Journal of Health
Year:2011 | Volume:1 | Issue:3 (3)|Papers Count:8

Background & Objectives: Industrial textile colors and other industrial dying materials are one of the important organic materials that increase environmental impacts. Therefore, it is necessary to treat those effluents prior to discharge into the environment. The aim of this research is evaluation of activated carbon made from walnut wood in removal of Azo dyes from textile effluent and determination of Acid Red18 Isotherm Models.Methods: This fundamental and practical study was done in laboratory scale. Various parameters including initial dye concentration, effect of mass of adsorbent and pH on color removal were surveyed. Residual concentration of dye was determined using, UV/VIS spectrometr at wavelength 599.Results: It was found that the Isotherm data of Acid Red18 dye followed Freundlich (R2>0.962) Isotherm. Using Langmuir model, the highest adsorption capacity was found to be 30.3 mg/g.Conclusion: In general, the results of the study showed that activated carbon made from walnut wood can be used as an effective adsorbent for the removal of Azo dyes.

Background & Objectives: Nowadays, public undrstanding on vermicompost process has increased and its deployment to convert organic waste into vermicompost has been increasingly expanded.Widely application of vermicompost requiers high level of knowledge on its process as well as the its effect on major indicators of quality control and organic fertilizer volume obtained from the raw waste.In this study the effect of vermicompost process, in which earth worm activity has substantial effect, on the indices such as the amount of carbon and nitrogen, C/N ratio, pH and volume of waste during the vermicompost production process was investigated.Methods: In this study food waste used as raw material for vermicompost. After initial preparation, food wastes were composted using Eisenia foetida species for one month and the above mentioned indicators were monitored.Results: final pH and C/N ratio after 1 month vermicomposting process were 7.53 and 20.82, respectively. There was 56% reduction in waste volume in preparation stage and 11.75% in vermicompost process.Conclusion: Results showed the ability of vermicomposting to change above factors appropriately and that the final product can be used as fertilizer. In some cases factors like pH reaches to standard value of an A class compost during 1 month processing.

Background and Objective: Hairdressing is one of the important occupations influencing population health especially women. This research has been done to determine the degree of knowledge, attitude, and practice of Damghan women hairdressers in the field of personal and general hygiene.Method: This analytical descriptive research was performed on 87 female hair dressers in Damghan. Data were collected using a questionnaire arranged in four fields (i.e. personal and vocational sanitation, Measuring the attitude and tendency to apply it, hygienic function, and compliance with article 13 of Iranian code of practice on beauty salons). The data were analyzed using SPSS soft ware version 16.Results: The average age for the subjects was 31.92 with standard deviation of 7.6. 20.7 percent of cases had academic education, 65.5 percent had diploma and the remaining with lower than high school degree. Only 8 percent of them had good hygienic information. The main source of information for 54 percents of subjects was health care workers. 69 percent of hairdressers had suitable personal hygienic condition. Only 46 percents had a complete vaccination certificate for hepatitis B and 87.3 percent believed that they are at risk of infectious diseases and 62 percents were concerned about Hepatitis. There was a significant relationship between work experience and correctly antisepticising methods of instruments (p<0.05).Conclusion: Lack of the comprehensive health knowledge and practice, highlight the need for promotion of knowledge, attitude, and practice of hairdressers through training courses.

Background and Objective: Textile wastewaters are known as an important environmental pollutant. The main characteristic of textile wastewater is its colorness, which contains various organic and inorganic pollutants. Therefore it is necessary to treat such effluent effectively before discharging into the environment.Methods: In a fundamental-applicable study, removal efficiency of Acid red 18 and Acid red 14 using zero valent iron powder has been investigated. Parameters studied include pH (3-11), contact time (15-120 min), and initial concentration of iron powder (0.5-2 g/L).Results: Batch experiments show that dye removal was increased with increasing mass of iron powder and contact time, while decreased with increasing of pH. The high removal efficiency was observed in pH=3, contact time=120 min and iron powder concentration of 2 g/L. The result of kinetic studies shows that removal of Acid red 18 and Acid red 14 was best described by pseudo-second order kinetic model.Conclusion: the overall results of present work shows efficient removal of Acid red 18 and acid 14 by zero valent iron powder.

