Persistence and Spatial Range of Environmental Chemicals

Author(s):  
Martin Scheringer
Author(s):  
Martin Scheringer ◽  
Deborah H. Bennett ◽  
Thomas E. McKone ◽  
Konrad Hungerbühler

2002 ◽  
Vol 41 (06) ◽  
pp. 233-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Hausteiner ◽  
A. Drzezga ◽  
P. Bartenstein ◽  
M. Schwaiger ◽  
H. Förstl ◽  
...  

SummaryAim: Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a controversially discussed symptom complex. Patients afflicted by MCS react to very low and generally nontoxic concentrations of environmental chemicals. It has been suggested that MCS leads to neurotoxic damage or neuroimmunological alteration in the brain detectable by positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT). These methods are often applied to MCS patients for diagnosis, although they never proved appropriate. Method: We scanned 12 MCS patients with PET, hypothesizing that it would reveal abnormal findings. Results: Mild glucose hypometabolism was present in one patient. In comparison with normal controls, the patient group showed no significant functional brain changes. Conclusion: This first systematic PET study in MCS patients revealed no hint of neurotoxic or neuroimmuno-logical brain changes of functional significance.


1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (01) ◽  
pp. 13-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. W. Gottinger

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to report on an expert system in design that screens for potential hazards from environmental chemicals on the basis of structure-activity relationships in the study of chemical carcinogenesis, particularly with respect to analyzing the current state of known structural information about chemical carcinogens and predicting the possible carcinogenicity of untested chemicals. The structure-activity tree serves as an index of known chemical structure features associated with carcinogenic activity. The basic units of the tree are the principal recognized classes of chemical carcinogens that are subdivided into subclasses known as nodes according to specific structural features that may reflect differences in carcinogenic potential among chemicals in the class. An analysis of a computerized data base of known carcinogens (knowledge base) is proposed using the structure-activity tree in order to test the validity of the tree as a classification scheme (inference engine).


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-47
Author(s):  
Wenjing Zhang ◽  
Liumeng Pan ◽  
Haifei Wang ◽  
Xuan Lv ◽  
Keke Ding

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Koontz ◽  
Blair C. R. Dancy ◽  
Cassandra L. Horton ◽  
Jonathan D. Stallings ◽  
Valerie T. DiVito ◽  
...  

There is overwhelming evidence that the microbiome must be considered when evaluating the toxicity of chemicals. Disruption of the normal microbial flora is a known effect of toxic exposure, and these disruptions may lead to human health effects. In addition, the biotransformation of numerous compounds has been shown to be dependent on microbial enzymes, with the potential for different host health outcomes resulting from variations in the microbiome. Evidence suggests that such metabolism of environmental chemicals by enzymes from the host's microbiota can affect the toxicity of that chemical to the host. Chemical-microbial interactions can be categorized into two classes: Microbiome Modulation of Toxicity (MMT) and Toxicant Modulation of the Microbiome (TMM). MMT refers to transformation of a chemical by microbial enzymes or metabolites to modify the chemical in a way that makes it more or less toxic. TMM is a change in the microbiota that results from a chemical exposure. These changes span a large magnitude of effects and may vary from microbial gene regulation, to inhibition of a specific enzyme, to the death of the microbes. Certain microbiomes or microbiota may become associated with different health outcomes, such as resistance or susceptibility to exposure to certain toxic chemicals, the ability to recover following a chemical-induced injury, the presence of disease-associated phenotypes, and the effectiveness of immune responses. Future work in toxicology will require an understanding of how the microbiome interacts with toxicants to fully elucidate how a compound will affect a diverse, real-world population.


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