Self-purification of marine environments for heavy metals: a study on removal of lead(II) and copper(II) by cuttlebone

The aim of this study was to determine adsorption properties of cuttlebone, cuttlefish bone as dead biomass, for lead(II) and copper(II) from aqueous solutions. Adsorption kinetic, isotherm and effect of pH (in the range of 2.0–7.0) were investigated in a single component batch system at room temperature (25±1 WC). The heavy metal adsorption by cuttlebone was relatively rapid and reached to equilibrium in 120 min in all the cases. The pseudo-second order rate equation described the adsorption kinetic of both the ions. The adsorption capacities of Pb2þ and Cu2þ were constantly increased by pH and the optimum condition of pH was determined to be 7.0. The Freundlich model was better fitted than other models with the isotherm data indicating sorption of the metal ions in a heterogeneous surface. According to the Langmuir model, the maximum adsorption capacities (qm) of cuttlebone for Pb2þ and Cu2þ were determined to be 45.9 and 39.9 mg/g, respectively. The results indicated cuttlebone as a promising adsorbent for Pb2þ and Cu2þ that presents a high capacity of self-purification in marine environments as well as can be used for removal of the metal ions from water and wastewater

Association of Diabetic Retinopathy and Sleep Quality

Sleep disorders are more common in diabetes mellitus (DM) cases rather than normal ones. In addition, this condition could be associated with diabetic retinopathy (DR) development with more inflammatory indices in circulation. In the present study, we have evaluated the association between DR and sleep quality. This cross-sectional study is a part of the second phase of the study of the elderly cohort of Amirkola City, which was conducted in 2015-2016 on all people aged 60 and higher. Of all diabetic cases, 44 cases had retinopathy and were selected as the case group. To compare two control groups, 135 diabetic patients without retinopathy and 135 people without diabetes were randomly selected. The presence and type of retinopathy were determined based on an eye physical examination by an ophthalmologist. In addition, sleep quality was evaluated based on the Pittsburgh Questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed by ANOVA, t-test, and linear regression tests. In the present study, there was a significant difference in the score of the Pittsburgh questionnaire between people with DR (45.5±68.2) compared to diabetic people without retinopathy (76.5±48.2) and people without diabetes (95.4±36.2) (P=0.470), but diabetic people without retinopathy had significantly worse sleep quality than people without diabetes (P=0.019). Also, sleep quality in women with DR was worse than in men (P=014). In the linear regression analysis, it was observed that age, gender, diabetes, and history of depression significantly affect the sleep quality of the evaluated cases (P<0.05 for all). According to the results of the present study, DR does not negatively influence the quality of sleep, and DR is not related to sleep disorders

Age-Specific Distribution of Intraocular Pressure in Elderly Iranian Population and Its Associated Factors

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the distribution of intraocular pressure (IOP) and assess its association with age, sex, systemic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, body mass index (BMI) and tobacco smoking in Iranian elderly population. Methods: This cohort-based, cross-sectional study assessed elderly individuals aged 60-90 years in Amirkola, northern Iran, in 2016-2017. Past medical history, blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, BMI and tobacco smoking were recorded through an interview and physical examination. IOP was assessed using non-contact tonometry. Results: Total of 1377 individuals participated in this study, out of which 1346 IOP measurements were included for the final analysis. The mean age of participants was 69.4 &#177; 7.1 years and mean IOP was determined to be 16.7 &#177; 3.2 mmHg. Majority of the participants were males (56.1 vs 43.1), 73.8 of participants were overweight or obese, 6.1 smoked tobacco, 28.9 had diabetes mellitus and 84.9 had higher than normal blood pressure. Through multiple regression analysis, it was determined that age (&#946;=-0.132, p&#60;0.001) was negatively associated with IOP, and the presence of diabetes mellitus (&#946;=0.118, p&#60;0.001), systolic blood pressure (&#946;=0.101, p&#60;0.001), and BMI (&#946;=0.020, P=0.020) were positively associated with IOP. Conclusion: Mean IOP of individuals in this study was higher than average based on other studies. Age, was negatively and systemic blood pressure, BMI and presence of diabetes mellitus were positively associated with mean IOP of elderly Iranian population. Sex and tobacco smoking were not correlated with IOP. &#160

Hopelessness and Dysfunctional Attitude in Children Under the Support of Child Labor Centers in the South of Tehran in 2021

Background & Aims One of the problems that threatens children in developing countries is the issue of child labor. Working children have lower hope for the future than their normal peers. Working in childhood can have a negative effect on the growth and cognitive performance of children. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of hopelessness and dysfunctional attitudes in working children of southern Tehran. Materials & Methods This is a descriptive-cross-sectional study. The study population consists of all working children and adolescents engaged in child labor aged 10-18 years under the support of child laborers support centers in the south of Tehran. Of these, 247 were selected for the study using a continuous sampling method that lasted 8 months from April to November 2021. The data collection tools were a demographic checklist and the children's dysfunctional attitude scale (DAS) of D’Alessandro and Burton, and the children's hopelessness scale (CHS) of Kazdin (1986). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (analysis of variance, independent t-test, and Pearson's correlation test) in SPSS software, version 16. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results The results showed that the average score of hopelessness (5.78±2.60) with a standard deviation of 5.78±2.60 was at a favorable level, among the dimensions of hopelessness, the average score of the dimension of future expectations (3.87±1.87) in hopelessness was higher than the dimension of happiness (2.00±1.39). The average ineffective attitude in the study was 96.16±74.11. Hopelessness only had a statistically significant relationship with the work status of the children in the study (P=0.029). There was no statistically significant correlation between ineffective attitude and hopelessness of working children (P<0.050). Hopelessness only had a statistically significant relationship with the work status of the children in the study (P=0.029). Conclusion It is recommended that interventional studies be conducted to improve the future expectations of children, and focus more on working children whose guardian is someone other than parents. Given the lack of a significant relationship between dysfunctional attitudes and hopelessness in working children in the south of Tehran, it is recommended that the mediating and confounding variables be investigated

Rapid and effective removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution using nanostructured clay particles

Natural mineral clays were extracted from the Syahkalahan mine and used as adsorbent matrices with the aim of removing lead ions (Pb) from drinking water. In this study, the chemical structure, surface morphology, and surface area of prepared clays were characterized using various techniques, including inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, powder X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface porosity analysis. Characterization results revealed that silica is the dominant chemical component of the clay. FE-SEM images of clay samples confirmed that the average size of clay’s particles is in the nanoscale range. The results for two different clays showed ion removal efficiency of > 92% under the following experimental conditions: clay weight = 1 g, [Pb(II)] =100 ppm, pH = 7, and time = 120 min. Additionally, for the clay samples exhibiting the best removal efficiency, the ion removal efficiency was studied as a function of reaction parameters such as pH, and concentration of both adsorbent and metal ions. To evaluate the adsorption kinetics and mechanism of ion adsorption, kinetic modeling and isotherm models (Langmuir and Freundlich) were performed under the optimized conditions. Based on the fitting analysis, it can be inferred that the adsorption kinetic follows a pseudo-first-order model and the Langmuir isotherm accurately describes the adsorption mechanism of Pb(II) ions on the clays’ surface. These findings further highlight that these inexpensive natural clays can be used as excellent matrices for the adsorption of heavy metal ions in various water treatment systems