray emission analysis of PM from TSA and FSA, different concentrations of aluminum sulfate were also tested to determine its eco-toxicological potential. The MTT assay demonstrated significant (p < 0.001) dose-dependent cytotoxic effects of different concentrations of TSA, FSA, and aluminum sulfate on BHK-21 cell line. LC50 of TSA, FSA, and aluminum sulfate was quantified at 16, 11, and 23.8 μg/ml, respectively, establishing PM from FSA, a highly cytotoxic material. In case of phytotoxicity screening using Zea mays, the results demonstrated that all three tested materials were equally phytotoxic at higher concentrations producing significant reduction (p < 0.001) in seed germination. Aluminum sulfate proved to be a highly phytotoxic agent even at its lowest concentration. Mutagenicity was assessed by fluctuation Salmonella reverse mutation assay adopting TA100 and TA98 mutant strains with (+S9) and without (-S9) metabolic activation. Despite the fact that different concentrations of PM from both sources, i.e., TSA and FSA were highly mutagenic (p < 0.001) even at lower concentrations, the mutagenic index was higher in TSA. Data advocate that all tested materials are equally ecotoxic, and if the existing trend of atmospheric pollution by auto-rickshaws is continued, airborne heavy metals will seriously affect the normal growth of local inhabitants and

Better retention through game-play - EcoChains: Arctic Crisis card game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfirman, S. L.; Lee, J.; O'Garra, T.; Bachrach, E.

2015-12-01

Increasingly games are being used in formal and informal education with the goal of improving student/participant understanding of content knowledge through enhanced engagement. While most games are fun by design, few controlled studies have been conducted to assess games' potential for learning gains in comparison with traditional educational approaches. Without evidence for learning, it can be difficult to justify incorporating STEM games in curricula and other programming. In this study we assess the impact of a game called EcoChains (http://thepolarhub.org/project/ecochains-arctic-crisis) on learning, using a controlled experiment. The EcoChains: Arctic Crisis card game gives players the opportunity to learn about the components of an Arctic marine food web, the reliance of some species on sea ice, and the potential impacts of future changes on the ecosystem. EcoChains was developed under the Polar Learning and Responding: PoLAR Climate Change Education Partnership (thepolarhub.org). EcoChains aligns with Next Generation Science Standards LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics and ESS3 Earth and Human Activity. Participants in this experiment (n=41) were randomly assigned to either play EcoChains or to read a magazine-style article with similar content (the control). Questionnaires, mapping exercises and a 4-week follow-up survey were used to identify changes in participant knowledge of climate change and the Arctic region, attitudes and beliefs about climate change and its impacts, information-seeking behaviors, systems thinking, impressions of and engagement with the intervention experience. Analysis indicates that the game was as effective as, and in some respects more effective than, the article at teaching participants about climate change and the Arctic region and ecosystems. The follow up survey found that game players recalled new information better than those who read the article. Participants were also more engaged in the game than the

IRIS Toxicological Review of Libby Amphibole Asbestos (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the, Toxicological Review of Libby Amphibole Asbestos: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Mirex (2003 External Review Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is providing for public information a draft Toxicological Review, draft IRIS Summary, and charge to external peer reviewers for EPA's Health Assessment of Mirex. These documents are provided for public viewing during an external scientific peer review period. While EPA is not...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride) (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride): In support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health. This ...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Thallium and Compounds (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the Toxicological Review of Thallium and Compounds: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Now final, this assessment may be used by EPA’s program and regional offices to inform decisions to protect human health.

Carbon Nanotubes Exposure Risk Assessment: From Toxicology to Epidemiologic Studies (Overview of the Current Problem)

PubMed Central

Fatkhutdinova, L. M.; Khaliullin, T. O.; Shvedova, A. A.

2015-01-01

Nanoscale size and fiber like structure of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may determine high reactivity and penetration, as well as the pathogenicity of asbestos and other mineral fibers. Despite many in vitro and in vivo studies, the absence of full-scale data on CNT effects on human health clearly point out the necessity for epidemiological studies. Currently, several projects are initiated worldwide on studying health risks associated with the inhalation of industrial CNTs, including NIOSH-promoted research (United States), the European CANTES study, and the Russian CNT-ERA project. Studies comprising several successive steps, such as CNT exposure assessment in occupational settings, toxicological evaluation, and epidemiological observations, are critical for determining material safety and use criteria. PMID:26457172

Aggregated Computational Toxicology Online Resource

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Aggregated Computational Toxicology Online Resource (AcTOR) is EPA's online aggregator of all the public sources of chemical toxicity data. ACToR aggregates data from over 1,000 public sources on over 500,000 chemicals and is searchable by chemical name, other identifiers and by chemical structure. It can be used to query a specific chemical and find all publicly available hazard, exposure and risk assessment data. It also provides access to EPA's ToxCast, ToxRefDB, DSSTox, Dashboard and DSSTox data.

Toxicology of organic-inorganic hybrid molecules: bio-organometallics and its toxicology.

PubMed

Fujie, Tomoya; Hara, Takato; Kaji, Toshiyuki

2016-01-01

Bio-organometallics is a research strategy of biology that uses organic-inorganic hybrid molecules. The molecules are expected to exhibit useful bioactivities based on the unique structure formed by interaction between the organic structure and intramolecular metal(s). However, studies on both biology and toxicology of organic-inorganic hybrid molecules have been incompletely performed. There can be two types of toxicological studies of bio-organometallics; one is evaluation of organic-inorganic hybrid molecules and the other is analysis of biological systems from the viewpoint of toxicology using organic-inorganic hybrid molecules. Our recent studies indicate that cytotoxicity of hybrid molecules containing a metal that is nontoxic in inorganic forms can be more toxic than that of hybrid molecules containing a metal that is toxic in inorganic forms when the structure of the ligand is the same. Additionally, it was revealed that organic-inorganic hybrid molecules are useful for analysis of biological systems important for understanding the toxicity of chemical compounds including heavy metals.

