European Partnership on the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC): Focus on New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in Risk Assessment


Book Description

The European Partnership on the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) project was launched in 2022. The overarching aim of this partnership is to enhance our knowledge about chemical substances to better safeguard human health and the environment against harmful effects. The project will run for seven years under Horizon Europe. PARC is subdivided into several work packages (WPs). WP5 is focused on hazard assessment for human and environmental health and includes more than 80 partners across Europe. WP5 aims to fill data gaps for specified chemical substances of concern (e.g, bisphenol alternatives) and to develop or improve new approach methodologies (NAMs) for chemical hazard assessment. This is in order to progress towards a risk assessment paradigm relying less on animal toxicity data, both with respect to human health and environmental safety. As the PARC initiative will evolve over time with respect to both projects and activities, presenting early initiatives will foster an increased awareness of ongoing activities and potential incorporation of new activities going forward.




Strategic Asset Management of Water Supply and Wastewater Infrastructures


Book Description

Water and Wastewater companies operating all around the world have faced rising asset management and replacement costs, often to levels that are financially unsustainable. Management of investment needs, while meeting regulatory and other goals, has required: A better understanding of what customers demand from the services they pay for, and the extent to which they are willing to pay for improvements or be compensated for a reduction in performance Development of models to predict asset failure and to identify and concentrate investment on critical assets Improved management systems Improved accounting for costs and benefits and their incorporation within an appropriate cost-benefit framework Incorporation of risk management techniques Utilisation of advanced maintenance techniques including new rehabilitation failure detection technologies Enhancements in pipeline materials, technologies and laying techniques. These papers developed from LESAM 2007 for inclusion in Strategic Asset Management of Water Supply and Wastewater Infrastructures are focused on the techniques, technologies and management approaches aiming at optimising the investment in infrastructure while achieving demanded customer service standards, and they provide an opportunity to gain access to the latest discussion and developments at the leading-edge in this field. This book will be essential reading for utility operators and managers, regulators and consultants.




Cytogenomics


Book Description

Cytogenomics demonstrates that chromosomes are crucial in understanding the human genome and that new high-throughput approaches are central to advancing cytogenetics in the 21st century. After an introduction to (molecular) cytogenetics, being the basic of all cytogenomic research, this book highlights the strengths and newfound advantages of cytogenomic research methods and technologies, enabling researchers to jump-start their own projects and more effectively gather and interpret chromosomal data. Methods discussed include banding and molecular cytogenetics, molecular combing, molecular karyotyping, next-generation sequencing, epigenetic study approaches, optical mapping/karyomapping, and CRISPR-cas9 applications for cytogenomics. The book's second half demonstrates recent applications of cytogenomic techniques, such as characterizing 3D chromosome structure across different tissue types and insights into multilayer organization of chromosomes, role of repetitive elements and noncoding RNAs in human genome, studies in topologically associated domains, interchromosomal interactions, and chromoanagenesis. This book is an important reference source for researchers, students, basic and translational scientists, and clinicians in the areas of human genetics, genomics, reproductive medicine, gynecology, obstetrics, internal medicine, oncology, bioinformatics, medical genetics, and prenatal testing, as well as genetic counselors, clinical laboratory geneticists, bioethicists, and fertility specialists. - Offers applied approaches empowering a new generation of cytogenomic research using a balanced combination of classical and advanced technologies - Provides a framework for interpreting chromosome structure and how this affects the functioning of the genome in health and disease - Features chapter contributions from international leaders in the field




Green Toxicology


Book Description

Green toxicology is an integral part of green chemistry. One of the key goals of green chemistry is to design less toxic chemicals. Therefore, an understanding of toxicology and hazard assessment is important for any chemist working in green chemistry, but toxicology is rarely part of most chemists' education. As a consequence, chemists lack the toxicological lens necessary to view chemicals in order to design safer substitutions. This book seeks to fill that gap and demonstrate how a basic understanding of toxicology, as well as the tools of in silico and in vitro toxicology, can be an integral part of green chemistry. R&D chemists, product stewards, and toxicologists who work in the field of sustainability, can all benefit from integrating green toxicology principles into their work. Topics include in silico tools for hazard assessment, toxicity testing, and lifecycle considerations, this book aims to act as a bridge between green toxicologists and green chemists.




