The Pharmacodynamics of Prenatal Chemical Exposure

The USEPA Office of Health and Environmental Assessment develops methodologies for conducting exposure and risk assessments. Protocols appropriate for specific analyses have been developed to aid in the selection of an exposure assessment model and to assess the validation and uncertainties associated with models used for toxic chemical exposure assessments in surface water, groundwater, and air. A software package has been developed to provide users with a quick and intuitive tool to access information for selected models and applications based on these protocols. The Integrated Model Evaluation System (IMES) is composed of three modules: 1) Selection, query systems for selecting a model based on technical criteria (currently for surface water, non-point source, and groundwater models); 2) Validation, a database containing validation and other information on over 50 models in various media; and 3) Uncertainty, a database demonstrating uncertainty simulations for several surface water models applied to exposure assessments of several chemicals. The selection modules are linked to the uncertainty and validation modules to access information for chosen models. The PC-based software system employs pull-down menus, help screens, and graphics to display its information.

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Occupational Safety and Health of Laundry Employees in Hotel Industry

International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Systems ◽

10.21863/ijhts/2015.8.1.005 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ankush Ambardar

Keyword(s):

Occupational Safety ◽

Chemical Exposure ◽

Occupational Safety And Health ◽

Health Issues ◽

Employee Safety ◽

Employee Protection ◽

Chemical Hazards ◽

Safety And Health ◽

Day To Day Operations ◽

And Performance

Employee safety and health is considered to be one of the major important human resource functions for any hotel organization. The current paper focuses on the application of occupational safety and health of laundry employees looking at the nature of the tasks performed in day to day operations. OSH is one of the significant factors responsible for employees inspiration and moreover retention in a hotel organization. Health, safety and performance of the employees are dependent on understanding and application of ergonomic practices followed during laundry operations. The paper explores laundry employee protection against various critical factors such as injuries, accidents, work postures, chemical exposure, heat, fire, noise, etc. A questionnaire was used to perpetuate perception of laundry employees in regard to protection from factors concerning safety and health issues from hotels of India. The results reveal that some of the OSH practices are been followed in hotels, while some were missing from hotels such as training, periodical audit and protection against chemical hazards. The present study suggests need for adopting OSH practices and enforcing periodical check for the same in every hotel besides of its categorization.

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The Role of the Human Microbiome in Chemical Toxicity

International Journal of Toxicology ◽

10.1177/1091581819849833 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 38 (4) ◽

pp. 251-264 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Jason M. Koontz ◽

Blair C. R. Dancy ◽

Cassandra L. Horton ◽

Jonathan D. Stallings ◽

Valerie T. DiVito ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Outcomes ◽

Human Microbiome ◽

Chemical Exposure ◽

Environmental Chemicals ◽

Microbial Interactions ◽

World Population ◽

Toxic Exposure ◽

Chemical Toxicity ◽

Microbial Enzymes ◽

Overwhelming Evidence

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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