JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND HYGIENE
Year:2019 | Volume:10 | Issue:3|Papers Count:10

Background & objectives: Antibiotics are potentially harmful contaminants, which can cause harmful effects on environmental equilibrium of ecosystems and the food chain. The aim of this study was to investigate the removal of ceftriaxone antibiotic by Saccharomyces Cerevisiae biosorbent from aquatic environments. Methods: This experimental study was conducted in a lab-scale batch reactor as discontinuous. The fungus strain was collected from the “ Persian Type Culture Collection of Iran” . After activating fungus strain, the plates were placed in incubator for 7 to 10 days at 25° C. Fungus cultures were transferred to a potato dextrose agar medium (PDA) in the form of dry ice and subsequently cultivated in potato dextrose broth (PDB) medium. In order to determine the adsorption efficiency of ceftriaxone from aqueous solutions, the impact of variables effected on adsorption including pH, initial concentration of antibiotic, biosorbent dose, contact time and temperature were investigated. The physical, structural and surface properties of produced biosorbent were determined by FTIR, SEM and BET techniques. Also, thermodynamic parameters, adsorption isotherms and adsorption kinetics were studied. Ceftriaxone concentrations were measured by UV-Visible spectrophotometer in 276 nm wavelength. Results: The results showed that the maximum absorption of ceftriaxone was 78% at pH=6, the initial ceftriaxone concentration of 10 mg/L, the absorbent dose of 0. 75 g, the contact time of 120 min and temperature of 25° C. The surface adsorption of Ceftriaxone on biosorbent was followed by Langmuir isotherm (R2=0. 903), and kinetic processes were more correlated with the Pseudo-second order model (R2=0. 961). Conclusion: It can be concluded from present study that the biosorbent produced from baker's yeast can be used as an effective and inexpensive adsorbent for ceftriaxone removal from aqueous solutions.

Background & objectives: Dyes are one of the main environmental pollutants of textile industrial wastewater which are toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, and non-biodegradable. Therefore, in this study, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to investigate the operational parameters and determine the optimum conditions for the removal of acid blue 113 in the presence of bentonite. Methods: The structure and morphology of bentonite adsorbent was investigated by XRD, FESEM and XRF techniques. Experiments were carried out as central composite design with four input parameters namely reaction time, initial pH, adsorbent dosage and initial concentration of dye at three levels. Adsorption isotherms and kinetics model were investigated to evaluate the adsorption process in different concentrations. Results: The results of physical-chemical analysis confirmed the structure of bentonite. The proposed model (Quadratic) was confirmed with high correlation coefficient (R2=0. 9872 and R2 Adj=0. 9724) indicated that the experimental and predicted results were very consistent with the model. Finally, under optimal conditions (initial concentration=10. 32 mg/L, absorbent dose=0. 53 g/L, reaction time=82. 94 min and pH=3. 06) the removal efficiency was 98. 62% with a desirability of 0. 945 for acid blue 113. Adsorption isotherm and kinetic studies indicated that adsorption process followed Freundlich isotherm (0. 9216), whereas the kinetic model found to fit well with pseudo-second-order kinetics (0. 9985). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that natural bentonite absorbent had high ability to remove acid blue 113. In addition, the central composite design could be used as an effective method to optimize the dye adsorption from industrial wastewater containing high concentrations of dye.

Background & objectives: The tendency of humans, especially women, to have the beautiful appearance, has increased the use of the chemical hair colors. Heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and nickel are present in these products as a preservative and colorant. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of these elements in Iranian and foreign hair colors brands and compare them. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study. Four Iranian and four foreign brands of hair colors were selected and collected from the hairdresser's of Hamadan. After the acid digestion process, the concentration of three elements of lead, arsenic and nickel was measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy and reported as micrograms per kilogram of dry weight. SPSS 24 software was used for statistical analysis and independent t-test and ANOVA were used for comparing Iranian and foreign brands. Results: The mean concentrations of lead, arsenic and nickel in 4 types of Iranian hair colors were 14. 5, 12. 01 and 8. 78 (μ g/kg), respectively. The mean concentrations of these three elements in 4 types of foreign hair colors were 5. 39, 0. 91 and 1. 92 (μ g/kg), respectively. There was a significant difference between the concentrations of lead, nickel and arsenic in Iranian compared to foreign hair colors (p<0. 05). Conclusion: The mean concentrations of lead, nickel and arsenic in both Iranian and foreign brands were within the range suggested by Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Although, the average levels of these elements in Iranian hair colors were higher than foreign brands. Therefore, it is necessary to take appropriate measures to develop a national standard and control the quality of this type of cosmetics.

