Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research
Volume:7 Issue: 1, Winter 2019

Cooking oils are among the most important dietary components. Some of the influential factors in the combustion pattern of cooking oils include the mode of cooking, knowledge of the diseases caused by cooking oils, and price of cooking oils. This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted in the winter of 2018. The research units were selected via simple random sampling. The sample size was calculated to be 460 cases using the formula for the estimation of the sample size in cross-sectional studies at the confidence level of 95%, error rate of 5%, and prevalence of 50%, considering the samples loss of 15%. The variables were measured via interviews and recorded in questionnaires. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 20. In total, 400 households were surveyed. Mean age of the mothers was 34.01±5.85 years (age range: 19-58 years). Among the households, 19.5% used solid oils, 16.25% consumed liquid oils, 52% used both solid and liquid oils, 10.5% consumed vegetable oils (e.g., olive oil and sesame oil), and 1.75% used animal oils. The mean oil consumption per household was 149.2925 g/day, and the mean daily consumption per person was 39.6927 g. Moreover, 77.75% of the households discarded the used cooking oil and did not store/reuse the oil. On the other hand, 34.5% of the households consumed fast food twice per week. Market solid and liquid oils accounted for the highest consumption rate in the investigated households, while plant and animal oils constituted the lowest consumption rate.

Urban wastewater contains various detergents, pesticides, pharmaceutical medications, cosmetics, hygiene products, and heavy metals. Discharge of municipal sewage into surface water affects the health of aquatic organisms through altering biochemical markers and accumulating heavy metals in various tissues. The present study aimed to evaluate the toxic effects of municipal sewage on the biochemical markers and bioaccumulation of cadmium and lead in freshwater snail (Galba truncatula) during 14 days. Concentrations of toxic metals in the snails were determined using ICP-OES-PerkinElmer, and biochemical parameters were measured via UV-Vis spectroscopy. The results indicated significantly lower levels of glycogen and total antioxidant in the cells, as well as the significantly lower activities of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, acetylcholine esterase, catalase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in the Galba truncatula exposed to sewage compared to the control. However, the activities of lactate dehydrogenase ,glutathione peroxidase, and malondialdehyde were significantly higher in the snails exposed to sewage compared to the control. Moreover, bioaccumulation of cadmium and lead was observed to increase in the experimental groups exposed to sewage. Alterations in biochemical parameters in the G. truncatula exposed to sewage could be due to the toxic effects of various environmental pollutants in municipal wastewater. According to the findings, oxidative damage to the vital tissues of G. truncatula was associated with the bioaccumulation of cadmium and lead, depletion of total antioxidant levels, changes in biochemical parameters, and lipid peroxidation in soft tissues.

The present study aimed to measure the heavy metals existing in Isfahan’s dust at three stations during 2015-2017. This study was carried out in three stations located at north and northwest, west and southwest, and east and southeast parts of Isfahan. In each station, 12 sediment traps were placed and the concentrations of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) in these sediment traps were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The highest and the lowest concentrations of Pb in air dust were observed to be 490.1 and 70 mg/kg in western and eastern stations of Isfahan province, respectively. The highest and the lowest concentrations of Zn were 860.4 and 150 mg/kg in 2015, respectively. The highest Cd concentration (8.1 mg/kg) in air dust was found in the northern part of Isfahan province, while the lowest concentration of this metal (0.7 mg/kg) was observed in the eastern region of Isfahan. Similar results were obtained for the heavy metals enrichment factor with a maximum and minimum of 3.8 and 0.8 in 2015, respectively. The results of this study confirmed that the effect of human activities is significant in increasing the concentration of heavy metals such as Pb, Cd and Zn in dust. The assessment results for the enrichment factor of heavy metals revealed the contamination of dust by heavy metals. Accordingly, further attention is required to identify and control the pollutants sources such as heavy metals in dust in order to prevent the resulting pollution.

Among various techniques available for leachate treatment, nano-photocatalytic-based techniques have been considered as efficient. The photocatalytic leachate treatment using nanoparticles of zinc oxide doped with molybdenum oxide was performed in the presence of sunlight at a laboratory scale. The molybdenum oxide doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized. The properties of nanoparticle were analyzed by using FTIR, SEM, and XRD. Then the parameters such as pH (3, 5, 7, 9, & 11), concentration of nanoparticles (0.5, 1, 2 and 3 g/l), concentration of leachate with dilution (1:10, 1:25, 1:50 and 1:100), and contact time (15, 30, 45, 60, 90, & 120 min) were measured to determine the removal of COD and turbidity. The analysis indicated that nanoparticle size was appropriate and acceptable. Electron microscope images also showed that the nanoparticle shape was hexagonal. The optimum value of pH was 5.  It was found that increasing the concentration of nanoparticles enhances the efficiency of the process, the concentration of nanoparticles from 0.5 to 2 g/l at 60 min of contact time, and the efficiency from 34.8 to 55.6%, and increasing in contact time decreases the COD and turbidity leachate. Enhancing the initial concentration of leachate reduces the treatment efficiency of landfill leachate.

