Journal of Health in the Field

Background and Aims: Formaldehyde is used as a chemical solvent in many industries, including anatomical and pathological specimens’ processes, antimicrobial agent and pesticides in agriculture. According to it’s irritant properties and also chronic respiratory tract disease production is of interest., The main purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of its acute and chronic respiratory effects on the workers who have exposed with low levels of formaldehyde on their pulmonary functional.
Materials and Methods: This Cross-sectional study was conducted at a resin producing plant. The study’s population consisted of 62 workers (40 were exposed and 22 were non-exposed). In order to assess worker’s atmospheric concentration exposure with formaldehyde, it was measured at different locations of the plant. Demographic information and respiratory symptoms were collected by a spirometer. Then the parameters of pulmonary function (Vital Capacity, Forced Vital Capacity, Forced Expiratory Volume in first second, Ratio Forced Vital Capacity to Forced Expiratory Volume in first second,and Maximum Expiratory Flow) were all measured during exposure and a few days after exposure ceased.
Results: Atmospheric concentration of formaldehyde showed higher threshold level value (TLV=0.75). Some parameters of pulmonary function (VC, FVC, FEV1) in exposed workers (at work time and after exposure) were noted less than the reference group (p<0.05). However, during a few days after rest, comparative improvement was observed in pulmonary function as well. Also exposed workers had higher occurrence rates of cough, phlegm, rhinorrhea, and throat irritation.
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that exposure to formaldehyde could cause respiratory symptoms and respiratory disease.
Key words: Respiratory disease, Formaldehyde, Occupational exposure

Background and Aims: Healthy People plan that is expressed by WHO stipulated that by 2000 at least 50% of the children and by 2010, 90% of 6-5 year-old children should be with no caries in their primary teeth. The present study investigated the prevalence of teeth decay of D, E and related factors in 6 and 7 years old children.
Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2013 to assess the bases covered by student Shemiranat health center. Study population including 5000 students aged 6 and 7 and the sample size of 450 patients was available in sampling method. Data in a form that was designed for this study were collected and analyzed using Epi data and SPSS software.
Results: The index dmft (Decayed Missed Filled Teeth) in primary teeth D and E is equaled to 2.46 and prevalence of dental caries E and D were estimated 63.4%. There is significant relationship between decay of teeth D and E and father education (Pvalue<0.001) and mother education (Pvalue<0.001) children age (Pvalue<0.001) locality of children whether they live in rural or urban regions (Pvalue <0.001) economic condition of families (P value<0.001) and social status (Pvalue<0.001) with number of decay teeth.
Conclusion: The results imply on high prevalence of teeth caries among the children molar covered by Shemiranat health center so that the number of teeth without caries is far from the global measures and WHO. Likewise there is a significant relationship between social and economical status with children decay teeth and there is a need to pay more attention to mouth health in poor regions from the social and economical point of views.
Key words: Prevalence of carries, D and E teeth, dmf

Background and Aims: Communication and relationship skills in people’s lives, especially in the context of marriage are important as the other aspects of the marriage are over. Previous studies have shown that couples improve communication skills, increase intimacy in their marriage and will reduce conflicts. The main objective of this program is to use an active education system to upgrade the knowledge and strengthen
skills of health Volunteers. This study aimed to determine the effect of education on couples’ communication skills ability in East Tehran Health Center volunteers.
Materials and Methods: This research is a quasi-experimental study in which 112 people from the health care facility in East Tehran Center were selected randomly and studied as a sample in two different test and control groups. At the first meeting the questionnaires were distributed and completed between both groups. The results were analyzed based on experimental programs using methods including role playing,
and group discussion for 4-weeks training. A month after the questionnaires were completed and returned by
both groups the results were analyzed using descriptive and experimental methods including Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests at a significance level (p <0.05).
Results: Statistical analysis showed a significant difference in the mean scores of empowerment before and after in group. Also significant differences were found in empowerment scores in the area of cognitive distortions, listening, anger management and problem solving(p<0.001) and the problem solving skills
showed the greatest increase.

Conclusion: Holding communication skills trainings would have potential impacts on health and is desirable, therefore, it is recommended to perform educational programs to empower volunteers’ ability.
Key words: Education, Empowerment, Health volunteers, Couples’ communication skills

