Home
|
About this site / SAC |About
EHRF |Contact
Us
Glossary of Terms and Concepts Associated with Biomonitoring
A
| B | C | D | E
| F | G | H | I
| J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R |
S | T
| U | V | W |
X | Y | Z
Primary Source: National Library of Medicine (NLM) Toxicology Glossary
A
absorption (biological): Process of active or passive transport
of a substance into an organism: in the case of a mammal, such as a human
being, this is usually through the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, or skin.
acute: Short-term, in relation to exposure or effect.
In experimental toxicology, "acute" refers to studies of two
weeks or less in duration (often less than 24 h).
adverse effect: Change in morphology, physiology, growth, development or lifespan of an organism that results in impairment of functional capacity or impairment of capacity to compensate for additional stress or that results in an increase in susceptibility to the harmful effects of other environmental influences.
B
bioaccumulation: Progressive increase in the amount of a substance
in an organism or part of an organism that occurs because the rate of
intake exceeds the organism's ability to remove the substance from the
body.
PARTIAL SYNONYM bioconcentration.
bioavailability: Extent to which a substance to
which the body is exposed (by ingestion, inhalation, injection, or skin
contact) reaches the systemic circulation, and the rate at which this
occurs.
EXACT SYNONYM biological availability, physiological availability.
bioconcentration: Process leading to a higher concentration
of a substance in an organism than in environmental media to which the
organism is exposed.
PARTIAL SYNONYM bioaccumulation.
biological monitoring: Continuous or repeated measurement
of potentially toxic substances, their metabolites or their biochemical
effects in tissues, secreta, excreta, expired air or any combination of
these. Its purpose is to evaluate occupational or environmental exposure
and health risk by comparison with appropriate reference values based
on knowledge of the probable relationship between ambient exposure and
resultant adverse health effects.
BROADER TERM environmental monitoring, monitoring.
biomarker: 1. Indicator signaling an event or condition in a biological system or sample and giving a measure of exposure, effect, or susceptibility. As related to biomonitoring, a biomarker is the presence of any substance, or a change in any biological structure or process that can be measured as a result of exposure. Many biomonitoring studies focus on chemical substances or their metabolites as biomarkers.
2. Parameter that can be used to identify an effect in an individual organism and can be used in extrapolation between species for risk assessment.
biomonitoring: See EXACT SYNONYM biological monitoring.
body burden: Total amount of a chemical present in an organism at a given time. Note: This can be a misleading term in that it suggests that the detection of a substance always means that it is causing adverse effects.
C
CDC: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
chronic exposure: Continuous or repeated exposure
to a substance over a long period of time, typically the greater part
of the total life-span in animals or plants (usually, several years in
humans).
ANTONYM acute exposure.
dose: Total amount of a substance administered to, taken or absorbed by an organism.
dose-effect relationship: Association between dose and the magnitude of a continuously graded effect, either in an individual or in a population or in experimental animals.
dose-response relationship: Association between dose
and the incidence of a defined biological effect in an exposed population.
emission: Release of a substance from a source, including discharges to the wider environment.
environment: Aggregate, at a given moment, of all
external conditions and influences to which a system under study is subjected.
Note: Includes natural and manufactured influences; for humans, all influences
other than hereditary, including diet and lifestyle.
environmental monitoring: Continuous or repeated
measurement of agents in the environment to evaluate environmental exposure
and possible damage to living organisms. Measurements obtained are compared
with appropriate reference values based on knowledge of the probable relationships
between ambient exposure and resultant adverse effects.
RELATED TERM biological monitoring.
epidemiology: Study of the distribution and determinants
of health-related states or events in populations and the application
of this study to control of health problems.
excretion: Discharge or elimination of an absorbed
or endogenous substance or of a waste product, and/or their metabolites,
through some tissue of the body and its appearance in urine, feces, or
other products normally leaving the body. Excretion of most chemical compounds
from the body occurs mainly through the kidney and the gut, although volatile
compounds may be largely eliminated by exhalation. Excretion by perspiration
and through hair and nails may also occur. Excretion by the gastrointestinal
tract may take place by various routes such as the bile, the shedding
of intestinal cells and transport through the intestinal mucosa.
exposure assessment: Process of measuring or estimating
concentration (or intensity), duration and frequency of exposures to an
agent present in the environment or, if dealing with hypothetical cases,
estimating exposures that might arise from the release of a substance,
or radionuclide, into the environment.
RELATED TERM risk assessment.
F
FDA: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
hazard: Set of inherent properties of a substance, mixture of substances or a process involving substances that, under production, usage or disposal conditions, make it capable of causing adverse effects to organisms or to the environment, depending on the the degree of exposure; in other words, a source of danger. RELATED TERM risk
hazard assessment: Determination of factors controlling
the likely effects of a hazard such as the dose-effect and dose-response
relationships, variations in target susceptibility, and mechanisms of
toxicity.
RELATED TERM exposure assessment, risk assessment
I
intake: Amount of a substance that is taken into the body, regardless
of whether or not it is absorbed; the total daily intake is the sum of
the daily intake by an individual from food, drinking-water, and inhaled
air.
