Iranian Journal of health, safety andenvironment

882-887

Authors: Somayyeh Dehghani, Abbas Rezaee, Fatemeh Hadadiyan

The main goal of this article is to study a bipolar electro-Fenton process using stainless steel mesh for removal of methylene blue (MB) as a model of textile dye from aqueous solution. The effect of operating parameters such as the applied current, supporting electrolyte, the type of electrode, H2O2 concentrations (1-10 mmol/L) and hydraulic retention time (5-60min) on the proposed electro-Fenton efficacy was evaluated. The optimum condition was obtained as follows: initial pH 3, the current density 1.4 mA/cm2, H2O2 10 mmol/L, Na2SO4 concentration 0.4 g/L as supporting electrolyte. The results show that the MB removal and COD reduction could be achieved 92% and 70%, respectively. The experimental results indicate that the bipolar electro-Fenton process using stainless steel mesh electrode is a promising wastewater treatment technique for removal of dye from aqueous solutions.

894-903

Authors: Morteza Hatami, Mitra Mohammadi Mohammadi, Reza Esmaeli, Mandana Mohammadi

Epidemiological studies conducted in the past two decades indicate that air pollution causes increase in cardiovascular, breathing and chronic bronchitis disorders and even causes cardiovascular mortality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between meteorological parameters, air pollution and cardiovascular mortality in the city of Mashhad in 2014 by a time series model. Data on mortality from cardiovascular disease, meteorological parameters and air pollution in 2014 were gathered from Paradises organization, meteorology organization and pollutant monitoring center, respectively. Then the relationship between these parameters was analyzed using correlation coefficient, generalized linear regression, time series models and comparison of means. The results of the study showed that the highest rate of cardiovascular mortality related to Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and then PM2.5. So that each unit increase in SO2, NO2 and PM2.5 pollutants adds to the rate of cardiovascular mortality by 22.5, 2.9 and 0.69, respectively. Pressure, wind speed and rainfall have a significant association with mortality. So that each unit decrease in pressure and wind speed, increases the rate of cardiovascular mortality by 2.79 and 15.77, respectively. It was also found that in the case of one-unit increase in rainfall, the possibility of mortality from the mentioned disease goes up by 3.8 units. It was also found that one-year increase of the age increases the mortality caused by these diseases up to 0.57 percent. Furthermore, the highest rate of cardiovascular mortality related to cold periods of the year. Therefore, considering the growing trend of air pollution and its health effects on human health, performing actions and effective solutions is important in the field of controlling and reducing air pollution in Iranian metropolis including Mashhad.

911-917

Authors: Chenour Mawloudi, Aref Salehzadeh, Amir Hossein Zahirnia, Behroz Davari, Sara Ramezan Jamaat, Shahryar Mawludi

Phlebotomine sand flies are biological vectors of leishmaniasis in Iran and many other countries. In order to determine fauna and seasonal activity of sand flies, an investigation was carried out in Paveh County, Kermanshah Province, west of Iran. Using sticky traps sand flies collected in 5 sites of Paveh County from May to October of 2015. Activity of sand flies started in late April and ended in early October. Totally 2110 (71.1% male and 28.9% female) phlebotominae were collected from outdoors (64.6%) and indoors (35.4%) respectively. Twelve species in two genera were identified including: Phlebotomus alexandri, Ph. Sergenti, Ph. papatasi, Ph. major, Ph. tobbi, Ph. brevis, Sergentomyia sintoni, S. dentata, S. antennata, S. palestinensis, S. pawlowskyi and S. tiberiadis. Phlebotomus alexandri was predominant species in the region with 50% all of collected sand flies and Ph. brevis comprised only 0.04% of specimens. Due to documented report of seropositive cases of visceral leishmaniasis in Paveh County and presence of proven vectors in this area, further studies on epidemiological and entomological aspects of disease are recommended.

934-938

Authors: Hamidreza Nassehinia, Mehdi Kiani, Zaher Khazaei, Hasan Torabi, Malihe Sohrabivafa, Reza Beiranvand, Sajjad Rahimi Pordanjani

Contamination of some agricultural products by mycotoxins has exposed the human and animal health to serious concerns. Aflatoxin B1 is the most toxic type of aflatoxins, which is of the highest amount in different foods, including rice, among various types of aflatoxins. The present study was aimed to evaluate the amount of this toxicant in the consuming rice in Yazd city and investigate the effect of rice washing and soaking process on reduction of the mean concentration of aflatoxin B1. The present study was a descriptive-analytical one, in which 36 rice samples (18 domestic types and 18 foreign types of rice) were randomly selected from the rice distribution centers in Yazd city. The Standard No.6872 of the Institute of Standards & Industrial Research of Iran (ISIRI) was used for measuring the amount of aflatoxin B and G toxicants using HPLC (high pressure or performance liquid chromatography) method and purifying by immune affinity column. Analysis of the collected data was performed using SPSS-22 statistical software as well as the statistical methods of one-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD. The mean concentration of aflatoxin B1 in domestic and imported rice was measured equal to 1.461 and 0.508ng/g, respectively. The contamination rate in the imported rice was lower than that in the domestic one, while there was no significant relationship between them (p≥0.166); furthermore, the effect of soaking process on reduction of the toxicant amount in one and ten hours of soaking was statistically insignificant. There was no significant relationship between the effect of a single time of washing and reduction of the amount of toxicant; however, in case of three and five times of washing, the amount of toxicant exhibited a reduction of 68.2% and 98.7%, respectively, which was statistically significant (p<0.05). Results of the present study indicated that the rice washing process can significantly reduce the amount of aflatoxin B1, whereas the rice soaking process has no significant effect on reduction of the amount of toxicant.