The Journal of

Introduction: Heavy metals like Cadmium, Arsenic, Lead and Mercury are regarded as the most common heavy metals in the environment which can enter the food chain via various routs and may cause a great number of disorders within humans. Besides these heavy metals, such metals as Zinc and Copper can be dangerous in excess amounts. Edible salt, as one of the main additives, can contain these heavy metals. Hence, this study aimed to determine the contamination of heavy metals in edible salts of Isfahan market in 2011.

Method: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 15 packets of refined table salt and 5 packets of unrefined ones were analyzed. Accuracy of the analysis was assured through repeated analysis of five samples. The heavy metal contents of salts were measured via a flameless Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (FAAS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP). Moreover, SPSS software was applied to analyze the data utilizing t-test.

Results: The mean concentrations of Cd, Pb, As, Hg, Cu and Zn in the refined table salt were 0.15, 0.57, 0.69, 0.061, and 0.87µg/g, whereas their mean concentrations were reported 6.34, 0.16, 0.61, 0.63, 0.058, 0.86 and 7.53 µg/g, respectively in the unrefined salt.

Conclusions: The study findings demonstrated that Arsenic and Mercury concentrations mean were reported higher than the standard in the available salt samples, whereas the concentrations of other heavy metals were observed lower than this extent in the refined and unrefined salts. Furthermore, no significant difference was observed between mean concentrations of heavy metals in refined and unrefined edible salts. The estimated amount of provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) of these heavy metals was observed below the amount indicated by the guideline values. However, utilizing suitable methods is necessitated in order to  remove the mentioned pollutants of edible salt.

Abstract Background : The aim of this study is to determine of risk factors in patients with brain metastases, and prognostic factors affecting survival of patients by using the Cox proportional hazards model. Methods : This descriptive - analytic retrospective study was performed on 197 patients with brain metastases who Referred to Shahid Ramezanzadeh Radiation Center, Yazd, Iran. Several risk factors in This patients were analyzed by the Cox model. Survival times were estimated by Kaplan - Meier and significant difference between the survival distributions of sub groups were compared with the log-rank test. The data were analyzed by R and SPSS softwares. Results : The Kaplan-Meier estimate of patients overall survival were 27% at 12 months and 12% at 24 months. by the log - rank test we founded that there was significant difference between the patients survival in subgroups of variables, such as: age at diagnosis, outside brain diseases (primary tumor), type of treatment, response to radiotherapy and re-radiation therapy (P<0.05). Cox model analysis indicated that the survival of patients with brain metastases influenced by the outside brain diseases (primary tumor) and response to radiotherapy variables. Conclusion : According to this result, control of the primary tumor and appropriate by radiation therapy seems to be effective to increase patients Lifetime. Also, it is more appropriate to use the Cox model in medical studies because of its easy for interpretation and not limited to use the type of covariates.