Review of Generic Scenario Environmental Release and Occupational Exposure Models Used in Chemical Risk Assessment

Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is required to determine whether a new chemical substance poses an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment before the chemical is manufactured in or imported into the United States. This manuscript provides a review of the process used to evaluate the risk associated with a chemical based on the scenarios and models used in the evaluation. Specifically, the Generic Scenarios and Emission Scenario Documents developed by the USEPA were reviewed, along with background documentation prepared by USEPA to identify the core elements of the environmental release and occupational exposure scenarios used to assess the risk of the chemical being evaluated. Additionally, this contribution provides an overview of methods used to model occupational exposures and environmental releases as part of the chemical evaluation process used in other jurisdictions, along with work being performed to improve these models. Finally, the alternative methods to evaluate occupational exposures and environmental releases that may be used as part of the decision-making process regarding a chemical are identified. The contribution provides a path forward for reducing the time required and improving the chemical evaluation of the unreasonable risk determination regarding the manufacture or import of a chemical

Special Issue of ICETETS 2014 -Held on 24-25 February

Abstract The survey conducted recently reckons that by the year 2010 more than 10 billion wireless sensors have been deployed for various applications, as diverse as environmental monitoring, agricultural monitoring, machine health monitoring, surveillance, and medical monitoring. These networks connect the physical world with the digital world and provide us a better understanding of controlling our surroundings. Advances in wireless sensor network technology has lead to the availability of small and less cost sensor nodes which have the capability of sensing different types of physical and earthly conditions, data processing and wireless communications. Various sensing capabilities results in profusion of application area. Many routing, power management, and data dissemination protocols have been specifically designed for WSNs. We would like to highlight the strengths and performance issues of each routing technique and conclude the paper by bringing to your notice the possible future research areas

Enhancing the Security And Authenticity of Insurance Claims Using Blockchain Technology

"Blockchain technology allows digital information to be distributed but not copied, by creating the backbone to a new type of internet". Firstly, it was used for the Bitcoin, digital currency, now the technological community is finding more challenging uses for the blockchain technology. The objective of this poster is to make use of blockchain technology for insurance industries by analyzing its challenges and how blockchain technology can overcome them

Membrane transporters in the bioproduction of organic acids: state of the art and future perspectives for industrial applications

Organic acids such as monocarboxylic acids, dicarboxylic acids or even more complex molecules such as sugar acids, have displayed great applicability in the industry as these compounds are used as platform chemicals for polymer, food, agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors. Chemical synthesis of these compounds from petroleum derivatives is currently their major source of production. However, increasing environmental concerns have prompted the production of organic acids by microorganisms. The current trend is the exploitation of industrial biowastes to sustain microbial cell growth and valorize biomass conversion into organic acids. One of the major bottlenecks for the efficient and cost-effective bioproduction is the export of organic acids through the microbial plasma membrane. Membrane transporter proteins are crucial elements for the optimization of substrate import and final product export. Several transporters have been expressed in organic acid-producing species, resulting in increased final product titers in the extracellular medium and higher productivity levels. In this review, the state of the art of plasma membrane transport of organic acids is presented, along with the implications for industrial biotechnology.This work was supported by the strategic programme UID/BIA/04050/2019 funded by Portuguese fundsthrough the FCT I.P., and the projects: PTDC/BIAMIC/5184/2014, funded by national funds through the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) I.P. and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE 2020-Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI), and EcoAgriFood: Innovative green products and processes to promote AgriFood BioEconomy (operacao NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000009), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). DR acknowledges FCT for the SFRH/BD/96166/2013 PhD grant. MSS acknowledges the Norte2020 for the UMINHO/BD/25/2016 PhD grant with the reference NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000060. TR acknowledges Yeastdoc European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 764927

Understanding Juvenile Arthritis: The Role of MicroRNAs

By Divya Takkellapati, Biological Sciences Advisor: Grant Schulert Presentation ID: PM_D17 Abstract: MicroRNAs are small, noncoding RNAs with a powerful function: they can control which genes are ultimately expressed in the body. One group of microRNAs, the miR-17-92 cluster, has already been widely studied for its role in cancer. Interestingly, several members of miR-17-92 are highly expressed in immune cells called monocytes from patients with active Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (SJIA). SJIA is a chronic autoinflammatory disease in children; monocytes and their mature counterparts called macrophages are thought to be important in its pathogenesis. To determine the potential role of miR-17-92 in SJIA, I first measured miR-17-92 levels in monocytes and macrophages under various conditions. Then, I overexpressed miR-17-92 in monocytes and analyzed transcriptome sequencing data. I found the most sizable changes in miR-17-92 levels during the transition from monocyte to macrophage; 2-day old partially differentiated monocytes had slightly higher levels, while fully differentiated 7-day old macrophages had lower levels. Additionally, miR-17-92 overexpression resulted in increased expression of key inflammatory genes, including many involved in Type I and II interferon pathways. Taken together, SJIA monocytes may have a slightly more differentiated or mature phenotype, resulting in increased miR-17-92 and thus increased inflammatory characteristics