reza ali fallahzadeh

High concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, and fluoride in drinking water can cause adverse health effects. This study aims to investigate concentration and health risks assessment of nitrate, nitrite, and fluoride ions in water reservoirs of Mehriz city and Bahadoran district.

Monthly sampling was done from water reservoirs of Mehriz city and Bahadoran district for 6 months. Nitrate, nitrite, and fluoride concentrations were measured in the samples using a spectrophotometer. Then, health risk assessment and sensitivity analysis were performed on the obtained data using Crystal Ball software and Monte Carlo simulation method.

Nitrate, nitrite, and fluoride concentrations were lower than the standard limitation in all of the studied areas. Risk assessment findings indicated that hazard quotient (HQ) values of nitrite in Miankoh-Movahedin, Bidok and Bahadoran water reservoirs were less than 1 for all age groups. HQ values of nitrate were also below 1 for all age groups except children. HQ values of fluoride in Bahadoran water reservoir were below 1 for all age groups except children.

Health risk of consuming water containing nitrates and fluorides is high for children. Based on sensitivity analysis, the concentration of nitrate and fluoride in drinking water is the key factor in raising health risks. Reducing nitrate and fluoride concentrations in drinking water can reduce health risks in the population.

This study aimed to determine nitrate levels in water wells supplying drinking water in Taft city, Iran, and assess the associated health risks using the method proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

In 2021, the average annual nitrate levels were determined in 48 drinking water wells which were located in Zone 39 (Taft city). Health risk assessment and sensitivity analysis were conducted to identify the most influential variables.

The mean nitrate content in  the water wells under study was 32.88 ± 18 mg/L. Out of the 48 examined water wells, 10 had nitrate levels higher than the standard value (50 mg/L) established by the Iranian Institute of Standardization (Standard No. 1053) and WHO. The calculated Hazard Quotient (HQ) for children and adolescents was greater than 1, while it was less than 1 for adults. Nitrate concentration in drinking water was found to be the most important influencing variable in the calculated HQ for children and adolescents.

The results indicated that children and adolescents’ health in the studied area is at risk, and appropriate measures must be implemented to avoid and control the exposure of these vulnerable groups; they can be continuous monitoring of nitrate levels using on-site treatment methods where nitrate concentrations exceed the standard level, and decommissioning wells with high nitrate levels.

Phytoremediation is a sustainable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly process that utilizes plants and microorganisms for purification of the polluted land. In this study, the fast-growing species Salix acmophylla from the Salicaceae family was selected for phytoremediation purposes.

With the aim of exploring the potential of Salix acmophylla in wastewater purification, a research initiative was launched in 2020, Following initial land preparation on a 5-hectare site next to a wastewater treatment plant, 60,000 Salix acmophylla cuttings were planted. By 2022, the trees had matured to a height of 3-4 meters. Wastewater samples were then collected and analyzed for pollutant levels both before entering the planted area and after passing through drainage channels built among the trees. This allowed researchers to calculate the average efficiency of Salix acmophylla in reducing wastewater pollutants.  

The results regarding the impact of Salix acmophylla trees on the reduction of wastewater Characteristics in the cultivation area were the following: COD, BOD5, TSS, TDS, EC, and turbidity exhibited reductions of 38%, 42%, 17.5%, 79%, 52.2%, and 45.6%, respectively. Additionally, the estimated income from the cultivation of these trees was approximately $49,000.

Planting Salix acmophylla trees significantly contributes to the reduction of wastewater pollutant parameters, suggesting the recommendation of this species for similar climates.

The COVID-19 epidemic has polluted millions of people and has caused millions of deaths worldwide. Therefore, this study aims to review the effects of COVID-19 on global air pollution.

In this narrative review, articles related to the objectives of the study were selected in reliable scientific databases such as Web of Science, Ovid, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus. A total of 294 browsing sources and ultimately 90 sources were selected.

In the COVID-19 pandemic, NO2 dropped from 53 to 11% in most countries, and PM2.5 and PM10 from 91 to 6% in some countries. CO dropped from 92 to 5% and SO2 had a decreasing trend from 77 to 7% in most countries, except for the largest cities in Britain, Poland, Taiwan, and Iran. Unlike other pollutants, O3 in most countries increased from 0.3 to 63%, but O3 decreased in some countries.

In the lockdown period, the reduction of most air pollutants except O3 was observed in many countries. But after restarting, polluting activities have incresed again. Therefore, the rules implemented during lockdown time can be introduced as an appropriate option in emergencies to reduce air pollution.

