Evaluation of the Effect of Educational Interventions on Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Against COVID-19 in a Residential Complex in Tehran: A Prospective Cross-sectional Study.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic at the end of 2019 posed a global health concern. It has been found that health education is one of the best methods for health promotion, changing inappropriate personal behaviors, and increasing people's awareness and attitude through major health concerns, including the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the effect of educational interventions with environmental health approach on the knowledge, attitude, and practice of people in the COVID-19 epidemic era in one residential complex in Tehran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Tehran in 2021. The study population was households of a residential complex in Tehran, which was selected by a random sampling method. A researcher-made checklist was used to gather data for this study, and its validity and reliability in the domains of environmental health and knowledge, attitude, and practice in the COVID-19 setting were evaluated before it was used. An intervention was made through social media and the checklist was reevaluated after the intervention. Results: A total number of 306 participants were enrolled in this study. In the assessment of the knowledge, attitude, and practice after the intervention, the mean score of the mentioned values increased significantly (P < 0.001). However, the influence of intervention was more prominent in the improvement of knowledge and attitude than practice. Conclusion: Public health intervention with an environmental health approach can increase people's knowledge, attitude, and practice against chronic diseases and epidemics such as COVID-19.

Which is better for optimizing the biosorption process of lead - central composite design or the Taguchi technique?

The aim of this study is to evaluate central composite design (CCD) and the Taguchi technique in the adsorption process. Contact time, initial concentration, and pH were selected as the variables, and the removal efficiency of Pb was chosen for the designated response. In addition, face-centered CCD and the L9 orthogonal array were used for the experimental design. The result indicated that, at optimum conditions, the removal efficiency of Pb was 80%. However, the value of R2 was greater than 0.95 for both the CCD and Taguchi techniques, which revealed that both techniques were suitable and in conformity with each other. Moreover, the results of analysis of variance and Prob > F < 0.05 showed the appropriate fit of the designated model with the experimental results. The probability of classifying the contributing variables by giving a percentage of the response quantity (Pb removal) made the Taguchi model an appropriate method for examining the effectiveness of different factors. pH was evaluated as the best input factor as it contributed 66.2% of Pb removal. The Taguchi technique was additionally confirmed by three-dimensional contour plots of CCD. Consequently, the Taguchi method with nine experimental runs and easy interaction plots is an appropriate substitute for CCD for several chemical engineering functions.

Predictive parameters of Legionella pneumophila occurrence in hospital water: HPCs and plumbing system installation age.

Occurrence of Legionella pneumophila can be relevant to the installation age and the presence of heterotrophic plate counts (HPCs). This research illustrates L. pneumophila contamination of hospital water in accordance with the installation age and the presence of HPCs. One hundred and fifty samples were collected from hot and cold water systems and cultured on R2A and BCYE agar. L. pneumophila identification was done via specific biochemical tests. HPCs and L. pneumophila were detected in 96 and 37.3 % of the samples, respectively. The mean of HPCs density was 947 ± 998 CFU/ml; therefore, 52 % of the samples had higher densities than 500 CFU/ml. High densities of HPCs (>500 CFU/ml) led to colonization of L. pneumophila (≥1000 CFU/ml), mainly observed in cooling systems, gynecological, sonography, and NICU wards. Chi(2) test demonstrated that higher densities (>500 CFU/ml) of HPCs and L. pneumophila contamination in cold water were more frequent than warm water (OR: 2.3 and 1.49, respectively). Univariate regressions implied a significant difference between HPCs density and installation age in positive and negative tests of L. pneumophila (OR = 1.1, p < 0.001, OR = 1.2, p < 0.001). Mann-Whitney U test implied the significant effects of HPCs and installation age on L. pneumophila occurrences (p < 0.001). Spearman correlation and multivariate linear regression revealed significant differences between L. pneumophila and HPCs densities (r s  = 0.33, p < 0.001 and ß = 0.11, p = 0.02), but nonsignificant difference with installation age (r s  = 0.33, p < 0.001 and ß = 0.0, p = 0.91). The occurrence of L. pneumophila, HPCs, and installation age are relevant; so, plumbing system renovation with appropriate materials and promotion of the effective efforts for hospital's water quality assurance is highly recommended.

