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This study represents the first application of Fe-citrate-based photo-Fenton chemistry for the degradation of chlorpyrifos (CPF) spiked into agricultural runoff, and its phytotoxicity assessment. The effects of the initial CPF concentration, time and ratio of Fe-citrate/H 2 O 2 on CPF removal during the photo-Fenton reaction were investigated and modeled with analysis of variance using R software by the response-surface methodology package. According to the stationary point in original units, the optimal condition for 70.00% CPF removal was as follows: CPF = 2.5 mg L -1 (0.0), time = 48.0 min (0.585) and Fe-citrate/H 2 O 2 = 0.075 (0.539). Beside running the system at near-neutral pH, another strength of this study is related to the treatment of agricultural runoff contaminated with CPF with a raceway pond reactor, which has the advantages of simplicity of the facilities and procedures, as well as the possibility of using sunlight more efficiently in the field of applications. Finally, untreated and treated agriculture runoffs were used as irrigation to determine their phytotoxic effects on seed germination of cress (Lepidium sativum). Solar photo-Fenton treatment greatly reduced phytotoxicity of agriculture runoff and showed the highest germination percentage (70%) compared to both raw agricultural runoff (60%) and untreated CPF-spiked runoff (35%).

The impact of bioaerosols in municipal solid waste management is nowadays identified as a growing health concern worldwide. In this study, exposure to endotoxin in composting facilities and its association with lung function and clinical symptoms was investigated in Tehran municipal solid waste management complex (Aradkooh) as one of the largest solid waste management facilities in the Middle East. Airborne endotoxins were collected between June and July 2019 and the concentrations were determined by Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) method. Healthy workers with no history of respiratory disease were recruited and data on clinical symptoms (cough, phlegm, wheezing, dyspnea, fatigue, headache, eye irritation, runny nose, runny eyes, and sore throat) was obtained by the modified American Thoracic Society questionnaire, and spirometric measurement was performed by an expert. The binary logistic regression test was used and adjusted for confounding variables. The results didn't show any difference in lung function parameters (FEV 1 , FVC, FEV 1 /FVC, PEF, FEF 25-75% ), and most of the respiratory symptoms despite a relatively high difference in the concentration of endotoxin observed in air samples of different locations. Only the increased risk of cough (OR 10.5, 95% CI: 2.4 to 44.8 in the moderately exposed group and 7.8, 95% CI: 1.6 to 39.1 in highly exposed ones), fatigue (OR 3.7, 95% CI: 1.2 to 11.7), and headache (OR 6.02, 95% CI: 1.4 to 24.5) were found in the exposed groups compared to controls after adjusting for age, active and passive smoking. However, findings of the study might be underestimated due to some issues including healthy worker effect, intra and intersubject variability, and self-reporting bias, thereby the results should be interpreted with caution. Although we did not find any relationship, due to the high concentrations of endotoxins observed in some sites, it is recommended to consider some possible prevention measures such as using personal protective equipment to reduce the exposure of workers at an acceptable level., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: A bioelectricity producing system was configured by connecting to a microbial electrolysis cell producing hydrogen, in which both systems were without mediator, to treatment the landfill leachate of the and generate bioelectricity and hydrogen., Methods: The anode electrode was made with MWCNTs polyscale coating on graphite felt and the cathode electrode with activated carbon coating on carbon cloth. In the MFC-MEC coupled system, the electrodes were connected in series using copper wire. The system was set up in a fed-batch mode and the landfill synthetic leachate was injected into the anode MFC-MEC chamber as fuel., Results: In MFC, the highest voltage, current density and power density were 1114 mV, 44.2A/m 3 and 49.24 W/m 3 , respectively. The maximum of the coulombic efficiency system was 94.10%. The highest removed COD, NH 4 -N and P was 97.38%, 79.56% and 74.61%, respectively. In the MEC, the maximum of voltage input, current density and power density was 1106 mV, 43.88 A/m 3 and 48.54 W/m 3 , respectively. The maximum coulombic efficiency system was 125.54%. Also the highest removed COD, NH 4 -N and P was 97.46%, 78.81% and 76.25%, respectively. The highest biogas production rate and its yield were 39 mL/L.d, and 0.0118 L/g CODrem, respectively., Conclusion: This study found that the MFC-MEC coupled system had promising potential for strong wastewaters treatment, such as the leachate of landfill; and the in-site use of generated electricity and the production of useful fuels such as biogas., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestsThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.)

Airborne particulate matter is associated with increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between air pollution conditions and MDA, vWF, and fibrinogen markers in the blood of two panels of healthy young individuals in an urban area in Tehran city with a high air pollution background and another group was living in a rural area (Ahmad Abad Mostofi), with a low air pollution background. In each group, 4 blood samples were taken as follows: one in inversion days, the second in winter, but during the existence of normal condition in terms of air pollution, the third sample in the spring during the normal condition in terms of air pollution and the fourth sample during the dust storm conditions. In the urban and rural groups, there was a significant difference between the concentration of MDA, vWF, fibrinogen between inversion and cold season control conditions, and between dust storm conditions and warm season control conditions (p < 0.05). The results showed that the association of dust storm condition on the measured biomarkers was stronger than the inversion condition, which health consideration in the dust conditions be taken into account similar to the inversion conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Anaerobically pretreated composting leachate contains high ammonia load and soluble organic matter, which requires further treatment. In this study, simultaneous removal of COD, nitrogen, and phosphorus compounds from anaerobically pretreated composting leachate investigated by using an intermittent cycle moving bed airlift bioreactor (ICMBABR) supported by zeolite as a biofilm. The efficiency of COD, Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), and phosphorous removal and contaminants profile during the process, and the mass balances were analyzed. A multilayer design used for the experimental design, and the effect of four variables including hydraulic retention times (4, 6, 8 h), the zeolite ratios (20, 35, 50%), the influent COD concentration (1, 2, and 3 g/L) and aeration duration (64, 73, and 82%) investigated by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). According to the results and process profile the sequence of anoxic and aerobic conditions, presence of the anaerobic zone in the bottom of the reactor, as well as the use of zeolite as adsorbent media, significantly allowed the simultaneous removal of COD (99%), TKN (95%), and total phosphorus compounds (90%) from anaerobically pretreated composting leachate and favorable potential to remove nitrogen compounds by high efficiency (79%) through simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND)., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.)

