Ecological study on household air pollution exposure and prevalent chronic disease in the elderly.

Older people spend most of their time indoors. Limited evidence demonstrates that exposure to indoor air pollutants might be related to chronic complications. This study aimed to estimate the correlation between household air pollution (HAP)'s long-term exposure and the prevalence of elevated hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), obesity, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. From the Global Burden disease dataset, we extracted HAP, hypertension, DM, body mass index, and LDL cholesterol data from Iran from 1990 to 2019 to males and females in people over 50 years. We present APC and AAPC and their confidence intervals using Joinpoint Software statistical software. R software examined the correlation between HAP and hypertension, DM2, Obesity, and high LDL cholesterol. Our finding showed a significant and positive correlation between HAP exposure and prevalence of high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p ≤ 0.001, r = 0.70), high systolic blood pressure (p ≤ 0.001, r = 0.63), and high body mass index (p ≤ 0.001, r = 0.57), and DM2 (p ≤ 0.001, r = 0.38). The analysis results also illustrated a positive correlation between indoor air pollution and smoking (p ≤ 0.001, r = 0.92). HAP exposure might be a risk factor for elevated blood pressure, DM, obesity, and LDL cholesterol and, consequently, more serious health problems. According to our results, smoking is one of the sources of HAP. However, ecological studies cannot fully support causal relationships, and this article deals only with Iran. Our findings should be corroborated in personal exposure and biomonitoring approach studies.

4-Chlorophenol adsorption from water solutions by activated carbon functionalized with amine groups: response surface method and artificial neural networks.

4-Chlorophenol pollution is a significant environmental concern. In this study, powdered activated carbon modified with amine groups is synthesized and investigated its efficiency in removing 4-chlorophenols from aqueous environments. Response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD) were used to investigate the effect of different parameters, including pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, and initial 4-chlorophenol concentration, on 4-chlorophenol removal efficiency. The RSM-CCD approach was implemented in R software to design and analyze the experiments. The statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to describe the roles of effecting parameters on response. Isotherm and kinetic studies were done with three Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherm models and four pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Elovich, and intraparticle kinetic models in both linear and non-linear forms. The synthesized adsorbent was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. The results showed that the synthesized modified activated carbon had a maximum adsorption capacity of 316.1 mg/g and exhibited high efficiency in removing 4-chlorophenols. The optimal conditions for the highest removal efficiency were an adsorbent dosage of 0.55 g/L, contact time of 35 min, initial concentration of 4-chlorophenol of 110 mg/L, and pH of 3. The thermodynamic study indicated that the adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous. The synthesized adsorbent also showed excellent reusability even after five successive cycles. These findings demonstrate the potential of modified activated carbon as an effective method for removing 4-chlorophenols from aqueous environments and contributing to developing sustainable and efficient water treatment technologies.

Ecological risk assessment and heavy metals accumulation in agriculture soils irrigated with treated wastewater effluent, river water, and well water combined with chemical fertilizers.

Contaminated irrigation water can increase trace heavy metals concentration in agricultural soil. The present research aimed to investigate the effect of three types of irrigation water sources, including treated wastewater effluent, Gharasoo river water, and well water with chemical fertilizer, on the accumulation and ecological risk of heavy metals in agricultural soils. Soil samples were collected before and after crop irrigation to evaluate heavy metal concentrations. The samples were analyzed to determine the presence of arsenic, nickel, cadmium, iron, chromium, zinc, lead, copper, and manganese. Based on the results, the concentration of essential metals in the soil before the irrigation process was more than toxic metals. The different irrigation sources increased the concentration of all heavy metals in the soil, and the accumulation of Cr, Ni, and Cd significantly elevated more than others. Irrigation resources' effectiveness in transferring heavy metals to the soil was obtained as treated wastewater effluent < well water with fertilizer < river water. Furthermore, the potential ecological risk index (RI) for irrigated soil was in a high-risk category. Therefore, it is recommended that the river water should not be used to irrigate vegetables to the utmost possible. Finally, the low heavy metals concentration and the presence of nutrients in treated wastewater effluent make this source the most suited source of irrigation because it eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers by farmers and transfers fewer heavy metals to the soil.