Archives of Hygiene Sciences
Volume:12 Issue: 1, Winter 2023

Heavy metals are highly stable in wetland and marine environments and can be toxic to organisms. Wetland birds play a vital role in the life cycle and food chain. This study aimed to investigate the bioaccumulation of heavy elements such as lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), and copper (Cu) in the organs of red-wattled lapwings in Shadegan wetland in 2019.

Pb, Hg, Ni, and Cu were studied in this descriptive-applied study. Ten red-wattled lapwings were randomly prepared in Western Shadegan wetland and with the coordination of the environmental unit of the region through hunting in December 2019. A graphite furnace spectrometer, GBcA made in Australia, was used to determine the amounts of these elements in liver, kidney, and tail feathers. The LOD and relative standard deviation of sampling were also determined, and finally, the results were analyzed using correlation and regression analyses.

Based on the results, the highest cumulative concentration belonged to Cu. Its mean values in the liver, kidney, and tail feathers were 4.16%, 3.95%, and 1.77 mg/kg, respectively. The highest and lowest means of Pb, Hg, Ni, and heavy Cu elements in the kidney tissue were 1.974 and 1.08 mg/kg, respectively. Based on these results, the kidney was the most important tissue accumulating heavy elements in red-wattled lapwing.

Overall, there were significant amounts of heavy elements in various organs of the red-wattled lapwing present in Shadegan wetland. These results indicated the relatively high levels of pollution in Shadegan wetland compared to some other bird habitats in Iran, which is probably attributed to the oil, gas, petrochemical, and sugarcane industries around Shadegan wetland.

Despite the relative comfort and welfare today’s modern technology has brought to humankind, it has also been the basis for the emergence of risks and threats. These risks and risk factors should be assessed and controlled using systematic risk assessment and management methods. Numerous techniques and methods have been developed to analyze risks, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses. One of the system risk analysis techniques, which is among qualitative techniques and identifies and analyzes system risks inductively, is the functional hazard analysis (FuHA) technique. The present study aims to identify and control risks that occur due to technical defects or system dysfunctions and can lead to an unpleasant event, as occurred in an industrial unit in 2016.

In this cross-sectional analytical study, the functional risks of an industrial unit were analyzed using the FuHA technique. By implementing the FuHA technique in the investigated industrial unit, 17 functional defects were identified.

In general, according to the level of severity of different consequences caused by the identified defects, 60 functional risks were identified, of which 7 cases (11.67%) were assessed as unacceptable, 17 cases (28.33%) as unfavorable, and 36 cases (60%) as acceptable but needing revision.

The results of this study showed that the FuHA technique had a favorable ability to identify and analyze system and subsystem functional risks, especially software subsystems.

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) refers to positive changes resulting from trauma. As a traumatic stressor, COVID-19 can affect various aspects of one’s life. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of coping strategies and defense mechanisms in the relationship of PTG and mental health, resilience, and perceived social support in COVID-19 survivors.

This study was conducted using a path analysis method from the correlation matrix. The research population included all COVID-19 recovered patients in Golestan province, Iran. Using the convenience sampling method, 300 patients who recovered from COVID-19 were selected. The participants were given questionnaires online. The research instruments included the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ), and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WOC). The data were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) using SPSS and AMOS version 25.

The findings of SEM revealed that the model fits the data. The relationship between problem-focused coping strategies and PTG, mental health, and perceived social support, the relationship between PTG and perceived social support, resilience, and mental health, and the relationship between mature defense mechanisms and PTG, mental health, resilience, and perceived social support were positive and significant (P < 0.01). The relationship between emotion-focused strategies and PTG, resilience, and perceived social support, the relationship between neurotic defense mechanisms and mental health, resilience, PTG, and perceived social support, and the relationship between immature defense mechanisms and mental health, resilience, and PTG were negative and significant (P < 0.01). Furthermore, the direct path analysis revealed that the relationships between mental health and emotion-focused strategies and between perceived social support and immature defense mechanisms were not significant.

The study results suggested that mental health, resilience, perceived social support, as well as problem-focused coping strategies played a crucial role in increasing PTG in COVID-19 patients. Therefore, they can be utilized to reduce the mental damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Soil contamination with heavy metals is becoming a major environmental concern today. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the health risks of heavy metals in the surface soil of Arak plain.

Soil samples were collected by random sampling from 30 stations with three replications from a depth of 0-20 cm. After acidic digestion of the samples (HNO3: HclO4: HF = 3: 2: 1), the concentrations of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and cadmium (Cd) were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Finally, the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic hazards of heavy metals in surface soils for human health were assessed through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption using the method recommended by the EPA for children and adults.

The results indicated that the average total concentrations of heavy metals of Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Cd in the study area are 10.01, 13.83, 39.82, 43.41, and 11.9 mg/kg, respectively. The highest and lowest average daily dose (ADD) of elements in both age groups were related to Ni metal from the ingestion route and Cd metal from the inhalation tract, respectively. Further, the non-carcinogenic risk hazard quotient (HQ) of heavy metals in all three paths was less than 1. The results of the non-carcinogenic hazard index (HI) risk assessment of all three pathways separately for each metal and for both groups of children and adults showed metal values as Cu > Cd > Zn > Pb > Ni, respectively. In addition, the results of the carcinogenic risk index (RI) in the surface soil of Arak plain revealed that Ni and Pb have the highest and the lowest carcinogenic risk, respectively.

