انور اسدی

Monitoring alcohol consumption in population is very important for planning public health and evaluation of the efficiency of intervention strategies. The aim of this study was to use wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) to estimate alcohol consumption in a Kermanshah City and calculate risk assessment using the margin of exposure (MOE) approach.

Raw composite wastewater samples (5 hours) were collected form the entrance of Kermanshah wastewater plant over a 30 days’ period. Ethyl sulfate metabolite was used to measure the alcohol content of the samples, which is excreted in the urine after consuming alcohol by humans and enters into the wastewater collection network. After centrifugation and filtration, the samples were directly injected into the liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry LC-MS/MS for analysis. After calculation of alcohol consumption rate with back-calculation method, the results were used for risk assessment by MOE.

In general, the average amount of alcohol consumption during sampling in the society was 0.332 ml per person of equal age and over 15 years of age (adult) per day, which was equal to 0.121 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. We found no significant difference in the amount of alcohol consumption between the weekend and working days of the week, and also between  sampling days in Ramadan and ordinary  days. In 90% of the samples taken, the risk associated with alcohol consumption was higher than MOE=100 and only in 3 samples the MOE value was in the "risk" category.

The results of this study showed that wastewater-based epidemiology can provide appropriate timely and transisional  information on alcohol use and its associated exposure risks in the community. Also, the amount of alcohol consumption in the population in our study was much lower than those in the European and American countries.

The management of healthcare wastes is receiving greater attention because of the risks to both human health and the environment caused by inadequate waste management practices. In that context, the objective of this study was to investigate the hospital solid waste management in Kermanshah city, Kermanshah province, Iran based on Ministry of Health and Medical Education checklist which is related to environmental health of hospitals.

This study (qualitative-quantitative) was performed in two interval time in two consecutive years through a valid checklist of waste management process of Iranian Ministry of Health which include all steps of medical waste management. The quantity of hospital waste produced was measured during one week in autumn session during study interval. 

The results of this study showed that the total averages of desirability in waste management compared to health standards in Kermanshah city hospitals were 70.38 ± 15.5 and 74.3 ± 14.8 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The average desirability of waste management in governmental, military, private and social hospitals improved from 61 to 65.14, 75 to 79, 87 to 90 and 84.5 to 86%, respectively in two years of study interval. The average (weighted mean) of total hospital wastes generation rate (in Kermanshah city) was 4.06 kg/bed-day and for governmental, military, private and social hospitals were 4.69, 3.26, 2.7 and 1.62 kg/bed-day, respectively. The results indicated that there was a significant correlation (p < 0.05) between hospital active bed and medical wastes production.

From the results of this study, the score of waste management practices in Kermanshah hospitals are evaluated as moderate. Therefore, more efforts, monitoring and control should be implied to achieve the desired state of hospital waste management

This study was performed to investigate the effect of plantlet age and different biological fertilizer on mini-tuber production of three potato cultivars in aeroponic system for achieving the highest mini-tuber number and weight, in Ardabil Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Station. In the first year (2014), 200 plantlets of three commercial potato cultivars; Agria, Caesar and Banba were propagated by single node cutting method, in the laboratory. In the second year (2015), plantlets were planted in a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with three replications and three factors, in the greenhouse. The first factor included three plantlet ages (30, 40 and 50 days), the second factor was three potato commercial cultivars (Agria, Caesar and Banba) and the third factor was three different biological fertilizers [control, Biofarm and three bacteria combination (Enterobacter cloasse strain Swri1, Azosprillum lipoferum strain of and Sedomonus putida strain 169)]. Analysis of variance showed that the effects of plantlet age and plantlet age × biological fertilizer intraction on lateral stem number per plant, cultivars and cultivars × biological fertilizer intraction on mini-tuber number and weight per plant were significant. The effect of biological fertilizer was significant on mini-tuber number and weight per plant, average mini-tuber weight, plant height and lateral stem number per plant. The application of combination of three bacteria in Banba potato cultivar increased mini-tuber number and weight per plant. The mini-tuber number and weight per plant were 119.8 mini-tubers with 862.9 gram per plant in combination of three bacteria. It was concluded that for increasing the mini-tuber number and weight per plant in potato cultivars, application of combination of three bacteria (Enterobacter cloasse strain swri1, Azosprillum lipoferum strain of and Sedomonus putida strain 169) is recommended.

