The effects of the parasiticide ivermectin were assessed in plankton-dominated indoor microcosms. Ivermectin was applied once at concentrations of 30, 100, 300, 1000, 3000, and 10,000 ng/l. The half-life (dissipation time 50%; DT₅₀) of ivermectin in the water phase ranged from 1.1 to 8.3 days. The lowest NOEC(community) that could be derived on an isolated sampling from the microcosm study by m...

Phage endolysins have received increasing attention as potent antibacterial agents. However, although safety evaluation is a prerequisite for the drug development process, a good laboratory practice (GLP)-compliant safety evaluation has not been reported for phage endolysins. A safety evaluation of intravenously administered SAL200 (containing phage endolysin SAL-1) was conducted according to G...

The National Academy of Sciences publication, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy, proposes a paradigm shift in toxicology from current animal-based testing towards the application of emerging technologies, i.e., assays based on human cells or non-mammalian models, high throughput testing, omics approaches, systems biology, and computational modeling. These technologie...

The hypothesis is tested that toxicity of acid mine drainage can be detected by a selection of existing macroinvertebrate community and bioindicator metrices supplemented by toxicity tests with the local mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki Girard and the shrimp Atyaephyra desmaresti Millet. The behavioural responses of A. desmaresti to acid mine drainage were recorded in the Multispecies Freshwater...

A review is presented of the use of developmental toxicity testing in the United States and international regulatory assessment of human health risks associated with exposures to pharmaceuticals (human and veterinary), chemicals (agricultural, industrial, and environmental), food additives, cosmetics, and consumer products. Developmental toxicology data are used for prioritization and screening...

Herbicides pose a potential threat to aquatic ecosystems, especially to phototrophic organisms such as benthic diatoms. Benthic diatoms may be a valuable indicator of the toxic impacts of herbicides in aquatic systems. However, this requires information on the herbicide sensitivity of a wide range of freshwater benthic diatom taxa. Unfortunately this information is only available for a limited ...

UNLABELLED The EEG background activity reflects the functional state of the brain. The established sensitivity of EEG to drug intoxication and in particular to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) made that EEG has become useful as an objective measure for monitoring chronic AED therapy and in investigation of cognitive functions. Therapy with classical AEDs has become associated with slowing of EEG back...

Many jurisdictions around the globe have well-developed regulatory frameworks for the derivation and implementation of water quality guidelines (WQGs) or their equivalent (e.g. environmental quality standards, criteria, objectives or limits). However, a great many more still do not have such frameworks and are looking to introduce practical methods to manage chemical exposures in aquatic ecosys...

Algal tests have developed into routine tools for testing toxicity of pollutants in aquatic environments. Meanwhile, in addition to algal growth rates, an increasing number of fluorescence based methods are used for rapid and sensitive toxicity measures. The present study stresses the suitability of delayed fluorescence (DF) as a promising parameter for biotests. DF is based on the recombinatio...

A wide range of toxicity test methods is used or is being developed for assessing the impact of endocrine-active compounds (EACs) on human health. Interpretation of these data and their quantitative use in human and ecologic risk assessment will be enhanced by the availability of mechanistically based dose-response (MBDR) models to assist low-dose, interspecies, and (italic)in vitro(/italic) to...