The present study aimed to assess the levels of organochloride pesticides (OCPs) in the human breast milk obtained from the nursing women admitted for delivery to a hospital in Marivan county, located in Kurdistan, Iran. Milk samples were collected from 30 women. Gas chromatography analysis was performed using a Dani 1000 (Italy) gas chromatograph equipped with the Ni electron capture detector (ECD). The findings showed the high concentrations of OCPs in the samples. On the other hand, DDTs were ranked as the most abundant OCPs, followed by HCHs and HCBs, with the concentrations estimated at 2,345, 2,617, and 570 ng/g lipid/wt, respectively. Therefore, it could be concluded that the tested women might have been exposed to OCPs. However, further investigation is required on larger sample sizes to take proper measures.

The desalination process consists of a set of multi-step actions, which are conducted on saline water in order to remove excess salts and other minerals. In the desalination process, water is recovered, so that it would be suitable for industrial usage. In the present study, electrodialysis (ED) was used for desalination, especially for removing chloride (Cl-) ion and total dissolved solids (TDS), in Gohar Zamin Iron Ore Concentrate Plant (GIOCP). To optimize the influential factors in the removal of chloride and TDS in ED, the response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized. To this end, the D-optimal experimental design was applied to optimize the experiments. The effects of three independent parameters, including electrolysis time (A), consumption voltage (B), and initial concentration of chloride ion (C), were assess for the removal of chloride and TDS from recovered water. In addition, interactive and linear models were applied to determine the responses of chloride and TDS removal rates, respectively. The optimal operating conditions for the removal of chloride with 51.46% efficiency were obtained at the runtime of 30 minutes, consumption voltage of 12 V, and initial concentration of 300 ppm. Similarly, optimal TDS removal with 48.03% efficiency was achieved at the runtime of 30 minutes, consumption voltage of 12 V, and initial concentration of 300 ppm. According to the findings, ED was a highly reliable method for the removal of salts from water, as well as the high-quality recycling of water from mineral industries, especially in mineral processing plants.

Wastewater stabilization ponds (WSPs) are natural, relatively simple, and cost-effective treatment processes that are used to stabilize the biodegradable compounds in wastewater. The present study aimed to propose a mathematical model for organic matter decline in facultative ponds (FPs). This analytical study yielded practical results, and the samples were collected from the ponds located in Yazd city, Iran. The reliability of the regression models (linear, quadratic, cubic, and exponential) was assessed and simulated by fitting the data. Initially, the data were fitted using linear and nonlinear curves. The comparative analysis of the results obtained from the models and Akaike information criterion (AIC) coefficient demonstrated that the linear model had the optimal correlations with surface loading (LS, O) and minimum average monthly air temperature (Ta) with very high percentage accountability (R2=0.939). The correlation-coefficients (R2) for the second, third, and exponential models were estimated at 0.938, 0.939, and 0.938, respectively. Therefore, it could be concluded that there was a logical association between the LS, O and Ta, which suggests that these models are able to simulate the performance of the FPs. As such, the proposed models could be used to predict the reduction of organic materials in FPs, and the linear model was statistically selected as the optimal model for this purpose. In Iran and the neighboring countries where there are similar seasonal variations in temperature in most cities, the obtained models could be widely used for designing facultative ponds.

Presence of heavy metals in water resources is a critical environmental challenge in various communities. To date, various methods have been applied to remove heavy metals, such as the use of cost-efficient materials. The present study aimed to evaluate the adsorption of heavy metals (iron, zinc, nickel, lead, and cadmium) on dolomite and thermally-modified dolomite. We assessed the potentials of natural and thermally-modified dolomite in terms of the adsorption of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. The samples were analyzed to determine the concentrations of metal ions using Spectra 200 Varian. For the optimization and evaluation of the influential factors in the adsorption amount, factors such as the initial concentration of the solution, pH, contact time, and adsorbent dosage were considered. Comparison of the final removal results indicated that lead and cadmium had the shortest contact time (15 minutes), while the longest contact time belonged to iron and nickel (60 minutes). In addition, the highest and lowest removal efficiency within the optimum time was 99% and 93%for cadmium and iron, respectively, while the minimum dosage of the optimum adsorbent belonged to iron and zinc. The minimum removal efficiency belonged to nickel (3 mg/l), while the maximum removal efficiency was obtained for cadmium, iron, and zinc (10, 5, and 5 mg/l) with the concentrations of 99%. According to the results, modified dolomite has great potential to remove metals and heavy metals.