Investigation the amount of Fluoride in drinking water sources in urban and rural areas of Neyshabur in 2017

Background: Fluoride is one of the 14 essential elements for organisms’ lives. Since the body's greatest need for fluoride should be supplied through drinking water, determination of the amount of fluoride in drinking water has great importance. The aim of this study was to measure the concentrations of fluoride in sources of drinking water in urban and rural areas of Neyshabur in 2017 and compare it with existing standards.   Materials and Methods:This descriptive cross-sectional was conducted on urban and rural drinking water sources in Neyshabur in 2017. A total of 100 water samples were randomly collected from different sources in Neyshabur. The collected samples were then transferred to the Neyshabur Water and Wastewater Laboratory and the proportion of fluoride ion was measuredusing a spectrophotometer DR 2000 at 580 nm.   Results:The average concentration of fluoride in rural resources was obtained0.567± 0.12 mg/lin wells and 0.69 ± 0.13 mg/lin springs. The average concentration of fluoride in plain areas (0.662 ± 0.14 mg/l) was higher than mountainous areas (0.505 ± 0. 2 mg / l). The average concentrations of fluoride in urban wells, in urban reservoirs and in the water distribution networkwere (0.602 ± 0.034 mg / l),(0.597 ± 0.030 mg / L) and (0.595±0.039 mg /l) respectively.   Conclusion:The average concentration of fluoride in some water sources was lower than the standard level.Therefore, more study is needed to evaluate the daily fluoride intake in a variety of methods, and if the fluoride intake is less than standard level, adjustment of fluoride in water sources will benecessary for dental health

Wastewater treatment efficiency in stabilization ponds, Olang treatment plant, Mashhad, 2011-13

Olang wastewater treatment facilities purifying raw urban wastewater consist of two stabilization pond modules. Both are on operation in parallel. Functioning of natural systems is influenced by different factors including ambient condition. Considering final effluent of this system discharges to Kashafrood river and sometimes is used for agricultural purposes, assessing the quality parameters in effluent was the main objective of this study. This cross-sectional study investigated some important quality parameters for both raw and treated wastewater in two years periods. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics. Statistical tests were done at a significant level of 0.05. Simple linear regression analysis was used only for modeling. Raw wastewater was almost severe. Average removal efficiency for BOD5, COD, and TSS was 81, 83, and 78% respectively. There wasn’t a meaningful relationship between the removal efficiency of mentioned parameters and input pH. Ambient temperature fluctuations were effective on BOD5, and COD reduction. SAR index didn’t show a considerable restriction on irrigation application of effluent. In 62.5% cases outlet Na content was at the extent to which restrictions were imposed. Olang wastewater treatment plant generates an acceptable effluent relating to most of the quality parameters that were measured in this study. Considering special status of Mashhad city, it is worthy to reuse effluent in areas with a high water requirement such as agriculture

Health Impacts of Exposure to Heavy Metals in Some Selected Lipstick Products Available in Mashhad, Iran

This study aimed to investigate the levels of heavy metals in the lipstick products. In general, 30 samples were randomly selected from Mashhad markets. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t test were used to compare color and price variables. Based on the results, the mean concentrations of studied elements were as follows: Cd (ND-0.52 µg/g), Cr (0.25-76.35 µg/g), Ni (ND-20.12 µg/g), Zn (ND-224.22 µg/g), Pb (ND-44.77 µg/g), and Hg (ND-0.32 µg/g). The presence of toxic metals in the samples, and on the other hand, continuous use and unintended ingestion of these metals can lead to their biological accumulation in the human body, thereby causing the development of different diseases. Hence, it deems necessary to apply suitable actions for the improvement of quality control over these products

Assessment of indoor and outdoor airborne fungi in an Educational, Research and Treatment Center

Hospital environments contain different types of microorganisms. Airborne fungi are one of these microbes and the major source of hospital indoor contamination that will be able to cause airborne fungal diseases. In the current study, the total count and diversity of the airborne filamentous and yeasts fungi were investigated in indoor and outdoor air of selective wards of Emam Reza Educational, Research and Treatment Center. This cross-sectional study was performed during the fall season. One hundred and ninety-two environmental samples of indoor and outdoor air from hematology, infectious diseases, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) wards were collected by open plate technique (on Sabouraud dextrose agar media) once a week. The cultures were then examined and evaluated according to macroscopic and microscopic examination criteria. In this study, 67 (62.03%) of indoor samples and 81 (96.42%) of outdoor samples were positive for fungi. The most isolated fungi were yeast species (17.12%), Penicillium spp. (16.34%), Alternaria spp. (14.39%), Aspergillus niger (11.28%), A. flavus (8.95%), respectively. Almost all of the wards showed high rates of contamination by various fungi. However, the analysis of the data showed that indoor air of hematology ward had the highest fungal pollution. In contrast, the outdoor air of ENT had the highest fungal pollution. Thus, these results demonstrated that the cleansing and disinfection procedures in the hospital wards should be improved yet

Explaining the Core Factor of Organizational Pathology for National Center of Persian Carpet with it’s Role in Handmade Carpet Export

