Adsorption of Escherichia coli Using Bone Char

The aim of study was providing a novel adsorbent for the removal of Escherichia coli (E.coli) as a microbial model from contaminated air especially in hospital units using bone char (BC). The BC was prepared from cattle animal bone by pyrolysis in a furnace at 450\ub0C for 2 h. The characteristics of BC have been determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), pHzpc, apparent density and iodine number. Nebulizer system applied to convert the E.coli with different concentration into bioaerosols. The variables included: BC weights (4-10 g), the adsorbent pore size (20-40 mesh) and microbial concentrations (103-107 CFU/mL). Characteristics of the adsorbent show the ability of the BC to remove E.coli from air. The results shows the higher amounts of BC, the more efficiency achieved to purify contaminate air and particles in the range of 20-40 mesh were more practical in removing bioaerosols. An efficient time for removing the more E. coli was 30 minutes. The maximum bacterial efficiency removal achieved was 99.99%. Comparison of removal efficiency with other literature showed that the BC particles were better mineral sorbents than other organic adsorbents and a commercial activated carbon. In this study, we investigated a novel air purification adsorbent and the information obtained in the paper is of fundamental significance for the mineral adsorbents especially bone char in cleaning of indoor bioaerosol

Evaluation of the Bacteriological Quality of Dental Unit’s Waterlines, Tehran, Iran

Oral and dentistry (O&D) services processes may lead to exposing of personnel and patients with several microorganisms and arising of health problems. This cross-sectional study was investigated the bacteriological quality of dental unit waterlines (DUWLs) in one of the O&D center in Tehran, Iran. One hundred ninety two samples were collected and examined based on standard microbiological procedures for determining and enumeration of heterotrophic plate count (HPC), Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Data were analyzed by t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis and LSD tests with SPSS software (Ver.16). The results revealed that 70% of water samples (126 samples) had a high density of contaminations that higher than recommended values for DUWLs quality. The mean of bacterial density on Saturday was more than Wednesday and was 1838 CFU/ml, 739 CFU/ml and 11 CFU/ml for HPC, P. aeruginosa, and S.aureuse respectively. The LSD test implied that the mean of bacterial density of inlet and outlet waters had significant statistical difference in various wards of the O&D center (p < 0.05). In addition, the results demonstrated that bacteriological quality in discharging water of various wards was higher than the recommended values. This research revealed that microbial water quality assessment in O&D services centers should be considered for providing of an appropriate disinfection procedure from point of infection control in dental operation services

Short-term Effects of PM10 to Increase Rate of Hospital Admission Cardiovascular and Respiratory of Sanandaj, Iran During 2015

Sanandaj in the west of Iran is one of the main city that suffered from Arabic Dust Storm (ADS). As Sanandaj isn’t industrial city and located in the mountainous region, one of the main sources of air pollution which has adverse effects on citizens and environment is PM10 which comes from Arabic Dust Storm. In this way, the goal of this study was to the assessment of these adverse health effects. So the hourly data of concentration of PM10 (measured by Beta attenuation method) were taken from Kurdistan Environmental Protection Agency in 2015. the 24-hour average concentration of particulate matter has exceeded about 182 times (days) more than the National Standards and WHO guideline values and the average annual concentration of PM10 were about 1.5 times more than the National Standard and WHO guideline values during the period of the exam. By means of Air Q2,2,3 software the data analyzed and baseline incidence(BI), relative risk(RR) and attributable proportion(AP) were calculated. The results of this study showed that short-term health effect of PM10 could increase of total mortality except accidents and poisoning(4.13%), hospital admission cardiovascular(4.98%), cardiovascular mortality(4.45%), hospital admission respiratory(4.45%) and respiratory mortality(0.2%). This study demonstrated that a high percentage of cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality rate increased due to the raising of the concentration of PM10. To reduce the emission of PM10 from main sources and relationship between the hospital and Kurdistan Environmental Protection Agency and whether organization and people to be alert are necessary

Enhancing the Performance of Solar Water Disinfection with Potassium Persulfat: Laboratory Study with Enterococcus faecalis