L
long-term exposure: Continuous or repeated exposure to a substance
over a long period of time, typically the greater part of the total life-span
in animals or plants (usually several years in humans).
EXACT SYNONYM chronic exposure.
M
metabolism: Sum total of all physical and chemical processes that
take place within an organism; in a narrower sense, the physical and chemical
changes that take place in a given substance within an organism. Metabolism
includes the uptake and distribution within the body of chemical compounds,
the changes (biotransformation) undergone by such substances, and the
elimination of the compounds and of their metabolites from the organism.
metabolite: Any intermediate or product resulting
from metabolism.
monitoring: Continuous or repeated observation, measurement,
and evaluation of health and/or environmental or technical data for defined
purposes, according to prearranged schedules in space and time, using
comparable methods for sensing and data collection. Evaluation requires
comparison with appropriate reference values based on knowledge of the
probable relationship between ambient exposures and adverse effects.
NARROWER TERM biological monitoring, environmental monitoring
N
NTP: U.S. National Toxicology Program
natural occurrence: Presence of a substance in
nature, as distinct from presence resulting from inputs from human activities.
NIEHS: U.S. National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences
O
occupational exposure: Exposure to substances, intensities of
radiation etc. or other conditions while at work.
P
persistence: Attribute of a substance that describes the length
of time that the substance remains in a particular environment before
it is physically removed or chemically or biologically transformed.
Note: Sometimes misused without reference to length of time.
pollutant: Any undesirable solid, liquid or gaseous
matter in an environmental medium: "undesirability" is often
concentration-dependent, low concentrations of most substances being tolerable
or even essential in many cases. (In the context of air pollution, an
undesirable modification is one that has injurious or deleterious effects.)
A primary pollutant is one emitted into the atmosphere, water, sediments
or soil from an identifiable source. A secondary pollutant is a pollutant
formed by chemical reaction in the atmosphere, water, sediments, or soil.
Q No entries
R
risk:
1. Possibility that a harmful event (death, injury or loss) arising from
exposure to a chemical or physical agent may occur under specific conditions.
2. Expected frequency of occurrence of a harmful event (death, injury
or loss) arising from exposure to a chemical or physical agent under specific
conditions.
risk assessment: Identification and quantification
of the hazard resulting from a specific use or occurrence of a chemical
or physical agent. Risk assessment considers any possible harmful effects
on individual people or on society of using the chemical or physical agent
in the amount and manner proposed and via all possible routes of exposure.
Quantification ideally requires the establishment of dose-effect and dose-response
relationships in likely target individuals and populations.
RELATED TERM exposure assessment
route of exposure: Means by which an agent gains
access to an organism. Access can be via the gastrointestinal tract (ingestion),
lungs (inhalation), skin (topical), or by other routes, such as intravenous,
subcutaneous, intramuscular or intraperitoneal.
S
safety: Reciprocal of risk: practical certainty that injury
will not result from a hazard under defined conditions.
1. Safety of a drug or other substance in the context of human health:
the extent to which a substance may be used in the amount necessary
for the intended purpose with a minimum risk of adverse health effects.
2. Safety (toxicological): The high probability that injury will not
result from exposure to a substance under defined conditions of quantity
and manner of use, ideally controlled to minimize exposure.
RELATED TERM risk.
T
toxic: Able to cause injury to living organisms as a result
of physicochemical interaction.
toxicity: Adverse effects of a substance on a living
organism, defined with reference to the quantity of substance administered
or absorbed, the way in which the substance is administered (inhalation,
ingestion, topical application, injection) and distributed in time (single
or repeated doses), the type and severity of injury, the time needed to
produce the injury, the nature of the organism(s) affected, and other
relevant conditions.
toxicity test: Experimental study of the adverse
effects of exposure of a living organism to a substance for a defined
duration under defined conditions.
toxicokinetics: Process of the uptake of potentially
toxic substances by the body, the biotransformation they undergo, the
distribution of the substances and their metabolites in the tissues,
and the elimination of the substances and their metabolites from the
body. Both the amounts and the concentrations of the substances and
their metabolites are studied. The
term has essentially the same meaning as pharmacokinetics, but the latter
term should be restricted to the study of pharmaceutical substances.
toxicology: Scientific discipline involving the
study of the actual or potential danger presented by the harmful effects
of substances (poisons) on living organisms and ecosystems, of the relationship
of such harmful effects to exposure, and of the mechanisms of action,
diagnosis, prevention and treatment of intoxications.
U
uptake: Entry of a substance into the body, into an organ, into
a tissue, into a cell, or into the body fluids by passage through a
membrane or by other means.
PARTIAL SYNONYM absorption.
W
weight-of-evidence for toxicity: Extent to which the available
biomedical data support the hypothesis that a substance can cause a defined
toxic effect such as cancer in humans.
X
xenobiotic:
1. Strictly, any substance interacting with an organism that is not
a natural component of that organism.
2. Any manufactured compound with a chemical structure foreign
to a given organism.
SN anthropogenic substance.