Background: Due to the increasing rate of hospital-acquired infections, it is essential to select appropriate disinfectant agents. In this study, the efficacy of hospital disinfectants against nosocomial infection pathogens was compared., Methods: High level disinfectants (Steranios 2%, Deconex HLDPA, and Microzed Quatenol) were tested for their antibacterial effects by determining their minimum inhibitory (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) against Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 and Burkholderia cepacia ATCC 10673., Results: E. faecalis, as gram-positive bacterium, was more susceptible to high level disinfectants compared to gram-negative B.cepacia. The MIC = MBC values of 2% Steranios, Deconex HLDPA and Microzed Quatenol against E. faecalis and B.cepacia were 0.31, 9.77, 2.2 mg/L and 9.8, 78.13, 70.31 mg/L, respectively., Conclusions: According to the findings of this study, the most effective disinfectants against both E. faecalis and B.cepacia were Steranios 2%, Microzed Quatenol, and Deconex HLDPA in order. Considering the importance of these bacterial strains in healthcare-associated infections, the use of these effective disinfectants is recommended in the hospitals.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan city, China, in late 2019 and has rapidly spread throughout the world. The major route of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is in contention, with the airborne route a likely transmission pathway for carrying the virus within indoor environments. Until now, there has been no evidence for detection of airborne severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and this may have implication for the potential spread of the COVID-19. We investigated the air of patient rooms with confirmed COVID-19 in the largest hospital in Iran, on March 17, 2020. To collect the SARS-CoV-2 particles, ten air samples were collected into the sterile standard midget impingers containing 20 mL DMEM with 100 μg/mL streptomycin, 100 U/mL penicillin and 1% antifoam reagent for 1 h. Besides, indoor particle number concentrations, CO 2 , relative humidity and temperature were recorded throughout the sampling duration. Viral RNA was extracted from samples taken from the impingers and Reverse-Transcription PCR (RT-PCR) was applied to confirm the positivity of collected samples based on the virus genome sequence. Fortunately, in this study all air samples which were collected 2 to 5 m from the patients' beds with confirmed COVID-19 were negative. Despite we indicated that all air samples were negative, however, we suggest further in vivo experiments should be conducted using actual patient cough, sneeze and breath aerosols in order to show the possibility of generation of the airborne size carrier aerosols and the viability fraction of the embedded virus in those carrier aerosols., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared no conflicts of interests., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Carbon-based materials and their modifications have received significant attention over the last decades given the outstanding adsorption behavior toward various dyes from aqueous solutions. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the adsorption capability of dyes on carbon-based adsorbent materials (CBAMs) has been compiled. Further, the effects of process variables i.e., pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, and initial concentration), adsorption kinetics, and isotherms were investigated while considering the classification of different groups of dyes and adsorbents. The Metafor package provides functions for conducting meta-analyses in R software. Electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were systematically searched based on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) from January 1, 2009 to May 1, 2018. The following parameters were evaluated according to predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. After detailed screening and analysis, 835 articles were eligible for the review section. Among them, 87 studies met all quantitative criteria for the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model with a high heterogeneity (I 2  = 99.99%). According to the evidence, basic dyes with n = 661 (∼50%) and powder activated carbon (PAC) sorbent with n = 752 (∼57%) have received the most attention among researchers. The results revealed that the mean of removal efficiency-based dyes classification was between 79.9 and 93.7% and the adsorption capacity was lied within the range of 76.8-303.6 mg/g. Meanwhile, the maximum adsorption capacity belongs to graphene families with Qm > 320 mg/g, while the minimum Qm was related to G and GAC with capacities of 108.5 and 110.7 mg/g, respectively. Pseudo-second-order kinetic model with 88.7% and Langmuir isotherm with 74% had the best fitting with the data studied. Baujat plot revealed that two studies (ID: 75 and 12) had the minimum influence on adsorption capacity with the highest dffits and cook's distance. According to the pooled data, the mean adsorption capacity varied between 140.90 and 208.25, with a mean of 174.57 mg/g across all studies. The results of Egger's test (t = 0.1332, p = 0.0844) and Begg's test (z = 0.8458, p = 0.3977) were not statistically significant, suggesting that no potential publication bias existed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) through food, water, and air occurred during the life, which may change telomere length (TL) in peripheral blood leukocytes. The present study was designed to investigate the association between TL and serum levels of PCBs and OCPs in Tehran male's population. Whole blood samples were randomly taken from 300 adult males, aged between 25 and 40 years. TL was determined by real-time PCR to measure the number of the telomere (T) repeats to the number of a single-copy gene (S). We applied the multivariate linear regression model to compare the effect of each lipid adjusted serum levels of PCBs and OCPs congener on the TL, with adjustment for age, body mass index, education, smoking, and food patterns. Each doubling of the nondioxin-like PCBs, dioxin-like PCBs, and OCPs levels were associated with 1.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) - 0.70 to 5.40%], 2.5% (95% CI 0.30-8.3%), and - 2.4% (95% CI - 0.70 to - 6.2%) variation in the TL, respectively. The percent difference in the TL with exposure to nondioxin-like PCBs, dioxin-like PCBs, and OCPs for participants with older than age 37 years were 6.45% (95% CI  2.81-16.50%), 4.52% (95% CI  1.60-10.54%), and - 7.44% (95% CI - 1.55 to - 15.51%), respectively. Exposures to nondioxin-like PCBs (except for PCB 28 and 52) with high chlorine in structure and dioxin-like PCBs were related to longer TLs. Conversely, serum levels of OCPs can be associated with oxidative stress and systemic inflammation that lead to telomere shortening.

Epidemiological evidence for the link between long-term exposure to air particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and occurrence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is limited such that little is known about the effect of PM 2.5 exposure and adult T2D prevalence. Thus, the aim of this ecological study is to evaluate the contribution of ambient PM 2.5 exposure to the adult T2D prevalence in the large population of Iran. The study was conducted based on Iran's large-scale cross-sectional surveilling non-communicable diseases (NCDs) risk factors (Timpka et al. 2015b). A total of 31,050 participants were enrolled in three sequential processes of study using cluster random sampling. PM 2.5 data in the urban area of 31 provinces of Iran were acquired from Tehran Air Quality Control Company (AQCC) and the Department of Environment (DoE) of Iran during 2012-2016. Moreover, major and minor diabetes risk factors were considered; the Pearson correlation and a stepwise regression model were performed to estimate associations between risk factors and diabetes and prediabetes prevalence. The results showed T2D prevalence was more frequent among women (10.61%) than men (9.35%). A weak positive correlation was observed between PM 2.5 level and diabetes prevalence with a correlation coefficient of 0.275, although there was no significant association between PM 2.5 value and prediabetes prevalence. Moreover, none of the variables included in the regression model could predict the prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes. According to our study results, it can be suggested that investigating the association between PM 2.5 exposure and T2D prevalence at individual level may provide a better understanding of PM 2.5 exposure and the risk of T2D prevalence.

The wide spectrum of oil industry activities caused soil contaminants, as environmental concern in many areas of the world. Bioremediation of oily soils, as biological approach done by bacteria and fungi, is very important to eliminate this pollution. In this study four different metagenomic protocols for DNA extraction has been tested in order to sequence and identify the native bacterial species involved in remediation of oily soils. In this regard, 3 manual methods and a soil DNA extraction kit are used. In manual protocol, physical processes including the addition of silica beads and freezing samples by liquid nitrogen, chemical methods such as treating the lysozyme, and lysis buffer and proteinase K as biochemical methods were utilized for optimal extraction. Quality and quantity of the extracted DNA analyzed using Agarose gel electrophoresis and Picodrop respectively. Then, the 16S rdna gene of bacteria amplified through universal primer for preparing a genomic library by PCR. Results showed that the highest concentration and quality of extracted DNA was obtained by protocol D which was about 135 μg/ul and 260/230 = 2.2 respectively. Moreover, 500 bp fragment amplified perfectly by using DNA extracted through protocol D in the PCR test. Therefore, protocol D can be used as an appropriate and effective way in order to study the microbial population of oily soils using direct extraction of DNA., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors confirm that this article content has no conflict of interest., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.)

The concentration of PAHs among raw and cooked meat products (sausages and burgers), randomly collected from five regions of Tehran, Iran, was investigated by the aid of a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the risk assessment was conducted. The concentration of 16 types of PAHs in sausage and burger samples was found in the range of 8.08 to 29.55 and 10.18 to 29.85 μg/kg, respectively. The concentrations of some PAHs such as anthracene (A) (14.12 μg/kg) and acenaphthylene (Acl) (13.4 μg/kg) were higher than the European Standard (2 μg/kg). Among the meat products with different meat percentages (50, 70, and 90), the highest level of total PAHs was noted in the product containing 90% meat (19.34 μg/kg), while the highest mean level of PAHs was noted in fried meat products (23.31 μg/kg). A positive and significant correlation between cooking method and brand of product with the concentration of PAHs (p-value < 0.05) was noted. Also, no concern regarding the non-carcinogenic risk due to the ingestion of PAHs via consumption of the meat products was demonstrated by the health risk. However, the carcinogenic risk due to the consumption of sausage and burger was at the tolerable (1E-6 to 1E-4) and considerable (> 1E-4) risk levels, respectively. In this regard, further assessments to control and modify the cooking method among the Iranian population were recommended.

Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were studied during paper and cardboard recycling from a paper and cardboard solid waste recycling factory (PCSWRF). Data are summarized in this article for the following quantities for a PCSWRF during the winter in Tehran, Iran: VOC concentrations (μg m -3 ), the percentage of detected VOCs, exposure indices (E i ) of individual and total VOCs (TVOCs), inhalation lifetime cancer risk (LTCR) of VOCs, the hazard quotient (HQ) of VOCs, sensitivity analysis (SA) for VOC exposure in different age groups (birth to <81), and Spearman's rank correlation coefficients (r) between VOC concentrations and meteorological parameters. For more insight please see "Characteristics and Health Effects of Volatile Organic Compound Emissions during Paper and Cardboard Recycling"[1], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2019.102005., (© 2020 The Authors.)

