The relationship between religiosity with stress, anxiety, and depression among the students in Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, 2017

BACKGROUND: Religion affects all aspects of the life. One of the most important aspects of human health is its mental health, and how it gets affected by stress, anxiety, and depression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether there was any relationship between religiosity with stress, anxiety, and depression among the students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Iran.METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in 2017. The total number of 282 students were selected using a two-stage stratified sampling method to fulfill univariate religiosity questionnaire and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software.RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 22.34 ± 3.05 years. 70.9% of participants were women, and 92.2% were single. Out of four dimensions of religiosity, only ritual dimension was found to have a significant correlation with stress (P = 0.030). The correlation between other dimensions of religiosity (belief, emotional, and consequential (and aspects of mental health found to be not statistically significant (P > 0.050).CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, religious activities can reduce the stress of individuals. Designing non-syllabus interventions is recommended in order to increase religious activities in order to improve students’ mental health

Removal Efficiency of Electrochemical Process by Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Impregnated on Rod Carbon for Arsenite Anions in a High Ionic Strength Solution

The entry of heavy metals (e.g., arsenite anions) into water sources due to industrial and mining activities is considered a serious problem for the environment. Therefore, arsenite removal from polluted water has attracted the attention of researchers due to its toxic effects on human health. In the present study, the efficiency of the electrochemical (EC) purification of arsenite anions in a high ionic strength solution was investigated using a carbon electrode impregnated with iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs). These NPs were synthesized by the co-precipitation method and immediately impregnated on the carbon rod. Experiments were performed by two electrodes (carbon and carbon impregnated with NP electrode) in a 50 mL EC reactor. The effect of different parameters such as electrical current (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, & 0.9 A), EC time (2, 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes), pH (3, 5, 7, 9, & 11), and the initial concentrations of arsenite anion (2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 mg/L) was investigated on the removal efficiency to achieve the highest removal of arsenite anions. Arsenite anions (10 mg/L) were completely removed from the aqueous solution with an ionic strength of 0.141 M at an electrical current of 0.7 A, a pH of 8, and an EC time of 20 minutes. In addition, pH was the most effective parameter in removing arsenite anions from aqueous solution in the EC method. According to the results, EC treatment using an electrode impregnated with iron oxide NPs is highly efficient in removing arsenite anions from the contaminated water

Investigating the efficiency and kinetic coefficients of nutrient removal in the subsurface artificial wetland of Yazd wastewater treatment plant

Background: Investigating the performance of naturally operated treatment plants may be due to the fact that they cannot be operated as desired, or that they should be modified to achieve good performance e.g. for nutrients removal. The advantage of kinetic coefficient determination is that the model can be adjusted to fit data and then used for analyzing alternatives to improve the process. This study investigates the efficiency of subsurface artificial wetland and determines its kinetic coefficients for nutrient removal. Methods: The present study investigated the kinetics of biological reactions that occurred in subsurface wetland to remove wastewater nutrient. Samples were taken from 3 locations of wetlands for 6 months. The nutrient content was determined through measuring Total Kjehldahl Nitrogen (TKN), ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate values. Results: Average levels for TKN, ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate in effluent of control wetland were 41.15, 23.59, 1.735, and 6.43 mg/L, and in wetland with reeds were 28.91, 19.99, 1.49 and 5.63 mg/L, respectively. First-order, second-order, and Stover-Kincannon models were applied and analyzed using statistical parameters obtained from the models (Umax, KB). Conclusion: The nutrients removal at Yazd wastewater treatment plant was remarkable, and the presence of reeds in wetland beds was not very efficient in improving system performance. Other more efficient plants are suggested to be evaluated in the system. Stover-Kincannon kinetic model provided predictions having the closest relationship with actual data obtained from the field