Background & Aims of the Study: The safe drinking water providing is one of the most crucial objections in these centenaries. Bacterial water contamination and high rate of morbidity and mortality is crucial health threat. Efficiency of potassium persulfat (KPS) associated solar disinfection as a novel water disinfection technology was evaluated in batch scale experiments, using Ent. faecalis (ATTCC 29212). Material and Methods: This research is a descriptive and experimental study which done on Tehran city, Iran. Ent. faecalis (ATTCC 29212) was provided in standard form from reference laboratory. Desired bacterial density in water was prepared by Mc Farland method. Water specimens were exhibited with solar radiations from 10 a.m to 16 p.m of Tehran local time. All experiments were conducted into 1.5 L volume of Damavand bottled water. Non-injured bacteria cells were detected by plating onto Bile Esculin azide agar media. Turbid water samples were provided by spiking of sterile slurry. Contact time (1-6 h), turbidity (30-200 NTU), KPS concentration (0.1, 0.7, 1.5 and 2 mMol/l), Ent. faecalis density(1000 and 1500 cell/ml) and UV intensity&nbsp; were independent and disinfection efficiency was a dependent variable, respectively. Results: Intensity of UVA solar irradiation varied from 3770 to 6263.3 &micro;W/Cm2, with the highest value was measured on 13.30 p.m. In single SODIS and 1 hour contact time, increasing of bacterial closeness from 1000 to 1500 cell/ml implied disinfection performance decreasing in which, the vital bacteria was 10 and 20 cell/ml, respectively; but beyond of this contact time, a complete disinfection was occurred. Disinfection of Ent. faecalis was achieved within 2 h with single solar irradiation but KPS associated solar disinfection with applied dosage of KPS provide completely disinfection in 1 h in which the process efficiency was not influenced by increasing of bacterial density and turbidity up to 200 NTU. Conclusion: Association of KPS with SODIS enhancing water disinfection which can be used in remote area and emergency status

Survey of legionella water resources contamination in Iran and foreign countries: A Systematic Review

Background and Aims: Several studies were investigated legionella contamination in natural and man- made water resources. The aim of this research was systematically review of legionella water contamination in natural and man-made resources in Iran and foreign countries. Materials and methods: In this systematic review study, the required data was collected using suitable keywords through PubMed, Science direct, Springer link, Google scholar, SID, Iranmedex, Irandoc and Magiran databases. Background and Aim: Several studies were investigated legionella contamination in natural and man- made water resources. The aim of this research was systematically review of legionella water contamination in natural and man-made resources. Materials and Methods: In this systematic review study, the required data was collected using suitable keywords through PubMed, Science direct, Springer link, Google scholar, SID, Iranmedex, Irandoc and Magiran databases. The search was conducted without publication date limitation. Survey and selection of articles was conducted based on PRISMA checklist and Cochrane quality assessment standards. Out of 1386 articles, 56 articles were considered after excluding the remaining articles which were not related to the study objectives. Identification and isolation of legionella with PCR technique and culture in BCYE is one of the article selection criteria. The relevant data were classified in extracted table and analyzed manually. Excel 2007 software was used for to draw diagrams. Due to heterogeneity of data meta-analysis could not be conducted.       Results: Out of 56 articles, 9 and 47 articles were published in Iran and foreign countries respectively. In Iran, 5.7-70% of samples were contaminated. In Iran’s hospitals 2.85-41.75% of samples were contaminated by Legionella pneumophila. In foreign countries, 0-100% of samples were contaminated and in these countries’ hospitals Legionella pneumophila contamination was 17%-98.7%. Conclusion: Although in Iran legionella water contamination is lower than foreign countries but, based on WHO guideline (1CFU/L) for legionella, planning for control of this bacteria and relevance infectious is one of the health priorities.   The search was conducted without publication date limitation. Survey and selection of articles was conducted based on PRISMA checklist and Cochrane quality assessment standards. Out of 1386 articles, 56 articles were considered after excluding the remaining articles which were not related to the study objectives. Identification and isolation of legionella with PCR technique and culture in BCYE is one of the article selection criteria. The relevant data were classified in extracted table and analyzed manually. Excel 2007 software was used for to draw diagrams. Due to heterogeneity of data meta-analysis could not be conducted. Results: Out of 56 articles, 9 and 47 articles were published in Iran and foreign countries respectively. In Iran, 5.7 - 70% of samples were contaminated. In Iran’s hospitals 2.85-41. 75% of samples were contaminated by Legionella pneumophila. In foreign countries, 0-100% of samples were contaminated and in these countries’ hospitals Legionella pneumophila contamination was 17%-98. 7%. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the conventional water treatment processes were not effective for legionella elimination and eradication of this agent should be considered in point off-use with effective techniques

