Journal of Health Scope
Volume:5 Issue: 3, Aug 2016

There has been increasing interest regarding the effects of air pollution on the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Unfortunately, epidemiologic research on air pollution effects remains scant and offers conflicting results.
This study aimed to systematically review the epidemiologic literature on RA morbidity due to long-term residential air pollution.
The authors independently carried out searches in MEDLINE and EMBASE through June 2015 (1974 - 2015). The searches were limited to English, Spanish and Russian. To complement the search strategy, authors and experts in the field were contacted, and hand-searches were carried out for articles included in reference lists. Peer-reviewed epidemiologic studies were eligible only if they explored the risk for RA in adults associated with air pollution exposure. Studies were omitted if they relied on self-report alone, experimental studies, short-term effects of air pollution, juvenile arthritis, or other autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Two authors independently extracted information about study characteristics. The study’s quality was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa scale.
Four relevant papers were included in a qualitative synthesis. Two studies showed significantly higher risks for RA in people living within 50 m of a heavy traffic road. No firm conclusions could be made for particulate matter. In one study, NO2 was associated with seronegative RA among smokers. The risk for SO2 was significant in one study. In the only relevant study, O3 was linked to RA.
Proximity to road traffic might be a risk factor for RA as there are suspected effects associated with NO2 and SO2. Overall, the available evidence is too preliminary and scarce to draw firm conclusions. However, the results indicate the feasibility of further studies elucidating on the relationship between air pollution and RA.

In recent years, noise pollution has become a serious problem for residents in urban areas. Motorcycles have an important role in producing noise..
This study aimed to reduce motorcycle noise by using flexible joint in tailpipe and braided wire dumpers at its exhaust.
In this study, SAE J1287 procedure was used for noise measurement of Amico CG125 motorcycle. Also, for measuring the temperature and pressure of exhausted gas, JIS B 8006 and JIS B 8007 methods were used, respectively. The instruments used for measuring noise, temperature, and pressure of exhausted gas were CEL-6X0 sound level meter, detector of exhaust gas analyzer, Pitot tube, and incline manometer, respectively. Flexible joint and braided wire damper were also prepared (Erteash Gostar Peyman Company)..
By using this new exhaust at speed levels of 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 5000 rpm, we had respectively 3.9, 6.8, 7.4, 5.6, and 5 dBA decreases in total sound level pressure..
Use of flexible joint in the exhaust system leads to conversion of linear vibration to non-linear one, resulting in significant reduction of noise levels..

X-band microwaves, which are part of electromagnetic waves, have various applications, such as satellite communications, radar, navigation, air traffic control, marine functions, and weather stations. Therefore, many workers are exposed to these waves in the workplace. Previous studies showed that these frequencies have adverse health effects. In occupational health, the use of shielding as an engineering measure is a priority in controlling radiation in the workplace.
This study investigated the efficacy of net epoxy resin as electromagnetic shielding from occupational radiation.
Epoxy plates were fabricated in three different thicknesses (2, 4, and 6 mm), and their shielding effectiveness was measured by a vector network analyzer. The amounts of reflected energy and transmitted energy were determined by using the scattering parameters.
The results showed that the epoxy plates 6 and 2 mm thick had the highest and the lowest averages of shielding effectiveness at 4.48 dB and 1.90 dB, respectively. However, increasing the thickness was useful up to 4 mm. In addition, in a similar attenuation pattern, X-band frequency was divided into lower, middle, and upper sections. The lower section had the highest shielding effectiveness.
The results showed that reflection was the main mechanism in the overall shielding effectiveness. These findings indicate that epoxy resin could be applied as a proper shield against microwave radiation in the workplace..

Traffic accidents are the main cause of deaths in developing countries. Fatalities due to traffic accidents are assessed through a three-year time series forecast.
The aim of this study is to use trend assessment to predict traffic accident fatalities for January 2013 to December 2015 in Kermanshah province, Iran.
This is a historical longitudinal study using time series analysis to identify the best fit model. The criteria of MSE (mean square of error) were used to determine the model with the best goodness of fit. The model that had the smaller MSE value was introduced as a suitable model. The selected model was used to forecast the number of deaths related to traffic accidents in the next three years.
A decreasing trend was observed in accident mortality. The highest and lowest deaths were seen annually in the spring and autumn months, respectively. The SARIMA (0, 0, 0) × (1, 1, 1) 12 model was identified as the best-fit model for data. Prediction values of traffic accident fatalities showed a decreasing trend in deaths in the coming years.
Applying this information can be useful to policy makers and managers for planning and implementing special interventions to prevent and limit future accidental deaths.

Medical students are exposed to a significant level of pressure because of their academic demands. Thus, they are at increased risk for sleep disorders.
This study was conducted to examine the prevalence of sleep disturbance among medical students and investigate any relationship between sleep disorder and academic performance.
This work is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. Participants of this study consisted of first-, second-, and third-year medical students. The Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) was adopted to identify sleep disorder, and the grade point average of the students was recorded for academic performance.
A total of 177 respondents, with a response rate of 55%, were obtained. According to the PSQI score, 36.6% of participants were considered to have abnormal sleep habits, with a statistically significant increase in female students (P A high prevalence of sleep disorder was found in this population, specifically among female students. Analysis of the relationship between sleep disorder and academic performance indicates a significant relationship of PSQI scores with marital status, habitat, smoking, physical activity, and academic performance..

