Life cycle assessment of urban waste management in Rasht, Iran.

Population growth and industrial development have led to an increase in urban solid waste globally. Collection and disposal of urban waste remain the biggest challenges that countries face at the moment. Proper management in various stages of production, storage, transportation, and disposal of waste can ensure minimal impact to human and environmental health. There are several tools for evaluating a waste management system; among these, life cycle assessment (LCA) is an important one. This article aims to evaluate the life cycle of waste management in the city of Rasht and prioritize decisions to develop its waste management system. To achieve this purpose, four waste management scenarios were designed. In addition, the life cycle cataloging of the scenarios was done using the IWM-1 model in order to calculate the consumption of energy and also obtain the number of pollutant emission sources in each scenario. In the next step, the LCA of the scenarios was performed using the Eco-Indicator 99 index. The results of the study showed that scenario 4 had the most positive effects on the environment, with 40% compost, 25% recycling, 20% sanitary landfill, and 15% waste incineration, based on the index. Therefore, it was chosen as the best option for waste management in the city of Rasht. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:1385-1393. © 2023 SETAC.

Coagulation/Fenton oxidation combined treatment of compost leachate using quince seed mucilage as an effective biocoagulant.

In this study, quince seed mucilage (QSM) has been introduced as a novel biocoagulant for the pretreatment of leachate obtained from a composting facility. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to study and optimize the effect of pH, QSM dosage and time on the coagulation performance. At the optimum conditions using 1370 mg L-1 of QSM at pH 3.8 and 29 min, 45.0% COD reduction was achieved in the coagulation-flocculation (CF) stage. After CF pretreatment stage, Fenton oxidation (FO) process was applied on the leachate. Maximum COD reduction was obtained at pH 2.5, H2O2 concentration of 190 mM, and Fe2+ concentration of 1.64 mM. At the optimum conditions of the combined treatment process, up to 84.4% COD, 99.4% turbidity and 98.2% BOD were removed. The combined CF/FO process using QSM in the CF stage was found to be an effective method for the treatment of compost leachate.

Ultrasound-guided ethanol injection for the treatment of parathyroid adenoma: A prospective self-controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Parathyroidectomy, the standard treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP) due to parathyroid adenoma, is not suitable for all patients. We evaluated the efficacy of ultrasound-guided ethanol ablation of parathyroid adenoma in a group of patients with PHP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a prospective self-controlled trial, 39 patients with parathyroid adenoma, who were not candidates for surgery, were enrolled. Ethanol injections were performed by two experienced interventional radiologists under the guidance of real-time ultrasonography. Adenoma size changes were assessed at about 1 month later. Serum levels of parathyroid hormone, calcium, phosphate, 25-OH Vitamin D, and alkaline phosphatase were evaluated at the baseline, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the injections. The treatment effects on outcome variables were assessed by repeated measures analysis. RESULTS: Volume of the adenomas decreased during the study period from 1.87±6.45 cm3 to 0.38± 0.48cm3 (P < 0.001). Corrected serum calcium levels decreased from 10.40 ± 0.96 mg/dl to 8.82 ± 0.58 mg/dl (P < 0.001), and remained stable during one year follow-up. Serum levels of parathyroid hormone decreased gradually from 129.85 ± 63.37 to 72.58 ± 53.86 pg/mL after 3 months and to 44.78 ± 28.04 pg/mL after 1 year (P < 0.001). Overall, 46% of the patients improved after 1 month of ethanol ablation therapy which increased to 84.5% during 1-year follow-up. No major complications were observed. CONCLUSION: The current study showed the efficacy of ultrasound-guided ethanol injection in PHP and may be considered as a suitable alternative treatment in patients who are not candidates for the surgery. It has also a good safety profile without major complications if performed by experienced hands.

