Iranian Journal of Health, Safety and Environment (IJHSE)
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Musculoskeletal Disorders among Iranian Coal Miners at 2014
Get PDFSome factors such as stooping posture and frequent kneeling in miners can increase prevalence of their musculoskeletal disorders Present study was performed for assessment of MSDs prevalence among Iranian coal miners and finds its relationships with some their characters including age, work experience and body mass index.
Participants in the persent cross sectional study, were 505 coal miners which selected among Iranian coal miners by simple random method. Data of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) gathered by Standardized Nordic self-reporting questionnaire. Demographic and work related data were collected into the check list.
Findings of persent study showed that 56.1% and 66.5% of study miners claimed one of the MSDs complaints during last week and in the last year respectively. Lumbar, Knee(s) and Back had most common MSDs prevalence at last week and year. MSDs prevalence had significant association with age (P≤0.02) and non-significant association with BMI (P≥0.8) of workers.
MSDs in Iranian coal miners were happened in high rate. Ergonomic interventions strategies in the workplaces must be focussed for elimination of environmental hazards such as apposition at the time of work, manual handling of heavy loads
Removal of Reactive Red 141 Dye from Synthetic Wastewater by Electrocoagulation Process: Investigation of Operational Parameters
Get PDFRelease of textile industries waste especially their dying effluent impose a serious pollution on the environment. Reactive dyes are one of the most used dyes which are recalcitrant to conventional treatment processes. In the performed project, the effectiveness of electrocoagulation process was studied on decolorization.
RR141 was selected as model dye and treatment process was performed in a simple batch of electrocoagulation (EC) cell using iron electrodes. Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to plan study runs. Experiments were done under 5 levels of various operational parameters at bench scale. Initial concentration of dye was varied among 50 and 500ppm, pH ranging from 4-12; retention time was ranged between 3-30 minutes, 1-3cm was selected as the distance between electrodes, and current intensity studied under the range of 5-30 mA/cm2.
EC treatment process of dyestuff wastewater was satisfactory at high levels of current density, pH, and retention time. While increasing the initial dye concentration and electrodes gap had a negative effect on decolorization performance. Determined optimal conditions to treat 200ml of sample were including pH: 9.68, electrode gap: 1.58cm, dye concentration: 180ppm, retention time: 10.82 minutes, and current intensity: 22.76mA/cm2. Successful removal of the model dye about 99.88% was recorded in the mentioned values of variables.
Simple design and operation of the experiments can be an interesting option for implementation and applying of inexpensive electrocoagulation treatment process which was successful to reach nearly a complete decolorization
A Randomized Trial to Compare Topical MJ1 with Routine Care for the Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
Get PDFThe objective of this study was to assess the relative efficacy and tolerability of topical MJ1 compared to routine care in the treatment of histologically proven CL. A total of 150 patients with 297 lesions were randomly allocated to receive either topical MJ1 agent as a paste to applied to the lesions without cover three times a day for 20 days or routine care (intramuscular injection of meglumine antimonate 20 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks or intralesional 0.5-1 cc for a total of four injection with one week interval). The primary end point of this study was the clinical cure of the lesion. Response to treatment was assessed at 1, 2, 3 and 8 weeks after start of therapy. Of the 132 lesions treated with MJ1, the mean size of lesions decreased from 423.9 to 30.4 mm2, 111 (84.1%) were reduced in size and 21 (15.9%) not responded. Correspondingly, in the 165 lesions treated with routine care, the mean size of lesions slightly increased from 295.8 to 330.5 mm2, 82 (49.7%) were reduced in size and 83 (50.3%) not responded. The differences were statistically significant (
