Journal of Health and Safety at Work

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Introduction: PAHs are organic compounds with benzenic rings that releas from hot asphalt as incomplete combusting. These compounds are one of the major concern in scientific societies, workplace and environment due to their stability, bioaccumulation, carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. Since asphalt workers are exposed to PAHs frequently in their job, in this study it was attempted to evaluate respiratory exposure of asphalt workers to PAHs in their breathing zone.

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Material and Method: In this study air samples of the asphalt workers were collected in accordance with the NIOSH 5506 method using PTFE filter and XAD-2 adsorbent. The ultrasonic bath and acetonithrile are used in order to extract the analytes from the filter and adsorbent. Also, the samples were analyzed by HPLC-UV.

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Result: In all samples, Finisher assistance and oilman with 1754.48 ng/m3 , 24.65 ng/m3 had maximum and minimum exposed to ∑PAH, respectively. Among the PAHs compounds, which asphalt workers exposed to, Naphtalene had the highest concentration. Among different asphalt workers tasks, screedman expoused to PAHs, had a significant difference.

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Conclusion: Evaluation of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations in the breathing zone of asphalt workers indicated that exposure to these compounds were below the occupational exposure limits recommended by NIOSH, OSAH, ACGIH and Iranian OEL. Due to the highly carcinogenic potential of some of these compounds and absence of occupational exposure limits for these compounds, likes Chrysene and Benzo (a) Anthracene, it is strictly recommended to employ engineering controls and using suitable PPEs. This study also indicated that the exposure to PAHs in the most asphalt workers tasks had significant differences, and it can be due to proximity of the workers to the source of hot asphalt and also exposure to the exhaust gases that releasesd from the construction machinery.

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Introduction: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) belong to one of the groups of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) which are the result of incomplete combustion of organic materials, volcanic eruptions and forest and agricultural fields’ fires in the environment. However, human factors are main source of these pollutions. Nowadays, these compounds are among the main concerns related to the pollutants which, can easily enter into the land and water systems. Absorption of aromatic hydrocarbons and poly-aromatic molecules on the surfaces of carbon nano-tubes (CNTs) have increased in recent years. In this study, absorption of phenanthrene (as a representative of aromatic hydrocarbons groups) on multi-walled carbon nano-tubes was investigated in organic environment.

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Material and Method: All experiments were performed in a laboratory environment with a temperature of 24±2.Different variables including the type of solvent, solvent volume, pH of the environment, the absorption time of optimal phenanthrene concentration, and the highest removal efficiency under optimized parameters were obtained. Samples were analyzed using HPLC.

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Result: Findings showed that methanol with the volume of 10 ml, and the absorption time of 1.5 hours and 1.3 ppm concentration had the maximum absorption efficiency. Environmental pH had no effect on the absorption efficiency.

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Conclusion: Multi-walled carbon nano-tubes have high absorption capacity for the absorption of phenanthrene. Moreover, in an organic environment, the level of phenanthrene absorption on multi-walled carbon nano-adsorbent was more than 90% and according to the material used was 92%. Day-to-day and within-day reproducibility confirmed the mentioned results.

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Diazinon is commonly used for pest control in the agricultural fields because of its relatively low cost and high efficiency. Due to the increasing application of pesticides, reliable and accurate analytical methods are necessary for their monitoring. This work was aimed to design the high selective electrochemical sensor for determining of diazinon in biological and environmental samples. The composition of sensor was modified with multi-walls carbon nanotubes and a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). A diazinon MIP was synthesized and applied in the carbon paste electrode (CP). The prepared sensor was used to determine the concentration of analyte. Parameters affecting the sensor response, such as sample pH, electrolyte concentration and its pH, and the instrumental parameters of square wave voltammetry, were optimized in different levels to select the optimum conditions for analysis of diazinon. The MIP-CP electrode showed very high specificity for determining the analyte. The obtained linear range was 1×10-6 to 5×10-10 mol L-1. The detection limit was 2.7×10-10 molL-1. This sensor was successfully used to determine the diazinon in environmental and biological real samples without special sample pretreatment before analysis.

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Introduction: In recent years, many national and international expert groups have considered specific improvements in risk assessment of chemical pollutants. This study considered to assess the risk of workers exposure to air pollutants in an automobile manufacturing in order to evaluate the health risk assessment due to the inhalation exposure.  

