Academic literature on the topic 'Toxicological knowledge'

Background: Ayurveda treatises are collection of vast knowledge regarding medical and environmental aspects. It has a separate branch called Agada Tantra which deals with the toxicological aspects. We aim to evaluate this knowledge regarding dermatological manifestation due to Visha (toxins) vis-à-vis contemporary knowledge. Method: The references available regarding the different types of poison and their dermatolgical manifestations in classical text were studied and compared with the available information in the contemporary medical literatures. Results: The term Visha and its types incorporates all kind of toxins. Initially, exposure to sthavara visha manifests into contact dermatitis and jangama visha manifests into contact urticaria. Dooshivisha and gara visha can be understood in terms with pesticide exposure, cosmetic toxicity, occupational exposures etc. Conclusion: The dematological manifestations play clear cut role in diagnosis and prognosis. The abundant reference in Ayurveda literatures regarding same is useful at exploring the causative factors through toxicological aspect.

The article discusses the lecture method, together in the teaching of toxicological chemistry at the Department of Pharmaceutical Disciplines, which provides knowledge, the formation of skills and development of the students' value system, professional skills and competencies.

On the current moment of time one of most important strategic tasks of modernization of the system of higher education inUkraineis the education of high quality provided to the pharmacists in order to satisfy the worldwide needs. Therefore, the improvement of higher education system and formatting of new conceptual directions of its development on the basis of analytical marking and strategic approaches are very important for studying of pharmaceutical courses, namely Toxicological chemistry. Nowadays people live in the conditions of toxicological strain; therefore, we have an important task to give the complete, systematic and accessible knowledge of Toxicological chemistry to the future pharmacists. The purpose of this work is the implementation of new pedagogical, psychological, statistical, chemical, analytical and biochemical methods into the studying of Toxicological chemistry in the conditions of Bologna System inUkraine. Testing control is the first most important modern diagnostic and control instrument used for the evaluation of students’ activities in the conditions of credit-modular system. The second most important instrument is a complex of principles used during the studying of this course such as "general-to-specific and specific-to-general" and “from simple to complex, from complex to simple”, “synthesis and analysis of information”, “visualization of toxicological processes on the new schemes”, work “on-line”. The third important instrument is the connection with modern sciences. All these instruments are provided by credit-modular educational system.

The Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) framework has been considered the most innovative tool to collect, organize, and evaluate relevant information on the toxicological effects of chemicals, facilitating the establishment of links between molecular events and adverse outcomes at the critical level of biological organization. Considering the combination of the high volume of toxicological and ecotoxicological data produced and the application of artificial intelligence algorithms from the last few years, not only can higher mechanistic interpretability be reached with new in silico models, but also a potential increase in predictivity in hazard assessments and the identification of new potential biomarkers can be achieved. The current paper aims to discuss some potential challenges and ways of integrating in silico models and AOPs to predict toxicological effects and to set and relate new biomarkers for defined purposes. With the use of the AOP framework to organize the ecotoxicological, toxicological, and structural data generated from in chemico, in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo, and population studies, it is expected that the generated biological and chemical construct will improve its application, establishing a knowledge platform to set and relate new biomarkers by key event relationships (KERs).

