Fluoride in Iranian Drinking Water Resources: a Systematic Review, Meta-analysis and Non-carcinogenic Risk Assessment.

A systematic review, meta-analysis, and non-carcinogenic risk considering fluoride content of drinking water resources of 31 provinces of Iran among some international databases such as Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, and national databases including SID and Irandoc (2011 to July 2017) were conducted. In this context, 10 articles (40 studies) with 1706 samples were included in meta-analyses and risk assessment studies. The pooled concentration of fluoride in the cold, mild, and warm weather provinces were calculated as 0.39 mg/L (95% CI 0.32-0.48 mg/L), 0.52 (95% CI 0.43-0.61 mg/L), and 0.75 (95% CI 0.56-0.94 mg/L), respectively. The pooled concentration of fluoride in Iranian drinking water resources was 0.51 (95% CI 0.45-0.57 mg/L). The minimum and maximum concentrations of fluoride content were related to Kermanshah (0.19 mg/L) and Kerman (1.13 mg/L) provinces, respectively. The HQ of fluoride in the children and adults were 0.462 and 0.077, respectively as children are more vulnerable than adults. The HQ for children and adults was lower than 1 value. Therefore, there is no considerable non-carcinogenic risk for consumers due to drinking water in Iran. Although the non-carcinogenic of fluoride in drinking water was not significant, fluoride entry from other sources, such as food or inhalation, could endanger the health of the residents of Kerman and Bushehr provinces.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of metal concentrations in canned tuna fish in Iran and human health risk assessment.

Human consumption of fish protein, including canned tuna fish, is increasing steadily worldwide. However, there are some concerns about the potential exposure to elevated concentrations of metals in canned tuna fish. Several studies have been conducted in Iran regarding the concentration of metals in seafood, including copper (Cu), selenium (Se), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), nickel (Ni), tin (Sn), and cadmium (Cd) in canned tuna fish. The main aim of this study was to gather data from existing papers and to perform a meta-analysis of the pooled concentrations of metals to evaluate their non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks in children and adults consumers. Search was conducted retrieving data from the international biomedical databases with highly public access and consultation, e.g., Web of Science, PubMed, Science Direct, and Scopus, and national database (SID and Irandoc) between 1983 and November of 2017. Data from 23 articles and 1295 samples were assessed and extracted. The ranking order of metals based on mean concentrations (µg/g wet weight) were Fe (13.17) > Zn (9.31) > Se (2.23) > Al (1.8) > Cr (1.63) > Cu (1.52) > As (0.38) > Ni (0.33) > Pb (0.24) > Cd (0.14) > Hg (0.11) > Sn (0.1). Except for Cd and Se, concentrations of other metals in the canned tuna fish were lower than the limits recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Iran National Standards Organization (INSO). The minimum and maximum target hazard quotient (THQ) for adults were 5.55E-5 for Al and 2.23E-08 for Cr. For children, they were 7.23E-05 for Al and 2.91E-08 for Cr. THQ, and total target hazard quotient (TTHQ) were ≤1.0 for adult and children consumers. The Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) of As was 3.21E-5 in adults and 4.18E-5 in children. Adults and children that consume canned tuna fish in Iran are not at non-carcinogenic risk but have a carcinogenic risk due to As.

The prevalence of aflatoxin M1 in milk of Middle East region: A systematic review, meta-analysis and probabilistic health risk assessment.

