Mehrdad Farrokhi

University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences | USWR · Department of Helth in Disaster and Department of HSE

Introduction Along with the challenges of COVID-19 vaccine supply in low-income countries, vaccine hesitancy was another problem for the health system. The aim of this study was to deeply understand the challenges of vaccine acceptance, the vaccination process, and to compare the affecting vaccine acceptance in the high and low points of the epidem...

The studies reviewed in this section are from PubMed, International Statistical Institute (ISI), ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases using the following keywords, including dust storm, meteorological elements, temperature, heat wave, cold wave, relative humidity, wind blow, atmospheric pressure, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory...

Introduction: To prioritize patients to provide them with proper services and also manage the scarce resources in emergencies, the use of triage systems seems to be essential. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the existing triage systems in disasters and mass casualty incidents. Methods: The present study is a systematic revi...

Background: The first case of COVID-19 was reported in Iran on February 19, 2020, in Qom. Since Mazandaran is one of the high-risk provinces with many patients and deaths, this study was conducted to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19-related deaths in Mazandaran. Materials and methods: In this descriptive study, demogra...

Background: Nowadays, emergencies and disasters are considered one of the biggest problems in human life. To reduce the risk of emergencies and disasters, governments must develop strategies and policies using evidence-based methods. Disaster databases are the main source and tool for storing and managing a wide range of data in this field. This s...

Nowadays, disaster databases have become a valuable tool for disaster risk management and health promotion and serve various purposes. The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of disaster databases in the world and to identify the objectives, information sources, criteria, and variables of disaster data registration in the world'...

Acceptance and willingness to receive the vaccine are among the main factors in the success or failure of a health system in implementing the vaccination program. The present study was conducted in Tehran, the political and economic capital of Iran, to determine the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine and identify its associated factors, and explain...

Background With the unprecedented expansion of COVID-19 in the world since December 2019, Iran’s health system, like other countries, faced various challenges in managing the disease, which led to numerous experiences and lessons learned. This study was conducted to identify these challenges regarding unique political, economic, and cultural issues...

Background and Purpose The purpose of this research was to evaluate the psychometric properties of hospital preparedness instruments in biological events. The Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health M easurements I nstruments (COSMIN) checklist has been used to design the appropriate hospital preparedness instruments in these events....

The Emergency Medical Services (EMSs) are in the frontline between the health-care systems and people in emergencies and disasters. With the increase in the frequency of natural or man-made disasters around the world, the need for prepared EMS services is increasing. This study aimed to evaluate the current disaster preparedness status of the EMS a...

Nowadays, nanoscale materials have been widely applied in the removal of contaminants from water system. Reduction of Cr(VI) (as a poisonous species) to Cr(III) (as a slight toxic species) was performed using CuO-Kaolin with ultrasound (US) irradiation. The CuO-Kaolin nanocomposites were synthesized via a facile coprecipitation method. Then X-ray d...

Objective The aim of this study was to develop a context-bound model of hospital triage in disasters and mass casualty incidents in the health system of Iran. Methods This study was done using a sequential mixed method. Data were analyzed using Expert Choice software program. Results In the qualitative phase, 27 specialists were interviewed. Walk...

New epidemiological studies acknowledge the detrimental effects of dust storms on health. The aim of this study was to systematically review the effects of dust storms on the morbidity and mortality rates of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The results of this study were obtained based on articles published in English-language journals. For...

Background With the unprecedented expansion of COVID-19 in the world since December 2019, the Iranian health system like other countries faced various challenges in managing the disease, which led to obtaining numerous experiences and lessons learned. The aim of this study is to identify these challenges, in regard with unique political, economic,...

Investigating the effects of dust storms on morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases: A systematic review

INTRODUCTION: Disasters occur almost everywhere in the world, and preparation is essential. Preparedness is an effective approach for disaster management, and it is crucial for the health systems, especially the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) agencies. This systematic review will be conducted to assess the preparedness levels of EMS agencies in th...

BACKGROUND: Risk perception is an important predictor to mitigate climate change effects which can produce mental health consequences such as anxiety and depression. For developing policies of climate risk adaptation, awareness of public attitudes, beliefs, and perception is essential. At this study, researchers tried to focus on the often “unseen”...

Objective: Identification of hospital preparedness challenges against biological events such as COVID-19 is essential to improve dynamics, quality and business continuity confidence in the health system. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is to evaluate the challenges of hospital preparedness in biological events. Methods: This study em...

There are inconsistent reports on the association between air pollution and cancers. This systematic review was, therefore, conducted to ascertain the relationship between air pollution and some cancers. This is a systematic review study, which all articles published in this area were extracted from January 1, 1950 to December 31, 2018 from Web of...

