ABSTRACT
Background and Objective: Due to the presence of infectious diseases and parasitic contamination in kindergartens, it is very important to observe the health points in these centers. This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted to investigate the environmental health status of Saveh kindergartens in 2020. Materials and Methods: A checklist with 133 questions was designed, including 57 questions specific to the conditions of the coronavirus, taken from the instructions for the second step of the fight against the coronavirus and 76 questions from regulation 150/920318. All active kindergartens (9 cases) in the study were included, and the answers to the questions as yes, no, and not applicable were recorded and using SPSS software, independent T, chi-square, and one-way ANOVA was analyzed. Results: The results obtained from the analysis of the checklist showed that the compliance of the health status of all kinds of kindergartens with the regulations of 150/920318 has a percentage of total desirability that includes personal hygiene (81/4%), food hygiene (63%), tools and equipment hygiene (66/5%), building hygiene (78%), health education (90%), considerations regarding disinfectants and disinfectants based on alcohol (92%) and considerations regarding bleaches (94%). There was no significant relationship between the per capita of each child and the different items on the checklist (p>0/05). Conclusion: This study showed that the general environmental health status of kindergartens in Saveh was favorable and only two variables of hygiene of tools and equipment (66/5%) and food hygiene (63%) were the least desirable among the studied factors that should be considered. © 2023 Iranian Association of Environmental Health, and Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Medical Sciences.
ABSTRACT
Advancements in polymer science and engineering have helped the scientific community to shift its attention towards the use of environmentally benign materials for reducing the environmental impact of conventional synthetic plastics. Biopolymers are environmentally benign, chemically versatile, sustainable, biocompatible, biodegradable, inherently functional, and ecofriendly materials that exhibit tremendous potential for a wide range of applications including food, electronics, agriculture, textile, biomedical, and cosmetics. This review also inspires the researchers toward more consumption of biopolymer-based composite materials as an alternative to synthetic composite materials. Herein, an overview of the latest knowledge of different natural- and synthetic-based biodegradable polymers and their fiber-reinforced composites is presented. The review discusses different degradation mechanisms of biopolymer-based composites as well as their sustainability aspects. This review also elucidates current challenges, future opportunities, and emerging applications of biopolymeric sustainable composites in numerous engineering fields. Finally, this review proposes biopolymeric sustainable materials as a propitious solution to the contemporary environmental crisis. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd.