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Sheldon Margen Public Health Library
University of California, Berkeley

Public Health 270B: Advanced Toxicology

Debbie Jan (djan@library.berkeley.edu)

Class Webpage: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/PUBL/SPH/PH270B_S10.html

Sheldon Margen Public Health Library

Location: 1 University Hall

Telephone: 642-2511

Library Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 am - 8 pm, Saturday noon - 5 pm, Sunday 1 - 5 pm

Library Reference Hours: Monday-Friday, 10-12 and 2-4 pm

How to access material from off campus:

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Contents:

Before you start
Understand your chemical/substance
Find books/reports on your substance
Search for published research literature
Search for other literature
Finding California, Federal, and Other Organizations
Other resources of interest
Other useful Public Health topical webpages

Before you start:

Identify your research topic question
Gather your information
Break your topic into individual concepts, listing each concept (with synonyms!)

Understand your chemical/substance
- What other names is the substance/chemical known as?
- Are you looking at a family of chemicals or a specific chemical?
- What unique identifiers (CAS #) exist to help you ascertain that you have the right chemical?
Identify what kind of exposure you're looking for:
- Route: inhalation, oral, dermal, ocular, etc.
- Location: occupational, home, school, etc.
- Exposure level: chronic, acute, sub-chronic, etc.
- Exposure population: infant, child, adolescent, adult, older adult
Are there exposure limits?

Find more background information
- What international, federal, state, or other organizations are interested in your topic and have already gathered information?
- Identify the chemicals/substances or class of compounds you're looking for
Add information to your topic individual concepts
Find the missing information to answer your research topic question
Download the framework template

Understand your chemical/substance

Synonyms for the substance or chemical:
» Try ChemIDplus
Chemical groupings or "families":
» Try ChemIDplus or PubMed's MeSH
Unique identifiers (e.g., CAS Registry numbers) for your chemical:
» Try ChemIDplus
Physical/chemical properties or structure:
» Try ChemIDplus or HSDB
Methods of analysis for your substance:
» Try HSDB or TOXLINE or PubMed
Metabolism or mechanism of action for your substance:
» Try BIOSIS or SciFinder Scholar or PubMed

Find background information and books/reports

Books/Reports
» Try OskiCat, IARC Monographs, or NTP Study Reports
Agency/organizational information
» Try California Agencies, Federal Agencies, or International Health Organizations
Overview/summary of most aspects of a specific substance:
» Try HSDB or Environmental Health Criteria
Journal/other literature on any aspect of chemicals, substances, exposure, etc.:
» Try TOXLINE or PubMed or BIOSIS
Association of substances with a particular disease:
» Try HSDB or CHE Toxicant and Disease Database or PubMed or TOXLINE

Identify the exposure you are looking for

Route: inhalation, oral, dermal, ocular, etc:
» Try IRIS or HSDB
Location: occupational, home, school, etc.:
» Try HSDB or Haz-Map or Tox Town
Exposure level: chronic, acute, sub-chronic, etc:
» Try HSDB or TOXLINE
Exposure population: infant, child, adult, pregnant woman, fetus, etc.:
» Try DART or TOXLINE or PubMed

Find other types of information

Genetic toxicology:
» Try GENE-TOX
Animal toxicity studies:
» Try NTP Study Reports or TOXLINE or PubMed
Policy or regulatory information:
» Try HSDB or TOXLINE or Toxicological Profiles or PAN Pesticide Database

Finding California, Federal, and Other Organizations

Understand your chemical/substance:

CHE Toxicant and Disease Database (Collaborative on Health and the Environment)

Summarizes links between chemical contaminants and approximately 180 human diseases or conditions.
Browse by disease category, disease, toxicant, or search by CAS RN or disease.

ChemIDplus from the National Library of Medicine
- Chemical dictionary file of compounds of biomedical and regulatory interest.
- Records include names and synonyms, CAS Registry number, molecular formulas, and toxicity information.
- Provides references to other databases including:
  - CCRIS (Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System) from the National Cancer Institute
    - Data for over 8,000 chemicals is derived from studies cited in primary journals, current awareness tools, NCI reports, and other special sources.
    - Includes carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, tumor promotion, and tumor inhibition test results.
  - Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Database (DART)
  - Haz-Map (National Library of Medicine)
  - Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB)
    - Toxicology of over 5,000 potentially hazardous chemicals.
    - Peer reviewed information on human exposure, industrial hygiene, emergency handling procedures, environmental fate, regulatory requirements, and related areas.
  - Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, US DHHS
    NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
    - Toxicity data extracted from scientific literature worldwide on more than 135,000 substances.
    - Includes mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive hazards, and acute and chronic toxicity.
GENE-TOX
- Created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, GENE-TOX contains genetic toxicology (mutagenicity) test data, resulting from expert peer review of the open scientific literature, on over 3,000 chemicals.
Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
- Information on human health effects that may result from exposure to various chemicals in the environment.
- Includes oral reference doses (RfDs) and inhalation reference concentrations (RfCs) for chronic noncarcinogenic health effects and hazard identification, oral slope factors, and oral and inhalation unit risks for carcinogenic effects.
Merck Index Online
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
- Encyclopedia of chemicals, drugs, and biologicals.
- Includes chemical, generic, and brand names; CAS registry numbers; physical data and literature references; structures and stereochemistry; toxicity information; and therapeutic uses.
Micromedex Healthcare Series
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
- Provides access to the REPRORISK System, which includes includes the REPROTEXT, REPROTOX, TERIS, and Shepard's Catalog of Teratogenic Agents databases.
- Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference can also be searched.
NPIC InfoBase Search (National Pesticide Information Center)

