Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Winter 2021

Climate change is a significant threat to global health in the 21st century. This study aimed to investigate climate change and its health consequences in order to increase public awareness. This review study examined the climate change and its effects on human health by reviewing the literature and research conducted worldwide. According to the results, diseases associated with increased temperature and heatwaves include heat stroke, dehydration, heart and respiratory diseases. The most important diseases associated with rising sea levels and floods include harmful waterborne diseases, injuries, respiratory diseases, and mental health problems. The diseases caused by global warming include vector-borne diseases such as malaria and Lyme disease. Problems caused by forest fires include those caused by air quality degradation like respiratory diseases and mental illnesses. In general, vulnerable groups such as minors, the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women, are prone to be affected by climate change. Mental illness, non-communicable diseases, poisoning, diseases related to food insecurity and nutrition, water and foodborne diseases, and reproductive health care are among the factors affected by climate change. Since climate change has numerous direct and indirect impacts on human health, responsible institutions must educate the public through mass media and take adequate measures to offset the health effects of climate change.

Municipal solid waste management is an important component of urban services that is often handled by local governments. Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia faces rapid urbanization leading to overcrowding and the development of shantytowns and poor neighborhoods. The general aim of this study was to appraise the present dry waste service provision of Addis Ababa. This study used an integrative literature review method with critical analysis to investigate the current solid waste management status in Addis Ababa. The results of this study show that the delivery of the service does not keep pace with the city's solid waste generation and the city's municipal disposal of solid waste is found in actual, low status and spatial coverage. This humble status of city garbage management is also heightened by three critical factors, i.e. poor institutional structure, inadequate disposal site and transfer station, and poor households' solid waste handling practices. Besides, the city households dominantly created decomposable solid wastes (60%) through generation amount of 0.45 kg/person/day and the main source are residential wastes, which account for 76% of the total waste. The sudy concluded that, the main problem with the incompetence of this sector in the city was the lack of trained labor and inadequate service delivery. In order to improve the status, there should be awareness creation, improvement of the city government, and implementation of an incorporated method to the management of metropolitan solid waste that respects and involves all stakeholders in the metropolis.

Recurring annual asthma or asthma-like outbreak in Ahvaz City, Iran, has become a serious public health problem. A toxic gas, a chemical compound, or an allergen with unknown nature and mechanism leads to severe asthma outbreaks each year. Bronchospasm, cough, dyspnea, chest tightness, and wheezing are the main symptoms of these attacks. Oxygen and anti-asthma therapy are effective treatments in outbreak management. Based on our findings, it is hypothesized that vast amounts of ammonium nitrate used in agriculture underlay high concentrations of nitrate. This substance is transported by PM10 and is the main cause of the respiratory outbreak. The concentration of nitrate was determined by the ion chromatography method in dust samples during 2015-2016. Using spectroscopic methods, the effect of nitrate ions on hemoglobin oxidation and methemoglobin formation was studied. Our results indicate that the concentration of ammonium nitrate in dust collected from indoor spaces is five times higher than the levels allowed amount in airborne pollutants. Our findings also indicate that this concentration of nitrate in the bloodstream can instantly increase methemoglobin percent to 18% with symptomatic consequences. The exact mechanism proposed by this study is that inhaled nitrate or nitric acid finally increases the nitrate in the circulation of affected individuals. Hemoglobin oxidation and methemoglobin formation are the subsequent events leading to methemoglobinemia with asthma-like reactions seen in Ahvaz respiratory syndrome. Restricting or even prohibiting ammonium nitrate application in agriculture seems to be an urgent measure to stop Ahvaz's recurring respiratory syndrome.

In the present study, the tolerance of plantain tree species (Platanus orientalis, Morus nigra and Ailanthus altissima) to air pollution was evaluated using Air Pollution Tolerance Index (ATPI) and Anticipated Performance Index (API) index in Isfahan city (Iran). For this purpose, three dominant trees growing at six stations in Isfahan was selected and then sampling of the tree leaves was performed, after being transferred to the laboratory, the ATPI and API index were calculated. The results of calculating the ATPI in the leaves of M. nigra, P. orientalis and A. altissima species showed that the highest values of ATPI index was obtained in M. nigra at 20.77 and then detected in P. orientalis and A. altissima with the values 14.90 and 14.33 respectively. According to API values Morus nigra had the best performance (Score = 6 so it classified as the Excellent) while P. orientalis and A. altissima had very good and intermediate performance, respectively. According to ATPI and API index most tolerant tree species was Morus nigra, so it would be the most suitable species for plantation programme in urban and pollutant areas followed by Platanus orientalis and Ailanthus altissima. As well as our results suggest that Platanus orientalis and Ailanthus altissima can be used as bio-indicators of air pollution due to their low ATPI scores (lower than 16). The present study suggests that the combination of both the ATPI and API indices for identifying and selection of plant species is very useful for plantation in urban areas.

