Iranian Journal of

---

Backgrounds and Objectives: Mercury is a heavy metal that is widespread in the environment and has many toxic effects. At present, MeHg exposure on women remain an important issues for researching, especially those of continuous uptake in high-fish consumption.MeHg can be transferred to infant through breast milk. The objective of this study was to characterize the risk of Hg exposure in mothers in south of the Caspian Sea.
Materials and Methods: In this study mercury in hair of 70 breast-feeding women (17-36 years old) and influencing factor on it, were assessed. Mothers lives in nur, nowshahr and chamestan cities and villages of Nur and Nowshahr. In order to researching on influencing factors, mothers fill questionnaires. Hair samples (about 1 gr) were obtained from mothers. The mercury was measured by LECOAMA254AdvancedMercuryAnalyzer (USA) according toASTM, standard NO.D-6722.
Results: Total mean mercury concentration in mothers hair obtained 0.19±0.09 ( &mug gr^-1). Tukey test show that the influence of the variables place of live (p=0.02), fish and sea food consumption of mother (P=0.00) were significantly affected on hair mercury concentration of mothers. The other factors (age and number of dental amalgam filling ) had no significant effect on mercury levels in hair of mothers.
Conclusion: Total mean mercury concentration in mothers hair were lesser than normal dose recommended byWHO (2&mug g^-1) and EPA reference (5 &mug g^-1). Analysis of questionnaires showed that three kinds of fish including carp, golden mulle and kutum. Although were often used in this study, mercury concentration in fish was not determined, but in according to significate relation between fish consumption and mercury concentration in mother#s hair, pollution with mercury in the fish can be the main factor of mercury exposure in this study.

---

Background and Objectives: The heavy metals pollution in aquatic ecosystems especially mercury, always makes concern about health of aquatic organisms. So, the purposes of this study were determination of total mercury in different tissues of the three species of the most important water birds at north of Iran and comparison with world health standards.
Materials and Methods: Generally, 51 birds were captured randomly. Then, samples of feather, liver, kidney and muscle were taken and the mercury concentrations were determined by Advanced Mercury Analyzer (Model Leco, AMA 254).
Results: The most amount of accumulated mercury was in great cormorant's liver (piscivorous species). Means of mercury concentration in liver of great cormorant, mallard, and coot were 14.80, 2.05, 0.18 in kidney 12.00, 1.90, 0.17 in feather 6.57, 1.09, 0.23 and in muscle 8.67, 0.26, 0.09 mg/kg dry weight respectively. Means Comparison showed significant difference among all tissues (P < 0.05), But there were not significant difference between sexes (P > 0.05)
Conclusion: The levels of accumulated mercury in all tissues of great cormorant were more than the established limits by WHO, FAO and EPA. The other species had less use limitation, but mercury concentration in mallards was considerable. These results can be a serious warning for consumers these birds, especially vulnerable people.

---

Background and Objectives: Arsenic contamination is of great environmental concern due to its toxic effects as a carcinogen. In order to assess soil arsenic contamination and its distribution patterns, surface soil samples collected from the urban areas of Arak were analyzed. Materials and Methods: Totally, 62 surface soil samples were collected from depth of 0–20 cm of different locations including parks, green spaces, agricultural, roadsides, and squares of Arak City. The spatial distribution of arsenic in soil was mapped using GIS and kriging method. Results: The concentration of arsenic in the surface soil of Arak City was between 2.2- 10.8 mg/kg (average: 5.78 mg/kg). Spatial analysis showed that arsenic contamination enhances in the city center and there was an increasing trend from south to north. In addition, the mean arsenic concentration in the urban topsoil samples from Arak was lower compared with mean concentration for other cities around the world. Conclusion: It seems that arsenic in soil is controlled by natural and anthropogenic factors. The highest concentrations of arsenic in center and the north areas reflected arsenic loading is originated from anthropogenic sources such as vehicles and industrial processes.

