Neurotoxic effects of solvents on working children

描述(由申请人提供)：重要的神经解剖学和神经成熟变化发生在青春期，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工作儿童接触溶剂可能会影响他们的认知和行为发育，在之前在黎巴嫩进行的一项原始研究中，我们报告说，接触溶剂的男性工作儿童在神经行为评估中的表现比没有接触溶剂的工作儿童更差。这项研究有几项模仿。接触儿童来自4种不同溶剂接触的作业场所。只评估了一次暴露(4小时被动监测)，没有计划进行后续研究。这项R21申请是美国贝鲁特大学(AUB)和俄勒冈健康与科学大学(OHSU)合作的，旨在建设AUB的能力，并复制之前提交R01后续研究的工作。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)，该系统应用于不同的职业、语言和年龄段。将与黎巴嫩北部的劳动儿童中心合作，从黎巴嫩北部的一个贫穷社区招募100名从事机械工作(主要接触甲乙酮和甲苯)的男性儿童(10-17岁)和100名非接触的男性工作儿童。在过去的18个月里，该计划已经招收了68名童工。这项研究将使酒吧适应黎巴嫩的背景，对其进行试点测试，培训当地研究人员，然后使用它来比较接触非暴露儿童的表现。这项研究还将制定一项战略，利用工作中的直接观察、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年的跟踪调查，仔细评估他们暴露在溶剂中的情况，除了一系列神经生理测试外，还重新测试他们的神经行为表现，并对暴露或表现最差的儿童进行功能核磁共振检查。R01将解决有争议的长期溶剂神经毒性问题，并使用神经行为测试作为不良神经毒性影响的早期指标。这些发现将为有关童工和溶剂暴露的政策提供参考。

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.