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The in vivo genotoxic potential of bisphenol A using the comet assay in mice and in human sperm cells in vitro without metabolizing enzymes was studied. Male mice were exposed by oral gavage to the following doses of bisphenol A (0 125, 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight). DNA damage was investigated in liver, kidney, testes, urinary bladder, colon and lungs cells. In testicular cells, a significant increase in DNA strand breaks was observed in the lowest, but not in the medium or highest dose groups. Histopathological investigation of the testicular samples did not show any treatment dose-related effects. No DNA strand breaks were observed in any of the other investigated tissues. In human sperm cells in vitro, bisphenol A did not induce DNA strand breaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• RCC reduction techniques in the houses like load bearing constructions address EW. • Exposed brick masonry and speedy constructions boost EW management. • Steel, cement, and brick are not the prime-most embodied water consumers. • The results seek attention as it finds embodied and operational water almost equal. • Energy related embodied water is negligible in post material production phase. • The study identifies various EW impacting parameters much beyond A+D only. The study assesses the embodied water (EW) of conventional masonry houses in Jammu, India. The research uses material inventory, site investigations, and hybrid EW coefficients in the hybrid process-based ISO 14046 LCA study. It carries improvised system boundary analysis to infer the disaggregated, aggregated results using descriptive statistics (frequency analysis) and regression. The study finds high aggregated EW at 43.7 KL/m2 with materials EW (EW MAT.), in-direct water (IDW), and direct water (DW) components of 51.26%, 40.34%, and 8.38%. The study infers (i) EW is equally important (97%) as the operational water, (ii) sand, aggregates, DW, and finishing materials impact EW more than typical cement, brick, and steel (iii) The unprioritized labor meals and DW are significant and seeks construction management (iv) off-site (pre-cast) construction, and transportation is not a barrier to EW as energy-related EW is negligible. The results identify EW as a multi-faceted issue requiring a collaborative stakeholders' approach than Architecture + Design (A+D) and construction optimizations. The analysis implies the importance of load-bearing constructions in low-rise houses, exposed masonry, alternatives to wall finishes and aggregates, adaptive reuse, and RCC reduction-based A+D. The four houses based solitary study breakthrough a canvas of issues to capitalize EW agenda further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in vivo Comet assay is a sensitive method for evaluating DNA damage. A recurrent concern is how to analyze the data appropriately and efficiently. A popular approach is to summarize the raw data into a summary statistic prior to the statistical analysis. However, consensus on which summary statistic to use has yet to be reached. Another important consideration concerns the assessment of proper sample sizes in the design of Comet assay studies. This study aims to identify a statistic suitably summarizing the % tail DNA of mice testicular samples in Comet assay studies. A second aim is to provide curves for this statistic outlining the number of animals and gels to use. The current study was based on 11 compounds administered via oral gavage in three doses to male mice: CAS no. 110-26-9, CAS no. 512-56-1, CAS no. 111873-33-7, CAS no. 79-94-7, CAS no. 115-96-8, CAS no. 598-55-0, CAS no. 636-97-5, CAS no. 85-28-9, CAS no. 13674-87-8, CAS no. 43100-38-5 and CAS no. 60965-26-6. Testicular cells were examined using the alkaline version of the Comet assay and the DNA damage was quantified as % tail DNA using a fully automatic scoring system. From the raw data 23 summary statistics were examined. A linear mixed-effects model was fitted to the summarized data and the estimated variance components were used to generate power curves as a function of sample size. The statistic that most appropriately summarized the within-sample distributions was the median of the log-transformed data, as it most consistently conformed to the assumptions of the statistical model. Power curves for 1.5-, 2-, and 2.5-fold changes of the highest dose group compared to the control group when 50 and 100 cells were scored per gel are provided to aid in the design of future Comet assay studies on testicular cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive literature search to identify and collect studies related to the toxicity of grayanotoxins and 