Toxicology letters
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Review Historical Article
Generally recognized as safe (GRAS): history and description.
Generally recognized as safe (GRAS), a system for review and approval of ingredients for addition to food, was conceived at a time when the need for a less doctrinaire review of food ingredients was critical. The GRAS approval process for a food ingredient relies on the judgment of "...experts qualified by scientific training and experience to evaluate its safety..." the end product of which is no better or worse than that by FDA, but often more expeditious. The process and requirements for a successful GRAS determination are discussed and compared with that of the food additive petition (FAP) process. The future of the GRAS process is assured by its history of successful performance, bringing safe food ingredients to the consumer in a timely manner.
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Comparative Study
Comparative chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity of acrylonitrile by drinking water and oral intubation to Spartan Sprague-Dawley rats.
Groups of 100 male and 100 female Spartan Sprague-Dawley rats were administered lifetime oral doses of Acrylonitrile (AN) by one of two routes of dosing, either at 0.1 or 10 mg/kg per day, 7 day per week by intubation or continually at 1 or 100 ppm AN in their drinking water. The doses selected were designed to approximate the same daily intake of AN in each of two separate studies, whether by a single bolus dose (intubation) or a more continuous dosing regimen in drinking water. Each study had its own untreated control group of 100 rats per sex. ⋯ The results of this study indicate a consistent spectrum of neoplastic and non-neoplastic effects produced by AN in the same rat strain, whether administered orally by bolus or by continuous dosing in the drinking water. While the spectrum of tumors and target organ toxicity produced was similar, bolus dosing clearly increased tumors associated with the gastrointestinal tract. Neoplasms found in several other tissues were most prominently displayed in groups of more continuously dosed rats.
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There has been a significant evolution in the clinical management of the poisoned patient over the last decade. Interventions that were once the cornerstone of treating the poisoned patient have become passé or have come under intense scrutiny. The advent of evidence-based medicine has forced clinical scientists to re-evaluate standard therapies. ⋯ Very few antidotes, however, are used on a consistent basis in the management of poisoned victims. The indiscriminate use of antidotes may even be harmful to the patient and incur an inordinate expense. In addition to the commonly known antidotes N-acetylcysteine (acetaminophen, paracetamol), naloxone (opioids) and flumazenil (benzodiazepines), new antidotes include fomepizole to treat ethylene glycol and methanol poisoning and Crotalidae Polyvalent Immune Fab (Ovine) for pit viper envenomation.
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A number of the autoimmune rheumatic diseases are associated with environmental factors, drugs and chemicals. The often non-specific presentation of these diseases makes early diagnosis difficult. The availability of serological markers such as autoantibodies improves diagnostic ability when taken in context with the presenting clinical features. This review focuses on some of the major autoimmune rheumatic diseases and their associated autoantibody markers.