Performance evaluation of wastewater stabilization ponds in Yazd-Iran

Background: Yazd waste stabilization pond facilities consist of three stabilization pond systems, module 1, module 2 and module 3 that AWSP module 1 has started its operation. The existing facilities have had several problems in their operation. The objectives of this research were to evaluate the performance of stabilization ponds in wastewater treatment of the city of Yazd, due to several problems in their operation, and to prepare a scheme of its upgrading, if necessary. Methods: During the period from December to June 2010, data analysis were carried out for both raw and treated wastewater. Results: Results of these investigations showed that the average effluent concentrations of Biochemical Oxygen Demand 5 (BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Suspended Solid (SS) taken from anaerobic pond and secondary facultative ponds of module 1 were 306.9, 135.18, 139.75 and 136.75, 69.025, 136.5 mg/L, respectively. Conclusion: These results indicated that the effluent of the anaerobic pond of module 1 was complied with the Iranian treated wastewater standards for agricultural reuse in terms of BOD5 and COD concentrations; hence the secondary facultative ponds could be changed to other primary facultative ponds in order to increase the capacity of wastewater treatment plant

The effect of land use configurations on concentration, spatial distribution, and ecological risk of heavy metals in coastal sediments of northern part along the Persian Gulf

In the present study, a total of 41 sediment samples were collected from the areas with different land uses: industrial (IS), urban (US), agricultural (AGS), and natural field (NS) in the northern coasts along the Persian Gulf from November 2016 to January 2017. Samples were analyzed to determine the concentration of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Cr, and Ni). The mean concentration of Ʃ6 heavy metals in the samples taken from IS, US, AGS, NS were 2300.24, 251.02, 553.21, and 40.93 mg/kg, respectively. The predominant metals were Zn, Cu, and Pb and the mean concentrations of Ʃ3 metals (Zn, Cu, and Pb) in IS, US, AGS, NS areas were 2245.6, 241.44, 529.61, and 36.98 mg/kg, respectively. The results indicated that the mean concentrations of Ʃ6Metals/Ʃ3 metals in the IS and AGS samples were significantly higher than US and NS samples (p Cu (465.00) > Zn (427.16) > Cr (34.20) > Cd (19.45) > Ni (7.09); urban region: Zn (97.45) > Cu (79.90) > Pb (64.09) > Cr (5.30) > Ni (2.55) > Cd (1.73); agricultural region: Zn (247.88) > Pb (164.89) > Cu (116.84) > Cr (11.09) > Ni (7.45) > Cd (5.06); and natural fields: Zn (27.43) > Cu (6.34) > Pb (3.18) > Cr (1.94) > Ni (1.18) > Cd (0.83). According to geo-accumulation index (I-geo), the IS, US, and AGS were classified into “highly-extremely polluted”, “unpolluted-moderately polluted” and “highly polluted”, respectively. Similarly, in accordance with the ecological risk index (ERI), the IS and AGS fell into the very high and considerable categories, respectively, while US land uses area was categorized as low risk. Based on the results obtained from the present study, it can be concluded that the sediments of Asalouyeh coasts in the northern part of the Persian Gulf are heavily contaminated with heavy metals, causing serious negative effects on both the human being and environment

An assessment on dispersion of carbon monoxide from a cement factory

Background: Modeling the dispersion of pollutants from factory stacks addresses the problem of matching emissions of a cement plant with the capacity of the environment to avoid affecting the environment and society. The main objective of this study was to simulate the dispersion of carbon monoxide (CO) from the main stack of a cement plant in Doroud, Iran using SCREEN3 software developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Methods: Four samplings were conducted to measure the concentration of CO in the three-stack flow of a cement factory. The input parameters were those affecting gas dispersion and included CO rate, meteorological parameters, factors associated with the stack, and various factors related to the receptor. All factors were incorporated in the model, and dispersion was modeled by SCREEN3. Results: Southwesterly winds have been dominant in the past 5 years. According to the results of this study, the highest and the lowest CO levels were estimated by the model in spring and autumn as having maximum amounts of 842.06 and 88.31 μg/m3, respectively, within distances of 526 and 960 m from the cement plant, respectively, at a downwind southwesterly direction from the plant. Conclusion: Although the maximum predicted CO levels in each of the four seasons were lower than the NAAQS criteria, the simulation results can be used as a base for reducing CO emissions to prevent the potentially significant health and environmental impacts imposed by long-term contact to such emissions