JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND HYGIENE
Year:2014 | Volume:5 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Background & Objectives: Phenol is a major toxicant present in industrial effluent that can adversely affect the biological treatment of wastewater. Conventional methods for removal of this chemical compound from wastewater are often expensive, hence; cheap and available methods for wastewater treatment are required. The aim of present research is to develop economic, fast, and versatile method for the removal of toxic organic pollutants from wastewater using membrane eggshell.Methods: In this research the effect of various parameters such as pH, contact time, temperature, dosage of shell membrane, and initial concentration of phenol were investigated. Central composite design (CCD) was applied to evaluate the effect of these variables. The chemical and physical characteristics of eggshell membranes were studied through SEM and XRF analysis.Results: The results indicated that the optimum values for pH, dosage of shell membrane, contact time, temperature, and initial concentration for phenol sorption were 3.63, 3.78 g, 115.50 min, 20oC and 5 mg/L, respectively. The results of the CCD analysis showed that pH and phenol concentrations are fundamental parameters affecting the efficiency.Conclusion: Results showed that eggshell, as a solid waste of the food industries, can be used as an effective sorbent for removal of phenol and other organic pollutants from aqueous solutions.

Background & Objectives: Different studies performed in the world and Iran reported the educational level of the mother, history of more than four pregnancies, living in rural areas, receiving no prenatal health care, and lack of access to maternal emergency services as the most important factors affecting maternal mortality rate. Few studies have determined contribution of indirect causes of maternal deaths. This study aimed to determine the contribution of indirect causes of a maternal death in Markazi province.Methods: This is a retrospective and descriptive-analytical study. Case report method and Root Cause Analysis (RCA), as an important method used in clinical epidemiology, were applied to describe and analyze a maternal mortality occurred in Markazi province, respectively. This approach deals with identification and solving the root causes of health problems (Sentinel Event). Data were collected by interview and inspection of written documents. Bayesian analysis and calculation of the conditional probabilities were applied using Netica 5.08 software.Results: Receiving no maternal prenatal care, not following the ministerial and provincial guidelines, lack of team working and coordination between medical specialists in the treatment of high-risk pregnant women in the hospital were identified as indirect causes of the maternal death. Indirect causes accounted for 43% of the maternal death.Conclusion: Indicating cardiomyopathy as a cause of death on death certificate of the mother was incorrect. Determining the principal cause of the death, Root Cause Analysis, and eliminating the indirect causes of the death play important roles on decreasing 50% of the maternal deaths.

Background & Objectives: Heavy metal fume is one of the most important risk factors in the workplaces. This study was performed to investigate unknown fumes with high concentrations and to reduce exposure stress among exposed workers in the site of scrap metal cutting in one of the country’s major steel industries.Methods: In this study, to determine the composition of unknown fumes produced from scrap cutting process, personal samples were collected from breathing zone of all exposed workers. Samples preparation and analysis were carried out based on NIOSH methods; Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry-AAS (Method 7300) and Induced Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry- ICP-AES (Method 7048).Results: From ten metals identified, only mean concentration of iron oxide exceeded Threshold Limit Value (TLV) and concentrations of the remaining nine metals were below the exposure limits.Conclusion: High concentrations of fumes generated from cutting process of scraps were mainly due to iron oxide. Therefore, concerns among workers and managers over presence of chemicals; such as cadmium and nickel, and their health effects were not the case. This was also confirmed by periodic examination results.

Background & Objectives: Presence of arsenic in water sources results in different health problems including; skin problems, cancer, and hypertension. This study was aimed to investigate the amount of arsenic removal from aqueous solution using carbon nanotubes in a continuous adsorption column.Methods: This was an applicable study and compares pre- and post-conditions. The influence of independent variables including dosage of carbon nanotubes, contact time, and breakthrough point on capacity of arsenic adsorption were studied.Results: Adsorption capacities of single wall and multiwall carbon nanotubes were about 148 and 95 mg/g, respectively. The experimental data were analyzed using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and equilibrium data indicate that Langmuir isotherm model to fit best for describing arsenic adsorption behavior on carbon nanotubes.Conclusions: Carbon nanotubes can be considered as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of arsenic from large volume of aqueous solutions.

