Introduction to Toxicology

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Toxicology is simply the study of adverse effects of chemicals in our body and other living organisms. It mostly deals about the detection of poisoning, symptoms, mechanism involved, and of course, treatment.

Almost every day in our life, especially for us MT students, we use or encounter different types of chemicals or substances that may cause harmful or beneficiary effects on us. For example, medicines are taken to help cure health conditions, but if taken with the wrong or high dosage, they could cause poisoning and even more so, death.

Toxicology can be further divided into different fields but I’m only going to name some of the important ones that are necessary for our course.

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1. Drug abuse screening – the identification of a substance or testing the levels of the abused drug or agent in the urine to help in administering treatment. This procedure is simple, fast, inexpensive, and reliable but it can only detect drugs that have been recently taken, therefore, if patients refrained from taking in drugs for a period of time, the drug abused and the patient will not be identified. Since it only involves screening tests, it is still recommended to perform confirmatory tests after obtaining a positive result. Some examples of drugs that are usually tested in this procedure are alcohol, amphetamines, and marijuana. For a list of some drug procedures, click here.

2. Emergency toxicology – this field tackles about the identification of drugs or substances that can cause severe damage which could lead a person to be rushed into the hospital.

3. Therapeutic drug monitoring – comprises of the investigation, assessment, and evaluation of a drug in the circulation. TDM is done to ensure that the given drug dosage or treatment will produce beneficial effects to the patient. TDM has three sub-types:

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1. Therapeutic dosage – prescription that can successfully cure the patient.
2. Sub-therapeutic dosage – is below the therapeutic range and therefore will have no effect and will not cure the patient.
3. Toxic dosage – too high dosage that could kill the patient.

4. Industrial toxicology – concerns about drugs and substances being produced in factories that that could cause poisoning. An example would be pesticides.

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5. Forensic toxicology – focuses on medical-legal aspect of drug testing. Evaluation, measurement, and testimony in courts of law are included in this field of toxicology, therefore, chain of confidentiality should be observed.

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Routes of Entry

There are three main routes in which a drug can enter our body

1. Respiratory tract – usually through inhalation

2. Skin contact and eyes – through absorption or injection

3. Digestive tract – through eating and smoking

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References:

http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/pages/609.asp

http://www.toxicologysource.com/whatistoxicology.html

http://www.scaht.org/scaht/en/index.php/Students/Students/toxicology-fields.html

Endocrine system, what is it?

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The endocrine system comprises of a number of glands or organs that are found in different parts of the body. It produces hormones which influences nearly every cell’s activity in the body. Hormones are chemicals that are released by a cell or gland that transfers information from one set of cells to another. Hormones are also in charge of how the body responds to its surroundings. Furthermore, the endocrine system regulates the body’s growth, metabolism, tissue function, mood, sexual function, and reproduction.

What makes up the endocrine system?

Glands and organs such as the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, hypothalamus, pancreas, parathyroid, testes and ovaries make up the endocrine system.

Endocrinology

Endocrinology is the study of the endocrine system. It deals with   the study of the hormones being secreted from the endocrine system, functions, their diseases, composition, and problems.

Endocrine problems, diseases, and abnormalities

It is important that our hormone levels should be maintained. Any degree of "hormonal imbalance" may cause problems or diseases. Sometimes hormonal imbalance may be treated by adding or replacing the specific hormone that is triggering the problem.

References:

http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/index.html
http://www.innerbody.com/image/endoov.html
http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/endocrine.html#a_About_the_Endocrine_System
http://www.hormone.org/Public/endocrinologist.cfm
Clinical Chemistry A Fundamental Textbook by Donald F. Calbreath
Clinical Chemistry, Principles, Procedures, Correlations by Bishop, et al.