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An experiment was conducted to quantify ammonia (NH3) losses during food waste composting and to evaluate the effectiveness of mature aerobic sewage sludge/olive pomace compost and phillipsite/chabazite zeolite in reducing NH3 losses during composting. Food waste amended with chopped barley straw was composted for a period of 68 days in three in-vessel reactors. The mature aerobic sewage sludge/olive pomace compost and the zeolite were placed on a mesh tray above the waste mixture in the first and second reactors, respectively. The third reactor contained straw-amended food waste only and served as a control. It was found that the mature aerobic sewage sludge/olive pomace compost reduced NH3-N losses by 36% of initial TN through nitrifying volatilized NH3 into nitrate (NO3-). Zeolite reduced NH3-N losses by 41% of initial total nitrogen due to adsorption of volatilized NH3. The use of mature compost in conservation of nitrogen is a promising cheap method; however, it needs further optimization and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores a synergistic two-phase system to treat olive mill wastewater (OMW), comprising a multilayer adsorbent filter (pretreatment) and a vertical flow constructed wetland (VFCW). The pretreatment phase includes layers of commercial granular activated carbon (CGAC) and volcanic tuff (VT), while the VFCW phase consists of planted tank with Phragmites australis reeds and unplanted tanks. Initially, municipal wastewater is introduced into the VFCW to establish the required microbial community. Then, pre-treated OMW is passed through the VFCW. The removal rates of various pollutants were assessed. The planted VFCW showed superior removal efficiencies, averaging 97.82% for total chemical oxygen demand (COD T ), 92.78% for dissolved oxygen demand (COD d ), 99.61% for total phenolic compounds (TPC), 98.94% for total nitrogen (TN), 96.96% for ammonium, and 95.83% for nitrate. In contrast, the unplanted VFCW displayed lower removal efficiencies, averaging 91.47% for COD T , 77.82% for COD d , 98.53% for TPC, 97.51% for TN, 92.04% for ammonium, and 90.82% for nitrate. These findings highlight the significant potential of VFCWs, which offer an integrated approach to OMW treatment by incorporating physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms within a single treatment system., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drowning is globally considered as one of the leading causes of injury related deaths. Defined as the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion in a liquid medium. Drowning is a public health concern in Jordan. This study aimed to investigate drowning incident data from the Forensic Medicine Teaching Centre in the North of Jordan for the purpose of defining high risk groups and circumstances around drowning fatalities which suffered an attention deficit., Objective: The study aims to describe the rate of fatal drowning in North of Jordan and to properly understand the risk factors associated with it., Methods: The present study is retrospective, based on investigating 2808 autopsy reports and selecting only 85 drowning related death reports conducted through a 5 year period (2015-2019) in the Forensic Medicine Teaching Centre which serves Northern Jordan including Irbid, Jarash, Ajloun, and Al-Mafraq. The statistical analysis of fatal drowning cases included the following risk variables: Age, gender, month, year, nationality, address, alcohol and drug consumption., Results: 15 variables were consistent and analyzed across the database of this study. The high risk groups and patterns were identified and the majority of fatal drowning cases were related to males (80.4%). Age group from (2 to 27 years of age were included in the high-risk groups with (88.2%) of all cases. Specifically, the age 2 had the highest occurring frequency. While (17.6%) of drowning fatalities occurred in August. Alcohol and drugs had no significant impact on increasing drowning rates. The dominant manner of death among all cases was accidental (95.3%). Fatal drowning rates were decreasing throughout the years of (2015-2019)., Conclusion: Defining drowning high risk groups and its epidemiology helps to overcome this preventable cause of death. The current study highlights the necessity for the need of further interventions to be actively fixed into policies and educational programs and emphasize safety precautions during water activities and to improve the dataset collection for better planning of prevention strategies., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 Ali M Shotar, Mahmoud Halalsheh, Rashed Shatnawi, Hadeel Abu-El-Rub, Nahd A. Hussein, Sarah Shoter, Hassan Mahafdhah.)

Background: Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning rate has stayed the same around the globe over the last quarter of a decade. However, the number of people who die compared to the number of people who get poisoned, and the mortality rate has declined dramatically., Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the severity of the CO poisoning problem in Jordan and compare it to other countries and to search for any related factors that could affect the death rate., Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in the Forensic Medicine Teaching Centre, Irbid, Jordan for a 10-years period (2009 -2018). 5,725 autopsy reports were assessed, and only 71 CO-related death cases were selected and analyzed based on the following risk factors: age, gender, year and month of death, nationality, address, the settings that the cases occurred in, carboxyhemoglobin saturation (COHb%) and the presence of alcohol and drugs in blood., Results: The rate of deaths due to CO poisoning showed a general decline over the reviewed years. Most victims were males (70.4%). And although the death rate showed an increase with age, the age group between 20-year-old and 39-year-old accounted for 38% of all cases. Most cases happened in the winter months, December, January, and February. 87.1% of the cases occurred at home settings. The average COHb% was 68%±13% and ranged from 12%-83%., Conclusion: Although the incidence is decreasing with time, CO is still a threat that must be dealt with. As all cases in our study were accidental cases and good preventive measures, such as good CO detectors and good air flow in the places that hold devices that could generate CO, and proper education to the public, especially in the colder regions of the country, could prove useful in decreasing the incidence of CO deaths further., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2021 Ali M. Shotar, Rashed Shatnawi, Mahmoud Halalsheh, Hadeel Abu-El-Rub, Nahd A. Hussein, Sara Shoter, M’otaz Obeidat, O’la Abu Al-Asal.)

Anaerobic filter (AF) was used for polishing effluent of UASB reactor treating strong sewage at an average water temperature of 23 degrees C. The UASB-AF system was operated with sludge discharge taking place only from the AF reactor. It was hypothesized that better removal of suspended COD (COD(ss)) fraction from the system can be achieved by increasing sludge discharge frequency from the AF reactor. For this purpose, sludge discharge frequencies of once, twice and thrice per day from the AF reactor were investigated. Results showed that average total COD (COD(tot)) removal efficiency of the system increased from 62% when sludge was discharged once per day from the AF reactor up to 67% when sludge was discharged twice and thrice per day. However, the increase in COD(tot) removal was not due to increased removal of COD(ss) fraction; but mainly due to development of an active biomass on the filter media, which increased removal efficiency of soluble COD fraction. The AF reactor had also an evidence of pathogens reduction. The AF reactor achieved 1-2 log reduction in Fecal Coliform counts.