A primer on systematic reviews in toxicology.

PubMed

Hoffmann, Sebastian; de Vries, Rob B M; Stephens, Martin L; Beck, Nancy B; Dirven, Hubert A A M; Fowle, John R; Goodman, Julie E; Hartung, Thomas; Kimber, Ian; Lalu, Manoj M; Thayer, Kristina; Whaley, Paul; Wikoff, Daniele; Tsaioun, Katya

2017-07-01

Systematic reviews, pioneered in the clinical field, provide a transparent, methodologically rigorous and reproducible means of summarizing the available evidence on a precisely framed research question. Having matured to a well-established approach in many research fields, systematic reviews are receiving increasing attention as a potential tool for answering toxicological questions. In the larger framework of evidence-based toxicology, the advantages and obstacles of, as well as the approaches for, adapting and adopting systematic reviews to toxicology are still being explored. To provide the toxicology community with a starting point for conducting or understanding systematic reviews, we herein summarized available guidance documents from various fields of application. We have elaborated on the systematic review process by breaking it down into ten steps, starting with planning the project, framing the question, and writing and publishing the protocol, and concluding with interpretation and reporting. In addition, we have identified the specific methodological challenges of toxicological questions and have summarized how these can be addressed. Ultimately, this primer is intended to stimulate scientific discussions of the identified issues to fuel the development of toxicology-specific methodology and to encourage the application of systematic review methodology to toxicological issues.

Toxicology of hydrogen fluoride in relation to major accident hazards.

PubMed

Meldrum, M

1999-10-01

A major industrial accident involving the release of hydrogen fluoride has the potential to cause serious injury and possibly death in the surrounding human population. Given the potential for such serious and large-scale effects, there is a need for scientifically based risk assessments for determining appropriate on-site risk control measures, as well as for informing off-site emergency plans and land-use development decisions. Within Great Britain, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has the statutory responsibility for providing land-use planning advice in the vicinity of major accident hazard sites. The advice is based on quantified assessment of the individual risk of exposure to a specified amount of the toxic substance. Among other things this requires a consistent, reliable, and transparent understanding of the major hazard toxicology of the substance concerned. An assessment of the toxicology of hydrogen fluoride in relation to major accident hazards, based on conventional inhalation toxicity studies, was published by HSE in 1993. Recently, studies have been reported in which rats inhaled hydrogen fluoride via a mouthpiece attached to an endotracheal cannula. HSE has explored the use of this "mouth-breathing" rat model as a possible basis for human health risk assessment for hydrogen fluoride in the context of major accident hazards. A number of uncertainties in the use of this animal model have been identified that warrant caution in the use of this model for regulatory purposes. Overall, the results from the "mouth-breathing" rat model did not lead to a change in the HSE assessment of hydrogen fluoride, which remains based on experimental data obtained following "mainstream" toxicological practices. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Gordon Research Conference on Genetic Toxicology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Project Director Penelope Jeggo

2003-02-15

Genetic toxicology represents a study of the genetic damage that a cell can incur, the agents that induce such damage, the damage response mechanisms available to cells and organisms, and the potential consequences of such damage. Genotoxic agents are abundant in the environment and are also induced endogenously. The consequences of such damage can include carcinogenesis and teratogenesis. An understanding of genetic toxicology is essential to carry out risk evaluations of the impact of genotoxic agents and to assess how individual genetic differences influence the response to genotoxic damage. In recent years, the importance of maintaining genomic stability has becomemore » increasingly recognized, in part by the realization that failure of the damage response mechanisms underlies many, if not all, cancer incidence. The importance of these mechanisms is also underscored by their remarkable conservation between species, allowing the study of simple organisms to provide significant input into our understanding of the underlying mechanisms. It has also become clear that the damage response mechanisms interface closely with other aspects of cellular metabolism including replication, transcription and cell cycle regulation. Moreover, defects in many of these mechanisms, as observed for example in ataxia telangiectasia patients, confer disorders with associated developmental abnormalities demonstrating their essential roles during growth and development. In short, while a decade ago, a study of the impact of DNA damage was seen as a compartmentalized area of cellular research, it is now appreciated to lie at the centre of an array of cellular responses of crucial importance to human health. Consequently, this has become a dynamic and rapidly advancing area of research. The Genetic Toxicology Gordon Research Conference is biannual with an evolving change in the emphasis of the meetings. From evaluating the nature of genotoxic chemicals, which lay at the centre of the

User Satisfaction Assessment To Edu-Eco Tourism Services Of Cibodas Botanical Garden

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hidayat, I. W.; Winarni

2017-10-01

Cibodas Botanical Garden (CBG) is a government institution which has principal duties and functions as area of conservation ex situ of wet highland plants, research, education and tourism, it very closely related to aspect of the services to user. Good services will support the sustainability and existence of CBG as a world class edu-eco tourism destination. The purpose of this study was to measure the quality of services which delivered and improvement which necessary at the future. Assessments were made based on 14 criteria of services aspect for user which need research-education services and regular tourism services activities. The study was conducted by distributing questionnaires to users of these services. Questionnaires distribution was conducted in early August 2015 and August 2016, the respondents were 124 and 207. The results were showed the user satisfaction at good level, there were 77.685 in 2015 and 72.08 in 2016. Although still at a good level, there were a decline in satisfaction levels based on the value. In the future, the managerial needs to continuously to improve it, in order to get a good or very good valuation.

