Neurotoxic effects of solvents on working children

描述（由申请人提供）：青春期发生显著的神经解剖和神经成熟变化，反映在抽象推理、情感和认知的成熟上。因此，发展中国家数以百万计的青少年童工接触溶剂可能会影响他们的认知和行为发展，在黎巴嫩之前的一项原始研究中，我们报告了接触溶剂的男性童工在神经行为评估中的表现比未接触溶剂的儿童差。这项研究有几个局限性。暴露儿童来自4种不同溶剂暴露的工作场所。仅评估了一次暴露（4小时被动监测），未计划进行后续研究。这项R21申请是贝鲁特美国大学（AUB）和俄勒冈健康与科学大学（OHSU）之间的一项合作，旨在建立贝鲁特美国大学的能力，并复制以前的工作，以提交R01后续研究。OHSU将带来30年的神经行为研究经验和他们的行为评估和研究系统（BARS），该系统适用于不同的职业，语言和年龄组。与黎巴嫩北部一个贫困社区的童工中心合作，将从该社区招募100名从事机械工作（主要接触甲基乙基酮和甲苯）的男童（10-17岁）和100名未接触的男童童工。在过去的18个月里，该项目已经招收了68名童工。这项研究将使BARS适应黎巴嫩的环境，对它进行试点测试，培训当地的研究人员，然后用它来比较接触过和没有接触过的儿童的表现。该研究还将制定一项战略，利用工作中直接观察、被动空气监测和生物监测相结合的方法来评估儿童接触溶剂的情况。长期目标是提交R01申请，对这些儿童进行为期3年的随访，仔细评估他们对溶剂的暴露情况，除了一组神经生理测试外，还对他们的神经行为表现进行重新测试，并对暴露情况最差或表现最差的儿童进行功能性MRI检查。R01将解决长期溶剂神经毒性和使用神经行为测试作为不良神经毒性作用的早期指标的有争议的问题。研究结果将为有关童工和溶剂暴露的政策提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Significant neuroanatomical and neuromaturation changes take place during adolescence and are reflected n the maturation of abstract reasoning, affect, and cognition. Hence, exposure of millions of adolescent working children in developing countries to solvents might affect their cognitive and behavioral development, in a previous original study in Lebanon, we reported that male working children exposed to solvents performed worse on neurobehavioral assessment than non-exposed working children. The study had several imitations. The exposed children were recruited from 4 kinds of workplaces with variable solvent exposure. Exposure was assessed only once (4-hour passive monitoring) and a follow up study was not planned. This R21 application, a collaborative between the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), aims at building capacity at AUB and replicating the previous work towards ubmitting an R01 follow-up study. OHSU will bring in 30 years of experience in neurobehavioral research and their Behavioral Assessment and Research System (BARS) which was applied in different occupations, anguages, and age groups. A cohort of 100 male children (10-17 years) working in mechanics (exposed mainly to Methyl Ethyl Ketone and Toluene) and 100 male non-exposed working children will be recruited from a poor neighborhood in north Lebanon, in collaboration with the Center for Working Children in that neighborhood. The program has enrolled 68 working children in the past 18 months. The study will adapt BARS to the Lebanese context, pilot test it, train local researchers, and then use it to compare the performance of exposed to non-exposed children. The study will also develop a strategy to assess exposure of children to solvents using a combination of direct observation at work, passive air monitoring, and biological monitoring. The long-term goal is to submit an R01 application in which these children are followed-up for 3 years, whereby their exposure to solvents is carefully assessed, their neurobehavioral performance is retested in addition to a set of neurophysiological tests, and a functional MRI is performed on those with the worst exposure or performance. The R01 will address the controversial issues of long-term solvent neurotoxicity and the use of neurobehavioral testing as an early indicator of adverse neurotoxic effects. The findings will inform policy on child labor and solvent exposure.