Inhaled substances can modify behavior by their toxic action, or because they are discriminable events, or because they can support or suppress behavior. They can be used as discriminative stimuli at concentrations above the olfactory threshold. Inhalants can elicit unconditioned reflexes. As aversive stimuli, they can be studied in respondent conditioning experiments (e.g. conditioned suppress...

The emerging field of toxicoproteomics has been greatly advanced by quantitative proteomic technologies and their increasing applications in toxicology. The discipline is focused on the proteomic study of toxicity caused by toxic substances, including but not limited to drugs, toxins, environmental stressors, chemicals and any other materials that induce significant pathological responses. Drug...

The purpose of this review of literature is to examine the association of phthalate exposure with development. Phthalates are chemical compounds used in poly-vinyl chloride, PVC; vinyl flooring, cosmetics, shampoo, air fresheners, soft plastic items, intravenous tubing, food packaging and wraps, textiles, paints, cleaning products and detergents. The effects of phthalates on fetuses, newborns, ...

Several accidental events that occurred in chemical and process plants in the last decades evidenced that floods may cause severe damages to process plants and storage sites, resulting in multiple and extended releases of hazardous substances. Moreover, besides conventional release scenarios (fires, explosions and toxic clouds), floods may cause two further critical events: significant environm...

Heavy metal contamination is one of the major concerns to human health because these substances are toxic and retained by the ecological system. Therefore, in recent years, there has been a pressing need for fast and reliable methods for the analysis of heavy metal ions in environmental and biological samples. Quantum dots (QDs) have facilitated the development of sensitive sensors over the pas...

Explosives materials are stable in soil and recalcitrant to biodegradation. Different authors report that TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene), RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) and HMX (octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine) are toxic, but most investigations have been performed in artificial soil with individual substances. The aim of the presented research was to assess the tox...

Exact definition of basic concepts and terms is of paramount importance to the question of maximal allowable concentrations of toxic substances in industrial atmospheres. The differences existing in various countries are often due to differences in the interpretation of basic concepts. Mutual agreement on the question of basic concepts will facilitate a rapprochement of points of view, and, per...

festival in Wakayama prefecture, Japan, was laced with an arsenic compound. In the following month, a case was reported in Niigata prefecture in which sodium azide was added to a pot of tea. Subsequently, there was a series of cases involving the poisoning of tea or fruit juice across Japan, which caused health problems in many citizens and were fatal to others. The Japanese Ministry of Health,...

The widespread chemical contamination of the earth’s air, food, and water with its effects on various biological systems has been described in nearly 5,000 scientific articles. At present, chemical sensitivity can be defined as an adverse reaction to ambient levels of toxic chemicals, which are generally accepted as being "subtoxic," in environmental air (home and public buildings), food, and w...

The countries of Eastern and Central Europe have emerged from a political system which, for decades, has disregarded any safeguards to human health from the deleterious effects of hazardous substances. Rapid industrialization without any bona fide environmental regulatory controls has placed enormous stress on these countries. The societal and economic costs associated with human health effects...