Background & objectives: Modeling with software is a fast way to predict the extent of material release range and simulate its consequences. Due the arrival of the large number of dangerous goods, including styrene, from the petrochemical industries to the port of Imam Khomeini, it is necessary to evaluate the consequences and potential damages of this material. This study was conducted in 2014 in Imam Khomeini Port Container Terminal with the aim of predicting and estimating the possible human and environmental consequences of the release of this hazardous material during transportation process. Methods: In this study, with the use of PHAST and ALOHA softwares, the effect of toxicity of styrene was studied as a dangerous good entered into the container terminal. The analysis was performed by identifying the range of areas with highest adverse effects. Results: According to the results, the extent of pollution coverage (the forbidden region) was at least in a radius of 67 meters and the best place for placement of support groups was in a radius of 329 meters of dangerous goods area. The study also showed that based on the coverage of the risk range in these modeling, ALOHA software had a high environmental sensitivity, because the amount of LOCs considered in the consequence of the explosion was lower and it considered more danger zones. Finally, management measures were pointed to prevent or reduce the potential consequences of hazardous goods storage sites and warehouses in the study area. Conclusion: The environmental outcomes of dangerous goods containers in Imam Khomeini port are likely to be probable. So that the release consequences of these materials can cause a lot of environmental damage and accidents. Therefore, it can be said that modeling using software in this study played a key role in managing the area of hazardous materials containers.

Background& objectives: Due to the high number of small workshops in the country, the numerous workforce of them from one hand, the existing noise as one of the harmful factors in the working environment and the importance of workers’ health from the other hand, this study was conducted with the aim of identifying the effect of training intervention of hearing protection devices use based on BASNEF model on the workers of Hamadan small workshops. Method: This study was performed in two groups of 45 workers. Data were collected through BASNEF questionnaire before and after 3 months of training intervention. Experimental group received three sessions of training intervention (theoretical and practical), while the control group received no trainings. The data were analyzed by SPSS software version 17. Results: The results showed that the mean score of all BASNEF model’ s areas were increased significantly after training intervention relative to the former. In addition, the findings indicated that among all areas of BASNEF model, the highest score was related to behavioral intention, whereas the lowest was related to the performance. Conclusion: The BASNEF training intervention had an important role in increasing the awareness and attitude of people and also their behavior and performance in relation to the usage of hearing protection devices. This lead to the increased duration of earmuff’ s usage and decreased hearing threshold variation of workers who were exposed to excessive noise.

Background & objectives: Anthropometric indices are one of the reliable criteria for assessing children's health status, since the mother's psychological characteristics and conditions can greatly affect the quality of her relationship with the child. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between maternal mental health and children's anthropometric indices in mothers and children referred to Ardabil health centers in 2015. Methods: This is a descriptive-analytic study of cross-sectional type. 117 mothers and their children (under 5 years old) referred to the health centers of the Ardabil city were selected by random sampling method. To collect the information needed from mothers, a demographic questionnaire and a GHQ-28 questionnaire were used. Children's anthropometric indices were used to collect the information about children. Data were analyzed by SPSS-16 software, using correlation analysis and independent t-test. Results: The results of this study showed that 59% of women were suspected of having mental problems which included social functioning problem (94. 9%), anxiety (38. 5%), physiological (41%) and depression (5. 14%). Also, the means of weight and height indices of children were 37. 84± 31. 31 and 39. 57± 32. 17, respectively. The results of statistical analysis showed that 69. 2% of children had a weight index of less than 50 and 61. 5% had a height index of lower than 50. Also, statistical results showed the correlation only between the maternal somatization subscale with child weight (p<0. 01). For others, no correlation was observed between the variables with the weight and height indices of the child. Conclusion: The data obtained from this study show that the mental health of mothers can play an important role in the growth and development of children. Therefore, health care providers' awareness of changes in women's mental health status is important for planning toward improving their mental health and the anthropometric indices of their children.

