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Pure Appl. Chem.,
Vol. 65, No. 9, pp. 2003-2122, 1993.
CLINICAL
CHEMISTRY DIVISION
COMMISSION ON TOXICOLOGY
Glossary for chemists of terms used in toxicology
(IUPAC Recommmendations 1993)
Alphabetical entries
A | B | C
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| G | H | I
| J | K | L
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| W | X | Y
| Z
random sample:
Subset of a population that is arrived at by selecting units such
that each possible unit has a fixed and determinate probability
of selection.
After Last, 1988.
AN biased sample.
BT sample.
rate: Measure of the frequency of a phenomenon:
an expression of the frequency with which an event occurs in a defined
population during a specified time interval.
Last, 1988
rate difference
(RD): Absolute difference between two rates, for example, the
difference in incidence rate between a population group exposed
to a causal factor and a population group not exposed to the factor:
in comparisons of exposed and unexposed groups, the term "excess
rate" may be used as a synonym for rate difference.
Last, 1988
rate ratio (RR): In epidemiology, the value
obtained by dividing the rate in an exposed population by the rate
in an unexposed population.
After Last, 1988
ratticide: Substance intended to kill rats.
RT rodenticide.
readily biodegradable: Arbitrary classification
of substances that have passed certain specified screening tests
for ultimate biodegradability; these tests are so stringent that
such compounds will be rapidly and completely biodegraded in a wide
variety of aerobic environments.
reasonable maximum exposure (RME): Highest
exposure that is reasonably expected to occur: typically the 95%
upper confidence limit of the toxicant distribution is used: if
only a few data points (6-10) are available, the maximum detected
concentration is used.
USEPA, 1989
recovery:
1. Process leading to partial or complete restoration of a cell,
tissue, organ or organism following its damage from
exposure to a harmful substance or agent.
2. Term used in analytical and preparative chemistry to denote the
fraction of the total quantity of a substance
recoverable following a chemical procedure.
RT recovery factor.
recycling (of waste): Process or method allowing
for the recovery of some value from a waste, either as re-usable
material or as energy.
reference concentration: Term used for an
estimate of air exposure concentration to the human population (including
sensitive subgroups) that is likely to be without appreciable risk
of deleterious effects during a lifetime.
USEPA, 1989
RT acceptable daily
intake.
BT dose.
reference distribution: Statistical distribution
of reference values.
Solberg, 1987
reference dose:
Term used for an estimate (with uncertainty spanning perhaps an
order of magnitude) of a daily exposure to the human population
(including sensitive subgroups) that is likely to be without appreciable
risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime.
Barnes and Dourson, 1988
RT acceptable daily
intake.
BT dose.
reference individual: Person selected with
the use of defined criteria for comparative purposes in a clinical
study.
Solberg, 1987
reference interval: Area between and including
two reference limits, for example the percentiles 2.5 and 97.5.
Solberg, 1987
reference limit: Boundary value defined so
that a stated fraction of the reference values is less than or exceeds
that boundary value with a stated probability.
Solberg, 1987
reference material:
Substance for which one or more properties are sufficiently well
established to be used for the calibration of an apparatus, the
assessment of a measurement method, or for assigning values to other
substances.
SN calibration material,
standard material.
Solberg, 1987
reference population: Group of all reference
individuals used to establish criteria against which a population
that is being studied can be compared.
Solberg, 1987
reference
sample group: Selected reference individuals, statistically
adequate numerically to represent the reference population.
Solberg, 1987
reference value:
According to IFCC, measured value of a property in a reference individual
or sample from a reference individual.
Solberg, 1987
regulatory dose: Term used by the USEPA to
describe the expected dose resulting from human exposure to a substance
at the level at which it is regulated in the environment.
Barnes and Dourson, 1988
relative risk:
1. Ratio of the risk of disease or death among the exposed to that
among the unexposed.
SN risk ratio.
