Epidemiology and Biomarkers of Parkinsonism in Welders

项目概述：帕金森病（PD）是一种影响北美100万人的神经退行性疾病。虽然环境因素与大多数病例有关，但大多数PD病例的病因尚不清楚。我们有初步证据表明，职业焊工患帕金森病的几率是普通人群的三到十倍。我们有一个NIEHS和Michael J. Fox基金会资助的研究项目来调查焊接作为帕金森病的风险因素。在资助的研究中，我们将对职业焊工和对照组的帕金森病患病率进行基于人群的流行病学研究。我们将召集875名现役船厂工人（和退休人员）和200名年龄最接近的同性同胞作为对照。运动障碍专家将检查所有受试者是否患有帕金森病。将比较船厂焊工、非焊工和非焊工、同性、兄弟姐妹之间帕金森病的患病率。工业卫生学家将根据详细的暴露问卷重建所有暴露对象的焊接暴露情况，并使用工作暴露矩阵（JEM）将受试者分组到暴露的四分之一，以确定焊接暴露与帕金森病之间是否存在剂量-反应关系。该提案支持的新研究包括评估血锰水平与苍白球中增加的tl加权信号变化之间的关系。此外，我们将确定通过有效问卷重建并由JEM分类的终身焊接暴露是否与PET [18FJFDOPA纹状体摄取的剂量依赖性减少以及通过临床检查和定时运动任务测量的帕金森病的更严重程度有关。进行这项研究的团队代表了运动障碍专家、流行病学家、职业医学专家、工业卫生学家和行业领导者的独特合作。证明焊接和帕金森病之间的明确关系将对公共卫生产生重大影响，因为这些病例中的大多数都可以通过修改工作场所来预防。这个多机构和多学科的研究项目，加上众多的教育（机构K12，广泛的讲座/研讨会系列）和神经内科（P30）的合作资源，使这个研究计划成为一个理想的环境，指导以患者为导向的神经学研究的学员。相关性：未提供。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): PROJECT SUMMARY: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting one million people in North America. There is no known cause for most cases of PD although environmental factors have been implicated in the majority of cases. We have preliminary evidence that parkinsonism is three to ten times more common in career welders than the general population. We have an NIEHS and Michael J. Fox Foundation funded research program to investigate welding as a risk-factor for parkinsonism. For the funded research, we will perform a population based, epidemiology study of the prevalence of parkinsonism in career welders and controls. We will assemble a cohort of 875 active shipyard workers (and retirees) and 200 same-sex, nearest age, sibling controls. Movement disorders specialists will examine all subjects for parkinsonism. Prevalence of parkinsonism will be compared between shipyard welders, non-welder shipyard workers and the non-welder, same-sex, sibling controls. An industrial hygienist will reconstruct subject welding exposure from a detailed exposure questionnaire in all exposed subjects and subjects will be grouped into tertiles of exposure using a Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) to determine if there is a dose-response relationship between welding exposure and parkinsonism. New research to be supported by this proposal includes assessment of the relationship between blood manganese levels and increased Tl-weighted signal changes in globus pallidum. In addition, we will determine if lifetime welding exposure reconstructed from a validated questionnaire and categorized by a JEM is associated with a dose dependent decrease in [18FJFDOPA striatal uptake using PET and with greater severity of parkinsonism as measured by clinical examination and timed motor tasks. The team conducting this research represents a unique collaboration of movement disorders specialists, epidemiologists, occupational medicine specialists, industrial hygienists, and industry leaders. Demonstrating a definitive relationship between welding and parkinsonism will have substantial public health impact since the majority of these cases should be preventable through worksite modifications. This multi-institution and multi-discipline research program, in addition to the numerous educational (institutional K12, extensive lectures/seminar series) and collaborative resources in the Department of Neurology (P30), makes this research proposal an ideal environment to mentor trainees in patient-oriented neurological research. RELEVANCE: None provided.