SARS CoV-2 pandemic has caused illness and death in millions of people worldwide. Extensive studies are being conducted on the effect of meteorological parameters on the number of patients and clinical symptoms of COVID-19.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Abarkouh city with a population of 51199 people during 215 days (from April 20, 2020 to November 20, 2020).  The present study aimed to investigate the effect of meteorological parameters, such as temperature, humidity, sunshine hours, evaporation, and maximum wind speed on the number of cases with definite diagnosis of COVID-19. Moreover, symptoms in the infected patients were assessed using Pearson correlation coefficient and regression coefficient.

During the 215 days of the study, a total of 2526 symptoms were diagnosed in 1298 outpatients. Among which, fever and body aches were the most common symptoms in the subjects. The results of examining the relationship between meteorological parameters and the prevalence of symptoms showed that there was a negative correlation between the minimum and maximum temperature, sunshine hours, evaporation, and wind speed with the number of cases and the prevalence of symptoms. The results of regression coefficient also showed that among the meteorological parameters, the minimum temperature variable had the most negative effect on the prevalence of symptoms as well as the number of cases.

The results showed that changing the meteorological parameters in cold weather can increase both the number of patients and clinical symptoms of outpatients with COVID-19.

The application of disinfectant agents is a common way to fight against microorganisms. Although there are different types of disinfectant agents to fight COVID-19, many of them do not have the required quality and efficiency. The present work was aimed to evaluate the quality of the available disinfectant agents using gram-negative E. coli bacteria.

In the laboratory phase of the research, the gram-negative E. coli bacteria were used to evaluate the quality of disinfectants. According to the proposed laboratory method, microbial kit was prepared and used to evaluate the performance of disinfectants.

According to the obtained findings, 1.0 mL of the prepared microbial suspension in the test tube, as microbial kit, was used for the quality assessment of the selected disinfectants. In case of growth of microorganisms in optimum conditions, the quality of disinfectants was undesirable, and if microorganisms were not grown, the quality of disinfectants would be appropriate in terms of its effect on gram-negative bacteria.

E. coli can be used as a reliable indicator for assessing the quality of the disinfectant and antiseptic agents used against COVID-19.

Iran is one of the largest producers of pistachios in the world. The development of pistachios and related industries has created various conditions and opportunities for the expansion of agricultural and industrial activities as well as environmental issues. The researches show that only 35% of the weight of fresh pistachios is comprised of dried pistachios, so pistachio processing produces a large amount of pistachio waste, which can cause widespread environmental pollution if not managed properly.

This is a review study that examines the methods of using pistachio waste in previous studies. This research is conducted by searching keywords in Scopus, web of sciences and other Iranian scientific and research databases.

The findings of this study showed that most of the studies conducted on pistachio waste have investigated three areas of removal of pollutants from aquatic environments by surface adsorption process, biogas and biofuel production and compost production. According to studies, pistachio shell powder and activated carbon produced from pistachio shell can remove cyanide, heavy metals and dyes from aquatic environments.

The management of waste resulting from pistachio processing industries can reduce the threat of environmental pollution and help to control pollution, remove pollutants from the environment, increase agricultural productivity and earn income from products. Pistachio waste can be used more in three areas of pollutant absorption, biogas production and compost

The prevalence of infectious diseases varies depending on the type of micro-organism involved. Viral diseases can spread rapidly among communities, due to the specific characteristics of the virus. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) is a new member of the coronavirus family that has caused rapid epidemics and affected the health and economy of the countries. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the ambient temperature and the positive cases of COVID 19.

In the present research, the relationship between the number of positive cases of COVID 19 and the ambient temperature was investigated in Abarkouh and Qeshm cities during a 49-day period. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software using descriptive statistics and correlation coefficient tests.

The average ambient temperatures in the study period were 19.16 ± 3.45 and 25.79 ± 1.83 for Abarkouh and Qeshm cities, respectively. During this period, the positive cases in Abarkouh and Qeshm cities were 38 and 28 people, respectively. The results of correlation test revealed a negative correlation between the ambient temperature and the number of patients with COVID 19 (the correlation rates were -0.107 and -0.083 with p-values of 0.46 and 0.57 for Abarkouh and Qeshm, respectively).

Our results revealed that increase of air temperature was negatively correlated with the number of positive cases of COVID 19. It can be concluded that atmospheric temperature affects the virus outbreak. So, the rate of virus spread is expected to  be reduced.

