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Environmental Exposure to Manganese in Air: Associations with Cognitive Functions
Citation:
Bowler, R., E. Kornblith, V. Gocheva, M. Colledge, G. Bollweg, Y. Kim, C. Beseler, C. Wright, S. Adams, AND D. Lobdell. Environmental Exposure to Manganese in Air: Associations with Cognitive Functions. NEUROTOXICOLOGY. Elsevier B.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands, 49:139-48, (2015).
Impact/Purpose:
This study addresses research questions under Sustainable and Healthy Communities (2.2.1.6 lessons learned, best practices and stakeholder feedback from community and tribal participative case studies). This Regional Applied Research Effort project is a joint effort between Region 5 and ORD Scientists that examined neurotoxic effects of Mn within two communities: a high level air exposure community (East Liverpool, Ohio) and a mid to low range air exposure community (Marietta, Ohio). This work is important in that either positive results (differences between the high level air Mn exposure community and comparison communities) or negative results (little or no differences among communities) inform the issue of potential health effects of residential airborne Mn exposure, a recognized gap in Mn health effects literature. Both outcomes can also help inform the need for greater airborne Mn control.
Description:
Manganese (Mn), an essential element, can be neurotoxic in high doses. This cross-sectional study explored the oognitive function of adults residing in two towns (Marietta and East Liverpool, Ohio, USA) identified as having high levels of environmental airborne Mn from industrial sources. Air-Mn site surface emissions method modeling for total suspended particulate (TSP) ranged from 0.03 to 1.61 µg/m(3) in Marietta and 0.01-6.32 µg/m(3) in East Liverpool. A comprehensive screening test battery of cognitive function, including the domains of abstract thinking, attention/concentration, executive function and memory was administered. The mean age of the participants was 56 years (±10.8 years). Participants were mostly female (59.1) and primarily white (94.6%). Significant relationships (p<0.05) were found between Mn exposure and performance on working and visuospatial memory (e.g., Rey-0 Immediate B3=0.19, Rey-0 Delayed B3=0.16) and verbal skills (e.g., Similarities B3=0.19). Using extensive cognitive testing and computer modeling of 10-plus years of measured air monitoring data, this study suggests that long-term environmental exposure to high levels of air-Mn, the exposure metric of this paper, may result in mild deficits of cognitive function in adult populations.