The current investigation was undertaken to take a review of the performed studies regarding the concentration and prevalence of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) of the consumed cow milk in the Middle East. In this context, all available studies published in databases include Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science among 1995 to December 2017; were screened accordingly. Also, the carcinogenic risk was estimated by calculating hazard index (HI) using the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). The result of conducted meta-analysis for 49 articles containing 7484 data indicated that the rank order of type of milk based on the concentration of aflatoxin M1 was Ultra-high temperature processing (UHT) milk (82.57 ng/kg) > raw milk (60.37 ng/kg) > pasteurized milk (PAS) (45.81 ng/kg). The pooled concentration of aflatoxin M1 in raw and UHT milk was higher than EC (European Committee, 50 ng/kg) standard limit. The rank order of countries based on the concentration of aflatoxin M1 in raw milk was Syria > Turkey > Iran > Egypt > Lebanon > Palestine; pasteurized milk, Turkey > Iran > Lebanon; and UHT milk, Iran > Turkey > Saudi Arabia. The overall prevalence of aflatoxin M1 in the raw milk of Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and Syria was identified as 76%, 12%, 67%, 85%, 38%, and 14%; pasteurized milk, in the Iran, Lebanon, and Turkey was 77%, 36%, and 11%; and finally UHT milk in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey was 81%, 82%, and 62%, respectively. HI in the adult's consumer's raw milk in the Iran, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt were calculated as 0.26, 0.47, 0.52, 0.34, 0.23 and 0.18; However, the HI for adult consumers of pasteurized milk in the Iran, Turkey, and Lebanon were 0.28, 0.31 and 0.11. Also, the measured HI for adult consumers of UHT milk in the Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran was 0.20, 0.33 and 0.50, respectively. The obtained HI for consumers of raw milk in the children age group of the Iran, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt were 1.03,2.20, 2.42, 1.59, 1.05, and 0.84. The calculated HI for consumers of pasteurized milk in the children age group of the pasteurized milk in of Iran, Turkey, and Lebanon were 1.30, 1.56, and 0.50. Finally, in term of UHT milk in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran were 0.94, 1.44 and 2.35, respectively. Unlike Adults, children consumers in the several Middle East countries are at considerable cancer risk due to consumption of raw, pasteurized and UHT milk contain AFM1(HI > 1).

Metal concentrations in fillet and gill of parrotfish (Scarus ghobban) from the Persian Gulf and implications for human health.

Despite the benefits of seafood's consumption, the bioaccumulation of metals in fish can endanger consumers' health. This study analyzed lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), Arsenic (As), and Cadmium (Cd) concentrations in fillet and gill of parrotfish (Scarus ghobban) using flame atomic adsorption spectroscopy (FAAS). The potential non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks due to consumption of Scarus ghobban fillet were assessed by estimating average target hazard quotient (THQ) and total target hazard quotient (TTHQ) and Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk cancer risk (ILCR) of the analyzed metals. This study indicated that Cd, Pb, As and Hg concentrations were significantly (p < 0.05) lower than Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and national standard limits. The meal concentrations (µg/kg dry weight) in both fillet and gill were ranked as follows Pb > Cd > As > Hg. THQ and TTHQ were lower than 1 for adults and children, indicating that consumers were not at considerable non-carcinogenic risk. However, ILCR value for As was greater than 10-4, indicating that consumers are at carcinogenic risk. Overall, this research highlighted that although the consumption of parrotfish from the Persian Gulf does not pose non-carcinogenic health risks, carcinogenic risks derived from toxic As can be detrimental for local consumers.

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in a compost facility: heavy metal contaminations and health risk assessment, Tehran, Iran.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentration of PM2.5 particles, potential sources, and determination of health risk assessment of heavy metals in various parts of composting facilities of Tehran's Kahrizak. A total of 60 PM2.5 particle samples were collected every 3 days from January to March 2016. To analyze the heavy metals, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) was applied. SEM-EDX analysis indicated that metals of Al, Si, Mg, Na, Au, S, Ca, K, and Co were dominant in the structure of particles. The concentration of PM2.5 was found to be the highest in the final processing site (c), followed by primary processing site (a) and the aerated site (b). The mean concentrations of Al and Fe in all sampling sites of a, b, and c were 7.46 ± 2.73, 1.48 ± 0.59, 24.30 ± 8.23 µg/m3 and 4.97 ± 2.83, 1.33 ± 0.48, 16.48 ± 7.36, respectively. The enrichment factor order of the trace elements was as follows: Cd > As > Pb > Zn > Cu > V > Cr > Ni > Mn > Fe > Al, with the highest EF value exceeding 10,000 for Cd at the a site. For all sampling sites in composting facilities, the cancer risk was more than > 1 × 10-4 as posed by the total of five carcinogenic metals (Pb, Cr, As, Ni, and Cd), indicating that risk factors were not negligible.