The Experts below are selected from a list of 25008 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jennifer Kuzma - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Societal Risk Evaluation Scheme (SRES): Scenario-Based Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Synthetic Biology Applications
PLOS ONE, 2017Co-Authors: Christopher L. Cummings, Jennifer KuzmaAbstract:Synthetic biology (SB) applies engineering principles to biology for the construction of novel biological systems designed for useful purposes. From an oversight perspective, SB products come with significant uncertainty. Yet there is a need to anticipate and prepare for SB applications before deployment. This study develops a Societal Risk Evaluation Scheme (SRES) in order to advance methods for anticipatory governance of emerging technologies such as SB. The SRES is based upon societal Risk factors that were identified as important through a policy Delphi study. These factors range from those associated with Traditional Risk Assessment, such as health and environmental consequences, to broader features of Risk such as those associated with reversibility, manageability, anticipated levels of public concern, and uncertainty. A multi-disciplinary panel with diverse perspectives and affiliations assessed four case studies of SB using the SRES. Rankings of the SRES components are compared within and across the case studies. From these comparisons, we found levels of controllability and familiarity associated with the cases to be important for overall SRES rankings. From a theoretical standpoint, this study illustrates the applicability of the psychometric paradigm to evaluating SB cases. In addition, our paper describes how the SRES can be incorporated into anticipatory governance models as a screening tool to prioritize research, information collection, and dialogue in the face of the limited capacity of governance systems. To our knowledge, this is the first study to elicit data on specific cases of SB with the goal of developing theory and tools for Risk governance.
Christopher L. Cummings - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Societal Risk Evaluation Scheme (SRES): Scenario-Based Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Synthetic Biology Applications
PLOS ONE, 2017Co-Authors: Christopher L. Cummings, Jennifer KuzmaAbstract:Synthetic biology (SB) applies engineering principles to biology for the construction of novel biological systems designed for useful purposes. From an oversight perspective, SB products come with significant uncertainty. Yet there is a need to anticipate and prepare for SB applications before deployment. This study develops a Societal Risk Evaluation Scheme (SRES) in order to advance methods for anticipatory governance of emerging technologies such as SB. The SRES is based upon societal Risk factors that were identified as important through a policy Delphi study. These factors range from those associated with Traditional Risk Assessment, such as health and environmental consequences, to broader features of Risk such as those associated with reversibility, manageability, anticipated levels of public concern, and uncertainty. A multi-disciplinary panel with diverse perspectives and affiliations assessed four case studies of SB using the SRES. Rankings of the SRES components are compared within and across the case studies. From these comparisons, we found levels of controllability and familiarity associated with the cases to be important for overall SRES rankings. From a theoretical standpoint, this study illustrates the applicability of the psychometric paradigm to evaluating SB cases. In addition, our paper describes how the SRES can be incorporated into anticipatory governance models as a screening tool to prioritize research, information collection, and dialogue in the face of the limited capacity of governance systems. To our knowledge, this is the first study to elicit data on specific cases of SB with the goal of developing theory and tools for Risk governance.
Paul M Ridker - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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high sensitivity c reactive protein inflammation and cardiovascular Risk from concept to clinical practice to clinical benefit
American Heart Journal, 2004Co-Authors: Paul M RidkerAbstract:Abstract Advances in vascular biology have shown that inflammation plays an integral role in the development of cardiovascular disease. Extensive study of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) has demonstrated that this measure of inflammation predicts cardiovascular Risk not reflected by Traditional Risk factors, adds prognostic information to Traditional Risk Assessment, and predicts long-term cardiovascular Risk in individuals with no prior evidence of cardiovascular disease. Patients with elevated hs-CRP levels in the absence of elevated cholesterol appear to derive preventive benefit from statin therapy that is similar in magnitude to that in patients with elevated cholesterol. The large-scale Justification for the Use of statins in Primary prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosvastatin (JUPITER) trial represents a critical study to determine the utility of a strategy for targeting statin therapy to prevent incident cardiovascular disease in patients at increased cardiovascular Risk on the basis of elevated hs-CRP who would not be considered candidates for therapy on the basis of hypercholesterolemia or Traditional Risk Assessment. Inclusion of hs-CRP measurement in Risk screening and use of this information to guide preventive therapy could result in a marked improvement in prevention of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
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inflammation and atherosclerosis role of c reactive protein in Risk Assessment
The American Journal of Medicine, 2004Co-Authors: Peter Libby, Paul M RidkerAbstract:Inflammation participates critically in atherosclerosis. Circulating levels of several inflammatory markers rise in individuals at Risk for atherosclerotic events. In particular, elevation of plasma C-reactive protein (CRP), a nonspecific acute-phase reactant that is easily and reliably measured, has strong predictive power for cardiovascular events. Indeed, measurements of high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) plasma levels add to both the prognostic information gleaned from assay of plasma lipid Risk factors and the Risk levels estimated by means of Framingham study-based criteria. Retrospective data suggest the hypothesis that hs-CRP plasma levels may be useful for guiding use of lipid-lowering therapy in individuals who appear to be at low Risk according to Traditional Risk Assessment. A large-scale, randomized clinical trial-Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER)-will test whether rosuvastatin therapy will reduce incident cardiovascular disease in subjects with elevated plasma hs-CRP concentrations who do not meet current criteria for initiation of lipid-lowering drug therapy. Such clinical trial data may provide an evidence base for the use of plasma CRP assay as an adjuvant guide to therapy to complement the established Traditional Risk factors such as plasma lipid levels. Thus, medical practitioners are ushering in an era in which the biology of inflammation in atherosclerosis will find its way into clinical application.
