Modern Poisons: A Brief Introduction to Contemporary by Alan Kolok

By Alan Kolok

Traditional toxicology textbooks are typically doorstops: tomes full of vital yet possible summary chemistry and biology. in the meantime, journal and magazine articles introduce scholars to well timed themes corresponding to BPA and endocrine disruption or the carcinogenic results of insecticides, yet don’t give you the basics had to comprehend the technology of toxicity. Written by way of an established professor of toxicology, Modern Poisons bridges this gap.

This available e-book explains simple rules in simple language whereas illuminating crucial concerns in modern toxicology. Kolok starts off through exploring age-old precepts of the sector equivalent to the dose-response dating and the concept that, first brought through Ambroise Paré within the 16th century, chemical’s specific motion relies on its inherent chemical nature. the writer is going directly to exhibit precisely how chemical substances input the physique and elicit their poisonous impression, in addition to the body’s tools of defense.

With the basics verified, Kolok digs into advances in toxicology, tracing the field’s improvement from international conflict II to the current day. The booklet examines either technical discoveries and their affects on public coverage. Highlights contain reports of endocrine-disrupting chemical compounds in toiletries and prescriptions, the rising technology on prions, and our transforming into realizing of epigenetics.

Readers learn not purely how poisonous publicity impacts humans and flora and fauna, yet in regards to the long term social and environmental results of our chemical substances. no matter if learning toxicology itself, public overall healthiness, or environmental technology, readers will advance a middle figuring out of—and interest about—this fast-changing field.

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Extra resources for Modern Poisons: A Brief Introduction to Contemporary Toxicology

Example text

This brings us back to the salad dressing analogy. If a mystery compound is added to a slurry (emulsion) of water and oil, and the slurry is allowed to settle, with the oil rising to the top, all one needs to do to determine the solubility is to measure the concentration of the compound in the oil and water layers. When done experimentally, the oil used when quantifying the level of solubility is octanol and the resulting numeric determination is referred to as the octanol:water partition coefficient (Kow).

Now we can reexamine the lipid bilayer as a chemical barrier, looking at it from the perspective of Kow. A chemical that is watersoluble is, by definition, not lipid-soluble and as such will not be able to dissolve into the membrane. As such, its rate of diffusion across the barrier will be minimal. Without the aid of carrier proteins, the uptake of the chemical will be minimal, as will its toxicity. In contrast, a compound that is soluble in oil or fat is easily absorbed across the lipid bilayer, and as such, will have a greater potential for eliciting a The Nature of a Chemical 17 toxic action.

Water in the ocean can evaporate and enter the atmosphere, migrate across large distances, then return to liquid water in the form of rain, which can then flow across the landscape, ultimately reaching the ocean where it began its journey. Not all of the chemicals are as transitional as water, and many elements do not readily transition into the atmosphere as gases, as they are not capable of vaporizing. Nevertheless, many elements undergo phase transitions as they move back and forth from being locked in a solid to being dissolved in water.

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Modern Poisons: A Brief Introduction to Contemporary by Alan Kolok
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