Iranian Journal of

Background and Objective: In the field of environmental risk assessment, Cyanide is one of the most important pollutants of water, soil and air that has an important impact on the ecosystem and environment of the contaminated area. Therefore, the present study aimed to prove the biological effectiveness of Vetiveria zizanioides in phytoremediation of soils contaminated with cyanide.
Materials and Methods: This research study was conducted on a gold mine wastewater. The dried effluent samples amended with soil with various cyanide concentrations. Seven treatments with different concentrations of cyanide were obtained (mean cyanide content in G soil, 14.77 mg/kg, F soil, 10.13 mg/kg, E soil, mg/kg 8.09, D soil, mg/kg 7.53, C soil, 3.32 mg/kg, B soil, 2.52 mg/kg and A soil without cyanide (as control). After two months, the amount of cyanide in the soil, roots and leaves of the plant, as well as the total protein and proline content, and the number and length of the leaves of the plant were measured and then statistically evaluated by SPSS15 Tukey and t Paired Samples T Tests.
Results: The results of this study showed that the increase of cyanide had a significant effect on the amount of proline (proline in the plant increased), total protein (in the plant increased), number of leaves (decrease in number) and the length (length reduction) of the leaves of the vetiver. The amount of cyanide in the leaves and roots of the plant was increased. Cyanide content was decreased in the different treatments. Cyanide content was decreased in G 50.93%, F 38.20%, E 27.19%, D 38.37%, C 17.77% and B 16.66%.
Conclusion: The results indicated that increase of the amount of cyanide in soil resulted in observational changes in the morphological and biochemical characteristics of the plant. However, Vetiveria zizanioides exhibited very high resistance to soil cyanide and the planting of vetiver in highly contaminated soils can lead to a reduction of cyanide up to 50 percent. Vetiveria zizanioides had higher resistance to cyanide and showed better phytoremediation than the other plants.
 

Background and Objective: Traditional cheese has desirable organoleptic characteristics for Iranian consumers. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella are some of the most important microbial agents in food poisoning and gastrointestinal infections, which can contaminate this product and endanger the health of consumers. The aim of this study was to survey the contamination rate and determination of antibiotic resistance of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella strains isolated from traditional cheeses distributed in Mahabad, Iran.
Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 100 samples of traditional cheese from the production and distribution centers in Mahabad city were randomly selected in 2016 to determine the bacterial contamination in accordance to national standard guidelines for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus, E.coli and Salmonella spp. Anti-biograms test was conducted using a standard disc diffusion method through the measurement of the inhibitory zone diameter on the Muller Hinton agar.
Results: Among the 100 samples, 54, 45 and 0 samples were positive for Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella, respectively. All E.coli (100%) were found to be resistant to Amoxicillin, while Staphylococcus aureus isolates (100%) were resistant to Amoxicillin-Clavulanic acid and Amoxicillin. However, 66.6% isolates of E.coli were susceptible to Ceftriaxone and 97.7% isolates of Staphylococcus aureus were susceptible to Trimethoprim – Sulfamethoxazole.
Conclusion: The microbial quality of traditional cheeses distributed in Mahabad city was not evaluated as appropriate and the values did not meet the national standards. Thus, further monitoring and control are needed.
 

Background and Objective:  Arsenic has long been considered as a heavy metal and toxic pollutant due to its potential to harm the human health and the environment. Adsorption is one of the mechanisms for arsenic removal from wastewater. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to investigate the feasibility of synthesized chitosan-zirconium magnetic nano fiber on arsenic adsorption from wastewater and to evaluate its kinetic and isotherm models.
Materials and Methods: Synthesis of nanofibers was performed by electrospinning method and the optimal formulation was determined following the experimental design. Then, kinetics and isotherms of arsenic adsorption on the as synthesized nanofibers were investigated. The prepared nanofiber was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopes (FESEM), Infrared Fourier Transform (FT-IR) and Vibrational Sampler Magnetic Meter (VSM).
Results: The optimal formulation was obtained: 2.84% chitosan, 0.97% nano-zirconium and 0.94% nano-iron. The adsorption of arsenic on synthetic fibers was found to follow quasi-first-order kinetics and the Freundlich isotherm. Furthermore, the effect of initial concentrations of arsenic, contact time, temperature and pH on arsenic adsorption were surveyed. The optimal condition for nitrate arsenic adsorption was obtained at initial concentration of 70 mg/L, 45 min contact time and at pH 3.
Conclusion: According to the results, the synthesized nanofiber displayed a regular network structure with the distribution of the Zr-nanoparticles in its shape. Also, according to the form of magnetometric analysis, it was found that chitosan-nanosirconium magnetic nanofibers are well magnetized and are free magnetic.  Finally, it can be concluded that the synthesized nanosorbent has a high potential for arsenic removal from industrial effluents.

Background and Objective: Leishmaniasis is an infectious skin disease whose prevalence and spread are influenced by economic, cultural, environmental, and ecological factors. Since Jiroft is one of the main centers of leishmaniasis, the purpose of this study is to determine the effect of environmental factors on leishmaniasis rates in Jiroft during 2015–2022.
Materials and Methods: The present research is a cross-sectional study. The study population consists of all patients with leishmaniasis in Jiroft between 2015 and 2022. The sample included all patients with a confirmed diagnosis of the disease in Jiroft, selected using the census method. The environmental and climate data used in this study included temperature, precipitation, total sunny days, and humidity. To analyze the relationship between climatic factors and disease incidence, time series analysis was conducted at a 95% confidence level. For the analysis, ArcGIS software and the "tseries," "forecast," and "TAS" packages in R version 4.0.1 were used.
Results: The total number of leishmaniasis patients was 269, of whom 23.4% were aged 6–15 years and 50.2% were male. Rainfall and hours of sunshine showed a negative effect on the number of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases at log 0. The overall trend in the incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis decreased over the study period.
Conclusion: Although some environmental conditions had an adverse effect on the disease, leishmaniasis remains an endemic disease in Jiroft. Therefore, the continuation of preventive interventions, along with improvements in diagnosis, care, and treatment, is necessary to control its spread.