scholarly journals Endocrine Disruptor Potential of Short- and Long-Chain Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs)—A Synthesis of Current Knowledge with Proposal of Molecular Mechanism

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 2148
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Mokra
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
International Health ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
The Body ◽  
Environmental Persistence ◽  
Low Concentrations ◽  
Hormonal Imbalance ◽  
International Health Organizations

Endocrine disruptors are a group of chemical compounds that, even in low concentrations, cause a hormonal imbalance in the body, contributing to the development of various harmful health disorders. Many industry compounds, due to their important commercial value and numerous applications, are produced on a global scale, while the mechanism of their endocrine action has not been fully understood. In recent years, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have gained the interest of major international health organizations, and thus more and more studies have been aimed to explain the toxicity of these compounds. PFASs were firstly synthesized in the 1950s and broadly used in the industry in the production of firefighting agents, cosmetics and herbicides. The numerous industrial applications of PFASs, combined with the exceptionally long half-life of these substances in the human body and extreme environmental persistence, result in a common and chronic exposure of the general population to their action. Available data have suggested that human exposure to PFASs can occur during different stages of development and may cause short- or/and long-term health effects. This paper synthetizes the current literature reports on the presence, bioaccumulation and, particularly, endocrine toxicity of selected long- and short-chain PFASs, with a special emphasis on the mechanisms underlying their endocrine actions.

scholarly journals Benthic estuarine communities in Brazil: moving forward to long term studies to assess climate change impacts

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (spe2) ◽  
pp. 81-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo Fraga Bernardino ◽  
Paulo Roberto Pagliosa ◽  
Ronaldo Adriano Christofoletti ◽  
Francisco Barros ◽  
Sergio A. Netto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Estuarine Ecosystems

Abstract Estuaries are unique coastal ecosystems that sustain and provide essential ecological services for mankind. Estuarine ecosystems include a variety of habitats with their own sediment-fauna dynamics, all of them globally undergoing alteration or threatened by human activities. Mangrove forests, saltmarshes, tidal flats and other confined estuarine systems are under increasing stress due to human activities leading to habitat and species loss. Combined changes in estuarine hydromorphology and in climate pose severe threats to estuarine ecosystems on a global scale. The ReBentos network is the first integrated attempt in Brazil to monitor estuarine changes in the long term to detect and assess the effects of global warming. This paper is an initial effort of ReBentos to review current knowledge on benthic estuarine ecology in Brazil. We herein present and synthesize all published work on Brazilian estuaries that has focused on the description of benthic communities and related ecological processes. We then use current data on Brazilian estuaries and present recommendations for future studies to address climate change effects, suggesting trends for possible future research and stressing the need for long-term datasets and international partnerships.

Diffuse pollution of surface water by pharmaceutical products

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.G.M. Derksen ◽  
G.B.J. Rijs ◽  
R.H. Jongbloed
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Surface ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Degradation Products ◽  
Monitoring Program ◽  
Aquatic Organisms ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
Pharmaceutical Residues ◽  
Low Concentrations

Pharmaceutical products for humans or animals, as well as their related metabolites (degradation products) end up in the aquatic environment after use. Recent investigations from abroad show that low concentrations of pharmaceuticals are detectable in municipal waste water, surface water, groundwater and even drinking water. Little is known about the effects, and with that the risk, of long term exposure to low concentrations of pharmaceuticals for aquatic organisms. On the basis of the current knowledge, further attention to map the presence and effects of pharmaceutical residues on aquatic organisms is justified. To map the Dutch situation, recently a monitoring program has started.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Fluoride and Selected Chemical Parameters in Kombucha Derived from White, Green, Black and Red Tea

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Jakubczyk ◽  
Izabela Gutowska ◽  
Justyna Antoniewicz ◽  
Katarzyna Janda
Keyword(s):  
Black Tea ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fluoride Content ◽  
Chemical Parameters ◽  
Fluoride Ions ◽  
Added Sugar ◽  
Physiological Conditions ◽  
Low Concentrations ◽  
Health Promoting

Abstract Kombucha dates back thousands of years and is reported to have originated in East Asia. It is produced by fermenting tea with added sugar using SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). Its health benefits can be attributed to the metabolites produced during the fermentation process. Valuable ingredients of this fermented tea beverage include acetic acid, glucuronic acid, vitamins, enzymes, sugars and polyphenols. Tea, and consequently kombucha, contains numerous minerals, and one of them is fluoride. Under physiological conditions, fluoride plays a significant role in hard tissue mineralisation processes. However, even at low concentrations with long-term exposure, fluorides may accumulate in the body and cause a range of detrimental effects. Kombucha is traditionally brewed with black tea, but these days it is becoming increasingly popular to use other types of tea to make it, which may significantly affect its composition and health-promoting effects. The aim of the study was to evaluate the fluoride content in kombucha beverages derived from black, green, white and red tea. Fluoride content was measured at different time points during fermentation. The potentiometric method was used to determine the content of fluoride ions. It was demonstrated that kombucha is a major dietary source of fluoride (0.42–0.93 mg/L) and that the type of tea used has a significant effect on its chemical composition. Therefore, it recommended to make the beverage with white or red tea, due to the lowest fluoride content and ensure food safety. Graphical Abstract