Mirjam Luijten - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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comparison of toxicogenomics and Traditional approaches to inform mode of action and points of departure in human health Risk Assessment of benzo a pyrene in drinking water
Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2015Co-Authors: Ivy Moffat, Sarah Labib, Byron Kuo, Julie K. Buick, Amal I. Malik, Nikolai L. Chepelev, Andrew Williams, Sabina Halappanavar, Julie Bourdonlacombe, Mirjam LuijtenAbstract:Toxicogenomics is proposed to be a useful tool in human health Risk Assessment. However, a systematic comparison of Traditional Risk Assessment approaches with those applying toxicogenomics has never been done. We conducted a case study to evaluate the utility of toxicogenomics in the Risk Assessment of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a well-studied carcinogen, for drinking water exposures. Our study was intended to compare methodologies, not to evaluate drinking water safety. We compared Traditional (RA1), genomics-informed (RA2) and genomics-only (RA3) approaches. RA2 and RA3 applied toxicogenomics data from human cell cultures and mice exposed to BaP to determine if these data could provide insight into BaP's mode of action (MOA) and derive tissue-specific points of departure (POD). Our global gene expression analysis supported that BaP is genotoxic in mice and allowed the development of a detailed MOA. Toxicogenomics analysis in human lymphoblastoid TK6 cells demonstrated a high degree of consistency in perturbed pathways with animal tissues. Quantitatively, the PODs for Traditional and transcriptional approaches were similar (liver 1.2 vs. 1.0 mg/kg-bw/day; lungs 0.8 vs. 3.7 mg/kg-bw/day; forestomach 0.5 vs. 7.4 mg/kg-bw/day). RA3, which applied toxicogenomics in the absence of apical toxicology data, demonstrates that this approach provides useful information in data-poor situations. Overall, our study supports the use of toxicogenomics as a relatively fast and cost-effective tool for hazard identification, preliminary evaluation of potential carcinogens, and carcinogenic potency, in addition to identifying current limitations and practical questions for future work.
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comparison of toxicogenomics and Traditional approaches to inform mode of action and points of departure in human health Risk Assessment of benzo a pyrene in drinking water
Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2015Co-Authors: Ivy Moffat, Sarah Labib, Byron Kuo, Julie K. Buick, Amal I. Malik, Nikolai L. Chepelev, Andrew Williams, Sabina Halappanavar, Julie Bourdonlacombe, Mirjam LuijtenAbstract:AbstractToxicogenomics is proposed to be a useful tool in human health Risk Assessment. However, a systematic comparison of Traditional Risk Assessment approaches with those applying toxicogenomics has never been done. We conducted a case study to evaluate the utility of toxicogenomics in the Risk Assessment of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a well-studied carcinogen, for drinking water exposures. Our study was intended to compare methodologies, not to evaluate drinking water safety. We compared Traditional (RA1), genomics-informed (RA2) and genomics-only (RA3) approaches. RA2 and RA3 applied toxicogenomics data from human cell cultures and mice exposed to BaP to determine if these data could provide insight into BaP's mode of action (MOA) and derive tissue-specific points of departure (POD). Our global gene expression analysis supported that BaP is genotoxic in mice and allowed the development of a detailed MOA. Toxicogenomics analysis in human lymphoblastoid TK6 cells demonstrated a high degree of consistency in...