New TSCA


Book Description

"With the passage of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act on June 22, 2016, the main body of chemical management law in the United States changed dramatically. This guide summarizes the new law, highlights the changes that will have the greatest impact, and offers pertinent analysis on the implementation of the new law."--




Big Data in Predictive Toxicology


Book Description

The rate at which toxicological data is generated is continually becoming more rapid and the volume of data generated is growing dramatically. This is due in part to advances in software solutions and cheminformatics approaches which increase the availability of open data from chemical, biological and toxicological and high throughput screening resources. However, the amplified pace and capacity of data generation achieved by these novel techniques presents challenges for organising and analysing data output. Big Data in Predictive Toxicology discusses these challenges as well as the opportunities of new techniques encountered in data science. It addresses the nature of toxicological big data, their storage, analysis and interpretation. It also details how these data can be applied in toxicity prediction, modelling and risk assessment. This title is of particular relevance to researchers and postgraduates working and studying in the fields of computational methods, applied and physical chemistry, cheminformatics, biological sciences, predictive toxicology and safety and hazard assessment.




Bisphenol A


Book Description

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic compound for hardening and clearing polycarbonate plastics. BPA is mainly classified as an estrogen-like endocrine-disrupting chemical. In the last decade, attention has arisen in scientific communities that it is not safe to use this chemical in mainly polycarbonate plastics. Exposure to BPA starts in prenatal period, which is the critical period for its toxic effects on different organs. Throughout this book, the readers will obtain information on the effects of BPA on different systems. They will also get information on the prenatal and postnatal effects of BPA. We believe that readers will get qualified scientific knowledge and a general overview of the toxic effects of BPA exposure and its consequences from this book.




Validation of Alternative Methods for Toxicity Testing


Book Description

This book provides information on best practices and new thinking regarding the validation of alternative methods for toxicity testing. It covers the validation of experimental and computational methods and integrated approaches to testing and assessment. Validation strategies are discussed for methods employing the latest technologies such as tissue-on-a-chip systems, stem cells and transcriptomics, and for methods derived from pathway-based concepts in toxicology. Validation of Alternative Methods for Toxicity Testing is divided into two sections, in the first, practical insights are given on the state-of-the-art and on approaches that have resulted in successfully validated and accepted alternative methods. The second section focuses on the evolution of validation principles and practice that are necessary to ensure fit-for-purpose validation that has the greatest impact on international regulatory acceptance of alternative methods. In this context validation needs to keep pace with the considerable scientific advancements being made in toxicology, the availability of sophisticated tools and techniques that can be applied in a variety of ways, and the increasing societal and regulatory demands for better safety assessment. This book will be a useful resource for scientists in the field of toxicology, both from industry and academia, developing new test methods, strategies or techniques, as well as Governmental and regulatory authorities interested in understanding the principles and practicalities of validation of alternative methods for toxicity testing.




Making Mathematics Come to Life


Book Description

``It is difficult to define the genre of the book. It is not a problem book, nor a textbook, nor a `book for reading about mathematics'. It is most of all reminiscent of a good lecture course, from which a thoughtful student comes away with more than was actually spoken about in the lectures.'' --from the Preface by A. S. Merkurjev If you are acquainted with mathematics at least to the extent of a standard high school curriculum and like it enough to want to learn more, and if, in addition, you are prepared to do some serious work, then you should start studying this book. An understanding of the material of the book requires neither a developed ability to reason abstractly nor skill in using the refined techniques of mathematical analysis. In each chapter elementary problems are considered, accompanied by theoretical material directly related to them. There are over 300 problems in the book, most of which are intended to be solved by the reader. In those places in the book where it is natural to introduce concepts outside the high school syllabus, the corresponding definitions are given with examples. And in order to bring out the meaning of such concepts clearly, appropriate (but not too many) theorems are proved concerning them. Unfortunately, what is sometimes studied at school under the name ``mathematics'' resembles real mathematics not any closer than a plucked flower gathering dust in a herbarium or pressed between the pages of a book resembles that same flower in the meadow besprinkled with dewdrops sparkling in the light of the rising sun.




Orthogeriatrics


Book Description

This new open access edition supported by the Fragility Fracture Network aims at giving the widest possible dissemination on fragility fracture (especially hip fracture) management and notably in countries where this expertise is sorely needed. It has been extensively revised and updated by the experts of this network to provide a unique and reliable content in one single volume. Throughout the book, attention is given to the difficult question of how to provide best practice in countries where the discipline of geriatric medicine is not well established and resources for secondary prevention are scarce. The revised and updated chapters on the epidemiology of hip fractures, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, surgery, anaesthesia, medical management of frailty, peri-operative complications, rehabilitation and nursing are supplemented by six new chapters. These include an overview of the multidisciplinary approach to fragility fractures and new contributions on pre-hospital care, treatment in the emergency room, falls prevention, nutrition and systems for audit. The reader will have an exhaustive overview and will gain essential, practical knowledge on how best to manage fractures in elderly patients and how to develop clinical systems that do so reliably.