News by Subject Biology

Cleaning surfaces with hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectants has the potential to pollute the air and pose a health risk, according to research led by University of Saskatchewan (USask).

Humans are exposed to various environmental or dietary molecules that can attenuate or even increase the effect of therapeutic drugs. Studies on the industrial chemical bisphenol A and the phytoestrogen genistein, for example, have shown drug-exposome interactions. However, interactions between exposures and therapeutic agents have not been systematically investigated to date, conclude chemists Benedikt Warth and Manuel Pristner at the University of Vienna in a review article published in 'Trends in Pharmacological Sciences'.

Plastics in the ocean can release chemicals that cause deformities in sea urchin larvae, new research shows.

Laboratory tests of talc-based cosmetics products, commissioned by the Environmental Working Group, found asbestos -- a deadly human carcinogen for which there is no safe level of exposure -- in almost 15 percent of samples.

Triclosan, an antimicrobial found in many soaps and other household items, worsens fatty liver disease in mice fed a high-fat diet.

In a controlled study of smokers, nonsmokers, and e-cigarette users, University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers found that e-cigarette users exhibited significantly altered immune responses to a model of influenza virus infection, suggesting increased susceptibility to disease, including possibly COVID-19.