Indicators for the Assessment of Thresholds and Points of Non-Return

Ecological indicators are used increasingly to assess the conditions and/or status of ecosystems. Historically, the first approach was to develop indices based on a particular species or components, e.g. macrophytes, zooplankton, etc. In general, such indices are not broad enough to reflect the complexity of the ecosystem, as they do not include information at the structural, functional and system levels. To cope with these aspects new indices have been develop (for recent reviews see Rapport, 1995; Jørgensen et al., 2005) that try to synthesyze information at all ecosystem levels. In this project we are interested in evaluating indicators in terms of their potential to detect thresholds and point of non-return in coastal ecosystem.JRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Making waves: collaboration in the time of SARS-CoV-2 - rapid development of an international co-operation and wastewater surveillance database to support public health decision-making

The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater was first reported in March 2020. Over the subsequent months, the potential for wastewater surveillance to contribute to COVID-19 mitigation programmes has been the focus of intense national and international research activities, gaining the attention of policy makers and the public. As a new application of an established methodology, focused collaboration between public health practitioners and wastewater researchers is essential to developing a common understanding on how, when and where the outputs of this non-invasive community-level approach can deliver actionable outcomes for public health authorities. Within this context, the NORMAN SCORE "SARS-CoV-2 in sewage" database provides a platform for rapid, open access data sharing, validated by the uploading of 276 data sets from nine countries to-date. Through offering direct access to underpinning meta-data sets (and describing its use in data interpretation), the NORMAN SCORE database is a resource for the development of recommendations on minimum data requirements for wastewater pathogen surveillance. It is also a tool to engage public health practitioners in discussions on use of the approach, providing an opportunity to build mutual understanding of the demand and supply for data and facilitate the translation of this promising research application into public health practice. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The NORMAN Association and the European Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC): let’s cooperate! [Commentary]

The Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC) is currently under development as a joint research and innovation programme to strengthen the scientific basis for chemical risk assessment in the EU. The plan is to bring chemical risk assessors and managers together with scientists to accelerate method development and the production of necessary data and knowledge, and to facilitate the transition to next-generation evidence-based risk assessment, a non-toxic environment and the European Green Deal. The NORMAN Network is an independent, well-established and competent network of more than 80 organisations in the field of emerging substances and has enormous potential to contribute to the implementation of the PARC partnership. NORMAN stands ready to provide expert advice to PARC, drawing on its long experience in the development, harmonisation and testing of advanced tools in relation to chemicals of emerging concern and in support of a European Early Warning System to unravel the risks of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and close the gap between research and innovation and regulatory processes. In this commentary we highlight the tools developed by NORMAN that we consider most relevant to supporting the PARC initiative: (i) joint data space and cutting-edge research tools for risk assessment of contaminants of emerging concern; (ii) collaborative European framework to improve data quality and comparability; (iii) advanced data analysis tools for a European early warning system and (iv) support to national and European chemical risk assessment thanks to harnessing, combining and sharing evidence and expertise on CECs. By combining the extensive knowledge and experience of the NORMAN network with the financial and policy-related strengths of the PARC initiative, a large step towards the goal of a non-toxic environment can be taken

The NORMAN Association and the European Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC): let’s cooperate! [Commentary]

The Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC) is currently under development as a joint research and innovation programme to strengthen the scientific basis for chemical risk assessment in the EU. The plan is to bring chemical risk assessors and managers together with scientists to accelerate method development and the production of necessary data and knowledge, and to facilitate the transition to next-generation evidence-based risk assessment, a non-toxic environment and the European Green Deal. The NORMAN Network is an independent, well-established and competent network of more than 80 organisations in the field of emerging substances and has enormous potential to contribute to the implementation of the PARC partnership. NORMAN stands ready to provide expert advice to PARC, drawing on its long experience in the development, harmonisation and testing of advanced tools in relation to chemicals of emerging concern and in support of a European Early Warning System to unravel the risks of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and close the gap between research and innovation and regulatory processes. In this commentary we highlight the tools developed by NORMAN that we consider most relevant to supporting the PARC initiative: (i) joint data space and cutting-edge research tools for risk assessment of contaminants of emerging concern; (ii) collaborative European framework to improve data quality and comparability; (iii) advanced data analysis tools for a European early warning system and (iv) support to national and European chemical risk assessment thanks to harnessing, combining and sharing evidence and expertise on CECs. By combining the extensive knowledge and experience of the NORMAN network with the financial and policy-related strengths of the PARC initiative, a large step towards the goal of a non-toxic environment can be taken

