فصلنامه پژوهش در بهداشت محیط
سال دوم شماره 2 (تابستان 1395)

Backgrounds & Elimination of phenolic compounds which is considered as resistant pollutants to biological degradation has a great importance. This study aims to investigate the electrochemical oxidation process efficiency in removal of phenol compounds using a continuous and divided rector.
The catalytic anodes of Ti/SnO2-Sb and cathodes of iron were employed in a reactor divided into anolyte and catholyte chambers by a cellulosic separator. The influence of initial phenol concentration (14.12‒40.88 mg L‒1), retention time (32.23‒82.77 min), and current intensity (0.18‒0.42 A) on TPh removal efficiency, TPh residual concentration, and energy consumption was investigated using response surface methodology.
The results showed that TPh removal efficiency strongly depends on retention time, followed by current intensity and initial phenol concentration. The importance order of factors affecting on TPh residual concentration were distinguished as initial TPh concentration > retention time > current intensity. The energy consumption in terms of kWh m‒3 is mostly affected by retention time and then current intensity, and irrespective of initial phenol concentration. Under the optimal conditions, removal efficiency of 93.21%, residual concentration of 1 mg L‒1, and energy consumption of 34.40 kWh m‒3 is achieved.
Based on the obtained results, the electro-oxidation is a very efficient process for diminution of wastewater phenolic content, and is able to set the allowable limits to discharge to the environment.

Air pollution is considered as one of the the most important risks of uncontrolled growth of cities, economic development and energy consumption in the last century. In large cities, such an increasing trend seriously threatens the health of residents.
This study aims to evaluate the health effects of PM10, PM2.5 and SO2, and estimate the mortality and morbidity rate of cardiovascular, respiratory and Chronic obstructive pulmonary, attributed to the aforementioned pollutants, using AirQ model in metropolis of Tehran in 1392.
In this cross-sectional study, Data required were collected from environmental protection organization and air quality control center of Tehran. These data were analyzed by Excel, and the processed data entered AirQ model. Then relative risk, basis risk and attributable fraction were estimated. Finally, the gained results, being mortality and morbidity rate, were presented in tables and graphs.
The results showed that the average annual concentration of PM10, PM2.5 and SO2, were 73, 43 and 41 μg/m3, respectively, being 3.65, 4.3 and 2.05 times higher than the national standard of Iran and WHO guidelines, correspondingly. Total number of mortalities attributed to the PM10, PM2.5 and SO2, were about 2187, 2842 and 721, respectively, being 3.65%, 4.75% and 1.20% of total deaths of Tehran city (except accidents), correspondingly.
The results showed the health effects of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide pollutants, including total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, respiratory, hospitalizations due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and myocardial infarction in Tehran. So, it’s obviously clear that the proportion of mentioned pollutants are being increased in Tehran’s atmosphere that requires more attention of officials and experts to control air pollution.

One of the sources of municipal wastes is hospitals and health centers. At present in Iran, details regarding the quantity and quality of wastes generated in health centers are not available and specialists are facing many unknowns in planning, systematic and accurate management of wastes generated in these centers.
Material & This cross sectional-exploratory and applied study was accomplished in 25 health centers in south of Tehran during 2012-15. In this study, weights and volumes of regular and infectious wastes have been determined in health centers with evaluation of the 250 checklist set during different seasons by environmental health experts.
Waste capitation per each person has been determined 41 gr, of which 22.5 gr and 18.6 gr belong to the regular and infectious wastes, respectively. The volume of produced regular and infectious wastes was also 0.07 and 0.056 (L/person/day), correspondingly. The density of the infectious and regular wastes was 329 and 320 (Kg/m3), in that order.
The amount of waste generated in health-care centers is much lower than that is able to be a serious challenge for the waste management of these centers regarding the type of their activity, being usually administrative and educational. Appropriate waste separation and not mixing of infectious and regular wastes need to be provided training and greater supervision. The best performance of waste management system in these centers was the safe and accurate disposal of sharp wastes in Safety boxes.

Incidence of food borne diseases which it is caused by microorganisms is considered as a main public health problem in various communities, and With regard to the fact that women are responsible for food cooking and they need to know comprehensive information about health and food safety. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the knowledge and attitude of housewives about food safety and health in Behshahr city.
In this cross-sectional and descriptive – analytical study, knowledge and attitudes of 350 housewives, who had randomly been selected, were investigated about food safety and health in Behshahr city in 2012. In order to gather information, a questionnaire, which consists of two knowledge and attitude sections, was used. Questionnaires were completed by housewives. The obtained data was statistically analyzed by SPSS-18 software.
The obtained results showed that the mean and range of housewives knowledge scores were 6.16 and zero to 12, respectively. It can be mentioned that the awareness level of housewives was average regarding the mean knowledge score. Mean and range of attitude scores were 33.12 and 10 to 40, correspondingly. Also, there was a significant relationship among education level and levels of knowledge and attitude (p 0.05).
About food safety and health, the levels of knowledge and attitudes of housewives were moderate in Behshahr city. So, it is necessary to try to raise the knowledge, and also change the attitudes of housewives in Behshahr City.

