الفهرس 
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Abstract
This work was conducted in 41 welding enterprises at Birket El-Sabaa district,
Menoufia governorate to study neurobehavioral and respiratory health disorders which
might arise among welders.
This study included an exposed group of welders (110) who accepted to
participate in the study and a control (unexposed) group (110) from the welders’ relatives.
Both groups were matched for age, sex, residence, marital status, socioeconomic standard
and educational level.
All participants were interviewed using a predesigned questionnaire about
occupational history, neurological and respiratory manifestations. Also, they were
examined generally followed by local neurological and chest examinations.
Neurobehavioral test battery as well as spirometry were carried out for both welders and
the controls aiming to assess neurobehavioral function and spirometric measurements;
respectively. All participants were subjected to blood manganese level measurement.
Environmental studies were done by Air Pollution Department, National Research
Center (Dokki, Cairo) for assessment of total welding fumes and respirable dust and
analysis using spectrophotometric method measuring manganese air level.
The following results were obtained:
Regarding the environmental measurements of some welding enterprises, total
welding fumes, respirable dust and manganese air levels were higher than the
permissible level of the Egyptian Environmental Law 4 Decree 1095, 2011 and
threshold limit value of ACGIH, 2017.
The manganese whole blood mean values were significantly higher among welders
than the controls.
Statistically significant higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements
among welders than the control group were revealed.
Low percent of PPE use among welders.
The prevalence of neurological manifestations e.g. dizziness, headache, difficulty in
concentration, troubles in remembering, difficulty in understanding, irritability,
difficulty in speaking, fatigue, paresthesia and involuntary movements were
significantly higher among welders than the controls. The neurological examination
showed significantly higher prevalence of movement disorders, bradykinesia and
incoordination among welders than the controls.
Moreover, lower performance of neurobehavioral tests of attention (trail making
tests), concentration (similarities test), visual perception and memory (BVRT),
intellectual function (block design test) and visual-motor integration (BVMIT) among
welders than the controls was detected.
Regarding the effect of work duration on neurobehavioral function, a statistically
significant increased work duration was demonstrated among welders reported
presence of difficulty in concentration and understanding, irritability, paresthesia and
weakness in arms or legs than welders who didn’t. Also, the presence of the
statistically significant positive correlation between the score of trail making tests and
increased work duration and the statistically significant negative correlations between the score of block design and Santa Ana dexterity of dominant hand tests and
increased work duration among welders.
The neurotoxic effect of Mn was revealed by the statistically significant higher Mn
whole blood level mean values among welders who reported impaired memory and
tremors than welders who didn’t. In addition, the presence of the statistically
significant positive correlation between the time taken to perform trail making tests
(A and B) and Mn whole blood levels and the statistically significant negative
correlation between the score of block design test and Mn whole blood levels.