Equilibrium and kinetics of phosphorous adsorption onto bone charcoal from aqueous solution.

Pyrolysis of fresh sheep bone led to the formation of bone charcoal (BC). The structural characteristics of BC and surface area were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). N2 gas adsorption-desorption was analysed by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm model. The prepared BC was used as an effective sorbent for the removal of phosphate from aqueous solutions. The effect of major parameters, including initial phosphorous concentration, sorbent dosage, pH and temperature, was investigated in this study. Furthermore, adsorption isotherms and kinetics were evaluated. BC was an effective sorbent in phosphate removal from aqueous solution especially in phosphate concentration between 2 and 100 mg/L. The maximum amount of sorption capacity was 30.21 mg/g, which was obtained with 100 mg/L as the initial phosphate concentration and 0.2 g as the sorbent dosage. Best reported pH in this study is 4; in higher pH, adsorption rate decreased dramatically. By increasing the temperature from 20 to 40 degrees C sorption capacity increased; this phenomenon described that adsorption is endothermic. Equilibrium data were analysed by Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms. Pseudo first- and second-order and Elovich models were used to determine the kinetics of adsorption in this study. Collected data highly fitted with Freundlich isotherms and pseudo second-order kinetics. Achieved results have shown well the potentiality for the BC to be utilized as a natural sorbent to remove phosphorous from water and wastewater.

Psychometric properties of the Persian spiritual coping strategies scale in hemodialysis patients.

Spiritual strategies may provide an effective way of coping with disease. This study sought to investigate the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the spiritual coping strategies (SCS) scale among Iranian hemodialysis patients. A convenience sample of 204 hemodialysis patients was recruited to participate in the study. A forward-backward translation method was used to produce the Persian version of the scale. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha and item-total score correlation. Two-week test-retest reliability was also assessed. The convergent and divergent validity of the scale was evaluated using the Duke University Religion Index and a visual analogue scale for health status. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess the factor structure. Participants consisted of 113 males and 91 females (mean age 57.2 [SD = 9.7]). Cronbach's alpha was acceptable (0.87). We found two underlying factors similar to the original scale. The correlations between the study scales confirmed the convergent and divergent validity of the SCS. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit to the data (GFI = 0.923, CFI = 0.948 and RMSEA = 0.068). The Persian version of the SCS has sound psychometric properties in Iranian hemodialysis patients. Future research should consider applying the scale to populations with other religious/cultural backgrounds.

Biological 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene removal by extended aeration activated sludge: optimization using artificial neural network.

Serious health issues can result from exposure to the nitrogenous pollutant like 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), which is emitted into the environment by the munitions and military industries, as well as from TNT-contaminated wastewater. The TNT removal by extended aeration activated sludge (EAAS) was optimized in the current study using artificial neural network modeling. In order to achieve the best removal efficiency, 500 mg/L of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 4 and 6 h of hydraulic retention time (HRT), and 1-30 mg/L of TNT were used in this study. The kinetics of TNT removal by the EAAS system were described by the calculation of the kinetic coefficients K, Ks, Kd, max, MLSS, MLVSS, F/M, and SVI. Adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and genetic algorithms (GA) were used to optimize the data obtained through TNT elimination. ANFIS approach was used to analyze and interpret the given data, and its accuracy was around 97.93%. The most effective removal efficiency was determined using the GA method. Under ideal circumstances (10 mg/L TNT concentration and 6 h), the TNT removal effectiveness of the EAAS system was 84.25%. Our findings demonstrated that the artificial neural network system (ANFIS)-based EAAS optimization could enhance the effectiveness of TNT removal. Additionally, it can be claimed that the enhanced EAAS system has the ability to extract wastewaters with larger concentrations of TNT as compared to earlier experiments.

