Author:
Publisher: World Health Organization
ISBN: 924003448X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 77

View

Book Description

Author: National Academies Of Sciences Engineeri
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 9780309683869
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages :

View

Book Description
Systematic review - a scientific investigation that focuses on a specific question and uses explicit, prespecified scientific methods to identify, select, assess, and summarize the findings of similar but separate studies - has become the foundation for assessing evidence to be used for decision making in a variety of health contexts, including health care and public health. At the request of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this publication reviews EPA's 2018 guidance document Application of Systematic Review in TSCA (Toxic Substances and Control Act) Risk Evaluations and associated materials to determine whether the process is comprehensive, workable, objective, and transparent.

Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309164257
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 267

View

Book Description
Healthcare decision makers in search of reliable information that compares health interventions increasingly turn to systematic reviews for the best summary of the evidence. Systematic reviews identify, select, assess, and synthesize the findings of similar but separate studies, and can help clarify what is known and not known about the potential benefits and harms of drugs, devices, and other healthcare services. Systematic reviews can be helpful for clinicians who want to integrate research findings into their daily practices, for patients to make well-informed choices about their own care, for professional medical societies and other organizations that develop clinical practice guidelines. Too often systematic reviews are of uncertain or poor quality. There are no universally accepted standards for developing systematic reviews leading to variability in how conflicts of interest and biases are handled, how evidence is appraised, and the overall scientific rigor of the process. In Finding What Works in Health Care the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends 21 standards for developing high-quality systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research. The standards address the entire systematic review process from the initial steps of formulating the topic and building the review team to producing a detailed final report that synthesizes what the evidence shows and where knowledge gaps remain. Finding What Works in Health Care also proposes a framework for improving the quality of the science underpinning systematic reviews. This book will serve as a vital resource for both sponsors and producers of systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309120462
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422

View

Book Description
Risk assessment has become a dominant public policy tool for making choices, based on limited resources, to protect public health and the environment. It has been instrumental to the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as other federal agencies in evaluating public health concerns, informing regulatory and technological decisions, prioritizing research needs and funding, and in developing approaches for cost-benefit analysis. However, risk assessment is at a crossroads. Despite advances in the field, risk assessment faces a number of significant challenges including lengthy delays in making complex decisions; lack of data leading to significant uncertainty in risk assessments; and many chemicals in the marketplace that have not been evaluated and emerging agents requiring assessment. Science and Decisions makes practical scientific and technical recommendations to address these challenges. This book is a complement to the widely used 1983 National Academies book, Risk Assessment in the Federal Government (also known as the Red Book). The earlier book established a framework for the concepts and conduct of risk assessment that has been adopted by numerous expert committees, regulatory agencies, and public health institutions. The new book embeds these concepts within a broader framework for risk-based decision-making. Together, these are essential references for those working in the regulatory and public health fields.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309167949
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 180

View

Book Description
The field of occupational health and safety constantly changes, especially as it pertains to biomedical research. New infectious hazards are of particular importance at nonhuman-primate facilities. For example, the discovery that B virus can be transmitted via a splash on a mucous membrane raises new concerns that must be addressed, as does the discovery of the Reston strain of Ebola virus in import quarantine facilities in the U.S. The risk of such infectious hazards is best managed through a flexible and comprehensive Occupational Health and Safety Program (OHSP) that can identify and mitigate potential hazards. Occupational Health and Safety in the Care and Use of Nonhuman Primates is intended as a reference for vivarium managers, veterinarians, researchers, safety professionals, and others who are involved in developing or implementing an OHSP that deals with nonhuman primates. The book lists the important features of an OHSP and provides the tools necessary for informed decision-making in developing an optimal program that meets all particular institutional needs.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309033497
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 206

View

Book Description
The regulation of potentially hazardous substances has become a controversial issue. This volume evaluates past efforts to develop and use risk assessment guidelines, reviews the experience of regulatory agencies with different administrative arrangements for risk assessment, and evaluates various proposals to modify procedures. The book's conclusions and recommendations can be applied across the entire field of environmental health.

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309458625
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 423

View

Book Description
To safeguard public health, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must keep abreast of new scientific information and emerging technologies so that it can apply them to regulatory decision-making. For decades the agency has dealt with questions about what animal-testing data to use to make predictions about human health hazards, how to perform dose-response extrapolations, how to identify and protect susceptible subpopulations, and how to address uncertainties. As alternatives to traditional toxicity testing have emerged, the agency has been faced with additional questions about how to incorporate data from such tests into its chemical assessments and whether such tests can replace some traditional testing methods. Endocrine active chemicals (EACs) have raised concerns that traditional toxicity-testing protocols might be inadequate to identify all potential hazards to human health because they have the ability to modulate normal hormone function, and small alterations in hormone concentrations, particularly during sensitive life stages, can have lasting and significant effects. To address concerns about potential human health effects from EACs at low doses, this report develops a strategy to evaluate the evidence for such low-dose effects.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030904894X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 668

View

Book Description
The public depends on competent risk assessment from the federal government and the scientific community to grapple with the threat of pollution. When risk reports turn out to be overblownâ€"or when risks are overlookedâ€"public skepticism abounds. This comprehensive and readable book explores how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can improve its risk assessment practices, with a focus on implementation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. With a wealth of detailed information, pertinent examples, and revealing analysis, the volume explores the "default option" and other basic concepts. It offers two views of EPA operations: The first examines how EPA currently assesses exposure to hazardous air pollutants, evaluates the toxicity of a substance, and characterizes the risk to the public. The second, more holistic, view explores how EPA can improve in several critical areas of risk assessment by focusing on cross-cutting themes and incorporating more scientific judgment. This comprehensive volume will be important to the EPA and other agencies, risk managers, environmental advocates, scientists, faculty, students, and concerned individuals.

Author: R M Harrison
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
ISBN: 1839160446
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 250

View

Book Description
Both genes and environment have profound effects upon our health. While some environmental factors such as polluted air are high in the public consciousness, there are many other pathways for people’s exposure to toxic chemicals, such as through food, water and contaminated land. It is not only chemicals that can affect health; environmental radioactivity, pathogenic organisms and our changing climate also have implications for public health, and all contribute to the global burden of disease, leading to both disability and deaths of millions of people annually across the world. An understanding of the pathways of environmental exposure, and its effects upon health is key to developing regulations and behaviours that reduce or prevent exposure, and the consequent impacts upon health. Covering topics from dietary exposure to chemicals through to the health effects of climate change, this book brings together contributors from around the world to highlight the latest science on the impacts of environmental pollutant exposure upon public health.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309068762
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 388

View

Book Description
Risk management is especially important for military forces deployed in hostile and/or chemically contaminated environments, and on-line or rapid turn-around capabilities for assessing exposures can create viable options for preventing or minimizing incapaciting exposures or latent disease or disability in the years after the deployment. With military support for the development, testing, and validation of state-of-the-art personal and area sensors, telecommunications, and data management resources, the DOD can enhance its capabilities for meeting its novel and challenging tasks and create technologies that will find widespread civilian uses. Strategies to Protect the Health of Deployed U.S. Forces assesses currently available options and technologies for productive pre-deployment environmental surveillance, exposure surveillance during deployments, and retrospective exposure surveillance post-deployment. This report also considers some opportunities for technological and operational advancements in technology for more effective exposure surveillance and effects management options for force deployments in future years.