---

Background and Objectives: Nowadays, indicators related to human physiology have special roles in human bioclimatic and environmental studies. One of these indices is Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). In the present study, trends of physiological equivalent temperature index over the past half century, which is the foundation of plans, especially in the field of health and environment, were evaluated in four climatic regions of Iran (Mashhad, Rasht, Esfahan, Tabriz and Bandar Abbas).

Material and methods: In this study, the data required to calculate the heat stress in the daily scale for 50 years during 1961-2010 were obtained from Iranian Meteorological Organization. Then, PET index at the daily scale was calculated and values greater than 35°C were identified for warm periods of the year. In the next step, the seasonal trends were analyzed by Mann-Kendall test.

Results: Changes in the frequency of days with heat stress in stations of Mashhad, Isfahan, and Tabriz have been rising during spring and summer. In other words, the greatest amount of positive change has occurred over the long-term average in these cities. The highest frequency of hot days was observed in Rasht and Bandar Abbas stations. The main reason for this subject has to do with how adjacent they were to the sea and the high rate of evaporation in such areas.

Conclusion: The 1980s-1990s have been allocated as the most days of hot stress. Upward trend of thermal stress occurring in the studied stations has increased the attention to the problem of heat stress and disease (thermal attack, fainting, muscle cramps) from the field of planning and management of the crisis.

---

Background and Objective: Optimum number of air quality monitoring stations in Mashhad is an essential task for management of the urban environment. However, real monitoring and accurate information on the status of air quality require proper spatial distribution of air quality monitoring stations in the city of Mashhad. The aim of the present study was to determine optimum site locations for air quality monitoring, including Downtown Pedestrain Exposure Station, Downtown Background Exposure Station, and Residential Population Exposure Station by three Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) techniques.

Materials and Methods: In the precent study, sites for new air quality monitoring stations t in Mashhad were determined based on a proposed protocol in the United States. Accordingly, the criteria effective for site selection such as population density, distance from existing stations, vicinity to vegitation, vehicle density and other factors were used by applying Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Fuzzy set, and Probability Density Function (PDF).

Results: Location similarity of the sites proposed by decision making methods was evaluated to know its reliability. The compactness of distribution of the proposed sites were compared by applying spatial statistic methods auch as Average Nearest Neighbor (ANN) and Standard. The results from ANN indicated that fuzzy set mapped the suggested sites was fully scattered within the entire city of Mashhad and was statistically significant at 99% confidence level. The PDF method also offered the same spatial pattern as fuzzy set. Overall results of this study indicated spatial optimization of suggested sites location for fuzzy set and PDF.

Conclusion: The overall results of the decision-making methods used in this study indicated that it is necessary to increase number of air quality monitoring stations at Northwest of Mashhad due to the urban growth in the city. The results also showd the possibility of using Probability Density Function (PDF) as a method of decision-making in GIS for locating and ranking of new air quality monitoring stations.

---

Background and Objective: Information about the history of exposed individuals to mercury and monitoring mercury levels in body can be obtained by analyzing the longitudinal section of hair. The aim of this study was to analyze changes of mercury concentrations in hair length and daily mercury intake in women living in Bandar Abbas, Bushehr and Mahshahr cities.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional and questionnaire study, 43 hair samples were randomly collected from women in fisher and non-fishermen families. Mercury concentrations were determined by LECO AMA 254, Advanced Mercury Analyzer (USA) according to ASTM standard NO.D-6722.
Results: The mean mercury concentration in hair was 2.31 μg/g. ANOVA test showed that there is no significant difference among the mercury concentrations in the various parts of hairs. The mean daily mercury intake was 0.24 μg/kg/day. Age, fish consumption, city of residence, fishermen and non-fishermen family had a statistically significant effect on the daily mercury intake in the women but the number of dental amalgam filling variable had no significant effect on the daily mercury intake.
Conclusion: During the 6 month period that the study was conducted, the methyl mercury uptake in the women was steady. The daily intake of mercury in 23% of the women was exceeded JECFA guidelines. Also, according to possible risks for mercury exposure, it is necessary to study on mercury risk assessment, considering all possible routes for mercury exposure in these cities.