Design of a new polyethersulfone nanofiltration membrane with anti-fouling properties using supported protic ionic liquid modification for dye/salt removal.

Facile techniques to fabricate the nanofiltration membranes with ideal molecular sieving is one of the most interesting subjects in membrane separation technology. In this study, the application of modified graphene oxide (GO) with triethylenetetramine (TETA), CuFe2 O4 , and acetic acid (AC) (supported GO-TETA-CuFe2 O4 @AC) as a supported protic ionic liquid (PIL) modifier for polyethersulfone (PES) membrane was evaluated to approve the improvement of anti-fouling properties and wastewater rejection of the fabricated membranes. To enhance the key properties of graphene oxide, it was modified by hydrophilic nanomaterials (TETA-CuFe2 O4 ). High flux and promising flux recovery ratio (up to 95% compared to the unmodified membrane) can be observed in the modified membranes. The modified membranes by GO-TETA-CuFe2 O4 @AC were studied at optimum concentrations (0.5 wt.%) for salt rejection and different dyes. The obtained data indicated that the modified membranes by GO-TETA-CuFe2 O4 @AC indicated higher salt removal (up to 97% for BaCl2 than the unmodified membrane), which was related to the efficient modification. The obtained pure water flux (PWF) for bare and optimal modified membrane from 13.11 to 27.87 kg/m2 ·h, respectively. To exact evaluate the effect of membrane modification on performance examination, the modified membranes were evaluated for chlorine resistance testing. This study aimed to develop cost-effective nanofiltration (NF) membranes with high anti-fouling properties and to determine the maximum filtration capacity of in-time dyes and salts in effluents. PRACTITIONER POINTS: A GO-TETA-CuFe2O4 mixed matrix membrane was prepared for removal of salts and dyes. The effect of GO-TETA-CuFe2O4 enhanced the hydrophilicity and porosity. The membrane exhibited superior antifouling properties and ions rejection.

Arsenic and total dissolved solids removal using antibacterial/antifouling nanofiltration membranes modified by functionalized graphene oxide and copper ferrodioxide.

The intrinsic hydrophilicity of metal compounds, such as copper ferrite (CuFe2 O4 ), and organic compounds, including graphene oxide (GO) and triethylenetetramine (TETA), make them promising adsorbents for heavy metals removal. The presence of lone pairs in these compounds is observed in modified polyethersulfone membranes used for the separation of arsenic (As) and total dissolved solids (TDS), including mono and divalent salts from aqueous solutions. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of GO-TETA-CuFe2 O4 membranes for wastewater treatment applications. The membranes were characterized for their optimal mechanical strength (tensile strength) and high negative charge (zeta potential) on the surface. Separation tests were conducted at different pressures and pH levels to evaluate the membrane's effectiveness in removing contaminants. In addition, the membranes were examined for their antibacterial properties. The modified membrane exhibited superior performance compared with the control membrane, with TDS removal rates of 93.8%, As3+ removal rates of 81.2%, and As5+ removal rates of 87.9%. The contact angle of the modified membrane was reduced, resulting in an increase in pure water flux from 13.11 to 27.87 L/m2 .h. The modified membrane also demonstrated significantly higher resistance to fouling than the control membrane, with a resistance increase from 6.78 × 10+12 to 2.07 × 10+12  m-1 . This contributed to the improved separation performance of As and TDS in a cross-flow setup. The results suggest that the GO-TETA-CuFe2 O4 modified membrane has great potential for use in water treatment applications. PRACTITIONER POINTS: GO-TETA-CuFe2 O4 was successfully used for modification of PES NF membrane structure. The efficiency of blended NF membranes with GO-TETA-CuFe2 O4 significantly increased. The modified membranes exhibited significant water flux and antifouling properties. The GO-TETA-CuFe2 O4 /PES membranes showed high rejection of heavy metal ions and TDS than PES. The GO-TETA-CuFe2 O4 /PES membranes exhibited desirable antibacterial activity.