The most common method of dealing with the pathogens is applying disinfectants. Thus far, a wide range of disinfectants and antiseptics has been introduced to the food industry and different centers. Latest studies highlight the application of nanoparticles and other novel compounds. The present work is a review article on applying new chemical disinfectants in the food industry. It reviews the papers published indifferent scientific databases. To conduct the present study, the keywords, such as disinfectant, antiseptic, bactericide, bacteriostatic, antibacterials, microbicides, and biocides, are searched at different databases, including Web of Science, SCOPUS, PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. Totally, 600 articles on new materials and their disinfectant application are selected from 2009-2018.Among the selected papers, 477 were about applying compounds such as silver/its nanoparticles, complexes, zinc oxide/its nanoparticles, titanium dioxide, and electrolyzed water (EOW).Reviewing different articles on the new disinfectants, it is concluded that the recent studies mainly focus on the application of nanoparticles, complexes, and innovative physiochemical methods, including electrolysis in producing applied disinfectants in the food industry (e.g., pistachio industry). Among the above items, the EOW disinfectant, more commonly used in the food industry, seems to have the least complications for the environment and people’s health. However, given this disinfectant novelty, it is required to conduct more studies on its toxicity.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the endemic parasitic diseases in central Iran. The rural type of this disease is transmitted from rodents to humans by Phlebotomus papatasi. This study aims to investigate the role of vegetation in the existence of rodents in the study area.

The current descriptive-analytical study investigates prevalence of leishmaniasis in the Esfandabad Abarkooh City from 2019 to 2020. ArcGIS 10.2.2 and the layer overlay technique were used to examine effects of vegetation on the development of rodent activity, being regarded as leishmania reservoirs

A total of 20 and 23 cases of leishmaniasis were diagnosed in 2019 and in the first seven months of 2020, respectively. The findings revealed that the primary vegetation of the Esfandabad Abarkooh City included two species of Atriplex and pistachios. The layer overlay technique and the areas containing rodent nests showed that Atriplex encompassed 81.45% of the nests, and only 0.37% of the active nests were found in pistachio fields.

In addition to preventing soil erosion, pistachio cultivation has a significant role in reducing rodent activity in the region. In addition, it positively impacts the residents' economy through its positive role in sustainable development in the region.

Due to water scarcity and increased water consumption during the past years, the importance of water in terms of transmission of diseases, as well as Iran's climate, groundwater aquifers are known as the most important resources of drinking water supply. Using the Water Quality Index (WQI) is considered as strong managerial tool for decision making in water resource management. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of groundwater in Ardakan for drinking purpose using WQI. Spatial analysis was conducted with the geographic information system (GIS).
This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study to investigate the quality of groundwater in Ardakan for drinking purpose. Information on total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), bicarbonate (HCO3-), chlorine (CL-), sulfate (SO42-), nitrate (NO3-), calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) of 24 wells was obtained from Ardakan Health Center. The characteristics of the stations were determined using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and transmitted to the map prepared in the GIS environment. The calculated values of the WQI were zoned in the GIS environment by Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) method.
Based on the WQI, well no.5 has the best quality water (17.61), which has the lowest WQI, and the highest value of WQI was obtained for well no. 20 (156.86).
The results of the study showed that none of wells have drinkable water, 13 wells had good quality water, and 11 wells had poor quality and should be treated for drinking.

Disposal of the wastewater produced in the paper and paperboard industry without the refining process can add substances to the environment, which are harmful to humans, environment, and other organisms. With regard to process efficiency, the current methods used in wastewater treatment of this industry are economically unjustifiable. Therefore, in this research, the electrolysis / electrocoagulation method was investigated using a graphite / iron electrode for synthetic aqueous solutions containing golden yellow X-GL.
In this test, two Plexiglas reactors with a volume of 3 liters were used. The impact of the operation parameters such as voltage, initial dye concentration, and reaction time were investigated. Dye concentration in specimens was determined by visible spectrophotometry using DR-5000 at 438nm wavelength.
In optimal conditions of voltage 12V, dye concentration 10 mg/l, and time 60 min, the removal efficiency rates of electrolysis reactors, electric coagulation, and combined reactor were 64.17%, 75.42%, and 84.19% respectively. By increasing the dye concentration and decreasing the voltage, the dye removal efficiency decreased.
The electric coagulation process using an iron electrode is a suitable method for removing the yellow color of colored aqueous solutions from the paper and paperboard industry.