Background and Objectives: Dysmenorrhea is the most common gynecologic problem in females that affect personal and social activities. Considering importance of recognition of dysmenorrhea and its treatment, this study conducted to survey dysmenorrhea frequency and severity and its related factors in female students of Ardabil University of medical science.Methods: In this descriptive analytical study 251 students were studied using a questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS 11.5.Results: The Mean age of menarche was 13.42±1.2 (years). 64.9% of students had dysmenorrhea. Dysmenorrhea was mild in 22%, modrate in 67% and severe in 11% of the students. There was a family history of dysmenorrhea in 64.1%. There was statistically significant relationship between dysmenorrhea and economic situation, bleeding volume, exercise, stress, and family history of dysmenorrhea (p=000). However, no statistically significant relationships were observed between dysmenorrheal and menarche age and BMI (p>0.05).Conclusion: Considering high prevalence of Dysmenorrhea that affect personal and social activities, raising awareness of female students about Dysmenorrhea and its treatment are necessary to promote students health.

Background and Objectives: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a parasitic disease that its incidence has been reported in all continents except Australia. High prevalence of the disease has been observed in Iran and Soudai Arabia. BASNEF model is one of the most comprehensive models for behavior study as well as the forming new behaviors. Considering the endemic property of CL in Yazd city and important role of health volunteers to educate families, this study was conducted to explore contributing factors to educational behaviors of health volunteers to prevent cutaneous leishmaniasis based on BASNEF model.Methods: In a descriptive and analytical study, all health volunteers working in endemic regions of Yazd city (60 volunteers) fulfilled a questionnaire which was based on BASNEF model. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: Educational behaviors of health volunteers weren’t in a desired level. Health workers were identified as the most influential people for training of health volunteers (subjective norms). There was a significant positive correlation between behavior and attitude, behavioral intention, and enabling factors. There was also a positive correlation between attitude and knowledge, behavioral intention, and enabling factors.Conclusion: Only giving awareness to health volunteers can not create educational practice in them. We should enable them to educate families through effective training program that can give positive attitude and enabling factors to health workers and health volunteers.

Background & Objective: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies in the world and an important public health problem in developing countries, especially among children and women. The objective of this research was determination of the effect of education on knowledge, attitude & practice (KAP) of mid-school girls about iron-deficiency anemia.Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 600 mid-school students were randomly selected and divided in two groups (300 students each group). Data were collected by a questionnaire. A pre-test was taken for each group and 8 weeks after intervention (implementation of learning by lecture, discussion and distributing pamphlet), a post-test was taken. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistic using SPSS 11.5/win.Results: Findings indicated no statistically significant difference between KAP among two groups after intervention. Logistic regression test showed that, father's education and job title were predictive factors.Conclusion: Implementation of longer period of educational programs and applying new educational methods to improve student's KAP on IDA are recommended.

Background and Objective: Considering importance of wastewater treatment and disposal in contemporary societies as well as the possibility of effluent discharge of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) to water courses, or reusing it; this study conducted to assess efficiency of Zanjan WWTP in 2008.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed from June to March 2008 in Zanjan WWTP. Sampling was accomplished from inlet and outlet flow of treatment plant and measurement of TSS, BOD5,COD, MLSS, MLVSS, and SVI indices in aeration ponds were done based on standard method version 20.Results: Removal efficiency of TSS, BOD5, and COD was 77.91, 87.25 and 87.29 percent with respective average concentration of 30.2, 18.63 and 33.37 milligram per liter in outlet flow. These results are in accordance with standards of Iranian Department of Environment to be used for agricultural purposes.Conclusion: efficiency of pollutants removal in Zanjan WWTP is around 84 percent which complies with Iranian regulation, thus the flow is suitable for reuse or discharge to water courses.