فصلنامه سلامت و محیط زیست
سال دوازدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 43، بهار 1398)

Today, the presence and increase of particulate matter is one of the serious factors that threaten human health. In the meantime, trees can accumulate airborne particles by their foliage. In this study, the accumulating ability of various PM by the leaf of some tree and shrub species was evaluated in Isfahan. 12 species of trees and shrubs were selected at 8 locations in Isfahan and the total PM, PM10, PM2.5 and PM0.2 were measured using water and chloroform washing methods by paper filters 91, 42 μm, and Polytetra Fluorethylene filters and digital balance. The results showed that the highest and lowest mean total accumulation of total particulate matter was related to Morus nigra and Salix alba, that were 190.23 ± 23.5 and 11.9 ± 4.42 μg/cm2. In addition, the trend of accumulation of total PM on the leaf surface from the highest to the lowest was: Morus nigra> Platanus orientalis> Ulmus umbraculifera> Morus alba> Acer negundo> Ailanthus altissima> Fraxinus excelsior > Nerium oleander >Robinia pseudoacacia> Cercis siliquastrum> Nerium oleander > Euonymus japonicas> Salix alba and in epicuticular Waxes, Morus nigra> Ulmus umbraculifera > Platanus orientalis > Morus alba> Ailanthus altissima> Acer negundo > Robinia pseudoacacia>Cercis siliquastrum> Fraxinus excelsior > Nerium oleander > Euonymus japonicas> Salix alba. The results indicated that the ability of different tree species to absorb PM depended on the morphological, physiological and ecological characteristics of the leaf. Finally, among the different species the Morus nigra had the highest ability to capture various PM.

Nowadays, with the increasing environmental issues such as energy crisis, climate change, waste generation and destruction of natural resources and the increase of waste materials due to the development of urbanization, human impact on the environment is one of the most challenging issues of the scientific community. The purpose of this study was to measure the level of awareness and environmental behaviors of Yazd citizens. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 1000 residents of Yazd in 2018 by cluster sampling. The data collection tool was a standard questionnaire for knowledge, attitude and environmental behavior. The score range for the three knowledge, attitude and practice structures was 0-12, 13-65, and 17-55, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analytical tests at the significance level of 0.05 using spss16 software. One hundred percent of the questionnaires were completed. Mean score of knowledge and environmental attitude was 8.23 ± 3.92 and 36.15 ± 8.28 (moderate), and of the environmental behavior was 26.19 ± 7.14 (poor). There was a significant statistical difference between knowledge and environmental behavior of women and men. The level of knowledge and environmental behavior of women was higher (p<0.05). The largest source of environmental information was radio and television (42%).  Despite the relatively good awareness and attitude towards the environment, the majority of the people had poor performance due to the environmental behavior. Therefore, environmental awareness cannot be a guarantee of environmental behavior. It also needs to encourage persuasive social conditions and structure and facilitating environmental behaviors.

Efforts to improve the effectiveness of noise barriers have been made, including shape, aesthetics, form and gender. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the angle upper edge in shaped noise barriers with a T-shaped upper edge. A 2D boundary element method (BEM) was used to predict the insertion loss of the tested barriers. The results obtained from the angular obstructions of the upper edge with the upper T-face were compared. The design of the angular barriers of the upper edge in the shape of the barrier caused a significant increase in the insertion loss performance, especially in the low frequency range, as compared to the upper T-shaped face. The highest amount of insertion loss in the angular barriers of the upper edge in the shaped barriers was estimated to be 3.79 dB (A) above the upper edge of T, which usually depends on the relative dimensions and position relative to the source and location of the receiver. The results of this study showed that among the tested models to determine the efficiency, the best noise barrier for controlling the traffic noise was the angular barrier with a high angle of 19 degrees compared to the other higher angles and a simple T barrier at a frequency of 315, 400, 500, and 630 Hz was obtained. The performance of the barriers  in the case of applying the angle at the upper edge on the T-shaped barrier surface is improved in comparison with the use of a simple T-barrier in lower frequencies. In this regard, the best form for applying angular obstructions with a high angle was about 19 degrees from the horizon.. The cause of this effect was the presence of a failure and reflection of the angled edges in the direction of transmission of sound wave from source to receiver. All angular barrier are able to increase the barrier performance at a specific frequency range, especially at low frequencies.