 Several diseases, especially in infants such as some cancer and blue baby are related to the presence of nitrate in drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) specified the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of nitrate as 50 mg L-1 for regulated public water systems. This study aimed to evaluate the concentration of nitrate and to assess its probabilistic risk exposure in drinking water wells of Abarkouh city, Iran.
 The average annual nitrate level was studied from 18 wells around Abarkouh in 2017. The Hazard Quotient (HQ) was also investigated as health risk assessment and sensitivity analysis was carried out for effective variables.
Average concentration of nitrate was 27.57 ± 6.80 mg L-1 and all measured concentrations were below the permitted maximum standard (50 mg L-1) according to the National Standard of Iran. The HQ value for children and adults were more than 1 (1.81) and less than 1, respectively. In calculating HQ for children, the most important variable was the concentration of nitrate in drinking water.
According to the results, children health is highly at risk in these areas and exposure to nitrate should be reduced for at-risk populations.

Iodine deficiency and associated disorders, which lead to a wide range of clinical manifestations, have been raised as one of the health and nutritional problems in Iran. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the amount of iodine in distributed salts in Abarkouh city in 2017-2018. Random sampling was done by census on all 30 distributed brands in Abarkouh city in the different stores across the city. Sixty samples (30 samples after one month from the production date and 30 samples after 6 months from the production date) were collected and transferred to the laboratory. The measurement of iodine was done according to the British Pharmacopoeia recommended method. T-test was used to analyze the data. The Mean iodine concentration in the salts supplied in the Abarkouh was 29.83 ± 19.9 ppm, which was 50% less than the Iran's standard, with a statistically significant difference (P ≤ 0.001). 66.6% of the studied brands did not contain adequate iodine. Six months after production date, the average iodine amount in salts was reduced to 24.26 ± 16.94 ppm, but the reduction was not statistically significant (P = 0.224). Average iodine amount in most of the salts supplied across the Abarkouh city was not acceptable and some salts lacked iodine. Therefore, careful and continuous supervision and monitoring the process of iodized salts production in factories is recommended.

Workers in steel manufacturing companies are extensively exposed to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Considering the health effects of these compounds, the purpose of this study was to determine occupational exposure to the BTEX compounds and also evaluation of carcinogenic risk due to benzene and non- carcinogenic risk for BTEX compounds in a steel industry. Material and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the coke production unit of the steel making industry. After collecting personal samples from breathing zone of the workers and analyzing of the samples the levels of exposure to the BTEX were quantitatively determined using Gas chromatography equipped with Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID), according to the NIOSH 1501 standard method. Then, cancer risk due to benzene and non-cancer risks from BTEX compounds were calculated using Monte-Carlo technique. The analysis of personal samples indicated that benzene concentration in energy and biochemistry and benzol refinement sections of the plant were higher than occupational exposure limits (OELs). Among the studied sections, benzol refinement as the most polluted section had the highest concentration of BTEX compounds. Non-cancer risk due to BTEX compounds in all studied sections was lower than one. Benzene cancer risk in energy and biochemistry, benzol refinement and experimental furnace sections was higher than maximum recommended value by EPA. Due to the high concentration of benzene in energy and biochemistry and benzene refinement sections as well as the resultant carcinogenic risk, improvement of existing control systems and the use of modern engineering systems are necessary to control occupational exposure.

Exposure to high concentrations of fluoride in drinking water can negatively affect lung, liver and kidney tissues, and cause skeleton pain; however, lack of fluoride can cause tooth decay and bone problems.
In this study, the concentration of fluoride was investigated and its spatial distribution was carried out with Arc GIS software in underground water of Abarkouh aquifer. The health risk assessment, type of pollution distribution and its source was investigated using Moran's index.
The average concentration of fluoride in 21 wells was 0.623 ± 0.296 mg/L which in 47.61% were less than the minimum concentration standard range set by the WHO guidelines. The Moran's index for fluoride concentration in the study area was 0.653 and given the z-score of 4.117. There is less than 1% likelihood that this clustered pattern could be the result of a random chance.
According to the results, Non-carcinogenic risk indicates a high risk for children (HQ = 1.03E0). The source of pollution is close to well No. 15. Investigating the study area and eliminating the pollution source is effective in decreasing the fluoride concentration of water and can reduce the health risk for children.