Background: The traditional approach in the management of the quality drinking water, and relying on end-product testing, has proven ineffective in protecting public health. Therefore, the transition to a systematic approach in drinking water supply systems management from the source to the consumer tap was taken as a water safety plan (WSP)., Objective: The study aims to investigate the health-related hazardous events in order to decide on the best risk-reduction strategies in the supply of drinking water in the Gaza strip., Methods: A semiquantitative matrix method for risk assessment was applied. Also, chlorine residual, electrical conductivity, and nitrate concentration further tested in 109 water wells, 109 small-scale water desalination plants, 197 tanker trucks, and 384 households distributed over five governorates of the Gaza strip., Results: The mean of the measured chlorine residual values was less than the recommended national and international limits (0.2-1 mg/liter). The mean of electrical conductivity at catchment points and household municipal water taps was 2165.1  μ S·cm -1 and 2000  μ S·cm -1 , respectively. Furthermore, zero percent of water samples met the recommended criteria, indicating that the groundwater in the Gaza strip is nonpotable. Only 12.8% and 8.8% of water samples met the permissible levels at catchment areas and municipal water at household, respectively, indicating sever health impacts on the public. Moreover, the most hazardous events were related to high levels of groundwater salinity, the low level of disinfection, the effect of electricity outages on the efficiency of the desalination process, and leakage of water from the tanker truck tank reservoirs. Therefore, urgent interventions are required to improve the quality of water and to mitigate the possible health effects., Conclusion: The prioritization of hazardous events that are proportional to the degree of their attributed risk could help guide in making the right risk-reduction decisions. Urgent interventions are required to improve the quality of water and to mitigate the possible health effects., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Samer Abuzerr et al.)

With increasing concerns about industrial gas contaminants and the growing demand for durable and sustainable technologies, attentions have been gradually shifted to biological air pollution controls. The ability of Pseudomonas putida PTCC 1694 (bacteria) and Pleurotus ostreatus IRAN 1781C (fungus) to treat contaminated gas stream with toluene and its biological degradation was compared under similar operating conditions. For this purpose, a biofilter on the laboratory scale was designed and constructed and the tests were carried out in two stages. The first stage, bacterial testing, lasted 20 days and the second stage, fungal testing, lasted 16 days. Inlet loading rates (IL) for bacterial and fungal biofilters were 21.62 ± 6.04 and 26.24 ± 7.35 g/m 3  h respectively. In general, fungal biofilter showed a higher elimination capacity (EC) than bacterial biofilter (18.1 ± 6.98 vs 13.7 ± 4.7 g/m 3  h). However, the pressure drop in the fungal biofilter was higher than the bacterial biofilter (1.26 ± 0.3 vs 1 ± 0.3 mm water), which was probably due to the growth of the mycelium. Fungal biofiltration showed a better performance in the removal of toluene from the air stream.

Ketoconazole is an imidazole fungicide which is commonly used as pharmaceutical and healthcare products. Residual amount of this compound can cause adverse ecological health problems. The present study investigated ketoconazole photocatalytic degradation using Ag 3 PO 4 /graphene oxide (GO). Ag 3 PO 4 /GO and Ag 3 PO 4 as visible light-driven photocatalysts was synthesized using the in situ growth method. Degradation of ketoconazole at the concentration of 1-20 mg/L in aqueous solutions was optimized in the presence of Ag 3 PO 4 /GO nanocomposite with the dosage of 0.5-2 g/L, contact time of 15-20 min, and pH of 5-9 using response surface methodology. A second-order model was selected as the best fitted model with R 2 value and lack of fit as 0.935 and 0.06, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the Ag 3 PO 4 /GO catalyst achieved a photocatalytic efficiency of 96.53% after 93.34 min. The photocatalytic activity, reaction kinetics, and stability were also investigated. The results indicated that the Ag 3 PO 4 /GO nanocomposite exhibited higher photocatalytic activity for ketoconazole degradation, which was 2.4 times that of pure Ag 3 PO 4 . Finally, a direct Z-scheme mechanism was found to be responsible for enhanced photocatalytic activity in the Ag 3 PO 4 /GO nanocomposite. The high photocatalytic activity, acceptable reusability, and good aqueous stability make the Ag 3 PO 4 /GO nanocomposite a promising nanophotocatalyst for photocatalytic degradation of azoles contaminants.

Background: Skin cancer attributed to sunlight exposure has an increasing trend worldwide, resulting in increased problems for healthcare services. This study aimed to evaluate the health safety practices of high school students in Saveh, Iran according to a sun protection guideline produced locally for Iran., Method: This cross-sectional study was done in 31 government and private high schools of Saveh, a central city of Iran. A sun protection questionnaire was designed in accordance with Iran sun protection guideline which has been developed based on the World Health Organization and US Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. The questionnaire consists of four sections of demographic information, knowledge, attitude, and protection behavior. A total of 504 students were selected by simple random sampling method. Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis were used to assess the correlation between knowledge, attitude and behavior of the participants., Results: The mean score of the students' knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding harmfulness of ultraviolet radiation was 50.79 ± 14.64, 60.41 ± 15.04, and 45 ± 11.59, respectively. A significant association was observed between attitude and knowledge, behavior and knowledge as well as attitude. There was a significant correlation between sex and protective behaviors, sex and knowledge (p ≤ 0.001), and education level and knowledge (p = 0.002)., Conclusion: students who protected themselves from sunlight less than others believed that their protection level was adequate. Health concerns related to sun exposure suggest the need for increasing the student's awareness in sun protection area. As behavior is influenced by cultural aspects, implementation of the current guideline can be effective in reducing the health effects of sun exposure.

Background: Due to the high toxicity of chromium, particularly as Hexavalent chromium Cr (VI), it is removed from industrial effluents before their discharge into the environment by a variety of methods, including loading catalysts onto the polymeric supports. This study focused on the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions using Amberlite XAD7 resin loaded titanium dioxide (Ti-XAD7)., Methods: Ti-XAD7 was synthesized using Amberlite XAD-7 impregnated with titanium tetraethoxide. The prepared Ti-XAD7 was characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Isotherms and kinetic studies were carried out to describe the adsorption behavior of adsorbent for the removal of Cr(VI) ions. Quadratic models considering independent variables, i.e. the initial Cr(VI) concentration, adsorbent dosage, time, and pH, were evaluated and optimized to describe the behavior of Cr(VI) adsorption onto the Ti-XAD7 using RSM based on a Five-level-four-factor CCD approach., Results: The accuracy and the fitting of the model were evaluated by ANOVA with R 2  > 0.725 and P value = 5.221 × 10 -5 . The optimum conditions for the adsorption process were an initial Cr(VI) concentration 2750 ppb, contact time of 51.53 min, pH of 8.7, and Ti-XAD7 dosage of 5.05 g/L. The results revealed that the Langmuir and Sips isotherm models with R 2  = 0.998 and 0.999 were the best models fitting the experimental data. The adsorption capacity of Ti-XAD7 and R L constant were 2.73 mg/g and 0.063-0.076 based on the Langmuir isotherm, respectively. Kinetic studies also indicated that the adsorption behavior of Cr(VI) was acceptably explained by the Elovich kinetic model with a good fitting (R 2  = 0.97)., Conclusions: Comparison of the Ti-XAD7 and XAD7 yield in chromium adsorption showed that modified XAD7 had higher removal efficiency (about 98%) compared to XAD7 alone., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors of this article declare that they have no conflict of interests., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.)