Background. The emergency medical service (EMS) provides first-line medical care to people who require urgent medical care in emergency and disaster situations. Preparedness is the most effective approach for the management of disaster risks, and it is essential for the emergency medical service (EMS) providers, such as paramedics, emergency medica...

Background: The empirical assessment of the health outcomes associated with migration caused by climate change is still unclear. However, health outcomes in the early stages are expected to be similar to the health outcomes associated with refugees. The objective of the present study was a systematic review of the health effects of migration cause...

PurposeGlobal warming and air pollution are among the most important problems all over the world. Considering the key role of traffic officers who saliently deal with traffic management and are in full, constant and direct exposure to thermal stress and air pollution index, this study aims to investigate the simultaneous effects of these factors on...

Introduction The use of triage systems is one of the most important measures in response to mass-casualty incidents (MCIs) caused by emergencies and disasters. In these systems, certain principles and criteria must be considered that can be achieved with a lack of resources. Accordingly, the present study was conducted as a systematic review to exp...

Context: Iran's health system has always faced many challenges in the field of disaster risk management. The establishment of early warning systems in countries has been identified as an important component of preparedness and risk reduction. Aims: This study aims to extract the experiences of those involved in the field of risk management in re...

Background: Emergency and disaster are on the rise in the world. One of the most important components of disaster risk management is the early warning system. Studies have shown divergent models of warning systems with different structures. However, since no systematic review of early warning systems in disasters has been conducted so far, a syste...

Purpose: Disasters are increasing worldwide and hospitals should be prepared to respond well to such disasters. An effective hospital disaster risk management program saves peoples' lives, reduces damage to the hospital properties and assures hospital service continuity. This article aimed to develop and verify a Hospital Disaster Risk Management...

Introduction: The objective of the present study was to systematically review the current research knowledge on hospital preparedness tools used in biological events and factors affecting hospital preparedness in such incidents in using a scoping review methodology. Materials and methods: The review process was conducted in accordance with the P...

Researchers have already highlighted the safety and health issues in workplaces. The necessity of these issues and their close relations to the environment have more transparently called for the management control of three critical dimensions of Health, Safety, and the Environment (HSE). Furthermore, following the rapid development of technology an...

Normally, the food industry produces wastewater containing high organic matter and nitrogen compounds. Along with organic matter removal from these streams, also, nitrogen compounds should be removed. Nitrogen can be removed biologically from wastewater using conventional and novel processes. Although, conventional nitrification/denitrification is...

Ambient air pollution is nowadays one of the most crucial contributors to deteriorating health status worldwide. The components of air pollution include PM2.5 and PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, and organic compounds. They are attributed to several health outcomes, for instance, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), respiratory diseases, birth outcomes, neurologi...

BACKGROUND: Injuries caused by emergencies and accidents are increasing in the world. To prioritise patients to provide them with proper services and to optimally use the resources and facilities of the medical centres during accidents, the use of triage systems, which are one of the key principles of accident management, seems essential. AIM: Thi...

Background: Iran is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world and has a high potential to be affected by natural disasters. Nurses are backbone in providing healthcare services in times of disasters. They have been identified as unwanted leaders, front liners to respond to every disaster. Identifying essential competencies of nurses to...

Background: Environment and its ecosystems are affected by various natural and man-made disasters. The environmental management in disasters tries to protect ecosystems, sustain development, reduce disaster risk, and adapt to or decrease the impact of climate change. This study aimed to investigate the impact of disasters on the environment and met...

A denitrification baffled reactor (DnBR) was developed to treat p-Cresol-laden wastewater. The effects of different operational parameters including p-Cresol initial concentration, hydraulic retention time (HRT), COD/NO3⁻, salinity and nitrate-free influent were studied on biodegradation and COD removal of p-Cresol. The results show that complete d...

Background: Healthy and hygienic foods should be available for healthy life of humans in all circumstances. This issue will be more important when a disaster occurrs. Iran is among high risk natural disaster countries, that should be always prepared. The present study aimed to evaluate the awareness of Gonabad University Medical students about nutr...

Solid waste production has increased in recent years. Many studies have shown that generated leachate from solid waste contains a high concentration of heavy metals. Their removal efficiency from leachate was investigated in aerobic suspended and attached growth systems in lab-scale within 72 hours of aeration. All of the materials used were analyt...

Background: Health measures in an emergency are one of the cases where damage caused by disasters can be reduced with proper implementation, and the health crisis can be controlled. This requires awareness and knowledge of health and rescue authorities, students, and even people in an emergency situation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to...

