Mysuru: Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE) under its third Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) programme will organize a 10-day course on 'fate and transport of contamina

Diabetes and obesity are major threats to public health in the US and abroad. Understanding the role chemicals in our environment play in the development of these conditions is an emerging issue in environmental health, although identifying and prioritizing chemicals for testing beyond those already implicated in the literature is a challenge.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs Programme identifies chemicals, drugs, mixtures, occupational exposures, lifestyles and personal habits, and physical and biological agents that cause cancer in humans and has evaluated about 1000 agents since 1971. Monographs are written by ad hoc Working Groups (WGs) of international scientific experts over a period of about 12 months ending in an eight-day meeting.

The aim of the present study is to investigate LC50 values in three seasons of TBTO on L. marginalis. The active substance TBT is highly toxic damaging to non target species. The bivalves have been bioindicators to determine aquatic pollution status. The adverse effect of Tributyltin oxide has been studied on freshwater bivalve mollusk Lamellidens marginalis in summer, monsoon and winter season during June 2014–may 2015. To evaluate the median lethal concentration of TBTO, bioassay was performed in all seasons on fresh water bivalve for 24hr, 48hr, 72hr and 96 hrs.

A method for the determination of 200 pesticides and pesticide metabolites in honeybee samples has been developed and validated. Almost 98% of compounds included in this method are approved to use within European Union, as active substances of plant protection products or veterinary medicinal products used by beekeepers to control mites Varroa destructor in hives. Many significant metabolites, like metabolites of imidacloprid, thiacloprid, fipronil, methiocarb and amitraz, are also possible to detect.

European governments have banned the use of three common neonicotinoid pesticides due to insufficiently identified risks to bees. This policy decision is controversial given the absence of clear consistency between toxicity assessments of those substances in the laboratory and in the field. Although laboratory trials report deleterious effects in honeybees at trace levels, field surveys reveal no decrease in the performance of honeybee colonies in the vicinity of treated fields.

Children’s toys are made of artificial material often softened by phthalates. These are synthetic compounds added to PVC as plasticizers for the purpose of improving its elasticity and flexibility. Phthalates can endanger the health of children exposed to their effect by inducing reproductive, hormonal and developmental disorders. The goal of the present study was to determine phthalate presence in children’s toys and childcare articles from different sources sold in different areas in Croatia in 2012 and 2013.

Growing food in unconventional systems such as those using irrigation with domestic wastewater and the use of potentially toxic waste has generated resistance from producers and consumers. Here, we evaluate the possible physical and biochemical damage to Swiss mice fed for 13 weeks with corn produced in soil containing tannery sludge vermicompost and irrigated with wastewater from domestic sewage.

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The study monitored the toxicity of environmentally relevant concentration of pesticides and metals in zebra fish Danio rerio. Zebra fish were exposed to environmentally relevant concentration of pesticides and metals for a period of 14 days. The individual and the combined toxicity of pesticides and metals were evaluated. The pesticides and metals treated groups showed histopathological alterations in the muscle, liver and gill tissues. Significant alterations were seen in liver and gill compared to muscle tissue.

Several studies suggest that exposure to organophosphate insecticides (OP) during pregnancy impairs neurodevelopment in children. The researchers evaluated associations between biomarkers of prenatal and postnatal OP exposure and cognitive function of 6-year-olds in a French longitudinal birth cohort.

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