Investigating PM toxicity in highly polluted urban and industrial areas in the Middle East: human health risk assessment and spatial distribution.

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) can be considered as a factor affecting human health. The aim of this study was to investigate the concentration of PM and heavy metals and their influence on survival of A549 human lung cells in exposure to PM breathing air of Ahvaz city. In order to assess the levels of PM and heavy metals, air samples were collected from 14 sampling stations positioned across Ahvaz city during both winter and summer seasons.

Extraction and determination of organic/inorganic pollutants in the ambient air of two cities located in metropolis of Tehran.

In the present study, PM, volatile organic compounds (VOC), heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)-bonded PM as well as asbestos fibers were investigated in two cities in the east of Tehran, Iran. To this end, 72 samples were collected from six stations located in the cities of Varamin and Pakdasht from March 2018 to March 2019. The concentration of BTEX compounds, PAHs, and heavy metals were measured using gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-Mas), and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), respectively.

Occurrence, spatial distribution, seasonal variations, potential sources, and inhalation-based health risk assessment of organic/inorganic pollutants in ambient air of Tehran.

The present study evaluated the concentrations, spatial distribution, seasonal variations, potential sources, and risk assessment of organic/inorganic pollutants in ambient air of Tehran city. Totally, 180 air samples were taken from 9 sampling stations from March 2018 to March 2019 and were analyzed to determine the concentrations of organic pollutants (BTEX compounds and PM-bound PAHs) plus inorganic pollutants (PM-bound metals and asbestos fibers). The results revealed that the mean concentrations of ∑ PAHs, BTEX, ∑ heavy metals, and asbestos fibers were 5.