This study systematically reviewed all the cohort studies investigating the relationship between long-term exposure to PM 2.5 and any health outcome until February 2018. We searched ISI Web of Knowledge, Pubmed, and Scopus databases for peer-reviewed journal research articles published in English. We only extracted the results of the single-pollutant main analysis of each study, excluding the effect modifications and sensitivity analyses. Out of the initial 9523 articles, 203 articles were ultimately included for analysis. Based on the different characteristics of studies such as study design, outcome, exposure assessment method, and statistical model, we calculated the number and relative frequency of analyses with statistically significant and insignificant results. Most of the studies were prospective (84.8%), assessed both genders (66.5%), and focused on a specific age range (86.8%). Most of the articles (78.1%) had used modeling techniques for exposure assessment of cohorts' participants. Among the total of 317 health outcomes, the most investigated outcomes include mortality due to cardiovascular disease (6.19%), all causes (5.48%), lung cancer (4.00%), ischemic heart disease (3.50%), and non-accidental causes (3.50%). The percentage of analyses with statistically significant results were higher among studies that used prospective design, mortality as the outcome, fixed stations as exposure assessment method, hazard ratio as risk measure, and no covariate adjustment. We can somehow conclude that the choice of right characteristics for cohort studies can make a difference in their results.

Background: The most common method of combating insects in low-income communities and developing countries, is the use of insecticides. The use of organophosphate insecticides is increasing due to their low prices and availability on the market. Chlorpyrifos is a medium-risk insecticide for human. The widespread use of organophosphorus insecticides, especially chlorpyrifos, in residential homes has undoubtedly created many health concerns. Babies have a high sensitivity to pesticides and environmental contaminants because of their evolutionary status. On the other hand, the main source of infants' exposure who are breast-fed exclusively to environmental pollutants is through breast milk and oral contact with objects that are covered with dust and particles., Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the concentration of chlorpyrifos in breast milk and its metabolite in urine samples of mothers and their under six months infants, feeding exclusively by breast milk in north of Iran have been investigated. The demographic data was collected through interviewing with selected mothers and completion of prepared data collecting forms. The data were statistically analyzed to investigate the relationships between exposure of mothers and their infants to chlorpyrifos., Results: The mean concentration of chlorpyrifos and its metabolite in mothers' urine and milk samples and infant's urines were 1.3 ± 0.6, 2.1 ± 1.4 and 1.4 ± 0.7 μg/L, respectively. Also, the mean concentration of chlorpyrifos in the dust on the house floors was73.4 ± 49 ng/g. There are good correlations between the mean values of chlorpyrifos concentrations and its metabolite in mother's milk and urine (r = 0.872, p  = 0.001), and the mother's milk and infant's urine (r = 0.722, p = 0.001). Also, there was a significant correlation between the concentration of chlorpyrifos in floor dust and its metabolites in the infant's urine (r = 0.554, p  = 0.001)., Conclusion: Our study suggests that the infants are the recipient of concentrated forms of chlorpyrifos residues through breast milk and house dust and it is quite well known that OP pesticides are toxic and have different kinds of adverse health effects. However, further research needs to be done to determine what these chemicals are doing to our children., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.)

Waterpipe is increasingly being used worldwide. Despite waterpipe cafés gaining popularity among Iranian population, there is a paucity of research measuring exposures and assessing the health effects of waterpipe smoke in these places. The objective of the current study was to investigate the exposure to PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and PM 1 concentrations and risk assessment of PM 2.5 exposures in different age groups in the indoor air of waterpipe cafés. The study samples were taken from indoor air of 50 waterpipe cafés in Ardabil, Iran. The PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and PM 1 concentrations were assessed using a portable GRIMM dust monitors. The mean (±SD) concentrations of indoor air PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and PM 1 were 765 ± 352, 624 ± 327, and 500 ± 305 μg/m 3 , respectively. The mean of HQ (hazard quotient) for PM 2.5 in all age groups of 16 and older was > 1, which corresponds to an unacceptably high risk for human health. Also, the mean of ELCRs (excess lifetime cancer risk) for PM 2.5 in different age groups exceeded the limit value by the USEPA. The results indicated that the PM concentration is significantly influenced by the number of waterpipe smokers, type of ventilation system, and kind of tobacco. Therefore, waterpipe cafés are a potential source for exposure to PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and PM 1 and increase the risk of respiratory diseases and cardiovascular problems among waterpipe smokers.

Background: For about three decades now, the number of people suffering from atopy including atopic dermatitis (AD) has been increasing in developed countries. Genetic background and environmental factors including air pollution play an effective role in its incidence. This study examined the association between air pollutants and exacerbation of AD symptoms including sleep disturbance and itching in AD patients of Tehran., Methods: In this panel study, 31 patients with AD who admitted to Razi Hospital, dermatology hospital in Tehran, entered the research. Daily information including questions on disease symptoms (sleep disturbance, itching) and duration of outdoor stay (in hours) were collected using a questionnaire. The mean 24-h concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 10 pollutants were obtained from the Air Quality Control Company. The relationship between the concentrations of the pollutants and exacerbation of the disease symptoms was investigated using the GEE (Generalized Estimating Equations) model., Results: There was a significant relationship between the concentrations of air pollutants and exacerbation of sleep disturbance and itching on the same day, before, and after adjusting the effects of the confounding variables, so that the estimated odds ratios (95% confidence interval) between PM 10 and PM 2.5 and exacerbation of itching were 1.06 (1.02-1.10) and 1.17 (1.07-1.28), respectively., Conclusions: There was a significant statistical relationship between the concentration of particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ) and exacerbation of sleep disturbance and itching. PM 2.5 showed a stronger relationship with the exacerbation of symptoms compared to PM 10 ., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.)

Background: Allergens like endotoxin and mite allergen Der p 1 are associated with early wheezing and asthma morbidity. Day-care centers can be an important source of exposure to allergens. The aim of this study was to evaluate children's exposure to endotoxin and mite allergen (Der p 1) associated with total suspended particulate matter (TSP) and settled dust in day-care centers in two phases in years of 2015 and 2016 in Tehran city, Iran., Methods: Endotoxin and mite allergen Der p 1 in TSP and settled dust were measured in 23 day-care centers in Tehran. After collecting dust samples and weighting them, and then their extraction, Endotoxin and Der p 1 allergen were determined using QCL-1000 Endpoint chromogenic LAL Assay and ELISA, respectively., Results: The mean concentrations of endotoxin and mite allergen Der p 1 in settled dust were 0.3 EU/mg and 0.2 ng/mg, respectively. The mean concentration of endotoxin and mite allergen Der p 1 in indoor air TSP were 0.8 EU/m 3 and 0.4 ng/m 3 , respectively. A significant negative correlation was found between endotoxin both in settled dust and in TSP with measured relative humidity in winter. Also, moderate correlation was observed between Der p 1 in settled dust and relative humidity in winter; however, the correlation between allergen in TSP and relative humidity was not significant., Conclusion: Day-care centers can be an important source of endotoxin and Der p 1 allergen, so, implementation of proper interventions in these places can reduce exposure to them., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThere is no actual or potential conflict of interest among authors., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.)

Microplastic particles (<5 mm), which are an emerging threat, are commonly found in marine ecosystems worldwide. This study investigated the effect of different types of coastal land use on microplastic frequency and distribution on the coastline of Bandar Abbas city; this study used a large sample compared to that used in other studies conducted in this region. The average number of microplastics was determined as 3252 ± 2766 microplastics/m 2 (±SD). ATR FT-IR spectroscopy showed that the dominant microplastic particles are expanded polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, and polyethylene. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference in microplastic contamination levels between the urban and nonuse beaches. This shows that heavily urbanized areas and human activities have significant effects on the dispersion and frequency of microplastics in the coastal areas of Bandar Abbas. Periodical coast-based cleanup and studies on microplastic pollution and their fluxes by comprehensive sampling are mostly recommended for the Persian Gulf coastline., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The current study aimed to investigate the removal efficiency of toluene using synthesized titanium dioxide-graphene oxide composites under visible light and UV irradiation. The characterization of synthesized composites was examined by field emission scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive, X-ray diffraction and fourier transforms infrared. In order to find the optimum of the main experimental parameters affecting the removal efficiency of toluene including the length of the reactor, initial concentration, and flow rates, central composite design together with response surface methodology with R software was used. The initial concentration of toluene in the inlet of the reactor as well as its concentration in the outlet was measured using gas chromatography with the flame ionization detector. Analysis of variance results for the quadratic model showed that the highly significant and simple linear regression was established as a predicting model. Multiple and adjusted R 2 were 0.965 and 0.974 for UV irradiation GO-TiO 2 model and 0.951 and 0.959 for visible light GO-TiO 2 model, respectively. As such, the differences less than 0.2 between multiple and adjusted R 2 in two models indicate that two examined models were fitted well. The highest removal efficiency of toluene using UV irradiation GO-TiO 2 and visible light GO-TiO 2 was obtained at optimum condition; length of reactor 40 cm, initial concentration of 0.1 ppm, and flow rate equal to 1 l min -1 , with 97.7 and 77.2%, respectively. The results indicated that the removal efficiency of toluene increased considerably with rising the length of the reactor, decreasing flow rates, and initial concentration., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestAll authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.)

