Background: Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) is a corrosive, strong oxidant and a physiologic stimulant of lower respiratory tract. Every human being inhales an average of 10 m 3 air per day; therefore, assessment of the effect of inhaled air on health is a vital issue. The main source NO 2 in urban regions is intra-urban public transport system. The annual average of determined air quality for NO 2 is 40 μg/m 3 . Objectives: The present study aimed to estimate and compare epidemiologic indices attributed to the pollutant NO 2 in the urban air of southwest cities of Iran, namely, Ahvaz, Kermanshah, and Bushehr, in 2011. Materials and Methods:In the present study, data relevant to the air-pollutant NO 2 in 2011 was obtained from the Iranian Department of Environment and meteorological organizations of the studied cities. Raw data processing by Excel software included instruction set correction of averaging, coding, and filtering. Then the meteorological parameters were converted as input file to the Air Q model. Finally, by using epidemiologic formulas, relative risk (RR) and attributed part to NO 2 in the three studied cites were estimated. Results:The results showed that in summer, winter, and the whole year, Kermanshah and Bushehr had on average the maximum and minimum NO 2 concentration, respectively, in 2011. In addition, accumulative number of cases attributed to exposure with NO 2 in the studied cities was maximum in Kermanshah (21 cases) and minimum in Bushehr (one case). The results revealed that approximately, the maximum number of death cases attributed to NO 2 were observed in Kermanshah due to heart problems (1.06%), acute infarction (1.8%), and obstructive pulmonary disease (1.9%) with concentration > 20 μg/m 3 . Conclusions: Every 10 μg/m 3 increase in the concentration of the pollutant NO 2 in the studied cities led to increase in the RR of myocardial infarction, cardiovascular diseases, and obstructive pulmonary disease by 0.4%, 0.2%, and 0.4%, respectively, in 2011. Higher RR value can depict mismanagement in urban air quality. The lower level of RR value might be achieved if some control strategies for reducing NO 2 emission were used.

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One major negative effects of wind erosion is the loss of fertile soil which reduce the soil productivity. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of wind erosion on the loss soil fertility and organic matter. Further, the effect of mulching on the reduction of soil erosion was also studied in present study. Study was conducted at the West Khuzestan province of Iran and soil loss situation was created by using simulator. Results of study revealed that average soil wind erosion was 26.73, 24.58 and 16.36Kg/m 2 /h in Borvayeh, Alvan and Hoveyzeh, respectively. Significant difference was reported between the control (without use of any stabilizer) and samples treated with polymer. Average soil erosion is very high in soil without any stabilizer but the rate of erosion, compared to the control sample. The results of study showed that wind erosion causes loss of nitrogen in soil and it was reported maximum (0.008 kg/m 2 /h) in the soil of Hoveyzeh. Further maximum loss in phosphorus (1.1 kg/m 2 /h) and organic matter (0.49 kg/m 2 /h) was reported from the soil of Alvan. This nutrient loss may cause serious environmental and economic problems in the land exposed to long term erosion. The use of polymer and vegetable-based mulch with structural stability, on an average, reduced 99.5% loss soil elements (except in concentrations 15%vegetable-based mulch that reduced 13.2 % loss of soil elements).Use of polymers enhanced the stability and connections aggregates in surface soil through the formation of the surface layer and resistant to corrosive force winds prevent the dust, soil loss and nutrient loss.