JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND HYGIENE
Year:2014 | Volume:5 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

Background & Objectives: High concentration of aluminum in drinking water may cause adverse health effects. But adding phosphate compounds after coagulant can reduce the concentrations of residual metals. The aim of this study was to apply phosphate compounds to remove residual aluminum resulting from water coagulation process.Methods: In this research, Jar tests were used to investigate residual Al removal by use of phosphate compounds in conventional and enhanced coagulation and to determine its affecting parameters. Phosphate compounds were added during rapid mixing. Dosage of alum in conventional coagulation test was 10 mg/l and the tests were done at different temperatures (i.e.35, 22, and 5o C) and pHs (i.e.8.5, 7.5, 6.5, and 5.5). For enhanced coagulation tests, alum at dosages of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mg/l were applied in different pHs (i.e.5.5 and normal pH of water).Results: This research showed that phosphate compounds are effective in reducing residual metals. The maximum removal of residual Al was observed at coagulant dosage of 50 mg/l.Concentration of residual metals in conventional coagulation was different at various pHs.Minimum and maximum concentrations of Al were observed in pHs of 6.5 and 5.5, respectively.Conclusion: This study showed that addition of phosphate at rapid mixing stage reduces the residual Al. However, the required dosages of phosphate should be increased at pH=5.5.

Background & Objectives: Although zinc is an essential metal ion, however, its high concentration is toxic and has inhibitory effect on important functions of the cells. Purpose of present study is investigation of growth rate, resistance, and zinc elimination ability of isolated bacteria from Karun River.Methods: In this research water and sediment samples were taken from 4 stations in 3 seasons. Isolation of resistant bacteria was performed by enrichment and direct culturing on solid medium. Isolated bacteria were identified by using biochemical tests and their resistance was evaluated in LB broth medium containing 200 to 1400 mg/l of zinc chloride. Growth of resistant bacteria and their ability to remove zinc were investigated at zinc chloride concentration of 260 mg/l.Results: Bacteria such as Pseudomonas, E. coli, Salmonella, and Citrobacter were identified as zinc resistant bacteria. Some of the bacteria were able to tolerate 1000 mg/l of zinc chloride concentration. Zinc removal ability of bacteria isolated in each season varied from 39 to 68%. Pseudomonas isolated in summer showed the highest growth in presence of zinc.Conclusion: Isolated bacteria from zinc contaminated sites have the potential for zinc elimination. Growth curves of resistant bacteria followed standard growth curves in presence of 260 mg/l of zinc chloride.Pseudomonas isolated in summer showed the highest zinc removal rate with an efficiency of 68%.

Background & Objectives: This study aimed at evaluating the water quality of thermal springs of Nir, Ardabil province, with emphasize onS. aureus bacteria, as one of the organisms that involved in skin and eye infection, in the first half of 2011.Methods: In this study, 45 samples were collected from all thermal springs of Nir from May to September. The levels of free residual chlorine, temperature, pH, turbidity, H2S, ORP, DO, and EC were measured in situ by portable devices. Total coliform, fecal coliform, Staphylococcus aurous, fecal streptococci and HPC were determined according to Standard methods for examination of water and wastewater.Results: The results showed that the highest levels of contamination to total coliform, fecal coliform, Staphylococcus aurous, and HPC were occurred in July. The lowest contamination to fecal streptococcus (maximum 11 MPN/100) was observed in August. Significant difference was observed between the months of sampling andS. aureus contamination (p<0.001). On the other hand, S. aureus contamination showed significant inverse correlation with water temperature and directly correlated with turbidity (p<0.05). There has been no statistically significant correlation between bacterial contamination and pH and H2S.Conclusion: The results showed that Staphylococcus aureus contamination level in 86.67% of samples were higher than the standard limits (MPN/100<50), which is a significant alarm for occurrence of skin diseases and probable infections to swimmers.

Background & Objectives: Increased fast food consumption has recently influenced community health. Therefore, understanding the reasons for fast food consumption, consumption rate, and preventing from their increasing consumption are very important. This study was conducted to survey the rate of fast food consumption among population of Ardabil city.Methods: For this analytical descriptive study, 200 healthy adults aged from 14 to 47 years were selected from different regions of Ardabil city using convenience sampling method. Data were collected by general and professional questionnaires using interview method. Validity of questionnaires was proved by specialists in the fields of health education and nutrition. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics; ANOVA and Chi-square, in SPSS V.16 software.Results: The results showed that fast food consumption was significantly higher among residents of urban than rural areas (p<0.05). Significant differences were observed between type and frequency of fast food consumption and individual’s occupations well as the type of consumed fast food and educational levels (p<0.05). No significant difference was found between type of consumed fast food and age of the subjects.Conclusion: The results indicated that fast food consumption is common among all occupations and the studied subjects probably due to increasing involvement and shortage in time. Type of occupation and level of education can also affect the type and frequency of fast food consumption.