The research has been conducted with purpose of composing the main constituent of pathology for national center of Persian carpet and considering it's role in exporting handmade carpet. The respective model of pathology was selected, out of 14 approved models (the six Boxes Model of Wisboard). The method of this research is explanatory and is a kind of correlation one. 89 people from national center of carpet and exporters of handmade carpets (40 staff plus 49 exporters), were chosen out of simple random. The released result shown that, according to local modeling, from 6 box model of Wisboard in national center of carpet, the component of salary and organizational bonus, has the highest issue and next the useful mechanism (soft ware elements), destination and organizational purpose, organizational structure, organizational relations and correspondence and at the end leadership shortages, all have values and there is a meaningful relation among exporting carpets and damages of national center of carpet

Alizarin red-S removal from aqueous solutions using saccharomyces cerevisiae: Kinetic and equilibrium study

Alizarin red-S (ARS) is a type of azo dye that is widely used for dyeing of wool and nylon. It is toxic and carcinogenic and can cause a serious hazard to aquatic ecosystems. The ARS removal was experimentally conducted using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae biomass under various parameters of pH (3–11), contact time (20–180 min), the ARS concentration (25–100 mg L –1 ), and yeast dose (0.1%–1.3% w v –1 ). After completing each run, the suspensions were centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 7 min. Finally, the absorbance of samples was read by UV-visible spectrophotometer at the wavelength of 427 nm. The maximum removal efficiency of ARS (68.51%) occurred at the conditions of ARS concentration of 50 mg L –1 , S. cerevisiae dose of 0.4% w v –1 , solution pH of 3, and contact time of 120 min. Biosorption process is desired at low pH under acidic conditions. The equilibrium data of the biosorption process were well fitted with the Langmuir model (R 2 = 0.99). Results indicated that the removal efficiency of ARS has an increasing rate from 10 to 80 min. The best kinetic model to fit experimental data was the pseudo-second-order. The results of the current study confirmed that S. cerevisiae could be used as a low-cost biosorbent for eliminating ARS from aqueous solutions

Relation between Mortality Rate and Air Pollutant Concentrations in Mashhad, 2007-2009

Background & purpose: Air pollution has been known as one of the most effective factors on cardiovascular, pulmonary and infectious diseases. This study aims to determine the relation between mortality rate and air pollution in Mashhad during 2007-2009. Materials & Methods: Data of air pollution, mortality rate and geographic factors were collected during 2007-2009 and analyzed. Mortality rate, the average PSI of individual pollutants , temperature and moisture were weekly measured and the diagrams were then drawn according to the methods of statistical correlation and regression analysis of air pollution and mortality rate. Results: According to the findings, there was no significant relation between CO and mortality rate, but the other pollutants played a significant role in this regard. The maximum correlation was obtained for SO2 and O3 in the concentrations of 0.936 and 0.154 ppm, respectively, but in the final model for all pollutants and weather variables, only PSI for O3, season and humidity showed significant change. Conclusion: O3 has increased during three years of research and has been the leading cause of death among the pollutants. Most deaths occurred in cold seasons. Among all pollutants, the maximum concentration of SO2 was in winter and the maximum concentration of O3 was in spring and summer 2009. &emsp

Investigation of Biogas Production Process by the Mixture of Landfill Leachate and Animal Waste

Introduction and purpose: Energy consumption is on a rapidly growing trend in the world. Accordingly, the non-renewable energy sources are expected to be run out in the future. This issue has resulted in the establishment of efforts targeted toward the development of new energy-generating methods around the world. Biogas energy is one of the new and clean energies that is produced from the anaerobic digestion of biomass wastes. Anaerobic digestion is a cost-effective and environment-friendly method, which facilitates fertilizer and biogas production as well as landfill leachate treatment. Given the high environmental hazards of leachate and its mixture with animal wastes, the present study aimed to estimate the possibility of producing biogas in various mixture ratios. Methods: In this pilot-scale experimental study, the landfill leachate of Mashhad, Iran, were mixed with caw fresh dung in different ratios, but same conditions, under anaerobic digestion. This was conducted to consider the ability to produce methane gas in different proportions and landfill leachate. At the beginning and end of the project, the parameters of EC, pH, VS, TS, COD, TOC, P, K, N, and Na were measured. Additionally, the composition of the gases produced under different operating conditions was analyzed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Results: Gas production began three weeks after uploading and continued for five weeks. The analysis of gas production in three ratios was indicative of the CH4 production in all three proportions. In this regard, 1/1 ratio produced the highest percentage of CH4. No gas production was observed in the two months of study. Other physical and chemical parameters, such as COD, TS, TKN, and TOC were reduced in the given mixtures during the biogas production procedure. For instance, the case with 1/1 ratio, which showed the best results, had almost 80% decrease in the given parameters. However, no gas production or change of parameters were observed in the control sample (leachate), which was examined for two months. Conclusion: The findings of the study revealed the possibility of producing biogas out of the mixture of waste leachate and animal wastes. Biogas reduces the risk of waste leachate disposal to the environment and facilitates the production of fertilizers containing nutrients (e.g., Na, K, N, and P), which are standard regarding such parameter as pH, EC, C/N, and reduced VS. Moreover, these gases are cost-effective and environment-friendly