Innovative tools suitable for chemical risk assessment are being developed in numerous domains, such as non-target chemical analysis, omics, and computational approaches. These methods will also be critical components in an efficient early warning system (EWS) for the identification of potentially hazardous chemicals. Much knowledge is missing for current use chemicals and thus computational methodologies complemented with fast screening techniques will be critical.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are chemicals that can interfere with homeostatic processes. They are a major concern for public health, and they can cause adverse long-term effects such as cancer, intellectual impairment, obesity, diabetes, and male infertility. The endocrine system is a complex machinery, with the estrogen (E), androgen (A), and thyroid hormone (T) modes of action being of major importance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug development is a long and costly process, often limited by the toxicity and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) caused by drug candidates. Even on the market, some drugs can cause strong ADRs that can vary depending on an individual polymorphism. The development of Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) allowed the discovery of genetic variants of interest that may cause these effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe sense of smell is a biological process involving volatile molecules that interact with proteins called olfactory receptors to transmit a nervous message that allows the recognition of a perceived odor. However, the relationships between odorant molecules, olfactory receptors and odors (O3) are far from being well understood due to the combinatorial olfactory codes and large family of olfactory receptors. This is the reason why, based on 5802 odorant molecules and their annotations to 863 olfactory receptors (human) and 7029 odors and flavors annotations, a web server called Pred-O3 has been designed to provide insights into olfaction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) concept facilitates rapid hazard assessment for human health risks. AOPs are constantly evolving, their number is growing, and they are referenced in the AOP-Wiki database, which is supported by the OECD. Here, we present a study that aims at identifying well-defined biological areas, as well as gaps within the AOP-Wiki for future research needs.
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