In 1976, Crump, Hoel, Langley, and Peto described how almost any dose‐response relationship for carcinogens becomes linear at low doses when background cancers are taken into account. This has been used, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, USEPA, as partial justification for a regulatory posture that assumes low‐dose linearity, as is illustrated by a discussion of regulation of benzene as a carcinogen. The argument depends critically on the assumption that the pollutant and the background proceed by the same biological mechanism. In this paper we show that the same argument applies to noncancer end points also. We discuss the application to a number of situations: reduction in lung function and consequent increase in death rate due to (particulate) air pollution; reduction in IQ and hence (in extreme cases) mental deficiency due to radiation in utero; reduction of sperm count and hence increase in male infertility due to DBCP exposure. We conclude that, although the biological basis for the health effect response is different, in each case low‐dose linearity might arise from the same mathematical effect discussed by Crump et al. (1976). We then examine other situations and toxic end points where low‐dose linearity might apply by the same argument. We urge that biologists and chemists should concentrate efforts on comparing the biological and pharmacokinetic processes that apply to the pollutant and the background. Finally, we discuss some public policy implications of the possibility that low dose linearity may be the rule rather than the exception for environmental exposures. 相似文献
Based on imperfect data and theory, agencies such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) currently derive “reference doses” (RfDs) to guide risk managers charged with ensuring that human exposures to chemicals are below population thresholds. The RfD for a chemical is typically reported as a single number, even though it is widely acknowledged that there are significant uncertainties inherent in the derivation of this number.
In this article, the authors propose a probabilistic alternative to the EPA's method that expresses the human population threshold as a probability distribution of values (rather than a single RfD value), taking into account the major sources of scientific uncertainty in such estimates. The approach is illustrated using much of the same data that USEPA uses to justify their current RfD procedure.
Like the EPA's approach, our approach recognizes the four key extrapolations that are necessary to define the human population threshold based on animal data: animal to human, human heterogeneity, LOAEL to NOAEL, and subchronic to chronic. Rather than using available data to define point estimates of “uncertainty factors” for these extrapolations, the proposed approach uses available data to define a probability distribution of adjustment factors. These initial characterizations of uncertainty can then be refined when more robust or specific data become available for a particular chemical or class of chemicals.
Quantitative characterization of uncertainty in noncancer risk assessment will be useful to risk managers who face complex trade-offs between control costs and protection of public health. The new approach can help decision-makers understand how much extra control cost must be expended to achieve a specified increase in confidence that the human population threshold is not being exceeded. 相似文献
H+-ATPase activity of a plasma membrane-enriched fraction decreased after the treatment of barley (Hordeum vulgare) seedlings with Al for 5 days. A remarkably high level of Al was found in the membrane fraction of Al-treated roots. A long-term effect of Al was identified as the repression of the H+-ATPase of plasma membranes isolated from the roots of barley and wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivars, Atlas 66 (Al-tolerant) and Scout 66 (Al-sensitive). To monitor short-term effects of Al, the electrical membrane potentials across plasma membranes of both wheat cultivars were compared indirectly by measuring the efflux of K+ for 40 min under various conditions. The rate of efflux of K+ in Scout was twice that in Atlas at low pH values such as 4.2. Vanadate, an inhibitor of the H+-ATPase of the plasma membrane, increased the efflux of K+. Al repressed this efflux at low pH, probably through an effect on K+ channels, and repression was more pronounced in Scout. Al strongly repressed the efflux of K+ irrespective of the presence of vanadate. Ca2+ also had a repressive effect on the efflux of K+ at low pH. The effect of Ca2+, greater in Scout, might be related to the regulation of the net influx of H+, since the effect was negated by vanadate. The results suggest that extracellular low pH may cause an increase in the influx of H+, which in turn is counteracted by the efflux of K+ and H+. These results suggest that the ability to maintain the integrity of the plasma membrane and the ability to recover the electrical balance at the plasma membrane through a net influx of H+ and the efflux of K+ seem to participate in the mechanism of tolerance to Al stress under acidic conditions. 相似文献
