The statistical analysis of seasonal and time variations on trend of important air pollutants (SO2, O3, NOx, CO, PM10)-in western Iran: A case study

Western Iran, for example, Kermanshah, is one of the industrial cities of Iran that due to industrial development and transport development and located in the west side of country, the levels of its air pollutants have a lot of fluctuations. So the aim of this study is to determine the trend of variations in Kermanshah air pollutants (sulfur dioxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulates).This is a descriptive - analytical study, so that the data of various air pollutants in Kermanshah city during the period of 5 years (2006-2011) obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency of Kermanshah, then data analysis was attempted using SPSS and Excel software. Results showed that the highest average concentrations of pollutants based on years, season and months were 2010, summer and July for O3, 2005, autumn and December for NO, 2008, spring and April for NO2, 2008, summer and July for PM10, 2008, summer and September for SO2 and 2005, Autumn and June for CO. Increasing the some pollutants such as O3, NO and NO2 from 2006 years onwards is related to increasing the vehicle and industries. Therefore, it is essential to understand the causes of increasing and reducing the emissions is needed to Public education to deal, harm reduction and management measures

Survey of effective parameters (Water sources, seasonal variation and residual chlorine) on presence of thermotolerant coliforms bacteria in different drinking water resources

Thermotolerant Coliforms (TtC) bacteria is one of the microbial quality indicators of drinking water. This study was aimed to Survey of Effective parameters (Water Resources, Seasonal Variation and Residual Chlorine) on Presence of thermotolerant bacteria in drinking water. For this study, data of the last 10 years assessments of microbial quality regarding various species of fecal coliform was taken from health centers associated with urban, rural and private sources of Kermanshah city. A total number of 8643 samples were taken, 1851 samples from rural, 365 from urban and 4834 from private resources. The results showed that fecal coliform, Escherichia coli (22.3%) and Klebsiella (2%) were the most and least bacteria existent in urban water resources, respectively. In rural water sources, E. coli (45.9%) and Enterobacter cloacea (2.6%) and in private sources E. coli (34%) and Klebsiella (1.3%) had the most and least existent, respectively. Further, E. coli (47.5%) and Klebsiella (0.4%) had, respectively, the highest and lowest distribution in all months considered. In addition the results showed a significant decrease of distribution of fecal coliforms with increasing residual chlorine, while a decreasing trend is observed from the dose of 0.8 mg/L. According to the results, it can be stated that among fecal coliforms, E. coli has the widest distribution in water resources and because this bacterium causes diseases such as diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome, so is of particular importance in the monitoring of water resources. Hence it is necessary to consider the bacterium in resources with low microbial quality, especially in the hot seasons

A review of toxicological, environmental and health effects of chromium from aqueous medium; available removal techniques

Heavy metals are unwanted pollutants introduced directly and indirectly into the environment and ecological currents through the discharge of industrial wastewaters. Many of them, like hexavalent chromium, easily enter biological organs resulting in acute toxicity and damage to kidney, liver, and lung due to their maximum oxidation state in comparison with their other compounds. On the other hand, they incur irrecoverable effects on the environment and ecosystems. Accordingly, human beings need processes and technologies to lessen the danger of these pollutants; in order to remove chromium from aquatic environments, various methods including physical, chemical, and biological methods have been important. Among them, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, electro dialysis, chemical deposition, and adsorption are popular. In practice, in order to apply each of the mentioned treatment methods, preliminary studies for applicability, the required expertise, and the costs of construction and operation are necessary

Health-related Microbial Quality of Drinking Water in Kangavar, Western Iran

Evaluation of the microbial quality of drinking water can prevent the water-borne diseases outbreak that is one of the most important challenges in the world. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the seasonal variation of water-borne diseases prevalence associated with the microbial quality of drinking water and the comparison between rural and urban areas in Kangavar city, west of Iran. To accomplish this study, the results of the microbial quality of drinking water and cases of simple diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid and hepatitis A were received from all rural and urban health centers of the city during five years (2006-2010). To determine the relationship between diseases and microbial quality of water, Correlation instruction and Pearson correlation coefficient were used. The results showed that except hepatitis A, the incidence of all diseases in different areas (urban or rural) and seasons had significant relationship with microbial contamination of drinking water (P-value<0.05). The stronger relationship was observed in rural areas than in urban areas (except simple diarrhea) and in warm seasons than in cold seasons. With respect to the impact of the microbial quality of water on the incidence of dysentery and typhoid diseases, keeping up the quality of drinking water in places and times with high sensitivity (rural areas and warm seasons) should be considered strongly

Optimization of the electrocoagulation process for sulfate removal using response surface methodology

Sulfate concentrations affected on the natural sulfur cycle in the anaerobic treatment, therefore pretreatment of wastewater containing sulfate must be considered. In this work electrocoagulation techniques have considered as an effective and environmentally friendly process for desulfurization from wastewater. Three factors including initial pH, initial sulfate concentration and current density were selected as the effective factors and were optimized using response surface methodology. An initial pH of 8, initial sulfate concentration of80mg/l and current density of12mA/cm(2)were determined to be optimum values by the statistical models. The maximum sulfate removal and minimum sludge generation under optimal conditions were 68.5% and 0.075g, respectively. The kinetics of sulfate removal study investigated the pseudo-first models were better described experimental data and was selected as overall kinetic removal of sulfate

Assessment of bacterial bioaerosols and particulate matter characteristics in indoor air of dentistry clinics

