Databases assessed data-bases

Based on the patch method to assess worker or re-entry exposure, researchers have developed a database, which may be used to estimate exposure. Each patch from an individual in a study can be entered into the database separately, the residue data from patches from various body areas can be summed to yield a whole-body exposure number, and the data may be sorted as to worker tasks, equipment used, protective clothing worn, formulation types and other parameters. This is the basis for the currently used Pesticide Handlers Data Base (PHED), which was developed through a joint effort in the 1980s of CropLife America [formerly known as American Crop Protection Association (ACPA) and National Agricultural Chemicals Association (NACA)], the Environmental Protection Agency (ERA) and Health Canada. " The PHED is discussed in detail in another article in this book. 

ATSDR health assessments are based on environmental characterization information, community health concerns, and health outcome data. Because of the nature of these databases, health assessments use quantitative as well as qualitative data, focusing on medical public health and toxicological perspectives associated with exposure to a site. The health assessment specifically addresses community health concerns (e.g., sensitive populations, possible disease outcomes) and evaluates relevant, community-specific health outcome data. Combined with environmental data, information obtained from those two data sources are used to determine the public health implications of the site guiding the initiation of follow-up health activities when indicated. 

The MEPAS shell has elements of a knowledge-based system. The source term, environmental. transport, and exposure assessment data entries build a database of information that can be used to define additional environmental problems. This feature, which was added to simplify evaluation of similar or related problems, will also be useful in the evaluation of remedial action alternatives for site cleanup using a baseline case. Also the knowledge base in the constituent database grows as MEPAS is applied to new constituents. 

SOURCE Office of Technology Assessment, 1993, based on data supplied by Tufts University Center for the Study of Drug Development from its database of NCEs reported by 41 pharmaceutical firms. 

The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 mandated USA EPA to "upgrade its risk assessment process as part of the tolerance setting procedures" (3), The changes to risk assessment were based in part on recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences report (22), The act required an explicit determination that tolerances were safe to children. US EPA was required to use an extra 10-fold safety factor to take into account both pre-/post natal developmental toxicity and the completeness of the database, unless US EPA determined, based on reliable data, that a different margin would be safe. In addition, US EPA must consider available information on 1/ aggregate exposure from all non-occupational sources 2/ effects of cumulative exposure to the pesticide plus others with a common mechanism of toxicity 3/ effects of in utero exposure 4/ the potential for endocrine disrupting effects. 

Specialized techniques known as risk assessment are created as part of the developing science of safety. They are based on the qualitative, quantitative, semi-quantitative and simulation methods, using control and data acquisition as well as computer databases, operating system based on GIS. 

Due to these characteristics, the possibility to build databases of NMR-based metabolic profiles of foodstuffs, in order to assess their quality, is becoming more and more actual [9]. However, when we apply multivariate analysis to our data fields or wish to compare databases obtained by NMR spectroscopy by other researchers, it is very important to consider the source of extrinsic variability originated by the employed experimental conditions, in terms of sample preparation, NMR acquisition parameters, signal-to-noise ratio, NMR spectral pre-treatment, NMR data pre-processing, as well as the strategy for NMR-based metabolomics (for an exhaustive introduction to the reported critical cmicepts see the manual by Axelson [10]). 

Quantitative assessment requires historical data which may be suspect for two reasons. There is the possibility that there are latent accidents not in the database. It is possible that past accidents have been rectified and will not recurr. In the absence of data, judgment based on experience and speculation must be used. Notwithstanding this weakness, the quantitative approach was adopted, d he investigating team identified situations that could cause a number of public casualties. R vents limited to the employees or which might cause single off-site casualties were not included in the assessment. 

Assessments are both initial and ongoing. An initial assessment is made based on objective and subjective data collected when the patient is first seen in a hospital, outpatient clinic, health care provider s office, or other type of health care facility. The initial assessment usually is more thorough and provides a database (sometimes called baseline) from which later data can be compared and decisions made The initial assessment provides information that is analyzed to identify... 

In most studies, phytoestrogen intake has been estimated by direct methods that evaluate food intake either by recall (food-frequency questionnaires -FFQs) or by record (food diary), and subsequently by composition databases based on information of this kind. Food-frequency questionnaires are widely administered to subjects involved in epidemiological studies. Their validity and reproducibility is considered sufficient when statistically correlated to data obtained from dietary records (a properly-completed and comprehensive food diary) and from analysis of blood and urine samples (Kirk et ah, 1999 Huang et al, 2000 Yamamoto et al, 2001 Verkasalo et al, 2001). FFQs can be repeated several times a year and may be administered to large populations. Such an approach provides an easy and low-cost method of assessing the... 

Cochrane Library. The Cochrane Library [44] includes The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, a collection of regularly updated, systematic reviews of the effects of health care. It is maintained by contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration. Cochrane reviews are reviews mainly of randomized controlled trials. To minimize bias, evidence is included or excluded on the basis of explicit quality criteria. Data are often combined statistically, with meta-analysis, to increase the power of the findings of numerous studies, each too small to produce reliable results individually. Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness is also included. It consists of critical assessments and structured abstracts of good systematic reviews published elsewhere. The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register with bibliographic information on controlled trials and other sources of information on the science of reviewing research and evidence-based health care are part of the Cochrane Library. It is commercially available on CD-ROM or the Internet. 

In a study by Andersson et al. [30], the possibilities to use quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models to predict physical chemical and ecotoxico-logical properties of approximately 200 different plastic additives have been assessed. Physical chemical properties were predicted with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Estimation Program Interface (EPI) Suite, Version 3.20. Aquatic ecotoxicity data were calculated by QSAR models in the Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (T.E.S.T.), version 3.3, from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as described by Rahmberg et al. [31]. To evaluate the applicability of the QSAR-based characterization factors, they were compared to experiment-based characterization factors for the same substances taken from the USEtox organics database [32], This was done for 39 plastic additives for which experiment-based characterization factors were already available. 

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