Academic entrepreneurship in a medical university: A system dynamics approach

Academic entrepreneurship is a dynamic field which is growing after the second academic revolution that added entrepreneurial mission as the Third Mission of universities. In this sense, dynamics of this phenomenon is a suitable field of study and provides fruitful insights for both theory and practice. Thus, in this research, system dynamics approach is used to scrutinize academic entrepreneurship. The main question of this research is 'how academic entrepreneurship might evolve in a medical university of a developing country?' Therefore, Cross Impact Analysis method is used to examine the system behavior. In this study, the main attributes are adapted from a recent study by Salamzadeh et al. (2013a). Then, some policy variables are proposed and their effects on the model were shown. Findings show that although entrepreneurial ecosystem is growing in the country, still there are problems to be taken into account in order to improve the entrepreneurship in university

Assessment of the Security Status of Drinking Water Facilities of Hashtgerd with Passive Defense Approach

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the security of water facilities in Hashtgerd with a passive defense approach. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study that was conducted in 2020 in Hashtgerd city of Alborz province. The assessment of the degree observance of passive defense principles was performed by completing the checklists for each of the drinking water facilities by field visits, observation, and interviews, review of necessary documents as well as consulting and polling the head of operation and ABFA experts' opinions. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods. Results: The overall situation of the passive defense principles observance in the Hashtgerd city water facilities was evaluated at a moderate level. The Well N.3 with the lowest mean score (55.31%) was at the weak level and well N.1 with the highest mean score (71.67%) was at the average level. In the overall evaluation of the observance level of passive defense principles, the site selection and safety against fire and early warning with the highest score (78.12 and 77.63%) were evaluated at the average level and the principle of dispersion, camouflage and concealment with the lowest score (48.39%) were evaluated at a poor level. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the serious attention of officials and the implementation of necessary reforms in water facilities to reach the desired level, increasing visits and field monitoring in various ways and holding training courses with a passive defense approach for employees is necessary

Endotoxin Removal from Water Using Heterogenus Catalytic Ozonation by Bone Char

The endotoxin is one of pollutants with lipopolysaccharide structure which release from gram negative bacteria and cyanobacters. The aim of this study was removal of endotoxin from water using catalytic ozonation by bone char. The endotoxin for experiments have extracted from Escherichia coli bacterium cell wall by Stefan and Jan method. Chromogenic limulus ambusite lysate method in 405-410 nm wave length was used for analysing of endotoxin. The ozone have analysed by potassium iodine method. Results: Results of the research shown endotoxin removal rates using heterogenous catalytic ozonation were 6.0 Eu/ml.min and 0.5 Eu/ml.min for grey bone char and white bone char, respectively. The efficency of the process was found eighty percent. Primary concentration of basic compounds had no effect on endotoxin removal rate. Therefore, endotoxin removal kinetic of reaction is a zero order reaction. This study revealed that ozonation process using bone char is more efficient than other proposed methods such as ozonation or chlorination and can be used successfully for endotoxin removal from water as a efficient method

Interference of Potassium Persulphate and Hydrogen Peroxide in the COD Test

In this research, potassium persulphate and hydrogen peroxide were investigated for their interference in the chemical oxygen demand (COD) test in the presence of reactive blue 19 dye. The chemical oxygen demand (COD)test is widely used for the estimation of the organic carbon content of water and wastewater. The test is prone to disturbance by such inorganic substances as nitrite, chloride, ferrous ion, and sulfide. The interference of chloride and nitrite may be prevented by adding mercuric sulfate and sulphamic acid, respectively. However, the interferences of persulphate and hydrogen peroxide are not mentioned in references. This research was carried out to show how persulphate and hydrogen peroxide interfere with the COD analysis. Results showed that samples containing various concentration of K2S2O8 and with no organic substances H2O2 had different COD values. It is recommended that the interference of persulphate and hydrogen peroxide should be noticed when running the chemical oxygen demand tests