Background: Nurses constitute the largest professional group in the health-care sector, and they are subjected to high level of occupational stress. Work-related stress is likely to have a profound psychosomatic effect and led to health problem. Objective: The study investigates job stress and its side effects in clinical nurses in a hospital in Ir...

Background: Occupational diseases such as musculoskeletal disorders changed to be one of the most important issues in different workplaces. They could be obvious on various parts of the body. Although researchers can find different sorts of techniques to assess Work Related MusculoSkeletal Disorders (WRDSDs) they look forward to find newer ones tha...

Background: Every year, accidents and disasters occur in Iran and result in death and injuries of common people. People’s demand for health care units involves not only the requirement for medical centers but also staffs to work in them. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the performance readiness and non-structural functional s...

ABSTRACT: Removal of nutrient salts from the receiving water is an important consideration to control eutrophication.Among various nano sized materials, ZnO and Fe3O4 have much attention because ZnO nanoparticles exhibit efficient photocatalytic removal efficiency through adsorption and decomposition of organic contaminants. In this study, commerci...

Background: Nowadays, 24-h performance is an inevitable part in many industries and public services. Night work is a necessity for employees of a main part of labor force. Shift work is considered as working out of usual working hours (about 7-18). Objective: The aim of this study is drowsiness trend in night workers and adaptation to night shift i...

Background& Objective: The advantage of Attached growth to the suspended growth systems Includes easier administering, high efficiency against shock loads, increasing concentration so contamination stand produce less sludge. For the above reasons the design of a system that benefits both suspended and attached growth system moving bed biofilm react...

Using method to disinfect hospital waste in Gillan province because of population density and high groundwater levels as well as touristic area, the pollutions and controlling them need special management and planning. This research is cross sectional in terms of studied time and it is applied in terms of purpose. The studied population is governme...

To enhance the catalytic potential of ZnO in the UV-LED photocatalytic process, ZnO was doped with C, N, and S nonmetals. The doped ZnO was characterized, and its photocatalytic potential was compared with plain ZnO for the degradation and mineralization of diazinon. The characterization analysis of the powder prepared at the calcination temperatur...

Any reduction in the availability of freshwater resources caused by climate change will be particularly problematic for those who live in areas already suffering water scarcity. The world urban population is expected to increase by 72 % by 2050, from 3.6 billion in 2011 to 6.3 billion in 2050. The main objective of this study was evaluating the urb...

Variation in hospital wastewater (HWW) pollutants and differences with municipal wastewater (MWW), make the use of biokinetic coefficients obtained from activated sludge in the MWW treatment unprofitable for designing, modeling and evaluation of biological processes for HWW treatment. Since this study was conducted to evaluate the performance and b...

Background: Environment and its ecosystems are affected by various natural and man-made disasters. The environmental management in disasters tries to protect ecosystems, sustain development, reduce disaster risk, and adapt to or decrease the impact of climate change. This study aimed to investigate the impact of disasters on the environment and met...

In this study, flow numerical simulation has been performed in the direct path of rectangular channel Using SSIIM 2 software, that solves Navier-Stokes equations by Finite-Volume Method (FVM). The flow calculations were performed in the three dimensional model using K-ε-RNG and K-ε-Standard turbulence models. In the second section, using this turb...

Coagulation–flocculation is a relatively simple physical–chemical technique in treatment of old and stabilized leachate which has been practiced using a variety of conventional coagulants. Polymeric forms of metal coagulants which are increasingly applied in water treatment are not well documented in landfill leachate treatment. In this research, c...

Biological methods are not appropriate for matureleachate (5-10 years) due to the presence of bio refractory materials and toxic compounds such as heavy metals. Now-a-days advanced oxidation processes such as Fenton reagent are used for the treatment or biodegradability enhancement of refractory wastewater. In this study, the biodegradability enhan...

Background: Choosing and use the ion exchange resins for water treatment systems is often a perplexing procedure. Purolite S-930 is a macroporous polystyrene based chelating resin, with Iminodiacetic groups designed for the removal of heavy metalic cations from potable water and industrial effluents. Material & Methods: In this vitro study for lead...

Biological methods are not appropriate for mature leachate (5-10 years) due to the presence of bio refractory materials and toxic compounds such as heavy metals. Now-a-days advanced oxidation processes such as Fenton reagent are used for the treatment or biodegradability enhancement of refractory wastewater. In this study, the biodegradability enha...

Background: Human activities often diffuse heavy metal to the environment, which bring hazards up for human health when the concentration of these metals reaches high levels. The purpose of this study is evaluation effect of aluminum oxide Nano particles on cadmium removal from aquatic environment. Methods: This is a fundamental applied study whic...