The European Union (EU) Cosmetics Regulation established the ban on animal testing for cosmetics ingredients. This ban does not assume that all cosmetics ingredients are safe, but that the non-testing procedures (in vitro and in silico) have to be applied for their safety assessment. To this end, the SEURAT-1 cluster was funded by EU 7th Framework Programme and Cosmetics Europe. The COSMOS (Integrated In Silico Models for the Prediction of Human Repeated Dose Toxicity of COSMetics to Optimise Safety) project was initiated as one of the seven consortia of the cluster, with the purpose of facilitating the prediction of human repeated dose toxicity associated with exposure to cosmetics-related compounds through in silico approaches. A critical objective of COSMOS was to address the paucity of publicly available data for cosmetics ingredients and related chemicals. Therefore a database was established containing (i) an inventory of cosmetics ingredients and related structures; (ii) skin permeability/absorption data (route of exposure relevant to cosmetics); and (iii) repeated dose toxicity data. This thesis describes the process of “knowledge discovery from the data”, including collation of the content of the COSMOS database and its subsequent application for developing tools to support the prediction of repeated dose toxicity of cosmetics and related compounds. A rigorous strategy of curation and quality control of chemical records was applied in developing the database (as documented in the Standard Operating Procedure, chapter 2). The chemical space of the cosmetics-related compounds was compared to food-related compounds from the U.S. FDA CFSAN PAFA database using the novel approach combining the analysis of structural features (ToxPrint chemotypes) and physicochemical properties. The cosmetics- and food- specific structural classes related to particular use functions and manifested by distinct physicochemical properties were identified (chapter 3). The novel COSMOS Skin Permeability Database containing in vivo and in vitro skin permeability/absorption data was developed by integrating existing databases and enriching them with new data for cosmetics harvested from regulatory documents and scientific literature (chapter 4). Compounds with available data on human in vitro maximal flux (JMAX) were subsequently extracted from the developed database and analysed in terms of their structural features (ToxPrint chemotypes) and physicochemical properties. The profile of compounds exhibiting low or high skin permeability potential was determined. The results of this analysis can support rapid screening and classification of the compounds without experimental data (chapter 5). The new COSMOS oral repeated dose toxicity database was established through consolidation of existing data sources and harvesting new regulatory documents and scientific literature. The unique data structure of the COSMOS oRepeatToxDB allows capturing all toxicological effects observed at particular dose levels and sites, which are hierarchically differentiated as organs, tissues, and cells (chapter 6). Such design of this database enabled the development of liver toxicity ontology, followed by mechanistic mining of in vivo data (chapter 7). As a result, compounds associated with liver steatosis, steatohepatitis and fibrosis phenotypic effects were identified and further analysed. The probable mechanistic reasoning for toxicity (Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma (PPAR ) activation) was formulated for two hepatotoxicants, namely 1,3-bis-(2,4-diaminophenoxy)-propane and piperonyl butoxide. Key outcomes of this thesis include an extensive curated database, Standard Operating Procedures, skin permeability potential classification rules, and the set of structural features associated with liver steatosis. Such knowledge is particularly important in the light of the 21st Century Toxicology (NRC, 2007) and the ongoing need to move away from animal toxicity testing to non-testing alternatives.

Studiens huvudsakliga syfte är att undersöka svenska konsumenters förhållningssätt, kännedom och informationssökning om kemikalier i kosmetiska produkter samt hur utbrett fenomenet kemofobi, den irrationella rädslan för kemikalier är. Framförallt har en kvantitativ ansats tillämpats i studiedesignen. Empirin samlades in med en webbaserad enkät som besvarades av 221 personer. Sociala bakgrundsfaktorer har ställts mot huvudvariablerna för att upptäcka möjliga samband. Respondenternas svar redovisas i resultatet med tabeller och grafer och jämförs sedan med en rad olika tidigare studier inom ämnet. Vårt resultat ger en indikation för förhållningssätten bland kvinnor, personer i medelåldern och högutbildade eftersom detta var den mest övervägande gruppen av våra respondenter. Resultatet indikerar på att det finns både en medelnivå av kemofobi och toxikologisk kunskap hos respondenterna. Det finns en negativ förknippning till begreppet kemikalier och riskmedvetenheten av kosmetiska produkter är inte speciellt utbredd. Sedan framgick även att informationssökningen kring innehållet i kosmetika är komplex då innehållsförteckningen som tillhandahålls till konsumenter är bristfällig i att kommunicera risker på ett lättförståeligt sätt. Därför behöver riskkommunikationen ses över för kosmetiska produkter men även att de ska riskbedömas och märkas likt andra produkter utan något undantag i kemikalieregleringen. Detta är ytterst viktigt för att säkerställa medvetna inköpsval och skydd av hälsa och miljö.
This study’s main purpose is to investigate Swedish consumers’ approaches, knowledge and how they search for information concerning chemicals in cosmetics as well as how widespread the phenomenon chemophobia, the irrational fear of chemicals, is. A mainly quantitative approach has been applied in the design of the study. Empirical data was collected with a web-based survey resulting in 221 respondents. Sociodemographic factors were connected to the main variables with the purpose of discovering possible correlations. The answers from the respondents are presented in the result with tables and graphs and then compared with several different studies on the subject. Our result indicates the views among women, middle-aged and people with higher education due to this being the most prevalent group of our respondents. The result indicates that there is a medium level of both chemophobia and toxicological knowledge among the respondents.There is a negative association with the word chemicals and the risk awareness for cosmetic products are not that widespread. Furthermore, it appeared that the information search concerning the contents of cosmetics are complex because the table of content that is provided to consumers is lacking in communicating risks in an understandable manner. Therefore, the risk communication concerning cosmetics should be evaluated and the products should also undergo the same risk assessments and labelling equal to other consumer products without exceptions in regulation. This is of outmost importance to ensure conscious purchasing behaviour and protection of health and the environment.