Olive Mill Wastewater (OMWW) is one of the most polluted sanitary wastewaters that its ineffective treatment will cause severe pollution of the environment. In this study, OMWW treatment wasinvestigated using combined electrocoagulation and novel advanced oxidation process. Biodegradability, efficiency and kinetics of removal of turbidity and organic matter from the OMWW by applying the operational parameters of electrocoagulation such as current density (0-0.77 A/dm2), type of anode electrode, reaction time (0-45 min) were investigated. Various types of advanced oxidation processes were performed to determine the the efficiency of removal of TOC and kinetics and biobegradability. The optimum condition for removing turbidity, BOD, TOC and consumed Iron anode electrod in electrocoagulation were 78%, 57%, 72% and 583 mg/ per liter of wastewater, respectively. Thus, the kinetic of TOC removal was first-order and was 0.027 min-1. The TOC removal efficiency of pretreated OMWW in oxidation processes of US, H2O2, SOP, O3 / H2O2, COP, COP/US and H2O2/COP/US were measured as 8%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 61%, 68% and 75%, respectively. The highest biodegradability index (BOD/TOC) in the COP/US/H2O2 process was increased 1.5 times. The advenced oxidation process of COP/US/H2O2 follwed by electrocagulation demonstrated an effective treatment of OMWW and improved its biodegradability. Therefore, this process can be used for efficient treatment of OMWW in olive and similar industries.

The steel industry is the world's largest consumer of energy. A large amount of iron waste is produced annually, which its use in the steel industry can be economic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the environmental impacts of the steelmaking from iron scrap as a raw material using a life cycle assessment (LCA) method. Simapro software and the ecoinvent database were used to conduct LCA. Data on the steel production process (raw materials, waste, and products) were collected by a questionnaire from a steel plant. Environmental burdens were quantified using ReCiPe, Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), IPCC) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and water footprints methods. The results of the ReCiPe method showed that the terrestrial ecotoxicity with a value of 14392 kg 1,4-Dichlorobenzene (1,4-DCB) eq/ton of steel and global warming with 5289 kg CO2 eq/ton of steel, had the greatest environmental impact, respectively. The lowest environmental impact of this process was obtained for freshwater ecotoxicity and human carcinogenic toxicity. The carbon footprint resulting from steelmaking is 5.24 ton CO2 eq/ton of steel. The most important sector of the greenhouse gas producer is the consumption of electricity with a rate of 2900 of kg CO2 eq/ton of steel. The cumulative energy demand of one ton of steel ingot was 73393 MJ, which is three times the global equivalent. The total water footprint for one t of steel was 19.5 m3 of water, which is almost near to the equivalent in Europe. the use of iron scrap as raw material in the process of steelmaking instead of iron ore has reduced the amount of human toxicity potential and mineral resource consumption.

Clinics, laboratories and health care centers are considered as one of the main waste generating sources in solid waste management. The problems associated with the generated health-care waste in clinics, laboratories and health care centers have been rarely investigated in Iran. Therefore, the present study was developed to investigate the status of health care waste in clinics, laboratories and health care centers of Mahmoudabad, Mazandaran in 2017.
Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the status of solid waste management in 117 medical centers in Mahmoudabad, Mazandaran, 2017. The solid waste data in terms of waste generation rate, storage, collection, and disposal were surveyed through interview and questionnaire that were validated by Iran’s ministry of health. The average health-care waste generation in medical centers in Mahmoudabad was found to be 248 g/day. The mean and standard deviation for environmental health criteria in all medical centers were 248.3 and 41.1, respectively. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between the amount of waste generation in private and governmental medical centers (p=0.111). The results obtained from the present research indicated that the medical waste management in Mahmoudabad, particularly in private centers, face serious problems. Improper waste collection technology, mixing municipal and medical waste, requirement for training the personnel in medical waste management and surveillance can be considered as important concerns in health-care waste management in Mahmoudabad.

 Environmental pollution emitted from industrial areas while enter the food chain can cause serious adverse health effects. Therefore, this study was conducted to use Ziziphus spina-christi and Prosopis cineraria leaves as bio-indicators of environmental pollution emitted from the complex of Steel Company.  In this descriptive study, a total of 90 surface soil samples and also 90 leave samples were collected. After acid digestion of samples, the heavy metal contents were measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Also, the Bioconcentration Factor (BCF) of metals were computed. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS statistical package.  The highest content of the metals (mg/kg) with an average of 2180.3 ± 202.3 and 2237.9 ± 315.1 for Fe, 76.6 ± 9.6 and 114.3 ± 4.5 for Pb and 69.2 ± 16.8 and 107.2 ± 6.8 for Cd were found to be in Z. spina-christi and P. cineraria unwashed leaves respectively. Also, the BCF of all studied metals were higher than 1.  Based on the values of BCF, it can be concluded that Z. spina-christi and P. cineraria can be considered as a suitable species for phytoextraction of heavy metals in the most polluted regions including industrial and urban areas.