Epidemiological Study of Lung Cancer in Iran: A Systematic Review.

Background: There is no comprehensive study addressing all the epidemiological aspects of Lung cancer (LC) in Iran, therefore this systematic review investigated the epidemiological aspects of lung cancer in Iran. Methods: The search was performed until the Aug. 2020 on the in international databases based on PRISMA protocol by Pulmonary Neoplasms, Lung Neoplasm, Neoplasm, Lung, Lung Cancer, Cancer, Pulmonary Cancer, Cancer, Pulmonary, Cancers, Cancer of the Lung, Iran, incidence, death, risk factors keywords and different combinations of them. Articles that evaluated epidemiological aspects of lung cancer were included in the analysis. Results: Of 1420 articles, 82 cases were entered the analysis. Based on studies, in Iran, lung cancer has been the most common cancer and its prevalence is increasing. Squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer in men and women, respectively. Cigarette smoking, human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, mustard gas, occupational risk factors and genetic factors considered as the major reported risk factors for lung cancer and vegetarian diet as a protective factor. Conclusion: In according to the increasing trend of incidence and mortality of lung cancer in Iran, elimination of the major risk factors can decrease this issue and national comprehensive planning should be considered in health promotion plans.

Location selection criteria for field hospitals: A systematic review.

Background: Establishing field hospitals is a critical task for governments to complete following disasters, with the first step being to identify suitable locations. Although field hospitals are similar to permanent hospitals and temporary shelters, no research in English has been conducted to extract the location selection criteria for field hospitals from those for hospitals and temporary shelters. Methods: A meta-synthetic approach was used to review all related qualitative, quantitative, and mixed studies published in English between January 2010 and June 2020 to identify new field hospital site selection criteria distinct from those used to select a permanent hospital and temporary sheltering sites. Results: From 4317 screened records, 24 articles were eventually identified as eligible studies, through which 151 open codes, 21 axial codes, and nine themes were identified. The top three axes included proximity to main roads, proximity/distance to permanent hospitals, and proximity/distance to other medical centers. Conclusion: By considering a field hospital as a facility with certain characteristics similar to permanent hospitals and temporary shelters, it is possible to identify specific new criteria and sub-criteria by extracting items common to permanent hospitals and temporary shelter site selection studies.

Optimization of the electrochemical reduction process and ORP effects in nitrate removal.

Nitrate contaminated water resources, a huge environmental problem for countries, including our own. This research aims to evaluate the efficiency of the electrochemical process for the removal of nitrate from the aqueous solution by direct and alternating current. Experiments were done by the Taguchi method, including electrode array, time exposure, voltage, pH, and the initial concentration of nitrate. Minitab 17 and SPSS 18 software were utilized to design and data analysis. In detail, the connection of the electrodes was monopolar, and the direct current (DC) has a greater efficiency as alternating current (AC) in the nitrate removal (p > 0.001). In AC, the nitrate initial concentration, voltage, electrodes material, contact time, and pH have the most effect on the nitrate removal. The optimized conditions for nitrate removal include Al-Al electrode, pH of 7, a voltage of 30 V, and nitrate initial concentration of 100 mg/L with the contact of time 150 min. Selection of appropriate materials for electrodes construction, adequate voltage, and removal of intervention agents from aqueous solution led to greater removal efficiencies. The optimized conditions that can reduce the aqueous solution ORP with high speed and the electrochemical reactor efficiency for nitrate removal were increased. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Electrochemichal (EC) process is evaluated for treatment of nitrate wastewater for the first time. High removal efficiency (over 95%) from nitrate wastewater was obtained. Minimizing energy consumption and maximizing nitrate removal were simultaneously achieved in the integrated single EC process.