Association of apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein A, and the its ratio with body fat distribution.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the association of apolipoprotein B (apoB), apolipoprotein A (apoA), and apoB/apoA ratio with the body fat indicators in patients with stable angina pectoris (SA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty two participants aged 40-60 years old, with a mean age of 52.1 ± 7.2 years and SA, were recruited for the present study. Body weight, height, and waist circumference (WC) were measured, and waist to height ratio (WHtR) was calculated. After 12 hours of fasting, a blood sample was obtained and serum levels of apoB and apoA were measured and the apoB/apoA ratio was calculated. These patients underwent an abdominal computerized tomography scan (CTS) to assess visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue (VAT, SAT). Linear regressions were computed to assess the relation of apoB, apoA, and their ratio with various measurements of adiposity (VAT, SAT, WC, and WHtR), with adjustment for age, sex, and BMI ≥ 25, WC ≥ 80 in women and WC ≥ 90 in men and WHtR ≥ 0.59. RESULTS: From totally 123 patients with SA with a mean age of 52.1 ± 7.2 years, 44.7% male and 55.3% women were entered. Significant positive associations were found between visceral fat area and the apoB/apoA ratio (P = 0.02, ß = 0.2), and significant negative correlations were observed between visceral fat area and apoA concentrations (P = 0.04, ß = -0.2). CONCLUSION: As abdominal fat accumulation is associated with other risk factors such as apolipoproteins in ischemic patients, then we most focus on control of these factors.

Abdominal fat distribution and serum lipids in patients with and without coronary heart disease.

UNLABELLED:   OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between obesity indices, abdominal fat distribution, and lipid profile in patients with stable angina (SA).  METHODS: Body weight, height, waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), and waist /height ratio (WHtR) of 123 patients with SA who underwent coronary angiography were measured. Fasting blood samples were taken to measure the levels of fasting blood sugar (FBS), total cholesterol (TC), low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, HDL-C), apolipoproteins A and B (apo A and apo B), and triglycerides (TG). According to angiography reports, the participants were divided into patients with or without coronary heart disease (CHD). All patients underwent an abdominal computerized tomography (CT) scan to measure the visceral, superficial, and deep subcutaneous fat.  RESULTS: The mean ages of the patients with CHD (n = 73) and without CHD (n = 50) were 50.5 ± 7.6 and 53.7 ± 7.6 years, respectively (P = 0.03).  The patients with CHD had significantly higher levels of TC, TG, and superficial subcutaneous fat, while the patients without CHD had higher levels of apo A (P ≤ 0.05). Multivariate analyses showed a significant association of visceral fat with TC, LDL-C, TG, and apo B, in the patients without CHD, while significant inverse associations were found between WC and HDL-C, WHtR, and apo A as well as visceral fat and LDL-C in the patients with CHD.  CONCLUSIONS: Among anthropometrics and imaging indices of obesity, WC and WHtR have shown better association between central obesity with dyslipidemia in the patients with CHD, while CT-measured visceral adipose tissue area was the best correlate of dyslipidemia in the patients without CHD. 

Correlation between body fat distribution, plasma lipids and apolipoproteins with the severity of coronary involvement in patients with stable angina.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies reported that the distribution of body fat is an important risk factor for coronary artery diseases (CAD) and abdominal adipose tissue is associated with severe CAD. This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between body fat distributions, plasma lipids and the severity of CAD in patients with stable angina. METHODS: NINETY SEVEN PATIENTS WHO UNDERWENT CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY FOR STABLE ANGINA WERE ALLOCATED INTO TWO GROUPS: patients with mild or sever coronary artery involvement. Lipid profile (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL) and triglyceride (TG) and apolipoprotein A and B, were measured for all of the participants and a demographic data questionnaire was filled by the subjects. Participants underwent abdominal computed tomography (CT-Scan) for measurement of adipose tissues that was classified to visceral and superficial and deep subcutaneous fat tissue compartment. RESULTS: Patients with severe coronary artery involvement had higher level of apo B (P=0.02). Significant correlation was seen between visceral fat index and TG (P=0.01), HDL-C (P<0.01) in patients with mild coronary involvement and with total cholesterol (P=0.02), LDL-C (P=0.01) and apoB (P<0.01) in patients with severe coronary involvement.No significant relationship was seen among deep cutaneous fat index and lipid profile in both groups. CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that visceral adipose tissue is significantly associated with severe CAD and has a significant correlation with lipid profile as well as Apo B.