La premisa de partida de esta Tesis Doctoral es que la Unidad de Toxicologia Clinica (UTC) del Hospital Universitari Son Dureta(HUSD), entendida como instrumento funcional y vertebrador de los profesionales de diferentes Servicios hospitalarios con interés profesional en el ámbito de la Toxicología, puede actuar como elemento generador de las condiciones favorables para desarrollar métodos y estrategias orientadas a la mejora global del proceso asistencial del paciente intoxicado. En dicha Unidad, el Registro de Intoxicados es el instrumento principal para estructurar, planificar, monitorizar y evaluar los trabajos realizados tanto en el campo asistencial como en el docente e investigador. La segunda premisa es que la participación del analista clínico como miembro activo de la UTC no se limita a intervenir en la identificación, cuantificación y confirmación de los productos tóxicos y sus metabolitos en muestras biológicas, en la interpretación toxico-cinética del resultado analítico obtenido y en el asesoramiento de la solicitud de pruebas analíticas, sino que también participa en todas las fases del proceso de atención al intoxicado. Atendiendo a estas premisas, las hipótesis que se formulan en este trabajo son las siguientes: 1. El registro de pacientes intoxicados con especial atención en sus aspectos analíticos, es una herramienta válida para aportar conocimiento sobre la realidad epidemiológica de nuestro entorno y sobre la utilización de los recursos analíticos, tanto los específicamente toxicológicos como los meramente complementarios. 2. El conocimiento que posee el médico asistencial sobre la utilidad, condicionamientos y limitaciones de algunas determinaciones analíticas utilizadas en el intoxicado agudo, concretamente sobre las pruebas de cribado de drogas de abuso en orina, es limitado y susceptible de mejora. 3. En la intoxicación por paracetamol, es posible mejorar el tratamiento del paciente mediante el diseño y la utilización de herramientas simples basadas en parámetros farmacocinéticos del paracetamol. Los objetivos generales que se propone alcanzar esta Tesis Doctoral son los siguientes: 1. Adecuar racionalmente la cartera de servicios del laboratorio de la UTC del HUSD/HUSE en base al conocimiento obtenido con los resultados del registro de los pacientes intoxicados agudos, para poder ofrecer una respuesta analítica toxicológica específica adecuada a los tóxicos más prevalentes en nuestra área asistencial. 2. Medir la importancia que los facultativos que atienden a los intoxicados otorgan al laboratorio en el proceso diagnóstico y terapéutico y valorar sus conocimientos sobre algunos aspectos básicos de determinadas pruebas de laboratorio. 3. Establecer si mediante el cociente entre dos determinaciones de paracetamol en suero es posible predecir el riesgo de hepatotoxicidad y si la determinación de paracetamol en orina en la población pediátrica es útil para detectar la ingesta de este fármaco. Estudiados los resultados obtenidos con los materiales y métodos utilizados en esta Tesis como conclusiones de la misma se destaca en primer lugar que el estudio de los datos del registro ha conseguido conocer la realidad de la epidemiologia de la intoxicación en nuestro entorno geográfico lo que ha permitido dirigir los objetivos del laboratorio a la consecución de los medios, tanto instrumentales como humanos, capaces de mejorar sustancialmente la respuesta a las necesidades clínicas evidenciadas, incrementado la capacidad de detección y/o cuantificación analítica de los tóxicos presentes en nuestra muestra, tanto la del grupo TOP 50 como la del grupo TOP DRUGS. Asimismo, las encuestas realizadas han permitido valorar objetivamente el grado de conocimiento que poseen los clínicos que atienden a enfermos intoxicados sobre diferentes aspectos relativos a la toxicología analítica, y se han obtenido orientaciones que han facilitado conocer con una base objetiva lo que se espera del laboratorio, y cómo valora el clínico solicitante al laboratorio y los resultados analíticos suministrados. En relación a la intoxicación por Paracetamol, la estimación de la semivida del PCT en los casos en que no es posible aplicar el nomograma de Rumack-Mattew, posibilita obtener de manera rápida y fácil una información objetiva útil que permite valorar la adecuación o no de instaurar el tratamiento específico, y que aporta un dato complementario útil en la valoración pronostica de la intoxicación por PCT. Asimismo la determinación de PCT en orina ha mostrado ser una herramienta útil para descartar una ingesta de PCT en las 24 horas previas, por lo que resulta adecuada su inclusión en el algoritmo de actuación del paciente pediátrico con sospecha de intoxicación aguda por PCT. Como conclusión final, se indica que la creación, el mantenimiento y el desarrollo de la UTC en nuestro Hospital ha sido el instrumento funcional vertebrador y generador de las condiciones necesarias para el desarrollo de trabajos e investigaciones en el campo de la Toxicología Clínica, actuando como elemento aglutinador de los profesionales de diferentes Servicios hospitalarios con interés en el ámbito de la Toxicología Clínica.
Title: Analytical input to the process of patient care intoxicated. Experience in the Clinical Toxicology Unit of Hospital Universitari Son Dureta. Author: Bartomeu Castanyer Puig The overall objectives of this thesis are: 1. Rationally adjust the service portfolio of Unit of Clinical Toxicology (UTC) of Hospital Universitari Son Dureta (HUSD), based on the knowledge gained from the results of registration of acute poisoned patients, to provide adequate specific toxicological analytical response to toxicants more prevalent in our area care. 2. Measuring the importance that physicians who care for intoxicated give the laboratory in diagnostic and therapeutic process and assess their knowledge of some basic aspects of certain lab tests. 3. Set if the quotient between two determinations of serum paracetamol is possible to predict the risk of hepatotoxicity, and if the determination of paracetamol in urine in the pediatric population is useful for detecting the intake in the previous 24 hours The conclusions of this thesis, studied the results obtained with the materials and methods used, emphasizes first that the study of log data has gotten to know the reality of the epidemiology of poisoning in our geographic area which has allowed direct laboratory objectives the achievement of the means capable of responding to the clinical needs evidenced. Furthermore, surveys have assessed objectively the degree of knowledge possessed by different clinical aspects of analytical toxicology, and orientations have been obtained which have facilitated an objective basis to know what is expected of the laboratory, and how to assess the applicant to the clinical laboratory and analytical results provided. Regarding paracetamol poisoning, the estimated half-life of PCT in cases where it is not possible to apply the Rumack-Matthew nomogram, allows to obtain quickly and easily objective information that provides a useful complementary data in the prognostic assessment of intoxication. Also PCT determination in urine has proved a useful tool to rule out an intake of PCT in the previous 24 hours, making it suitable for inclusion in the action algorithm of pediatric patients with suspicion of acute PCT intake.

