Potentially Toxic Element Concentration in Fruits Collected from Markazi Province (Iran): A Probabilistic Health Risk Assessment.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate the concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb) in fruit samples collected from Markazi Province, Iran. A probabilistic health risk assessment due to ingestion of PTEs through the consumption of these fruits was also conducted. METHODS: The concentration of PTEs in 90 samples of five types of fruits (n = 3) collected from six geographic regions in Markazi Province was measured. The potential health risk was evaluated using a Monte Carlo simulation model. RESULTS: A significant difference was observed in the concentration of PTEs between fruits as well as soil and water samples collected from different regions in Markazi Province. The order of PTE concentration in the soil and water samples was as follows: Pb > As > Hg > Cd. Furthermore, the highest level of transfer factor for Cd and Hg correlated with the grape. The estimated daily intake for adults and children was lower than the recommended tolerable daily intake. CONCLUSION: The population in Markazi Province, Iran, is not at considerable noncarcinogenic or carcinogenic risk due to the ingestion of PTEs through the consumption of the examined fruits.

Community health assessment: Knowledge, attitude and practice of women regarding water-pipe smoking in Bandar Abbas.

Based on the results of seventh round of community health assessment (CHA) in suburban areas of Bandar Abbas, "water-pipe smoking in women" was one of the major concerns of community members. Therefore, the present study designed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of women towards water-pipe smoking and related factors. High consumption of water-pipe among women was ranked as a prioritized health problem. To diagnose the problem, for creating action plan, the present cross - sectional study was conducted on 205 women aged over 18 randomly selected from Green-Tree region in suburb of Bandar Abbas city. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 24 software with 5% as the significant level. 205 women with a mean age of 36.9 (standard deviation:12.86) years, and a water-pipe prevalence of 15.1% were analyzed. The significant predictors of knowledge were educational level (ß = 0.182, p-value = 0.037), and being water-pipe smoker (ß = -0.251, p-value < 0.001); while for attitude they were educational level (ß = 0.221, p-value = 0.002), family size(ß = 0.152, p-value = 0.023), and subjective social status(ß = 0.149; p-value = 0.035); and for practice they was smoking waterpipe in parents (ß = -0.276, p-value < 0.001).The development action plans based on "CHA" could improve public health and enhance the performance of the community through improved education, policies and health interventions.