Toxicological Implications of Released Particulate Matter during Thermal Decomposition of Nano-Enabled Thermoplastics

PubMed Central

Watson-Wright, Christa; Singh, Dilpreet; Demokritou, Philip

2017-01-01

Nano-enabled thermoplastics are part of the growing market of nano-enabled products (NEPs) that have vast utility in several industries and consumer goods. The use and disposal of NEPs at their end of life has raised concerns about the potential release of constituent engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) during thermal decomposition and their impact on environmental health and safety. To investigate this issue, industrially relevant nano-enabled thermoplastics including polyurethane, polycarbonate, and polypropylene containing carbon nanotubes (0.1 and 3% w/v, respectively), polyethylene containing nanoscale iron oxide (5% w/v), and ethylene vinyl acetate containing nanoscale titania (2 and 5% w/v) along with their pure thermoplastic matrices were thermally decomposed using the recently developed lab based Integrated Exposure Generation System (INEXS). The life cycle released particulate matter (called LCPM) was monitored using real time instrumentation, size fractionated, sampled, extracted and prepared for toxicological analysis using primary small airway epithelial cells to assess potential toxicological effects. Various cellular assays were used to assess reactive oxygen species and total glutathione as measurements of oxidative stress along with mitochondrial function, cellular viability, and DNA damage. By comparing toxicological profiles of LCPM released from polymer only (control) with nano-enabled LCPM, potential nanofiller effects due to the use of ENMs were determined. We observed associations between NEP properties such as the percent nanofiller loading, host matrix, and nanofiller chemical composition and the physico-chemical properties of released LCPM, which were linked to biological outcomes. More specifically, an increase in percent nanofiller loading promoted a toxicological response independent of increasing LCPM dose. Importantly, differences in host matrix and nanofiller composition were shown to enhance biological activity and toxicity of LCPM

Toxicological Implications of Released Particulate Matter during Thermal Decomposition of Nano-Enabled Thermoplastics.

PubMed

Watson-Wright, Christa; Singh, Dilpreet; Demokritou, Philip

2017-01-01

Nano-enabled thermoplastics are part of the growing market of nano-enabled products (NEPs) that have vast utility in several industries and consumer goods. The use and disposal of NEPs at their end of life has raised concerns about the potential release of constituent engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) during thermal decomposition and their impact on environmental health and safety. To investigate this issue, industrially relevant nano-enabled thermoplastics including polyurethane, polycarbonate, and polypropylene containing carbon nanotubes (0.1 and 3% w/v, respectively), polyethylene containing nanoscale iron oxide (5% w/v), and ethylene vinyl acetate containing nanoscale titania (2 and 5% w/v) along with their pure thermoplastic matrices were thermally decomposed using the recently developed lab based Integrated Exposure Generation System (INEXS). The life cycle released particulate matter (called LCPM) was monitored using real time instrumentation, size fractionated, sampled, extracted and prepared for toxicological analysis using primary small airway epithelial cells to assess potential toxicological effects. Various cellular assays were used to assess reactive oxygen species and total glutathione as measurements of oxidative stress along with mitochondrial function, cellular viability, and DNA damage. By comparing toxicological profiles of LCPM released from polymer only (control) with nano-enabled LCPM, potential nanofiller effects due to the use of ENMs were determined. We observed associations between NEP properties such as the percent nanofiller loading, host matrix, and nanofiller chemical composition and the physico-chemical properties of released LCPM, which were linked to biological outcomes. More specifically, an increase in percent nanofiller loading promoted a toxicological response independent of increasing LCPM dose. Importantly, differences in host matrix and nanofiller composition were shown to enhance biological activity and toxicity of LCPM

Research Priorities in Environmental Risk Assessment. Workshop on Research Needs in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Held in Breckenridge, Colorado on August 16-21, 1987

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-06-30

accordance with SETAC’s goal of providing a forum for communication among professionals involved with the use, protection, and management of the...templated action. Risk assessment provides technical input to risk management , the process of making decisions about the acceptability of risks and the need... management and computerized information-processing capabilities needed for risk assessment is also essential. Aquatic Toxicology In order to quantify and

Reprint Library for Toxicology Data Bank

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agarwal, S. N.; Khan, R. R.

1975-01-01

The Industrial Toxicology Research Center, Lucknow, India, maintains a register of toxicology and provides its research workers with current information mainly through its collection of reprints. (Author)

IRIS Toxicological Review of Beryllium and Compounds (2008 ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is conducting a peer review and public comment of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of Beryllium that when finalized will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. An IRIS Toxicological Review of Beryllium and Compounds was published in 1988 and reassessed in 1998. The current draft (2007) only focuses on the cancer assessment and does not re-evaluate posted reference doses or reference concentrations.

Ninth Triennial Toxicology Salary Survey.

PubMed

Gad, Shayne Cox; Sullivan, Dexter Wayne

2016-01-01

This survey serves as the ninth in a series of toxicology salary surveys conducted at 3-year intervals and beginning in 1988. An electronic survey instrument was distributed to 5919 individuals including members of the Society of Toxicology, American College of Toxicology, and 23 additional professional organizations. Question items inquired about gender, age, degree, years of experience, certifications held, areas of specialization, society membership, employment and income. Overall, 1293 responses were received (response rate 21.8%). The results of the 2014 survey provide insight into the job market and career path for current and future toxicologists. © The Author(s) 2016.

Eighth triennial toxicology salary survey.

PubMed

Gad, Shayne Cox; Sullivan, Dexter Wayne

2013-01-01

This survey serves as the eighth in a series of toxicology salary surveys conducted at 3-year intervals and beginning in 1988. An electronic survey instrument was distributed to 5800 individuals including members of the Society of Toxicology, American College of Toxicology, and 23 additional professional organizations. Question items inquired about gender, age, degree, years of experience, certifications held, areas of specialization, society membership, employment and income. Overall, 2057 responses were received (response rate 35.5%). The results of the 2012 survey provide insight into the job market and career path for current and future toxicologists.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Chloroprene (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Chloroprene, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Co...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexachloroethane (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Hexachloroethane, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Pro...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Pentachlorophenol (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Pentachlorophenol, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Pr...

