Health outcomes attributed to PM10 due to dust storms in Ilam city, in Iran from 2012 to 2013

Background and Aim: In recent years, increasing dust storms originating from the Iran's neighbors in the west have led to social, economic, and health concerns. The aim of this study was to assess the acute health effects of dust and estimate the mortality rate associated with cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders, attributed to dust particles in Ilam city, by using WHO protocols. Material and Methods: In this study, concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 were measured from March 2012 to Feb 2013. The measurement was performed using the Grimm aerosol spectrometer model 1.108. Air Quality Health Impact Assessment software (Air Q 2.2.3) was used for quantification of health outcomes attributed to PM10 in Ilam, Iran. Results: Using the model, the number of cumulative excess mortality, mortality due to cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and all admitted patients due to cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases attributed to PM10 in Ilam were 69.2, 42.5, 12.3, 80.3 and 208.7 cases respectively. The additional cases of disorders attributed to PM10 showed an increasing trend with concentrations of more than 100 µg/m3. This trend was more severe with concentrations of more than 200 µg/m3. Conclusion: The estimated rates of health outcomes attributed to PM10 associated with dust storms necessitate urgent regional measures to bring the problem of harmful particles under control. In addition, personal care and training are of great importance. © 2015, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Development of CO2-stable oxygen-transporting membranes for oxyfuel carbon capture process

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Quantification of Health Impacts Related to PM10 and O3 Pollutants in Karaj City

Although the numbers of death related to air pollution appear to be low, the incidence of related disease to air pollution would be too high that is because of exposure of the large population to air pollutants and also the existence of certain sensitive groups. The aim of this study was to quantification health impacts of two pollutants PM10 and O3 in Karaj city during 2012- 2013. In this study, the air quality data were obtained from Karaj Department of Environment Protection. Quantification the health impacts of air pollutants were assessed using AirQ2.2.3 model which is a proposed method for assessing the health impact of air pollutants by World Health Organization. The annual, warm, and cold average concentrations of PM10 were 77.48, 87.86, and 62µg/m3, respectively. O3 average concentration in the warm semester was 63.5µg/m3 and it is more than a cold season which was 60µg/m3. Total mortality rate related to PM10 and O3 were assessed 282 and 164, respectively, which are 3.9 and 1.53 percent of all deaths, respectively. The Average cases of obstructive lung disease related to O3 were 58 people and average cases of hospitalization due to cardiovascular diseases related to PM10 were 492 people. This study was the first attempt to reveal the health outcome of air pollutants on a human in Karaj as one of the crowded city of Iran. Totally we found that the average concentration of 8-hours O3 and 24-hours PM10 were higher than the national standard of Iran and WHO guideline

Study of particulate matters concentration and radiation rate in the atmosphere of Ilam city during middle east dust storms

The possibility of suspending radioactive particles during dust storms from Iraq and entering Iran has always been a concern. The aim of this study was & xfeff;to investigat & xfeff;e & xfeff;the particulate matter concentration during dusty days and the effect of dust storm on the irradiation rate in the atmosphere of the city of Ilam (capital of Ilam province). The concentration of particulate matter and radiation dose in the study area were monitored between March 2012 and February 2013 (1 year). Sampling was done every 6 days for periodical days. For the dusty days, samples were gathered according to the forecast information of dust plum entrance by the meteorological organisation. The results showed that the average and standard deviation of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 concentrations in the periodic sampling (every 6 days) were 76.9 +/- 57.1, 17.5 +/- 10.5, and 8 +/- 4 mu g/m(3), respectively, and in the dusty days were286 +/- 164.8, 54.4 +/- 30.3, and 14.6 +/- 6.5 mu g/m(3), respectively. During the study period, the concentration of PM(10)in 35 days were more than 150 mu g/m(3) (Dusty day), and June with 13 days was the highest number dusty days. The average radiation dose in normal and dusty days were 0.152 and 0.150 mu Sv/hr, respectively. The results of Mann-Whitney's test showed that there was no significant difference between measured radiation in normal and dusty days (P > 0.05). Spearman test showed that there was no significant correlation between radiation doses and PM (PM10, PM2.5, and PM1) (P > 0.05). The results of the study show that dust storms and its concentration intensity did not affect the amount of radiation in the Ilam atmosphere. Because of the high density of the uranium element and its rapid sedimentation near the emission sources, the entry of this contamination related to dust storms to Ilam has not been proven

Estimation of dust concentration by a novel machine vision system

The dust phenomenon is one of the main environmental problems that it reversely affects human health and economical and social activities. In the present research, a novel algorithm has been developed based on image processing to estimate dust concentration. An experimental setup was implemented to create airborne dust with different concentration values from 0 to 2750 mu g.m(-3). The images of the different dust concentration values were acquired and analyzed by image processing technique. Different color and texture features were extracted from various color spaces. The extracted features were used to develop single and multivariable models by regression method. Totally 285 single variable models were obtained and compared to select efficient features among them. The best single variable model had a predictive accuracy of 91. The features were used for multivariable modeling and the best model was selected with a predictive accuracy of 100 and a mean squared error of 1.44 x 10(-23). The results showed the high ability of the developed machine vision system for estimating dust concentration with high speed and accuracy