Ibuprofen (IBU) is one of the most consumed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) widely used in musculoskeletal and analgesic treatments. This study set out with the aim of assessing the efficiency of conventional ozonation process in a semi-batch plug-flow reactor in order to remove IBU from aqueous solutions.
A laboratory scale semi-batch plug-flow ozonation reactor was employed during the present study. Four variables including pH, dosage of ozone, hydraulic retention time (HRT), and initial Ibuprofen concentration, which might affect the degradation of Ibuprofen, were taken into consideration. The IBU concentration was determined using HPLC.
Working under optimal operating conditions (pH = 8, HRT = 60 min, C=5 mg/L and Ozone dose 2/5 g/h), about 59% IBU degradation was noticed. Results also revealed that the degradation of IBU well fitted with the firstorder kinetics.
The operating variables of pH, dosage of ozone, initial Ibuprofen concentration, and HRT were optimized using a plug-flow reactor to improve contact between dissolved ozone and the drug. pH and HRT were the most affecting variables. Furthermore, a predictive model allowing us to predict the percentage of IBP degradation
as a function of pH and HRT under experimental conditions was obtained.

Background Many industries can pollute water quality due to their wastewater discharging into water resources. Textile industries are one of the main sources of water pollution. Due to their high toxicity, wastewaters containing dyes cause many environmental problems. Acidic dyes are one of the main classes of dyes. In this study, nano-alumina and micro-alumina powder have been used for the adsorption of acid red 14 dye.
Materials & Methods This study was carried out in the batch system in laboratory scale. Different parameters such as initial dye concentration, pH, and adsorbent dose were examined. Spectrophotometry (UV/VIS Lambda 25 Perkin Elmer, Shelton) was used to quantify the remaining dyes concentration. Adsorption isotherm and kinetic behaviors of adsorbent for acidic dye removal were studied and fitted to different models.
Results The result showed that with increasing the contact time, acid red 14 removal efficiency by micro-alumina and nano-alumina powder and amount of adsorption per mass unit (qe) increased to 18 and 40 mg/L, respectively, and when adsorbent dose increased from 0.2 to 1.2 g/L, qe decreased from 23 to 12 and 47 to 39, respectively. With increasing the pH value in examined range, the removal efficiency decreased from 30 to 6 and 60 to 15 for micro-alumina and nano-alumina powder, respectively. The results of the study of adsorption of acid red 14 by micro-alumina and nano-alumina powder revealed that its kinetics obeyed pseudo-second order (R2>0.99 and 0.98, respectively). The results of present study on adsorption of acid red 14 on micro-alumina and nano-alumina powder revealed that isotherm obeyed Langmuir adsorption (R2 >0.99 and 0.98, respectively).
Conclusion The present study showed that the nano-alumina rather than mciro-alumina can be a promising adsorbent for the removal of acidic dyes such as acid red 14.

Toxicity investigating is necessary before furthermore progressing the nanotechnology industry. This study investigates the toxicity of ZnO nanoparticle (NP) with using available bacteria in sludge wastewater. The stock NPs suspensions (10g/L) were diluted with Mueller-Hinton Agar medium to achieve the 5-6000mg/l NPs concentrations. Each concentration was prepared in triplicate and The refined bacteria cultured on these media and growth inhibition percent of bacteria determined by comparing these cultured media with blank samples. These data analyzed using Probit analysis in SPSS ver 16. 0 software and 50% effective concentration (EC50)، no observed effect concentration (NOEC) and 100% growth inhibition of NPs determined. The Nano ZnO EC50 was 181. 7، 656. 4، 93. 9، and 935. 8 mg/l for E. coli، B. subtilis، S. aureus، and P. aeruginosa respectively. Also it was revealed that nano ZnO have a high toxicity level as NOEC calculation showed the least particle of this nanoparticle is toxic to all tested bacteria species، so the NOEC calculated zero for these bacteria. The 100% growth inhibition showed at 2813 mg/l of nano ZnO concentrations، 100% growth inhibition occurred for all bacteria. The results of this study are shown، S. aureus for determining of nano ZnO toxicity and P. aeruginosa for antibacterial applications، between four tested bacteria، are proper indicators.