Having an access to safe drinking water, which is considered as one of the health indicators by World Health Organization (WHO), has great importance for relevant authorities of different communities. Thus this study aimed to determine amounts of heavy metals and compare them with national and international standards.
In this cross sectional study, drinking water samples were taken from 41 main drinking water supplies in villages of Torbat-e Heydariyeh city according to the standard method and transferred to the laboratory. These samples were analyzed by mean of atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AA240FS).Finally, obtained data were analyzed using Arc-GIS (v. 10.3) and excel (v.2010) softwares.
The attained results revealed that the mean concentrations of metals including Cadmium, lead and Chromium were (0.59±0.17), (1.8±1.7) and (33.5±33.4) mg/l, respectively, in drinking water wells of rural regions of Torbat-e Heydariyeh . These amounts were in optimal ranges. While chromium concentrations were more than recommended permissible levels of WHO and national standards in 11 villages.
The mean concentrations of measured metals were lower than the recommended permissible levels by WHO in more cases of considered wells in villages of Torbat-e Heydarieh=. However, forregions in which the concentrations of heavy metals do not meet the standards, a comprehensive study is recommended to determine the heavy metal-related diseases in dry and wet seasons.

Air particulate matters which have natural and human made origins have significant effects on the climate, the environment and human health. Several epidemiological studies have shown a direct relationship among the concentrations of suspended particles with different adverse health effects. The general purpose of this research was to determine the most important parameters affecting on the concentration of PM10 in Tajrish station (Tehran) and develop an estimator model for PM10.
In this study, a model is constructed using principal component regression (PCR) for the relationship between the hourly concentration of particulate matter smaller than 10 microns with meteorological parameters (WD, WS, T, P, H) and air pollution parameters (CO, NO2, SO2, NOx, NMHC, THC) in Tajrish station (Tehran). The results of the performance evaluation of PCR model were measured in training and testing stages using RMSE, MAE, R and IA as statistical indicators.
The results of principal components import into multiple regression model showed that the most important variable affecting on the concentrations of PM10, are air temperature and the wind speed. Also, CO and SO2 emissions were known as synergic factors for PM10 concentration. The results showed that PCR model is able to estimate 41% of PM10 concentrations in the testing.
The principal components regression analysis showed that meteorological parameters are one of most important factors affecting on the reduction of PM10 concentration in Tajrish station (Tehran).

Toys are integral part of children’s developmental processes. Besides providing entertainment to children, toys also serve as educational materials for them. Chemical exposure to children, from toys, is an emerging concern. Therefore, quality control of toy is very important. The aim of this study was examined heavy metals (As, Pb, Cd and Cr) content within the plastic children’s toys marketed in Hamadan city in 2015.
Totally 30 specimens of toy were collected from market basket of Hamadan City. After preparation and processing the samples in the laboratory, the concentration of metals in samples were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). Also, all statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical package.
The results showed that the maximum mean concentrations of metals in domestic production and imported plastic toys were 6.20±5.41 and 7.58±2.12 mg/kg for Cr and Pb, respectively. Also the mean concentrations of metals in all samples were lower than Iranian National Standards Organization and European Commission permissible limits.
Although the results showed that mean concentrations of metals in children’s toys were lower than ISIRI and CEN permissible limits, but as regards the chewing, licking and swallowing behavior of children is a common source of metals exposure, acting quickly by adopting policies to protect and educate consumers about the risks posed by plastic made toys needs a special attention which could help protect children’s lives especially in Iran.

Landfill which is known as the most common strategy for disposal of solid waste is considered as the latest option of solid waste management; however it cannot be removed completely. For this mean, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) is regarded as an important strategy to minimize its negative impacts. The aim of this study was to assess the situation of Hamedan landfill.
For this object, in order to assess the environmental impact of Hamedan landfill was conducted by rapid environmental impact assessment matrix (RIAM) based on field visits and information gathering from multiple sources in 1393. Disposal option was evaluated by aferementioned method based on environmental components (physical-chemical (PC), Biological- ecological (BE), sociological-cultural (SC) and economical-operatinal (EO)).
The results showed that continuance of landfill current trend had the most negative scores with environmental score (ES) of -1311.. The highest and lowest negative scores belonged to the PC and SC with -768 and -40,respectively .
In accordance with the obtained results, continuance of landfill current trend will led to the unacceptable health conditions along with severe environmental damages.