Investigation of hospital indoor air quality for the presence of SARS-Cov-2.

PURPOSE: Unidentified dynamics for the causative agent of COVID-19, SARS-Cov-2, led to the critical public health issue. Suspicion for the airborne potential of SARS-Cov-2 is an important problem for its transmission and relevant epidemics. This research investigated hospital indoor air quality to SARS-Cov-2 occurrence and determination its air born potential. METHODS: The site study was a referral hospital with 630 beds for admitting of COVID-19 patients. Air sampling was done (n = 31) on selected wards including Emergency 1, Emergency 2, bedridden (4-B, 10-D), ICU 2, ICU 3, CT-SCAN, and laundry. The average temperature and relative humidities were 22 ± 1 °C and 43 percent respectively. All glass impinger used for sampling in which the sampling pumps capacities were 5 and 40 L.min- 1. Sampling duration time was 20 and 15 minutes and 100 to 1000 L of air were gathered. All parts of the sampling equipment were completely disinfected by hot water, ethanol (70%), chlorine solution (1000 ppm), hot water (70 °C for 1 min) and washed with distilled water. The transmitting media (7 ml) was injected into impinger and residual of this media (2 ml) was sent to the virology laboratory within 2 hours and preserved on refrigerator < 4 °C. Analysis of samples was performed by RT-PCR and repeated for accuracy control. RESULTS: All of the samples were negative for SARS-Cov-2 occurrence. These results showed that SARS-Cov-2 had not airborne potential in this hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Although SARS-Cov-2 similar to the SARS virus but, SARS-Cov-2 is not an airborne virus.

The Role of Academic Partnership in Disaster Risk Management: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the community-based academic partnership roles in disaster risk management. METHODS: The assessment of the documents was conducted by reviewing abstracts and full papers of the available studies, which provided considerable background and promoted knowledge in academic interventional roles in disaster risk management. The articles were searched with a wide range of key words related to the research topic. The studies included the research available between 2000 and September 2017 in the English language. The selection of articles was conducted based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. RESULTS: Of 997 articles, we selected 12 full-text articles that met the criteria for the final review based on the study objective. The results show that, although universities can play multidirectional roles in disaster risk management phases, the development of the academic partnership potential and collaboration for disaster risk management and disaster risk reduction for stakeholders is necessary. CONCLUSION: The universities' potential in providing sufficient disaster health literacy is not currently considered important enough in communities.Therefore, the proper context-bound models of development based on a community's skills and universities' potential should receive more attention.

Using the mixture design approach to predict the rheological properties of low-calorie dairy desserts containing gum tragacanth exuded by three Iranian Astragalus species.

In this study, the flow behavior and creep parameters of saffron desserts containing gum tragacanth combinations of three species were modeled by the mixture design approach. Flow behavior and creep-recovery experiments were performed and models were predicted for apparent viscosity, consistency index, flow index, instantaneous compliance, and viscoelastic compliance. Five representative samples regarding the range of apparent viscosity at the shear rate of 50 s-1 were subjected to sensory evaluation. According to rheological measurements, the addition of GT species of A. gossypinus led to the production of a dessert with a strong structure. Then, two samples with the highest consistency index and the lowest creep parameters were compared with two commercial saffron desserts. The results revealed that the overall acceptance of the two selected samples [containing 4% (w/w) A. gossypinus or 2.66% (w/w) A. gossypinus and 1.33% (w/w) A. fluccosus] was similar to those of the two commercial samples.

Disaster Health Literacy of Middle-aged Women.

