Dear Sir, Madam,
I am currently trying to determine characterization factors of new substances.
However I found differences between the parameters flagged as mandatory between the Excel USETox file, the "Documentation" document (page 33-34) and the user manual (https://usetox.org/sites/default/files/support-tutorials/user_manual_usetox.pdf)
Entering the mandatory parameters flagged as mandatory in the Excel file (as well as the avlogEC50 - which is not flagged as mandatory), I managed to calculate characterization factors. But in the results folder the cell where it is indicated if the results are recommanded/interim is left blank.
Which list of "mandatory parameters" should I use in order to get the best results ?
Thank-you very much in advance,
Nicolas ROUSSET
USEtox input data that are mandatory are needed to fully characterize a chemical in terms of human and/or ecotoxicity. The avlogEC50, for example, is needed to obtain ecotoxicity effect factors, which is one of the three components to obtain an ecotoxicity characterization factor, i.e. without this factor, no ecotoxicity characterization factor can be obtained.
Once all mandatory input data are provided, characterization factors can be derived. However, this does not give any input on the uncertainty of the results (lower for recommended and higher for indicative factors), since this depends on various aspects, including substance class and data input sources (e.g. experimental versus estimated data), which for new substances is only known to the user who provides the input data.
Please use the documentation as main reference for selecting input data. The user manual has been created before USEtox 2.0, where we introduced a regression for BAFfish. This has now been corrected.
In the Excel model itself, we do not indicate which parameters are mandatory or not.