High levels of dioxins and dioxin-like compounds in the food and their adverse effects on human health are of increasing concern. Since milk is one of the most essential human nutritional resources, the present study aims at determining dioxins and PCBs in raw milk samples from four farms in North of Iran and raw and pasteurized samples from three farms and five dairy factories in Vicinity of Tehran (capital of Iran). Total toxic equivalence (TEQ) of dioxin and PCBs have been determined, using the DR-CALUX® bioassay. Results reveal that all samples are contaminated with dioxins and PCBs, comparatively. The total dioxins and PCBs levels in raw milk samples from the north range from 4.08 to 0.97 pg/gfat and for the raw samples and pasteurized samples from Tehran Province from 1.89 to 0.63 pg/gfat and 0.1 to 0.03 pg/gfat, respectively. The mean concentration of dioxins/PCBs is higher in samples from the north of Iran. This may be because of the common method of removing domestic and agricultural disposal in this area.

Air pollution damages children’s health in many different ways, through both chronic and acute effects. The aims of our research are to reveal the indoor air quality levels in schools. Subject and indoor air measurements were performed in 34 primary schools located in the Central Anatolia region. PM10, PM2.5, CO2, CO, CH2O, relative humidity, temperature, and total bacteria and fungus levels were measured. In the urban region, mean PM1 was higher than the other regions(p=0.029). PM10 and PM2.5 were higher in schools in rural areas. According to CO2 measurements, only one school was identified to be below the upper limit recommended by the WHO. Total microorganism concentration was exceeded in 44.1% of classrooms. Indoor PM1, PM2.5, PM10, CO2, total bacteria and fungus levels were high and above recommended limits. Human activities, movements of students could be considered the most important indoor factors for particle matter increase. Indoor parameters could be lowered by organizing the school environment.

Plastic production has inevitably increased in the past few decades and is one of the diverse material used in today’s world. With this increasing production and wider use, the aquatic ecosystems have become the trash barrel for all kinds of plastic resulting in it becoming a looming spectre to the habitat and functions of both inland and offshore ecosystems. Plastic pollution is considered as an emerging global environmental concern which could significantly affect the biological diversity and may have potential to cause inimical effects on human health. These plastics have shown to gradually degrade into micro fragments and are reported to cause toxic effects on the aquatic organisms. In comparison to the studies on presence of microplastic in marine ecosystems, the studies on the presence of it in freshwater ecosystems have received relatively lesser attention although some studies have shown that the contamination is as grievous as that of in marine environment. This review article focuses on the literature available on the reports of microplastic occurrence, its distribution in freshwater ecosystems across the world and its insidious effects which are of emerging concern. The effect of such microplastic ingestion in both aquatic organisms and the potential health hazards due to such plastic consumption in humans have also been examined. The paper also discusses the existing knowledge gaps so that future research directions can be taken accordingly and the findings in this paper would significantly help all the countries across the world to understand the present plastic pollution scenario and work towards the mitigation of the same.

Both noise and shift work generate oxidative stress, independently; however, in some work places workers are exposed to both at the same time, where their combined effect might increase the oxidative damage. This research is based on the question whether noise and shift work have a synergistic effect on oxidative stress or not. It tries to investigate the effects of these two factors simultaneously, at the biggest cement factory of Iran. For so doing, it enrols 88 male workers, equally in four groups, with one group serving as the control (i.e., Group 1 with 8 hours of fixed shift, exposed to less than 85 dB sound level) and three groups as the cases (Group 2 with 12 hours of rotational shifts, exposed to less than 85 dB sound level; Group 3 with 8 hours of fixed shift, exposed to more than 85 dB sound level; and Group 4 with 12 hours of rotational shifts, exposed to more than 85 dB sound level). Stress oxidative is evaluated by Malondialdehyde (MDA) and Superoxide dismutase (SOD).  Finally, the results show that SOD levels (p<0.001) are significantly decreased in Group 4 and Group 3, compared to the control. Also, MDA levels are significantly increased in Group 4 (in which, the workers are exposed to noise and shift work simultaneously) compared to the control (p < 0.001). The current study shows that co-exposure to noise and shift work has a combined effect (a synergistic role) in MDA. Thereore, more attention should be paid to shift workers, who are exposure to noise simultaneously.

In order to ensure radiation monitoring and protection, investigation and assessment of radiological risks that may be associated with the consumption of packaged table waters commonly consumed in Ogbomoso and Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria, was carried out. The measurements were carried out using a ‘3 x 3’ inch lead-shielded NaI (Tl) detector coupled through coaxial cable to a multichannel analyser. The measured activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides in the packaged drinking water sample are mostly within the recommended limits. The estimated mean Annual Effective Dose was found to be within the acceptable limits of 1 mSv/y for the general populace except for the infants which is slightly higher for some of the samples. The estimated Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk were found to be lower than the world average value of 0.2 x 10-3 in only two of the selected packaged drinking water. This implies the possibility of developing cancer over a lifetime considering seventy years as the average life span is considerably high.