In acid volcanic soils, plant roots are thought to be injured by acidity (low pH) and/or solubilized aluminium (Al) ions. An attempt was made to separate the effects of low pH from those of Al on the elongation and viability of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) radicles in water culture. Root elongation was irreversively curtailed by 20 hours treatment at pH 4.0 without Al or 20 mmol m-3 Al at pH 5.0. Viability of surface cells of root tips was detected as a degrading activity of fluorescein diacetate (FDA) by cellular esterases and subsequent accumulation of derived fluorescein within cells. Large numbers of the surface cells lost their viability after four hours exposure at the low pH. In contrast, surface cells maintained both FDA degrading activity and ability to accumulate fluorescein 20 h after initial exposure to the Al solution (20 mmol Al m-3, pH 5.0). These results suggest that there are some significant differences in the mechanisms of phytotoxicity to alfalfa root between the two stress factors. 相似文献
This report describes the effect of different dose levels of infection upon worm burdens and development and fecundity of the parasites. Three groups each of 40, 9-week-old, helminth naïve pigs were inoculated once with either 2000 (group A), 20,000 (group B), or 200,000 (group C) infective third stage larvae of Oesophagostomum dentatum. Subgroups of 5 pigs from each major group were killed 3, 6, 11, 14, 18, 25, 34 and 47 days post inoculation (p.i.) and the large intestinal worm burdens were determined. Faecal egg counts were determined at frequent intervals after day 13 p.i. There were no overt clinical signs of gastrointestinal helminthosis during the experiment. Faecal egg counts became positive in groups A and B at around day 19 p.i., whereas most pigs in the high dose group C did not have positive egg counts until day 27–33 p.i. and some pigs remained with zero egg counts until the end of the study. Throughout the experiment the worm populations in group C consisted mainly of immature larval stages, while those in groups A and B were predominantly adult stages after days 14–18. Adult worms from the low dose group A were significantly longer than those from group C. At high population densities, stunted development of worms and reduced fecundity among female worms were found. Furthermore, there was a tendency for the distribution of the worms within the intestine to be altered with increasing population size. 相似文献
A novel heptacoordinating ligand consisting of a thirteen-membered tetraazamacrocycle containing the pyridine ring and bearing
three methylenephosphonate groups (PCTP-[13]) has been synthesized. Its Gd(III) complex displays a remarkably high longitudinal
water proton relaxivity (7.7 mM–1 s–1 at 25 °C, 20 MHz and pH 7.5) which has been accounted for in terms of contributions arising from (1) one water molecule
bound to the metal ion, (2) hydrogen-bonded water molecules in the second coordination sphere, or (3) water molecules diffusing
near the paramagnetic chelate. Variable-temperature 17O-NMR transverse relaxation data indicate that the residence lifetime of the metal-bound water molecule is very short (8.0 ns
at 25 °C) with respect to the Gd(III) complexes currently considered as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. Furthermore,
GdPCTP-[13] interacts with human serum albumin (HSA), likely through electrostatic forces. By comparing water proton relaxivity
data for the GdPCTP-[13]-HSA adduct, measured as a function of temperature and magnetic field strength, with those for the
analogous adduct with GdDOTP (a twelve-membered tetraaza macrocyclic tetramethylenephosphonate complex lacking a metal-bound
water molecule), it has been possible to propose a general picture accounting for the main determinants of the relaxation
enhancement observed when a paramagnetic Gd(III) complex is bound to HSA. Basically, the relaxation enhancement in these systems
arises from (1) water molecules in the hydration shell of the macromolecule and protein exchangeable protons which lie close
to the interaction site of the paramagnetic complex and (2) the metal bound water molecule(s). As far as the latter contribution
is concerned, the interaction with the protein causes an elongation of the residence lifetime of the metal-bound water molecule,
which limits, to some extent, the potential relaxivity enhancement expected upon the binding of the paramagnetic complex to
HSA.
Received: 27 January 1997 / Accepted: 12 May 1997 相似文献