Search for documents from the NPIC and EXTOXNET website, EPA Pesticide websites, the Federal Register, EPA Office of Pesticide Program E-Dockets from 2002 to present, print and electronic Code of Federal Regulations Title 40 - Pesticide Programs, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Patty's Toxicology (5th edition)
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
- Includes basic physical and chemical properties, production and use, exposure assessment, toxic effects, and occupational exposure limits of industrial chemicals.
PAN Pesticide Database (Pesticide Action Network North America)

Search for data and information on pesticide ingredients and products, California pesticide use, regulatory information, etc. by chemical name or chemical category; including use, regulatory and official lists, toxicity, and classification.
Within California, use information can be found by crop, chemical, or geography.

Pesticide Properties Database
- Compendium of chemical and physical properties of 334 widely used pesticides.
Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
- Includes toxicological, flammability, reactivity, and regulatory information for about 26,000 substances.
- Toxicology data references reports of primary skin and eye irritation, mutation, reproductive, carcinogenic, and acute toxic dose data.
Tox Town (National Library of Medicine)

Interactive guide to commonly encountered toxic substances, your health, and the environment.
"Towns" include Port, Town, City, Farm, and US-Mexico Border.
Includes non-technical descriptions of chemicals.

Find books/reports on your substance:

Electronic Books

CRCnetBase

Thousands of titles on chemistry, environmental science, food science, and more.

Knovel Library

Over 2,000 titles on biology, food science, nanotechnology and more. Selected titles include Casarett and Doull's Toxicology; Environmental Contaminant Reference Databook; Food Chemical Risk Analysis; Patty's Industrial Hygiene and Patty's Toxicology; Sittig's Handbook of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals and Carcinogens.

Springer eBooks

This collection of over 36,000 books includes most of the Springer scientific, technical and medical books published from 2005 to present.

Environmental Health Criteria (International Programme on Chemical Safety, WHO)
- "International, critical reviews on the effects of chemicals or combinations of chemicals and physical and biological agents on human health and the environment."
- For those not available full text online the Public Health Library call number is: RA565.A1 E55
IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans from the International Agency for Research on Cancer
- Independent assessments by international experts of the carcinogenic risks to humans posed by a variety of agents, mixtures and exposures.
- Index of all the monographs and supplements. A few recent monographs are available full text.
- The full monographs have the Public Health Library call number: RC267.A1.I2
MarketResearch Academic
- Provides the full text of more than 600 market studies from three publications: Kalorama Information, Packaged Facts, and Specialists in Business Information.
- Industries covered include: healthcare, demographics, consumer products, and more.
NTP Study Reports from the National Toxicology Program, US DHHS
- Includes long-term toxicology and carcinogenesis studies, short-term toxicity studies, developmental toxicity, reproductive assessment by continuous breeding, and other reports.
- Full text reports include the Toxicity Studies and Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies.
OEHHA Toxicity Criteria Database from Cal/EPA
- Search by chemical name, CAS number, or select from a list to view cancer potency information, acute reference exposure levels, chronic reference exposure levels, California Public Health Goals, and Prop 65 NSRLs/MADLs.
OskiCat (UCB catalog)

Search on the chemical substance
Other possible subjects: cancer, diet, endocrine toxicology, nanoparticles, pesticides, reproductive toxicology

Toxicological Profiles from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, CDC

National Priorities List of hazardous substances.
Profiles include health effects, chemical information, production, use and disposal, potential for human exposure, regulations, references, and more.
Draft and final profile reports available.