The contamination of nitrate (NO3−) in potable water has become a serious concern in many parts of the world. Increasing nitrate concentrations in drinking water causes two adverse health effects: induction of “blue-baby syndrome” (methemoglobinemia)، especially in infants، and the potential formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines. The objective of this study was to investigate the nitrate removal using modified pumice with iron and determining the adsorption isotherms and kinetic.

This fundamental and practical study was performed in batch conditions and room- temperature. Effects of the process parameters such as contact time، initial concentration and pH were investigated. In this study، Langmuir and Freudlich isotherms was survey to adsorption reactions and to calculate the equilibrium constant. Residual nitrate concentrations determined in 220 and 275 nm using a spectrophotometer (UV /VIS (Shimadzo-1700، Japan.

Results of literature indicated that removal nitrate depend on Freundlich (R2>0. 998). In the study kf was 0. 14 and amount of adsorbed nitrate was qm (mg/g) =0. 65 for mass unit of modified Pumice. The pseudo second-order is found in the best fitness with the kinetic data.

The results indicate that modified pumice with iron can be employed as an effective adsorbed to removal of nitrate from water solutions.

This research was performed to evaluate the effect of potassium humate on potato seed germination rate in the greenhouse, tuber yield and yield components in the field and estimation of heterosis rate and dominance degree in true potato seed hybrids during three years (2008-2010). In this experiment, 3500 true seeds of potato hybrid variety HPS-II/67 were planted after treated with potassium humate for 6, 12, 18 and 24 hours in the planting bed of Biolan peat mass in the greenhouse and direct seed planting was considered as a control. Attributes such as time to seed germination, seed germination percentage and days to germination were recorded in the greenhouse. 540 potato seedlings were transferred to the field at 4-5 leaf stages. The experimental design was a completely randomized block design with three replications. After harvest, number and weight of tubers per plant, tuber average size and marketable tuber yield were counted and measured and 300 hybrids were selected. The selected hybrids and Agria cultivar (control) were planted at Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Station of Ardabil during 2010. The results showed that differences between different treatments of potassium humate were significant for tuber number and weight per plant, tuber average size and marketable tuber yield. The maximum seed germination percentage, tuber number and weight per plant and marketable tuber yield were obtained for 6, 12 and 18 hours treatments of potassium humate. Potassium humate increased germination by 41% and 1.2 kg per m2 marketable tuber yield. Mean tuber yield per plant was 550 g in control and 613.08 g in hybrids. Tuber yield per plant for hybrids had 23.67% over dominance, 6.33% complete dominance, 64% reduction dominance and 6.0% without dominance. In this experiment, about 50.33% of hybrids (151 hybrids) had high tuber yield per plant than their control. Heterosis for tuber yield per plant was achieved 50.33%. Finally, 50 hybrids were selected regarding to tuber yield, tuber uniformity, shallow eye depth, short stolon and yellow flesh and skin color, heterosis rate and dominance degree.

Pollution of groundwater and surface waters to nitrate is an environmental problem in many parts of the world including Iran. It might cause diseases such as methemoglobinemia, lymphatic system, and blood cancer. Therefore, nitrate removal from water resources is necessary. Since application of nanomaterials in treatment of the environment pollutants has become an interesting method, the objective of this study was application of ZnO nanoparticles under UV radiation to remove nitrate from aqueous solution. Three nitrate concentrations of 50, 100 and 150 mg/l were considered for present study. In order to determine the optimum level of ZnO nanoparticles on nitrate removal, concentrations of 0.1, 0.4, and 0.8 g/l were used. PH ranges of 5-9 were studied. Also, the effect of UV irradiation was investigated. In this study, the effects of exposure time, nitrate concentration, ZnO nanoparticle dose, and pH were investigated. The results showed that nitrate removal decreases with increasing initial nitrate concentration. Also, nitrate removal efficiency increased from 75.7% at 0.1 g/l to 91.2% at 0.8 g/l 0f photo-catalyst. Maximum reduction efficiency was observed in neutral pH. For UV application, maximum performance of 27% was observed at pH=9. Application of UV irradiation solely did not effectively removed nitrate from aqueous solution, however, efficiency of combination of ZnO/UV process was appropriate for nitrate removal.