2. Ratio of the cumulative incidence rate in the exposed to the
cumulative incidence rate in the unexposed; the cumulative
incidence ratio.
Last, 1988
renal: Pertaining to the kidneys.
repellent: Substance used mainly to repel
blood sucking insects in order to protect man and animals: also
used to repel mammals, birds, rodents, mites, plant pests, etc.
replicate sampling: Act of taking multiple
samples concurrently under comparable conditions; may be accomplished
by taking samples adjacent in time or space.
PAC, 1990
replication:
1. Duplicated or repeated performance of an experiment under similar
(controlled) conditions to reduce to a minimum the
error, and to estimate the variations and thus obtain
a more precise result: each determination, including the first is
called a replicate.
2. Process whereby the genetic material is duplicated.
reproducibility
conditions: Situation where test results are obtained with the
same method on identical test material in different laboratories
with different operators using different equipment.
ISO 5725, 1986.
reproductive
toxicant: Substance or preparation that produces non-heritable
harmful effects on the progeny and/or an impairment of male and
female reproductive function or capacity.
USEPA, 1986
RT teratogen.
reproductive toxicology: Study of the adverse
effects of substances on the embryo, fetus, neonate and prepubertal
mammal and the adult reproductive and neuro-endocrine systems.
RT embryo, fetus,
neonate.
reserve capacity: Physiological or biochemical
capacity that may be available to maintain homeostasis when the
body or an organism is exposed to an environmental change.
resistance (in toxicology): Ability to withstand
the effect of various factors including potentially toxic substances.
resorptive effect: Action of a substance
after its resorption from the gut into the blood.
IRPTC, 1982
response:
1. Proportion of an exposed population with a defined effect or
the proportion of a group of individuals that demonstrate a
defined effect in a given time at a given dose rate.
RT dose-response
relationship.
2. Reaction of an organism or part of an organism (such as a muscle)
to a stimulus.
retention:
1. Holding back within the body or within an organ, tissue or cell
of matter that is normally eliminated.
AN elimination.
2. Holding in memory of what has been learned for later use as recall,
recognition or relearning.
3. Amount of a substance that is left from the total absorbed after
a certain time following exposure: if the retention
follows a course in relation to time that is a first
order process, it may be described in terms of biological half-life
(half-time).
RT half-life.
retrospective
study: Research design used to test aetiological hypotheses
in which inferences about exposure to the putative causal factor(s)
are derived from data relating to characteristics of the persons
or organisms under study or to events or experiences in their past:
the essential feature is that some of the persons under study have
the disease or other outcome condition of interest, and their characteristics
and past experiences are compared with those of other, unaffected
persons. Persons who differ in the severity of the disease may also
be compared.
RT case control study.
Last, 1988
returned effect of poisons: Enhancement of
the dose-effect relationship for a poison following repeated exposure
to decreasing doses.
reverse transcription:
Process by which an RNA molecule is used as a template to make a
single-stranded DNA copy.
reversible alteration: Change from normal
structure or function, induced by a substance or other agent(s),
that returns to normal status or within normal limits after cessation
of exposure.
rhabdomyolysis: Acute, fulminating, potentially
lethal disease of skeletal muscle that causes disintegration of
striated muscle fibres as evidenced by myoglobin in the blood and
urine.
rhinitis: Inflammation of the nasal mucosa.
rhonch/us (pl -i): Harsh crepitation
in the throat, often resembling snoring.
BT crepitations.
ribonucleic acid:
Linear, usually single stranded, polymer of ribonucleotides, each
containing the sugar ribose in association with a phosphate group
and one of 4 nitrogenous bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, or uracil:
it encodes the
information for the sequence of amino-acids in proteins synthesized
using it as a template.
RT deoxyribonucleic acid.
risk:
1. Possibility that a harmful event (death, injury or loss) arising
from exposure to a chemical or physical agent may occur
under specific conditions.
2. Expected frequency of occurrence of a harmful event (death, injury
or loss) arising from exposure to a chemical or
physical agent under specific conditions.