Pharmaceutical Mixtures: Still A Concern for Human and Environmental Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgeta M. Simu ◽  
Jeanne Atchana ◽  
Codruta M. Soica ◽  
Dorina E. Coricovac ◽  
Sebastian C. Simu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Health ◽  
Aquatic Environment ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Low Concentrations ◽  
Human Use

In the present work, recent data on the sources, occurrence and fate of human-use pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) in the aquatic environment have been reviewed. Since PhACs and their metabolites are usually present as mixtures in the environment at very low concentrations, a particular emphasis was placed onto the PhACs mixtures, as well as on their short-term and long-term effects against human and environmental health. Moreover, a general overview of the main conventional as well as of the latest trends in wastewaters decontaminant technologies was outlined. Advantages and disadvantages of current processes were also pointed out. It appears that numerous gaps still exist in the current knowledge related to this field of interest, and further studies should be conducted at the global level in order to ensure a more efficient monitorisation of the presence of PhACs and their metabolites into the aquatic environment and to develop new mitigation measures.

Quantum dots have the potential to be used in gene therapy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moataz Dowaidar
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Dots ◽  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
The Body ◽  
Clinical Criteria ◽  
Semiconductor Crystals ◽  
Development And Utilization ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Insight Into

Quantum dots (QDs) are nanoscale semiconductor crystals shown to be intriguing materials in several domains, including biology. Alexei Ekimov originally discovered QDs in the 1980s. The development and utilization of chemical, physical and biological disciplines and new approaches are expected to be available for clinical usage in the near future (e.g., surface functionalization techniques). These efforts should focus largely on overcoming the long-term toxicity of QDs to produce a pharmaceutical QD product for clinical and industrial applications. Other issues include repeatability in QD manufacturing and setting uniform quality standards to ensure batch-to-batch differences are minimized. Additionally, the techniques of administering produced QDs into the body and their regimens should be fully assessed and assessed to fulfill clinical criteria. It is suggested that recent improvements in our understanding of the body's molecular interactions give an insight into the prospective use of QDs in customized treatment. Non-specific QD binding to cell and tissue molecular compartments (e.g. proteins) remains a challenge and researchers worldwide are recommended to focus more on it. Another major impediment to the widespread use of QDs is the heterogeneity in the structure and content of QDs (whether bare or functional), which makes it difficult to draw conclusions about their potential in therapeutic applications and necessitates additional research to develop dependable techniques. Although the barriers to employing QDs in clinical applications have not been completely solved, emerging advances allow this class of materials to approach its therapeutic potential.

scholarly journals Hypothalamic Amenorrhea and the Long-Term Health Consequences

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (03) ◽  
pp. 256-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Torbati ◽  
Erika Dutra ◽  
Chrisandra Shufelt
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Options ◽  
Premenopausal Women ◽  
Estrogen Deficiency ◽  
The Body ◽  
Health Consequences ◽  
Hypothalamic Amenorrhea ◽  
Excessive Exercise ◽  
Hormonal Imbalance ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractThe menstrual cycle is a reproductive vital sign and provides insight into hormonal imbalance as well as pregnancy. The significance of estrogen, however, extends beyond fertility and plays a role on tissues and organs throughout the body. Functional hypothalamic amenorrhea is a common form of secondary amenorrhea resulting in estrogen deficiency in young premenopausal women. While reversible, the cause of this disorder is related to psychological stress, excessive exercise, disordered eating, or a combination of these factors resulting in suppression of the hypothalamic–pituitary–ovarian axis. The resulting loss of estrogen has profound effects on many systems throughout the body, including cardiac, skeletal, psychological, and reproductive. Often, these young women are “walking well,” as they do not have bothersome symptoms of low estrogen and are unaware of the consequences of estrogen deficiency. This review focuses on the health consequences of hypothalamic amenorrhea, current research, and available treatment options.

