Archives of Hygiene Sciences
Volume:9 Issue: 2, Spring 2020

 Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease, which is spreading continuously. This study aimed to determine the epidemiologic profile of the patients with UC in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, as a database for other researches.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on the profiles of the patients with a definitive diagnosis of UC during 2012-2016 in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari in 2019. All the samples were selected through the census method. The data consisted of demographic characteristics, clinical features, as well as colonoscopy and histopathology results, and other symptoms which were collected based on the checklists. The data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 22); moreover, the qualitative and quantitative variables were reported using frequency and percentage as well as mean and standard deviation, respectively.

This study analyzed 177 UC patients with a mean age of 38.31±11.69 years. According to the findings, the 31-40-year-old group was the most vulnerable age group. Regarding gender, 59.3% of the patients were male. The mean duration between the onset of the symptoms and diagnosis was reported as 7±11.51 years. The most common symptoms were bleeding (72%) and abdominal pain (53%). Moreover, erythema (63.27%) and erosion (54.8%) were the most prevalent complications based on the pathologic findings. Extra-intestinal manifestations were reported among 18.36% of the cases. Considering the involved locations, pancolitis (36.72%) and the inflammation of rectosigmoid (35.6%) were the most common types.

The results of this study were similar to the findings of other investigations in terms of demographic characteristics. On the other hand, the clinical symptoms and complications of the disease were different from those in some previous studies.

Heavy metals and its compounds are toxic pollutants that have priority in the studies due to their potential harm to human health.

This study evaluated the potential of a chicken feather for the removal of nickel and chromium from aqueous solutions. The chicken feather was prepared from aviculture for nickel and chromium removal from aqueous solutions. The effects of pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, and initial metal concentration on Ni and Cr removal were also evaluated in this study. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models were used to characterize the biosorption of the mentioned metals onto the chicken feather.

Based on the findings, the maximum removal of metals was found in a contact time of 3 h, 1 g/L of adsorbent, pH 5 (for Ni) and 6 (for Cr), and concentration of 1 mg/l of metals. According to the Langmuir isotherms, the maximum biosorption capacities (qm) of Cr and Ni were 22.3 and 119.05 mg/g, respectively.

The results showed that chicken feathers can absorb chromium and nickel at low concentrations. However, the ability and possibility of the use of the chicken feather are limited for the treatment of contaminated wastewater at high concentrations.

 Beauty salons as public places can be responsible for the transmission of various diseases. Among them, infectious diseases transmitted through the blood, such as AIDS, hepatitis B and C, which can lead to death, are more significant than others. In this regard, the present study aimed to determine the effect of educational intervention, based on the health belief model (HBM), on the improvement of health-related behavior of female hairdressers in Qom, Iran in 2018.

The present intervention study was performed on 88 subjects who were selected using multi-stage random sampling. The participants were divided into two groups of intervention (n=44) and control (n=44). The data collection tool was a health status checklist and a researcher-made questionnaire based on the HBM whose validity and reliability were confirmed. The intervention group was subjected to educational intervention sessions and after three months, both groups completed the same questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 21), descriptive statistics (absolute and relative frequency, mean, and standard deviation), and inferential statistics (Chi-squared test, Mann Whitney, independent t-test, and paired t-test). It should be noted a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The mean and standard deviation of age in the intervention and control groups were 33.36±8.3 and 36.31±10.3 years, respectively. At the beginning of the study, no significant difference was observed between the groups regarding their demographic characteristics, the HBM constructs and performance model were not significantly observed at the beginning of the study between the experimental and control groups (P <0.05). However, based on the results, after the intervention, the mean score of knowledge and HBM constructs (except for the perceived barriers after the educational intervention) increased significantly in the interventional group, compared to the control group (P<0.001). Moreover, before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the mean scores of health-related behaviors and checklist results of the two groups (P<0.05). However, three months after the intervention, the mean scores of health-related behaviors and checklist of the intervention group were significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.001).

Given the significant change in the level of knowledge and HBM constructs as well as the improvement in the health-related behaviors of the intervention group after the educational intervention, it can be concluded that the HBM can be used as a framework in designing special training programs for hairdressers.

Diethyl phthalate (DEP) cannot be proficiently degraded by ultraviolet (UV) radiation and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) oxidation separately; however, the photo-Fenton method is verified to be operative and can completely degrade this pollutant. Currently, advanced oxidation methods have been growing to be employed for the remediation of industrial wastewater. In the present study, the photo-Fenton process investigated the degradation and mineralization of the aqueous solution containing DEP.

Synthesized wastewater was used in this study. In addition, the effects of operative factors, such as the initial concentrations of H2O2, ferrous ion, and DEP, have been studied. The response surface methodology and Box-Behnken design of experiments were applied to examine the effects of three sovereign variables on the response functions to obtain the optimum circumstances.