Environmental pollution, caused by traditional plastic packaging, has recently become more severe due to non-biodegradable nature of petroleum-based plastics. The present research studies the preparation of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH)/Starch (ST)/Humic Acid (HA) contained sodium montmorillonite clay (MMT) as a plastic packaging method. It also investigates biodegradability of films in terms of microbial and thermal degradation and their residual effect on plant growth. For doing so, the research utilizes Broido Technique to obtain the activation energy of the films’ thermal degradation. The influence of HA/MMT ratio on the surface morphology and physical characteristics has also been assessed, using the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TA). After 12 days of microbial degradation, the total remaining solids are 32.12 wt% (PVOH/ST/HA (3%)/MMT (1%)); 48.17 wt% (PVOH/ST/HA (3%)/MMT (3%)), and 58.82 wt% (PVOH/ST/HA (1%)/MMT (3%)). The research shows that the highest activation energy for PVOH/ST/HA (3%)/MMT (3%) is 75 kJ/mol.

The aim of this study is to determine the amount of quantitative and qualitative changes in groundwater in the Sarvestan plain in south of Fars province, which is one of the critical plains in Iran in terms of water resources. In this research, zoning maps of electrical conductivity of water in GIS were prepared and various hydrochemical diagrams were illustrated. Different quality parameters of water resources were compared according to the statistical data collected and the experiments performed at the beginning of the 8-year period of the research. Chemical analysis of water samples shows that the groundwater type of most of the studied wells at the beginning of the period (2013) has changed from Ca-Cl and Mg-Cl types to Na-Cl type at end of the time period (2020). Determining the trend of chemical changes shows that the diversity of water samples in terms of anions and cations in water with increasing salinity at the end of the period is less than the variety of samples at the beginning of the period. According to the results of chemical experiments, evaporation, crystallization, and weathering of rocks are the factors that control the composition of groundwater in the study area. This study shows increasing the salinity of groundwater in addition to decreasing precipitation and high water use for agricultural application, due to the type of geological formations, especially the presence of salt domes at groundwater inlets to the plain on the east side of the study area.

The ability of fungi to act as bio-sorbent had been extensively evaluated and has shown excellent metal sequestering ability for heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, zinc, lead, iron, nickel, radium, thorium, and uranium from aqueous solution. In the present study, tolerance, removal efficiency and adsorption capacity of hexavalent chromium using isolated fungal strains were analysed. Total nine fungal isolates were obtained from organic pollutants and metals contaminated Gujarat Industrial Development Cooperation sites. Filamentous fungi isolated belonged to Aspergillus spp., Rhizopus spp., Trichoderma spp., and Penicillium spp. Chromium sorption experiments using isolated fungal strains were carried out to check adsorption capacity and adsorption intensity. At higher chromium concentration, removal efficiency and adsorption capacity were observed in the order of Aspergills candidus > Aspergillus ochraceus > Aspergillus flavus > Rhizopus spp. > Trichoderma spp. A. candidus showed higher adsorption capacity, 5.49mg/g with 98.75% chromium removal efficiency at 150ppm of hexavalent chromium. The observed RL value for Langmuir isotherm for all the three concentrations was less than 1, depicting favourable sorption and in Freundlich isotherm, the value of 1/n exceeds more than 1 showing co-operative or similar type of adsorption.

Mining activities are generally known to enhance the concentration of primordial radionuclides in the environment thereby contributing immensely to human exposure to ionizing radiation of terrestrial origin. Thus, the abandoned Tin and Cassiterite mining site in Oyun, Kwara State, Nigeria, is believed to cause radiological implications on local residents.  Assessment of radon concentration in surface water from the study area was carried out using RAD7-Active Electronic detector big bottle system. In order to ascertain the risk or hazard incurable in consuming such water, 12 samples were analysed and used in the estimation of annual effective dose of radon. The measured maximum and minimum radon concentrations were found to be 44.95 and 21.03 Bq/L with average of 35.86 Bq/L. These values are quite greater than the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) recommended limits of 11.1.Bq/L. The estimated total effective dose (AEDEtotal) was found to be within the range of 206.52 and 441.41 μSvy-1, and an average of 352.20 μSvy-1 for Adults, 283.30 and 605.47 μSvy-1, and average of 483.10 μSvy-1 for Children, and finally, 321.70 and 687.47 μSvy-1 with average of 548.64 μSvy-1 for Infants, respectively. These values were higher than the recommended limit of 100 µSvy-1 and 200 µSvy-1 for adult and children respectively. Furthermore, worries should be noted about the probabilistic cumulative effect on the consumers of such water if the ingestion is for an extended period of time.

Atmospheric aerosols are very crucial from air pollution and health perspective as well as for regional and global climate. This paper attempts to summarize the aerosol loading and their properties such as Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), Single Scattering Albedo (SSA), Angstrom exponent, and Radiative forcing, over India. All the above mentioned parameters have shown significant variability with change in the site and season. From various studies it was observed that AOD is relatively higher over Northern part of India as compared to Southern and Eastern part. Generally, lower values of SSA were observed over all sites during winter and post-monsoon seasons which indicates the dominance of absorbing type aerosol during these seasons. Also the ARF within atmosphere showed comparatively higher values during November-December and lower value during August and September all over the India. The current state of knowledge about aerosol sources, interactions and their effects on environment is limited because of its complexity. Therefore, more focused research in needed to understand the aerosol’s role in climatic phenomenon.