Parasitic diseases present a considerable socio-economic impact to society. Zoonotic parasites can result in a considerable burden of disease in people and substantive economic losses to livestock populations. Ameliorating the effects of these diseases may consist of attempts at eradicating specific diseases at a global level, eliminating them at a national or local level or controlling them to minimise incidence. Alternatively with some parasitic zoonoses it may only be possible to treat human and animal cases as they arise. The choice of approach will be determined by the potential effectiveness of a disease control programme, its cost and the cost effectiveness or cost benefit of undertaking the intervention. Furthermore human disease burden is being increasingly measured by egalitarian non-financial measures which are difficult to apply to livestock. This adds additional challenges to the assessment of socio-economic burdens of zoonotic diseases. Using examples from the group of neglected zoonotic diseases, information regarding the socio-economic effects is reviewed together with how this information is used in decision making with regard to disease control and treatment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Micromass cell culture systems for rat embryo midbrain (CNS) and limb bud (LB) cells were employed to assess the in vitro developmental toxicity of the benzimidazole analogs, mebendazole (MBZ), thiabendazole (TBZ), and nocodazole (NCZ), in addition to the classic microtubule inhibitor, colchicine. Comparison was made to albendazole (ABZ), a previously studied benzimidazole anthelmintic. Two parameters for assessing developmental toxicity were measured: differentiation and cytotoxicity. The relative potencies of the benzimidazole analogs in the micromass system (NCZ greater than MBZ approximately ABZ much greater than TBZ) mirrored their effectiveness in an assay for in vitro inhibition of mammalian tubulin polymerization. Colchicine also exhibits a high affinity for mammalian tubulin and was a potent inhibitor of cell proliferation, chondrogenesis, and neuronal differentiation. Immunofluorescent staining of Day 1 LB cultures with a monoclonal antibody to beta-tubulin revealed that these agents elicited mitotic arrest. Many anti-tubulin agents are teratogenic in rats and their in vivo developmental toxicity may reflect perturbation of microtubular structure or function. With the exception of TBZ, these agents should be considered potential developmental toxicants since they inhibit cell growth and differentiation of micromass cultures at nanomolar concentrations.

Intestinal helminths cause iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant women, associated with premature delivery, low birth weight, maternal ill health, and maternal death. Although benzimidazole compounds such as mebendazole (MBZ) are highly efficacious against helminths, there are limited data on its use during pregnancy. In this study, we performed in vivo imaging of the retinas of zebrafish larvae exposed to MBZ, and found that exposure to MBZ during 2 and 3 days post-fertilization caused malformation of the retinal layers. To identify the molecular mechanism underlying the developmental toxicity of MBZ, we performed transcriptome analysis of zebrafish eyes. The analysis revealed that the DNA damage response was involved in the developmental toxicity of MBZ. We were also able to demonstrate that inhibition of ATM significantly attenuated the apoptosis induced by MBZ in the zebrafish retina. These results suggest that MBZ causes developmental toxicity in the zebrafish retina at least partly by activating the DNA damage response, including ATM signaling, providing a potential adverse outcome pathway in the developmental toxicity of MBZ in mammals.

为探讨丁香酚在罗非鱼血浆和肌肉中的药代动力学特征及残留消除规律，在（25±1）℃水温条件下，以20 mg/L丁香酚溶液麻醉罗非鱼24 h后，按时间段分别采集血浆和肌肉样品，测定罗非鱼血浆和肌肉中的丁香酚残留，确定丁香酚在罗非鱼体内的药代动力学参数及代谢过程。结果显示，罗非鱼血浆和肌肉中的药物经时过程均符合一级吸收一室开放模型，其理论方程分别为C血浆=4.762（e-0.062 6t-e-0.064 7t）、C肌肉=1.089（e-0.006 9t- e-0.0021 7t）。血浆中的主要药动学参数：T1/2ka为14.06 h; T1/2ke为14.68 h; Cmax为5.18 mg/kg。肌肉中的主要药动学参数：T1/2ka为84.80 h; T1/2ke为101.48 h; Cmax为3.07 mg/kg，可见丁香酚在罗非鱼血浆中的吸收、消除速度均明显快于肌肉。结果表明，以0.05 mg/kg为最高残留限量计算，在本试验条件下，以肌肉为残留检测的靶组织，丁香酚在罗非鱼体内的休药期不低于12 d，因此，不建议丁香酚作为罗非鱼运输的麻醉剂使用。

本文建立了分散固相萃取结合高效液相色谱-串联质谱同时测定沉积物中氟喹诺酮类药物残留的分析方法。沉积物经20 mL乙腈-磷酸盐缓冲液（1:1，V/V）超声提取，0.15 g乙二胺四乙酸二钠络合除杂，分散固相萃取材料净化，Ultimate XB-C18色谱柱分离，含4 mmol/L乙酸铵的0.1%甲酸水溶液-0.1%甲酸甲醇梯度洗脱，电喷雾正离子模式下以多反应监测方式检测，内标法定量分析。通过试验优化了不同提取方法、净化吸附剂比。结果表明，5种氟喹诺酮类药物在2.5~200 ng/mL范围内线性关系良好（R2>0. 99），方法定量限（S/N≥10） 为2 μg/kg。在2~50 μg/kg 添加水平内，平均回收率为79.8%~112%，日内相对标准偏差（RSD）为3.2%~9.9%，日间RSD为5.3%~8.6%。

The idea of using drugs from the benzimidazole group as potential antitumor agents is becoming increasingly popular and widespread in research. However, their use as antiparasitics and in cancer treatment will increase their already recorded occurrence in the aquatic environment. In this study, the removal of the anthelmintic mebendazole from aqueous solution was investigated using nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes, adsorption on granular activated carbon (GAC), and photolytic degradation. The dense NF90 and reverse osmosis XLE membranes showed almost complete removal (>97.7%), while the NF270 membrane showed a large dependence of removal on initial concentration from 41.9% to 96.6%. Adsorption in the column resulted in complete removal of mebendazole at the highest GAC height used (40 cm) from the solution with the lowest concentration (1 mg/L). Photolytic degradation by artificial light for 2 and 12 h resulted in photodegradation of mebendazole in the range of 23.5–61.4%, forming a new degradation or transformation compound with an m/z ratio of 311. Mebendazole is a photosensitive drug whose photodegradation follows first-order kinetics and depends on the drug concentration. Toxicity was studied with Vibrio fischeri before and after photolysis, and showed a decrease in inhibition after 12 h.