Página web orientada a la evaluación “in silico” de nuevas sustancias con interés biológico IV

Depto. de Química en Ciencias FarmacéuticasFac. de FarmaciaFALSEsubmitte

Página web orientada a la evaluación “in silico” de nuevas sustancias con interés biológico. Parte II

Sección Deptal. de Farmacología y Toxicología (Veterinaria)Fac. de VeterinariaFALSEsubmitte

Different Roles and Viewpoints of Scientific Experts in Advising on Environmental Health Risks

Environmental health risks are often complex, largescale, and uncertain. The uncertainties inherent in these problems permit differences among experts in the appraisal of risks. This raises the question of whether different expert roles exist and, if so, how this affects the policy advice that is given. Here, we present a pilot study of the different roles and viewpoints that can be discerned among scientific experts in the Netherlands. Q methodology was used to empirically explore existing theoretical treatises on different expert roles. In total, 26 electromag­netic field (EMF) experts and 21 particulate matter (PM) experts participated. The responses were analyzed separately for EMF and PM respondents using Q factor analysis. In both the EMF and PM domain, three different expert roles were identified. This suggests that particular expert roles depend on the specific environmental health risk. The results indicate that different expert roles exist among scientists who provide policy advice on environmental health risks. This empirical study adds new data and insights to the literature on expert roles. The results of this study are relevant for the selection and composition of expert committees and the interpretation of expert advice

Toxicity induced by chemical warfare agents: Insights on the protective role of melatonin

Chemical Warfare Agents (CWAs) are substances that can be used to kill, injure or incapacitate an enemy in warfare, but also against civilian population in terrorist attacks. Many chemical agents are able to generate free radicals and derived reactants, excitotoxicity process, or inflammation, and as consequence they can cause neurological symptoms and damage in different organs. Nowadays, taking into account that total immediate decontamination after exposure is difficult to achieve and there are not completely effective antidotes and treatments against all CWAs, we advance and propose that medical countermeasures against CWAs poisoning would benefit from a broad-spectrum multipotent molecule. Melatonin, a versatile and ubiquitous antioxidant molecule, originally discovered as a hormone synthesized mainly in the pineal gland, has low toxicity and high efficacy in reducing oxidative damage, anti-inflammatory effects by regulation of multiple cellular pathways and properties to prevent excitotoxicity, among others. The purpose of this review is to show the multiple and diverse properties of melatonin, as a pleiotropic indole derivative, and its marked potential for improving human health against the most widely used chemical weapons.Peer Reviewe

Toxicity induced by chemical warfare agents: Insights on the protective role of melatonin

Chemical Warfare Agents (CWAs) are substances that can be used to kill, injure or incapacitate an enemy in warfare, but also against civilian population in terrorist attacks. Many chemical agents are able to generate free radicals and derived reactants, excitotoxicity process, or inflammation, and as consequence they can cause neurological symptoms and damage in different organs. Nowadays, taking into account that total immediate decontamination after exposure is difficult to achieve and there are not completely effective antidotes and treatments against all CWAs, we advance and propose that medical countermeasures against CWAs poisoning would benefit from a broad-spectrum multipotent molecule. Melatonin, a versatile and ubiquitous antioxidant molecule, originally discovered as a hormone synthesized mainly in the pineal gland, has low toxicity and high efficacy in reducing oxidative damage, anti-inflammatory effects by regulation of multiple cellular pathways and properties to prevent excitotoxicity, among others. The purpose of this review is to show the multiple and diverse properties of melatonin, as a pleiotropic indole derivative, and its marked potential for improving human health against the most widely used chemical weapons.Peer Reviewe

Página web orientada a la evaluación in silico de nuevas sustancias con interés biológico (parte V)

Sección Deptal. de Farmacología y Toxicología (Veterinaria)Fac. de VeterinariaFALSEsubmitte

Melatonin as potential candidate to prevent the toxicity induced by chemical warfare agents

Peer Reviewe

Economic valuation of water services related to protected forest management: a case of Bukit Batabuh in the RIMBA corridor, Central Sumatra, Indonesia

The context of daily household needs of rural communities, particularly the needs for water, often remains insufficiently considered in tropical forest management as it is facing an important decision-making trade-off between profit and preservation. We conducted a choice experiment study to elicit preferences of the rural community members in Central Sumatra, Indonesia, who perpetually depend on the ecosystem services of tropical forests. To inform a spatial planning policy for the protected forest, we focus on the valuation of water services in the protected forest area of Bukit Batabuh where the surrounding communities living rely on upstream watershed and water storage management. We find that those communities have a strict preference for improving forest water provisioning services, compared to the current situation (status quo), with the estimated aggregate benefit of non-commercial use ranging between USD 2.71 million and USD 2.47 million per year for each of the options of (1) maintaining and enhancing water storage, (2) rehabilitating forest in the upper watershed or (3) restoring the riparian forest. This study also identifies preference attributes, such as water storage capacity, water scarcity and water turbidity which can be used in other tropical landscape contexts in Indonesia and beyond

CLINICAL ASPECTS OF THE POISONING BY THE PESTICIDE ENDOSULFAN

Endosulfan is an organochlorine insecticide, widely used in insect control. Unfortunately, it is also an acute neurotoxic compound to both insects and mammals, including humans, and has been responsible for many severe poisonings and several fatal cases. Endosulfan also imitates or enhances the effect of the female hormone estrogen, having the capability of causing reproductive and developmental damage in both, animals and humans, and its exposure has been linked to liver tissue injury. This persistent lipophilic compound is one of the most abundant organochlorine pesticides in the environment, capable of undergoing long range transport to remote locations such as the Arctic. It is practically water-insoluble, but readily adheres to clay particles and persists in soil and water for several years. Its indiscriminate and injudicious use in the control of insects on a wide range of agricultural products and in the extermination of house-hold pests, has considerably increased the hazard risk for human health. Also, this compound has a high fatality rate in humans when ingested accidentally, from food or water contaminated, or in suicidal cases. The aim of this article is to review and summarize chemical, biochemical, environmental, and toxicological data of endosulfan and draw attention to its toxicological potential risk to human health