IRIS Toxicological Review for Acrylamide (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review for Acrylamide, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process<...

Toward Eco Product Development with Qualitative and CAE Design Process - Case Study of Flame Guiding Module

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, W. L.; Chao, F. L.

2018-04-01

Sustainable products become increasingly important for company in addressing eco-performance to satisfy global environmental regulations. Case study of flame guiding module reviewed design process and concerns related to the torch design. For enhancing flame height, the torch was embedded with an airflow guidance structure. The design process and design methodologies were investigated as an eco-design case study. Combine qualitative and CAE simulation were proposed to fulfil its main and auxiliary functions including reduction of impact during use. The design guidelines help prevent mistake arrangements, CAE helps understand combustion phenomenon. The flow field simulation enables fine tune of geometric design. Functional test and measurement are carried out to confirm the product features. On Eco-performance, we choose 5 items for evaluation the status of previous and redesign module, namely function need, low impact material, few manufacturing steps, low energy consumption, and safety. The radar diagram indicates that eco-performance of redesign module is better. Life cycle assessment calculated the carbon footprint of the manufacturing and processing stage with Eco-it. By using recycled steel in the flame module, it reduces raw material stage carbon footprint significantly.

Exploring the relationship between vegetation spectra and eco-geo-environmental conditions in karst region, Southwest China.

PubMed

Yue, Yuemin; Wang, Kelin; Zhang, Bing; Chen, Zhengchao; Jiao, Quanjun; Liu, Bo; Chen, Hongsong

2010-01-01

Remote sensing of local environmental conditions is not accessible if substrates are covered with vegetation. This study explored the relationship between vegetation spectra and karst eco-geo-environmental conditions. Hyperspectral remote sensing techniques showed that there were significant differences between spectral features of vegetation mainly distributed in karst and non-karst regions, and combination of 1,300- to 2,500-nm reflectance and 400- to 680-nm first-derivative spectra could delineate karst and non-karst vegetation groups. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) successfully assessed to what extent the variation of vegetation spectral features can be explained by associated eco-geo-environmental variables, and it was found that soil moisture and calcium carbonate contents had the most significant effects on vegetation spectral features in karst region. Our study indicates that vegetation spectra is tightly linked to eco-geo-environmental conditions and CCA is an effective means of studying the relationship between vegetation spectral features and eco-geo-environmental variables. Employing a combination of spectral and spatial analysis, it is anticipated that hyperspectral imagery can be used in interpreting or mapping eco-geo-environmental conditions covered with vegetation in karst region.

Awareness of Eco-Friendly Dentistry among Dental Faculty and Students of King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Al-Qarni, Mohammed A; Shakeela, Nasim Vahid; Alamri, Mohammed Abdullah; Alshaikh, Yahya A

2016-10-01

Eco-friendly or green dentistry can be a reality by effectively designing dental clinics and using more eco-friendly materials in the clinical practice. To determine the awareness of eco-friendly dentistry among dental faculty and students in preparation for future implementation. Assessment of knowledge regarding eco-friendly dentistry was done using an 18 item self-administered questionnaire among 160 participants. After baseline data collection, the intervention was done by educating participants with a power point presentation. The post-intervention data was then collected for analysis. Statistical analysis was done using Wilcoxon's signed rank test and one-way ANOVA. The educational intervention increased the knowledge about eco-friendly dentistry confirming the importance of continuing education. There was a statistically significant gain in knowledge among the participants after the presentation. The gain was highest for department of Preventive Dental Sciences (PDS) followed by Substitute Dental Sciences (SDS), No specialty, Maxillofacial Dental Sciences (MDS), and Restorative Dental Sciences (RDS) respectively. (F=5.5091, p<0.05). Lack of knowledge of green dentistry amongst the dental fraternity is highly prevailing. The same can be substantiated with effective training in the respective fields if channelized through the curriculum in an educational set-up.

Who Needs Cream and Sugar When There Is Eco-Labeling? Taste and Willingness to Pay for “Eco-Friendly” Coffee

PubMed Central

Sörqvist, Patrik; Hedblom, Daniel; Holmgren, Mattias; Haga, Andreas; Langeborg, Linda; Nöstl, Anatole; Kågström, Jonas

2013-01-01

Participants tasted two cups of coffee, decided which they preferred, and then rated each coffee. They were told (in lure) that one of the cups contained “eco-friendly” coffee while the other did not, although the two cups contained identical coffee. In Experiments 1 and 3, but not in Experiment 2, the participants were also told which cup contained which type of coffee before they tasted. The participants preferred the taste of, and were willing to pay more for, the “eco-friendly” coffee, at least those who scored high on a questionnaire on attitudes toward sustainable consumer behavior (Experiment 1). High sustainability consumers were also willing to pay more for “eco-friendly” coffee, even when they were told, after their decision, that they preferred the non-labeled alternative (Experiment 2). Moreover, the eco-label effect does not appear to be a consequence of social desirability, as participants were just as biased when reporting the taste estimates and willingness to pay anonymously (Experiment 3). Eco labels not only promote a willingness to pay more for the product but also lead to a more favorable perceptual experience of it. PMID:24324623

Toxicology Testing in Fatally Injured Workers: A Review of Five Years of Iowa FACE Cases

PubMed Central

Ramirez, Marizen; Bedford, Ronald; Sullivan, Ryan; Anthony, T. Renee; Kraemer, John; Faine, Brett; Peek-Asa, Corinne