A time series analysis of environmental and metrological factors impact on cutaneous leishmaniasis incidence in an endemic area of Dehloran, Iran

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the environmental and metrological variables and cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) transmission and its prediction in a region susceptible to this disease prevalence using a time series model. The accurate locations of 4437 CL diagnosed from 2011 to 2015 were obtained to be used in the time series model. Temperature, number of days with temperature over 30 degrees C, and number of earthquake were related to CL incidence using the Seasonal Auto-correlated Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) model according to the Box-Jenkins method. In addition, the relationship between land use and surface soil type in 500- and 1000-m radius around the CL patients were investigated. The SARIMA models showed significant associations between environmental and meteorological variables and CL incidence adjusted for sea-sonality and auto-correlation. The result indicated that there are need more robust preventive programs in earthquake-prone areas with high temperature and inceptisol soil type than other areas. In addition, the region with these characteristics should be considered as high-risk areas for CL prevalence

Investigating the distribution of fungal species concentration associated with dust storms in Ilam, Iran: A case study

Background and purpose: Dust storms can transfer particulate pollutants to long distances, and in some cases, to thousands of kilometers from their source. These dust storms can carry very large volumes of bioaerosols such as fungal species which are the causes of respiratory infections and allergies. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of dust storms on transmission of fungal species in atmospheric air of Ilam, Iran. Materials and methods: For the purpose of study, the concentration of suspended particles in the air of Ilam was measured during normal and dusty days for one year using the standard protocols. Results: As the results indicated, the northern deserts of Iraq are responsible for most of the dust storms in Ilam. The higher number of dust storms during the warm season increased the average concentration of these particles within the first six months of the year. The PM2.5/PM10 ratios of the ordinary and dusty days were 0.248 and 0.191, respectively, indicating natural origins of dust particles. Results of Mann-Whitney non-parametric test demonstrated a significant difference between the dusty and ordinary days regarding the fungal colonies (P<0.05). Accordingly, with increase in concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5, the density of airborne fungal colonies rose. According to the Kruskal-Wallis test, the concentrations of fungal colonies were significantly different during different months and seasons of the year (P<0.05). In the present study, the most common fungal species were Cladosporium, Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Alternaria. Conclusion: The findings of the current study revealed that the ambient concentration of fungal species is affected by dust concentration as the concentration of fungal species on dusty days was higher than normal days. © 2017, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Particulate matters and bioaerosols during Middle East dust storms events in Ilam, Iran

Particulate matters can be transferred distances from their sources. Due to different chemical and microbial characteristics, they can potentially impact on public health and ecosystems. Therefore, in this study we aimed to study the concentrations of particulate matters (PM2.5 and PM10) and types of bacteria in the ambient air of Ham city during dusty (PM10 >= 150 mu g/m(3)) and non-dusty days from February 2012 to February 2013. Totally, there existed more dust storm events during warm and dry months. The Mann-Whitney test confirmed a significant relationship between dusty and non-dusty days (P < 0.05). Totally, by increasing the PM concentrations, the number of bacterial colonies increased. Kruskal-Wallis test showed that there was a significant relationship between the number of bacterial colonies and season. The mostly observed bacterial colonies were Staphylococcus, Cryptococcus, Corynebacterium, Bacillus, Actinosynnema, Nocardioides, Arthrobacter, Flavimonas, Paenibacillus, Pseudomonas, Microbacterium, Planococcus, Streptomyces, Kurthia, Neisseria Agrococcus, Curtobacterium, Duganella, Ancylobacter, Paracoccus, Propionibactertum, Pseudomonas, Rhizobium and Enterococci. The predominant direction of dust plumes in Ilam city was from the west of Ilam from neighboring countries. The higher number of microbial colonies during dusty days in this city obviously showed the important role of these events on microbial characteristics

Evaluation of Consumer Satisfaction for the Quality of Bread Modified with Additives: A Case Study of Alborz Province

Background: Bread is the staple food of Iranian society. Attention to its health and hygiene is important. Nowadays, the use of baking soda in the production of bread has seen by most of bakers which is because of producing bread with more beautiful and appearance and is more public acceptance. Methods: In this cross-sectional study that 40 people were taken, consumer satisfaction of prepared Barbari bread using three types additives Fenugreek juice, baking soda, and tomato juice by means of questionnaires were evaluated. Results: The results of this study showed that consumer satisfaction of taste and smell (34 of 40), appearance, glazing, and quality (36 of 40) of prepared bread by tomato juice was more than Fenugreek juice and baking soda. Consumer satisfaction of taste, smell, appearance, glazing, quality, shopping satisfaction, and quality of bread over time of three types of additives (baking soda, tomato juice, and Fenugreek juice) was significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: Tomato juice has the attributes necessary for public acceptance and satisfaction of consumers, nevertheless don&rsquo;t have the complications of baking soda. So it can be a reasonable alternative for the processing of bread dough instead of baking soda