This study was conducted in order to assess the exposure to bacterial and fungal bioaerosols in the air of waterpipe cafés (AWPCs), in the hose of waterpipe (HWP), and in the water bowl of the waterpipe (WBWP) and to investigate the factors influence increasing the contamination levels in waterpipe cafés in Ardabil. From all the 50 cafés studied, the samples were taken from air and from water contained in water bowl and hose for bacterial and fungal analyses. The results demonstrated that the mean numbers of bacteria and fungi in the indoor air of café, hose, and water bowl were 33.90 ± 14.86 and 25.24 ± 1.99 CFU/m 3 , 72.16 ± 29.55 and 72.78 ± 42.45 CFU/plate, 53.7 ± 25.46 and 25.26 ± 13.94 CFU/ml, respectively. The predominant bacterial genera in waterpipe cafés were Pseudomonas and Bacillus in air, Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas in the hose, and Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas in the water bowl, respectively. The predominant fungal species in waterpipe cafés were Penicillium and Cladosporium in air, yeast and Fusarium in the hose, and Paecilomyces and yeast in the water bowl, respectively. The results of statistical analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between the mean concentrations of bacterial aerosol and qualitative variables such as type of heating system, materials of wall and ceiling, traditional restaurants, interior supermarkets, moisturized walls, the number of people, area of cafés, and temperature. But there was no significant relationship between these variables and the mean concentration of fungal aerosols. The results also showed that the levels of bioaerosols were high in the air, hose, and water bowl of the waterpipe. Therefore, cafés can be a potential source for the transmission of pathogenic agents and increase the risk of respiratory diseases among waterpipe smoking individuals.

Background: Air pollution can cause various health outcomes, especially in susceptible groups including pregnant women. Low birth weight (LBW) is among the adverse birth outcomes and is one of the main causes of infant mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the association between air pollutants and LBW in Tehran, Iran., Methods: In this case-control study, 2144 babies born in three hospitals of Tehran (Iran) during 2011 to 2012 whose mothers were the residents of this city in last 5 years were considered. Of these, 468 infants with birth weight < 2500 g and 1676 with birth weight ≥ 2500 g were regarded as case and control groups, respectively. Gestational age was also considered for definition of cases (small for gestational age (SGA)) and controls (appropriate for gestational age). Land use regression models were used to assess exposure to particulate matter ≤10 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM 10 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and volatile organic compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, m-xylene, p-xylene (BTEX), and total BTEX) during pregnancy. Logistic regression model was applied to assess the association between air pollutants and LBW., Results: The concentrations of air pollutants were very high but similar in cases and controls. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, no statistically significant association was observed between air pollutants and LBW. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for PM 10 , SO 2 , and benzene were 0.999 (0.994-1.005), 0.998 (0.993-1.003), and 0.980 (0.901-1.067), respectively., Conclusions: No association was found between LBW and air pollutants. Further studies with more rigorous designs and access to more comprehensive information are suggested to assess the effect of other air pollutants, such as CO, O 3 , PM 2.5 , ultrafine particles, and oxidative potential of particles on birth outcomes., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.)

This research aimed to develop an index known as swimming pool water quality index (SPWQI) for quantifying the water pollution potential. The index is a quantitative tool to show the data on the water quality of swimming pools consistently. It makes summarizing the complex data on water quality possible and paves the way for its communication to the general public and decision makers. In this study, the SPWQI has been formulated according to the literature review and Delphi method. According to literature review and the total judgment of the panelist (23 experts specialized in environmental health engineering), 13 physicochemical and biological parameters along with their weights were selected for inclusion in the SPWQI. The results indicated the possibility of calculating a single numerical value (i.e., SPWQI), which indicates the combined effect of significant selected parameters on water quality. In addition, biological composition (47%) had a strong preference weighting than physical and chemical parameters in evaluating the index. Next, it was attempted to implement a novel and user-friendly mathematical model for evaluating the SPWQI. Then, the model accuracy and performance was confirmed by a case study. Overall, it could be said that the assessment of SPWQI sheds light on the concurrent power of several pollutants and can help the authorities to decide upon water quality management and treatment approaches.

Trihalomethanes (THMs) have been proven to be potentially genotoxic and mutagenic for human. The aim of this study was to characterize the THMs spatiotemporal distribution and its carcinogenic risk potential in Ardabil water distribution system. Water samples were collected over consecutive months from twenty-six points in the city of Ardabil from April 2016 to March 2017. The potential carcinogenic risk assessment of THMs was evaluated quantitatively with uncertainty assessment based on Monte-Carlo simulation technique. The results showed that the mean concentrations of bromodichloromethane, Chloroform, dibromochloromethane and Bromoform in water consumed by residents were 101.97 ± 58.51, 85.18 ± 47.79, 51.67 ± 29.57 and 11.89 ± 6.64 μg/L, respectively, during the sampling period. According to the result of this study, the concentrations of THMs were higher in summer in comparison with other seasons. The mean values of lifetime cancer risks for residents through ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact are 2.85×10-4, 6.46×10-7, and 1.26×10-7, respectively. The lifetime cancer risks for residents through ingestion was found to be 285 times more than the minimum or negligible level set by US.EPA (1.0×10-6) and for dermal contact and inhalation lower than the minimum or negligible level set by US.EPA. The results of the present research may contribute to inform the decision makers of drinking water supply system about the role of water quality in the health of consumers., (© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.)

Background: In the Gaza strip, diarrhea is one of main reasons for children visiting primary healthcare centers. Hence, we investigate predictors of the diarrheal illness and health care-seeking behavior among different age groups., Methods: This community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted from August 2017 to June 2018 among 1857 households. A pretested structured questionnaire included information about socio-demographic, sanitation, hygiene, source of water, diarrheal illness, and seeking healthcare in households was administered to head of household. To achieve representativeness for the five Gaza's governorates, a cluster random sampling was applied., Results: Of the 1857 household's heads, 421 (22.7%) reported an episode of diarrhea during the 48 h preceding the interview resulting an overall prevalence rate of 3.8 per 100 individuals. The prevalence of diarrhea was statistical significant greater in males (5.4/100) compared to females (1.3/100) in all age groups (p <  0.05). Socio-demographic, economic, water, sanitation, and hygiene factors were predictors of the diarrheal illness and seeking of non-professional healthcare for diarrhea illness treatment among. A transition behavior from professional to non-professional and vice versa in seeking healthcare in each diarrheal episode was found., Conclusions: We recommend improving the status of water, sanitation, and hygiene in the Gaza strip's households to reduce diarrhea among the population of Gaza strip. Community sensitization about the importance of seeking care at primary health centers because treatment of children is available for free or in low costs.