Search for published research literature:

PubMed for UCB
- More than 19 million medical and health journal article citations back to the 1948.
- To search:
  - Use the MeSH Database to find subject headings and appropriate subheadings (e.g. adverse effects, chemically induced, epidemiology, poisoning, toxicity, etc.)
    - MeSH Subheadings: Definitions
  - To find citations that don't have MeSH terms:
    - Type in the search box: chemical substance "NOT medline[sb]"
      
      e.g. dihydroxyacetone NOT medline[sb]
    - Use Limits tab to limit to publication date, gender, publication type, etc.
- Help using PubMed
  - PubMed Quick Guide (UCB Library)
  - PubMed Help for UC Berkeley
  - Selected chapters from the National Library of Medicine publication PubMed Help and other NLM sources:
- Use to access the full text of articles, Melvyl, and Request. Request allows you to easily request copies of articles from journals not available at UCB.
BIOSIS Previews
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
- Index to over 18 million citations from journals, reports, books, conference proceedings, and meeting abstracts back to 1926.
- Topics include: biological research and medical research findings.
Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
- Index to over 3 million citations from journals, reports, books, conference proceedings, and government publications back to 1967.
- Topics include: diet, pesticides, risk assessment, toxicology, and more.

Global Health
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
- Indexes over 5,000 journals, books, reports, conference proceedings, patents, theses, and electronic only publications.
- Topics include: environmental and occupational health, food safety and hygiene, nutrition, public health, toxicology, and more.

NIOSHTIC-2
- Contains over 44,000 occupational safety and health information resource citations. Some citations date back to 1971. Some links to full-text. Includes some NIOSH Mining Safety & Health Research Laboratories publications back to the 1030's.

OECD Database on Research into Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials
- Collection of completed, current and planned research projects looking at the environmental, human health and safety issues of manufactured nanomaterials.

SciFinder Scholar (Chemical Abstracts)
NOTE: Access limited to UC faculty, staff and students.
- In order to access SciFinder Scholar, users must register on the web or download client software.
- Access SciFinder Scholar (once web registered)
- Search SciFinder for chemistry literature by topic, author, Registry Numbers, patent numbers from 1907 to the present. More than 42 million chemical substances may be searched by chemical name, chemical structure, Registry Numbers, and formula.

TOXLINE
- Index to over 3 million citations covering the biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological effects of drugs and other chemicals. Includes DART citations. Can search by CAS numbers.

Virtual Journal of Nanotechnology Environment, Health & Safety
- "A monthly journal that contains citations and links to articles that have appeared in a variety of traditional journals and that are related to the environment and health impacts of nanotechnology, with a particular emphasis on nanomaterials"
Web of Science
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.
- Includes Science Citation Index Expanded (1899-present), Social Sciences Citation Index (1900-present), and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1975-present). Links to cited articles and times cited are provided for retrieved articles.

Search for other literature

Newspapers

NOTE:

San Francisco Chronicle (1985 to present)
New York Times (1980 to present)
New York Times (1851 to 2006)
Wall Street Journal (1984 to present)

PapersFirst (OCLC; 1993 to present)

NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff, and students.

PapersFirst is an index of papers presented at conferences worldwide. It covers a broad range of disciplines.

Proceedings (OCLC; 1993 to present)

NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff, and students.

Proceedings is an index of worldwide symposia, meetings, and conference proceedings. Each record contains a list of the papers presented at that conference.

ToxSeek

ToxSeek is a meta-search engine that enables simultaneous searching of many different toxicological and environmental information resources on the World Wide Web, including National Library of Medicine resources; US Government sites such as ATSDR, CDC, EPA, USDA, and more; WHO, IPCS, and numerous other sites. ToxSeek may be useful for finding information on difficult topics from numerous sources, but does not allow for advanced (Boolean) searching.

Other resources of interest

RefWorks
- RefWorks is an easy-to-use, web-based bibliographic management program licensed for UCB students. Click on "Sign up for an Individual Account" to create a log-in name and password.
- Login into RefWorks
- EndNote and RefWorks: Help and Tutorials
- You can also use RefMobile on your smart phone, cell phone, or PDA
Chemical composition of everyday products (Greenwood Press, 2005)
- QD75.22 .T64 2005 Reference, Chemistry Library
Evaluating Chemical and Other Agent Exposures for Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity (National Academy Press, 2001)
- RA1221.E9 2001 Public Health Library
Guidelines for Reproductive Toxicity Risk Assessment (1996, Office of Research and Development, EPA)
- The Guidelines for Reproductive Toxicity Risk Assessment discuss the scientific basis for concern about exposure to agents that cause reproductive toxicity and describe the principles and procedures to be followed in conducting risk assessments for reproductive toxicity.
Toxicity Testing for Assessment of Environmental Agents: Interim Report (National Academy Press, 2006)
- QH54.15.T68.T68 2006 Public Health Library
Toxicological risk assessment of chemicals : a practical guide (Informa Healthcare, 2008)
- RA1190.N54 2008 Public Health Library
ToxLearn (U.S. National Library of Medicine's Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program and the U.S. Society of Toxicology)
- ToxLearn is a free online educational tool providing an introduction to fundamental toxicological principles and concepts. Broken into 3 modules available on the web or in pdf, it is written for the general public, first level undergraduate toxicology students, and users of NLM's toxicology databases.