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Introduction & Objective: Air pollution is a major environmental problem in urban areas. PM10 (Particulate Matters with a diameter less than 10 micrometer) is one of the most important pollutants in air, and an increase of 10 μgr/m3 in concentration may cause an increase of 1-3 percent in the mortality rate. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of the PM10 air pollution in the city of Gachsaran. Materials & Methods: This is an analytic-longitudinal study. 6936 air samples were collected during 334 days from April 2005 to March 2006 using a SM200 dust monitor sampler machine. The data were analyzed conducting oneway ANOVA, Tukey and t-student tests and then compared with the WHO standard rates. Results: The results revealed a direct linear correlation between air temperature and concentration of PM10 (p<0.001). There was a significant difference between the mean value of PM10 concentration (μgr/m3) in the seasons of summer (226.3), spring (167.8), autumn (111.6), and winter (85.7). In addition, the mean concentrations of PM10 in warmer months exceeded to the maximum permissible concentration. Conclusion: It can be concluded that some important variables such as air dryness, low rate of humidity and rainfall, high temperature along with the huge local oil industries are the potential factors of air pollution in Gachsaran.

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Background & aim: Nowadays air pollution from vehicles, industry and increasing consumption of fossil fuels threatens human health and the environment. Monitoring and identifying pollutant sources are one of the basic strategies for controlling air pollution. The aim of this study was to determine the quality of air of Kashan, Iran, based on the air quality index in 2011. Methods: In the present descriptive - analytical study, the concentration of air pollutants, including O3, CO, SO2, NO2 and PM10 were determined. Index of air quality was calculated by the MATLAB R2007a software, which six groups were classified. Results: The results indicated that the air quality index of 365 days in 2011, 179 days were clean and acceptable, but 186 days exceeded the air quality standards. Accordingly, the air quality was unhealthy for sensitive groups at 86 days, unhealthy 38 days, very unhealthy 31 days and 31 days were dangerous. Conclusions: O3, PM10 and CO was responsible for the largest contingent air pollution in non-standard conditions in Kashan city. Moreover, one suggestion for better estimate of the quality of the air in the city is to increase the number of pollutant measuring stations of the city.

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Background & aim: Some epidemiological evidence has shown the relationship between environmental air pollution and adverse health effects. Considering the effect of air pollution on the severity of heart disease the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of daily air pollution on daily cardiovascular mortality in Ahvaz city.
 
Methods: In the present ecological study conducted in 2018, air pollution data was inquired from the Ahvaz Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The mortality data was collected from the Health Deputy of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences. Generalized additive models (GAM) was used to analyze the data with different lags of air pollutants for up to 7 days. An increase of 10 units in all pollutants except CO (1 unit) was used to compute the relative risk of deaths.
 
Results: During March 2008 until March 2015, 10625 cardiovascular deaths occurred in Ahwaz, in which 6138 (57.8%) were male. The average number of daily, monthly, seasonal and annual deaths from cardiovascular diseases calculated 4.15, 126.49, 379.46, and 1517.86, respectively. Based on the analysis of the generalized additive model, the strongest correlation between NO₂ and cardiovascular mortality was seen on lag 6, with a relative risk; RR = 1.007 and confidence interval; 95% CI: (1.002-1.012) for NO₂. The correlation coefficient of NO₂ with cardiac death was positive, significant and equal to 0.042 (P-value = 0.034). No significant relationship was found between the O₃, SO₂ and NO pollutants with the number of cardiovascular deaths. The increase in PM₁₀ and CO levels had an inverse impact on the increase of cardiovascular mortality; and RR = 0.998, CI: (0.997-0.999) and RR = 0.989, CI: (0.979-0.999) for them, respectively.
 
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that NO2 air pollutant is associated with increase cardiovascular mortality in Ahvaz. Reduction of environmental air pollution can be effective in reducing mortality from cardiovascular diseases and better life.
 
 

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Background & aim: Air pollution is one of the most important health risk factors in the world and one of the major causes of death and disability in the world. According to the report of the World Health Organization in 2012, about 3.7 million people in the world die due to air pollution. The purpose of the present study was to determine and investigate the health effects of air pollution in Yasuj city in 2015 using the AirQ+ model.

Methods: In the present descriptive-analytical study conducted in 2019, the hourly concentrations of particulate pollutants with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns, ozone and nitrogen dioxide in the monitoring station of Yasuj, Iran, from the environmental organization and related pressure and temperature information was obtained from the meteorological organization of the province in 2015. Validation of air quality data was done according to APHEKOM and WHO methodology, and the average specific to each pollutant was calculated and the final data file was entered into the model after processing. Finally, the city-specific annual population, the population at risk and the base incidence for each health outcome were prepared and entered into the model. At the end, the results were displayed in the form of mortality tables by the model. Collected data were analyzed using Kolmogorov Smirnov, Post hoc and Kruskal Wallis statistical tests.

Results: The average concentration of pollutants with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns, nitrogen dioxide and ozone were 21.68±13.91, 25.41±26.88, 25.41±6.92 and 25.69±6.92 micrograms/square meter, respectively. It was micrograms per square meter. The value of SOM weight 5 was also 17.83. Regarding the long-term effects in 2015, the attributed component and the number of attributed cases of natural deaths caused by nitrogen dioxide from pollutants with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns were less, which accounted for 6.01 and 6.79% of deaths, respectively. The total number of deaths caused by pollutants with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns and nitrogen dioxide were 23 and 20, respectively. Ozone had no effect on respiratory mortality (zero cases). In the case of natural mortality, the highest and lowest attributed components were observed in pollutants with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns and ozone, respectively.

Conclusion: Contrary to the insignificant effect of ozone pollutant and the non-attribution of deaths to this pollutant, for other pollutants such as pollutants with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns and nitrogen dioxide, effects on the number of deaths were observed, and these effects may impose direct and indirect costs on the city.

 

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Background & aim: In the past few decades, air pollution, especially PM10 particulate matter, has been a significant concern affecting people's health and is clearly visible as the most important environmental problem and air pollutant in Ahvaz, Iran. On the other hand, remote sensing (RS) has been introduced as a suitable source for air pollution monitoring by researchers in the last decade. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine and investigate the relationship between aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from MODIS sensor at different hours and PM10 air pollution index in Ahvaz, Iran, in 2022.

Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022. Given the critical role and widespread distribution of dust particles, the present study examined the relationship between AOD data from the MODIS sensor and PM10 data from the Environmental Protection Agency station in Ahvaz, Iran, over the course of one year. To evaluate the correlation between these two parameters, hourly PM10 values at 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, and 15:00 were analyzed for different seasons. The results of the present analysis allowed the researchers to assess seasonal and temporal effects on the correlation between these parameters. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software and the statistical correlation coefficient test.

Results: The correlation results revealed a significant relationship between the datasets, indicating a strong association between AOD and PM₁₀ in the specified region. The daily correlations at different hours—12:00, 13:00, 14:00, and 15:00—showed coefficients of 0.41, 0.75, 0.72, 0.78, and 0.86, respectively, with the highest correlation observed at 15:00. The concentration of PM₁₀ particles in the air is influenced by dust events, which intensify during the hot season, with the highest correlations mostly observed in spring and summer. Additionally, the correlation coefficient reached its lowest point during the cold season (fall and winter).

Conclusion: the present study examined various time intervals, each showing different levels of correlation. Based on the obtained correlation coefficients, remote sensing data can be used as a reliable source for air pollution monitoring.