Concerns about children's weight have steadily risen alongside the manufacture and use of myriad chemicals in the US. One class of chemicals, known as metabolic disruptors, interfere with human endocrine and metabolic functioning and are of specific concern to children's health and development. This article examines the effect of residential concentrations of metabolic disrupting chemicals on c...

Traditionally, hazardous chemicals have been regulated in the U.S. on a one-by-one basis, an approach that is slow, expensive and can be inefficient, as illustrated by a decades-long succession of replacing one type of organohalogen flame retardants (OHFRs) with another one, without addressing the root cause of toxicity and associated public health threats posed. The present article expounds on...

This study examines links between racial residential segregation and estimated ambient air toxics exposures and their associated cancer risks using modeled concentration estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Air Toxics Assessment. We combined pollutant concentration estimates with potencies to calculate cancer risks by census tract for 309 metropolitan areas in the ...

The ancient Greeks observed that men heavily exposed to lead became sterile. But this knowledge was not passed to the Romans, who stored their drinking water and their wine in lead-lined containers. Romans also added lead to some of their drinks as a sweetener. Based on examination of lead in Roman bones, some historians conclude that the Roman upper classes probably couldn't reproduce themselv...

Biomass is a possible renewable alternative to fossil carbon sources. Today, many bio-resources can be converted to direct substitutes or suitable alternatives to fossil-based fuels and chemicals. However, catalyst deactivation under the harsh, often liquid-phase reaction conditions required for biomass treatment is a major obstacle to developing processes that can compete with the petrochemica...

Metals and minerals are used profusely in practice of Ayurveda after proper incineration by the name of Bhasma. Some metals and minerals have the potency to produce toxic effects in human being. In this paper safety and toxicity profiles of Tamra Bhasma (incinerated copper, Cu), Lauha Bhasma (incinerated iron, Fe), and Yashada Bhasma (incinerated Zinc, Zn) has been presented, which reveal no se...

Operable pancreatic cancer is characterized by a high risk of recurrence. Efforts are made to incorporate new therapies. Throughout the world there is a lack of uniform recommendations concerning the adjuvant treatment of pancreatic cancer patients, due to confusing evidence-based data. The patients recruited to clinical trials differ from the population of patients treated in everyday practice...

Increasing biomedical applications of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) in academic and commercial settings have alarmed the scientific community about the safety and assessment of toxicity profiles of IONPs. The great amount of diversity found in the cytotoxic measurements of IONPs points toward the necessity of careful characterization and quantification of IONPs. The present document discusse...

This article describes the clinical relevance of toxicity of therapies administered to patients with cancer, putting the patient, rather than disease, at the center of the evaluation of safety of anti-cancer therapy. Hence, the implications of adverse events are described from the patient perspective, focusing on the impact of patient safety on quality of life and efficacy of treatment. Issues ...

Since the late 1980s, federal legislation has required industries to publicly report their annual emissions of toxic compounds. Industry reports show the largest contributor to toxic emission levels in Texas is the massive concentration of petrochemical industries along the Gulf Coast. It is interesting to note that although Texas produces over 50% of the nation's synthetic chemicals, it discha...