Common sources of chromium in wastewater are electroplating and leather industries. Thus، the present study aimed at investigating and comparing between chemical (H2O2) method and nano-photocatalytical (UV/ZnO) method in removing of Cr (VI) from polluted water. In this experimental-analytical study، effective factors on reduction process such as ZnO (0. 05–0. 15 g/L)، H2O2 (0. 5-1. 5 mol/L) for UV/H2O2 process and pH (5-9) were investigated. The initial concentration of the substrate was taken 0. 1-15mg/L. Stock chromate (V: 6) solution was prepared through dissolving Potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) in originally distilled water. Residual concentrations of Cr (VI) were measured spectrophotometrically at 540nm. The results indicated that with increasing reduction agent concentration and decreasing pH، the removing efficiency increased. For low initial concentrations of Cr (VI) photocatalytic process was more effective than the chemical one، but for high initial concentration the result was the opposite. In the present study، using of these procedures was applied to natural water samples. The results of this study indicated that H2O2 as a cheap and available agent and also UV/ZnO، as a friendly and without residual environmental treatment process، can be used for effective reduction of Cr (VI) to yield Cr (III).

Pollution due to heavy metals is one of the most serious environmental problems nowadays. Extensive application of Cr (VI) leads to discharge a large amount of chromium containing wastewater into the environment. The aim of this research was evaluation of alumina nanoparticles efficiency to remove chromium (VI) from aqueous solutions through adsorption. This fundamental and practical study was performed in batch conditions and room-temperature. The structure of the sorbent was characterized by TEM technique. Residual concentrations of Cr (VI) were measured by a spectrophotometer at 540nm. Effects of the process parameters such as Al2O3 loading (0.5–2 g/L), contact time (5-90 min), and pH (5-9) were investigated. The results showed that removal efficiency of Cr (VI) increase with increasing of contact time and pH. The optimum pH was found to be 5 with decreasing of removal efficiency afterward. The value of qm (mg/L) in this work was 30.3 for each gram of nano-alumina adsorbent. Furthermore, chromium sorption kinetics was well fitted by pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and well explained by Freundlich isotherm (R2>0.992). In general, alumina nanoparticle powder is recognized as an effective sorbent to remove chromium (VI) from aqueous solutions.

groundwater is considered as one of the most important sources for drinking water supply. Groundwater pollution is an important problem in many parts of the world and nitrate being the most common chemical contaminants in groundwater. High levels of nitrate in groundwater lead the ground water sources to be unusable. The objective of this study was to investigate the nitrate removal from groundwater using aluminum powder.

In this research, the possibility of nitrate removal from groundwater was studied using aluminum powder with 200-100 mesh size. Study was done in 250 ml bottles at temperature range of 20-25ċ. Nitrate concentrations determined using a spectrophotometer at 220 and 275 nm. All experiments were triplicate and the average of results was reported.

The results of this study indicated that nitrate removal efficiency increases with increasing pH and adsorbent dose in a batch system. Maximum nitrate removal efficiency of 52% was achieved at 50 min contact time, pH of 10, and initial nitrate concentration of 100 mg/l as N. Nitrate removal efficiency increased by 20% when the concentration of aluminum powder increased from 0.5 to 1 g/L.

This method is recommended for removal of nitrate contamination from groundwater to be used for drinking and industrial purposes due to relatively low cost, ease of technique, safety and effectiveness of the method applied.