Novel graphene oxide (GO)-based adsorbent embedded with epichlorohydrin (ECH) as a coupling agent and dimethylamine (DMA) as a ligand (GO-ECH-DMA) were prepared and employed for endotoxin removal from aqueous solutions. The physicochemical properties of nanocomposite were fully characterized. The model attributed to batch adsorption process was optimized employing response surface methodology (RSM) via various parameters such as pH, GO-ECH-DMA dosage, and contact time and endotoxin concentration. The p-value with low probability (<0.00001), determination coefficient (R 2 =0.99) and the non-significant lack of fit (p > 0.05) showed a quadratic model with a good fit with experimental terms. The synergistic effects of the linear term of contact time and GO-ECH-DMA dosage on endotoxin removal were significant. The optimum condition for endotoxin removal was obtained at pH of 5.52, GO-ECH-DMA dosage of 21 mgL -1 , contact time of 56 min and endotoxin concentration of 51.3 endotoxin units per milliliter (EUmL -1 ). The equilibrium was the better explained by Langmuir isotherm with the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 121.47 EUmg-1, while the kinetics of the endotoxin adsorption process was followed by the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorbent could be recycled with NaOH. The possible mechanisms of endotoxin adsorption were proposed by hydrogen-bonding, π-π stacking, and electrostatic interaction., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Medical wastes account for around 1-2% of urban wastes, which are very important in terms of health. In this regard, they are very important and can jeopardize human health. The aim of this study was to determine the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the wastes in medical clinics in the south of Iran and in order to present suitable management solutions. First, 14 medical clinics were chosen and 24 samples were taken from each clinic (two samples per month) with a total 336 samples. Considering the special properties and the risk potential, the wastes generated in medical clinics were categorized as infections and special waste groups. In terms of properties, they were classified as pseudo-household, infectious, sharp, pharmaceutical, and paper wastes. Once the samples were collected, they were weighed and the results were analyzed by SPSS. The results indicated that in terms of quantity, the waste generated in the first and second groups was 8550.377 and 8053.71 kg/year, respectively. Furthermore, most of the wastes generated in the first and second groups accounted for pseudo-household (80.7%) and infectious (72.77%) wastes, respectively. Due to presence of the specialty of pathology laboratory in the second group, the quantity of infectious waste has increased. Therefore, for proper management of medical wastes in the studied clinics, the clinics of the studied study should implement and apply the rules of waste management properly. Furthermore, training physicians and employees in clinics about reducing, recycling, and collecting wastes in a separate form in clinics should be done in priority. •In this study, the classification of Basel convention and World Health Organization was considered as the basis of waste classification.•The results indicated that in the first group of the studied clinics, the order of the waste quantity was as follows: pseudo-household > infectious > sharp > paper.•Due to large amounts of hazardous infectious wastes in the second group of the studied medical clinics, it necessitates proper management of collection and disposal of these wastes.•Results can be used to improve the management of waste generation practices in medical clinics with high risk and special wastes potential.

The aim of this systematic review study was to investigate the causal relationship between environmental factors and gastric cancer (GC) in Iran. In a narrow definition, the environment includes water, soil, air, and food. This definition was the main criterion for the inclusion of articles in this study. In addition, exposure to radiation and geographical conditions were considered as less investigated environmental factors in the literatures. International (PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Cochran) and national (Scientific Information Database) databases were searched for articles on GC and environmental risk factors in Iran. Twenty-six articles were found to meet the inclusion criteria after title, abstract, and full text review. Risk factors identified for GC include consumption of red meat; high fat, fried, and salted meat; smoked, salted, and fried foods; some dairy products; roasted and fried seeds; strong and hot tea; and un-piped and unchlorinated drinking water, as well as exposure to radiation, loess sediment, soft and grassy soil, soil containing low concentration of molybdenum, and proximity to volcanos. Fresh fruits and vegetable, fresh fish, and honey consumption were recognized as protective agents. Given the risk factors identified, strategies to prevent GC would be educating people to choose a healthy diet and to cook and store food properly, providing access to safe drinking water, taking into account topographical and geographical conditions in choosing a right location to build residential areas, and regulating the use of radiation-emitting devices.

Heavy metals are a group of pollutants in biological sludge. Many agencies regulated guidelines for heavy metal concentrations for various applications of sludge such as agricultural application. In this study, we tried to determine heavy metal fate after anaerobic digestion. Additionally, we determined the bioaccumulation rate of heavy metals in lettuce cultivated on a sludge-applied land. Heavy metal (As, Pb, Hg, Cd) contents of solid and liquid parts of raw and anaerobically digested sludge were separately measured by ICP-OES. For this purpose, the samples were digested using nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, and boric acid. Then, the raw and anaerobically digested sludge were used for cultivation of lettuce in separate farms. The heavy metal concentrations in the harvested lettuce were measured by the same procedure. The results showed that the main part of heavy metals in the raw sludge was in the liquid part (67%), while, the main part of heavy metals in the anaerobically digested samples was in the solid part of the sludge. Because of washout of dissolved heavy metals in the liquid part of the sludge, the lettuce cultivated by anaerobically digested sludge had higher content of the heavy metals in comparison to that of the lettuce cultivated by the raw sludge. This study showed that application of anaerobically digested sludge can increase the bioaccumulation rate of heavy metals in the crops and induce more human health risk.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is the first leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Iran. GC is a multifactorial disease and is caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. The aim of this study was to assess the exposure and risk of nitrate intake through fruits and vegetables (F&V) in high-risk area (HRA) and low-risk area (LRA) of GC in Iran., Methods: Twenty nine species of F&V were examined for nitrate by reverse-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) method. Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) data of 2000 adults participating in Persian cohort were applied to determine consumption patterns of F&V in those areas. A point-estimate daily intake was applied to compare two areas in terms of nitrate intake. Monte-Carlo simulation technique was applied to estimate chronic daily intake (CDI) of nitrate., Results: The results showed that point-estimate daily intake of nitrate for subjects participated in the study was 2.02 ± 1.02 mg kg -1  day -1 in HRA and 1.98 ± 1.05 mg kg -1  day -1 in LRA. 6.53% of the participants in the HRA, and 5.9% of the participants in the LRA had an unacceptable point-estimate daily intake compared with an acceptable limit of 3.7 mg kg -1  day -1 established by FAO/WHO. CDI of nitrate in HRA was 1.94 ± 0.95 mg kg -1  day -1 and in the LRA was 1.93 ± 1.06 mg kg -1  day -1 ., Conclusion: The results showed that there is no difference between HRA and LRA in terms of nitrate intake through F&V., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare no conflict of interest.

The presence of bio-aerosols is one of the main causes of hospital infections that can be dangerous especially for immunocompromised patients. This research aimed to determine the relationship between hospital infections and surgical incision size in addition to determining the concentration and bacterial and fungal bioaerosols found in the operating rooms. This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was carried out in the operating rooms of Shariati Hospital in Karaj, Iran during the years 2016 and 2017. A total of 198 bacterial samples and 198 fungal samples were collected and analyzed using a passive sampling standard method (1/1/1) for 180 days. Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) and Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) medium were used for bacterial and fungal samples, respectively. Relevant differential tests were used to determine the genus and species of bacteria and fungi such as DNase test, Bile-esculin, motility test urease test. In general, this work presents: •The present evaluated the relationship between bioaerosols concentration and surgical incision size.•The intraoperative concentration of bacterial and fungal bioaerosols in indoor air of the orthopedic, internal and cesarean operating rooms was significantly higher than their preoperative concentration (p-value<0.05).•Also, there was not significant difference between the bacterial and fungal concentrations in various operating rooms) p-value<0.05).