Background & Objectives: Puberty is a sensitive period during which the adolescent experiences rapid changes in aggressive behavior and cognitive distortions comparing to the physical changes. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of puberty mental health training on aggression and fear of body image in male second grade high school students in Ahvaz.Method: The research method was quasi experimental with pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical community was all high school students in male second grade high schools of Ahvaz in the academic year of 2011-12. Among these, 30 individuals were selected using multi stage random sampling method and placed randomly into two experimental and control groups (i.e.15 persons in each group). The experimental group received 8 sessions of puberty mental health training while the control group did not receive any intervention. Aggression and fear of body image questionnaires were administered prior and after intervention for both experimental and control groups. Data were analyzed using multivariable covariance analysis.Results: The results of covariance analysis showed that aggression and fear of body image in experimental group significantly decreased comparing to the control group.Conclusion: It seems puberty mental health training to be effective on reducing aggression and fear of body image of students in the puberty age.

Background & objectives: Problems associated with dusts, especially those of smaller than 10 microns, are one of the most important problems related to air pollution. Dusts entering to the atmosphere are driven from arid and semiarid regions. The aim of this study is determination of seasonal air quality variations in terms of PM10 concentration for Kermanshah city over a four-year period (2008-2011).Methods: For this descriptive –analytical study a total number of 1334 samples were collected in different seasons from air pollution measurement stations of Kermanshah Environmental Protection Organization during four years of study. The Data were analyzed by SPSS.Results: Results showed that over the period of 4 years, the total frequency percent of PM10 with good, healthy, unhealthy, very unhealthy, and dangerous criteria were 10.4, 59.2, 26.4, 0.7, and 3.3%, respectively. The respective highest and lowest frequencies of PM10 emissions with good criteria (0-50) occurred in February (37.7%) and June and July (0%); in winter (21.96%) and summer (4.81%).Conclusion: The results showed that July and summer had the worst air quality in terms of PM10 concentration, which was mainly due to the frequency and intensity of dust entrance in mentioned period of time. Hence, it is necessary to reduce emission of such pollutant sat national management level with cooperation of neighboring country.

Background & Objective: Nosocomial infections are one of the most important problems in hospitals. Due to the important role of environmental factors on these infections, compliance with environmental health standards is of particular importance in reduction of hospital acquired infection. The aim of the present study was to evaluate compliance with environmental health standards in educational hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences.Methods: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study that includes four educational hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected by a questionnaire filled in through interview and observation of different wards. Based on the scores obtained by various hospitals and departments, the status of environmental health was classified into three categories: favorable, relatively favorable (moderate), and unfavorable conditions.Results: Mean and standard deviation of scores of environmental health status in studied hospitals were 80.1±10.9. Environmental health status was favorable in 25% of the hospitals and 39.7% of the wards. The status of these standards was favorable in 44.45% of the intensive care units, 45.7 % of inpatient departments, 31.25% of the logistic services and 25% of the diagnostic units.Conclusion: This study showed that compliance with environmental health standards was not favorable in most educational hospitals. This poor environmental health condition can cause and spread nosocomial infections. Therefore, more attempts should be made to improve environmental health in these hospitals.

Background & Objectives: Quality study is very important given that the issue of quality is a great health challenge in most communities. Satisfaction of service’s recipients accounts for a main part in this regard and it is an important tool to measure quality of health and medical services. This study aimed at measuring the quality of the services provided by family physician team from recipients’ perspective.Methods: Present descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in autumn 2009 in Ajabshir city. Study population included all the service recipients of family physician and the sample comprised of 140 individuals selected by random classification method. Data collection instruments were researcher designed questionnaires that measured 9 aspects of quality. Collected data were analyzed using statistical tests by SPSS 15.Results: Mean score for quality of services provided by family physicians was 45.17±11.16 and satisfaction rate from quality of these services was 10 percent. 35.7% of the subjects were dissatisfied with the services. Among the studied indices, efficiency had the highest mean score of 64.3±13.4 and the highest satisfaction rate (70.7%). On the other hand, the lowest mean score (28.4±12.3) and satisfaction rate (0%) was related to availability.Conclusion: Performance of some services provided by family physician was found to be poor and level of quality was not desirable. Planning to improve some indices such as “availability” and “amenities” by authorities can improve quality of services provided by family physicians and satisfaction among services’ recipients.