Background & Objectives: The systematic application of screening methods helps early diagnosis and effective treatment of breast cancer. This study was conducted to assess the effects of education on health beliefs and practices of women regarding breast cancer screening using Health Belief Model (HBM).Methods: This quantitative experimental study was conducted on 144 women (case=72 and control=72) aged from 20 to 62 years in Shahid Behtash clinic, Lavizan area, Tehran. The data collection tool was a self-administered questionnaire that was developed based on Health Belief Model. Educational intervention was delivered to case group based on components of HBM and behavioral targets in 3 sessions; each session lasting for 1 hour. Pre-intervention health beliefs and practice of both groups were evaluated and compared with those of four months later.Results: Our findings indicated that educational interventions based on HBM considerably enhanced the cases’ knowledge comparing to control group and mean knowledge score was improved from 11.7 to 21.81 (p<0.001). Educational intervention improved the mean scores attained from model constructs, so that mean score of perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and self-efficacy in case group improved from 2.26 to 3.58, 1.93 to 6.24, 5.81 to 7.5, 4.57 to 13.79, and from 2 to 2.53, respectively.Conclusion: The results of present study revealed that educational interventions based on HBM can alter health beliefs of the society and considerably affect screening behavior like breast cancer screening.

Background & Objectives: Low back pain is a major problem among industrial workers. A major part of the work-related injuries is involvement of musculoskeletal system for which about 60% is related to back pain. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of low back pain and its association with work- and personal-related factors among workers of Hamadan province industries.Methods: For this descriptive analytical study, 400 workers were selected by systematic random sampling method. Data were collected using NORDIC and International Physical Activity questionnaire (IPAQ) questionnaires. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistical methods and chi-square test using SPSS software.Results: Our results showed that the average age, job tenure, and working hours per week of the subjects were, 34.85 years, 5.76 years, and 52.96 hours, respectively. 69.2, 19.2, and 11.6% of the subjects had respectively high, medium, and low physical activity levels. The prevalence of low back pain was 57.1%. There were significant relationships between LBP and job tenure (p=0.000), working hours per week (p=0.000), and level of physical activity (p=0.000).Conclusion: Prevalence of LPB was high (57.1%) despite the low job tenure and low age of the workers. Decreasing working hours per week, avoiding workers to do heavy physical activities, and limiting manual handling may improve work conditions and decrease the rate of back pain and prevent the risk of low back pain in the workplace.

Background & Objectives: Turbidity and colloidal factors are good shelters for growth and transmission of biological parameters as well as the factors affecting water usage from aesthetic point of view. Coagulating agents such as metal hydroxides are produced by the process of electrolysis. The coagulating agent combines with the pollutants to form large size flocs. This study aimed to investigate the efficiency of electrocoagulation-electrofloatation in removal of turbidity from aquatic environments.Methods: In a laboratory-scale fundamental-applicable study a plexiglass electrocoagulation reactor (24×17×18 cm) was made.4 iron/aluminum plates (electrode) with a dimension of 15 ×16 cm and thickness of 1mm were placed in parallel and 1.5 cm apart in the tank. A DC power supply with adjustable voltage (0-60 v) and amperage (0-6 amps) was used.Results:: The results showed that the highest turbidity removal from solution was obtained by aluminum electrode (97.60%) at pH of 7, potential difference of 50 volts, and contact time of 30 minutes. The maximum rate of turbidity removal from aqueous solution by using iron electrodes (89.92%) was achieved at pH=7, potential difference of 50 volts, and contact time of 30 minutes.Conclusion: based on experiments’ results, using electrocoagulation-electrofloatation has an appropriate efficiency in turbidity removal. It can also be concluded that the efficiency of Al electrode to remove turbidity from solution is higher than that of Fe electrode.

Background & Objectives: Prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes is one of the important goals of public health. In this way, Knowledge of women, participating in premarital counseling courses, on the risk factors associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes was investigated.Methods: In a descriptive cross-sectional study, knowledge of 400 women attending in the premarital counseling courses was investigated using random systematic sampling method. Data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire containing demographic characteristics and questions on the knowledge status. Content validity and reliability of the questionnaire were approved through specialists’ opinions and calculated Cronbach’s alpha of 0.94, respectively. Data were analyzed using frequency tables and chi-square test.Results: Mean knowledge of the subjects on risk factors was 5.85±3.39 and only 13.8% of individuals rated as good knowledge. The highest knowledge related to anemia and the lowest to smoking. Knowledge had significant relations with listening to lectures on folic acid, prepregnancy care, and education (p<0.01).Conclusion: In this study knowledge of majority of women were low. Therefore, planning to increase knowledge of women on details of the risks in the premarital counseling classes is necessary, especially for illiterate participants.