Background: Extensive use of high-efficiency pyrethroid pesticides as pest-control agents lead to remarkable adsorption and release of these materials in soil and aquatic environment which could have serious adverse effects on water and food chain quality as well as human health. In this study, a molecularly imprinted polymer was synthesized and used as a selective sorbent in the sample preparation procedure in order to facilitate sensitive and quantitative exposure assessment of insecticide permethrin., Methods: Molecular imprinted nanoparticles were prepared by precipitation polymerization technique using 1:4:20 mmol ratio of the template, functional monomer, and cross-linker, respectively, as well as 80 mL of chloroform as progen solvent. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR). The optimization of critical variables in the MISPE process was done using the central composite design (CCD) of the response surface methodology., Results: Quadratic regressional models were developed to correlate the response and independent variables and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) verified the excellent fitting of proposed models for experimental data. Optimum conditions for the highest MISPE yield were selected as follow: sorbent mass of 7.71 mg, sample pH 5.58 and 5.68 for cis and trans-permethrin, respectively, sample flow rate of 0.6 mL/min, as well as 5 and 3.94 mL of methanol/acetic acid at the flow rate of 2 mL/min as elution solvents for cis and trans-permethrin, respectively. Under optimized conditions, the linear range was obtained 20-120 μg/L (R2 = 0.99) and the detection limits were 5.51 and 5.72 μg/L for cis and trans-permethrin, respectively. Analysis of real samples demonstrated the high extraction efficiency of designed protocol ranging from 93.01 to 97.14 with the relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 4.51%., Conclusions: The satisfactory results confirmed the reliability and efficiency of the proposed method for trace analysis of permethrin isomers in biological and environmental samples., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Telomeres contain TTAGGG (T; Thymine, A; Adenine and G; Guanine) repetitive sequences and are placed at the end of human chromosomes. Telomere dysfunction is implicated in some age-related and chronic diseases, but its association with total serum lipids and obesity is unknown. Our objective was to determine influenced of total serum lipids on leukocyte telomere lengths (TLs). Participants were selected by cluster sampling from 22 districts of Tehran. The questionnaires were completed by 500 subjects and after the initial assessment in terms of lifestyle, nutrition, home, and job, 300 healthy people, aged 25-40 years were finally selected. TLs and serum level of total lipids were measured by quantitative real-time PCR and the Phillips method, respectively. The average telomere length (T/S) and total lipids were 1.05 ± 0.3 mg/dl and 643.3 ± 70.8 mg/dl, respectively. We found that a one unit difference in the following parameters were associated with kilo base pair differences in TL: Age -0.0002 (95% CI [-0.0022, -0.0018]), BMI -0.0019 (95% CI [-0.0003, -0.0034]), TC 0.0001 (95% CI [-0.0006, -0.0007]), TG -0.0010 (95% CI [-0.0015, -0.0004]), PL 0.0001 (95% CI [-0.0005, -0.0007]), and TSL -0.0003 (95% CI [-0.0008, 0.0001]). Spearman correlation analysis revealed an inverse relationship between TC (R = -0.53; 95% CI [-0.61, -0.44]), TG (R = -0.50; 95% CI [-0.58, -0.41]), PL (R = -0.46; 95% CI [-0.54-0.36]), and TSL (R = -0.63; 95% CI [-0.69, -0.56]) with T/S. Our research suggests that the inverse relationship was found between TL and weight, BMI, age, and TSL which were associated with obesity. High serum lipids concentration may be associated with systemic inflammation and atherosclerosis and may lead to oxidative stress, resulting in telomere shortening.

Iodine deficiency disorders include a wide range of metabolic and nonmetabolic disorders including goiter. To control IDDs, the World Health Organization and responsible agencies in countries established daily iodine uptake. Almost all the countries in the world provide the required iodine through salt iodisation. IDDs are not completely eradicable, so monitoring the salt iodisation programme is necessary for control of IDDs. In Iran, a salt iodisation programme was started in 1996. In this study, we took salt samples from all legally produced salt brands in Iran in 30 provinces and measured iodine concentration. The results of the monitoring programme for iodine concentration in schoolchildren's urine was used to compare accessibility to iodized salts and health outcomes. The results show that more than 80% of available salts have a suitable or acceptable concentration of iodine. Despite large variance in iodine concentration in available salt in some provinces, the median of iodine concentration in salts is within an acceptable range. Also, the urinary concentration of iodine (national median = 161) confirms that shortage of iodine intake is very low in Iran. The high rate of salt consumption of the Iranian people also has a significant effect on iodine uptake, but can lead to hyperthyroidism and hypertension that must be controlled., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: A successful hospital solid waste (HSW) management needs an accurate estimation of waste generation rates. The conventional regression methods upon increasing the number of input variables hardly can predict the HSW generation rate and require more complex modeling. In return, application of machine learning methods seems to be able to increase the power of predicting the produced wastes., Methods: To predict the HSW, Multiple Linear Regression(MLR) and several Neuron- and Kernel-based machine learning methods were employed to analyze data from hospitals of Karaj metropolis. The number of wards, active and occupied beds, staffs and inpatients, and ownership type and activity years of hospital were defined as the model inputs. In addition, proposed models performance was evaluated based on coefficient of determination (R 2 ) and Mean-Square Error (MSE)., Results: The performance of Neuron- and Kernel-based machine learning methods indicated that both models were satisfactory in predicting HSW. However, the better results of 0.82-0.86 for average R 2 value and 0.003-0.008 for average MSE value, indicated relative superiority of Kernel-based models compared to Neuron based (average R 2  = 0.68-0.74, average MSE = 0.009-0.023) and MLR models. Number of staffs and hospital ownership type were the most influential model variables in predicting the HSW generation rate., Conclusions: The machine learning methods could interpret the relationship between waste generation rate and model inputs, appropriately. Thus, they may play an effective role in developing cost-effective methods for suitable HSW management., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background: Edible coatings are useful method that applied to preserve postharvest quality of production. The coatings can extend the shelf life of products and inhibit microbial growth. Chitosan based coatings are one of the best methods to prolong fruit and vegetable shelf life. The antimicrobial and other properties of chitosan are developed when it is combined with other functional ingredients., Methods: The effectiveness of chitosan, ethanolic extract of liquorice (LE) and complex of chitosan-liquorice extract (CHLE) was evaluated for controlling blue mold and extending shelf life in apples. The fruits were coated with chitosan(1.0%), LE (62.5 mg/ml) and CHLE coating, and stored at 25 °C. Quality properties of fruit (such as weight loss, firmness, total soluble solid content(TSS), titrable acidity and pH) and decay incidence were assessed on 0,1,4,7 and 14 days of incubation, respectively., Results: The results of experiments indicated that minimum of water loss(3.8%), TSS(14.53) and firmness(5.6 kg/cm 2 ) were in CHLE coated apples. In addition, this coating significantly inhibited penicillium expansum during the storage and the lowest decay incidence was for apples coated with CHLE(29 mm). Chitosan and LE coating retarded undesirable changes during postharvest storage and inhibited decay incidence compared with uncoated samples. There was no significant difference ( p  ≤ 0/05) between treatments and control overtime in terms of titrable acidity and pH levels., Conclusions: The results reported here indicate importance and efficacy of CHLE coating in extending shelflife and reduction of postharvest losses of apple in storage time., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Response surface methodology has been used to design experiments and to optimize the effect of independent variables responsible for higher adsorption of humic acid (HA) by granular ferric hydroxide (GFH) from aqueous solutions. The variables of pH (3-11), contact time (15-120 min), adsorbent dose (1-5 g/L) and initial concentration of humic acid (5-20 mg/L) were examined. The adsorption isotherms and kinetics of humic acid substances on granular ferric hydroxide (GFH) were studied. Also the design of the experiments was performed using R software by the CCD (central composite design) method. Variance analysis (ANOVA) was used as the statistical response analysis method. Result of this study proved the optimal values of the independent variables of the adsorbent dose, contact time, initial concentration of humic acid and pH were 4 g/L, 93.75 min, 16.25 mg/L, and 5, respectively. The experimental data followed the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second kinetic model. Based on the response surface methodology, higher HA removal efficiencies were obtained with acidic condition, longer reaction time, and appropriated loading amount of GFH.

Vehicle traffic is known as the anthropogenic aerosol source in megacities. Exposure to ambient air pollution, especially particulate matter has become the most environmental risk factor. The main aim of this study is to determine the particle number and their size distribution in Tehran at Azadi terminal (located in the West of Tehran), crossing of Nawab and Azadi streets the area with high traffic, and campus of Tehran University as an area without traffic. Particle size distribution (0.3-1 μm) was measured using a Grimm Environmental Dust Monitor and was conducted in two seasons, hot and cold (summer 2016 and winter 2016). The measurement was performed twice per month. Although the average number of particles at Azadi Terminal was more than the other two locations in both seasons but it was not significant) p > 0.05). The average number of particles larger than 0.3 μm was 286.72 ± 129.55 and 183.61 ± 86.79 cm -3 in winter and summer respectively. In relation to particles size distribution, the average number of particles larger than 0.4, 0.5, 0.65, 0.8 and 1 μm in winter and summer were 111.5 ± 120, 29.3 ± 23.7, 8.2 ± 5.8, 4 ± 3, 2 ± 1.5 and 52.5 ± 37, 14.4 ± 10.8, 6.1 ± 5, 3.8 ± 3.5, 2.3 ± 2 cm -3 respectively. In the current study the highest number of particles significantly observed in winter time in comparison to summer. In addition, had no significant difference between the number of particles at three sampling locations.