An attenuation Layer for Electromagnetic Shielding in X- Band Frequency
Get PDFUncontrolled exposure to X-band frequency leads to health damage. One of the principles of radiation protection is shielding. But, conventional shielding materials have disadvantages. Therefore, studies of novel materials, as an alternative to conventional shielding materials, are required to obtain new electromagnetic shielding material. Therefore, this study investigated the electromagnetic shielding of two component epoxy thermosetting resin for the X - band frequency with workplace approach. Two components of epoxy resin mixed according to manufacturing instruction with the weight ratio that was 100:10 .Epoxy plates fabricated in three different thicknesses (2, 4 and 6mm) and shielding effectiveness measured by Vector Network Analyzer. Then, shielding effectiveness measured by the scattering parameters.The results showed that 6mm thickness of epoxy had the highest and 2mm had the lowest average of shielding effectiveness in X-band frequency that is 4.48 and 1.9 dB, respectively. Also, shielding effectiveness increased by increasing the thickness. But this increasing is useful up to 4mm. Percentage shielding effectiveness of attenuation for 6, 4 and 2mm thicknesses is 64.35%, 63.31% and 35.40%. Also, attenuation values for 4mm and 6mm thicknesses at 8.53 GHz and 8.52 GHz frequency are 77.15% and 82.95%, respectively, and can be used as favourite shields for the above frequency. 4mm-Epoxy is a suitable candidate for shielding application in X-band frequency range but, in the lower section, 6mm thickness is recommended. Finely, the shielding matrix can be used for selecting the proper thickness for electromagnetic shielding in X- Band frequency
Noise exposure inside transit buses in Kerman: measurements, drivers and passengers attitudes
No full textA comprehensive study was conducted with the objectives of evaluation of noise exposure in the workplace of bus drivers, and to find attitudes of passengers and drivers. This study consisted of two phases. In the first phase, Noise levels were measured in fifty buses. The evaluation of noise levels in the workplace of bus drivers was performed according to the Iranian legislation`s. Twenty four buses with noise levels above 85 dB (A) consider as an "unsafe" workplace. In the second phase, the attitude of 50 male drivers and 500 passengers concerning the annoyance and impact of noise on health were also surveyed. Second phase showed that 70% of drivers and 86.4% of passengers was nervousness from high level noise inside the buses. Eighty four percent drivers and 80% passengers felt noise had affected on their hearing. This study also affirmed that out of every seven drivers, six reported headache
Degradation of phenol with using of Fenton-like Processes from water
Get PDFPhenol is one of the serious pollutants from the chemical and petrochemical industries. This pollutant due to its convoluted structure is resistant to biodegradation. One of the methods that are useful to remove this pollutant is advanced oxidation (AOP).
A laboratory scale study was done on a synthetic wastewater containing phenol. All experiments were done in batch conditions and effect of variables pH, amount of hydrogen peroxide, iron dosage, contact time and an initial concentration on the phenol removal were tested. The remaining phenol concentration was evaluated using the DR-5000 device. In order to effect of these parameters, the experiment was performance at pH 2 to 6, 5 to 45 ml/ml of peroxide, and time of 5 to 60 minutes with 2 to 15 g/ml iron (Fe˚).
The optimum pH, the ratio of hydrogen, Fe˚and time were 3, 15 ml, 8g and 5 minutes respectively. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) index was chosen as the parameter for evaluation in this study. Result showed that mineralization of phenol was not complete. The COD removal efficiency was obtained 71%.
