EFSA's OpenFoodTox: An open source toxicological database on chemicals in food and feed and its future developments.

Since its creation in 2002, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has produced risk assessments for over 5000 substances in >2000 Scientific Opinions, Statements and Conclusions through the work of its Scientific Panels, Units and Scientific Committee. OpenFoodTox is an open source toxicological database, available both for download and data visualisation which provides data for all substances evaluated by EFSA including substance characterisation, links to EFSA's outputs, applicable legislations regulations, and a summary of hazard identification and hazard characterisation data for human health, animal health and ecological assessments. The database has been structured using OECD harmonised templates for reporting chemical test summaries (OHTs) to facilitate data sharing with stakeholders with an interest in chemical risk assessment, such as sister agencies, international scientific advisory bodies, and others. This manuscript provides a description of OpenFoodTox including data model, content and tools to download and search the database. Examples of applications of OpenFoodTox in chemical risk assessment are discussed including new quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models, integration into tools (OECD QSAR Toolbox and AMBIT-2.0), assessment of environmental footprints and testing of threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) values for food related compounds. Finally, future developments for OpenFoodTox 2.0 include the integration of new properties, such as physico-chemical properties, exposure data, toxicokinetic information; and the future integration within in silico modelling platforms such as QSAR models and physiologically-based kinetic models. Such structured in vivo, in vitro and in silico hazard data provide different lines of evidence which can be assembled, weighed and integrated using harmonised Weight of Evidence approaches to support the use of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in chemical risk assessment and the reduction of animal testing.

Local anesthesia for cochlear implant surgery: low risks for the patient and few costs for the hospital, a rational alternative.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this article is to illustrate the possibility of performing a cochlear implant with local anesthesia and sedation, the anesthesic technique and the advantages of that in comparison to a general anesthesia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We describe two successful surgeries done with local anesthesia, including the neural telemetry and the conditions the patient presented after the surgery, with a very good recovery and no complications during and after the procedure. RESULTS: The results of these two surgeries are described regarding the fast recovery, no symptoms of dizziness and vomiting after the surgeries, discharging from the hospital on the same day, and the immediate post operative period by meaning of complaints from the patient. CONCLUSION: Local anesthesia with sedation for cochlear implant surgery in adults is a very good alternative for lowering the morbidity of the patient, fewer risks, lower costs for the hospital, with a very good control of the surgery.