Objectives: Air pollutants in dentistry offices may cause problems for the health of staff and patients. Accordingly, the present study was performed to the assessment of bacterial bioaerosols and particulate matter (PM) characteristics in the indoor air of dentistry clinics.Methods: The sampling points were restoration, endodontics, and prosthesis wards. The PM specimens were taken using Grimm Dust Monitor and the microbial specimens were taken using QuickTake 30.Results: The maximum and minimum PM10 concentration across the different measure wards occurred as 70.31 and 30.32 μg/m3 in the Ketabchi Clinic restoration and its endodontics ward, respectively. The total number of bioaerosols was 2079. Gram‑positive Staphylococcus spp.(872), Gram‑positive Micrococcus spp.(706), and Gram‑negative Bacillus spp.(501) were present in the indoor air. The results showed a significant relationship for PM1 and PM2.5 in each sampling site.Conclusions: The low PM and bacterial bioaerosols contamination can be due to the coincidence with coronavirus pandemic, as during this period, health and hygienic protocols have been strictly observed

Determining the Concentration of Particulate Matters and Microbiological Quality of Indoor Air in Intensive Care Units of Kashan Hospital, Iran

Introduction: Maintaining hospital air quality is very important, especially in intensive care units (ICUs), where patients undergo invasive procedures. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between particulate matters (PMs) and bioaerosols in pediatric ICU (PICU), neonatal ICU (NICU), and ICU open heart (ICU OH) of Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Kashan. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted for six consecutive months, i.e., autumn and winter of 2021. PM samples were taken using a Grimm Dust Monitor and microbial samples were taken using a Quick Take 30 sampler. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used for analysis and then ANOVA and LSD were used for further tests. Results: The maximum and minimum PM10 concentrations in the PICU and ICU OH were 59.19 and 9.71 μg/m3, respectively; and the maximum and minimum PM2.5 concentrations were 20.23 μg/m3 in the NICU and 4.69 μg/m3 in PICU. The mean PM concentration and the number of bacterial and fungal colonies were consistent with the WHO and EPA guidelines. Gram-positive Staphylococcus were the most abundant bacteria (90.96%). The most abundant fungi were Aspergillus (54.23%), Penicillium (15.64%), and Cladosperium (12.17%) species. There was also no significant relationship between PMs and bioaerosols. Conclusion: The mean concentrations of PMs and bioaerosols match with the guidelines, which can be attributed to more observance of health protocols and restrictions on the movement of people into ICUs due to the COVID-19 outbreak

Microbiological Quality of Drinking Water in Rural Areas of a City

Background & Aims of the Study: &nbsp;Lack of access to safe drinking water can lead to undesirable aesthetic problems and adverse health effects such as infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbiological quality of the drinking water distribution network in Divandareh City (Kordestan-western Iran). Materials & Methods: &nbsp;This study was performed in a 12 months period from March 2011 to February 2012. For purposes&nbsp; of drinking water resources quality measurement in Divandareh City,&nbsp; samples from springs, deep and semi-deep wells were analyzed for&nbsp; residual free chlorines, turbidity, total and fecal coliform. The size of samples was 2088 and the sampling was performed according to guidelines of WHO for water sampling. The results were analyzed using the Statistical software SPSS and Excel and for the comparison between average parameters ANOVA test were used. Results: &nbsp;In 95% of samples, the residual free chlorine was in the range of 0 to 0.5 mg/L, turbidity 0 to 1.8 NTU and total and fecal coliforms 0 to 240 and 0 to 9.1 (MPN/100mL), respectively. According to data analysis, the chlorine residual and turbidity had significant effect on the amount of thermophilic coliforms (P=0.047). Conclusions: &nbsp;High rate of total and fecal coliforms in the drinking water is due to failures in the transport system, lack of sanitation in the water resource, and lack or failure in the chlorination system

Speciation of As(ΙΙΙ)/As(V) and Total Inorganic Arsenic in Biological Fluids Using New Mode of Liquid-Phase Microextraction and Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry.

In this paper, a new extraction method based on countercurrent liquid–liquid microextraction (CLLME) has been developed for the extraction and preconcentration of inorganic arsenic (iAs) in plasma and urine samples prior to their analysis by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). In this method, firstly, 5 ml of water is added to the extraction vessel. Then 30.0 μl of the extracting solvent is added to it in order for the extracting solvent to be placed in the narrow-necked vessel. In total, 10 ml of a standard solution or a pretreated real sample is added to the sample container and it is connected to the extraction vessel via a connector. While opening the embedded valve at the bottom of the sample container and the one in the extraction vessel, the sample solution flows into the extracting solvent with the same flow rate, leading to the successful extraction of metal ligand into the extracting organic solvent. Under the optimum conditions, calibration curves are linear in the range of 0.1–50 μg l−1, and limit of detections (LODs) are in the range of 0.03–0.05 μg l−1. The enhancement factor and enrichment factor were in the range of 220–240 and 198–212, respectively. Repeatability (intra-day) and reproducibility (inter-day) of method based on seven replicate measurements of 5.0 μg l−1 of arsenic were in the range of 2.3–3.5% and 4.0–5.7%, respectively. The applicability of the proposed CLLME and ETAAS methods was demonstrated by analyzing the iAs in spiked urine and plasma samples. The obtained recoveries of the arsenic in the range of 92–107% indicated the excellent capability of the developed method for speciation of arsenic from plasma and urine samples