Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences最新文献

{"title":"[Endocrine disruptors in food contact articles and baby toys with their transition].","authors":"Yoko Kawamura","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A number of endocrine disruptors have been reported in food contact articles and baby toys mainly during the second half of the 1990s. Bisphenol A, nonylphenol, phthalates, styrene dimers and trimers, and their transision are described in this article. Bisphenol A was found in polycarbonate tableware, nursing bottles and the epoxy resin coating of cans, therefore, it was also found in the canned foods and drinks. Polycarbonate is now only slightly used for tableware or nursing bottles in Japan because consumers refused them. The can manufacturers changed their coating material to the low bisphenol A resin or PET films and voluntarily regulate its migration limit to under 5 or 10 ng/ml. Nonylphenol was found in most PVC wrapping films and gloves. It was generated from an oxidant, tris (nonylphenyl) phosphite. PVC wrapping film was extensively used in markets, thus many kinds of foods were contaminated. Among them, fillet or minced fish and meat contained it at high levels. In 2000, manufacturers voluntarily changed their composition and all wrapping films in Japan no longer contain nonylphenol. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was found in PVC gloves, which contaminated packed lunches and hospital meals at high levels. The government prohibited these gloves for all food contact use in 2000, moreover, other PVC food contact articles containing DEHP were prohibited for contact use with fatty foods in 2002. DEHP was also found in PVC toys which was prohibited in 2002. Styrene dimers and trimers were found in PS products, which migrated into cupped noodles after cooking. No changes have been made in them. In Japan, the exposure to bisphenol A, nonylphenol and DEHP have been significantly reduced and people also have more concerns with the safety of food contact articles.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 128","pages":"17-26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29722521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Application of fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method to biomacromolecules].","authors":"Tatsuya Nakano","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Kitaura et al. (Chem. Phys. Lett. 312, 319-324 (1999)) have proposed an ab initio fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method by which large molecules such as proteins can be easily treated with chemical accuracy. In the ab initio FMO method, a molecule or a molecular cluster is divided into fragments, and the MO calculations on the fragments (monomers) and the fragment pairs (dimers) are performed to obtain the total energy that is expressed as a summation of the fragment energies and inter-fragment interaction energies (IFIEs). In this paper, we provide a brief description of the ab initio FMO method and demonstrate recent applications to the biomacromolecules.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 128","pages":"34-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29721974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Approval of ISO/IEC 17025 and quality control of laboratory testing].","authors":"Shigeki Yamamoto,&nbsp;Hiroshi Asakura,&nbsp;Kenji Machii,&nbsp;Shizunobu Igimi","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>First section of Division of Biomedical Food Research, National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) was approved by ISO/IEC 17025 as a laboratory having an appropriate laboratory testing technique. NIHS is the first national laboratory approved by ISO/IEC 17025. NIHS has also been accepted the appropriate technique and facility for the BSL3 level pathogens by ISO/IEC 17025. NIHS is necessary to take an external audit almost every year. This approval is renewed every 4 years.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 128","pages":"78-80"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29721980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Perspective of predictive toxicity assessment of in vivo repeated dose toxicity using structural activity relationship].","authors":"Atsushi Ono","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tens of thousands of existing chemicals have been widely used for manufacture, agriculture, household and other purposes in worldwide. Only approximately 10% of chemicals have been assessed for human health hazard. The health hazard assessment of residual large number of chemicals for which little or no information of their toxicity is available is urgently needed for public health. However, the conduct of traditional toxicity tests which involves using animals for all of these chemicals would be economically impractical and ethically unacceptable. (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationships [(Q)SARs] are expected as method to have the potential to estimate hazards of chemicals from their structure, while reducing time, cost and animal testing currently needed. Therefore, our studies have been focused on evaluation of available (Q)SAR systems for estimating in vivo repeated toxicity on the liver. The results from our preliminary analysis showed the distribution for LogP of the chemicals which have potential to induce liver toxicity was bell-shape and indicating the possibility to estimate liver toxicity of chemicals from their physicochemical property. We have developed (Q)SAR models to in vivo liver toxicity using three commercially available systems (DEREK, ADMEWorks and MultiCASE) as well as combinatorial use of publically available chemoinformatic tools (CDK, MOSS and WEKA). Distinct data-sets of the 28-day repeated dose toxicity test of new and existing chemicals evaluated in Japan were used for model development and performance test. The results that concordances of commercial systems and public tools were almost same which below 70% may suggest currently attainable knowledge of in silico estimation of complex biological process, though it possible to obtain complementary and enhanced performance by combining predictions from different programs. In future, the combinatorial application of in silico and in vitro tests might provide more accurate information which support regulatory decisions. At the same time, an appropriate strategy to use (Q)SAR for of the efficiency and accuracy in chemical management is necessary.