The analysis of variance was carried out to determine the importance of the effects of independent variables on the response function. Various amounts of variables were optimized for the removal of DEP. At optimum conditions (i.e., H2O2 concentration of 400 mg/l, ferrous concentration of 75 mg/l, and DEP concentration of 50 mg/l) and 60 min following the reaction, the rates of degradation efficiency for DEP and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were 100% and 85.3%, respectively.

According to the obtained results, the suggested quadratic model showed good correctness. The statistical analysis of the model indicated that the model was satisfactory to predict the performance of the processes. The obtained findings demonstrated that the photo-Fenton processes can be used for the complete and partial removal of DEP and COD from wastewater, respectively. The benefits of the photo-Fenton process were less sludge formation, fewer chemicals, and time obligation but at the cost of consumed power. The power consumption can be reduced by employing sunlight instead of artificial UV light to a larger amount. The photo-Fenton procedure was influential in the degradation of DEP and can considerably decrease COD.

Infestation of humans by lice has a long history and is still recognized as a recurring disease and a global health problem. In this regard, mothers, as the backbone of the family, play a peculiar role in children's health. The present study aimed to determine the effect of education on the promotion of pediculosis preventive behaviors in mothers of female primary school students.

The current study was conducted using interventional design and multi-stage random sampling method in collaboration with 176 mothers of female primary school students in Qom in the academic year of 2018-2019. The data collection tool was a valid and reliable researcher-made questionnaire comprising of three sections: demographic information, awareness questions, and preventive behavior questionnaire. The educational intervention for mothers in the test group was held in four 90-minute sessions for 2 weeks. After 3 months, the post-test questionnaires were completed again. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 16). A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significance.

The results of statistical tests demonstrated no statistically significant difference between the test and control groups in terms of demographic variables (P<0.05). There was a significant difference between the mean score of preventive behavior in the test group before and 3 months after the intervention (P<0.001). On the other hand, no significant difference was observed in the control group before and after the intervention (P= 0.66). There was a significant difference between the mean score of awareness in the test group before and 3 months after the educational intervention (P<0.001). Moreover, the mean difference between the awareness score and preventive behavior between the test group and the control showed a significant difference (P <0.001).

As evidenced by the obtained results, maternal education can increase the level of awareness and promote pediculosis preventive behaviors. Therefore, mothers' participation in educational programs in schools and comprehensive health centers can help change people's pediculosis preventive behaviors.

Pregnancy is one of the most important stages in the life of women. It is associated with increased nutritional requirements since pregnant women are very vulnerable to malnutrition. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the food groups intake pattern and its effective factors in pregnant women in Qom, Iran.

This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 360 pregnant women who referred to health centers. Two questionnaires were used to collect demographic and dietary recall information. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 20) using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, and chi-square.

Based on the results of this study, the mean age, weight, and height of the subjects were 27.72 years, 72.59 kg, and 162 cm, respectively. Moreover, the mean daily intake of bread and cereals, milk and dairy products, fruits, vegetables, meat and egg, nuts and legumes, and miscellaneous groups were 8.26, 1.91, 4.60, 1.90, 2.43, 1.82, and 0.81 respectively. The mean of total daily calorie intake was 1424.81. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between economic status and daily calorie intake (P<0/05).

The daily consumption of milk and dairy products, vegetables, meat and eggs, and nuts and legumes were less than the recommended standard. This indicates the need for education of pregnant women and the facilitation of the relevant factors for the reception of these food groups.

The benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) compounds are the most abundant volatile organic compounds in the urban atmosphere. This study aimed to investigate and monitor the ambient BTEX compounds in Ahvaz, Iran.

The atmospheric concentrations of the BTEX were measured using the Air Quality Monitoring Station in the center of Ahvaz. Hourly mean concentration data of the BTEX compounds from March 21, 2017, until November 21, 2017, were obtained from the environmental protection organization of Khuzestan province.

Mean concentrations of the BTEX compounds were 0.80±0.04, 2.55±0.10, 0.54±0.03, and 1.26±0.07 µg/m3, respectively, and these concentrations were lower in the summer, compared to other seasons. A significant relationship between benzene and other BTEX compounds indicates that BTEX release from certain sources, such as gasoline vehicles. Moreover, the mean toluene/benzene ratio was estimated at 3.29±0.84, and this ratio shows that the highest concentrations of pollutant emissions were emitted from the activity traffic. Carcinogen risk assessment of Ahvazi people exposure to benzene showed that the mean cancer risk value for benzene exposure was 0.89×10−6, which was lower than the unit cancer risk value (i.e., 1×10-6). Hazard quotient's calculation showed that the mean non-carcinogenic risk values for exposure to BTEX compounds were 3.84, 0.074, 0.077, and 1.76, respectively. The mean hazard index (HI) for exposure to BTEX compounds was 5.75, which was considerably higher than the unit value of 1.

Based on the findings, the necessity of controlling BTEX emissions, especially benzene and identifying the sources of these compounds can be a useful tool for the management of connected control strategies.