ZnO–TiO2 composite was used as a photocatalyst for the degradation of diazinon. Effects of various parameters such as composite dosage, pH, initial diazinon concentration, dissolved oxygen concentration, hydrogen peroxide concentration and type of organic compounds on the removal efficiency of diazinon were studied. Scanning electron microscopy (SE...

Coagulation-flocculation is a relatively simple physical-chemical technique in treatment of old and stabilized leachate which has been practiced using a variety of conventional coagulants. Polymeric forms of metal coagulants which are increasingly applied in water treatment are not well documented in landfill leachate treatment. In this research, c...

This study investigated the performance of UVC, UVC/ZnO and vacuum UV (VUV) processes for the degradation of diazinon as a model organophosphate pesticide. The highest diazinon degradation was obtained at a solution pH of 5 for UVC, 7.5 for UVC/ZnO, and 9 for VUV. At optimum pH and a reaction time of 30 min, the UVC process degraded 57.8% of the di...

In this study, zinc oxide was immobilized on magnetite nanoparticles by chemical method and it was used as an adsorbent to remove reactive black 5 (RB5) dye from aqueous solution. The removal efficiency of RB5 was studied as the function of adsorbent dosage, pH, initial RB5 concentration, H2O2, and ionic strength (sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbona...

This study evaluated the preparation and characterization of an efficient doped TiO2 as a novel catalyst for degradation of diazinon model pesticide using LED-activated photocatalysis. TiO2 was doped using N, NS, FeNS, and FeFNS. The FeFNS-doped TiO2 showed the highest catalytic activity in LED/photocatalysis. FeFNS-doped TiO2 is a mesoporous nanoc...

The photocatalytic reduction of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) using ZnO nanorods immobilized on kaolin clay was studied. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis demonstrated favorable immobilization of ZnO nanorods onto the kaolin. The efficiency of the UV/ZnO/kaolin process for reduction of Cr(VI) was abou...

Abstract Hospitals generate a significant amount of wastewater in a day from 400 to 1200 L by bed. These effluents are loaded with microorganisms, heavy metals, toxic chemicals and radioactive elements. Activated sludge process is commonly used for hospital wastewater treatment in Iran. The main objectives of this study were the performance asses...

Abstract Hospitals generate a significant amount of wastewater in a day from 400 to 1200 L by bed. These effluents are loaded with microorganisms, heavy metals, toxic chemicals and radioactive elements. Activated sludge process is commonly used for hospital wastewater treatment in Iran. The main objectives of this study were the performance asses...

Nowadays, using combined methods of suspended and attached growth are on the rise due to their effects on the structure volume decrease and efficiency increase in wastewater treatment systems. This paper aims at using the moving bed biofilm reactor to increase the efficiency of diluted municipal wastewater treatment. In most other papers, the us...

In this work, removal of phenol from aqueous solutions by activated red mud was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was used to observe the morphology and surface components of activated red mud, respectively. The effects of various parameters on the removal efficiency were studied, such as contact ti...

Effect of different type of organic compounds (humic acid, oxalate, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, nitrilotriacetic acid, phenol) on the photocatalytic removal of cyanide with TiO2 or ZnO was studied in this work with variation of the solution pH, contact time, initial cyanide concentration and type of organic compounds. Photocatalytic oxidation...

Background: Anaerobic treatment methods are more suitable for the treatment of concentrated wastewater streams, offer lower operating costs, the production of usable biogas product. The aim of this study was to investigate the per-formance of an Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Reactor (AFBR)-Aerobic Moving Bed Bio Reactor (MBBR) in series ar-rangement to t...

The capability of two synthetic zeolites, NaA and NaX, to remove ammonia nitrogen from water was examined. NaA and NaX were porous zeolites with an average particle diameter of 316 and 460 nm, average pore diameter of 0.4 and 0.8 nm, and BET of 177 and 271 m2/g, respectively. The influence of various experimental conditions on ammonium removal by N...

To cite this article: Gholamreza Moussavi , Sadegh Talebi , Mehrdad Farohki & Robabeh Mojtabaee Sabouti (2013): Removal of ammonium from water by adsorption onto synthetic zeolites NaA and NaX: a comparative parametric, kinetic, and equilibrium study, Desalination and Water Treatment, A B S T R A C T The capability of two synthetic zeolites, NaA an...

Please cite this article as: Fahiminia M, Farrokhi M, Talebi M, Memary G, Fazlzadeh Davil M. Status, restrictions and suggested approaches in wastewater management in rural areas of Iran. Arch Hyg Sci 2012;1(1):12-9. Aims of the Study: The objective of this study was to appraise wastewater management approaches in rural areas of Iran, restrictions,...