As disasters have been increasing in recent years, disaster health literacy is gaining more important for a population such as middle-age women. This is because they face developmental crises (menopause) and situational crisis (disaster). Due to the growing elderly population, it is imperative to seriously consider the issue of aging women's healthcare, and their educational needs relative to emergencies and disasters. The purpose of study was to clarify the importance of disaster health literacy for middle-age women. This study is a review of the literature using PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Google Scholar, SCOPUS, OVID, ProQuest, Springer, and Wiley. Data was collected with keywords related to the research topic ("Women's health" OR "Geriatric health") AND ("Health literacy" OR "Disaster health literacy" OR "Disaster prevention literacy" OR "Risk knowledge" OR "Knowledge management") AND ("Disasters" OR "Risk" OR "Crises") in combination with the Boolean-operators OR and AND. We reviewed full text English-language articles published November 2011 November 2017. Additional references were identified from reference lists in targeted publications, review articles and books. This review demonstrated that disaster health literacy is critical for elderly women, because they may suffer from physical and psychological problems triggered by developmental crises such as menopause and situational crises such as disasters. Disaster literacy could enable them to improve resiliency and reduce disaster risk. Education has vital role in health promotion of middle-age women. Policymakers and health managers should be aware of the challenges of elderly women as a vulnerable group in disasters and develop plans to incorporate disaster health literacy for preparedness and prevention in educating this group.

Data on the environmental exposure to lead in Iran.

The data was obtained to present the environmental and occupational exposure to lead in Iranian populations based on the published articles. To acquire the data, online resources including Google Scholar, Magiran, SID, Iranmedex, PubMed, and Science Direct were searched and 104 articles were found out of which 70 that focused on the level of lead in blood, urine, milk, and hair of different Iranian populations were selected. Since the results of the studies were not homogenous, it was not possible to carry out a meta-analysis. The average blood lead level (BLL) among workers, ordinary people, patients with specific diseases, addicts, and pregnant women, women in labor, infants, and children are presented in this article. The average BLL was compared to the standards.

Effect of the Intelligent Health Messenger Box on health care professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and practice related to hand hygiene and hand bacteria counts.

We assessed the effectiveness of the Intelligent Health Messenger Box in promoting hand hygiene using a quasiexperimental design. Knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported practices related to hand hygiene as well as hand bacteria counts and amount of liquid soap used were measured. The intervention involved broadcasting preventive audio messages. All outcomes showed significant change after the intervention compared with before. The Intelligent Health Messenger Box can serve as a practical way to improve hand hygiene.

Demonstration of the Enhanced Disinfection of E. coli Water Contamination by Associated Solar Irradiation with Potassium Persulfate.

BACKGROUND: Tremendous amount of researches have investigated the issue of water photodisnfection. The aim of this research is to illustrate the influences of bacterial density, turbidity, exposure time and potassium persulfate (KPS) dosage on the efficacy of associated solar disinfection (SODIS) with KPS for E. coli (ATCC: 25922) eradication as an efficient and inexpensive process. METHODS: Desired bacterial density and turbidity was achieved by spiking of 0.5 Mc Farland (1.5×10(8) cell/ml) and sterile soil slurry in 1 liter of the commercially bottled water. RESULTS: The highest value of UVA solar irradiation measured at 13.30 p.m was 5510 µW/Cm(2). Increase of bacterial density from 1000 to 1500 cell/ml led to an increase in disinfection lapse time, except in 2 mMol/l KPS. Spiking of 0.1 mMol/l of KPS was not effective; however, increase of KPS dosage from 0.1 mMol/l to 0.7, 1.5 and 2 mMol/l led to the enhancement of disinfection time from 4 h to 3 h and 1 h, respectively. For bacterial density of 1000 cell/ml, increasing KPS dosage up to 0.7 mMol/l had no improved effect; however, beyond this dosage the disinfection time decreased to 1 h. Without KPS and up to 150 NTU within 4 h exposure time, E. coli disinfection was completed. In 2 mMol/l KPS and 1000 and 1500 cell/ml, the 2 h contact time was sufficient up to 150 and 100 NTU, respectively; moreover, complete disinfection was not achieved at higher turbidity. CONCLUSION: Association of KPS with SODIS can lead to decreasing of water disinfection time.