Nitrate is one of the most important factors in determining the quality of vegetables. Today, due to the excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers to accelerate vegetative growth, many vegetables have a high percentage of nitrates in human diet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the concentration of nitrate in four vegetable species cultivated in Poldokhtar and Khorramabad cities. In this research, the nitrate content of four vegetables including Iranian leek, Basil, Mint and Radish (tuber and leaves) cultivated from olericulture field on Khorramabad and Poledokhtare were measured. A 2kg edible portion of vegetables was randomly collected for each species in triplicate and carried out to the laboratory. The nitrate content was measured according to the instructions of the Institute of Water and Soil of Iran. For this purpose, after preparation of the samples, a spectrophotometer was used to measure absorption at 580 nm. The nitrate content in different vegetables was estimated using a standard curve. The nitrate mean concentration of the studied vegetables from khorramabad city was 27017 mg/kg for Radish tuber, 9500 mg/kg for Basil, 8408 mg/kg for Iranian leek, 98231 mg/kg for Radish leaves and 5450 mg/kg for Mint. The values for the samples taken from Poledokhtare city were 12933 mg/kg for Radish tuber, 9063 mg/kg for Basil, 6708 mg/kg for Iranian leek, 6296 mg/kg for Radish leaves and 5454 mg/kg for Mint (5454 mg/kg). The values were all higher than the recommended doses for consumption. In control field, the nitrate mean concentration were 1586, 1134, 906, 794 and 662 mg/kg for Radish tuber, Basil, Iranian leek, Radish leaves and Mint, respectively. The values were within the range of recommended doses. The amounts of nitrate measured in 100g of green tissue in Radish tuber, Basil, Iranian leek, Radish leaf and Mint were 7.36, 3.37, 2.74, 2.64, and 1.98 times more than the daily allowance limit, respectively. Given the high nitrate content in the studied vegetables, it is recommended that cautious is taken for consumption of the vegetables and nitrate content of the vegetables produced in Lorestan province in different seasons should be monitored.

Scaling and corrosion both are destructive to materials (usually metals) in water supply systems. A dataset (from 2002 to 2013) of groundwater resources (including springs, qanats, deep wells and semi-deep wells) were examined for water tendency to corrosion or scaling in rural regions of Kashan, a city in Isfahan, central Iran. Water quality parameters including pH, temperature, Ca (mg/L), CO32- (mg/L), HCO3-(mg/L) and TDS (mg/L) were used to estimate water stability indices. Value of qualitative indices including Langelier (LSI), Ryznar (RSI), Puckorius (PSI) and trend of Calcium Carbonate Precipitation Potential (CCPP) as a quantitative index were calculated and analyzed for all water resources. Mean of LSI, RSI and PSI for all water resources were estimated to be 0.41±0.02, 6.39 ± 0.03, and 7.40±0.02, respectively. The CCPP value found to be 17.23±3.16, 15.66±1.38, 41.23±11.22, and 23.15±4.46 mg/L for springs, qanats, deep wells and semi-deep wells, respectively. The CCPP index was significantly increased from 2002 to 2013, with an average of 1.6 units per year. A significant scaling tendency was observed. This tendency in decreasing order was observed in deep wells, semi-deep wells, springs and qanats. The estimated CaCO3 scale weight per cubic meter of water was 21 g on average, which may be problematic for water distribution systems. Water withdrawal management and reduction in TDS of water resources, perhaps through decrease in agricultural drainage, can be effective to reduce the scaling tendency.

