ABSTRACT
Background: Water treatment sometimes needs a coagulation and flocculation process to remove suspended and colloidal materials. Inorganic coagulants used create concerns about pollution of the environment and harmful effects on the human's health. The studies carried out previously indicated the capability of an active coagulant agent extracted from Descurainia Sophia seed to remove turbidity of water
Methods: : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of NaCl [0.05-1 gL-1], NaOH [0.01-0.1 gL-1], extraction duration [1-25 min] and the ultrasound frequency [0-45-75 kHz], used in the extraction of Descurainia Sophia seed, on the generation of color in purified water and to provide a model to predict the effects of the studied variables on color generation. Extraction was performed using water as solvent, supplemented with NaCl and NaOH and irradiated by ultrasound. Design of experiments and analysis of results were conducted by the D-optimal method based on the response surface methodology [RSM]
Results: The results demonstrated that only the effect of concentration of NaOH is significant in color generation [with p and It;0.05]
Conclusion: The effect of NaOH on color generation in purified water is predictable by the use of a statistically valid linear model at a confidence level of 95%
ABSTRACT
Background: Bio aerosols include airborne micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, etc and their products. Exposure to a bio aerosol is linked with a broad spectrum of health problems, including infectious diseases, acute toxic effects, allergies, and cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality and quantity of bio aerosols found in the air of different wards in Valiasr Hospital, Zanjan, in summer and fall 2012
Methods: Air samples were collected from six wards including: operating room, infectious, ear, nose, and throat [ENT], surgery, adult intensive care unit [ICU], oncology and administrative with a single-step Anderson sampler. The type and number of colonies were determined in the laboratory, and then the bio aerosol density were calculated in terms of cfu/m3 and compared with the recommended limits
Results: The most common genera of isolated bacteria and fungi were Staphylococcus and Penicillium, respectively. In the infectious ward bacterial density was higher than the recommended limit of WHO [100cfu/m3] in the visiting times [afternoon]. The fungal density in the meeting time [afternoon] in the ICU, ENT, and general surgery, infectious and administrative wards, and in non-visiting times [morning] in the infectious ward was higher than the recommended limit of WHO [50 cfu/m3]
Conclusion: From the findings of this study it can be concluded that the density of fungi and bacteria in the hospital air in some times of working period are higher than recommended levels and therefore, the condition of existing air filtration and ventilation systems should be appropriated according to the international standards of hospitals buildings
ABSTRACT
Background: Various industries produce and discharge wastes containing different heavy metals into the environment. Apart from using living biomass, dead and dried biomasses have been introduced as a new field of biotreatment technology
Method: The cadmium [Cd] [II] removal characteristics of live [growing], dead [autoclaved], and oven-dried biomasses of Aspergillus versicolor were examined as a function of initial pH, contact time, and initial Cd concentration
Result: Maximum bioaccumulation of Cd for live biomass [11.63 [mg g[-1]]] occurred at an optimal pH of 4 and incubation time of 4 days. The maximum biosorption of 27.56 [mg g[-1]] for dead biomass occurred at 1.5 h and at a pH of 4. The maximum biosorption [18.08 [mg g[-1]]] with dried biomass was reached at an equilibrium time of 3 h at a pH of 6
Conclusion: The present study confirmed that heat treatment promoted the removal capacity of fungi. Cd removal was increased by decreasing the pH in live and dead-mode experiments. Inversely, Cd removal was increased with increasing pH for the dried biomass of A. versicolor. Varying responses to environmental conditions [pH and contact time] clearly proved the different removal mechanisms used by three biomasses of A. versicolor. Higher Cd concentration increased the removal ability of three types of biomasses. The results indicated that all biomasses of A. versicolor used in this study, particularly dead biomass, are a suitable biosorbent for the removal of Cd [II] ions from aqueous solution
ABSTRACT
Background: Dyes can cause many problems in environment. Therefore, removal of these contaminants before discharging wastewater to environment can reduce the environmental hazards. Adsorption is one of the usual processes for decolorizing from wastewater. Nanotubes are new adsorbents that can adsorb different compounds. This work aimed to investigate Acid violet 17 dye removal by adsorption using multi-walled carbon nanotubes as adsorbent from aqueous solution
Methods: This experimental study was conducted in the batch mode and to investigate effects of parameters such as contact time, initial concentration of dye, pH and Multi-walled carbon Nanotubes dose on decolorization process
Results: Results showed that the maximum dye decolorization was achieved in 3 hours. With increasing adsorbent dose, the removal efficiency was increased up to 95.9%. It was found that the maximum adsorption capacity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes occurred in acidic pH conditions. With decreasing the initial concentration of dye, removal efficiency increase up to 83.4%. Adsorption equations were described by Freundlich isotherm and Pseudo-Second order kinetic
Conclusion: The optimal conditions for decolorization efficiency ware equilibrium time of 3 hours, pH of 4, and nanotube dose of 0.4 g /L. The high R2 value of greater than 0.90 obtained showed that the experimental data agreed well with Freundlich isotherm and Pseudo-second order kinetic models
ABSTRACT
Background: Turbidity removal using inorganic coagulants such as iron and aluminum salts in water treatment processes causes environmental and human health concern. Historically, the use of natural coagulant to purify turbid water has been practiced for a long time. Recent research indicates that Descurainia Sophia seed can be effectively used as a natural coagulant to remove water turbidity
Method: In this work, turbidity removal efficiency of Descurainia Sophia seed extract was compared with Ferric chloride. Experiments were performed in laboratory scale. The coagulation experiments were done with kaolin as a model soil to produce turbidity in distilled water. The turbidity removal efficiency of Descurainia Sophia seed extract and Ferric chloride were conducted with jar test apparatus. In all experiments, initial turbidity was kept constant 100[NTU]. Optimum combination of independent variables was used to compare two different types of coagulants
Result: The obtained results showed that Ferric chloride could remove 89.75% of the initial turbidity, while in case of Descurainia Sophia this value was 43.13%. The total organic carbon [TOC] analysis of the treated water using seed extract showed an increased concentration of TOC equal to 0.99 mg/L
Conclusions:This research has shown that Descurainia Sophia seed extract has an acceptable potential in the coagulation/flocculation process to treat turbid water
ABSTRACT
DUE [Drug Utilization Evaluation] studies can help identify and correct problems associated with irrational use of drugs. Considering lack of data regarding how rational vancomycin is being used, we evaluated this DUE study in a referral infectious center to evaluate compliance with guidelines in terms of rational use of this valuable antibiotic. This retrospective study was done for 6 months from March to September 2012 at Razi hospital, an educational hospital affiliated to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Data including patients' demographics, vancomycin dose, kidney function assessment, dose adjustments, sampling and culture were collected. Based on the HICPAC [Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee] and Up-to-date 2012 advices, the concordance of practice with standard guidelines was assessed. One hundred and forty six medical records were reviewed in this study. Fever and shortness of breath were the most common symptoms at the time of initiation of vancomycin. Skin infections, lower respiratory tract infection and septicemia were the most common initial diagnosis of patients. Sampling was done in almost one-third of patients. Most of patient with a specific order were received vancomycin in half an hour. Considering the indication, Vancomycin was administered appropriately in 58 percent of patients. Vancomycin was used irrationally in a great proportion of patients. The main observed drawbacks were empiric use of vancomycin without subsequent adjustment of antimicrobial agent according to culture and sensitivity data and lack of paying enough attention to calculation of creatinine clearance and dosage adjustment