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 128","pages":"44-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29721976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Literature survey of Salmonella contamination in eggs and egg products in the world].","authors":"Hodaka Suzuki,&nbsp;Shigeki Yamamoto","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Salmonella species are common bacterial pathogens associated with human gastroenteritis worldwide. In Japan, salmonellosis is one of the main food-borne bacterial illnesses and, especially, Salmonella Enteritidis infections have been strongly associated with the consumption of eggs and egg-containing foods. In this study, we performed the literature survey of Salmonella contamination in shell eggs and liquid eggs worldwide for comparing the prevalence among the countries and summarized in the tables. This survey clarified that one out of several thousands of retail shell eggs were contaminated with Salmonella spp. in Japan and the prevalence of Salmonella in retail shell eggs were higher in some countries. This paper is useful for providing referable data on Salmonella contamination in shell eggs and liquid eggs in Japan, especially for researchers of other countries.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 127","pages":"74-83"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28849929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Cytotoxicity of fullerene (60), carbon nanotube, and their derivatives in V79 cells and cultured normal human astrocytes].","authors":"Takashi Yamada,&nbsp;Yeon-Suk Jung,&nbsp;Toshie Tsuchiya,&nbsp;Atsuko Matsuoka","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fullerenes are a family of carbon allotropes, molecules composed entirely of carbon. Fullerenes have been developed in various forms and functions and are expected to be used for novel medical materials targeting on brain. Information on cytotoxicity of fullerenes on brain function, however, is few; thus we examined the effect of fullerenes on the brain astrocytes in this study. We used fullerene [60], hydroxylated-fullerene [60], carboxylated-fullerene [60], dimalonilated-fullerene [60], carboxylated-carbon nanotube and amino-carbon nanotube. At first, we examined cytotoxicity of fullerenes by V79 colony assay. Fullerenes inhibited the cell growth in a concentration-dependent manner, but 50 percent growth inhibition concentrations were different among fullerene derivatives, which we used. Cytotoxicity of carbon nanotubes was stronger than that of fullerenes. Secondly, we performed the microtiter tetrazolium assay of normal human astrocytes and measured the effects of fullerenes on cell activity. Fullerenes and carbon nanotubes decreased mitochondrial activity. In addition to this, it was observed that fullerenes and nanotubes adhered to cells. These results suggest that fullerenes and carbon nanotubes have cytotoxicity and the effects are different from each other due to their side chain and steric forms. We expected that fullerenes and carbon nanotubes gave physical stress to cells and caused cytotoxicity. In conclusion, it was suggested that safety evaluation is needed for fullerenes and carbon nanotubes individually.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 127","pages":"39-43"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28848588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Detection of clobetasol propionate in a cream advertised to be effective against atopic dermatitis].","authors":"Yoshiaki Ikarashi,&nbsp;Yoko Takita,&nbsp;Tadashi Uchino,&nbsp;Tetsuji Nishimura","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Addition of medical ingredients to cosmetics is prohibited. However, last year some cases of illegal cosmetics containing steroids were successfully identified. We have already reported an analytical method to detect steroids in cosmetics [Bull. Natl. Inst. Health Sci, 126, 51-56 (2008)]. In this study, we initially examined whether this method could be applied for the detection of some new steroids as target chemicals. We then used this developed method to detect steroids in cosmetics obtained from manufacturers by spot checks. These manufacturers have been advertising the effectiveness of a steroid-free cream against atopic dermatitis. The results revealed that clobetasol propionate (CP) was present in this facial moisturizing cream, which was available in the market. The steroid was extracted with methanol. After ultrasonication and centrifugation, the resulting supernatant was injected into the high-performance liquid chromatography system equipped with an ODS column. The separation was achieved using a mixture of acetonitrile and water as the mobile phase. The retention times of the observed peaks were in accordance with those of some preservatives and CP. The presence of CP was also confirmed by thin-layer chromatography. The concentration of CP in the cream was approximately 0.039%. CP is a steroid that has the strongest effect as compared to those of other steroids. The cream was therefore recalled for safety reasons.