Wk 1 Exposure Assess/toxicol/epi Flashcards
Define exposure assessment
- Determination or estimation-of the magnitude, frequency, duration, and route of exposure
- Characterization of the exposed population
- Characterization of uncertainty
Define exposure science
The study of human contact with chemical, physical, or biological agents occurring in their environments.
List goals of an exposure assessment
- Understand the role of environmental exposures in the etiology of disease
- Support risk assessment (do those with higher exposure have greater disease)
- identifying characterize susceptible populations (children, those that live near a factory/chemical plant)
- tracking of environmental exposures
Define exposure
Concentration of an agent at the external boundary of the human system (levels before entering body)
Examples: concentration of lead in air, concentration of benzo[a]pyrene in grilled steak
Define dose
Amount of chemical that crosses barrier and is deposited in the body.
(Inside body)
Examples: blood level, benzoapyrene-albumin adduct, concentration of dioxin in breast milk
Define agent
Any chemical, biological, or physical material capable of eliciting a biological response (radon, pesticide)
Define vector and give examples
Medium in which agent is found (air, soil, water, food)
Define route
Path by which chemical crosses the barrier between external and internal to the body-goes from an exposure to a dose (ingestion, inhalation, Dermal)
Important questions to ask when assessing exposure?
Who’s exposed? (workers, elderly, children)
What is the route of exposure? Exposure curve breaking hair, drinking water, dermal contact, congestion?
What is the magnitude of exposure?
What is the frequency and duration of exposure?
Populations at higher risk when exposed?
Workers
Child
Infant
Elderly
Someone with underlying disease
Pregnant women
Vectors in routes of exposure for human being?
Air-lungs
Food-G.I. tract
Soil-G.I. tract, skin
Water-G.I. tract, skin
List exposure assessment methods
Questionnaires
Interviews
Time activity diaries
Environmental measures-air monitoring, drinking water measurements, soil samples, duplicate diet
Biological monitoring
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of different exposure assessment methods
Questionnairs-can introduce recall bias, but the low-cost
Interviewers-sometimes recall bias, if well-trained can eliminate a lot of recall bias
Time-activity diaries-in accurate reporting, greater detail
Environmental measures-more accurate, but uncertainty of how much each person was exposed
Biological monitoring-accurate, people and willing to give sample- privacy , things may shop in the blood that they were exposed to from a different source
Explain “the dose makes the poison”
“I’ll substances are poisons; there is none that is not a poison. The right dose differentiates between the poison and remedy.” -Paracelsus
Define toxicology
The study of adverse effects of agents on living organisms
Define environmental toxicology
Study of how environmental exposures present risks to humans and ecosystems
Define dose
The amount of agent actually deposited within the body
Define response
Reaction or health effect occurring in an organism after exposure to environmental agent
Define a Xenobiotic
Foreign material