Background and Aims: The major sources of phenol pollution in the aquatic environment are wastewaters from dyeing, pesticide, polymeric resins, petroleum and petrochemicals industries. Introducing phenolic compounds into the environment especially water bodies are one of the most important issues due to their toxicity for human and aquatic organisms. The aim of this work was to assess the capability of pumice- bimetal particles as an adsorbent for phenol removal from wastewater.
Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the pumice volcanic stone that was provided from the Kurdistan province was used. The pumice particles (mesh 30) were modified by metals of magnesium and copper, as bimetal compound. The functional groups and specific surface area of pumice-bimetal particles were determined. After the preparation of a synthetic wastewater contain phenol, the influences of parameters including wastewater pH (2–12), reaction time (3–60 min), initial phenol concentration (25- 150 mg/L), and the adsorbent dose (0.5–2.5 mg/L) were investigated. The phenol concentration was measured using photometric method. Adsorption isotherm was evaluated using Freundlich and Langmuir models.
Results: The specific surface area, total pore volume, and mean pore diameter were determined to 4.67 m2/g, 0.0046 m3/g, and 48.23 nm, respectively. Results showed that the pumice-bimetal exhibited the best performance for phenol removal (97.3%) at dose 2 mg/L, pH 8, and contact time 30 min. The equilibrium data fitted well with the Freundlich model (R2= 0.985).
Conclusions: According to results, the pumice-bimetal particles are an efficient adsorbent and promising option for eliminating various concentrations of phenol from water and wastewater.

Key words: Adsorption, Isotherm, Phenol, Pumice-bimetal, Wastewater

Background and Aims: Construction sites are one of the most hazardous places in industries because of variety of activities, hazards and harmful agents. Therefore, workers employed in these sites are always exposed to risks of injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate the effective factors of risk perception, safety attitude and performance on construction workers.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, effective factors on risk perception, safety attitude and performance of 295 construction workers in Shiraz city were investigated. The study was conducted using a validated questionnaire which was completed through interview. Data were analyzed by using SPSS16. The level of significance was considered 0.05.
Results: While the risk perception of 77.6 % of the study population was high, only 48.5 % had high safety attitude. However, 93.6% of construction workers had high safety performance. Among studied variables, association of risk perception with age, education and being witness of accident was significant. Moreover, the association of safety attitude with having insurance and safety performance with work experience, marital status and occurrence of accident for relatives was significant (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The result of this study showed that by increasing risk perception of construction workers, their attitude and safety performance could be improved.
Key words: Construction workers, Risk perception, Safety attitude, Construction site

Background and Aims: Air pollution causes wide spectrum acute and chronic effects of health from slight physiological disorders to death from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. In order to set the control programs, air pollution monitoring and determination of air quality are necessary. The objective of this study was to compare health quality of air in Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz cities in 2011- 2012.
Materials and Methods: This Study was a descriptive–analytic study. The moment concentrations of Tehran,Isfahan and Shiraz air pollutants were gathered through referring to the environmental protection agency.Then, Air Quality Index (AQI) was calculated based on the criteria pollutants’ levels (CO, NO2, SO2, PM10,PM2.5 and O3) for three cities through linear interpolation and was classified into describing classes accordingto tables of National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Data analysis was performed with Excel and SPSS software using One-Way ANOVA test.
Results: The results showed that the AQI in Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz was higher than Iran’s environmental protection agency standards (AQI>100) in 341, 323 and 85 days, respectively. Furthermore, particulate matter (PM10) has been the critical pollutant in three cities for most days of the year. One-Way ANOVA test between AQI mean of the three cities showed a significant difference.
Conclusion: The air quality of the three cities was unhealthy in 2011-2012 and the situation of Tehran andIsfahan air, however, was in the “bad situation”.
Key words: Air pollutants, Air quality index, Pollution standard index, Responsible pollutant

Background and Aims: Setting up a well arranged control plan and water quality monitoring are the most important methods for reducing water pollution and to enhance their quality. Regarding Golgol river importance as one of the main water resources which supplies Ilam dam reservoir as well as disposing different pollutants in to this river, the qualitative analysis of the Golgol river water is necessary.
Materials and Methods: This study was a practical monitoring in which sampling period was conducted during 6 months from 6 stations. The qualitative parameters including: Dissolved Oxygen (DO), pH, TS, BOD, Turbidity, Temperature, Phosphate, Nitrate and Fecal Coliforms. The data were analyzed with National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI) and the river route was zoning with Geographical Information System (GIS) software.
Results: The results showed that based on NSFWQI, water quality of Golgol river were in the good or average conditions at all stations and in different months . The maximum index value measured at station #1 (downstream of Zardaloo-Abad village) in June and the minimum amount measured at station #5 (downstream of Jafar-Abad village) in September were 72.5 and 52.1 respectively. In average, during 6 months of sampling period, station #1 with index value of 70.8 and station #5 with index value of 55.1 had the best and the worst qualitative conditions among the other stations.
Conclusion: Regarding to study results, the pollution from station #1 toward the subsequent stations has significantly increased and the river water quality has been reduced. Nevertheless, at the last station, due to the river flow increase and its self purification potential, its pollution reduced and the water quality index reveals a better condition. In general, the NSF water quality index is an appropriate index for classification of Golgol river water quality.
Key words: Water quality, NSFWQI index, Golgol river