The aim of this data is comparison of achieved data from salt iodine measurement by titration method with using sodium thiosulfate in presence of lugol׳s reagent and commercial spot- kit. Titration measurement was carried out in two different laboratories using standard samples. 437 samples including 20 commercial brands were collected throughout Iran. The iodine contents of the samples were measured by both the titration method and two most frequently used spot-kit brands in Iran. There is no significant differences between the results obtained from the two brands of spot-kits (ICC = 0.797). The kits sensitivity for determination of negative samples was high (more than 0.9) but by increasing the iodine concentration up to 15 ppm, the kits' sensitivity was decreased. These findings indicate that the titration method is necessary for quantitative purposes, especially for concentrations higher than 30 ppm. However, spot-kits are suitable for qualitative and semi-quantitative measurements.

Purpose: The aim of this study is evaluation of the perchloroethylene degradation from aqueous solutions by non-thermal plasma produced in dielectric barrier discharge reactor in two different scenarios: first plasma generated with 225 cc/min mixture of oxygen and argon flow (12% gas ratio of O 2 /Ar), and in the second scenario plasma generated with 225 cc/min of pure argon gas., Methods: Design studies were performed using response surface methodology and central composite design. All experiments with the selected levels of independent parameters including the initial concentration of perchloroethylene (5-100 mg/L), voltage (20-5 kv) and contact time (15-180 s) was implemented, and 29 tests were proposed by using response surface methodology and central composite design was performed in two experimental scenarios., Results: Results showed that the Pseudo first-order kinetics coefficient of perchloroethylene degradation in the mixture of oxygen and argon and pure argon scenario under the optimum conditions were 0.024 and 0.016 S -1 respectively. Results conveyed that in order to achieve the highest removal efficiency (100%), the values of contact time, perchloroethylene concentration and voltage variables were predicted 169.55 s, 74.3 mg/l, 18.86 kv respectively in mixture of oxygen and argon scenario and also were predicted 203 s, 85.22 mg/l, 20.39 kv respectively in pure argon scenario., Conclusions: In the recent study dielectric barrier discharge was an efficient method for perchloroethylene removal with both oxygen an argon mixture and pure argon as input gas. Both input voltage and reaction time has positive effect on perchloroethylene removal; but initial perchloroethylene concentration has negative effect on perchloroethylene removal. Comparison of two plasma scenarios with different input gas shown that plasma generated by mixture of oxygen and argon gas was more powerful and had higher removal efficiency and degradation kinetics than the plasma generated by pure argon gas., Competing Interests: Compliance with ethical standardsThere are no conflicts of interest in this manuscript.

Hypertension is becoming a global epidemic for both rural and urban populations; it is a major public health challenge in Iran. Fluoride can be a risk factor for hypertension. Cross-sectional analysis was conducted in two study areas to assess the relation of fluoride with blood pressure prevalence, BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) among different age groups in both sexes. The mean value of fluoride concentration in the drinking water from the four study villages varied from 0.68 to 10.30 mg/L. The overall prevalence of HTN and prehypertension in all subjects was 40.7%. The prevalence of isolated systolic hypertension, isolated diastolic hypertension, systolic-diastolic hypertension, and prehypertension in the total sample population was 1.15, 0.28, 9.53, and 29.76%, respectively. The odd ratio of hypertension in residents who drank water with high fluoride levels was higher than that in residents who drank water with lower level of fluoride (OR 2.3, 1.03-5.14). Logistic regression results showed that age (P < 0.001), sex (P = 0.018), BMI (P = 0.015), and the fluoride level in drinking water (P = 0.041) had a significant relationship with increased blood pressure. There were no statistically significant correlations between fluoride and BMI, hip circumference, and waist to hip ratio (WHR). The findings of this study are important for health care personnel and policymakers.

In this research, removal of petroleum hydrocarbons from oily sludge of crude oil storage tanks was investigated under the optimized conditions of in-vessel composting process and chemical oxidation with H 2 O 2 and Fenton. After determining the optimum conditions, the sludge was pre-treated with the optimum state of the oxidation process. Then, the determined optimum ratios of the sludge to immature compost were composted at a C:N:P ratio of 100:5:1 and moisture content of 55% for a period of 10 weeks. Finally, both pre-treated and composted mixtures were again oxidized with the optimum conditions of the oxidants. Results showed that total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) removal of the 1:8 and 1:10 composting reactors which were pre-treated with H 2 O 2 were 88.34% and 90.4%, respectively. In addition, reduction of TPH in 1:8 and 1:10 composting reactors which were pre-treated with Fenton were 83.90% and 84.40%, respectively. Without applying the pre-treatment step, the composting reactors had a removal rate of about 80%. Therefore, pre-treatment of the reactors increased the TPH removal. However, post-oxidation of both pre-treated and composted mixtures reduced only 13-16% of TPH. Based on the results, remarkable overall removal of TPH (about 99%) was achieved by using chemical oxidation and subsequent composting process. The study showed that chemical oxidation with H 2 O 2 followed by in-vessel composting is a viable choice for the remediation of the sludge.

The general goal of this data was to determine the concentration of fluoride and assess its risk in waters bottled in Iran. Seventy-one samples of different brands of bottled water were collected. Then, the fluoride concentration was measured through standard method for water and wastewater experiments. The non-carcinogenicity risk of fluoride for different groups of infants, children, teenagers, and adults was calculated by proper formula. The data presented here indicated that the mean concentration of fluoride in bottled waters was 0.272 mg/L, which is lower than the minimum world health organization (WHO) guideline. Further, the mean hazard quotient (HQ) values for fluoride across the groups of infants, children, teenagers, and adults with respective values of 0.0363, 0.2568, 0.1813, and 0.1452 were observed in 0, 1, 1, and 0 cases of HQ>1. Generally, in most of the tested brands, HQ value was less than 1, and this value was above 1 in only one brand of bottled water.

The quality check and determination of permitted and non-permitted additive colors in food products is very important for customer׳s right protection and health. This survey was undertaken to demonstrate the frequently use of additive colors and products targeted to color adulteration in Iranian foods and beverages. From the 1120 of the samples, 18.86% contained artificial colors, 11.89% contained natural colors and 69.25% of samples had no additive colors. Tartrazine (E102) was the only non-permitted artificial dye used in samples. Among products with additive colors, only 4.38% of samples failed to meet with national Iranian standard and 61.23% of non-compliance samples were from non-industrial sectors and mostly were saffron and food containing saffron such as saffron rock candy and saffron chicken. These places and products quality are main the concern to solve the color adulteration in Iranian food market.

Bottled water is one of the sources of drinking water in many arid and semi-arid countries, including Iran. The greatest concern is the health effects of exposure to excessive nitrate concentrations in drinking water due to the development of methemoglobinemia in children. Therefore, the present study was aimed at determining the concentration of nitrate and its risk assessment in drinking water bottled in Iran. 71 different bottled water brands were identified in this study. The nitrate concentration in water samples was then measured using an Ion Chromatography No. 4110 in accordance Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. The hazard quotient (HQ) of nitrate was calculated using the formula based on input variables including nitrate concentration, water per capita, body weight and reference dose. The results showed that the concentration of nitrate in bottled water was in the range of 0.146-50.1 mg/L (average 10.55 mg/L) in one of which, the concentration of nitrate was higher than the WHO guideline. The mean EDI values for nitrate in different groups of infants, children, teenagers and adults were 0.0795, 0.5633, 0.3976 and 0.3186 mg/kg, respectively. The mean HQ values for nitrate in different groups of infants, children, teenagers and adults were 0.0528, 0.3737, 0.2638 and 0.2114, respectively. In general, the hazard quotient (HQ>1) for the population consuming bottled water, appropriate strategies should be considered in order to reduce the concentration of nitrate in bottled water.