Journal of Air Pollution and Health

161-170

Authors: Majid Kermani, Anahita Dehghani, Mahdi Farzadkia, Farshad Bahrami Asl, Dariush Zeinalzadeh

Introduction: Recently contact with bioaerosols has been presented as an important problem which endangers human being’s health. In this study bioaerosol concentration was measured in wastewater treatment (WWTP) units in west of Tehran. Materials and methods: Passive sampling was carried out around three process and operational units, in 100 m from last unit of wastewater treatment plant and in administrative building. In total 440 samples were collected. The transport culture medium used for bacterial samples was the tryptic soy agar, and for fungal samples, it was dextrose agar. Sampling was carried out according to the sampling calendar of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2013 for 1 h every 6 days and in the plates of 9 cm. Results:The results showed that aerobic digester with an average of 3303 CFU/Plate had the greatest effect on emission of bacterial bioaerosols. In addition grit chamber with an average of 586.3 CFU/Plate had a highest impact on fungal emission. Among the bacteria, Bacillus spp. Staphylococcus spp. and Micrococcus spp. were dominant. The highest emission of bacterial aerosol is in July and the lowest is in March. Furthermore, fungi such as Cladosporium spp. Penicillium spp. and Alternaria spp. were the dominant types in the wastewater treatment plant. The highest emission of fungal aerosols is in March and the lowest emission is in July. Conclusions: According to the results, operational and processing units of WWTP influence pollution load and dispersion of bioaerosols. Therefore, appropriate environmental health management in WWTP could be one of the important factors reducing dispersion of bioaerosols.

181-190

Authors: Akbar Gholampour, Ramin Nabizadeh, Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand, Sasan Faridi, Amir Hossein Mahvi

Introduction: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are among the main pollutants in the urban and industrial atmosphere. An investigation on variation of PAHs in the urban and suburban atmosphere of Tabriz, Iran was conducted in this study. Materials and methods: TSP and PM10 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <10μm) samples were collected at two sites between September 2013 to July 2014. PAHs were analyzed with GC–MS. Results: The concentrations of the total PAHs in TSP and PM10 were 47.87±17.28 and 36.69±6.71 ng/m3 in the urban site and 91.88±35.65 and 77.2±22.24 ng/m3 in the suburban sampling site, respectively. 4-5 ring PAHs (Chr, BaA, BghiA, Flu, Nap, and Phen) were the abundant PAHs compounds, which accounted for 75-80% of total PAHs in urban and 85-88% of total PAHs in suburban sampling sites. The ratio of carcinogenic PAHs (BaA, Chr, BbF, BkF, BaP, DahA and Ind) to ΣPAHs respectively ranged from 0.51-0.58 and 0.81-0.85 in urban and suburban sampling sites. Conclusions: Potential sources of PAHs were identified by using the molecular diagnostic ratios between PAHs. The obtained diagnostic ratios of Anth / (Anth + Phen) and total LMW/ total HMW suggest that pyrogenic sources such as gasoline and diesel vehicles are the major sources of PAHs in the study area.

205-214

Authors: Sana Shokri, Ahmad Nikpey, Ali Safari Varyani

Introduction: Indoor air quality in hospitals plays an important role in prevention of infectious disease and inhibits the transmission of infections to staff and patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the indoor air quality and its relation with environmental air in one of the public hospitals in Qazvin. This cross-sectional study was carried out in a densely occupied educational hospital affiliated with Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. Materials and methods: In this study, several factors those affect the air quality (including carbon dioxide, temperature, relative humidity, and particulate matters sized PM10, PM2.5, and PM0.3) were measured using direct measurement data logger tools in different wards of hospital in various weather conditions. All data obtained was analyzed by SPSS 20. Results: The collected data was analyzed using SPSS with a confidence interval of 95% and α=0.05. The mean 24 h concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and PM0.3 were 83.09, 21.47 and 1.6 μg/m3 at indoor parts of the hospital, respectively. The highest concentrations were observed in men cardiac, women internal, and women cardiac wards. The mean 8 h concentration of carbon dioxide, temperature, and relative humidity were significantly associated with American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards. Conclusions: The highest Indoor to outdoor air quality ratio for particulate matters was PM10=3.75 in men cardiac ward, PM2.5=2.6 in women internal ward and PM0.3=1.31 at women cardiac ward. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, the air quality is divided in several categories based on the concentration of particulate matters, and in this study the level of air quality was moderate. Air quality can be improved to optimal levels and pollutants can be reduced through corrective measures such as suitable and efficient ventilation system and further measurements

219-226

Authors: Morteza Abdullatif Khafaie, Ajay Ojha, Sundeep S. Salvi, Chittaranjan S. Yajnik

Number of scientific studies linking possible effects of air pollution on health are increasing. However, the disparity in the effect estimated from different studies and recognizing important determinants of these diversity are essential . We have explained the types and sources of air pollution, and the common terms in epidemiological studies of air pollution. Then we reviewed the study design and critically evaluated methodological approach to estimate association between air pollution and health with deep insight into dispersion model. The quality of exposure measurement is critical determinant in an environmental epidemiology study. However, the available exposure data and feasible methods for its collection are often the determinant of the design to be used. Beside vast development in this field, epidemiological approaches to find out the risks of exposure to air pollutants is still challenging