The anaysis of data from the North Carolina Kidney Disease Study focused on the potential risk associated with self-reported job history and specific occupational exposures, including solvents, dusts, metals and silica. Our study included 548 cases with renal disfunction confirmed by hospital chart review and 514 matched population controls. A paper in revision assessed risk of chronic kidney disease in relation to work in agriculture and manufacturing jobs in the presence of dusty conditions. We previously reported that occupational silica exposure was associated with increased chonic kidney disease risk. In related work using the Agricultural Health Study Cohort we are studying the potential association between pesticide use and kidney disease by linking the cohort to mortality records in Iowa and North Carolina and to the US Renal Data System to evaluate risk for incident End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). A paper on potential links between use of specific chemicals by pesticide applicators and ESRD was recently submitted and other manuscripts are in preparation. We measured arsenic in historical urine samples from 300 Pima Indians participating in a prospective study conducted by NIDDK. Half remained free of diabetes at follow-up exam at least 10 years after initial visit and half had developed diabetes. Results suggest a slight association between low level arsenic exposure and diabetes risk. We are also using the Pima cohort study to assess risk of diabetes and diabetic nephropathy associated with exposure to organochlorine compounds measured in serum samples from individuals who developed diabetes without nephropathy, those who developed diabetic nephropathy, and those who remained diabetes free after at least 10 years of follow-up. In the ADHD study we reported that the prevalence of ADHD in school-aged children is higher than previously published estimates and that the specific method used to define case status has significant impact on disease prevalence estimates. Using the Agricultural Health Study we identified novel links between use of specific pesticides and risk for diabetes in spouses. Findings were similar to our previous evaluation of risk among licensed pesticide applicators. We also found increased prevalence of hypothyroid disease among applicators and spouses exposed to a range of pesticide subtypes. A recently completed analysis explored risk for endometriosis in spouses of applicators who themselves report use of specific single and combination pesticides. We are studying a range of autoimmune diseases and autoimmunity using data collected in the Sister and Agricultural Health Study Cohorts as well as using population data such as NHANES and data from other studies such as the NIEHS Myositis registry (in collaboration with Drs. Miller and Rider in the NIEHS Autoimmunity Research Group) and the Women's Health Initiative. Dr. Parks studied risk factors for antinuclear antibodies using the National Health and Nutrition Survey (in press) finding differences associated with reproductive characteristic in women. She also studied associations between elevated C-reactive protein and self-reported flares in SLE patients and is exploring psychosocial and other stressors in relation to RA using data from the Women's Health Initiative. A new project in collaboration with investigators from NIA will evaluate changes in ANA over time, explore associations between vitamin D and other factors with ANA levels and trajectories, and evaluate whether ANA levels are associated with telomere shortening over time.
| Carnes, Megan Ulmer; Hoppin, Jane A; Metwali, Nervana et al. (2017) House Dust Endotoxin Levels Are Associated with Adult Asthma in a U.S. Farming Population. Ann Am Thorac Soc 14:324-331 |
| Peters, Tracy L; Weibull, Caroline E; Fang, Fang et al. (2017) Association of fractures with the incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener 18:419-425 |
| Peters, Tracy L; Kamel, Freya; Lundholm, Cecilia et al. (2017) Occupational exposures and the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Occup Environ Med 74:87-92 |
| Mariosa, Daniela; Beard, John D; Umbach, David M et al. (2017) Body Mass Index and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Study of US Military Veterans. Am J Epidemiol 185:362-371 |
| Beard, John D; Engel, Lawrence S; Richardson, David B et al. (2017) Military service, deployments, and exposures in relation to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis survival. PLoS One 12:e0185751 |
| Fang, Fang; Peters, Tracy L; Beard, John D et al. (2017) Blood Lead, Bone Turnover, and Survival in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Am J Epidemiol 186:1057-1064 |
| Bello, Anila; Woskie, Susan R; Gore, Rebecca et al. (2017) Retrospective Assessment of Occupational Exposures for the GENEVA Study of ALS among Military Veterans. Ann Work Expo Health 61:299-310 |
| Beard, John D; Engel, Lawrence S; Richardson, David B et al. (2016) Military service, deployments, and exposures in relation to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis etiology. Environ Int 91:104-15 |
| Yu, Jichang; Liu, Yanyan; Cai, Jianwen et al. (2016) Outcome-Dependent Sampling Design and Inference for Cox's Proportional Hazards Model. J Stat Plan Inference 178:24-36 |
| Meier, Helen C S; Sandler, Dale P; Simonsick, Eleanor M et al. (2016) Association between Vitamin D Deficiency and Antinuclear Antibodies in Middle-Aged and Older U.S. Adults. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 25:1559-1563 |
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