2013-01-01

Toxicology testing of fatally injured workers is not routinely conducted. We completed a case-series study of 2005–2009 occupational fatalities captured by Iowa’s Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program. The goals of our research were to: (1) measure the proportion of FACE cases that undergo toxicology testing, and describe the factors associated with being tested, and (2) measure the rate of positive toxicology tests, the substances identified and the demographics and occupations of victims who tested positive. Case documents and toxicology laboratory reports were reviewed. There were 427 occupational deaths from 2005 to 2009. Only 69% underwent toxicology testing. Younger workers had greater odds of being tested. Among occupational groups, workers in farming, fishing and forestry had half the odds of being tested compared to other occupational groups. Of the 280 cases with toxicology tests completed, 22% (n = 61) were found to have positive toxicology testing. Commonly identified drug classes included cannabinoids and alcohols. Based on the small number of positive tests, older victims (65+ years) tested positive more frequently than younger workers. Management, business, science, arts, service and sales/office workers had proportionately more positive toxicology tests (almost 30%) compared with other workers (18–22%). These results identify an area in need of further research efforts and a potential target for injury prevention strategies. PMID:24240727

The Role of Toxicological Science in Meeting the Challenges and Opportunities of Hydraulic Fracturing

PubMed Central

Goldstein, Bernard D.; Brooks, Bryan W.; Cohen, Steven D.; Gates, Alexander E.; Honeycutt, Michael E.; Morris, John B.; Orme-Zavaleta, Jennifer; Penning, Trevor M.; Snawder, John

2014-01-01

We briefly describe how toxicology can inform the discussion and debate of the merits of hydraulic fracturing by providing information on the potential toxicity of the chemical and physical agents associated with this process, individually and in combination. We consider upstream activities related to bringing chemical and physical agents to the site, on-site activities including drilling of wells and containment of agents injected into or produced from the well, and downstream activities including the flow/removal of hydrocarbon products and of produced water from the site. A broad variety of chemical and physical agents are involved. As the industry expands this has raised concern about the potential for toxicological effects on ecosystems, workers, and the general public. Response to these concerns requires a concerted and collaborative toxicological assessment. This assessment should take into account the different geology in areas newly subjected to hydraulic fracturing as well as evolving industrial practices that can alter the chemical and physical agents of toxicological interest. The potential for ecosystem or human exposure to mixtures of these agents presents a particular toxicological and public health challenge. These data are essential for developing a reliable assessment of the potential risks to the environment and to human health of the rapidly increasing use of hydraulic fracturing and deep underground horizontal drilling techniques for tightly bound shale gas and other fossil fuels. Input from toxicologists will be most effective when employed early in the process, before there are unwanted consequences to the environment and human health, or economic losses due to the need to abandon or rework costly initiatives. PMID:24706166

Developmental Toxicology##

EPA Science Inventory

Developmental toxicology encompasses the study of developmental exposures, pharmacokinetics, mechanisms, pathogenesis, and outcomes potentially leading to adverse health effects. Manifestations of developmental toxicity include structural malformations, growth retardation, functi...

Current role of ICP-MS in clinical toxicology and forensic toxicology: a metallic profile.

PubMed

Goullé, Jean-Pierre; Saussereau, Elodie; Mahieu, Loïc; Guerbet, Michel

2014-08-01

As metal/metalloid exposure is inevitable owing to its omnipresence, it may exert toxicity in humans. Recent advances in metal/metalloid analysis have been made moving from flame atomic absorption spectrometry and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry to the multi-elemental inductively coupled plasma (ICP) techniques as ICP atomic emission spectrometry and ICP-MS. ICP-MS has now emerged as a major technique in inorganic analytical chemistry owing to its flexibility, high sensitivity and good reproducibility. This in depth review explores the ICP-MS metallic profile in human toxicology. It is now routinely used and of great importance, in clinical toxicology and forensic toxicology to explore biological matrices, specifically whole blood, plasma, urine, hair, nail, biopsy samples and tissues.

Occurrences and toxicological risk assessment of eight heavy metals in agricultural soils from Kenya, Eastern Africa.

PubMed

Mungai, Teresiah Muciku; Owino, Anita Awino; Makokha, Victorine Anyango; Gao, Yan; Yan, Xue; Wang, Jun

2016-09-01

The concentration distribution and toxicological assessment of eight heavy metals including lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), and zinc (Zn) in agricultural soils from Kenya, Eastern Africa, were investigated in this study. The results showed mean concentrations of eight heavy metals of Zn, Pb, Cr, Cu, As, Ni, Hg, and Cd in agricultural soils as 247.39, 26.87, 59.69, 88.59, 8.93, 12.56, 8.06, and 0.42 mg kg(-1), respectively. These mean values of eight heavy metals were close to the toxicity threshold limit of USEPA standard values of agricultural soils, indicating potential toxicological risk to the food chain. Pollution index values revealed that eight heavy metals severely decreased in the order Hg > Cd > As > Cu > Pb > Zn > Ni > Cr and the mean value of the overall pollution index of Hg and Cd was 20.31, indicating severe agriculture ecological risk. Potential pollution sources of eight heavy metals in agricultural soils were mainly from anthropogenic activities and natural dissolution. The intensification of human agricultural activities, the growing industrialization, and the rapid urbanization largely influenced the concentration levels of heavy metals in Kenya, Eastern Africa. Moreover, the lack of agricultural normalization management and poor enforcement of environmental laws and regulations further intensified the widespread pollution of agricultural soils in Kenya.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Urea (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Urea,, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. C...

Fundamentals of translational neuroscience in toxicologic pathology: optimizing the value of animal data for human risk assessment.