According to the results of this study, Fenton-like process can be used for conversion organic resistant compounds to other compounds with lower toxicity
A review of aflatoxin M1 in liquid milk
Get PDFMycotoxins continue to pose a health concern via human exposure to contaminated food. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), the hydroxylated metabolite of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), may be found in the milk of dairy cattle and other mammals. In humans, AFM1 is excreted through the feces, urine, and in the case of lactating mothers, also in breast milk after consumption of aflatoxin contaminated food. Concentration of AFM1 in milk is a function of several factors, namely: animal type, milking day, milk yield, season, feeding regime, geographic, and climatic conditions. A linear relationship has been established between the amount of AFM1 in milk and the amount of AFB1 in feed consumed by animals, emphasized at first on the reduction or removal of AFB1 from feedstuffs and then elimination of AFM1 from milk. This review aims to bring up to date the current global status of AFM1 contamination of liquid milk destined for human consumption and the effects of processing and reduction methods on the elimination of aflatoxins from liquid milk
Distribution of Total Volatile Organic Compounds at taxi drivers in Tehran
Get PDFAir pollution is currently the most serious environmental health threat worldwide. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) are considered as the main effective factors in causing air pollution. Vehicles are among the major sources which emit these compounds, so it seems that automobiles’ microenvironment is one of the places where people are exposed to high concentration of VOC. Evaluating the exposure amount of Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) can indeed be used as an indicator to estimate the amount of exposure to every individual VOC. This study was conducted on the concentration of TVOC inside Tehran taxies for a period of one year. For this purpose, a real time instrument equipped with photo-ionization detector (PID) was used. Consequently, the highest and the lowest measured TVOC in taxies equaled 3.33 ppm and 0.72 ppm, respectively. In addition, the arithmetic mean of TVOC concentration was 1.77±0.53 ppm inside the examined taxies. In this study, the parameters like measurement time, climate and vehicle conditions were found to have significant effect on the amount of exposure to TVOC
Assessment of workers' exposure to hand-arm and whole body vibration in one of the furniture industries in east of Tehran
Get PDFWorkers in wood industry are exposed to vibration and its damages. The purpose of this study was to evaluate exposure to hand-arm and whole body vibration in the wood industry. In this study, the parameters of whole body and hand-arm vibrations such as effective acceleration, overall equivalent acceleration, Vibration Dose Value and crest factor were studied on two Thicknessing planes, two sliding panel saw machines, two orbital sander, and three operators of perforate procedure. Assessments were done by the use of an oscillator and an analyzer of Svantak Co. Evaluating Hand-arm and whole body vibrations were conducted based on ISO 5349-1, ISO 5349-2 and ISO 2631-1 standards, respectively, and the findings/ the evaluated data were analyzed.
The mean amount of daily exposure to hand-arm vibration (RMS) in Thicknessing plane, Orbital Sander and Sliding panel saw machine operators are respectively 5.56, 5.49 and 3.37 m/s2 . In addition, the average crest factor of the 3 jobs is higher than 6. Mean of daily Exposure to whole body vibration in 3 machine operators of Thicknessing plane, perforate procedure and Sliding panel saw is respectively, 0.28, 0.24 and 0.17 meters per square second. The crest factor for all the exposures was to be less than 6 and the mean of the calculated daily vibration dose equaled 5.83 with the standard deviation of 0.87( m)⁄s^1.75 .
In further measured situations, exposure to hand-arm vibration is more than the standard level, so engineering and management measures are required to reduce the amount of exposure and support the health of the operators and the equipment
Epidemiological Aspects of Occupational Exposure to Sharp tools among Nurses in a Military Hospital in Tehran, Iran
No full textThe most frequent way of transmission of various diseases such as HBV, HIV and HCV is exposure to sharp tools. The purpose of the study was to determine the epidemiological aspects of occupational exposure and risk factors of injuries from sharp tools among nurses in a military hospital. In this cross - sectional study 100 nursing staff in a military hospital was chosen as sample. Personal and professional information collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire, and data were analyzed using SPSS 17 software.The prevalence of occupational exposure to sharp tools of hospital waste was 41 %. Mean age and mean of experience years in nurses were 34.7 ± 5.88 and 10.99 ± 5.52 year respectively. About 63% of nurses in disaster reported the matter to the Committee on Hospital Infection Control.Most affected by the syringe needle was 46.3%. Working load and needle recapping were the main causes of the damage due to exposure to the sharp objects, 26.8 and % 31.7 respectively. The relationship between occupational exposure to hospital sharp tools and age, experience, education and place of work was significant with P= 0.006, 0.017, 0.027 and 0.008 respectively. According to the complications of sharp tools, reduction of sharp components requires regular training courses for staff, proportion of the number of work shifts, strict implementation of treatment protocols, modification of the current inaccuracy procedures, access to adequate equipment’s and safe and an effective mechanism for reporting of occupational accidents in all of the sectors