Nowadays linear alkyl benzene sulfanate (LAS) is widely used in the production of various detergents. The purpose of this study was to assess the health and ecological hazards of this pollutant on target organisms such as fish and daphnia in the Doroodzan Dam water. According to the research objective and given existing restrictions, 21 water samples were collected in September 2018 from 7 selected stations based on the source of contamination in Doroodzan dam.  Water quality parameters including pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), potential Redox (ORP), Total dissolve solid (TDS) and Electrical conductivity (EC) was measured at the site. The amount of linear alkyl benzenesulfonate (LAS) was measured using an optimized methylene blue method after transferring samples to the lab. Then ecological and health risk assessment was performed by calculating the RQ index (risk index). The results showed that the mean of  pH, EC, TDS, salinity and DO were 8.88, 732.19 µs/cm,  482.49, 366.16 and 6.87 mg/L, respectively. The highest and lowest concentrations of LAS were 0.039 and 0.055 mg/L, respectively. The results also showed that there is a significant relationship between LAS concentration and pH. The results of the risk assessment showed that the health risk index in all stations is less than 0.1, while the ecological risk index except at station 7, are in low risk level. In general, the results show that the RQ index in the Droodzan Dam water is in appropriate range and in the low risk level. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct long-term studies in this field to ensure the persistence of optimal water conditions in the dam ecologically and health-wise.

Marine pollution is growing due to human activities. Continuous increase in plastic production and poor management of plastic waste resulted in a significant increase of this contaminant in aquatic environments. This in turn led to the widespread presence of Microplastics (MPs) with a size of less than 5mm. In this study, frequency, distribution, color and type of MPs in the gastrointestinal tract of fish in Oman Sea were investigated using random sampling, tissue digestion and flotation of MPs. The total number of the MPs found in the studied species was variable. The highest number of MPs were found in the species belonged to Rastrelliger kanagurta and Nemipterus japonicus (29%) and Saurida tumbil, Trichiurus lepturus and Paragaleus randalli (14%). The forms mostly observed were belonged to microfibres (86%), fragment (11%) and pellet (3%). The most frequent colors that were detected were in a decreasing order blue, pink and black. The results demonstrated that the highest concentrations of MPs were observed in Ratrelliger kanagurta and Nemipterus japonicus species. The present study provides useful information for further research, and a background analysis to monitore the pollutants in the Oman Sea.

Air pollution is a leading environmental risk factor on health and it is the major cause of death and disease at global level. Air pollution has been shown to have a significant share in the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) burden. After smoking, it is the second cause of deaths due to NCDs, associated with an increased risk of developing acute and chronic diseases and mortality.  In this study, a review was initially conducted on the basis of indices conducted in the world, the status of ambient air pollution and its effects on health in Iran and other countries, and then the status of ambient air quality and its effects on health in Tehran metropolitan between 2006 and 2017 were shown, based on the results of the studies conducted by the Environmental Research Institute of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The results showed that the annual mean of ambient air population-weighted PM2.5 exposure concentration in Iran was about 48 μg/m3, which is relatively lower than its global mean concentration (51 μg/m3). Based on the most recent study (in 2018) about 8.9 (7.5-10.3) million deaths in those aged above 25 years were attributed to exposure to outdoor air PM2.5 in the world. Although there are substantial differences between the results of studies have been done regarding the number of air pollution attributed deaths, numerous studies showed that air pollution is a major cause of death. Results regarding temporal variations of air quality in Tehran that is performed by the Institute for Environmental Research (IER) of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), indicated that PM concentration had an increasing trend from 2006 to 2011. The maximum mean concentration of PM2.5 over the past 12 years has occurred in 2011, which was 38 μg/m3. The PM concentration had a decreasing trend from 2012 to 2015, reaching about 30 μg/m3. However, in the years 2016 and 2017, the annual mean PM2.5 concentration in Tehran was increased compared to its corresponding value in 2015. Furthermore, results of this study demonstrated that, in Tehran, not even one day was classified as "good” (AQI=0-50) from 2011 to 2017 based on the air quality index (AQI), but the number of days in which AQI was “moderate” (AQI=51-100) was increased from 2011 to 2015, and the number of days with the AQI of “moderate” reached 80 in 2015, while the rest of the days having an unhealthy air quality. In 2017, AQI was “moderate” in 20 days, “unhealthy for sensitive groups” in 237 days, “unhealthy” in 107 days, and "very unhealthy” in 1 day. The obtained results indicated that about 4878 (3238, 6359( of deaths due to all (natural) causes were attributable to long-term exposure to PM2.5 in Tehran in 2017. Studies showed that air pollution has a considerable share in the number of attributed deaths. Moreover, there were substantial differences between the results of national and international studies in the burden of disease attributed to air pollution. Therefore, there is a crucial need for accessing to reliable data on air pollution as well as baseline mortality and morbidity in order to study the status of air quality and its effects on health over the country.