PubMed

Morrison, James P; Sharma, Alok K; Rao, Deepa; Pardo, Ingrid D; Garman, Robert H; Kaufmann, Wolfgang; Bolon, Brad

2015-01-01

A half-day Society of Toxicologic Pathology continuing education course on "Fundamentals of Translational Neuroscience in Toxicologic Pathology" presented some current major issues faced when extrapolating animal data regarding potential neurological consequences to assess potential human outcomes. Two talks reviewed functional-structural correlates in rodent and nonrodent mammalian brains needed to predict behavioral consequences of morphologic changes in discrete neural cell populations. The third lecture described practical steps for ensuring that specimens from rodent developmental neurotoxicity tests will be processed correctly to produce highly homologous sections. The fourth talk detailed demographic factors (e.g., species, strain, sex, and age); physiological traits (body composition, brain circulation, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic patterns, etc.); and husbandry influences (e.g., group housing) known to alter the effects of neuroactive agents. The last presentation discussed the appearance, unknown functional effects, and potential relevance to humans of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-associated vacuoles within the choroid plexus epithelium of animals. Speakers provided real-world examples of challenges with data extrapolation among species or with study design considerations that may impact the interpretability of results. Translational neuroscience will be bolstered in the future as less invasive and/or more quantitative techniques are devised for linking overt functional deficits to subtle anatomic and chemical lesions. © 2014 by The Author(s).

RFM-based eco-efficiency analysis using Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy and AHP approach

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen Ruiyang

2009-04-15

Eco-design is crucial to take environmental aspects into account in the phases of design. Few literature review that green product must meet market value. The development of models to predict market value is thus very useful because it can provide early eco-efficiency to the eco-design. For the eco-design engineer, when he tries to solve a customer feedback problem, he usually faces the eco-efficiency. There are, however, often other types of fuzziness uncertainty present, which are related to the quantity of eco-design conditions. In this paper, it is derived that analysis of eco-efficiency can be identified by using the RFM valuemore » for quantifying eco-design with Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy system on customer feedback problem. It clusters eco-efficiency into segments according to green product usages value expressed in terms of weighted RFM. This experiment examined the weighted RFM effect of overall average normalized, AHP and non-weighted for F1 metric. The experimental results show that the proposed methodology indeed can yield identification of higher quality.« less

Eco-innovation of a wooden childhood furniture set: an example of environmental solutions in the wood sector.

PubMed

González-García, Sara; García Lozano, Raúl; Moreira, M Teresa; Gabarrell, Xavier; Rieradevall i Pons, Joan; Feijoo, Gumersindo; Murphy, Richard J

2012-06-01

The environmental profile of a set of wood furniture was carried out to define the best design criteria for its eco-design. A baby cot convertible into a bed, a study desk and a bedside table were the objects of study. Two quantitative and qualitative environmental approaches were combined in order to propose improvement alternatives: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Design for Environment (DfE). In the first case Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to identify the hot spots in the product system. As a next step, LCA information was used in eco-briefing to determine several improvement alternatives. A wood products company located in Catalonia (NE Spain) was assessed in detail, dividing the process into three stages: assembly, finishing and packaging. Ten impact categories were considered in the LCA study: abiotic depletion, acidification, eutrophication, global warming, ozone layer depletion, human toxicity, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity and photochemical oxidant formation. Two processes can be considered the key environmental factors: the production of the wooden boards and electricity, with contributions of 45-68% and 14-33% respectively depending on the impact categories. Subsequently, several improvement alternatives were proposed in the eco-design process (DfE) to achieve reductions in a short-medium period of time in the environmental impact. These eco-design strategies could reduce the environmental profile of the setup by 14%. The correct methodological adaptation of the concept of eco-briefing, as a tool for communication among environmental technicians and designers, the simplification of the analytical tool used and the LCA, could facilitate the environmental analysis of a product. The results obtained provide information that can help the furniture sector to improve their environmental performance. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Applications of eco-environmental big data: Progress and prospect].

PubMed

Zhao, Miao Miao; Zhao, Shi Cheng; Zhang, Li Yun; Zhao, Fen; Shao, Rui; Liu, Li Xiang; Zhao, Hai Feng; Xu, Ming

2017-05-18

With the advance of internet and wireless communication technology, the fields of ecology and environment have entered a new digital era with the amount of data growing explosively and big data technologies attracting more and more attention. The eco-environmental big data is based airborne and space-/land-based observations of ecological and environmental factors and its ultimate goal is to integrate multi-source and multi-scale data for information mining by taking advantages of cloud computation, artificial intelligence, and modeling technologies. In comparison with other fields, the eco-environmental big data has its own characteristics, such as diverse data formats and sources, data collected with various protocols and standards, and serving different clients and organizations with special requirements. Big data technology has been applied worldwide in ecological and environmental fields including global climate prediction, ecological network observation and modeling, and regional air pollution control. The development of eco-environmental big data in China is facing many problems, such as data sharing issues, outdated monitoring facilities and techno-logies, and insufficient data mining capacity. Despite all this, big data technology is critical to solving eco-environmental problems, improving prediction and warning accuracy on eco-environmental catastrophes, and boosting scientific research in the field in China. We expected that the eco-environmental big data would contribute significantly to policy making and environmental services and management, and thus the sustainable development and eco-civilization construction in China in the coming decades.

MicroRNAs and toxicology: A love marriage.

PubMed

Schraml, Elisabeth; Hackl, Matthias; Grillari, Johannes

2017-01-01

With the dawn of personalized medicine, secreted microRNAs (miRNAs) have come into the very focus of biomarker development for various diseases. MiRNAs fulfil key requirements of diagnostic tools such as i) non or minimally invasive accessibility, ii) robust, standardized and non-expensive quantitative analysis, iii) rapid turnaround of the test result and iv) most importantly because they provide a comprehensive snapshot of the ongoing physiologic processes in cells and tissues that package and release miRNAs into cell-free space. These characteristics have also established circulating miRNAs as promising biomarker candidates for toxicological studies, where they are used as biomarkers of drug-, or chemical-induced tissue injury for safety assessment. The tissue-specificity and early release of circulating miRNAs upon tissue injury, when damage is still reversible, are main factors for their clinical utility in toxicology. Here we summarize in brief, current knowledge of this field.

