Relationship between serum nitric oxide of patients with thyroid disorders and metabolic syndrome indices and nitrate concentration of water.

This case-control study aimed to assess the effect of drinking water nitrate on serum nitric oxide concentration and the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in the population in the Middle East. The study included 50 control and 50 thyroid disorder cases who were referred to two medical centers in 2021. In this study, serum nitric oxide concentration, drinking water nitrate, and metabolic syndrome components were measured in the two groups. The results showed there was a statistically significant difference between serum NO in the case and control groups (p-value < 0.001). There was a positive correlation between the concentration of nitrate in drinking water and serum nitric oxide in the case and control groups; however, this relationship was not significant statistically. A statistically significant difference was found between serum nitric oxide and systolic blood pressure in the cases (p-value < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between MetS and nitric oxide. Therefore, we concluded that the relationship between nitric oxide and nitrate in consuming water should be determined in thyroid patients. In addition to their water consumption, it is better to study the nitrate of foods, especially vegetables.

A process mining approach in big data analysis and modeling decision making risks for measuring environmental health in institutions.

This paper aimed to introduce a process-mining framework for measuring the status of environmental health in institutions. The methodology developed a new software-based index namely Institutional Environmental Health Index (IEHI) that was integrated from ontology-based Multi-Criteria Group Decision-Making models based on the principles of fuzzy modeling and consensus evaluation. Fuzzy Ordered Weighting Average (OWA) with the capability of modeling the uncertainties and decision-making risks along with Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) were employed as the computation engine. The performance of the extended index was examined through an applied example on 20 mosques as public institutions. IEHI could analyze big data collected by environmental health investigators and convert them to a single and interpretable number. The index detected the mosques with very unsuitable health conditions that should be in priority of sanitation and suitable ones as well. Due to the capability of defining the type and numbers of criteria and benefitting from specific and user-friendly software namely Group Fuzzy Decision-Making, this index is highly flexible and practical. The methodology could be used for numerating the environmental health conditions in any intended institution or occupation. The proposed index would provide e-health assessment by more efficient analysis of big data and risks that make more realistic decisions in environmental health system.

Health risk assessment of exposure to atrazine in the soil of Shiraz farmlands, Iran.

Atrazine-contaminated soils can pose a carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risk through different routes for exposed people. This study aimed to assess the health risk of exposure to atrazine-contaminated soils through direct ingestion and dermal contact in farmlands nearby Shiraz. Atrazine concentration was measured in 22 selected sites using grid sampling. The carcinogenic and non-cancer risks associated with dermal and ingestion exposure in children and adults were estimated. The lowest and highest atrazine concentrations were in S1 (0.015 mg/kg soil) and S22 (0.55 mg/kg soil). Hazard Index (HI)1 values ranged from 0.007 to 0.25 for children, and the values ranged from 0.0008 to 0.03 for adults. The mean cancer risk for children and adults was 6.01 × 10-4 and 7.40 × 10-5, respectively. The HI value was less than 1 for all sampling sites, indicating that exposure to atrazine does not threaten children and adults. However, the cancer risk exceeds the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US.EPA)2 threshold risk limit (10-6 to 10-4) in all sampling sites. Therefore, it is recommended that children should avoid playing on atrazine-contaminated farms or soils near anywhere atrazine may have been used.