The soil samples from 0–10 cm depth were collected from three areas (Center of Basrah – CB, Garmat Ali – GA, and Abu Al-Khasib – AK) located along the Shatt Al-Arab River (SR) delta in southern Iraq to estimate the distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The PAH total concentrations in the soils decreased significantly from CB (72.16 ng/g dry weight (DW)), GA (36.48 ng/g DW), to AK (17.30 ng/g DW) gradually indicating the impact of pollution emissions on the distribution of PAHs in soils. The low (2 and 3 ring) and high (4, 5, and 6 ring) molecular weight PAHs accounted for 14%, 16%, 37%, 21%, and 12% respectively in CB soil, 24%, 31%, 29%, 7%, and 10% in GA soil and 40%, 29%, 17%, 8%, and 8% in AK soil. The high molecular weight PAHs predominated in CB soils and the low molecular weight PAHs dominated in GA and AK soils suggesting a difference in emission sources between the studied areas. The PAH diagnostic ratios and principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that PAHs in soils of the SR delta essentially originated from traffic and industrial emissions and biomass and grass/wood/coal combustion. The PAH atmospheric transport from CB area might impact the PAH distribution in the soils of AK area. The risk assessment of the soils has been performed. The total toxic equivalent concentrations (Bap_teq) of PAHs in the examined areas did not exceed the Dutch target values suggesting that no carcinogenic risk for the SR delta soils was found.

Communicable diseases represent a severe burden on human life, so control and prevention are essential to maintaining the sustainability of life. Health workers are the first line of defense against these diseases. Poor knowledge and wrong attitudes of health workers can negatively affect efforts to combat infection.The study aims to evaluate the knowledge levels among health workers toward communicable diseases. Also, determine the relationship between dependent and independent variables with participants' levels of knowledge. A cross-sectional analytical study in Al-Sadr Medical City, Najaf Governorate, from mid-November 2021 to the end of June 2022. On 384 health workers who were using a randomly collected self-questionnaire, the data was collected and analyzed using a statistical program. The main results indicate that (66.1%) of the participants are females, the majority of the age group (20-26) years, half of them are married and hold a bachelor's degree, (66.4%) have less than five years of experience, and (35.9%) receive a training course, In terms of profession, (27.3)% were nurses. The results show that (57.2%) had good overall knowledge. it was found that there is a significant relationship between knowledge and training sessions, as for other socio-demographic characteristics, there is no significant association with both knowledge.

This study comprises monitoring of the n-alkanes in the Shatt Al-Arab river by using the seven molluscs species as bioindicators. These species are: snails Lymnaea auricularia, Theodoxus jordani, Physa acuta, Melanopsis nodosa, and Melanoides tuberculata and bivalves Corbicula fluminea and Corbicula fluminalis. The species of molluscs are collected from different locations of the Shatt Al-Arab river (along the region extended from Abu Al-Khasib to Garmat-Ali) during 2004 and 2005. Each species consisted of at least 3500 adult of individuals of uniform sizes. The hydrocarbons from these species were extracted and analyzed both by spectroflurometer (total hydrocarbons) and high resolution capillary gas chromatography (n-alkanes). The concentrations of total hydrocarbons in mollusc’s species of the Shatt Al-Arab river ranged from 1.93 μg/g dry weight in T. jordani to 26.56 μg/g dry weight in C. fluminea. The range of carbon chain length of n-alkanes in these individuals was ranging from C13 - C32. The bimodal distribution with two maxima around C17 and C27 suggested two different sources of hydrocarbons both biogenic and anthropogenic. The dominance of the odd carbon numbers n-alkanes (C15, C17, C25 and C29) in the mollusc’s species indicated biogenic origin of hydrocarbons .The pristane values were more than those of phytane. Pristane and phytane in the mollusc’s species suggest biogenic origin. CPI values are more than one indicating a biogenic origin of hydrocarbons in these species. Squalane is also present in some these species intimately related to anthropogenic sources of hydrocarbons. The presence of Unresolved Complex Mixture (UCM) reflects the anthropogenic sources. The lower fat contents were found in T. jordani (0.33 mg/g) and the higher were in C. fluminea (0.98 mg/g). A significant relationship is found between the fat contents and hydrocarbons concentrations in the tissues of molluscs species (r = 0.8 - 0.9).

The seasonal variations of n-alkanes compounds in molluscs of Shatt Al-Arab river have been studied. The species of molluscs were the snails, Lymnaea auricularia, Theodoxus jordani, Physa acuta, Melanopsis nodosa, Melanoides tuberculata while the bivalves were Corbicula fluminea and Corbicula fluminalis. The molluscs were collected from different locations of Shatt Al-Arab river (along the region extended from Abu-Al-Khasib to Garmat-Ali) during 2004 and 2005. Each species consisted of at least 350 adults of uniform size of individuals. The n-alkanes compounds from species of molluscs were extracted and analyzed by high resolution capillary gas chromatography. The total concentrations of n–alkanes in the molluscs varied from 1.50 μg/g dry weight in the T. jordani to 8.78 μg/g dry weight in the C. fluminea during summer and from 2.26 μg/g dry weight to 12.37 μg/g dry weight during autumn. While ranged from 3.15 μg/g dry weight to 12.44 μg/g dry weight and from 1.78 μg/g dry weight to 5.31 μg/g dry weight during winter and spring. The study confirmed lower concentrations of n-alkanes compounds in the molluscs of Shatt Al-Arab river during summer and spring while higher concentrations were recorded during winter and autumn. This is due to several factors which could act to produce such seasonal variations.

The present study has been achieved to estimate the acute toxicity effect of pesticide (endosulfan) (organochlorine) and its sublethal concentrations effect  on the oxygen consuming rate of three various snails species (Melanoides tuberculata, Radix auricularia and Theodoxus jordani) collected from Shatt Al-Arab river along the region extended from Abu-Al-Khasib to Garmat-Ali during 2018.  The 24 hr LC50 indicated that the M. tuberculata was more resistant, while R. auricularia and T. jordani were more effective to endosulfan and showed no difference. The study indicated that the employ of various species of snails, with their differing degree of sensitivity to the same toxicant, might be a useful tool in aquatic environmental toxicological investigations. The sublethal concentrations exposure (24 hr LC50) of pesticide had no considerable influence on the rates of oxygen consumption for each snail species. However, a decrease in the capability of snails to preserve respiratory independence through hypoxia was observed 24 hr after exposure to this dose.