Toxicology: Old Art, New Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Timbrell, John A.

1983-01-01

Examines the need for a science of toxicology and training at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in response to legislation controlling drugs, food additives and toxic substances in the work environment, and concern about effects on man. Stresses need for putting toxicology on a scientific base with adequate funding. (JM)

National toxicology program review of current DHHS, DOE, and EPA research related to toxicology, fiscal year 1996

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1996-11-01

The Annual Plan for the National Toxicology Program requires an annual review of toxicology-related research supported by DHHS agencies. Four of the five Public Health Service Agencies support research related to toxicology. Within the National Institutes of Health alone, sixteen separate institutes and several other components support relevant research. Toxicology-related research is also conducted by other Federal agencies--particularly the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). An overall review is thought to be of considerable interest to research managers for purposes of coordinating research and reducing unnecessary duplication. This is the seventeenth review responding to this requirement.more » For the fifteenth time a survey of similar research at DOE and the EPA is included.« less

IRIS Toxicological Review and Summary Documents for Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has announced the release of four completed toxicologal reviews and summary documents following an independent peer review on the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessments of four congeners of polybrominated diphenyl ethers: tetraBDE (B...

IRIS Toxicological Review for Carbon Tetrachloride (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA released the draft report,Toxicological Review for Carbon Tetrachloride(Interagency Science Discussion Draft), that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Co...

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW OF TETRACHLOROETHYLENE (PERCHLOROETHYLENE) (INTERAGENCY SCIENCE DISCUSSION DRAFT)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Tetrachloroethylene (Perchloroethylene), that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment...

Tribal ecoAmbassadors Program

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Describes EPA's Tribal ecoAmbassadors Program that partners with Tribal College and University (TCU) with EPA scientists to solve the environmental problems most important to their tribal communities.

Toxicological Review of Cyanobacterial Toxins: Microcystins Lr, Rr, Yr and La (External Review Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

The National Center for Environmental Assessment has prepared the Toxicological Reviews of Cyanobacterial Toxins: Anatoxin-a, Cylindrospermopsin and Microcystins (LR, RR, YR and LA) as a series of dose-response assessments to support the health assessment of unregulated contamina...

ACToR A Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource (S)

EPA Science Inventory

We are developing the ACToR system (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource) to serve as a repository for a variety of types of chemical, biological and toxicological data that can be used for predictive modeling of chemical toxicology.

Accelerating the Development of 21st-Century Toxicology: Outcome of a Human Toxicology Project Consortium Workshop

PubMed Central

Stephens, Martin L.; Barrow, Craig; Andersen, Melvin E.; Boekelheide, Kim; Carmichael, Paul L.; Holsapple, Michael P.; Lafranconi, Mark

2012-01-01

The U.S. National Research Council (NRC) report on “Toxicity Testing in the 21st century” calls for a fundamental shift in the way that chemicals are tested for human health effects and evaluated in risk assessments. The new approach would move toward in vitro methods, typically using human cells in a high-throughput context. The in vitro methods would be designed to detect significant perturbations to “toxicity pathways,” i.e., key biological pathways that, when sufficiently perturbed, lead to adverse health outcomes. To explore progress on the report’s implementation, the Human Toxicology Project Consortium hosted a workshop on 9–10 November 2010 in Washington, DC. The Consortium is a coalition of several corporations, a research institute, and a non-governmental organization dedicated to accelerating the implementation of 21st-century Toxicology as aligned with the NRC vision. The goal of the workshop was to identify practical and scientific ways to accelerate implementation of the NRC vision. The workshop format consisted of plenary presentations, breakout group discussions, and concluding commentaries. The program faculty was drawn from industry, academia, government, and public interest organizations. Most presentations summarized ongoing efforts to modernize toxicology testing and approaches, each with some overlap with the NRC vision. In light of these efforts, the workshop identified recommendations for accelerating implementation of the NRC vision, including greater strategic coordination and planning across projects (facilitated by a steering group), the development of projects that test the proof of concept for implementation of the NRC vision, and greater outreach and communication across stakeholder communities. PMID:21948868

EcoCAR Challenge: Finish Line

ScienceCinema

None

2017-12-09

The EcoCAR Challenege is a competition that challenges participating students from across North America to re-engineer a vehicle donated by General Motors. With the goal of minimizing the vehicle's fuel consumption and emissions, while maintaining its utility, safety and performance, teams had to find the best combination of cutting-edge technologies to meet these objectives. In the final year, the vehicles ran through a series of safety and technical tests at GM's Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan very similar to those GM's own production vehicles undergo. As EcoCAR wraps up, it is only the beginning for the next chapter in the DOE's 23-year history of advanced vehicle technology competitions. In April, Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs David Sandalow announced the launch of EcoCAR 2: Plugging into the Future http://www.ecocar2.org/index.html . We look forward to seeing the new and innovative designs that students bring to this challenge and know they will find a way to exceed even our highest expectations.

Eco-Film and the Audience: Making Ecological Sense of National Cultural Narratives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Culloty, Eileen; Brereton, Pat

2017-01-01

As eco-criticism moves in the mainstream of film studies, questions remain about the relationship between ecological film representations and audience understanding. Addressing definitional tensions within eco-film research, this article argues that eco-criticism can be pragmatically grounded in terms of eco-film's pedagogical pertinence for…

Eco-efficiency model for evaluating feedlot rations in the Great Plains, United States

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Environmental impacts attributable to beef feedlot production provide an opportunity for economically-linked environmental efficiency optimization. An adaptable eco-efficiency model was developed to assess the impacts of dietary rations. The hybridized model utilized California Net Energy System m...