Cyanobacteria are a group of phytoplankton of marine and freshwaters. The accelerated eutrophication of water sources by agricultural and industrial run-off has increased the occurrence and intensity of cyanobacterial blooms. They are of particular concern because of their production for potent hepato-, neuro-, and dermatoxins, being hazardous to human health. Dissemination of knowledge about cyanobacteria and their cyanotoxins assists water supply authorities in developing monitoring and management plans, and provides the public with appropriate information to avoid exposure to these toxins. This chapter provides a broad overview and up-to-date information on cyanobacteria and their toxins in terms of their occurrence, chemical and toxicological characteristics, fate in the environment, guideline limits, and effective treatment techniques to remove these toxins from drinking water. Future research directions were also suggested to fill knowledge and research gaps, and advance the abilities of utilities and water treatment plant designers to deal with these toxins.

The Rif region has a rich culture of popular medicine use and valuable medicinal plant practices. This study aimed to assess the potential concerning medicinal plants used in the treatment of neurological diseases. An ethnobotanical survey has been carried out in the Rif for two periods from June 2016 to June 2018. To gather information about indigenous medicinal plants, 520 indigenous people of Rif were interviewed. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and free listening, analyzed, and compared. A total of 42 plant species belonging to 37 genera and 23 families were mentioned to be used for treatment by the informants. Lamiaceae was the most commonly reported family in this study area. The most common ailment treated was epilepsy. The preponderance of the herbal remedies was prepared from infusion (53.4%). Leaf was the commonly used plant part (44.3%) and Marrubium vulgare L. (29.4%) was the species most commonly prescribed by indigenous healers. The results of this investigation revealed that indigenous communities living in the Rif are still reliant on plants to treat neurological diseases. These reported medicinal species can serve as a source for further investigations on these medicinal plant knowledge and future phytochemical, toxicological, and pharmacological studies.

Toxicologic emergencies are common presentations to the emergency department (ED), and knowledge of the appropriate management of these situations, including available antidotes, is critical to the practice of emergency medicine. Most toxicologic emergencies are due to intentional overdoses or use of recreational drugs, but they can also be due to work or environmental exposures or, more frightening, to acts of terrorism or war. These potential terrorism agents are usually asked about on standardized exams. This chapter presents questions related to the diagnosis, clinical effects, and most appropriate treatment of a wide range of these toxicologic emergencies.

The article discusses the lecture method, together in the teaching of toxicological chemistry at the Department of Pharmaceutical Disciplines, which provides knowledge, the formation of skills and development of the students' value system, professional skills and competencies.