Particulate or particle mattes in term of air pollution are particles with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5). PM2.5 is a natural source of air pollution and has harmful effects on citizens in Sanandaj City, located in the west of Iran. In this study, the hourly data of concentration of PM2.5 were taken from the Kurdistan Environmental Protection Agency. During the study period (2018-2019), the 24-hour concentration of PM2.5 exceeded 339 times the average level. By AirQ+ software, the relationship between data and Relative Risk (RR), Baseline Incidence (BI), and Attributable Proportion (AP) were estimated. Then chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, ischemic heart disease, and brain stroke in the range of over 30 years were estimated. The main target of this study was to survey the relationship between PM2.5 concentration and the death rate of citizens of this non-industrial city. The long-term health effect (more than 6 months) of PM2.5 caused 326 deaths on average (except for accidents and poisoning). Increase the concentration of PM2.5 is one factor that affects a high percentage of mortality rate.

Drill Cutting (DC) are large amount of waste generated in gas and oil exploration and production activities that contains toxic substances, especially heavy metals. This study aimed to use Conocarpus Waste (CW) biochar to investigate its effects on changes in chemical forms and stabilization and distribution of Cu and Zn in DC samples of Ahvaz oil field at different incubation times. In order to study the effects of CW biochar at different rates (0, 2, 5, and 10% w/w) and four incubation times (1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks) for adsorption and chemical fractionation of Copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn) in DC of Ahvaz oil field in southwestern Iran. An experiment was conducted as a factorial in a completely randomized designing in three replication. Sequential extraction procedure of Tessier was applied for the determination of heavy metals fraction. Application of biochar significantly (p <0.05) increased the pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), electrical conductivity (EC), and cation exchange capacity (CEC) especially at the 10% application rate. After the addition of CW biochar, the exchangeable (EX) and carbonate (CAR) fractions of Cu and Zn, respectively decreased (P≤0.05) significantly while organic matter (OM) bound, oxides (OX) bound, and residual (RES) fraction were increased. The CW biochar can be a low-cost and effective amendment in immobilizing the Cu and Zn, and also effectively to reducing their mobility in DC.

Oil spills caused by releasing liquid petroleum can spread on the coastal strip and affect coastal ecosystems, causing severe damage to the coastline environment and crisis in local communities. This study aimed to identify and map the environmentally sensitive areas of the coastal strip of Guilan Province, Iran, to oil spills using the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI). The data required for the present study were collected through field studies, the GPS device, topographic maps of 1.25000 of the National Mapping Organization, maps of protected areas of the Environmental Protection Organization, satellite images, data of Guilan Province Industry, Mine and Trade Organization, and other relevant agencies. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) method and ESI were used to determine the sensitivity of the coastal strip of Guilan Province to oil spills. Moreover, to determine the weights of the criteria studied in the NOAA method, the analytic hierarchy process was used. The final results of the study of the environmental sensitivity of the coastal strip of Guilan Province to oil spills showed that 21.15%, 39.66%, and 39.19% of the coastal strip have low, medium, and high sensitivity, respectively. High sensitivity mainly was related to the eastern part of the coast, located at the banks of estuaries of current rivers. Low sensitivity was also located along the seafront on fine- to medium-grained sand beaches, where less damaged in the event of oil spill pollution.

The present study investigated the concentrations of lead, nickel, copper, zinc, their toxicity potential, and their ecological hazard in surface soils of Hamedan City, Iran. Also, using the Bio-concentration Factor (BCF), concentration Comprehensive Bio-concentration Index (CBCI), and Metal Accumulation Index (MAI), was evaluated the ability of some tree and shrub species to absorb heavy metals in soil and air. Sampling of leaves of nine tree species and shrubs (plane, acacia, elm, willow, mulberry, ash, redbud, pine, and cypress) was performed in six stations. After preparation and acid digestion of the samples, the concentrations of heavy metals were determined using an atomic absorption spectrometer. The trend of changes in soil heavy Mean±SD metal concentrations was in the order of nickel> zinc> copper> lead in the amounts of 61.41±11.34˃ 43.04±14.4˃ 42.87±8.36˃ 18.77±6.51 mg/kg. Evaluation of acute toxicity potential indicators and ecological risk of heavy metals indicated low soil pollution status. Findings of BCF, CBCI, and MAI ndices in the leaves of the species showed that the highest levels of BCF of heavy metals, i.e., zinc, copper, lead, and nickel, were in willow, elm, cypress, and pine species, respectively. Results show that heavy metal accumulation in different species. Depends on soil type, tree species, climatic conditions, type of pollutant source, species age, and other factors. In this study, elm and acacia have the highest ability to absorb heavy metals from soil and air.