P205 Measuring the health effects of manganese smelter emissions in south africa: a pilot study
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Introduction Previous studies have reported a dose-response relationship between occupational manganese (Mn) exposure and decreased motor function, adverse psychological symptoms, attention deficits, and working memory deficits. Residential exposure to Mn has also been associated with depression and anxiety but the relationship with environmental Mn exposure and motor and cognitive function is unclear. Many studies have shown cognitive dysfunction in children and adults exposed to environmental Mn, and there is some evidence implicating environmental exposure to Mn as a risk factor for Parkinson Disease. Objective We conducted a pilot study to assess the feasibility of motor and cognitive assessments for a community-based study of the effects of environmental Mn exposure in adults. Methods A convenience sample of 100 adult residents, aged 40 years or older, from a community in close proximity to a Mn smelter in South Africa was assessed, excluding those with a pre-existing neurologic disorder that would preclude completion of testing. Assessments comprised a demographic questionnaire that included residential, medical, and occupational histories; the Beck Depression Inventory; the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale motor subsection part 3 (UPDRS3) to assess parkinsonism, the clinical signs of Parkinson Disease; the Grooved Pegboard;. and two cognitive control tasks (the Go-No-Go, and Letter Number Sequencing). For this pilot study, we investigated the prevalence of parkinsonism defined as a UPDRS3 score ≥ 15, and the correlation between motor function and cognitive control. Results We found a high prevalence of parkinsonism using the UPDRS3 (18%), a high prevalence of anxiety and depression, and strong correlations between the UPDRS3 and both motor and cognitive control tasks (p < 0.0001). Conclusion Motor dysfunction appears to be associated with cognitive dysfunction in this small sample. A larger study is underway to confirm these findings.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".