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 127","pages":"54-61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28848591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Studies on an analytic method for detection of prohibited ingredient, strontium dichloride in cosmetics].","authors":"Tadashi Uchino,&nbsp;Yoshiaki Ikarashi,&nbsp;Tetsuji Nishimura","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Strontium dichloride is one of the prohibited ingredients in cosmetics due to the Japanese Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. We established the analytical method for strontium dichloride in cosmetics by capillary electrophoresis (CE). The toothpaste was dispersed into water. After ultrasonication for 10 min, the solution was centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 min. The supernatant was filtrated through a membrane (0.45 microm), diluted 100-times with water, and injected into CE. The calibration curve showed linear between the concentrations of strontium dichloride (from 2 to 50 microg/ml) and the peak area of strontium ion. Detection limit of strontium dichloride is 2 microg/ml. There was no interference of the ingredients in the toothpaste.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 127","pages":"62-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28849926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Research strategy for evaluation methods of the manufactured nanomaterials in NIHS and importance of the chronic health effects studies].","authors":"Akihiko Hirose,&nbsp;Tetsuji Nishimura,&nbsp;Jun Kanno","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Manufactured nanomaterials are one of the most important substances for the nanotechnology. The nanomaterials possess different physicochemical properties from bulk materials. The new properties may lead to novel biological effects and also may or may not cause unknown adverse effects. However, the toxicological evidences are very limited, and there are no standardized evaluation methods at present. Some domestic and international activities are ongoing, in order to share the information or to standardize the methods. In 2005, our institute launched the research on the establishment of health risk assessment methodology of manufactured nanomaterials by funding from the research grants of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The project contains four themes. The first is development of measurement methods of nanomaterials from biological samples. The second is development of dispersion methods in in vitro systems. The third is development of inhalation exposure systems. And the last is development of in vivo systems for evaluating long-term health effects. As evaluation materials, fullerene, titanium oxide and multi-walled carbon nanotubes were chosen because of their high production volumes. In the course of the research project, we revealed that the nanomaterials were competent to cause chronic effects, by analyzing intraperitoneal administration studies and carcinogenic promotion studies. These studies suggested that even aggregated nanomaterials were crumbled into nano-sized particles inside the body during the long-term, and the particles were transferred to other organs. Additionally, long lasting particles/fibers in the particular tissues may cause chronic adverse effects. The phsyco-chemical properties or toxicity mechanism related with these chronic effects were considered to be different from those properties or mechanism related to acute toxicity. Therefore, we suggested that the toxicological characterization of chronic effects by nanomaterials would be important for the future research. Also, investigations of the toxicokinetic properties and biological interaction with nanomaterials are important to predict the chronically targeted tissues after exposure.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 127","pages":"15-25"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28848585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Development of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of fullerenes C60 and C70 in biological samples].","authors":"Reiji Kubota,&nbsp;Maiko Tahara,&nbsp;Kumiko Shimizu,&nbsp;Naoki Sugimoto,&nbsp;Akihiko Hirose,&nbsp;Tetsuji Nishimura","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Wide application of fullerenes in various areas would increase the risk of occupational and environmental exposure to human. However, information about toxicity and biological behavior of fullerenes is not sufficient for the risk assessment at present. For the determination of fullerene C60 in biological samples, an analytical method using high performance liquid chromatography--tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and extraction procedure from tissues of experimental animals was established in this study. Using LC-MS/MS with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization in negative mode, C60 were identified and quantified. After optimization of mobile phase and separation column, good separation of peak of fullerene and sensitivity were obtained in case of using toluene and acetonitrile as the mobile phases and Develosil RPFULLERENE as the separation column. For method validation, rat brain, kidney, liver, lung, spleen tissues and blood were used for recovery tests. Good results were obtained and the recovery percentages were found to be between 98.1% and 106.5%.</p>","PeriodicalId":35462,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of National Institute of Health Sciences","volume":" 127","pages":"65-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28849927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}