The ELSI Genetics Regulatory Resource Kit: A Tool for Policymakers in Developing Countries

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 692-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zara Merali ◽  
Peter A. Singer ◽  
Victor Boulyjenkov ◽  
Abdallah S. Daar
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
International Health ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Health Care Ethics ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
International Health Organizations ◽  
Common Parlance

The international context of the last fifty years of modern bioethics have been significant in establishing health-care ethics or bioethics as a common parlance - an ideology of our times, achieving near universal acceptance, with little dissent. Most international health organizations have developed important declarations that have become the credo of their daily practice and long-term commitments. However, in the last decade in particular, bioethicists and other health-care practitioners and scholars have worried about the persistence of health-care inequities and the inadequate realization of bioethics, particularly in low-to-middle income countries. Global bioethics, now well into the new millennium, has entered a regulatory crisis: it needs to confront not just global bioethical commitments around major scientific revolutions such as genomics, but further, a regulatory crisis about the persisting national public law silences and health inequities, especially in low-to-middle income countries.

Defining the Competence of Psychologists with a View to Public Accountability *

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ype H. Poortinga ◽  
Ingrid Lunt
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
The Body ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Rigorous Evaluation ◽  
Judicial Proceedings ◽  
Psychological Knowledge

In national codes of ethics the practice of psychology is presented as rooted in scientific knowledge, professional skills, and experience. However, it is not self-evident that the body of scientific knowledge in psychology provides an adequate basis for current professional practice. Professional training and experience are seen as necessary for the application of psychological knowledge, but they appear insufficient to defend the soundness of one's practices when challenged in judicial proceedings of a kind that may be faced by psychologists in the European Union in the not too distant future. In seeking to define the basis for the professional competence of psychologists, this article recommends taking a position of modesty concerning the scope and effectiveness of psychological interventions. In many circumstances, psychologists can only provide partial advice, narrowing down the range of possible courses of action more by eliminating unpromising ones than by pointing out the most correct or most favorable one. By emphasizing rigorous evaluation, the profession should gain in accountability and, in the long term, in respectability.

STUDIES IN THE SUPPOSED GOITROGENOUS EFFECT OF TAP WATER IN HELSINKI

1960 ◽  
Vol XXXIII (IV) ◽  
pp. 630-636
Author(s):  
F.-E. Krusius ◽  
P. Peltola
Keyword(s):  
Tap Water ◽  
Physiological Saline ◽  
Normal Weight ◽  
The Body ◽  
Iodine Uptake ◽  
Redistilled Water ◽  
Detectable Difference ◽  
Term Administration ◽  
Long Term Experiment

ABSTRACT The study reported here was performed in order to examine the tap water of Helsinki for its alleged goitrogenous effect. In a short-term, 24-hour experiment with rats, kept on an iodine-poor diet, we noticed no inhibition of the 4-hour 131I uptake, as compared with that of animals receiving physiological saline instead of tap water. Two similar groups of rats receiving 1 and 2 mg of mercazole in redistilled water showed a distinct blockage of the 4-hour uptake, which proved the effect of this substance. In a long-term experiment of 5 weeks' duration there was no detectable difference in the body weight, thyroid weight and the 4-hour 131I uptake when the rats receiving tap water or distilled water to which 0.45 per cent of sodium chloride was added were compared with each other. Replacement of tap water by a 10 mg per cent solution of mercazole in redistilled water enlarged the thyroid to double its normal weight and increased the 131I uptake to approximately five times that of the controls. Thus our experiments failed to demonstrate any goitrogenous effect in the tap water of Helsinki. Changes similar to those produced by a long-term administration of mercazole, i. e. an enlargement of the thyroid and an increased thyroidal iodine uptake, have been shown to be due to milk collected from goitrous areas. The observations here reported confirm the importance of milk in the genesis of the goitre endemia of Helsinki. Attention is further called to the fact that a thyroidal enlargement combined with an increased thyroidal iodine uptake cannot always be taken as a sign of iodine deficiency because similar changes may be produced by the administration of goitrogens.

ANALYSIS OF ABDOMINAL TYPHOID INCIDENCE IN THE SOUTH REGION OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-48
Author(s):  
Zakirova J.S. ◽  
Nadirbekova R.A. ◽  
Zholdoshev S.T.
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Typhoid Fever ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
The Body ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Radiation Factor ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Immunological Deficiency

The article analyze the long-term morbidity, spread of typhoid fever in the southern regions of the Kyrgyz republic, and remains a permanent epidemic focus in the Jalal-Abad region, where against the low availability of the population to high-quality drinking water, an additional factor on the body for more than two generations and radiation factor, which we confirmed by the spread among the inhabitants of Mailuu-Suu of nosological forms of the syndrome of immunological deficiency, as a predictor of risk groups for infectious diseases, including typhoid fever.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document