Les essais d'inflammabilité semi-naturels avec expérimentation animale au Centre d'Essais Aéronautiques de Toulouse

Le C.E.A.T. (Centre d’Essais Aéronautiques de Toulouse) procède à des essais semi-naturels d'inflammabilité sur des matériaux et des aménagements de cabine d'avions dans un caisson représentant une cabine d’avion court-moyen courrier. Des analyses physico-chimiques permettent de connaître le comportement au feu des matériaux (mesure de température, de flux et de variation de masse), le dégagement de fumée et la composition des gaz dégagés. Cependant, la seule connaissance de ces grandeurs ne suffit pas à déterminer la toxicité réelle des fumées et des gaz de combustion. A cette fin, l'installation d'essais a été complétée par un dispositif d’expérimentation animale : mesure de 1'incapacitation de rats par l’Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse et de l'intoxication d’un lapin sous ventilation spontanée par la Faculté de Pharmacie de Châtenay-Malabry. L’objectif des essais est de déterminer les toxiques majeurs et d'établir la relation entre les paramètres physico-chimiques et la réponse des animaux. L’installation d'essai mise en place au C.E.A.T. est décrite

PCDD/F and PCB multi-media ambient concentrations, congener patterns and occurrence in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon (Etang de Thau, France)

International audienceAmbient concentrations, congener patterns and multi-media distribution of PCDD/Fs and PCBs were determined in air, water, sediment andmussels in a semi-enclosed marine ecosystem (Thau lagoon, France). sum2,3,7,8-PCDD/F and sum7ICES PCB air concentrations (0.2-1.4 and31-57 pg m-3, respectively) were typical of rural areas. Concentrations in the water column were very low for PCDD/Fs (163-476 fg L-1)and low for PCBs (138-708 pg L-1). PCDD/F and PCB concentrations found in surface sediment (0.15-1.6 and 2.5-33 ng g-1 d.w., respectively)and mussel (13-21 pg g-1 d.w. and 10-39 ng g-1 d.w., respectively) were medium levels. PCDD/F congener patterns observed in air,water particulate phase and sediments were similar suggesting direct coupling among these compartments and atmospheric inputs of PCDD/Fsinto the lagoon. Conversely, for the same set of samples, similar patterns were not observed for PCBs in the mentioned compartments

Thresholds of toxicological concern for endocrine active substances in the aquatic environment

The threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) concept proposes that an exposure threshold value can be derived for chemicals, below which no significant risk to human health or the environment is expected. This concept goes further than setting acceptable exposure levels for individual chemicals, because it attempts to set a de minimis value for chemicals, including those of unknown toxicity, by taking the chemical's structure or mode of action (MOA) into consideration. This study examines the use of the TTC concern concept for endocrine active substances (EAS) with an estrogenic MOA. A case study formed the basis for a workshop of regulatory, industry and academic scientists held to discuss the use of the TTC in aquatic environmental risk assessment. The feasibility and acceptability, general advantages and disadvantages, and the specific issues that need to be considered when applying the TTC concept for EAS in risk assessment were addressed. Issues surrounding the statistical approaches used to derive TTCs were also discussed. This study presents discussion points and consensus findings of the worksho

Therapeutic immunization against glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is the most common form of brain cancer in adults that produces severe damage to the brain leading to a very poor survival prognosis. The standard of care for glioblastoma is usually surgery, as well as radiotherapy followed by systemic temozolomide chemotherapy, resulting in a median survival time of about 12 to 15 months. Despite these therapeutic efforts, the tumor returns in the vast majority of patients. When relapsing, statistics suggest an imminent death dependent on the size of the tumor, the Karnofsky Performance Status, and the tumor localization. Following the standard of care, the administration of Bevacizumab, inhibiting the growth of the tumor vasculature, is an approved medicinal treatment option approved in the United States, but not in the European Union, as well as the recently approved alternating electric fields (AEFs) generator NovoTTF/Optune. However, it is clear that regardless of the current treatment regimens, glioma patients continue to have dismal prognosis and novel treatments are urgently needed. Here, we describe different approaches of recently developed therapeutic glioma brain cancer vaccines, which stimulate the patient’s immune system to recognize tumor-associated antigens (TAA) on cancer cells, aiming to instruct the immune system to eventually attack and destroy the brain tumor cells, with minimal bystander damage to normal brain cells. These distinct immunotherapies may target particular glioma TAAs which are molecularly defined, but they may also target broad patient-derived tumor antigen preparations intentionally evoking a very broad polyclonal antitumor immune stimulation