The safety of employees in the workplace is one of the most important issues for each organization. Researches show that 85 percent of work accidents occur due to insecure behavior, which has been the main factor in attitude and culture. Therefore, creating an appropriate HSE culture is very important in the preventing of work accidents.
The number of staff employed in Khatam Al-Anbia Hospital health center of Abarkouh during this cross-sectional study (in 2017-2018) were 154 and 160 people, respectively. This research was done by census method and using a standard questionnaire which has already been approved for its validity and reliability. We found 99.01% of questionnaires competed (301 from 314 questionnaires). The data from the questionnaire and the demographic information of the interviewees were transmitted to the SPSS-22 database and analyzed using Mann-Whitney a nonparametric test.
The obtained results showed the relationship between the two groups is significant. By comparing the mean of the total score of the questions related to the commitment and leadership element, it is observed that the mean in the health center group is higher than the hospital group.
As a result, commitment and leadership in the Health, safety and Environment (HSE) culture in the health center of Abarkuh city is more favorable than Khatam Al-Anbia hospital.

In Iran, the annual work-related incidents face a variety of dangers for thousands of people. The main cause of industrial accidents is unsafe acts (88%) and 10% due to unsafe conditions. The Health, Safety and Environment Management System (HSE-MS) is part of an organization's management system that like most management systems that includes planning, implementation, control and corrective actions.
This study is a descriptive-analytic with census sampling method. This study was conducted on the staff of Abarkouh health office. A standard questionnaire was used for this study. Validity and reliability of questionnaire have already been examined and approved. Also, in this questionnaire, gender, age, education, and work record of each person were recorded. Chi-square test was used to examine the effect of descriptive or background variables.
The findings show that 37.8% of people had education less than diploma, 41.5% of people had diploma and diploma education and 55.8% of staff had education higher than bachelor. Of the four tests performed for each of the variables, the relationship between the implementation and monitoring element was significant with gender and education variables. According to the results, 40.1% of men and 54.1% of women were above average.
Therefore, it can be concluded that in the implementation and monitoring element in the HSE-MS system, women have a better status than men. Also with an increase in the level of education, the staff has a better position.

The use of biodegradation methods by microorganisms in the removal of industrial dyes are widely considered owing to their high efficiency and compatibility to the environment. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the biodegradation of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution by bacteria isolated from contaminated soil. This study was performed in laboratory scale on bacteria isolated and purified from contaminated soil with methylene blue. Initially, the bacteria was isolated from contaminated soil. Thereafter, medium containing 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1000 mg/l of methylene blue, 50 ml of salt medium with glucose and 2.5 ml of Brain-heart infusion (BHI) medium containing bacteria were prepared. The results of dye removal were analyzed using UV/Vis spectrophotometer at 665 nm. The results of purification and identification of the bacterial species which degrade methylene blue indicated that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the dominant bacteria. In this study, the removal efficiency of bacteria was attained from 82.25 to 97.82% with an increase in initial MB concentration from 50 to 200 mg/l. Nevertheless, with increase in MB oncentration from 200 to 1000 mg/l, removal efficiency was reduced to 43.08%. The optimum concentration of MB removal was 200 mg/l. It is evident from the results that the bacteria had used methylene blue as an auxiliary source of carbon apart from glucose. Finally, it can be concluded that P. aeruginosa is an appropriate candidate for the removal of methylene blue from the environment.

Previous studies have shown that the presence of nitrate in drinking water can cause several diseases especially in the infants, such as cancer and blue baby. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has since adopted the 50 mg/l standard as the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for nitrate for regulated public water systems. This study aimed to evaluate the concentration of nitrate in the drinking water wells of Birjand, Iran, using inverse distance weighting (IDW) model and also using remote sensing (ENVI software) for studying the vegetation area. In this study, the average annual nitrate level in 2015 was measured from 19 wells around Birjand that were used as rural water supplies. For the zoning of nitrate concentration in the groundwater of Birjand, we used Arc GIS software by using IDW interpolation methods, and for studying the vegetation area and its effect on the groundwater quality we used Landsat Archive image (L4-5 TM sensor) and ENVI 4.7 software. The mean concentration of nitrate was 25.89 ± 12.33 mg/l in the groundwater. Nitrate concentration was more than the standard range (50 mg/l) according to the National Standard of Iran (No. 1053) in one well in the studied zone. Based on the information obtained from remote sensing, agricultural activities were an effective factor in increasing the concentrations of nitrate in the groundwater of the studied area.