NT excess lifetime risk,
extra risk.
RT hazard.
risk acceptance: Decision that the risk associated
with a given chemical exposure or an event leading to such exposure
is low enough to be tolerated in order to gain associated benefits.
RT acceptable risk.
risk associated with a life time exposure:
Probability of the occurrence of a specified undesirable event following
exposure of an individual person from a given population to a specified
substance at a defined level for the expected lifetime of the average
member of that population.
risk aversion: Term used to describe the
tendency of an individual person to avoid risk.
risk characterization:
Outcome of hazard identification and risk estimation applied to
a specific use of a substance or occurrence of an environmental
health hazard: the assessment requires quantitative data on the
exposure of organisms or people at risk in the specific situation.
The end product is a quantitative statement about the proportion
of organisms or people affected in a target population.
After WHO, 1979
RT hazard identification,
risk estimation.
risk communication: Interpretation and communication
of risk assessments in terms that are comprehensible to the general
public or to others without specialist knowledge.
risk de minimis:
Risk that is negligible and too small to be of societal concern
(usually assumed to be a probability below 10-5 or 10-6); can also
mean 'virtually safe'. In the USA, this is a legal term used to
mean "negligible risk to the individual".
SN negligible risk.
risk estimation:
Assessment, with or without mathematical modelling, of the probability
and nature of effects of exposure to a substance based on quantification
of dose-effect and dose-response relationships for that substance
and the population(s) and environmental components likely to be
exposed and on assessment of the levels of potential exposure of
people, organisms and environment at risk.
RT risk evaluation.
RT exposure assessment,
hazard identification.
risk identification:
Recognition of a potential hazard and definition of the factors
required to assess the probability of exposure of organisms or people
to that hazard and of harm resulting from such exposure.
risk management:
Decision-making process involving considerations of political, social,
economic, and engineering factors with relevant risk assessments
relating to a potential hazard so as to develop, analyse, and compare
regulatory options and to select the optimal regulatory response
for safety from that hazard. Essentially risk management is the
combination of three steps: risk evaluation; emission and exposure
control; risk monitoring.
RT emission and
exposure control, risk evaluation,
risk monitoring.
risk marker: Attribute
that is associated with an increased probability of occurrence of
a disease or other specified outcome and that can be used as an
indicator of this increased risk: not necessarily a causal or pathogenic
factor.
SN risk indicator.
Last, 1988
risk monitoring:
Process of following up the decisions and actions within risk management
in order to check whether the aims of reduced exposure and risk
are achieved.
BT monitoring.
RT risk management.
WHO, 1988
risk perception:
Subjective perception of the gravity or importance of the risk based
on a person's knowledge of different risks and the moral, economic,
and political judgement of their implications.
RT risk evaluation.
WHO, 1988
risk phrases: Word groups identifying potential
health or environmental hazards required under CPL Directives (European
Community); may be incorporated into Safety Data Sheets.
RT material safety
data sheet, safety data sheet.
risk ratio: Value
obtained by dividing the probability of occurrence of a specific
effect in one group by the probability of occurrence of the same
effect in another group, or the value obtained by dividing the probability
of occurrence of one potentially hazardous event by the probability
of occurrence of another. Calculation of such ratios is used in
choosing
between options in risk management.
RT risk management.
risk-specific dose: Amount of exposure corresponding
to a specified level of risk.
USEPA, 1989
rodenticide: Substance
intended to kill rodents.
route of exposure: Means by which a toxic agent gains
access to an organism by administration through the gastrointestinal
tract (ingestion), lungs (inhalation), skin (topical), or by other
routes such as intravenous, subcutaneous, intramuscular or intraperitoneal
routes.
A | B | C
| D | E | F
| G | H | I
| J | K | L
| M
N | O | P
| Q | R | S
| T | U | V
| W | X | Y
| Z
Page last modified 12 September 2001.
Copyright ©1997-2001 International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry.
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