Material and Method: To perform this study, a cross-sectional research was done in 2016. Methods number 1501 and 7602 of the National Institute of occupational safety and Health (NIOSH) were used for sampling and analysis of compounds BTEX and silica in the air. A total of 40 samples of compound BTEX were taken and analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). A total of 6 samples of silica were collected during the campaign. Silica analyses were performed by using visible spectrophotometry. Risk ranking was calculated using the hazard and exposure rate. Finally, the relative risk of blood cancer caused by exposure to benzene was estimated.   

Result: The result demonstrated that, workers were exposed to 5 chemicals including silica, benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene, and xylene during their work in manufactory. Among the pollutants in the breathing zone of workers, Silica and benzene were hazardous chemicals at high risk level. Following the estimation of relative risk of blood cancer caused by exposure to benzene, workers cumulative exposure to benzene was obtained to be 23.1 ppm per year and the capture relative risk was 1.1. The consequence demonstrated that, significant relationships were seen between workers exposure to benzene and both age and work experience, so that degree of exposure decreased steadily with increasing age and experience (P<0.001).

Conclusion: This research demonstrated that, benzene and silica in the automobile manufacturing were the highest risk. Also, painting hall workers, at automobile manufacturing, were directly exposed to the blood cancer risk of benzene.

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Introduction: Anesthetic gases used in hospitals include N2O and halogenated hydrocarbons (such as sevoflurane) which can be released through leakages and uncontrolled exhalation by the patient into the ambient air of clinical staff. These gases have greenhouse effect and damage to the ozone layer and serious risks such as reproductive, preterm delivery and fetal abnormalities and increased spontaneous abortion on the health of operating room personnel. Therefore, removal of these gases from the workplaces is essential especially in the treatment centers. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the adsorption of sevoflurane from air by using activated Charcoal and also the effect of acid modification on its performance.
 

Material and Method: In this study, two adsorbents of unmodified and modified activated charcoal with nitric acid were used to remove sevoflurane. After preparation, the adsorbents were characterized using XRD, FT-IR, BET and FE-SEM methods. After characterization, the breakthrough and adsorption capacity of sevoflurane on both adsorbents were determined using the modified wheeler equation.
 

Result: The results of characterization showed that acid modification did not affect the crystalline structure of activated charcoal and increased the adsorption and microporous of acid-modified activated charcoal in comparison with unmodified activated charcoal. It also reduces surface functional groups of the activated carbon. The results of determination of adsorption capacity indicated that the adsorption capacity of modified activated charcoal was improved in comparison with unmodified activated charcoal.
 

Conclusion: The results demonstrated that both adsorbents have the ability to absorb sevoflurane and modified activated charcoal have a better performance in this process. This effect may be due to the surface area of adsorption and volume of micro pores more than the unmodified activated charcoal.

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Introduction: Measurement of pesticides in biological matrices is become a serious challenge for researchers due to their very low concentration in different matrices. The aim of this study was to develop a new sample preparation method with high accuracy and validity and short retention time for determination of diazinon.
Material and Method: Dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction technique coupled with high performance liquid chromatography equipped with ultra violet detector was developed for trace extraction and determination of diazinon pesticide in human urine samples. One variable at a time method was used to optimize parameters affecting the diazinon extraction. Different parameters such as extraction solvent, disperser solvent, and volume of the extraction solvent, volume of the disperser solvent, centrifugation time and speed, salt addition, and sample pH were studied and optimized.
Result: Findings showed that optimal levels of these variables for diazinon pesticide were 150 μl of carbon tetrachloride as extraction solvent, 1.5 ml of methanol as dispersive solvent, pH of 6, 5 minutes centrifuge time at speed of 4000 rpm , 0% (w/v) salt addition. Correlation coefficient was 0.9965 indicating the linearity of a wide range of concentrations of the toxin. LOD and LOQ was calculated less than 0.7 and 5 µg L-1 respectively. The relative standard deviation for six replicate experiments in intra-day and inter-day at tree selected concentrations (50, 200 and 1000 µg L-1) was less than 4% that indicates the accuracy and precision of the optimized method. Enrichment factor and extraction recovery for diazinon were 245 and 99% respectively.
Conclusion: According to the results, dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction procedure was successfully developed for the extraction of diazinon from human urine samples. Compared to other extraction techniques, the proposed procedure had some advantages such as shorter extraction time, better reproducibility, and higher enrichment factor.