According to the needs of health education, community oriented medical education was recommended. Health students must learn more about prevalent diseases in their communities.
To introduce community oriented medical sciences education to students learning pathobiology and its effects.
This study was a quasi-experimental study conducted using the revised curriculum. The pathobiology course was taught with attention to community oriented medical education in group A. The teacher focused on more prominent and prevalent infectious diseases in Khorasan Razavi province, but regular subjects were taught in group B. Student grades or data was then compared and analyzed by SPSS 16, mean, standard deviation, and a t-test with P The total grade of pathobiology in group A (with community oriented medical education) was 17.58 ± 1.28. In group B (regular education), the total grade was 17.02 ± 1.75 with t = 1.292 and P = 0.202. There were no significant differences. The specific lessons, such as infection of mycobacterium tuberculosis and gastro intestinal infections, were promoted. Mean grades were higher in group A than B.
According to the grades, community oriented medical education was helpful in teaching some specific chapters of pathobiology, such as more prominent and prevalent infectious diseases.

Atrazine is used extensively in many parts of the world for controlling a variety of weeds, primarily in the production of corn. Its widespread use in water has caused environmental concern because of its frequent detection in aquatic systems where this herbicide has been spilled.
The purpose of this study was to focus on evaluating the feasibility of using titanium catalyst doped with iron (FeTiO2) to remove atrazine from the aqueous phase and to determine its removal efficiency in ideal conditions.
The influence of different parameters was considered. Three different levels of pH (3 - 11), initial concentration of atrazine at three different levels (0.1 - 10 mg/L), and reaction time at five different levels (0 - 120 minutes) in the removal of atrazine in an aqueous-phase titanium catalyst doped with iron (FeTiO2) at three different levels (0 - 25) were investigated. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 16).
The results demonstrated that the atrazine removal rate increased by decreasing the initial atrazine concentration and the maximum rate of atrazine removal (41.72%) was at pH = 11, atrazine concentration = 0.1 mg/L, and catalyst concentration = 25 at 120 minutes.
According to the results, it can be concluded that the titanium catalyst doped with iron (FeTiO2) processes is an appropriate method for reducing atrazine in polluted water resources.

One of the important achievements of the past decade was the rapid growth of industries and accordingly production of various chemical compounds.
This study presents a combined system of photocatalytic oxidation and absorption solution to remove nitrogen oxides from polluted air flow.
The experimental system used in this study comprised a pollutant gas source, mixing chamber, photocatalytic oxidation reactor, wet absorption system, and finally a system for measuring nitrogen oxides. Firstly, by using photocatalytic property, nitrogen oxide was converted to nitrogen dioxide. Then, absorption system was used to absorb nitrogen dioxide into the sodium hydroxide solution.
Experimental results have shown that output of nitrogen oxide removal in the initial concentration of 200 ppm was 44% in the beginning of the process and then fixed at 15% during the rest of the process. Also, by changing the amount of zinc oxide nanoparticles from 4 to 8 mg/cm2, no considerable change was observed in the conversion rate of nitrogen oxide. In addition, while the weight percentage of the solution was 5%, the maximum removal of nitrogen dioxide happened.
Application of zinc oxide as the photocatalyst can be effective in the removal process.

Associations between ambient air pollution and emergency department (ED) visits for headache and migraine were examined in a multi-city study during the period of April 2004 to December 2011 in nine cities across Ontario, Canada.
Evaluate potential positive associations between air pollution and ED visits for headache.
Data on ED visits for headache were retrieved from the national ambulatory care reporting system in Canada. Case-crossover design was used for this study for three diagnosis categories: migraine, headache-OS (other specified, OS) and headache-NOS (not otherwise specified, NOS). A time-stratified case-crossover technique was applied to investgate the associations of ED visits for headache with ambient air pollution. Odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals for ED visits associated with increased levels of air pollutants were calculated by applying conditional logistic regression.
Among females, statistically significant positive results were observed for one unit increase in inter-quartile range (IQR) of NO2 (IQR = 9 ppb) for lag 0 days: OR = 1.015 (1.000, 1.030) for migraine and for NOS: for NO2 for lags 0 to 2, where the highest result was for lag 0: OR = 1.015 (1.005, 1.026), for SO2 (IQR = 2.5 ppb) for lag 2: OR = 1.012 (1.002, 1.021) and for PM2.5 for lags 1 and 2, OR = 1.011 (1.002, 1.021) and OR = 1.010 (1.000, 1.020) respectively among females. No significant statistically significant results were observed among males.
Our findings support a number of statistically significant positive associations between air pollutants and the number of ED visits for headache and migraine..