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (5‐HMF) was performed in the three databases PubMed, Web of Science and SciFinder® for six and four Areas, respectively. After combination of the searches from the three databases and removal of the duplicates, the total number of references for the grayanotoxins was 652 and for 5‐HMF Area 1b was 3,862, for Area 2b was 37, for Area 3b was 221 and for Area 4b was 500. The evaluation of all retrieved references for relevance by screening the title and abstract (if available) and applying eligibility criteria (inclusion/exclusion) resulted in a total number of relevant references for the grayanotoxins for Area 1a of 71, for Area 2a of 3, for Area 3a of 5, for Area 4a of 75, for Area 5a of 141, and for Area 6a of 78 and for 5‐HMF for Area 1b of 55, for Area 2b of 14, for Area 3b of 15 and for Area 4b of 8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive literature search to identify and collect studies related to the toxicity of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and brominated phenols (BPs) was performed in the three databases PubMed, Web of Science and SciFinder® for four Areas. After combination of the searches from the three databases and removal of the duplicates, the total number of references for Area 1 was 6,231, for Area 2 was 8,236, for Area 3 was 4,994 and for Area 4 was 6,363. The evaluation of all retrieved references for relevance by screening the title and abstract (if available) and applying eligibility criteria (inclusion/exclusion) resulted in a total number of relevant references for Area 1 of 378 (PBDEs), 46 (TBBPA) and 29 (BPs), for Area 2 of 188 (PBDEs), 37 (TBBPA) and 4 (BPs), for Area 3 of 518 (PBDEs), 180 (TBBPA) and 49 (BPs), and for Area 4 of 717 (PBDEs), 59 (TBBPA) and 18 (BPs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While regulatory requirements for carcinogenicity testing of chemicals vary according to product sector and regulatory jurisdiction, the standard approach starts with a battery of genotoxicity tests (which include mutagenicity assays). If any of the in vivo genotoxicity tests are positive, a lifetime rodent cancer bioassay may be requested, but under most chemical regulations (except plant protection, biocides, pharmaceuticals), this is rare. The decision to conduct further testing based on genotoxicity test outcomes creates a regulatory gap for the identification of non-genotoxic carcinogens (NGTxC). With the objective of addressing this gap, in 2016, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) established an expert group to develop an integrated approach to the testing and assessment (IATA) of NGTxC. Through that work, a definition of NGTxC in a regulatory context was agreed. Using the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) concept, various cancer models were developed, and overarching mechanisms and modes of action were identified. After further refining and structuring with respect to the common hallmarks of cancer and knowing that NGTxC act through a large variety of specific mechanisms, with cell proliferation commonly being a unifying element, it became evident that a panel of tests covering multiple biological traits will be needed to populate the IATA. Consequently, in addition to literature and database investigation, the OECD opened a call for relevant assays in 2018 to receive suggestions. Here, we report on the definition of NGTxC, on the development of the overarching NGTxC IATA, and on the development of ranking parameters to evaluate the assays. Ultimately the intent is to select the best scoring assays for integration in an NGTxC IATA to better identify carcinogens and reduce public health hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive literature search to identify and collect all studies related to fumonisins and their modified forms was performed in the two databases PubMed and Web of Science for nine Areas. After combination of the searches from the two databases and removal of the duplicates, the total number of hits for Area 1 was 4456, for Area 2 was 2261, for Area 3 was 1649, for Area 4 was 3555, for Area 5 was 1632, for Area 6 was 2424, for Area 7 was 5087, for Area 8 was 3284, and for Area 9 was 3283. The evaluation of all retrieved references for relevance by screening the title and abstract (if available) and applying eligibility criteria (inclusion/exclusion) resulted in a total number of relevant references for Area 1 of 532, for Area 2 of 114, for Area 3 of 273, for Area 4 of 87, for Area 5 of 138, for Area 6 of 38, for Area 7 of 270, for Area 8 of 709, and for Area 9 of 270. This publication is linked to the following EFSA Journal article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5172/full [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]