Background & objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the spiritual health, life expectancy and death anxiety in two groups of patients with curable cancer and non-cancer patients, taking into account the role of gender. Methods: The method of this study was causal-comparative method. The statistical population was cancer patients referring to private cancer treatment centers and non-cancer patients referring to Shiraz private health centers. The selection of 100 cancer patients (50 men/50 women) was performed using available sampling method. To select 100 non-cancer individuals (50 men/50 women), a random sampling method was used. The research instruments were included Palutzian and Ellison Spiritual Health Questionnaire, the Snyder Hope Scale Questionnaire and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using factorial analysis of variance. Results: According to the results of this study, there was no significant difference between males and females in terms of spiritual health variable. But the life expectancy variable was reported more frequently in men than other groups. Also, there was a significant difference in the death anxiety index in cancer patients compared with non-cancer individuals, with the highest mean for men with cancer and the lowest mean for non-cancer men. Conclusion: Accurate knowledge about and obtaining a proper understanding of the emotions and attitudes of patient towards their illness and their mental and spiritual abilities in coping with illness and even death can be advantageous for the treatment team and the family of patients in order to help these patients.

Background & objectives: The quality of sleep and life are variables that have a very important role in organizing the social, physical and psychological aspects of human. This study aimed to compare the quality of life and sleep of active and passive soldiers. Methods: Among 400 soldiers of shahid Abbas Doran Air Force base in Shiraz, 200 soldiers were selected by available sampling method and participated in this descriptive study. They were divided into two groups of active and inactive based on the amount of their physical activity per week and completed the Pittsburgh sleep quality and quality of life (SF-36) questionnaires. For data analysis, Mann-Whitney test was used in SPSS-16 software. Results: The results showed that there was no difference between passive and active soldiers in the scale of the delay in falling asleep (p=0. 41) and use of sleep medications (p=0. 13), While there was a significant difference in overall score and other sleep quality variables (p<0. 05). It was also found that there were significant differences in the quality of life variables between active and inactive soldiers (p<0. 05). Conclusion: Since active soldiers have better sleep quality and quality of life than passive soldiers, it can be concluded that the physical activity and exercise can have a positive impact on the quality of sleep and life of soldiers.

Background & objectives: Primary health services are inseparable part of health care system in each country and the assessment of quality of life is fundamental in the evaluation of healthcare system’ s quality. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of primary healthcare services and its effect on quality of life in the recipients of these services in a health center and its subsection offices. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study was conducted on 219 recipients of health services in a health center and its six subsection offices in 2016. Data collection tools were SF-36 questionnaire of life quality and a researcher-made questionnaire based on principles and components of primary healthcare. Data were analyzed using Spearman correlation coefficient, Krus-Kal Wallis and Mann Whitney tests in SPSS-20 software. Results: The mean and standard deviation of the primary healthcare service was 42. 66± 16. 25. 58% of participants reported the good quality of primary healthcare services, 32% reported it as medium, and 10% as low. There were significant relationships between the quality of primary healthcare services with some subcomponents of SF-36 questionnaire including Pain (r=-0. 208, p=0. 002), global health (r= 0. 423, p<0. 001), and physical health (r=-0. 301, p<0. 001). Conclusion: The quality of primary healthcare services was higher than average and correlated with the quality of life in the recipients. With the correct assessment of the quality of life, it is possible to assess the quality of primary health services, however using objective methods alongside the questionnaires is necessary to have a more precious study.

Background & objectives: The Internet is used for different activities by many on a daily basis. The problematic internet use (PIU) is related to poor academic and job performances and also sleep problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of problematic internet use and its relationship with daytime sleepiness (DS). Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 280 medical students of the Ardabil University of Medical Sciences. Medical students were entered into the study using the convenience sampling method and were interviewed using the PIU and Epworth questionnaire. The statistical analysis was done by SPSS Version 23 using the chi-square test, Student’ s t-test and Pearson’ s correlation. Univariate linear regression analysis was applied to find the relation between PIU and DS. Results: The mean age of participants in the study was 23. 93 years with an SD of 2. 25. Most of the participants were 23-25 years old. The obtained results showed that 33. 6% of the participants had normal scores followed by 44. 8% mild disorder, 18. 4% moderate disorder, and 2. 3% severe disorder. The daily prevalence of daytime sleepiness was 11. 6%. There was a positive correlation between the improper use of the Internet and daytime sleepiness. Conclusion: PIU associated strongly with daytime sleepiness. Students should be educated and informed about the problematic internet use.