Organic Foods: Do Eco-Friendly Attitudes Predict Eco-Friendly Behaviors?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dahm, Molly J.; Samonte, Aurelia V.; Shows, Amy R.

2009-01-01

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether student awareness and attitudes about organic foods would predict their behaviors with regard to organic food consumption and other healthy lifestyle practices. A secondary purpose was to determine whether attitudes about similar eco-friendly practices would result in socially conscious…

Collaborative development of predictive toxicology applications

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

OpenTox provides an interoperable, standards-based Framework for the support of predictive toxicology data management, algorithms, modelling, validation and reporting. It is relevant to satisfying the chemical safety assessment requirements of the REACH legislation as it supports access to experimental data, (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationship models, and toxicological information through an integrating platform that adheres to regulatory requirements and OECD validation principles. Initial research defined the essential components of the Framework including the approach to data access, schema and management, use of controlled vocabularies and ontologies, architecture, web service and communications protocols, and selection and integration of algorithms for predictive modelling. OpenTox provides end-user oriented tools to non-computational specialists, risk assessors, and toxicological experts in addition to Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for developers of new applications. OpenTox actively supports public standards for data representation, interfaces, vocabularies and ontologies, Open Source approaches to core platform components, and community-based collaboration approaches, so as to progress system interoperability goals. The OpenTox Framework includes APIs and services for compounds, datasets, features, algorithms, models, ontologies, tasks, validation, and reporting which may be combined into multiple applications satisfying a variety of different user needs. OpenTox applications are based on a set of distributed, interoperable OpenTox API-compliant REST web services. The OpenTox approach to ontology allows for efficient mapping of complementary data coming from different datasets into a unifying structure having a shared terminology and representation. Two initial OpenTox applications are presented as an illustration of the potential impact of OpenTox for high-quality and consistent structure-activity relationship modelling of REACH

Collaborative development of predictive toxicology applications.

PubMed

Hardy, Barry; Douglas, Nicki; Helma, Christoph; Rautenberg, Micha; Jeliazkova, Nina; Jeliazkov, Vedrin; Nikolova, Ivelina; Benigni, Romualdo; Tcheremenskaia, Olga; Kramer, Stefan; Girschick, Tobias; Buchwald, Fabian; Wicker, Joerg; Karwath, Andreas; Gütlein, Martin; Maunz, Andreas; Sarimveis, Haralambos; Melagraki, Georgia; Afantitis, Antreas; Sopasakis, Pantelis; Gallagher, David; Poroikov, Vladimir; Filimonov, Dmitry; Zakharov, Alexey; Lagunin, Alexey; Gloriozova, Tatyana; Novikov, Sergey; Skvortsova, Natalia; Druzhilovsky, Dmitry; Chawla, Sunil; Ghosh, Indira; Ray, Surajit; Patel, Hitesh; Escher, Sylvia

2010-08-31

OpenTox provides an interoperable, standards-based Framework for the support of predictive toxicology data management, algorithms, modelling, validation and reporting. It is relevant to satisfying the chemical safety assessment requirements of the REACH legislation as it supports access to experimental data, (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationship models, and toxicological information through an integrating platform that adheres to regulatory requirements and OECD validation principles. Initial research defined the essential components of the Framework including the approach to data access, schema and management, use of controlled vocabularies and ontologies, architecture, web service and communications protocols, and selection and integration of algorithms for predictive modelling. OpenTox provides end-user oriented tools to non-computational specialists, risk assessors, and toxicological experts in addition to Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for developers of new applications. OpenTox actively supports public standards for data representation, interfaces, vocabularies and ontologies, Open Source approaches to core platform components, and community-based collaboration approaches, so as to progress system interoperability goals.The OpenTox Framework includes APIs and services for compounds, datasets, features, algorithms, models, ontologies, tasks, validation, and reporting which may be combined into multiple applications satisfying a variety of different user needs. OpenTox applications are based on a set of distributed, interoperable OpenTox API-compliant REST web services. The OpenTox approach to ontology allows for efficient mapping of complementary data coming from different datasets into a unifying structure having a shared terminology and representation.Two initial OpenTox applications are presented as an illustration of the potential impact of OpenTox for high-quality and consistent structure-activity relationship modelling of REACH

The EcoCyc database: reflecting new knowledge about Escherichia coli K-12.

PubMed

Keseler, Ingrid M; Mackie, Amanda; Santos-Zavaleta, Alberto; Billington, Richard; Bonavides-Martínez, César; Caspi, Ron; Fulcher, Carol; Gama-Castro, Socorro; Kothari, Anamika; Krummenacker, Markus; Latendresse, Mario; Muñiz-Rascado, Luis; Ong, Quang; Paley, Suzanne; Peralta-Gil, Martin; Subhraveti, Pallavi; Velázquez-Ramírez, David A; Weaver, Daniel; Collado-Vides, Julio; Paulsen, Ian; Karp, Peter D

2017-01-04

EcoCyc (EcoCyc.org) is a freely accessible, comprehensive database that collects and summarizes experimental data for Escherichia coli K-12, the best-studied bacterial model organism. New experimental discoveries about gene products, their function and regulation, new metabolic pathways, enzymes and cofactors are regularly added to EcoCyc. New SmartTable tools allow users to browse collections of related EcoCyc content. SmartTables can also serve as repositories for user- or curator-generated lists. EcoCyc now supports running and modifying E. coli metabolic models directly on the EcoCyc website. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Computational Toxicology

EPA Science Inventory

‘Computational toxicology’ is a broad term that encompasses all manner of computer-facilitated informatics, data-mining, and modeling endeavors in relation to toxicology, including exposure modeling, physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling, dose-response modeling, ...

Field testing of eco-speed control using V2I communication.