Finally, considering the size of the study area and proving the carcinogenic hazards and risks in the area, it is necessary and important to pay attention to health and environmental principles.

Productivity and profitability among cycling tourists are important. The aim of this study was to identify the psychological-motivational, humanistic-educational and cultural factors in the sports efficiency of tourist cyclists.

This study was carried out as qualitative-quantitative research that included interviewing experts and designing a questionnaire. The questionnaire included psychological-motivational, human-educational, cultural, and welfare factors, which were prepared through interviews with 13 experts, and 278 subjects were examined using a random sampling method.

The results of open code interviews and questionnaires were as follows. These findings were managers’ expertise and experience in the field of sports tourism, focusing on training and increasing motivation of the organization’s educated employees, detecting and solving economic problems, increasing welfare and livelihood, and using the PLS software. The relationships between the categories and the identified variables were psychological-motivational, human-educational, cultural, and productive cycling tourism, and had a good fit.

Psychological-motivational, human-educational and cultural factors had an effect on the sports efficiency of tourist cyclists and the model had a good fit. Therefore, based on the results, the tourism organization should have effective and accurate procedures in applying the present model to be productive and consider influential factors (both psychological-motivational, human-educational, and cultural) in their programs.

The membrane adsorption bioreactor (MABR) process is the integration of biological treatment and membrane technology. Accordingly, in this study, an MABR was employed for the pulp and paper industry wastewater treatment.

The purchased powdered activated carbon (PAC) was added to the system as an adsorbent which improved the flux of the membrane.

Based on the obtained results, the organic compounds were successfully removed by the average removal of 62% and 86% without and with an adsorbent, respectively. Moreover, the activated sludge was prepared from the Babol-Toyoor Slaughterhouse wastewater treatment, and adding the PAC to the activated sludge led to the better performance of the MABR system by providing a proper condition for microorganism growth. Monitoring the mixed liquid suspended solids during the process demonstrated that increasing mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) increased the contaminant removal rate.

Overall, the presence of PAC could prevent microorganisms from accumulating on the membrane surface.

Influenza is one of the leading causes of death in the world, especially in the elderly. This study examined the knowledge, attitudes, and intention of rural elderly about influenza prevention behaviors.

In this cross-sectional study was performed on 140 rural older people who were selected by multi-stage random sampling in Fasa, Iran. A questionnaire was developed to inform about individuals’ knowledge, attitude, and practice on influenza prevention measures. Data were analyzed using frequency descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test by SPSS-21.

A total of 61 men (mean age of 69.32 ± 6.81) and 71 women (mean age of 69.04 ± 7.52) responded to the questionnaire. The mean score of knowledge in women (6.8 ± 2.1) was significantly higher than in men (5.8 ± 2.7). The mean score of knowledge in illiterate people (6.45 ± 2.43) compared to literate people (6.08 ± 2.58) showed no significant differences. In addition, the differences between the mean score of attitudes in both men (5.67 ± 5.67) and women (6.05 ± 29.59) were not significant. Likewise, there were no significant differences between the mean scores of attitudes in the literate (28.74 ± 5.74) and illiterate (29.87 ± 5.89) elderly. The mean scores of intention in men and women were 6.18 ± 1.76 and 6.13 ± 1.53, respectively, which was not significantly different. Finally, the mean scores of intention in literate (5.85 ± 2.14) and illiterate (6.25 ± 1.42) participants were not significantly different.

The knowledge, attitude, and intention of rural elderly about influenza prevention behaviors are not satisfactory, and large-scale educational interventions are required in this regard, especially in rural areas.

Marital infidelity is regarded as a behavioral disorder with undesirable impacts that leads to considerable damages and problems for both the betraying and betrayed spouses. The present study aimed to investigate the association between marital infidelity based on fear of intimacy and self-differentiation through the mediating role of sexual satisfaction in women with marital conflict.

This study was conducted using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study population included all women with marital conflict visiting the consulting centers in Ahvaz, Iran, in 2021. A total of 144 participants were selected through convenience sampling. The research instruments included the Marital Conflict Questionnaire (MCQ), the Attitudes Toward Infidelity Scale, the Fear-of-Intimacy Scale (FIS), and the Differentiation of Self Inventory-Revised (DSI-R). The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient as an inferential statistical test, and SEM.

The results revealed that all direct paths to marital infidelity were significant (P < 0.001), except self-differentiation. In addition, there was an indirect relationship between fear of intimacy and infidelity as well as self-differentiation and infidelity through the mediating role of sexual satisfaction (P < 0.001).

Based on the findings, it can be concluded that fear of intimacy and self-differentiation can predict marital infidelity through the mediation of sexual satisfaction. Therefore, family counselors should take these factors into account to reduce the psychological problems of women experiencing marital conflict and improve their marital relationships.