Igor Linkov - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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resilience in intelligent transportation systems its
Transportation Research Part C-emerging Technologies, 2019Co-Authors: Alexander A Ganin, Avi Chaim Mersky, Andrew S Jin, Maksim Kitsak, Jeffrey M Keisler, Igor LinkovAbstract:Abstract Many cities are adopting increasingly advanced Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). These systems combine connectivity, coordination, adaptivity, and automated response for transportation policy optimization, thus increasing “smartness” and efficiency. However, the control and sensing systems of implemented ITS can open new vulnerabilities, especially to cyber-attacks. Currently vulnerability is managed within the framework of Traditional Risk Assessment that assesses potential failures of the system in response to specified threats. Emerging technologies by their nature have threats that are not fully known, therefore, resilience, defined as the system's ability to recover and adapt to both known and unknown threats, is an emerging area that holds promise for assessing threats to ITS. To illustrate the applicability of resilience to ITS, we conducted a study of network efficiency and resilience in response to random and targeted disruptions of ITS systems in 10 urban areas. Disruptions were generated to affect either intersections or roadways controlled by ITS under different threat scenarios. Modeled attacks, under worst case scenarios, disrupted 20% of intersections causing on average 14.6% more additional delays than the same severity attacks on roadways. Additionally, locking traffic signal states was found to cause more disruption than fully disabling signals. Thus, as cities adopt ITS and other smart systems resulting in potentially unknown vulnerabilities, it is important to consider resilience of transportation infrastructure affected by potential cyber-attacks.
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Nanotoxicology and nanomedicine: making development decisions in an evolving governance environment
Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 2018Co-Authors: Taylor Rycroft, Benjamin Trump, Kelsey Poinsatte-jones, Igor LinkovAbstract:The fields of nanomedicine, Risk analysis, and decision science have evolved considerably in the past decade, providing developers of nano-enabled therapies and diagnostic tools with more complete information than ever before and shifting a fundamental requisite of the nanomedical community from the need for more information about nanomaterials to the need for a streamlined method of integrating the abundance of nano-specific information into higher-certainty product design decisions. The crucial question facing nanomedicine developers that must select the optimal nanotechnology in a given situation has shifted from “how do we estimate nanomaterial Risk in the absence of good Risk data?” to “how can we derive a holistic characterization of the Risks and benefits that a given nanomaterial may pose within a specific nanomedical application?” Many decision support frameworks have been proposed to assist with this inquiry; however, those based in multicriteria decision analysis have proven to be most adaptive in the rapidly evolving field of nanomedicine—from the early stages of the field when conditions of significant uncertainty and incomplete information dominated, to today when nanotoxicology and nano-environmental health and safety information is abundant but foundational paradigms such as chemical Risk Assessment, Risk governance, life cycle Assessment, safety-by-design, and stakeholder engagement are undergoing substantial reformation in an effort to address the needs of emerging technologies. In this paper, we reflect upon 10 years of developments in nanomedical engineering and demonstrate how the rich knowledgebase of nano-focused toxicological and Risk Assessment information developed over the last decade enhances the capability of multicriteria decision analysis approaches and underscores the need to continue the transition from Traditional Risk Assessment towards Risk-based decision-making and alternatives-based governance for emerging technologies.
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emerging technologies for environmental remediation integrating data and judgment
Environmental Science & Technology, 2016Co-Authors: Matthew E Bates, Khara Deanne Grieger, Jeffrey M Keisler, Benjamin D Trump, Kenton Plourde, Igor LinkovAbstract:Emerging technologies present significant challenges to researchers, decision-makers, industry professionals, and other stakeholder groups due to the lack of quantitative Risk, benefit, and cost data associated with their use. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) can support early decisions for emerging technologies when data is too sparse or uncertain for Traditional Risk Assessment. It does this by integrating expert judgment with available quantitative and qualitative inputs across multiple criteria to provide relative technology scores. Here, an MCDA framework provides preliminary insights on the suitability of emerging technologies for environmental remediation by comparing nanotechnology and synthetic biology to conventional remediation methods. Subject matter experts provided judgments regarding the importance of criteria used in the evaluations and scored the technologies with respect to those criteria. The results indicate that synthetic biology may be preferred over nanotechnology and conventional methods for high expected benefits and low deployment costs but that conventional technology may be preferred over emerging technologies for reduced Risks and development costs. In the absence of field data regarding the Risks, benefits, and costs of emerging technologies, structuring evidence-based expert judgment through a weighted hierarchy of topical questions may be helpful to inform preliminary Risk governance and guide emerging technology development and policy.