Air pollution contains a complex mixture of poisonous compounds including particulate matter (PM) which has wide spectrum of adverse health effects. The main purpose of this study was to estimate the potential health impacts or benefits due to any changes in annual PM level in four major megacities of Iran. The required data of PM for AirQ software was collected from air quality monitoring stations in four megacities of Iran. The preprocessing was carried out using macro coding in excel environment. The relationship between different presumptive scenarios and health impacts was determined. We also assessed the health benefits of reducing PM to WHO Air Quality Guidelines (WHO-AQGs) and National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQSs) levels with regard to the rate of mortality and morbidity in studied cities. We found that the 10 μg/m increase in annual PM concentration is responsible for seven (95% CI 6-8) cases increase in total number of deaths per 2 × 10 person. We also found that 10.7, 7.2, 5.7, and 5.3% of total death is attributable to short-term exposure to air pollution for Ahvaz, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tehran, respectively. We found that by attaining the WHO's proposed value for PM, the potential health benefits of 89, 84, 79, and 78% were obtained in Ahvaz, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tehran, respectively. The results also indicated that 27, 10, 3, and 1% of health impacts were attributed to dust storm days for Ahvaz, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tehran, respectively.
Leakage flows due to a poor fit can greatly reduce the mask protection efficiency. However, accurate quantification of leakages is lacking due to the absence of standardized tests and difficulties in quantifying mask gaps. The objective of this study is to quantify the leakage flows around surgical masks with gaps of varying areas and locations. An integrated ambient-mask-face-airway model was developed, with a pleated surgical mask covering an adult's face, nose, and chin. To study the gap effects, the mask edge along the facial interface was divided into different domains, which could be prescribed either as the mask media or air. Low Reynolds number k-ω turbulence model with porous media was used to simulate inspiratory flows. Experimentally measured resistances of two surgical masks were implemented in porous media zones. Results show that even a small gap of 1-cm2 area could cause a 17% leakage. A gap area of 4.3 cm2 at the nose bridge, the most frequent misfit when wearing a surgical mask, led to a leakage of 60%. For a given mask, the increase rate of leakage slowed down with increasing gap area. For a given gap, the leakage fraction is 30-40% lower for a mask with a resistance of 48.5 Pa than a mask of 146.0 Pa. Even though the flow dynamics were very different among gaps at different locations, the leakage intensity appeared relatively insensitive to the gap location. Therefore, correlations for the leakage as a function of the gap area were developed for the two masks.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.