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Introduction: Along with the extensive production and use of various pesticides for controlling pests and enhancing the production of agricultural crops, there is a growing concern about the adverse effects of these toxic materials on human health. Therefore, the development of sensitive, selective, and accurate methods for continuous assessment of pesticides concentration in occupational and environmental fields and comparing them with national and international standards is of great importance. This study was aimed at synthesis and application of molecularly imprinted polymer as a selective sorbent for residue determination of two pyrethroid isomers in biological samples.  
Material and Methods: The MIP particles were prepared by a non-covalent approach using permethrin as a template, chloroform as progen solvent, methacrylic acid as functional monomer and ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker, at 55 °C for 18 hours in an oil bath. Field emission scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the morphology and size of polymer particles. Afterward, the critical parameters, which could affect the recognition properties of synthesized MIP, were investigated and optimized under the selected operational ranges for the highest adsorption and recycling yield in solid-phase extraction of permethrin in biological samples
Results: using precipitation polymerization technique, uniform and spherical particles with the nano-ranged diameter (less than 21.2 nanometers) were obtained. Under the optimized condition, the designed molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) technique exhibited great potential for the extraction of pesticide isomers in the real sample. More than 93 % of the recovery obtained from spiked urine samples. The linear calibration curve was obtained from 20-120 μg.L-1 (R2=0.99) and the detection limit was less than 6 ppb for both isomers. The presence of interferences had no effect on the selectivity of the method up to 100-fold.
Conclusion: employing the molecular imprinted solid-phase extraction method along with the high-performance liquid chromatography technique resulted in a selective and sensitive approach, suitable for quantitative monitoring of the desired pesticide in complex biological samples.

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Introduction: Hydrogen sulfide is one of the most important impurities in natural gas. Due to the fact that this gas is hazardous, toxic, corrosive and volatile, therefore, the removal of hydrogen sulfide has been studied using several methods. One of the most known procedures is the adsorption process. In the present study, activated carbon and activated carbon-based composite scaffolds (MOF-5) were used as a cartridge mask to remove hydrogen sulfide from respiratory air.
Methods and Materials: First, activated carbon (AC) was converted to powder form by ball mill, and AC / MOF-5 composite with 10%, 25%, and 40% MOF-5 to AC was synthesized from the MOF-5 metal-organic scaffold. Then, the rates of adsorption and breakthrough time using a designed setup were tested in two ranges of temperatures, humidities and concentrations. XRD, SEM and BET were used to determine the properties of composite absorbents.  The Aeroqual S500 Direct-reading sensor with 0.01 ppm accuracy was used to measure the exact amount of hydrogen sulfide gas.
Results: The AC/MOF-5 composite showed higher adsorption and breakthrough time compare to the other adsorbents. The Specific surface area (BET), average pore diameter, and total pore volume of the adsorbent were 814 m² /g, 1.6795 nm, and 0.342 cm³ /g, respectively. The isotherm diagram showed that, according to IUPAC, most of the pore size of this adsorbent was classified in the micro-porous group. The maximum adsorption (mg/gS) and breakthrough time (min) were related to AC/MOF-5_{(40 Wt. %)} adsorbent with 60.41 mg/gS (SD = 1.08) and 56.26 min (SD =2.38) at a temperature of 15 ° C, a concentration of 9.88 ppm (SD = 0.70), a moisture content of 51.06% (SD = 0.15) and a pressure drop of 51.34 mm water. By adding more than 25% MOF-5 metal-metal scaffold to activated carbon, the amount of adsorption, breakthrough time and pressure drop were increased.
Conclusion: AC / MOF-5 composite adsorbent due to its porous structure, high specific surface area, and most importantly, having Zn-O-C groups increased the adsorption rate as well as the pollutant Breakthrough time. However, it showed a relatively higher pressure drop than commercial activated carbon (AC).

