Session 02: Toxicity of Opioids: New Insights to Understand and Face the Progressing Threat[Symposium Program （Session）]
Opioid abuse and misuse are serious problems in developing countries. The increasing availability of analgesic opioids, recreational opioid-like drugs, and maintenance treatments for heroin addiction represents sources of abuse. Postmortem clinical findings and toxicological analysis in opioid-attributed deaths are very helpful to inform about the exact mechanisms of death, including the roles of tolerance, abstinence, drug abuse and drug–drug interactions. Experimental studies and clinical observations in human poisonings are able to identify possible mechanisms of toxicity, some of them being common to the different opioids, while others are specific to each marketed opioid molecule like codeine, methadone, buprenorphine and tramadol. Opioid-induced glial activation opposes opioid analgesia and enhances opioid tolerance, dependence, reward and respiratory depression. Such effects can occur, not via classical opioid receptors, but rather via non-stereoselective activation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a recently recognized key glial receptor participating in neuropathic pain as well. One recent strategy to increase opioid-related antinociceptive properties and overcome major side-effects involves the creation of multifunctional compounds which contain hybridized structures, including the combination of opioids with other bioactive neurotransmitters and peptide hormones involved in pain perception.
NO.:1
Toxicological and pathological findings in opioid-related deaths
NO.:2
Opioid-related mechanisms of neuro-respiratory toxicity: Interindividual variability and drug-drug interactions
NO.:3
Engineering hybrid peptidomimetics for improved pain treatments
Session 08: Pesticide and Herbicide Exposure: From Risk Assessment to Morbi-mortality Reduction[Symposium Program （Session）]
The use of pesticides/herbicides still seems necessary to feed humanity, especially in overcrowded or developing countries. In the developing countries, pesticide-free agriculture has also failed to prevail. The use of these chemicals is associated with vital risks in acute exposure and a health hazard in chronic exposure, particularly in exposed workers. The whole toxicological scientific community tries by multiple approaches to understand the mechanisms of toxicity involved and to limit their scope by regulatory measures, risk assessment and monitoring, and measures to improve intoxicated patient management. The objective of this symposium is to make an updated inventory of the scientific progress in each of these areas and to verify its effectiveness on morbidity and mortality possibly induced by pesticide/herbicide exposure.
President:
NO.:1
Mixed organophosphate poisoning: An emerging toxicological crisis in LMICs
NO.:2
Acute pesticide exposure & antidote therapy
NO.:3
Glyphosate: Toxicity, cancer risk and the role of the formulation
NO.:4
Pesticide regulations & impact on mortality by suicide