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Introduction: Todays, exposure to heavy metals is happened by being produced in various environmental, industrial processes. The production of metals finally results in air pollution as well as contamination in the food chain. There are harmful effects of heavy metals such as cadmium on different organs. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and quantify cadmium in biological samples using DLLME SFOD method.
Materials and Methods: Optimization of the underlying variables played a key role in the process including sample PH, chelator, extractor and disperser solvents, ion concentration, time and rate of centrifugation and extraction time. It was done by employing central composite design (CCD) of the response surface methodology. In the process of optimization, after setting a certain pH, Specific salt concentration and ditizon added to form a complex between the metal and the chelator. A mixture of extraction and dispersant solvents added to the sample. The organic and aqueous phase separations when centrifugation and vortex carried out, the sample vial transferred to a cold ice bath and the organic solvent floated on the aqueous solvent .The organic portion containing the analyte was injected into the analyzer apparatus.
Results. The results showed that variables such as sample PH, complexing solvent, extraction solvent, centrifugation effect and extraction time play an important role in the extraction of cadmium metal ion from biological samples. The optimized method with a minimum detection limit (LOD) of 2 μg / l and a concentration factor (EF) of 50 and a relative recovery (RR) of 1.06.26 used to extract cadmium from urine samples.
Conclusion. According to the pre-test results and the optimization process, they showed that in the three factors of sample PH, salt concentration and extraction solvent volume that play a more effective role in cadmium extraction by DLLME-SFOD method.

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Introduction: Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphorus insecticide that can produce reactive oxygen species, and oxidative stress in the kidney. On the other hand, rosemary extract is an antioxidant playing a protective role against free radicals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the oxidative stress in rat kidney due to the exposure to chlorpyrifos and to assess the antioxidant effect of two concentrations of 100 and 200 mg / kg rosemary extract on the nephrotoxicity caused by this pesticide.
Material and method: In the current study, 30 male Wistar Rats, weighing 200-220 g were used. They were randomly divided into five groups and selected as the study groups, each group including six rats  for further comparison. They were as following groupd: Group І: served as control (received dissilated water, i.p) , Group П: the chlorpyrifos exposure group (13.5 mg / kg, i.p.), Group Ш: the group exposed  to rosemary extract (100 mg / kg) by gavage, Group ІV: the exposure group with rosemary 100 mg / kg concentration (by gavage) and after 30 minutes exposure to chlorpyrifos (13.5 mg / kg, i.p.) and Group V: simultaneous exposure of rosemary 200 mg / kg concentration (by gavage) and after 30 minutes exposure to chlorpyrifos (13.5 mg / kg, i.p.). After 2 and 4 weeks, the rats were weighed and killed. A section of kidney tissue was examined for changes of Malondialdehyde (MDA) and Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and another section was tested for histopathological alterations.
Results: The results showed that chlorpyrifos significantly damaged the kidney tissue and altered the activity of GPx and MDA compared to the control group, as well as it damaged the kidney tissue. Moreover, the simultaneous exposure to chlorpyrifos and rosemary extract with concentration of 100 mg/kg significantly made modifications to the MDA and GPx levels. In addition, with the increasing of rosemary doses from 100 to 200 mg / kg, changes in the levels of MDA and GPx were closer to those of the control group.
Conclusion: The rosemary extract can reduce the oxidative stress caused by chlorpyrifos and, therefore, can be used to treat the poisoning caused by this pesticide.

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Introduction: Pesticides are among the broadest chemical compounds used in the world and are also considered as the most dangerous compounds for living organisms. Although pesticides have significant impact on improving agricultural and food products, the processes of their production, formulation, storage, transportation, and marketing as well as the extensive use of these materials lead to occupational exposure, environmental pollution, and the presence of their residues in foodstuffs. Bentazon as a herbicide is considered as one of the most common pesticides used in agriculture and horticulture. Its effects on human health are widespread and of concern. Occupational and environmental exposure assessment of this compound is, therefore, considered necessary by conducting accurate and valid methods. The purpose of the present study was to synthesize a molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) as a specific adsorbent in the preparation process of bentazon for its selective analysis in biological matrices.
Material and Methods: For synthesis, a precipitation polymerization method was used. This method has been used to prepare particle size distribution and shape appropriately. By applying the aforementioned method, nano particle size is obtained within the sub-micron and nano range. So, crushing and sieving of the sorbent is not necessary. The MIP was synthesized with 1: 4: 30 ratio of template molecule (bentazone): functional monomer (methacrylic acid): cross-linking monomer (ethylene glycol di methacrylate), respectively. Due to particle size and high porosity, the sorption and recovery of template compound was performed faster and with higher efficiency. Some variables affecting the efficiency of MIP for sorption and desorption of analyte were investigated and optimized. They included pH of solution, MIP amount (mg), and sonication time (min) in the sorption step and volume of eluent (ml), sonication time (s), and acid percentage in the desorption step.
Results: The optimum levels of factors for the proposed method were pH of solution: 2، sonication time for sorption 7.3 min, polymer amount of 30.814 mg, acid percentage 1.1, and sonication time for desorption 165 s. According to the obtained results, the interfering factors in the matrix have no significant effect on the determination of analyte. The limit of detection (LOD) and relative standard deviation (RSD) of the optimized method were 0.79.ppb and 2.8931 %, respectively.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the proposed method can be used to extract the bentazon herbicide from complex matrices such as urine samples with high efficiency and selectivity.

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Introduction: Perpetration of samples is one of the most important stages needed for trace residue analysis of biological specimens when human exposure assessment is required. The samples preparation process makes the analyte get more purified and enriched as well as more compatible to the analysis instrument systems. The present study has concentrated on a systematic review of different articles published regarding the sample preparation methodologies of human biological samples.
Material and Methods: In this systematic review, all articles related to the development of sample preparation for trace residue analysis of heavy metals in occupational biological samples published in English during 2009-2019, were considered. To meet the desired objective of the current study and facilitate the  related articles on physiochemical sample preparation methods accessibility combined keywords of Mesh and non-Mesh, without any limitation in the type of studies, the Pubmed, Web of Science, and Scopus were considered to be searched. Noteworthy, in this study, only the articles related to the workers’ biological samples were reviewed.
Results: Based on the obtained results, after reviewing of the keywords trough websites, 2964 articles were identified. Then, the redundant papers were removed and59 articles were remained, based on their titles and abstracts,. After detailed review of selected articles, regarding the study criteria, 8 articles were selected for the final systematic review.  Five articles out of 8, (62.5%) were allocated to the development of sample preparation for mercury in biological samples. It is worth mentioning that the majority of biological samples were regarded to the urine samples (75%) in the current study. Based on the obtained results, Solid Phase Extraction (SPE), applied in 37.5% of studies, was a popular method used in sample preparation.
Conclusion: The development of sample preparation approaches indicates a great promise for specified methods with low costs and less extraction time when separating different heavy metals from complex matrices. These sample preparation and preconcentration techniques ease the analyses processes and provide the quantitative recoveries, higher sensitivity, and lower detection limits.

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Introduction: Toluene is considered as a group of chemical contaminants, causing problems for people’s health. Due to the high rate of evaporation and rapid emission in the surrounding environment, it leads to the exposure of many employees and people at risk and, subsequently, its irreparable effects on their health in different jobs. Therefore, its removal is very important. In the present study, this contaminant was removed using the copper metal-organic framework (MOF) under different operating conditions. 
Material and Methods: In this study, the copper MOF was synthesized using the one-pot and in situ method. Physical and morphological properties of the adsorbent were investigated using BET, XRD, FTIR and SEM techniques. The efficiency of the adsorbent in removing toluene from the air stream under the dynamic adsorption system was investigated by examining the effect of the variables of adsorbent mass, pollutant concentration and humidity. Isotherm, thermodynamics and kinetics equations were used to evaluate the data.
Results: The results of experiments determining the properties of the metal-organic framework showed the formation of pure Cu-BDC crystals with mean and particle size distribution of 1.95 nm. The specific surface area calculated by the BET method for the mentioned sample was 686 m2 g-1 and the total volume of structural pores was 0.335 g3 cm3. The presence of micropores increased the dynamic adsorption capacity of toluene. The findings follow the Langmuir isotherm model and the Pseudo-second order kinetic model. Based on the results of thermodynamic studies, entropy change (ΔS°) and enthalpy change (ΔH°) were equal to -0.44 kJ mol-1 K-1 and -15.67 kJ mol-1, respectively. Gibbs free energy change (ΔG°) was also calculated negatively, indicating that the adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic. The regeneration of the adsorbent was 77% after three cycles.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the microporous copper MOF can be used as a result of cheapness, high access, high adsorption capacity and appropriate regeneration rate in different operating conditions for adsorption of toluene.

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Introduction: Universities play a key role in creating a knowledge-based society and its sustainable development. Strategic planning by strategically analyses internal and external environments of the organization, forecast its future, identifying its strategic direction, and strengthening organizational structures, processes, and outcomes, creates and sustains competitive advantages. This study aimed to formulate a strategic plan for the Occupational Health Engineering (OHE) department of School of Public Health (SPH) at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS).
Material and Methods: In this participatory action research, a strategic planning committee was formed. The strategic planning committee used the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) matrix to evaluate the internal and external environments of the OHE department. Then, the mission, vision, values, goals and objectives of the OHE department were defined. Finally, the operational plan including actions to achieve the goals and objectives were formulated.
Results: Experienced professors and staff, specialized laboratories, professional journals, and high ranked postgraduate students were the most important strengths; and theoretical and non-practical courses, lack of educational protocols, poor communication with industries, lack of resources, and low motivation of employees were some of the weaknesses of the OHE department.  The support of senior managers of TUMS, industry liaison council at school and university, facilities of the university faculties, comprehensive research laboratories of the university, capacities of the private sector and increasing the demand for research in the industry were the opportunities. High inflation, political sanctions, the absence of consulting engineering companies and the uncertainty of research priorities of industries were important threats to the OHE department. Therefore, the OHE department is in a conservative strategic position. The strategic direction of the department, including the mission, vision, values and goals, until 2025 was determined. Improving the structures, working processes and performance of the occupational health department were determined as objectives and 81 actions were formulated to achieve these objectives.
Conclusion: The educational departments, schools and universities must have a strategic plan for progress. The strategic plan of the occupational health department of TUMS was formulated in line with the four-year plan of the university and coordinated with the operational plans of the educational, health and research deputies of TUMS and school of public Health. Proper implementation of this comprehensive and evidence-based strategic plan will improve the performance of the occupational health department.

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Introduction: The purpose of occupational health is to maintain and improve the health of employees and improve their physical, mental and social well-being through the prevention, control and elimination of occupational hazards. It is necessary to integrate educational, research and health service activities to prevent and control potential occupational health hazards in the community. This study aimed to develop a Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) for occupational health at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS).
Material and Methods: In this participatory action research, a strategic planning committee was established, whose members were professors of the occupational health department in the school of public health and managers of the occupational health department in the health deputy of TUMS. The strategic planning committee carried out a strategic evaluation of the internal and external environments of both occupational health deprtments of TUMS and identified the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Then, the strategic direction of JCPOA including the vision, mission, values, goals and objectives was determined. Also, the strategies and actions to achieve the goals and objectives were identified. Finally, the action plan to achieve these objectives was developed.
Results: This applied research led to the strategic evaluation of the internal and external environments of the occupational health depratment of the School of Public Health and the occupational health depratment of the Health deputy of TUMS, determining the strategic direction, and finally, developing an action plan to achieve the goals and objectives.
Conclusion: The JCPOA for occupational health was developed using a collaborative and systemic approach. The proper implementation of this plan can lead to the improvement of occupational health indicators in the community. Cooperation between university and industry is necessary for the sustainable development of society.

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Introduction: The use of antineoplastic drugs in cancer treatment, while essential, poses risks due to their non-selective action on both cancerous and healthy cells. Assessing and controlling environmental contamination with these drugs in workplaces is crucial. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of various commercial wipes in sampling the antineoplastic drug 5-fluorouracil from surfaces to develop standardized sampling methods.
Material and Methods: This study assessed the efficiency of commonly used commercial wipes (Whatman cellulose filter, cotton swab, Millipore™ filter, sterile gauze pad, and alcohol pad) for sampling 5-fluorouracil from different surfaces (stainless steel, vinyl, and ceramic). The sampling area was defined using disposable cardboard frames, and 1000 microliters of a 1 µg/mL 5-fluorouracil solution were applied to each surface. Sampling and extraction were conducted following NIOSH guidelines. The frame dimensions were 10 × 10 cm, limiting the sampling area to 100 square centimeters. Analysis was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and results were analyzed using Prism GraphPad software, version 8.
Results: The sampling efficiency varied across wipes and surfaces, ranging from 11.2% to 86.2%. Alcohol pads showed the highest efficiency on stainless steel surfaces, while the Millipore™ filter had the lowest efficiency across all surfaces. Extraction efficiency ranged from 43.8% to 98.8%, with alcohol pads providing the highest recovery. Sample stability was maintained over 15 days.
Conclusion: Alcohol pads were most effective in collecting and extracting 5-fluorouracil, particularly from hard, smooth surfaces such as stainless steel and ceramic. These findings may improve sampling methods, thereby reducing occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs. Further research on different wipes and extraction parameters could refine drug analysis techniques.